This Summer’s Hottest Trend Is…Canned Reporting?!

Recently a client asked us to create a report that combines web sales, email activity, mobile app metrics, social media engagement, and POS transactions all in one page. We’re always up for a challenge, so we designed a Google Looker Studio report with secure connections to all the accounts for real-time update and weekly email delivery. We were all stoked that it worked out, so we thought we’d share how we did it in case you and your team were looking for something similar to help drive sales growth:

1. Login to your Google/Gmail account
2. Go to Google Looker Studio
3. Create a blank report
4. Under ‘Add data to report’ type in your desired data source, like Instagram or Google Analytics
5. A list of ‘Connectors’ is returned – these have been developed by Google and select vendors to help you establish a secure connection to your accounts for pulling data to your report
6. There are free and paid Connectors, choose the one that fits your needs and/or budget
7. Don’t see what you’re looking for? If your POS system isn’t listed, for example, you can output transaction data to Google Sheets or Excel and connect to it that way
8. Once you’ve established a connection to your account, you can add and filter data; create calculated fields; arrange and format; and make it pretty 😉
9. Add as many data sources and fields as you need to get a good look at the metrics that matter each week
10. Schedule the report for weekly delivery to your inbox as a PDF you can share with your Managers and Team Members.

Here’s a quick 60-second video to help you visualize the process.

Interested in designing a report like this for your craft business, but don’t have the time or bandwidth? Simply select the data you want to see each week, and we’ll set up your secure reporting and email schedule quickly.

Why report on weekly marketing and sales activity?

The same client who asked for the report faces similar industry challenges to your business: closings and consolidations, uncertainty around rising costs and tariffs, slowing production, and changing drinker behavior. It’s enough to keep us all awake at night.

But instead of playing the victim card, they are doing everything they can to control the controllables. Sure, they had reporting before Market Your Craft stepped in. But it was living in five or six different systems, making it difficult to learn what’s working and not working, let alone to take action. They’re using this single report during weekly manager meetings to help talk about the state of the business and to come up with a game plan for the following week. It’s a beautiful thing!

Shouldn’t we all take a closer look at our businesses?

While we’ve always been fans of the long view under normal conditions, we realize that today is far from normal. The current environment mandates that we remain nimble and responsive at a minimum; proactive if you’re lucky enough.

If you’re having a tough time deciding where to focus your marketing energy this summer, we can’t blame you. It’s complicated. And you can’t do it all. Tired promotions and liquid social posts aren’t going to save craft beer. Throwing more resources and budget at the problem doesn’t make it go away. Festivals and retail demos are drying up. Whether you’re a brewery, winery, distillery, cidery, or other craft beverage producer, now is the time to think even more strategically about sales growth, starting with your marketing plan. Owners and industry experts alike are placing their bets on one simple blueprint:

• Design your website to help drive organic search
• Create content to build community on social media
• Schedule email campaigns for broad calls-to-action
• Develop a branded mobile app for activating individual drinkers
• Leverage AI for operational efficiency

The team at Market Your Craft is leaning into this, taking the idea on the road this fall and winter with presentations and panel discussions for craft beer associations and trade groups. But in the meantime, we’ve aligned all our service and product offerings under those five areas of marketing focus. So, if you and your team are in need of some quick-hit assistance to shore up any one of these, reach out or respond to this email and we’ll set up time to learn more about your business.

MailChimp archive: https://mailchi.mp/3a35d5aa829f/240630_reporting?e=a83dcf3085
Download: https://app.box.com/s/e2a57rtdfateeioroqxt05ys5eb8ketk