2026 Seminar – From Options to Answers: How AI Drives Traffic to your Tasting Room
AI has shifted the playing field.
The craft beverage industry has been adapting to change for decades: absorbing the rise of e-commerce, surviving the consolidation of distributors, and watching social media rewrite the rules of brand discovery one algorithm update at a time. Each shift required new thinking. Some producers led. Most followed. A few didn’t make it.
What is happening right now with Artificial Intelligence resembles those earlier disruptions. But it is different in speed. And in the way it is quietly repositioning itself between your brand and the drinker who might otherwise walk through your front door.
To show up meaningfully in AI Search results, producers should focus on the signals that reflect credibility and authority to AI models, including describing your space, promoting your events, adding FAQs, asking for reviews, writing press releases, and others. We’ll help you control the AI narrative about your brand and share best practices outlined in our complimentary Guide for attendees titled, “Answer Engine Optimization (AEO): 10 Tactics In 10 Days For Showing Up In AI Search.”
Scott Kolbe is the founder of Market Your Craft, a strategic marketing communications firm built exclusively for beverage brands across the full spectrum: from beer, wine, spirits, and RTDs to non-alcoholic, functional, coffee, and tea. Over a 20-plus-year career, he has built and defended brand narratives from inside some of the most recognized names in beverage and lifestyle, including Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., Beam Suntory, Oakley, and BJ’s Restaurants, experience he now brings to the emerging and growing producers who don’t have a full marketing department behind them.
A graduate of Northwestern University and Xavier University, he has spoken at guild meetings, association conferences, and industry events on everything from brand storytelling to artificial intelligence and AI search. His sessions translate fast-moving marketing strategy into practical tools any beverage team can use, whether they sit in the C-suite or on the production floor.
Recent speaking engagements
2026 CCBS Conference
Tired promotions and liquid social posts aren’t going to save craft. Throwing more resources and budget at the problem doesn’t make it go away. Festivals and retail demos are drying …up. It’s time to start thinking 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 show up in search and AI response
• Deliver email campaigns prompting immediate action (and traffic)
• Stay ahead of changing drinker behavior on social media
• Introduce a branded mobile app for activating individual drinkers
• Leverage AI as a tool, not a strategy, to generate beer content
The data is available to help brewery owners and managers take a more thoughtful, deliberate approach to business growth. We’ll discuss how to track marketing efforts using tools like weekly dashboard reporting, as well as best practices for success in each channel. Presentation attendees have access to 10+ Guides with techniques to keep fans engaged and proven tools to fuel excitement around your unique story.Show More
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2026 CCBS Conference
Tired promotions and liquid social posts aren’t going to save craft. …
Tired promotions and liquid social posts aren’t going to save craft. Throwing more resources and budget at the problem doesn’t make it go away. Festivals and retail demos are drying …up. It’s time to start thinking 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 show up in search and AI response
• Deliver email campaigns prompting immediate action (and traffic)
• Stay ahead of changing drinker behavior on social media
• Introduce a branded mobile app for activating individual drinkers
• Leverage AI as a tool, not a strategy, to generate beer content
The data is available to help brewery owners and managers take a more thoughtful, deliberate approach to business growth. We’ll discuss how to track marketing efforts using tools like weekly dashboard reporting, as well as best practices for success in each channel. Presentation attendees have access to 10+ Guides with techniques to keep fans engaged and proven tools to fuel excitement around your unique story.Show More
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2025 NCCBG Conference
2024 saw more brewery closings than openings. Uncertainty is growing …
2024 saw more brewery closings than openings. Uncertainty is growing around rising costs and tariffs. Production is down. Consumers are looking for more diverse offerings, including non-alcoholic. Industry associations are …promising bright days ahead, while member breweries are not so sure.
Tired promotions and liquid social posts aren’t going to save craft. Throwing more resources and budget at the problem doesn’t make it go away. Festivals and retail demos are drying up. It’s time to start thinking 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 data is available to help brewery owners and managers take a more thoughtful, deliberate approach to business growth. We’ll discuss how to track marketing efforts using tools like Google Looker Studio and weekly dashboard reporting, as well as best practices for success in each channel. Presentation attendees have access to 10+ Guides with techniques to keep fans engaged and proven tools to fuel excitement around your unique story.Show More
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Craft Under Pressure: Strategic Marketing to Survive and Scale in Craft Beer w/Scott Kolbe
2024 saw more brewery closings than openings. Uncertainty is growing …
2024 saw more brewery closings than openings. Uncertainty is growing around rising costs and tariffs. Production is down. Consumers are looking for more diverse offerings, including non-alcoholic. Industry associations are …promising bright days ahead, while member breweries are not so sure.
Tired promotions and liquid social posts aren’t going to save craft. Throwing more resources and budget at the problem doesn’t make it go away. Festivals and retail demos are drying up. It’s time to start thinking 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 data is available to help brewery owners and managers take a more thoughtful, deliberate approach to business growth. We’ll discuss how to track marketing efforts using tools like Google Looker Studio and weekly dashboard reporting, as well as best practices for success in each channel. Presentation attendees have access to 10+ Guides with techniques to keep fans engaged and proven tools to fuel excitement around your unique story.
We started Market Your Craft to help small-to-mid-sized producers quickly adapt to the changing Marketing landscape with storytelling. Because we believe every craft brand has an exciting story to share. Led by Scott Kolbe, we’re a team of dreamers and doers, passionate about all things beverage with the creds to match. We’ve created a series of Workshops and Guides to help define your brand story and inform your Marketing efforts. To learn more or to schedule a session with one of our storytelling experts, visit marketyourcraft.com.
Thank you to TapWyse + Ollie for helping keep our community and content 100% free and accessible to all Craft Beer Professionals.
Join us in person for CBP Connects New Orleans
December 8–10, 2025
It’s never been more important to connect: https://cbpconnects.com/Show More
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Market Your Craft: designing a single-page sales and marketing dashboard
Stop guessing, start thinking more strategically about how marketing …
Stop guessing, start thinking more strategically about how marketing is impacting sales for your brewery, winery, or distillery! See all of the performance metrics that matter in a single dashboard …report, sent weekly directly to your inbox. We’ve designed a template within Google Looker Studio that allows us to report on customer traffic, engagement, and sales by connecting securely to your website, email, mobile app, social channels, and POS systems. Reports will reflect the metrics that matter to you, not some generic bowl of data salad.
Will 'Growth Marketing' Save The Brewing Industry?
In the past, breweries doubled down on innovation, tasting room …
In the past, breweries doubled down on innovation, tasting room expansion, and winning new points of distribution to drive sales. Then there was the era of ‘eventing,’ where brewers scrambled …to build brand awareness at festivals, store demos, and guerilla sampling. A myopic focus on social media followed, ushering in influencers and engagement metrics. Which leads us to today and the next big thing for breweries: growth marketing.
But what is it and will it help get us out of the mess we’re in right now?
What we’ve found may surprise you: the idea is not new, and it’s completely within your reach to execute. Your team just needs to take a bottom-up approach to capturing new sales:
• Steady Your Foundation
• Activate Your Markets
• Engage Your Audience
• Unlock Sales Channels
• Regionalize And Localize
• Integrate And Scale
The need for strategic, targeted sales is more important now than ever. Our goal is for brewery owners and managers to understand the components of growth marketing and where to prioritize time and resources. Presentation attendees have access to our selection of downloadable Guides, with techniques to keep fans engaged and proven tools to fuel excitement around your unique story.
We started Market Your Craft to help small-to-mid-sized producers quickly adapt to the changing Marketing landscape with storytelling. Because we believe every craft brand has an exciting story to share. Led by Scott Kolbe, we’re a team of dreamers and doers, passionate about all things beverage with the creds to match. We’ve created a series of Workshops and Guides to help define your brand story and inform your Marketing efforts. To learn more or to schedule a session with one of our storytelling experts, visit marketyourcraft.com.
Join us in-person for CBP Connects
Half workshop, half networking
Charlotte, NC | June 9-11, 2025
Register now: https://cbpconnects.comShow More
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60-Second Solutions: Shortcuts to Sales w/Scott Kolbe (Market Your Craft)
Brewery owners and managers are struggling to find new drinkers. …
Brewery owners and managers are struggling to find new drinkers. Younger consumers aren’t interested. RTDs, whiskey and tequila are having a moment. CBD, THC and functional beverages are carving out …their share. Waters are exploding. And craft beer is stuck in a sea of sameness, desperate to stand out.
What if there was a checklist of 40 marketing and sales tactics that could change the course of your business? And each one took just minutes to execute?
The team at Market Your Craft wants you to have the tools and best practices to find new sales quickly for your craft brewery or cidery. Not next quarter. Not even a month from now. Starting tomorrow! We’ve distilled years of working with brands like yours into a blueprint for successful marketing and sales in today’s challenging market.
We’ll provide step-by-step instructions for unleashing the power of your:
– Brand Website
– Public Relations
– Events and Activations
– Social Media Engagement
– Sampling and Demos
– Integrated Sales Channels
– High-Performance Marketing Strategy
Conquer your fear of marketing! Start by storytelling what makes your brand different. You have what you need to jumpstart next-level sales growth right in front of you. We’ll help you prioritize the strategies and tactics. Presentation attendees have access to 15 Complimentary Guides, with proven tools to attract new drinkers, build momentum and capture new sales in this environment.
Market Your Craft is a virtual team of experts in storytelling your craft beer brand. We’ve worked with some of the most iconic brands in the beverage industry, including Sierra Nevada, BJ’s Brewhouse, Jim Beam, Maker’s Mark and others. Led by Scott Kolbe, industry veteran of 20+ years, our goal is to help you become more discoverable in today’s crowded market. We measure success by how quickly we provide your internal team with the tools needed to drive traffic, build engagement and capture sales.
Huge thanks to CDR BeerLab + ABS Commercial for all your support on our Fall Virtual Conference.
Join us in-person for CBP Connects San Diego
Half workshop, half networking
San Diego, CA | December 10-12, 2024
Grab your spot now at http://cbpconnects.com/Show More
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What topics does Market Your Craft speak on?
We speak on every area of craft beverage marketing – brand storytelling, content, social media, email, public relations, events, and AI search – drawing on case studies from across the industry, alcoholic and non-alcoholic alike. Sessions range from big-picture strategy to hands-on tactics, and we tailor each one to your audience, whether that’s founders, marketers, or the full team. Storytelling and artificial intelligence are our most-requested topics right now.
Do you speak on AI and Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) specifically?
Yes, AI and AEO are among our most in-demand sessions, covering how craft producers can use AI responsibly and how to make their brands show up in AI-driven search like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Google’s AI Overviews. We translate a fast-moving, jargon-heavy topic into concrete steps your members can act on the next day. It’s a timely, differentiated draw for any conference or guild meeting looking to give attendees a real edge.
Will you speak at our guild or association event, in person or virtually?
Absolutely! Guild and association meetings are a core part of what we do, and we present both in person and virtually depending on your format and budget. We’ve delivered presentations, breakout sessions, and moderated panels for craft beverage guilds and conferences across the country. Virtual sessions make it easy to bring value to your members wherever they’re located.
Can you tailor a presentation to our event or members?
Yes, and we prefer to. Every presentation is built around your audience and goals: a distributor-focused trade group, a room of founders, and a production team newer to marketing all need different framing. Tell us who’ll be in the room and what you want them to walk away with, and we’ll shape the session to fit.
How do we book Market Your Craft to speak?
Reach out with your event date, format, and audience, and we’ll take it from there. You can start the conversation here, email scott@marketyourcraft.com, or call (224) 999-0547. We’ll work within your timeline and budget to design a session your attendees will remember.
