Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jon Gorman & Bianca Rosa. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Jon & Bianca, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today One of the things we most admire about small businesses is their ability to diverge from the corporate/industry standard. Is there something that you or your brand do that differs from the industry standard? We’d love to hear about it as well as any stories you might have that illustrate how or why this difference matters.

Yes, and honestly, that’s the whole reason Spirits Marketing exists.

Most agencies approach this industry from the outside looking in. We built ours from the inside out.

Before Spirits Marketing, Bianca spent years behind the bar and on the field working tastings, leading ambassador teams, and listening to customers firsthand. That’s where I started to see the disconnect. Great products were getting lost because the marketing didn’t match how this industry actually works.

At the same time, Jon was building websites for local businesses while working in the tech world, but his roots were in the spirits industry too. Years ago, he worked in production at Deep Eddy Vodka and always stayed close to the craft scene in Austin. When we realized how often brands were being underserved by generic agencies, we knew we could do something better together.

So we built Spirits Marketing to fix the gaps we kept seeing in web design and marketing in this industry.

We do things differently because we’ve done the jobs ourselves — from running activations to building the backend of a high-converting site. That gives us a unique perspective on what’s really needed to grow.

It’s not about reinventing the wheel. It’s about making sure the people who make incredible spirits don’t have to educate their own marketing team just to get results.

Jon & Bianca, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Spirits Marketing is a boutique marketing agency built specifically for the craft spirits industry. We help distilleries grow bottle sales through strategy, branding, field activations, and digital campaigns that actually move product online, on-premise, and off.

We’re not outsiders trying to “break into” the liquor space. This agency was built by people who’ve worked every side of it.

Before starting Spirits Marketing, I (Bianca) worked in the field. I was a bartender, a product specialist, and a rep for Still Austin Whiskey Co. That hands-on experience helped me see how often the problem isn’t the product. It’s the missing strategy around how it’s marketed and sold.

At the same time, Jon’s path started at Deep Eddy Vodka, working in production. He later built a career in tech, became a full-time web consultant, and spent the last five years helping small businesses crush it online. When we combined our skill sets — my field and brand strategy, his technical and design expertise — we realized we had something powerful.

We founded Spirits Marketing in 2021 because we believe that local distilleries deserve to have marketing that outsmarts the big industry giants.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Before Spirits Marketing, Jon and I ran a small web design agency. We worked with all kinds of businesses. Local service providers. Small e-commerce shops. A few startups. We were making it work, and the work was solid.

Then COVID hit.

We were lucky. While many businesses had to shut down, we managed to stay busy. But the world slowed down. That shift in pace gave us something we hadn’t had in a while. Time to reflect.

We started asking ourselves a new question. Where do we actually want to focus our energy?

That reflection led us back to a space we both cared about. Craft spirits.

I had been working in the industry for years, managing tastings and activations. Jon had been supporting small businesses through digital strategy and development. Together, we saw how much waste and missed opportunity was happening in the spirits world. Beautiful bottles with scattered branding. Tastings with no follow up. Websites that looked good but didn’t sell.

That’s when we made the decision. We would focus entirely on helping craft spirits brands grow with marketing that actually works.

That shift from doing a little bit of everything to doing one thing with clarity changed everything.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

In the beginning, we didn’t have a reputation. We were just two people who knew marketing and cared deeply about craft spirits. So we did the only thing we could — we showed up.

We started attending industry events like the American Craft Spirits Association and the American Distilling Institute conventions. Not as sponsors. Not as speakers. Just as attendees. It was awkward at first. Distillery owners didn’t quite know what to make of us. We weren’t producers. We weren’t vendors. We were outsiders.

But we kept showing up. We listened. We learned. And over time, we started to understand the real pain points these founders were facing when it came to marketing.

Eventually, we submitted a proposal to speak — not to sell anything, but to share what we knew. Practical advice on web design. Marketing that actually works in this industry. Ways to sell more bottles without wasting time or budget.

Now we give talks around the country on spirits marketing. We’re proud to be seen not just as marketers, but as contributors to the industry. We earned that reputation by being consistent, being useful, and above all, respecting the work that goes into every bottle.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://spirits.marketing/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spiritsmarketing/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100078634290455
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/spirits-marketing
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@spiritsmarketing26

Image Credits

All photos courtesy of Spirits Marketing