Megan Miller held a multi-functional leadership role spanning overall venue and business oversight, payroll, marketing direction, event development, concert production, community partnerships, promotions, and guest experience.
Strategic Marketing & Event Development for The Biergarten
BUSINESS-FIRST MARKETING, BUILT INSIDE THE BUSINESS
The Biergarten
The Challenge
The Biergarten opened May 1, 2016. Megan joined the business in August 2017 and remained through mid-February 2019, leaving when ownership changed. A Bar Manager handled beer deliveries, staff scheduling, and later staff hiring; Megan coordinated the broader business, marketing, and event-production functions.
Marketing tied to a business objective.
The original strategy documents show a disciplined approach: study the audience, identify when they are online, define the venue position, build content around customer interests, and connect marketing activity to foot traffic and transactions.
AUDIENCE INSIGHTS
4,776 Facebook fans were documented in the January 8, 2018 insights report. The analysis identified 64% women, with women 25-34 and 35-44 as particularly strong segments. The report also tracked audience geography across San Antonio, New Braunfels, Seguin, Marion, Schertz, Cibolo and surrounding markets.
BUSINESS GOAL
“Increasing foot traffic and # of transactions at Biergarten.” Social goals included regional brand exposure, engagement, concert-ticket sales, and becoming a useful information hub for Marion residents.
From concept to ROI
Megan created a repeatable event-planning framework rather than treating each event as a one-off promotion. The system moved through initial, planning, and final meetings with action items and assigned ownership.
1. PLAN
Concept, date, location, meetings, notes and action items
2. ASSIGN
Vendors, creative, music, stage, security, ticketing and venue functions
3. BUDGET
Allocated budget, purchased items, costs and total cost
4. EVALUATE
Pros, cons, improvements and return on investment
THE KEY DIFFERENCE
The post-event section asked what worked, what did not, what should change next time, and compared event sales with an average day for the month. That turns event production into a measurable business process – not simply an entertainment calendar.
Marketing the show. Producing the show.
The Biergarten music series featured recognizable Texas and Red Dirt artists including Parker McCollum, Charlie Robison, Shane Smith & The Saints, Roger Creager, Cory Morrow, and Micky & The Motorcars.
CASE STUDY | SHANE SMITH & THE SAINTS
The production agenda documents sound arrival at noon, load-in at 2:00 PM, sound check at 3:30 PM, The Reed Brothers opening at 8:00 PM, and Shane Smith & The Saints beginning at approximately 9:30 PM. The run-of-show also accounted for VIP service, security, ticket checking, food truck, police presence, ticket booth setup, POS preparation and venue readiness. Megan coordinated the overall event operation across these functions. Bar-specific scheduling and beer-delivery responsibilities remained with the Bar Manager.
The through-line: strategy before tactics.
The surviving work shows that Megan was already approaching marketing as a business function: identify the customer, understand the numbers, define the experience, create the offer or event, coordinate execution, and evaluate the result.
GENERAL MANAGER. MARKETING DIRECTOR. EVENT PRODUCER.
The Biergarten gave Megan the opportunity to work at the intersection of operations, marketing, live entertainment and community development – with responsibility for both the strategy customers saw and the business execution required behind it.
CAPABILITIES DEMONSTRATED
Business & Venue Management
- Payroll
- Marketing Strategy
- Audience Analysis
- Brand Positioning
- Content Planning
- Social Media
- Event Concept Development
- Concert Production
- Community Partnerships
- Vendor Coordination
- Cross-Functional Event Coordination
- Customer Experience
- Budget Awareness
- Event Evaluation & ROI Thinking
