10 Best Brewery Promotion Ideas (2024)

Nothing quite hits like a chilled mug at your favorite pub. It offers comfort and familiarity that’s hard to beat. 

Breweries appeal to both routine-seekers and adventurous beer drinkers, so offering an array of promotional ideas can help bring them to your place in droves. 

What is a Brewery Promotion?

A well-constructed brewery special takes customer favorites into account, along with newer offerings that pique their curiosity. 

How to Design an Effective Brewery Promotion

Keep these questions in mind when developing specials for your brewery: 

1. What’s on tap? Is there a new brew you want to feature? An old one on its way out? If a shiny and new drinking option is out there for people to partake in, try to build your brewery promotion idea around one or several of them. 

2. What’s going on in the community? A sporting, charity, or concert event of some kind? Tie promotions into these happenings, to get people thinking about your brewery as a potential after-party stop.  

3. What’s going on outside? As in, how are the elements? Are you in the dead of winter where nobody would even think about coming outside? Or are you in that sweet spot of spring and summer? Front- or back-load your specials based on what’s happening weather-wise.

4. How’s your stock? A surplus of beer at discounted rates could be a great financial lift.

5. What are the bottom-line goals? Really crunch the numbers before rolling any brewery promotion out.

What Should I Budget for My Brewery Promotion?

To create an effective brewery special, think about product and promotion. 

Product speaks for itself. If you’re going to create a special for a new beer, make sure you have enough to handle the flood of people. You need the budget to brew the beer, then you need room to brew an extra batch if demand exceeds expectations. 

Where does your promotional ROI come out best? Is it radio ads, Facebook, Instagram? Allocate your marketing budget properly so you can devote adequate time to each medium and connect with your target audiences.

The 10 Best Brewery Promotion Ideas

1. New Beer Releases: Get people out to taste your latest treat off the tap. 

Example: Run a limited free tasting special to frequent visitors for one (or more) of your newest beers. 

2. Non-Beer Product Launches: Do you have lots of swag? Debut new accessories to get people in the door. 

Example: Anyone who buys a brewery shirt, mug, or hat gets x dollars off their first beer.

3. Carryout Specials: Offer your latest or favorite brews in carryout versions. 

Example: Put a certain number of 4-, 6-, or 12-pack beers in your brewery and sell them on a limited basis. 

4. Charitable Collaborations: Help a charity close to your heart with discounts on certain items. 

Example: Tab one of your beers as “this charity’s favorite,” then donate proceeds from sales of the beer.

5. Community-Based Events: Sponsor a nearby community event to get the word out about your brewery.

Example: As the official brewery of a 5K, offer runners one free can of your beer.

6. Guest Brewers: Are other brewers fans of your beer? Great! Invite them in for a special “tap takeover.”

Example: Do a tap takeover yourself at a local bar, to get people sampling popular or lesser-known beers at discounted rates.

7. Milestone Celebrations: Celebrate your accomplishments with those who made it happen!

Example: Is it your second anniversary? Do $2 off every beer! Third anniversary? $3 off! And so on and so forth (until it starts becoming less profitable, of course). 

8. Group Deals: Does your brewery have an event space or gathering area? Entice social and corporate groups to rent it out at a discounted rate. 

Example: Offer company happy hours access to the extra space at a discounted rate.

9. Game Days/Nights: Get people rooting for the home team at your counter. 

Example: Discounted drafts during game times should be enough to get people in the door.

10. Limited Edition Offerings: Create an event beer! Or a 1-day-only beer! Something that creates urgency. 

Example: Jumping off the game day idea, create a concert beer that only comes out during in-house or nearby shows!

How to Measure the Effectiveness of a Brewery Promotion

Understanding the real impact of your promotion starts with giving yourself expectations that you can tweak and monitor in real time. 

If you moved two kegs of something in a 3-hour period, run a special for that time period and see if you still move that much. If supply shows that it can stand up, your brewery promotion has legs. 

Finally, look at foot traffic and brand awareness. Are more people coming than before? Are more people talking about your brewery either through referrals, on social media, or some other indicator? 

Let these metrics guide your brewery specials going forward. 

Start brewing!

As your brewery expands its offerings, offer promotions that entice customers to return and try what you have on tap. 

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