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If you own or operate a brewery, you know there are certain unique characteristics of your industry that don’t apply to most other businesses. For example, most companies have separate manufacturing and processing facilities, while breweries often host their production facilities where they sell their products.

Breweries sell beer, which might seem like a limiting business model, but anyone who knows beer can tell you there are innumerable differences in this beverage category. Since many breweries brew and sell their own beer, offering custom flavors and products, there are many opportunities to generate leads with unique branding.

Most breweries have a relatively concentrated target market, including beer lovers, casual drinkers, young people, and couples. While most establishments that sell alcoholic beverages keep to a 21-and-up crowd, many breweries have grown their market to be family-friendly, offering food, non-alcoholic drinks, and games. 

This wide target audience means breweries can take advantage of many different strategies to generate leads and boost their revenue. Your brewery might also have complex relationships with other local businesses, such as bars and grocery stores, which you can use to increase your exposure.

8 lead generation strategies for breweries

As a brewery operator, you can adopt many lead-generation strategies to ensure your success and grow leads.

1. Take advantage of unique branding opportunities

If your brewery is a small to midsize business (SMB), you can generate leads by fostering a close relationship with your community partners. Some ways to integrate community connections into your brand include:

  • Naming beers after local landmarks or prominent figures.
  • Decorating with the colors and logos of local sports teams.
  • Partnering with other local businesses, like food trucks or restaurants.
  • Donating items for charity events and fundraisers.
  • Offering internship opportunities.

By cementing your brand in your community, you can generate organic leads and build a positive rapport with your customers. TV news, radio shows, and local print media might pick up on your efforts and run stories that act as earned marketing for your brewery business.

2. Increase your social media presence

Social media is a great way to generate organic, paid, and earned advertising. When you post on your profiles, people can find your content, learn about your business, and engage with your brand. Ensure you have profiles on all the major social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok. 

In your posts, be sure to highlight things like new products, discounts, promotions, and special events to spread the word. Since people spend so much time on social media, it’s one of the best ways to build natural leads. 

You might also consider investing in paid social media so your target audience is more likely to see your conten. You can use sponsored posts to increase the number of leads you generate on social media and track your progress with analytics.

3. Offer exciting events and promotions

Another way to increase lead generation for breweries is to draw people to your location with exciting events and promotions. Trivia nights are popular events breweries can host to increase excitement. Many people love game nights and look for places that host them where they can also grab a drink and relax with friends. 

As a brewery, you might also offer promotions like happy hour specials to draw people in. Everyone loves an opportunity to save money, so promoting these hours will increase the likelihood that people will come to your brewery.

4. Encourage word-of-mouth advertising

One of the most powerful advertising tools is your customers themselves. Word-of-mouth advertising can generate leads for your business, as people are predisposed to trust recommendations from their friends and family

An important way to foster word-of-mouth advertising is to get to know your customers. Brewery staff can work to create a welcoming atmosphere, speaking with customers and building rapport with regulars. 

Reviews are also a type of word-of-mouth advertising you can leverage to build leads. Encourage customers to leave positive reviews and express a genuine interest in hearing their comments and suggestions.

5. Create compelling content

While producing tons of content is sure to get you leads, as with most things, quality is more important than quantity. If your social media posts and other advertising list the same information, in the same way, you won’t catch people’s attention.

Your target audience is looking for a unique experience, and you can show them that you can provide that through the compelling content you create for your advertising. If you want to draw young people in their 20s and 30s, your might mirror viral content to gain their attention. 

Useful content is always a good way to generate leads for your business. As a brewery, you’re an authority on beer, so you might create tasting guides, do-it-yourself home-brewing how-tos, and other relevant content your audience will find helpful.

6. Use search engine optimization (SEO)

SEO is a valuable tool that can help you increase leads for your brewery business. Optimizing your web content will help you appear on the search engine results pages, increasing valuable traffic to your site. When you start an SEO campaign, you can build valuable conversions by targeting relevant keywords

As a brewery, you’ll want to include specific beer- and alcohol-related keywords to draw in your target audience. For example, if you want to highlight your trivia nights, you might use a keyword like “trivia night + location” to draw those “near me” searches. Or, you could use seasonal events like Octoberfest or music festivals in your brewery keywords to draw traffic to your site.

7. Engage in personalized email marketing

Another vital marketing tool to increase leads for your brewery business is email marketing. While it may seem like all the focus is on social media these days, people still check their email. According to recent statistics, 98% of people aged 25-56 use and trust email communications.

Email marketing is a great way to personalize content and engage in retargeting campaigns. If you have an online store where people can purchase products, you can send abandoned cart emails to encourage people to take that last step and convert. 

With analytics, you can learn about your audience and send personalized messages that are relevant to their interests. For example, someone who attended a recent trivia night might be interested in other events you offer at the brewery.

8. Create a subscription or membership program

Airlines gain a lot of business from their frequent flyer programs, and a subscription or membership program can also be a good way to generate leads for your brewery. You can host a beer of the month club where members can get an advance tasting of a new brew or host subscriptions where customers can place regular orders of their favorite beers to take home in growlers.

Your customers, especially those passionate and knowledgeable about beer, are looking for a unique experience, so having a membership program can help generate leads for your brewery.

Meet WebFX:

Your world-class, tech-enabled marketing agency with over 1.6 million hours of combined expertise.

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WebFX can help you generate more leads

If you’re looking to build awareness and generate new leads for your brewery, trust the marketing professionals at WebFX. We have a host of marketing tools to help you create an expert strategy to increase leads and boost revenue for your brewery!

Contact us to learn more about our services, or call us at 888-601-5359 to speak with a strategist today!

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