Liquor Promotion Ideas

When a customer is at the liquor store, what goes into their purchasing decision? Sure, they probably already have an idea of what kind of alcohol they’re looking for – tequila, gin, vodka, wine, beer – but are they open to trying a new brand, or stick to what they know and love? Studies have shown that nearly 40 percent of alcohol drinkers have stuck with their favorite brand for over 10 years, but that doesn’t mean they’re not willing to try something new. So, how do you get them to think of your stuff? We have some liquor promotion ideas that may help get your product off the ground (or off the shelf, really).

Online Liquor Promotion Ideas

The first tip is to try and create brand awareness by establishing an online presence. It’s key to letting consumers that are online (as well as Google and other Search Engines) know just exactly who you are and what you offer.

Understanding how digital marketing works will help you understand what your audience is looking for, thus helping you understand how to present your product.

There are certain things you should do to first create brand awareness before you introduce a new product without…well…bottling it.

Promoting your liquor or alcohol digitally is the perfect place to start. It’s a great opportunity to make an impact and drive customers to their nearest liquor store.

It may seem intimidating, but as you start to create channels and compelling content, you will be noticed.

1. Social Media

The first key to liquor promotion is actually not promoting it yet at all.

The social media world can be a noisy one; nevertheless, if you listen to what your potential customers are saying, and respond accordingly through your content, you’ll start to create some noise around your product and brand. Remember, so many brands are on social media just because they know it’s important to be, but they often forget the number one rule about social media:

BE SOCIAL.

It’s also not about simply posting the same thing on every social media channel possible; rather, understanding your audience and which channels they’re on. For a liquor/alcohol brand, it’s most likely that your audience is on Instagram and/or Facebook. However, it’s important to know what they’re looking for as far as content you produce and post. Engage with them. Interact with them. Listen to what they’re saying – even if it’s not on your channel. Take some time to peruse relevant content and pages.

Then, create an organic content strategy. Oftentimes, it’s not even about your product or drinking at all. Maybe you make it about the lifestyle that fits your brand identity.

1.a. Organic

What we mean by “organic” is that you simply post content through the social platform and let it reach your audience organically – without promoting it with any money.

As an inexpensive liquor promotion idea, start to post throughout the week on different days, at different frequencies, and at different times during the day. Then, with Facebook Insights, you can analyze your audience as well as the performance of your content. Once you hone in on what content performs best at what times, you’ll expand your reach and audience.

Then, with a better understanding of your customers and what content does well, and when, you can create some social media ads.

1.b. Paid Promotion

In a noisy social media world where brands are constantly competing for reach and impressions, you have to “pay to play” in order for your content to reach a larger amount of people.

That being said, social media ads are an efficient and effective way to promote your liquor/brand. With greater knowledge of who your audience is and what content they’re looking for, you can get to the very specifics (although there are some limitations due to the recent iOS update):

Age
Location
Placement
Interests
Behaviors

There are a couple of different ways to use social media ads as a liquor promotion idea, such as boosted posts and sponsored ads.

Which one is better?

Well, that depends on a few factors, like budget, how well that content performed organically, and who you want to reach.

2. Contests and Giveaways

One of the best liquor promotion ideas is to give away something of value. People like free stuff! And it’s proven that giveaways are an effective factor in your online marketing strategy.

Can you offer some swag? Tickets to a concert or sporting event? A Yeti cooler/backpack? Free drinks in your tasting room? Whatever it is, give it away in order to promote your alcohol and brand.

Perhaps you create a contest on social media, where people have to tag their friends and/or engage with your content – it’s a win-win situation, where you grow your audience and your audience wins something cool!

3. Google

Please the almighty Google Gods and you’re sure to have success in your liquor promotion efforts. This is probably one of the best ideas. Other than social media, how you’re viewed by search engines (particularly Google) will define your online presence.

Google has set up a ton of different tools for you to use and it’s a good idea for you to use them. After all, if you’re diligent in your efforts in using Google’s online tools and platforms, you’ll start to learn from the direct source what helps you show up when your audience is searching for relevant topics, keywords, etc. Makes sense, right?

3.a. Google My Business

Google My Business is basically an online listing of your business. Does your business have a physical location? A tasting room, taproom, etc.? Then it’s a good idea to create a profile. Your Business Profile is what shows up on Google Maps and in the local search results on Google. This liquor promotion idea involves personalizing and optimizing your profile by adding things like:

Logo
Website link
Location
Hours
Photos
Posts
Offers (promotions)
Events

Google will also send notifications to your email about all the things you should be doing to help your online visibility/presence. Another one of the best liquor promotion ideas is to gain honest, online reviews through Google, which also show up on your Business Listing. Reviews carry a huge weight in how you rank online. You can also promote your business through Google, too!

3.b. Google Ads

Google Ads is one of the best liquor promotion ideas when it comes to online promotion ideas because of how detailed they can get. Much like social media ads mentioned above, you can get very specific with promoting your alcohol and brand online through Google’s Ads platform.

Want clicks to your website? You can do that.

Want to promote your product? You can do that, too.

One of the main differences between Google Ads and social media ads is that with Google Ads, you can find new customers whereas social media ads can help customers find you. Instead of adding interests and behaviors like on social media ads, with Google Ads, you find new customers through relevant keywords. This is where SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and keyword research come into play. So, while Google is worth your time when it comes to liquor promotion ideas, it most certainly can be intimidating and a full-time job within itself.

Offline Liquor Promotion Ideas

Person-to-person interaction is just as important, as your audience wants to make that personal connection to what’s behind the bottle – that is to say, a personal connection to you and your story.

So, you’re visible and available to your audience online, but are you active in your community?

Create more brand awareness within your community and local liquor stores with these offline liquor promotion ideas.

1. Alcohol Samples

Although COVID-19 has put a halt to a lot of these types of liquor promotions, it’s something to keep in your back pocket for when liquor stores, bars, and other places are able to feature such things again.

Places like Trader Joe’s have seen great success with beer & liquor promotion within their stores as giving out samples has raised their sales figures significantly.

2. Alcohol Pairing Nights

Bourbon and pickled vegetables? Sushi and Rye?

There are a lot of creative alcohol pairings that can allow you to promote your liquor through teaming up with local restaurants and events.

You’ll find that you can create quite the buzz (pun intended) by introducing certain alcohols with certain foods, like these events in Denver alone.

The more unique, the better.

3. Farmers Markets

Farmers’ markets are a testament to the fact that people are looking to support local businesses and try new products.

While most states like Colorado require you to apply for a permit, you’ll notice more and more alcohol brands are jumping on this liquor promotion idea by having a “booth” or canopy set up with samples and bottles for sale.

Even if you don’t sell a ton of your liquor at first, farmers’ markets are beneficial for both big and small businesses.

How The Brandsmen Can Help

Promoting online or offline can be intimidating. There are a lot of moving parts involved in executing these liquor promotion ideas.

A solid marketing strategy involves tying all these moving parts together.

Luckily, we have plenty of experience (and success) in creating a nice marketing web, both online and offline, to make any of these above-mentioned liquor promotion ideas fruitful ones.