So, what are we talking about today?
The criminally underused brewery email newsletter. Especially for you smaller indie breweries out there.
Now, I receive quite a few brewery newsletters. Most of them tend to come from the bigger dogs, pushing promos, bundles, new releases, seasonal beers, free delivery offers and the occasional “please buy this before we have to move it” pack. All perfectly sensible stuff. But I very rarely get newsletters from smaller breweries, and I wish I did.
Because a good brewery newsletter can be one of the hardest working bits of marketing you have.
It is a direct line to people who have actively said they want to hear from you. No fighting the algorithm. No hoping Instagram decides your lovely new beer video is worthy of being shown to 14 people. No wondering whether TikTok has decided you are suddenly an accountant from Swindon. Just you, in their inbox, talking about what is going on and giving them a reason to buy something, visit somewhere, book something, or come back for more.
Your email newsletter can drive direct sales to your website. It can let people know when new stock lands, promote bundles, limited releases, merch, subscriptions, memberships, gift cards and those cheeky little offers that get people over the line. But it can do far more than that. It can drive people into your taproom too.
Got tickets going live for an event? Tell your list first. Got a food pop up coming in? Tell your list. Want people to book a table? Tell your list. Want to promote brewery tours, private hire, quiz nights, live music, tap takeovers, comedy nights, tasting sessions or a Sunday roast situation involving a very large Yorkshire pudding? Tell your list.
There is a massive difference between posting something once on social media and putting it directly in front of people who have already shown an interest in your brewery.
The tricky bit, of course, is getting people onto that list in the first place.
But there are loads of simple ways to do it. In the taproom, give people a reason to sign up. You might offer money off their next round, a free half on their next visit, early access to tickets, first dibs on limited releases, or a chance to win a mixed case every month.
You could add a sign up prompt to your WiFi landing page, as long as it is clear what people are signing up for and they actively opt in to hearing from you. You could offer email receipts through your till system, again with a clear separate option for people who want to receive marketing afterwards. You can run a simple competition too. Drop your email in for a chance to win a brewery tour, a case of beer, tickets to your next event, or a merch bundle.
You can also create a simple offer on your website. Sign up and get a voucher for money off in the taproom. Sign up and get early access to your next seasonal release. Sign up and get a buy one get one free token for your next visit. The point is not to make people jump through hoops. It is to give them a genuinely decent reason to hand over their email address.
Then, once they are on the list, do not overcomplicate it.
You do not need to write a 2,000 word essay every week. Build a simple rhythm. One email might be about a new beer. The next could be an upcoming event. The one after that might be a bit of brewery news. Another could push a bundle or remind people about a taproom booking. Every now and then, tell a story. Talk about the people behind the brewery. Share what you are working on. Give people a proper reason to feel part of what you are building.
A good email list becomes an audience you actually own. And that is a pretty useful thing to have when social media changes its mind every five minutes.
Get the basics locked in. Automate the bits you can. Keep the content useful. Then watch how hard that list can work for you.
