Three options. Only one actually works for your business.
Three lines of revenue, one head brewer, the marketing never gets a clean run
An independent craft brewery runs three lines off the same brewhouse: the taproom (Friday after-work, Saturday brewery tour and tasting paddle, Sunday family-friendly with the food truck, often the highest-margin per litre because there's no wholesale cut), wholesale to bars and bottle shops (the volume business, the relationship-built game with Pinthouse and Liquor Marketers and the independent bottle shops, with WET and Excise refund admin every BAS), and direct retail (four-pack and crowler fills out of the taproom door, the limited barrel-aged release that sells out in 36 hours, the subscription mixed-six). Each is a different customer, a different sales cycle, a different keyword set. The head brewer is on the brewhouse from 6am, racking and packaging from midday, on the wholesale calls from 3pm, on the taproom floor by 5pm Friday and the brewery tour at 11am Saturday. The marketing that grows each line (a taproom-events page, a wholesale-to-bars landing page with the Indie Seal up front, a limited-release notify-me list that converts when the barrel-aged stout drops) is the work that doesn't happen between the mash-in and the cellar drop.
Good brewery marketing has three jobs running at once: a taproom-events page library so 'craft brewery [suburb]', 'brewery tour [suburb]' and 'brewery with food truck [suburb]' find you on Friday afternoon Google searches; a wholesale-to-bars landing page that leads with the IBA Indie Seal and shows the core-range pricing per keg, the seasonal limited-release calendar, the delivery suburbs and the existing wholesale accounts (a Sydney brewery with 40 bottle-shop accounts displayed is the proof point that closes the 41st); and a notify-me-plus-pre-launch sequence for limited releases that converts 30 to 40 percent of the list when the barrel-aged stout drops. Most breweries do the taproom well and leave wholesale and limited-release marketing to whoever has a free hour.
Six agents, working in your accounts.
Account Lead, Web, SEO, Advertising, Social Media, and Content. One platform, one bill, you approve the work.
Sets the plan around the three lines that actually grow the brewery: filling the taproom Friday and Sunday, winning new wholesale-to-bar accounts on the Indie Seal moat, and selling out every limited release in 48 hours. Briefs the other agents so the taproom page, the wholesale landing page, the limited-release notify-me sequence and the brewhouse posts all push toward the same outcome.
Ships a clean page library so 'craft brewery [suburb]', 'wholesale craft beer [city]' and 'barrel-aged imperial stout release' find you. Imports your existing site, makes the wholesale-to-bars page lead with the IBA Indie Seal, wires the notify-me list for the limited releases, and keeps the taproom-events page live as the food truck and live-music lineup changes weekly.
Owns the work that decides whether you rank for 'craft brewery [suburb]' and 'brewery tour [suburb]': complete Google Business Profile with the Indie Seal flagged, taproom and brewery-tour schema, review prompts after the tasting paddle, and the technical fixes that keep the wholesale and limited-release pages indexed. Auto-applies the low-risk stuff.
Runs a Friday-after-work and Sunday-family Meta campaign with a 6km radius for the taproom, a pre-launch sequence for each limited release with the notify-me list at the centre, and a Google Ads campaign on 'wholesale craft beer [city]' for bar and bottle-shop buyers. Every alcohol creative is ABAC-checked. The whole point is to fill the taproom when it's quiet and sell out the limited releases in 48 hours, not spend when you're packed.
Turns every brew day and every limited-release rack into content in your voice: a reel of the barrel-aged sour coming off the wood, a carousel of the new fruited IPA labels rolling off the line, a behind-the-brewhouse shot of a yeast pitch, the head brewer talking through a hazy IPA dry-hop schedule. Builds the brewer-led feed that wins the wholesale enquiry and the limited-release pre-order. Every alcohol mention is ABAC-checked. You snap one frame a shift, the agent drafts, you approve.
Drafts the longer pieces that catch the beer-curious customer and the bar buyer between visits: 'what does the IBA Indie Seal actually mean', 'how a barrel-aged imperial stout is made: 14 months and 600 bottles', 'a head brewer's honest pick of the best [suburb] craft breweries'. Two a month, in your voice, that bring search traffic in at the consideration stage and double as content the head brewer can share with wholesale accounts.
Your first 30 days.
- Site imported, hosting bill cancelled
- Annual plan against taproom, wholesale and limited-release lines delivered by Sam
- Google Business Profile flipped from 'Bar' to 'Brewery' with full services list and Indie Seal flagged
- Wholesale-to-bars landing page and taproom-events page indexed and ranking
- Friday-after-work and Sunday-family Meta campaign live with a 6km radius and ABAC sign-off
- Notify-me list wired for the next limited release with 72hr / 24hr / 1hr pre-launch sequence
- First fortnight of brewhouse reels queued in your voice
- Indie Seal and barrel-aged-process blog drafts in your inbox
Breweries that grow past the Saturday taproom rush aren't the ones with the prettiest tap-list chalkboard. They are the ones whose wholesale page leads with the IBA Indie Seal and shows the 22 bottle-shop accounts, whose limited-release sells out in 36 hours because the notify-me list fired three times before the drop, and whose Google Business profile shows the brewhouse, not a stock pint shot. Every one of those is a job that has to happen every week, forever, and it is the work that gets eaten by the mash-in and the wholesale calls.
Agencies are too expensive to actually run the wholesale page, the limited-release sequence and the taproom ads for a craft brewery at $3k a month. Tools are cheap but you write the limited-release caption at 11pm after the brew day. In-House is the third option: for $299 a month the agents ship the pages, post the brewhouse, run the pre-launch sequence with ABAC sign-off, and keep the wholesale enquiries answered the same day. You snap one frame from the floor, approve the week from the cellar, done.