The Link Between Branding and Sales

Most importantly though, any move to refresh or rebrand your brewery must result in an increase in sales—and not just the euphoric short-term burst that tends to follow a new brand launch (because you’re new and shiny!) but a sustained upward trend in overall velocity. All of your goals should work towards this overarching end state.

A rebrand can clarify and strengthen your relationship with long-term customers while also attracting new ones. People who have been fans since the beginning will cheer your progress. And in doing so, they’ll make enough racket to bring new fans into the fold and increase your brand awareness across the board.

With your newly-refined brand voice and positioning, you’ll be better equipped to tell
your story through social media, content marketing and other promotional efforts. Whether through writing, imagery or video, a rebranding process should shine through
in all these channels.

We’ve found that getting the entire brewery team engaged during the rebrand can be an incredible tool for building internal culture and camaraderie. It’s not uncommon for brewery teams to be siloed—the brew staff is toiling away in the back while the marketing team is up front in the office. The sales team is logging windshield time while the CEO is out shaking hands and kissing babies (or speaking at a conference). The rebranding process provides an opportunity to bring everyone together to discuss what they believe makes their brewery so special.

We’re starting to see this theme come up more often when rebranding nationally-distributed breweries. The market for top tier brewing, marketing and sales talent has become as intensely competitive as the craft beer industry itself. You will have to fight to win the attention of high quality candidates for the new positions you need to fill as you grow. An exciting rebrand not only energizes your current employees but also helps to attract new talent.

It’s not uncommon to develop a more cost-effective method of printing and templating your packaging through a rebrand. While this isn’t the sexiest goal, it is one of the most pragmatic things you can accomplish through your rebranding process based on positive impact it can have on your bottom line.

One of the lowest and sweetest pieces of hanging fruit we find through the package design process is making sure that your packaging will achieve a big billboard on the shelf. Whether you’re fortunate enough to have your beer all stacked in a cooler together, or even if it’s broken apart by style, having packaging that stands together in a coherent way is a must.

“What logo do we send in to accompany this press release? Do we use this icon or that one for our new t-shirts? If we use that one, we’ll have to pay for another color. Are we allowed to use that font? Wait, what? The glassware printer is asking for a vector file?”

Going through a rebrand will make managing your visual identity much easier because you’ll have both a newly created set of logos and a comprehensive guide to help you know how and when to use each specific mark, color, and typeface.

Websites can become ungainly very quickly if they’re not properly managed. Add a new location, add a few employees with admin rights (or hastily remove them), and it can get hairy fast. A new website can immediately help save time and even make you more money by providing a simple storefront to sell your merch, gift cards and tours, and a contact form that you can send people to for making donation or special event requests. The ROI from rebranding begins to accrue immediately when it includes a new, purpose built responsive website.