8 Alcohol Marketing Tips to Put You Ahead of the Competition

The beverage alcohol industry is flourishing, with 10.74% growth forecasted by the year 2032. This projected spike in profitability brings with it an excellent opportunity for brands to increase their revenue potential through high-impact alcohol marketing. 

However, in a highly regulated industry subject to changing consumer behaviors and economic conditions, effective promotion has become more challenging. That’s why it’s vital to know how to put your brand ahead of the competition. 

Set your bev-alc brand apart and achieve marketing success with these alcohol marketing tips. 

Understanding your target demographic and tailoring your marketing to their unique behaviors, preferences, and needs has become more crucial than ever for the beverage alcohol industry. That’s because alcohol consumption behaviors are changing, especially across younger generations. 

Alcohol consumption rates among adults under the age of 35 have fallen from 72% to 62% over the past 20 years, and Gen Z has been shown to consume 20% less alcohol than generations before them, according to Berenberg Research. There are a number of reasons younger consumers are drinking less, such as pursuing healthier lifestyles, saving money, and improving mental health.  

So, an ad showing a group of young people drinking your alcohol brand at a wild party probably wouldn’t be an effective way to market to Gen Z. When marketing to this demographic, consider changing the narrative to better reflect younger consumers’ behaviors. 

Compliance is an essential aspect of marketing for any industry, but it’s especially crucial in a highly regulated industry such as bev-alc. Ensuring your alcohol marketing adheres to federal and state compliance laws minimizes legal risks for your brand while protecting consumers from false health claims and the glamorization of irresponsible behaviors. Alcohol advertising that does not adhere to federal and state compliance laws is subject to costly legal repercussions. 

Keep the following compliance requirements in mind when marketing your brand: 

• Age-appropriate advertising: All alcohol advertising materials must primarily appeal to individuals who are at least 21 years of age. In accordance with this requirement, landing pages and ad targeting should be age-restricted, and marketing materials should not include imagery that appeals to children. 
• Responsible drinking representation: Your marketing must encourage responsible alcohol consumption, which means it cannot model reckless or excessive drinking. It’s also a good rule of thumb to include “Please drink responsibly” disclaimers in your ads.  
• Honest product promotion: The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) prohibits any alcohol promotion that deceives consumers by disseminating inaccurate information about the product, such as misleading statements or unsubstantiated health claims.  
• DISCUS requirements: Bev-alc brands must adhere to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS)’s Code of Responsible Practices, which outlines responsible beverage alcohol advertising provisions like content placement, social responsibility, and event conduct.  

Of course, your alcohol marketing isn’t solely in your hands — you also have distributors, retailers, and reps who are promoting your products. Ensure every campaign they launch is brand- and legal-compliant by creating customizable templates, providing pre-approved assets, and leveraging design tools with compliance built in.  

There’s no better excuse to raise a glass than a special occasion. In fact, 55% of Americans drink more alcohol than usual during the holidays. That’s why launching holiday-specific campaigns is a great way to boost alcohol sales. With festive drink ads, you can generate excitement, create emotional connections with consumers, and create more buzz for your brand. 

Here are the top 10 biggest drinking holidays according to a survey conducted by Alcohol.org: 

1. Mardi Gras 
2. New Year’s Eve 
3. St. Patrick’s Day 
4. Fourth of July 
5. Halloween 
6. Cinco de Mayo 
7. Memorial Day 
8. Labor Day 
9. Winter holidays 
10. Thanksgiving 

Consider building campaigns around a few of these holidays to get customers feeling festive about your brand. 

Holidays aren’t the only days that get people sipping. You can also create promotions around national drinking days that align with your product offerings — for example, National Wine Day, National Beer Day, or National Rum Day. 

These national bev-alc holidays get pretty granular, even going into mixed drink holidays like National Pina Colada Day and National Daiquiri Day, so whether you’re a wine, beer, or spirits brand, you’re bound to find a handful of these occasions that are relevant to your brand. 

The October, November, December season — better known as OND — is the busiest (and most profitable) time of the year for the beverage alcohol industry. But to ensure the best possible outcomes for your brand, it’s crucial that suppliers and distributors alike start preparing for the sales rush in advance. That means starting your marketing efforts around the August/September months to ensure all OND campaigns are prepped and ready to go before the last-quarter frenzy. 

Not sure where to start? If you’re a supplier, here’s what you need to do to nail your OND marketing: 

1. Develop templates: Provide your distributors and reps with marketing templates they can use to easily create on-brand assets that comply with your brand and legal standards. 
2. Communicate goals: Speak to your distributor network and internal teams to ensure everyone is aligned with your marketing goals and is working toward the same objectives. 
3. Order POS materials: To ensure all point-of-sale materials arrive in time to promote your products during the biggest OND holidays (Halloween, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, and New Year’s), be sure to place your orders at least two weeks before each holiday. 
4. Track your orders: After placing your orders, you should monitor order confirmations and shipping details to gain visibility into the shipping process and know when to expect deliveries.  
5. Install creative: Once your marketing assets arrive, it’s time to install these materials in local retail stores to catch consumers’ eyes and boost sales.  
6. Track performance: Your job isn’t done once your creative is out in the market. Be sure to monitor performance by tracking redemptions, QR codes, rebate usage, and word of mouth to gauge campaign success.  
7. Build additional templates: Want to mix things up? Consider developing additional templates to give your reps more customization options to use throughout the OND season.  
8. Order additional creative: You can order additional POS materials at any time to keep your displays fresh. 

OND marketing looks a little different for distributors than it does for suppliers, but with the right preparation, you can achieve the same results.  

Here are the steps distributors should follow to generate big OND wins: 

1. Plan marketing campaigns: Start planning marketing operations for your accounts before launching your campaigns.  
2. Use creative templates: Leverage supplier-provided creative templates to ensure all marketing is on-brand and legally compliant.  
3. Take inventory of POS materials: Audit your supplier-provided marketing materials so you know everything you could potentially use for your campaign. 
4. Place POS orders: Create your marketing materials using pre-approved templates and place your orders at least two weeks before all major OND holidays. 
5. Install creative: Once you receive your POS materials, position them in local retail establishments to encourage consumers to buy.  
6. Monitor performance: Keep an eye on your accounts to see how your marketing is performing to help you make data-driven decisions. 
7. Order additional materials: Test new marketing concepts or double down on what’s working by ordering more POS materials.  

When marketing your alcohol brand, it’s important to keep your finger on the pulse of consumer preferences and tailor your messaging to their interests and behaviors.  

Here are a few current consumer trends you can focus on in your alcohol marketing: 

• Premiumization: Premium beverages have gained popularity with consumers, making them more willing to spend a little more for higher-quality products. Try emphasizing the quality of your ingredients, flavors, and packaging to draw in more customers. 
• Sustainability: Environmental responsibility has become a priority for consumers, leading them to search for more eco-friendly products. Draw attention to ways your brand is reducing its environmental footprint, whether through recycled packaging, sustainable sourcing, or energy-efficient production.  
• Health-consciousness: Today, 45% of Americans consider moderate drinking bad for your health — up from 22% in 2005. As consumer health and wellness concerns continue to increase, consider highlighting low-calorie and low-sugar product options.  

Point-of-sale (POS) displays are the unspoken heroes of the alcohol industry, helping brands boost awareness, attract consumers’ attention, and increase sales. POS displays are printed marketing materials located at the point of sale — near the cash register or in the checkout line — used to showcase products in an eye-catching manner.  

Because POS signage is located in the path of any customer who decides to make a purchase, it’s great for upselling products and encouraging impulse buying. It also allows you to showcase your products in a way that makes them stand out among surrounding selections.  

There are many types of point-of-sale displays you can invest in to promote your products, such as: 

• Floor graphics 
• Countertop displays 
• Shelf talkers 
• Posters  
• Ceiling danglers 
• Dump bins 
• Free-standing display units 
• Banners 

In a noisy marketing landscape where companies are constantly fighting for consumers’ attention, it’s important that your brand stands out. With experiential marketing, you can provide customers with memorable brand experiences that go beyond the screen. This unique alcohol marketing tactic engages audiences through out-of-the-box events, activities, and campaigns designed to create lasting impressions and deeper relationships with consumers.  

There are various types of experiential marketing strategies you can use to promote your products in an exciting and impactful way: 

• Events: In-person events, such as festivals, concerts, and parties, offer a great way to interact with consumers directly, helping you create awareness and form meaningful connections with your audience.  
• Pop-ups: Pop-up shops are mini stores that are temporarily placed in high-traffic areas to promote new products and create buzz.  
• Guerilla marketing: This low-cost experiential strategy employs surprising and unconventional tactics like flash mobs, stunts, and ambush marketing to draw attention and get people talking about your brand. 
• Product sampling: Offering free samples of your products is a tried-and-true way to reel in new customers and build brand advocates.  

Want to take your experiential marketing up a notch? Consider investing in branded promotional items you can distribute to consumers at events and activations. When consumers walk away from your brand experiences with high-quality items like apparel, drinkware, and tech featuring your logo, they’re more likely to remember your brand in the long term and even create a positive association with it.  

There’s no doubt the last few years have brought about major economic uncertainty in the alcohol industry, and these disruptions don’t seem to be letting up any time soon. In addition to long-running inflation, the beverage alcohol sector has also been impacted by recent tariffs, with more expected on the horizon. As a result, the cost of production may ramp up while sales decrease. 

It’s crucial that your brand is resilient in response to economic headwinds to remain relevant and nimble in the market. Here are some ways to navigate industry obstacles: 

• Prioritize the customer experience: Your instinct may be to try to wrangle in more customers to make up for lost sales. Instead, focus on providing the greatest possible value to your existing customers — because it costs up to 25 times more to acquire new customers than to retain existing ones.  
• Emphasize quality: As customers tighten their purse strings, you may need to convince them your products are worth the price. Try focusing your messaging on the quality of your products to make a case for your brand in a time when customers are being more selective about their purchases. 
• Monitor industry changes: Keep an eye on shifts in the market, industry, and economy to better anticipate major changes so you can adapt wisely. 
• Continue marketing: Just because times are tough doesn’t mean you should cut back on your alcohol advertising — quite the contrary. Brands that reduce their marketing spend during recessions risk losing 15% of their business to competitors, and those that increase their investment see higher ROI. 

When marketing for your alcohol brand, you need the right tactics to set you apart from the competition. You also need the right platform. 

At Ansira, we’ve spent 100+ years helping bev-alc brands synchronize marketing across their distributors and reps with a centralized solution that drives results. Get in touch with one of our experts to learn more.