Building a successful cider brand requires more than just crafting a high-quality product. It starts with forming genuine relationships with your customers before even attempting to make a sale. According to Ben Salisbury, founder of Salisbury Creative Group, most producers of any beverage make a crucial mistake: they focus too much on the product and not enough on the consumer.
“Most people who produce a consumer product do not put the customer first. What do they put first? The product,” Salisbury said at the 2025 CiderCon in Chicago. “They want to talk about the product, how it was made, the history, the people who made it. And all of that is great. But the problem is it’s not focused where it needs to be.”
Salisbury points to Donald Miller’s book, “Building a StoryBrand,” as a key resource for cider makers looking to shift their perspective. The premise of the book is that the customer should be the hero of the brand’s story, while the company plays the role of the guide helping them achieve their goals. This approach should be reflected in a cider brand’s website and social media messaging.
“Building a story brand starts with your website,” Salisbury said. “When someone comes to your website, they better see themselves enjoying your cider. They better see themselves or other people like them, enjoying cider or taking a tour. If the brand is in their face, you’re just making noise like every other consumer product brand, and you are getting it wrong.”
A common mistake in cider marketing is assuming that if a brand exists, customers will automatically find it. Salisbury debunks this misconception.
“A lot of people think, ‘I’m going to buy this orchard. I’m going to make this cidery. I’m going to make the very best cider I can.’ But just because you have it does not mean anyone’s coming,” he said. “Most websites are built on something like GoDaddy or Squarespace, and people think, ‘Well, I’ve got a website. I’m up on the internet,’ but they never bother to stop and look. Is anybody visiting? How much organic traffic are they getting?”
While social media is often emphasized in marketing strategies, Salisbury argues that email marketing should be the top priority for selling cider directly to consumers.
“Email marketing should be your No. 1 strategy for making sales, whether it’s direct-to-consumer or three-tier,” he said. “If you’re building a large audience on social media, that’s great, but you do not own that audience, and it could go away tomorrow. Your account could be suspended, the algorithm could change. You’ve got to have an audience that you can interact with directly. This is about controlling your own destiny.”
Salisbury encourages cideries to collect first-party data through your website and email marketing efforts. Unlike social media followers, an email list belongs to the company and cannot be taken away.
“They’re on your email list until they unsubscribe,” Salisbury said. “Your website needs to be optimized to convert organic visitors to email subscribers. I can’t tell you how many websites I go to, and the first thing I see is a big ‘Shop Now’ button. You have no relationship with them. You’ve built no trust, no rapport. What makes you think they’re going to convert at that point? They’re not.”
To improve conversion rates, Salisbury advises to minimize barriers to entry and ensure that visitors to their website are encouraged to engage with the brand in a meaningful way before being pushed to make a purchase.
“If I go to your website and it makes me fill out my birth month, the day I was born and the year I was born, you have lost me forever as a customer,” he said. “What you need is a simple yes-or-no age gate. If you’re making people fill out their birthday, you’ve got to fix that right away.”
READ MORE: How Email Marketing to Regulars Can Boost Loyalty
Another overlooked tool for growing an email list is the strategic use of pop-ups. While many brands hesitate to use them, Salisbury believes they are highly effective when done correctly.
“Most people don’t like pop-ups because pop-ups done wrong are a pain in the ass,” he said. “If you want to use pop-ups effectively, you’ve got to do two key things: wait 15 seconds to show it, because only people who are actually engaged will see it, and only show it to new visitors.”
On social media, Salisbury recommends using tools like Linktree to maximize engagement rather than directing traffic straight to a website homepage.
“If that link in your Instagram bio is going to your website, you’re doing it wrong,” he said. “Use Linktree to offer multiple options, like joining your email list, checking out events, or reading about your brand. This is a very smart way to leverage your traffic.”
At the heart of Salisbury’s advice is the idea that cideries must earn the right to sell by first building a relationship with their audience.
“You have to respect the customer journey,” he said. “If you’re running Meta ads with a call to action like ‘Buy Now,’ you are wasting your money. You have no relationship. You’ve got to build a relationship first.”
By focusing on customer relationships rather than direct sales pitches, cider brands can create a sustainable, engaged audience that leads to long-term success.
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