How much do you spend on POS/marketing?

[Neckbone]

As a startup, a large portion of my first year expenses are going to go towards POS and marketing my brewery. I know it varies from place to place, but how much do you guys generally spend per year on POS material and marketing? I know that I'm not going to be competing w/ A-B, M-C and the others on TV and radio. However, I will put ads in local publications and other local advertising.

Help me out guys, what did/do you plan on spending in your first year to get your name out there?

[einhorn]

3-5%

Most beverage companies that I have worked for in the past almost all, no matter what they sold (soft drinks, mineral water, beer, cider) spent anywhere between 3-5% of net sales on marketing, albeit in the continual operative, day-to-day business.

As for the start-up phase, I'm sure that that is very different, depending on your market and type of business.

[Michael Murphy]

This all depends on what your after, are you a small brewery or brewpub then I would spend very little and befriend the local paper photographer as well as the beer jornalists / bloggers.

If your after growth and want to become widely distributed you would (in the US) probably have to find a large distrubor to get such a wide distribution (damm 3 tier system). If you do find a large distrubtor and can give a competitive - price:volume then you would have to budget this, I would reccomend you hire a saleschief with experience at this point and let him work it out.
In the end you may find yourself in debt the first few years even though you sell alot of beer, but the name you can create plus distribution network will increase the value of your brewery.