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We all know how important special events are to engage your current customers and develop relationship with new customers but are you getting the most out of your event? Here are some ideas to make sure that the time, effort and money are worth it:
1) Define your purpose and your audience. Is this a Wine Club party? A release party? Build your event around the purpose and make sure that your audience understands the purpose.
2) Have a theme. Since yesterday was Cinco de Mayo, I will use that as an example: Mexican food, decorations, a Mariachi band and that perfect wine that complements it all. Encourage guests to wear their somberos and ponchos.
3) Offer something they can’t always get. Feature a library or limited production wine that is not readily available – or offer wines at a significant discount for the day. Be sure to give them a reason to attend.
4) Don’t be greedy. I always suggest that clients view a special event as an opportunity to sell wine vs. making money off tickets. Make sure you are covering your costs but don’t charge too much for the entry fee – if someone pays a lot for an event, they don’t feel as obligated to purchase wine.
5) Promote, promote, promote. Make sure your event is on your website, social media and in print. There is nothing worse than having a party and having no one show up, so get the word out!
One of the more popular sessions presented at the January Direct to Consumer Wine Symposium was about eCommerce, including how to format your email communications.
Nyk King, Direct to Consumer Marketing Manager for Terlato Wine Group, gave some great examples of what to do (and not do!) when creating your email campaigns to avoid having it marked as spam. The following “triggers” can block your email from being seen:
- Do not use Red and Blue font colors
- Make sure there are no spellying errurs
- Make sure the image to text ratio of content is low (meaning more words than pictures)
- Use the same size and type of font throughout the email
- Avoid using ALL CAPS
- Avoid $, &, %
- Do not use multiple exclamation points
- Keep your subject line length to 50 characters
He also recommends testing your email campaigns across several email accounts – gmail, aol, yahoo, Outlook, etc. – to make sure the look comes across consistently as you have designed it.
Thanks to Nyk and all the other speakers at the Symposium – you gave us great content and we can’t wait to implement your ideas!
Another year has passed and we once again have the opportunity to create a fresh start. Never mind all those resolutions from last year that went by the wayside by February – we can clean the slate and begin again.
January is always a great time to reinvent yourself – and the same applies to your winery. The vines are dormant and sales are a bit sluggish right after the holidays, so there should be some time to devote to reviewing all your marketing materials and communications.
- Is your message still relevant? Fresh, interesting and exciting content will keep your customers coming back for information AND wine.
- Have you added any wines or secondary brands that may need a boost? Make sure all your wines are front and center and that the stories are interesting and engaging. If you need to reorganize your offerings or get a new look for a page or two, now is it the time!
- Update your website - take a look at your website and make sure all the information is updated – add upcoming events, releases and other wine news and set a schedule to keep it updated throughout the year. Also, make sure your website is mobile-friendly – there are plenty of resources out there to help streamline the process.
- Create a social media strategy - now is a great time to review your social media choices and build a winning strategy that will boost your image and your sales.
- Have you added all your social media icons and contact information to your website? It is critical for your customers to be able to find you easily and quickly, so make sure your social media links are front and center on your website.
- Review your shipping permits – are there any states that you should be shipping into but don’t have the proper permits? Now is a great time to double check the laws and get your winery compliant.
- Clean your database - go through your database and evaluate who is buying, eliminate and/or correct invalid information and make sure that you are ready for any upcoming spring releases.
Use this time of year to review last year and make a plan for this year – best wishes for 2012!
The holidays are upon us once again – and, as a result, we are overwhelmed with retail sales offers in the stores as well as online. While we all know that holiday sales are tremendousy important (and this is a great time of year to sell those special bottles and make online gift giving easy), it is also important to take the time to thank your customers who support you all year long.
 An email postcard with “no sales strings attached”, featuring a holiday graphic (maybe the winemaker can put on a Santa hat? Or perhaps decorate a bottle with red and green bows and ribbons?) will go a long (inexpensive) way in creating a connection with your customers.
Perhaps create a short, heartfelt ”thank you” video you can post on your social media outlets or a holiday postcard that features a recipe pairing for a holiday celebration. And then there is always the traditional mailed holiday card, conveying best wishes for the holiday season.
Whatever your choice of communication, “thank you” is never a wrong choice in messaging – make it warm and sincere and your customers will stick with you for years to come.
Cheers!
I was working with one of my clients recently on the schedule for 2012 (yes, it is time to start planning for next year!) and they wanted to make changes in some aspects of their program but were concerned about how their customers may view those changes. As we were sitting there trying to second guess what people wanted, I suggested that perhaps we ask them. So we put together a customer survey.
The results were interesting! We sent out 3,000 emails to the customer base, offering them a online coupon as incentive to participate, and over 400 people responded (definitely a nice sampling of their customer base for feedback!). Not only did my client find out the answers to the questions about the program changes and what people wanted but we were amazed at how many people provided verbal feedback to the questions, which is invaluable. We crafted the survey to be mulitple choice – simple but with clear direction for us depending on the answers – and included comments boxes on all questions. People actually took time to write out answers, which were very fun to read and offered insight to their behavior and thoughts.
So if you are trying to second-guess your customers, try sending them a survey instead! Not only will you find out what they want but they will appreciate being asked and feel more connected to your brand.
September and October are typically known as harvest months in wine regions across the country – they are also the busiest months of the year for new wine releases. The weather has become more temperate (so orders that have been held for heat can now begin to make their way to consumers), the number of visitors to wine country increase so they can experience the excitement of crush, and the holidays are fast approaching (gifts, parties, family dinners, and lots of celebrations that can involve wine!).
 Many small producers focus on their red wine this time of year – as the weather grows colder and hearty dishes appear on the dinner table for those cold fall and winter evenings, a beautifully crafted Cabernet Sauvignon or Zinfandel can become the wine of choice. If you are releasing new vintages this fall (or offering up some of those coveted library wines), be sure to offer food pairings to your customers so that they maximize the experience of your wine. Also, suggest gift ideas – don’t know what to get Uncle Henry? If he is a wine lover, go for something in the bottle – he will appreciate the thoughtfulness and he may just share!
Smaller and larger format bottles are great to promote this time of year – if someone is going to a party, a magnum is a perfect size to share with a group of people. Collectors also prefer large formats for aging purposes, so be sure to produce at least a small amount for those special customers. A smaller bottle (375ml), is the equivalent of about two (generous) glasses of wine – think romantic dinner for two (and no trying to figure out how to preserve the remainder of the bottle!).
Whether you have a new wine or are just featuring some current or older vintages, have fun with your customers this time of year. Invite them to enjoy your wine at their harvest and holiday celebrations and be sure to let them know how much you appreciate their patronage all year long.
Cheers!
Is your wine club membership stalled and you are looking to breathe new life back into your program? Unsure of what to do? Ask your current members! Your wine club members are amongst your most loyal customers and fans – something inclined them to join, to stay and participate and even, ultimately, leave. Do you REALLY know why?
Create a simple, short online survey to find out exactly what you are doing right AND wrong – include questions that require more than a yes or no answer. Examples:
- What are your favorite varietals?
- Have you attended any of our wine club events? If so, what did you enjoy most?
- What other programs or benefits would you like to see included?
- What is your biggest concern about our wine club?
- What is your favorite part of being a wine club member?
- How many times a year do you enjoy receiving wine?
- How many other wine clubs have you joined?
Tailor the questions to fit what you really want to find out – you can even survey former club members to get feedback on why they quit and what it would take to get them back. The answers may (or may not) surprise you – but it will give you a great sense of how your best customers view your wine club and feel about your program. And the added benefit: they will be flattered that you asked, which shows concern for them as valued customers.
Cheers!
For small wineries with limited resources, setting up and maintaining a blog is a daunting proposition. What do you talk about? Who should write it? How often should you post?
The most important factor for beginning a blog is continuity – there is nothing worse that starting a blog, advertising it to your customers and then not following through. One of the great things about a blog is that you have the opportunity to update your fans on a regular basis – you may not change your website information every week but you can post pictures, tell stories of what is currently happening in the vineyards and winery, and keep a constant connection going with customers.
On the technical side, the easiest way to setup a blog is through WordPress – if no one on staff knows how to set it up, have your web designer do it. It is free and, once setup properly, easy to use. Be sure to add an email subscription service (such as Feedburner) - when people subscribe to your blog, every time you post something new, it will generate a email with the blog post to the subscriber, so they don’t even have to make a point to visit the blog page to get the update – it is delivered right to their inbox!
On the organization side, make a calendar – start with one month at a time and schedule posts for at least once a week. Make a list of potential topics – growth in the vineyard, bottling and labeling procedures, blending options, recipe pairing, etc. The number of available topics are endless but by selecting specific topics and slotting them into the calendar, you are already on the way to winning the battle of managing your blog. Not comfortable writing or posting pictures? Find someone on staff who is – or outsource it to one of the many professional wine bloggers that are out there.
Once you have established your blog, get the word out! Include it on all your email communications and tweet and post links to it regularly as you have new topics. You can also find sites that network blogs about specific topics – do a little research and find the best one for your region or area of interest.
Last weekend I attended my first Wine Bloggers Conference (it was their 4th annual meeting) and was fascinated by the technology in play by the attendees. All the conference tables had their own power strips and each attendee had at least one (but usually two) devices from which they were tweeting and posting throughout the sessions. At the end of the weekend, Joel Vincent, co-creator of the event, suggested that over 10,000,000 million impressions were generated from the hashtag #wbc11 – yes, 10 MILLION!
How does this benefit wineries? If you were mentioned in any of the tens of thousands of tweets this past weekend, think of the reach that gives your brand. The more your name is out there, the more interest is generated in your wine, both directly and in the market. And the best part of all of this: there is very little cost to maintaining a presence and joining in on the conversation. You do need to monitor your account, jump in with relevant information and become part of the online community – if you are a small brand and don’t have access to the technology or time to invest, outsource that communication to a professional who can help promote your brand.
Happy Tweeting!
We all know that mobile technology is here to stay – with the popularity of smart phones, iPads and other portable devices, people won’t leave home without them. This provides a great opportunity for wineries to jump on board and engage consumers, both during and after their visit to the winery.
You can design a specific mobile app for your winery that can be used on smart phones and devices but that can be costly, both on a development and maintenance level. If you don’t have the budget for that type of investment or you are not sure of the effectiveness of such an application, you can start by making sure your website is “mobile friendly”, which mean if a customer pulls it up on their phone (either through a browser or a gateway app), the page is easy to read and navigate on any size portable device.
One of my web designers suggests using Mobify, an application that creates a mobile version of your website. There is no need to maintain two websites – if you update your regular website, the update is automatically transferred to your mobile site. Pretty cool concept. I am sure there are many other tools out there that will do the same thing – do some research and find one that will work for you.
If you provide a clean, easy way to connect your website with your mobile users, they will continue to view and download information no matter where are – in your tasting room, on their couch or at the wine store.
Cheers!
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©2010 Wine Direct Marketing Services LLC |
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