The Winery Web Site Report

Quick Wins For Direct-To-Trade

A worthwhile post from JuiceBox | Direct with suggestions for eCommerce, your tasting room and wine club.

You might also want to subscribe to their Free Run blog.  I did.

2009 Best Of Wine Online

If you haven't already done so, check out Jeff Lefevere's two-part awards post at Good Grape: Part 1, Part 2.

I think Jeff deserves some recognition as well for taking the time to consider thoughtfully the state of wine online.  Please take time to read and comment on his posts.

Thanks, Jeff!  Looking forward to more Good Grape posts in the new year.

3 Types Of Video

Are you trying to go viral, convert visitors, or create loyalty?

This is the kind of thinking you need to do if you are considering adding video to your winery Web site.  The link above leads to a picture at CommonCraft, which leads to an in-depth article at ReelSEO.com.  It's worth following the chain.

How To Stand Out

 

If there was ever a crowded marketplace, it's wine.  There are approximately zillions of bottles to choose from on retail shelves.  There are another half-a-zillion Google results for wine.  What to do?

This video contains some thoughts which may lead you and your winery to an answer.  

It echoes my thoughts on wine labels and vineyard pictures.  It's the essence of Seth Godin's Purple Cow.

Leave your examples of wines and wineries which stand out from the crowd in the comments!

Lessons From Wine.Com

Wine.com sells a lot of wine.  As a result, I think that wineries looking to sell more wine online should look at wine.com to see if there are any lessons to be learned from how they do things.

Here's a brief MarketingSherpa case study of how wine.com lifted order value 15% by making better recommendations to site visitors: 

The system made relevant suggestions in real time as customers browsed the site. The types of recommendations included: 

• Customers who viewed this item also viewed...
• Customers who bought this item also bought...
• Products ultimately purchased by customers who viewed this item...
• Top sellers in this price range...
• Customers who searched for "xxxx" ultimately bought...
• Items related to search "xxxx"...

Obviously, this doesn't apply to a winery with just one wine to sell, and the level of technical sophistication is beyond many winery Web site owners.  But you're probably not making any recommendations at all, and that is a mistake.  For example, you could routinely suggest adding some of your best-selling wine when someone makes a purchase of a different wine.

If you're interested in the article, be sure to print it out, as it goes behind the MarketingSherpa "pay wall" after November 28th.

What do you think?  Please leave a comment.

WineRelease.com Surveys Winery Mailing Lists

 

Neil Monnens at WineRelease.com recently conducted two surveys on winery mailing lists (one for consumers, one for wineries), and he's now released the results.  To encourage you to go look, here are the questions:

CONSUMERS (435 responses):

1. How do you feel about the following winery mailing list practices? (6 practices to rate)
   
2. Should US wineries adjust their pricing, as Bordeaux does, depending on the quality of the vintage?
3. If a winery gave a discount to long-time list members who consistently purchase, would you { purchase every year, increase purchase amount, not change }?
4. What is a reasonable shipping/handling cost, per bottle.
5. If a winery has more wine to sell, which method do you recommend?
6. Do you ever resell wines you're forced to take in order to stay on a winery's list?
7. Are you on any mailing list with the intention of reselling the wine for a profit?
8. Over the past year, have you { increased, decreased, not changed } your mailing list purchases?
9. What percent of the wine you purchase is purchased direct from the wineries?
10. What method do you prefer for receiving information from wineries?

 see the results

WINERIES (155 responses):

1. Do you offer a mailing list?
2. Does your mailing list require any of the below? (6 potential requirements)
3. Should US wineries adjust their pricing, as Bordeaux does, depending on the quality of the vintage?
4. What do you charge for shipping/handling, per bottle?
5. If you have more wine to sell, which method do you use [to distribute the excess to your list]?
6. What is your method of communication with your customers?

see the results

One of the nice things is that Neil includes the verbatim comments for each question, which makes the survey results much less sterile.  This is a great way to see how mailing list customers view the world, and how other wineries handle their lists.  Go read them.

I also wanted to call your attention to Neil's site, WineRelease.com.

WineRelease.com informs wine enthusiasts about upcoming North American wine release dates.

(Like this blog, WineRelease.com is a labor of love, aided by a handful of winery sponsors and some advertising.)

Neil has about 2,000 subscribers, and he strives to make sure that people who subscribe do, in fact, actually read the newsletter by periodically re-qualifying his list.  Here's an example of the monthly newsletter Neil sends out to his list. 

Astonishingly, only 1,519 wineries use WineRelease.com to distribute information about their new releases For a winery, signing up is as easy as sending an e-mail to Neil (see here for the address), and it's free!  

Why wouldn't you take advantage of one more way to let people know about your wines?  By implication, if you are telling people when your wines will be available, they must be worth knowing about.

Automated Pairing For Your Wines

You can add the following wine-and-food-pairing widget to your winery Web site for free:

Flash	Non-Flash

Give it a quick try and see what you think.  It's provided by Natalie MacLean, a well-known wine writer based in Canada, and the widget drives traffic to her site (which is why she's giving it away for free, of course).

Here's a report on Wine & Food Matcher from my friends at VinTank which looks at the pluses and minuses of the widget (and its associated mobile-enabled Web site which provides the same functionality on Web-enabled smart phones like the iPhone).  

Natalie MacLean uses her experiential judgment to hand pick every one of her food and drink suggestions in her mobile application and widget. As she explains “I’m still very old fashioned. I like to make human decision the last factor and still think you need the human touch.”

The VinTank report provides a much more complete evaluation than I could. From a winery's perspective, the widget doesn't make specific brand recommendations regarding wine, which allows any winery to use it without concern of lost sales.

[Update: Natalie pointed out to me via e-mail that the VinTank report focuses on the "mobile application" version of her pairing application (for iPhone and Blackberry), as opposed to the "widget" version (for Web sites).  While that is true, the report does  briefly mention the widget, and the basics of selecting a food or wine and receiving pairing suggestions are much the same.  The mobile app, available as an iPhone or Blackberry application, costs $2.99.]

As shown above, MacLean provides Flash-based and non-Flash based versions of the widget.  I recommend the non-Flash version, since it seems more responsive, and the scrolling behavior of lists works the way you expect.  The only functional difference appears to be the moving images at the top.

Your thoughts? Please leave a comment!

Where's Your Manifesto?

This is a great blog post from A Donkey and Goat Winery.  It talks very specifically about why they make their wines the way they do.  Here's the opening bit:

We make our wines for the table, not the cocktail glass. We make Rhóne varietals in both colors plus an unusual Chardonnay. We (my husband and winemaking partner Jared and I) strive to make wine as naturally as possible. We've done so since day one. Of late, natural is fashionable, which we do of course appreciate, but the reality is we've done this from the start because we feel it makes a superior wine while aligning with our environmental objectives.

Their "manifesto" goes on at length and in detail.  I recommend you read it.  You may or may not agree with how Donkey and Goat wines are made, but I think you'll have to agree that Tracey and Jared are very clear about what they're doing.

You should have a page like this on your winery Web site or blog.  It's a very powerful, personal statement that will help sell your wines to the people who care about the way wine is made.  As a wine purchaser, it makes me want to buy a Donkey and Goat wine, to see how it stacks up against wines which I like, but don't really know much about how they are made.

Of course, it requires that you have thought carefully about why you make your wines the way you do, and that you're willing to be honest about it.  A manifesto like this gets right down to the nitty-gritty: are you proud of the wines you make and sell?

Add To Cart?

If you look at most winery e-commerce pages, particularly if they are part of an off-the-shelf offering (e.g. Nexternal), the buttons which place a bottle or case of wine in the visitor's shopping cart all seem the same:

In contrast, take a look at the way wine.woot sells its wine offerings.  This button is certainly more compelling:

 

Nick Usborne offers several more good reasons why you might want to reconsider an "Add to Cart" button.  Usborne's point is that online retailers carefully craft their headlines and copy, then blow it with a lackadaisical  "Add to Cart." 

He does allow that 

It can make sense to say something generic, like "Add to Basket", or "Add to Cart" when you have a large online store and are trying to get your visitors to buy more than one item at a time. People are very familiar with the process.

but really, you're not Amazon-dot-freaking-com.  Unless you're a top-30 winery, you're essentially selling hand-crafted products, each of which deserves a hand-crafted story.  

 My point is that wineries need to devote the energy you find at wine.woot to create a one-of-a-kind copywriting treatment for each of its current wines.  Something that says "Here's a story that will engage you while it convinces you to buy this wine." 

True, writing that story is nowhere as easy as slapping up some tasting notes and other information in a standard (boring) way, but I bet it sells more wine.  Note that wine.woot does provide the standard stuff as well, but not without leading with great copy written specifically for a particular item.

Does the wine.woot copy technique only work for inexpensive wines?  Twisted Oak does a woot-like treatment for its most expensive wine -- The Spaniard (at $49 a bottle) -- along with its 16 other wines (priced from $16).  Note also that the copy for the 2007 vintage of The Spaniard tells a whole different story than the  page for the 2006.

Each of your wines is different - why do your product pages all sound the same?

Changed Conditions Ahead

This quote is really, really important to the future of your winery:

The fundamental way in which humans shop and learn has changed dramatically the last five years because of the increased power of word-of-mouth and search. Therefore, you need to change the way you market your products to match the way people learn and find out about them.

(more here).

The important thing is to be found.  That begs the question, What are my customers looking for?  It also begs the question How do they look for things? but there are really only two answers to that question: friends and Google.

What are your { future, potential } customers looking for?

145,000 People Watched This Wine Video...

...about how to open a bottle of wine (without a corkscrew):

Disregarding for a moment that this is not the way to open an older bottle with lots of sediment, imagine that your winery had done this video.  Still funny, but branded.

Wouldn't it be nice to have 145,000 people exposed to your wine (even if you probably don't want them to use this technique to open it)?

(I believe that Paul Clifton is the winemaker at Hahn Estates.  Can anyone identify the label in the video?)

Update: Deux Punx offers us  a slightly different take on the same principle.  Note that, like a corkscrew, this works even when you are drunk.

Search Phrases

It's virtually impossible to make your winery Web site the number one result when someone searches for wine, or red wine, or even pinot noir.  You may use Google AdWords to place your advertisement on the first page of results for these terms, but you'll pay dearly for the privilege, and may not see much in the way of results.

Allow me to suggest an alternate way of thinking, by way of this image:

 

Optimizing for search terms which indicate a person is ready to buy wine right now is probably a more effective approach (and cheaper, too).  To quote the Wall St. Journal:

Sprint is buying the top ads tied to phrases consumers tend to search for when they are close to making a purchase, such as "cellphone rate plans" and specific products like "Samsung Reclaim," rather than more generic phrases they search for at the beginning of the shopping process, like "Sprint," "AT&T" and "cellphone."

Of course, it gets back to the fact that you need to be able to update your site easily.  Otherwise, you won't be able to create pages which are targeted to particular types of searches.

And yes, it takes time, always in short supply at a small winery.  Which is why a winery blog can be a great tool for this sort of thing.  Which of your wines goes well with pizza?

Online Marketing Challenges

Which of these 7 marketing challenges do you face with your winery's online presence?

1. I need to reach more people.
2. I need to reach better people.
3. I need more resources.
4. I need to improve testing and usability.
5. I need to redesign my site.
6. I need to obtain better metrics.
7. I need to improve conversion rates.

Please leave a comment so I can address your top challenges in a future post.  

In the meantime, you might enjoy this two-part article about strategic challenges for online marketers (part 1, part 2), which asks the bigger question into which these challenges fit: what makes people buy?

Lazy Sunday: Do You Have A List Like This?

Whether you agree with this list of 50 things a restaurant staffer should never do or not, it's probably worthwhile to consider a list like this for your tasting room personnel.  Consistent, pleasant, and respectful conduct is one mark of a great customer service organization.

Is this too heavy handed?  If you had a list like this, would you share it publicly (e.g. post it on your Web site or blog)? What do you think?  Leave a comment.

(tip of the hat to the always-interesting Jason Kottke)

Update 11/06/2009: here's part 2, containing another 50 things staffers should never do for a grand total of 100.  As with many things online, the comments are nearly as instructive.

No Time To Blog About Your Winery?

Rich Brooks calls BS:

You see, blogging isn't some self-indulgent activity; it's investing in the future of your business. Blogging increases your search engine visibility, establishes your credibility, and generates inbound leads. In my opinion, it's probably the best marketing tool you have at your disposal, and once you get it set up it's nearly free.

Paul Mabray of Vintank has said that a winery has no business blogging until it has the basics down pat.  His list:

• Customer Service
• eCommerce
• Site Design
• Content Strategy

is hard to argue with.  Unfortunately, these tasks look a little daunting if you've already got a Web site for your winery.  It's even worse when you know you need to make changes, but it seems you have to move mountains to make anything happen.

Because it's easy to set up a blog, I see it as an entry point for improving your winery Web site.  If you start a blog for your, and it gets results (readership, interaction with your fans, increase sales) then perhaps those basics look a little less daunting.  Maybe blogging belongs on Paul's list as an element of "content strategy."

There are some clear advantages to blogging for your winery.  First and foremost, you control it.  This means you can update it whenever you want.  In addition, 

• Blogs appear to have higher search engine visibility  (at least if they are updated regularly)
• It's easy to add new content in response to perceived needs or sudden news
• A blog post allows you to call attention to pages within your primary Web site
• Your blog  provides a way to interact with your customers and potential customers through comments
• The tone of your blog can be more personal and less marketing oriented
• Adding images and video is easy

The truth is that having a effective online presence of any sort takes work, and there's always more that can be done.  If you're willing to make a commitment to blogging, don't let the fact that you haven't quite gotten the basics perfected on your winery Web site keep you from using a blog to market your wines.

I guess what I'm trying to say is to find an online marketing approach that works for you.  Then make continuous incremental improvements.  Static is another word for "dead."

(although, if you're screwing up Customer Service, please stop everything else and fix that right now.)

Getting Married On The First Date

 

I was watching a video which stated that the #1 mistake people make with their Web site is expecting that a visitor will make a purchase on their first visit.  They likened this to expecting to get married on a first date.

We know this doesn't happen: typical online conversion rates of 1-2% mean that only 1 or 2 out of every 100 visitors make a purchase (and it may not be their first visit).

Ideally, every one of your visitors would give you their e-mail address so that you could stay in touch.  The reality is that even if you give someone an incentive (say, free shipping shipping included on their first order), only about 10% will do so.

BUT...

Once you have their e-mail, you can send them periodic e-mail messages, building trust and interest over time by sending useful information.  You can even automate the process of sending these follow-ups using an autoresponder (a program which automatically sends a sequence of timed, personalized e-mails in response to the initial receipt of an e-mail message from a site visitor).  AWeber, Constant Contact, and iContact all offer autoresponders; your current e-mail marketing service may also.

(of course, you have to write the messages that an autoresponder will send, but once you've done it, you've automated a key part of your online sales process.  And you can even hire someone to do the writing, although I recommend you stay closely involved to preserve your winery's "voice").

If you really want to use your winery Web site to sell more of your wine (or club memberships), building your e-mail list by offering a real incentive to sign up is a must.

Winespeak

This is an excellent post on harvest-related terminology from LENNDEVOURS.

Harvest is a great time to educate your visitors about how you make what ends up in the bottle.  Remember, most people don't know about all the various steps that you must take to make a great wine and the pitfalls that await (for example, heat from fermentation can kill the yeasts that make it happen).

Does anyone know of a harvest flowchart (with appropriate branches for reds and whites)?  Leave a comment.

People-Pleasin' Pictures

Do you actively take pictures of the people who visit your winery?  You should, and here's why.  People like to share (good) pictures of themselves, particularly if those pictures offer some sort of "bragging" opportunity ("Here I am in Wine Country!").

Assign someone to take those pictures, and post them on your Web site (ideally with each group on a page of its own).  Make sure when you take the picture to get the e-mail address of at least one person in it.  Then, when the photo is posted, drop them an e-mail with the URL of their picture.  They are almost sure to share it with their friends, bringing new traffic to your site.

(Update: my assumption is that you will ask before taking anyone's picture.  Don't want to creep anyone out.  I think that most people will appreciate a group shot with everyone in the picture.)

Unfortunately, some wineries have Web sites which require an act of God to change/update.  That's one of the reasons that blogs and Facebook Fan pages have become popular winery tools - they're designed for easy updates.

If you do use blogging software, your e-mail notice should invite your contact to leave a comment on their visit and identify the people in the picture.  On the page with the photo(s), you can add a link to a "special deal" for those visitors, and/or a link to information on visiting your winery.  At the very least, make sure that there's an obvious link back to your Web site.  Remember, the goal is to get new people interested in your wines (and maybe even buy some).

While you can use your Facebook Fan page for this purpose, you'll have more control over the form and content (and better measurement) with a blog page or a page on your regular Web site.

It's probably be worth paying some aspiring college-age blog-savvy photography student to do this as an experiment, perhaps on a weekend when you're expecting lots of visitors.  If you're running Google Analytics or otherwise tracking your visitor traffic, you should be able to quantify the results.  Be advised that this sort of traffic-building effort takes time, however.

Of course, it all goes back to being able to add content to your Web site easily.  Can you?

My Annual Harvest Fair Rant

On Saturday night, the Sonoma County Harvest Fair gave out its wine awards.  The Sweepstakes Awards went to  Adler Fels (2007 Pinot Noir Russian River Valley) and Owl Ridge (2008 Sauvignon Blanc Sonoma County). 

As of this morning (Tuesday), still nothing on the Adler Fels Web site about their win.

Owl Ridge, to their small credit, added a brief note on their home page on Monday morning.

OWL RIDGE walks away with Harvest Fair SWEEPSTAKES Award for 2008 Sauvignon Blanc - Sonoma County!!!!

No information about where I can buy some (nor does it appear to be available for sale in their online store), no explanation of why that's the case.

Is this too hard?  Is there something I'm missing?  Or do wineries really not give a damn about making use of their Web presence to drive sales?

Sign me Discouraged.

WinesTilSoldOut.com

WinesTilSoldOut.com (WTSO) is very much like wine.woot: A new wine goes on sale each day at 12 AM.

Paul Mabray of Vintank tweeted about WTSO the other day, wondering who is behind the site.  The site itself is a bit coy:

WTSO.com is an online store that focuses on selling wine at 30%-70% off store and internet site prices. It started as an in store department of the parent company that will remain nameless so we can continue to get all these great wines at ridiculous prices and pass them on to you!

 So, I put my Internet Detective hat on and went to work.  Turns out, it's not much of a secret.

The man behind the WTSO domain registration is Joe D. Arking, who LinkedIn reveals to be an executive vice-president at Roger Wilco Wine & Spirits in scenic Pennsauken, NJ.

Bottle Buzz

It would appear that computer-assisted pairing of food and wine is The Next Big Thing.  First, from Snooth and Natalie MacLean. Now from Bottle Buzz:

(doesn't the guy at the table look like Gary Vaynerchuk from this angle?)

Now, if they can use geolocation to tell what restaurant you're at, and get their wine list as an XML feed from the restaurant's Web site, things will be perfect.  It'll even tell you how much they marked up the wine.

See more about Bottle Buzz, or just head to the Bottle Buzz page on Facebook.

You may also want to read Vintank's Pulse Reports on the Snooth and MacLean offerings.

Affiliate Programs For Wine

I've long had a dream of doing a much better job of marketing selling wine online than some wineries do.  I always figured that when Amazon Wine launches (if it ever does), I'd just be a savvy Amazon Affiliate and rake in the dough.

Alas, according to this September 9^th article at Wine Industry Insights, the California Alcoholic Beverage Control (CA-ABC) has dashed my hopes of great wealth, pronouncing affiliate programs like Amazon's to be illegal when used to sell wine.  Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any information on the ABC site regarding this specific advisory, and the full article is behind a paywall.

CA-ABC had previously  issued this advisory regarding third-party sales of wine last June.  You can read a legal expert's view of that advisory at ShipCompliant,com and additional commentary from Wines & Vines and Vinfolio.  I'd be interested in hearing from people like Wine Spies, wine.woot, etc. as to their take on all of this.

As for my dreams of vast internet riches? Sic transit gloria mundi.

Become A Wine Marketing Weasel!

9 Ways Marketing Weasels Will Try to Manipulate You shows how!

Actually, it's an quick review of the main points of the book "Predictably Irrational".  If you're a wine marketer, and you're not sure about reading the whole book, this is a pretty good summary.

And no, the post doesn't say anything specific about marketing wine (although the Hershey's Kisses vs. Lindt Truffles experiment is probably applicable).  I'm just manipulating you...

Are Winery Blogs Important?

This study by HubSpot isn't specific to wineries, but to the extent that wineries are like other small-to-medium-size businesses, the answer is a resounding YES!

Sites with associated blogs get an astounding 55% more visitors that those that don't.  More traffic (in general) means more conversions (the caveat is that the traffic needs to be traffic with an interest in what you're offering).

Of course, if your winery Web site sucks to begin with, more visitors won't help much.  

The point?  You need to make sure the basics are working right before considering launching a winery blog.  And you shouldn't consider blogging unless you can willingly commit to posting something interesting at least once a week for a year.  If that seems like too much trouble, then don't.

Blogging isn't for every winery.  But if you can do it, it clearly has a benefit to your overall Web presence.

Free Soup To Go

A nice little post from John Jantsch over at Duct Tape Marketing: What's Your Free Soup To Go Strategy?

"But," you say, "I can't afford to give my customers free soup to go."

Then you need to charge a little more.  Because the impact of an unexpected "something extra" far outweighs the extra cost of providing it.  I still remember when Amazon sent me an unannounced Christmas present (a travel mug we still use).

Note: I am not suggesting that you literally give your customers free soup.  It could be a hat, a corkscrew, a T-shirt.

Make sure that the first gift (to a new customer) doesn't *create* an expectation of future gifts (because then it becomes an entitlement).  By the same token, continue to surprise every customer from time to time.  It's just memorable marketing (as opposed to the other kind).

Do you have any memorable marketing tactics to share?  Leave a comment!

Wine With A Money-Back Guarantee

The NY Times advertising pundit, Stuart Elliott, covers Blackstone's new "In Wine We Trust" advertising campaign.

To underscore the promise, the campaign, appearing in national magazines, includes a money-back guarantee from the Blackstone Winery, part of the Constellation Wines United States division of Constellation Brands.

“We’re so sure you’ll enjoy the taste of Blackstone wines that if you don’t, we’ll pay you back,” the ads declare. “Count on it.” There is even a section of the Blackstone Web site devoted to the refund offer.

Ironically, the money-back guarantee isn't valid in California (along with AL, AR, CT, GA, HI, IN, LA, ME, MD, MI, MS, NH, NJ, NY, OH, OK, UT, and VT), although Blackstone is based here.  The Blackstone rebate site requires you to enter your state, which allows them to collect the data, but is sort of a pain in the butt for site visitors.

In states where the offer is valid, Blackstone will refund your purchase price, up to 12 dollars.

The Importance of (Forceful) Language

Here's a real world (and trendy-social-media-related) example of the one-hundred-and-seventy-three percent difference that language can make.

You should read it.  And then go tell your winery Web Site visitors that they should buy your wine.  Or at least follow you on Twitter.

(via kottke.org)

FWIW (For What It's Worth)

I was reading a post on the Steven Kent winery blog about a wine whose proceeds will benefit breast cancer research.  My late mother survived breast cancer, so I'm interested in supporting the search for improved treatments.

The post closes with an invitation to buy the wine when it becomes available:

Approximately, 150 cases of the wine will be released on September 6th. If you want a terrific wine and to support a great cause look for this wine (it will be named shortly) in our store in September.

FWIW, I have two observations, which have general applicability to winery Web sites:

First, if you want people to take some action, make it easy for them.  In this case, how about allowing me to provide my e-mail address so I can be notified when the wine becomes available?  Heck, even a mailto: link would work.  To their credit, Steven Kent provides the release date, but smart marketers know that convenience improves response.  At the very least, knowing how many people are interested helps in making pricing decisions, which could lead to a larger donation for breast cancer research.

Second, why wait?  Even though the wine won't be available until September 6th, why not let me place the order *right now* while I'm most interested in it?

Yes, there are some logistical issues involved (will your shopping cart support pre-orders, etc.), but once solved, they can use these same marketing techniques for all their wines, not just this one.

And so can you.

Want To Sell More Wine?

Remember the You Factor:

The most fascinating topic in the word, at least to you, is you.

Sure, we'd all like to believe that people buy what we're selling simply because it's a great product.  Wine makers have a lot invested in believing that their wines are terrific.  And some fermented grape juice is better than others.

But regardless of how good your wine is, you'll sell more of it when you understand the You Factor and apply it to marketing and selling your wine.

"Which Acme Wine are you?  Answer these three questions and we'll tell you the Acme wine that matches your personality."  This, or some variation of it, is perfect for a Facebook page, where people will cheerfully take "Which X are you?" quizzes without a second thought.

But enough about what I think.  What do you think of what I think?  Leave a comment!

Thinking About Making A Commercial?

Instead of hiring an agency, consider hiring your users.

Father's Day at Your Winery

Every holiday offers an opportunity to market your wine, even Father's Day.  I want to call attention to this innovative approach to Father's Day wine marketing from Notaviva Winery (which I saw on their blog):  Grillin' at the winery

Want to treat dad to a special experience? How about five grilled dishes, each paired with a Notaviva Vineyards wine?

It sounds delicious, and you can bet that Dad will want a few extra bottles of your wine to go with his own grilled meals at home.

Too late for Father's Day this coming weekend, but add it to your marketing calendar for next year.

50 Proven Ways To Persuade

Two great ones are here:  http://www.kottke.org/09/06/the-science-of-persuasion

The complete 50 are here: http://www.moskalyuk.com/blog/yes-50-scientifically-proven-ways-to-be-persuasive

What I like about the presentation is that each method has an associated example.

You're always in the position of persuading people to drink your particular brand of fermented grape juice.  Why not be smart about it.?

Scientifically proven!!  What could be better?

Promoting Your Wine 2.0

Every time he says "book,", you say "wine."

 

Missed Opportunity?

Here's a consumer inquiry and response from Chateau Julien, with the headline "This is funny! I suggest he call his insurance company!"

While I can't fault their response from a business perspective (the flawed bottle was a gift, not a direct purchase from the winery), it's quite possible they missed an opporunity to delight, not only the person with the flawed bottle, but the person who gave them the bottle (which retails for $15 or less).  Seems like cheap marketing to me.

What do you think?  Any winery owners care to comment (especially someone from Chateau Julien?

And they probably should have removed the consumer's personal information from their blog post (I left a comment to that effect when I saw it, and as of 2009-06-08, they appear to have now removed the information).

A Long Path to Adopt A Grape

Yes, I have.

This all started when my pal Edward Wallis of Wallis Family Estate sent me a link to Calwineries ("California's wine defined" -- now what the hell does that mean?), with which I was unfamiliar.  It appears they are trying to build a community of people who are interested in California wines.  A tough row to hoe, I think, given all the other "social media" avenues that are competing for your attention.  But I digress.

I noticed that Calwineries has a blog, so I went there to see what I might find past the "official" face of their Web site.  Blogs, in my opinion, give you a pretty good flavor of what's happening.  If the blog is fresh and interesting, it says good things about the company behind it.

At the top of their blog, I found this video of respected and well-known winemaker Heidi Barrett talking about something I found interesting:  How do you decide when to pick the grapes?

I love finding examples of video that's interesting to watch (since so many winery videos are like watching paint dry while water drips slowly on your head).  In less than three minutes, you get a pretty good picture of how she approaches the problem.  It helps that Heidi is well-spoken and photogenic.

(Note: I decided to watch the video for two reasons.  I recognized Heidi Barrett's name, and the still image of the video looked like it wasn't going to be "corporate speak".  Something to think about for your own video.)

Since I'd never heard of the video's creator, Adopt A Grape, I decided to listen to their introductory video as well:

Duane Hoff of Fantesca Estate & Winery is the man behind Adopt A Grape, and appears in the video.

Since it's my job to stay on top of new online approaches to marketing and promoting wine, I "adopt'd" a grape (it's free).  I got to choose a grape from one of seven different blocks of grapes (2 Petite Verdor, 5 Cabnernet Sauvignon).

Although the above video was posted relatively recently (3 months ago), the Adopt A Grape site itself seems pretty quiet.  The last update for my adopted block of Cab was in November of 2007, which certainly doesn't feel very fresh.  The latest post on the Adopt A Grape site/blog is apparently December 18, 2008.

Any winery could do what Adopt A Grape is doing in creating a tighter bond between the winery and the (potential) customer.  Of course, it takes a fair amount of effort to blog and create videos.  Situations like that provide a business opportunity for someone willing to provide and manage the service. I wonder if Adopt A Grape was started with the idea of expanding to multiple wineries where people could adopt grapes.  Since the signup contains an opt-in to learn more about Adopt A Grape wines, they were clearly hoping to build a permission mailing list where they could offer wine for sale (note the choice of words - you can only interest people in buying).

One goal of your winery Web site is to inspire enough interest and trust in people, so that they will give you their e-mail, so that you can contact them about more interesting stuff in the future (some of which might inspire them to buy some of your wine).  One way to create interest and trust is with short, interesting video, and Heidi Barrett and "Laurie" Wood are two good examples from Adopt A Grape.

(If you're interested, there are more Adopt A Grape videos at Vimeo and at VIRB.)

Wine Labels

Your wine label is the visual identity of your wine.  It should be distinct and easily recognizable.  Here are two new sites that focus on wine labels.

• Wine Label Review ("Wine labels and the wineries, designers and artists behind them")

• Wine Label World ("Our Mission: Every wine label in the world")

Plus, one more site that seems to focus on wine packaging in general:

• Serious About Wine ("Mike Carter's Blog for Wine Packaging, Design & Marketing Insights")

(I'm travelling on the East Coast this week, so my posts are a bit abbreviated.)

Judd's Enormous Wine Show

Judd Finkelstein of Judd's Hill has produced three episodes of Judd's Enormous Wine Show:

Episode 1:

Episode 2:

Episode 3:

This may be heretical, but I'm afraid I just don't get it.  Despite a clear desire to create high quality, interesting content, the episodes seem to long, and I don't seem to be getting the point.  On the other hand, Judd's videos have had over 200 views each on YouTube.  And I do believe that video can be a powerful way of reaching your audience.  But I think you've got at most 10 seconds to grab someone's attention.

(note that this is why TV shows and movies get right to the action, and *then* run the intro)

What do you think?  What advice would you offer Judd?

Proof

Hugh McLeod of gapingvoid.com nails it with his latest post: when selling a physical object (e.g. your wine) in a virtual setting, it's good to have proof that other people have already bought it.

Twisted Oak does this well, with pictures of happy customers and rubber chickens, "proving" that drinking Twisted Oak is fun.  Contests, as Twisted Oak has shown, are a great way to get people to submit pictures.  Maybe we're all lemmings, but that doesn't negate the value of showing people engaged with your product.

Anyone else out there actively inviting their fans to submit pictures involving their wine (or chickens)?  

Wine, Animal Style

Have you ever been to an In-N-Out Burger?  

They make amazingly good burgers, fries, and shakes, and I can remember planning a meal stop at one whenever I'd be in Southern California.

One of the cool things about In-N-Out is the "secret menu," (in both official and unofficial versions).  As described by Stacy Perman in her new book,  In-N-Out Burger: A Behind-the-Counter Look at the Fast-Food Chain That Breaks All the Rules :

Fans passed the "secret menu" on to one another and described the sublime pleasures of tucking into an Animal Style cheeseburger. Vegetarians talked up the chain's off-menu Grilled Cheese.

(you can read an excerpt from the book, courtesy of BusinessWeek).

Reading the quote got me thinking that this sort of "fan marketing" is applicable to wineries.  Everyone likes to feel that they're "in the know," and having something that's "off the menu" is one way of doing that.

"Cult wines," almost by definition, are hard to get.  In-N-Out, in contrast, is a cult product that is (relatively) widely available.

Do any of you have a "secret menu" at your winery?

Your Winery On Facebook: A Page or A Group?

Here's a great summary of the difference between a Fan Page and a Group on Facebook.

I don't think there's any question that a Fan Page is a must for your winery, as long as you are willing to give it some love. I disagree with the notion of doing both a Group and a Page (see the comments to the article above), since diverts both your attention and that of your visitors.

Of course, feel free to tell me I'm wrong! :-)

To help you take the plunge, here's a step-by-step guide to creating a Facebook Page for your business.

If you have a Facebook presence, please leave a comment with a link to your page/group and what your experience has been with it.  If you've decided against Facebook presence, what's your reason?

The Business of Wine

The theme of the April issue of Northbay biz magazine is The Business of Wine, with a bunch of interesting stories:

• The Kids Are All Right - marketing wine to Millenials
• The Gospel of the Grape - wine blogging
• Room to Breathe - wackyt wine gadgets 
• When In Rhone -  a profile of The Rhone Rangers organization
• Up Close and Personal - selling wine directly to consumers 
• Living on the Edge - a new feature on AVAs, this month highlighting Bennett Valley
• Vineyard Vignettes - a regular feature, this month with Rodney Strong, Pahlmeyer, and Small Vines

This theme is a new one for the magazine, which has previously had a more generic "Agriculture" issue and the annual Harvest Fair special edition.  It's worth picking up a copy at the newstand to see who's advertising and whether you should be getting coverage for your winery.

Full disclosure: I write Tech Talk, the magazine's monthly business-and-technology column, as well as the associated blog.  I get my copy of the magazine for free.

e-Tasting is Here

Steve Heimoff has a great post on Kendall-Jackon's new e-Tasting program.

The real point is that there is absolutely no reason why you shouldn't be doing the same to help promote your wines with people you would ordinarily travel to visit.  It's not just for behemoths like K-J.

The K-J model is one-to-one video, which is trivially supported by Google Talk and Skype, both of which are free.  Many new laptops come with built-in Webcams (the Toshiba I'm using right now, for instance), so the camera barrier is going away as well. If you or the other person doesn't have a built-in camera, a decent USB Webcam like the Logitech Quickcam Pro 9000 costs less than $75 at Amazon.

Anyone besides K-J doing remote one-to-one tastings with critics, distributors, etc?  If not, why?

Lazy Sunday: What's Your Baxter?

Baxters are cool.

Does your winery have a baxter?  I know some that do.

If you've got one, tell us about it.  If not, take time over your Sunday coffee to think about what your winery might be missing by not having a baxter.

(Vincit Veritas means "Truth conquers")

Want To Build Your Mailing List?

Run a contest, using bloggers to promote it, says MarketingSherpa.  And offer prizes to the bloggers who help publicize the contest.

In the example, the contest winner got a new Nintendo video game console.  The blogger who referred them got an iPod shuffle, and the blogger generating the most newsletter signups got an iPod Nano.

The example above has absolutely nothing to do with selling wine, but the techniques used could work very well for a winery trying to build their mailing list.  There are lots of blogs which probably target your demographic (other than wine blogs, which might see it as a conflict of interest).  You might have to do a little legwork, though -- just like the folks in the example had to research "mommy bloggers" whose audience (moms) was the target demographic.

If the prize you're offering has a wine-related aspect (a fancy cork puller, a set of interesting wine books, ...), the likelihood that people entering the contest are potential customers goes way up.  And your first newsletter to them should offer a deal to help encourage that potential.

(I'd recommend offering wine as a prize, but I'm sure there are 17 legal reasons why you can't...)

Do you have any list building tricks to share?  Leave a comment!

PS - The article above is only free until April 1^st, so print a copy of it if you find it worthwhile.

PPS - I recommend MarketingSherpa's free e-mail newsletters with case studies like the one above (subscribe here).

Don't Have An Opinion, Have Data.

Prime Cellars of Napa is inviting your opinion on two possible labels for their new Chardonnay.  It's a fun exercise, so go over and leave your thoughts in the comments.  

Done that?  OK.  Now let me tell you that, IMNSHO, this isn't the best way to approach the problem of choosing a label.  Here's the comment I left with my vote:

The best thing to do is print them both out (ideally on label stock), paste them on bottles and go down to the local market (one with lots of bottles on the shelf - e.g. Molsberry Market in Santa Rosa), and see which one stands out the most from the crowd of Chardonnays on display. Don't have an opinion, have data!

And if they truly both suck, start over. The attractiveness and recognition factor of your label is one of the most powerful tools you have to sell your wine.

Just like winery Web sites tend to all have nice pictures of vineyards, most wine labels tend to be remarkably similar-looking.

Of course, even doing this hands-on experiment requires that you be brutally honest when looking at your bottles on the shelf.  It would be better if it were someone "impartial" making the call.  But it's hard to find an impartial judge (one way might be to time how long it takes someone unfamiliar with your wine to find your bottle on the crowded shelf).

Another problem with the "give us your opinion" approach is that the people whose opinion you want (people standing in the supermarket aisle deciding what Chard to take home for dinner) are probably not the people visiting your blog (current customers and wine industry types).

Please don't think I'm against asking people what they think.  But it needs to be the right people, in the right setting.

An old CEO of mine once told me that the front of a package needed to get the person to pick up the package and look at it -- that was half the battle.  Consider that if all the labels fell off in the Chardonnay aisle at Safeway, you'd be looking at a lot of green bottles with the same shape.

Aside from making the owner / marketing VP happy, your label has to do two things:  First, your label needs to be distinctive and communicate your name and identity (fun, luxurious, inexpensive, unpretentious, ...).  Second  (and perhaps most important if you sell through stores), your label needs to stand out from a sea of other labels, and ideally, induce someone to pick it up and put it in their cart.

But, hey, thats just my opinion.

Lazy Sunday: WWRPD?

WWRPD? = What Would Robert Parker Drink?

If you haven't spent 26 minutes watching the abrasively-named Robert Parker's Bitch, it's worth taking the time with your Sunday morning cup of brewed beverage to listen to the dulcet voice of Tina Caputo.

Robert Parker's Bitch from Josh Hermsmeyer on Vimeo. 

I know at least one winery owner whose express strategy is to craft 90+ point wines for Mr. Parker.

On the other hand, what's the point of a wine that's made to "taste and spit?"

Is winemaking Art or Commerce?  What is Lost really about?

(Note: this is Tina's mini-documentary, although Josh, who appears in it, posted it on Vimeo.)

See Tina's and Josh's original posts.  And of course, Save The Feral Unicorn!

Are Winery Web Sites Dead?

Maybe.

There was an interesting article in the most recent Fortune about Facebook, where CEO Mark Zuckerberg is quoted:

We think that if you can build one worldwide platform where you can just type in anyone's name, find the person you're looking for, and communicate with them," he told a German audience in January, "that's a really valuable system to be building.

Here's a list of wineries on Facebook., courtesy of Tim Elliott of ACAN Media.  I'm sure he'd like to know if he missed your winery's Facebook page.

Do you see Facebook replacing your winery Web site someday?  Leave a comment!

Sampling Wine By Mail

The best way to sell a wine is to give someone a sample of it.  As much as I wish the Internet were a solution to everything, the fact that you can't taste a wine over the Net is inescapable.

But, here's a French winery using their Web site (alas, I don't read French) to get wine samples into the hands of potential customers by mail.  They charge about $5 (3.90 euros) for a single 60 ml sample, which isn't as good as a free pour at the tasting bar, but not unreasonable, either.   (The winery promotes their effort as a way to be greener, by keeping people out of their cars.)

Coupled with a video that leads a sample-drinker through a tasting of the wine, this isn't a bad idea.

And if you give the $5 back if they order the wine after sampling it, it shouldn't be too hard to convince people to give it a try.

The biggest obstacle for wineries (I would think), is the additional work of producing a sample-sized bottle of their wine.  Please leave a comment if you know what's involved in this.

Will this replace your tasting room?  Not yet.  

(via Serious About Wine)

Your Label Is You

 

I've often said that your wine label is the most important marketing element you have.  How else do people recognize a bottle of your wine?

And that's why a picture of your wine bottle(s) should be on your home page.

And that's why you want to consider whether your bottle will stand out on a store shelf or in the memory of someone who drank it at a restaurant or a friend's house.

And that's why you may want to compare your label with these 25 distinctive wine labels sent to me by aceWeb  designer (and pal), Jason Reed of Jason Reed Web Design.

Which is your favorite?  Leave a comment!

Happy Birthday, Dear Wine Club Member

Since it's my birthday, I was wondering if you make a special offer to members of your wine club on their birthday?  It's another way to "touch" your best customers in a personal way.

What, you don't ask them for their birth date?  (Just the month and day, please!)

Do you acknowledge customer birthdays?  Leave a comment.

(and in case you were wondering, I'm 54 today -- there's a picture in the attic that looks terrible)