There are many qualities of a small to medium size winery that makes it similar to other companies of the same size, however, when it comes to promoting your brand wineries have a multitude of additional opportunities and resources that are not afforded to other industries. Today we'll discuss what they are and why you should make them a priority.
One of the things that can make or break your brand image as a winery is your staff. If the people pouring your wine are not on message and acting as good ambassadors of your winery, they're most likely doing more harm than good. By training and reinforcing a staff who is knowledgeable and is enthusiastic about wine (and specifically YOUR wine) you can be confident that customers are having the experience you intended for them.
In my blog post about brewery promotion, I mentioned using your brewery location as a promotional tool. I would also suggest a similar tactic for wineries. People are endlessly fascinated with the process and behind the scenes of wine making. Even if your winery doesn't make direct profit off of it, you can gain loyal customers by offering tours of your vineyard and/or wine cellar. Providing special perks like that will have customers buy bottles so that they can share their new wine-making knowledge with their friends.
The final promotion strategy I'll leave you with is to have a robust media list. Ask as many newspapers and magazines as you can to review you wines, send samples and newly released products to them, and invite them to every anniversary and release party you have. The press they can offer you has the potential to put your name in front of potential customers who may not have found you otherwise. Already doing that? Enlist local social influences into that circle as well. Find your local wine blogger or food and wine instagram influencer and see what you can do to wind up on their site.
I think my favorite tip is the one about using the media and influencers to help promote your winery. Another big one is word of mouth. It seems like most of the wineries I have visited is due to recommendations from friends.
@nicole.cina Yes! I think when you're used to seeing the process of wine making it's easy to forget that most people would be really interested to see what happens in the cellar and vineyard. Lots of people genuinely want to learn more, and wineries can offer them that!
@madison.theuerkauf Thanks for commenting! I agree, it seems so basic to say that staff should be an asset for promotion, but it gets forgotten about and neglected too often!
I've been to a few wineries, and I agree that it's really interesting when they give you a tour of the wine cellar. I know I'm way more likely to buy something from them if I'm a little more invested in their process!
Great point about the winery staff! I think that applies to a lot of different types of companies and it gets overlooked sometimes.