In the summer there are many ways to make your winery stand out. An effective digital presence helps to promote your products, and good customer service, special events, and selling products online are ways to help your brand excel. Below we give you some tips on this topic.
Develop a Digital Presence
Developing a good website and social media presence is an effective way to make your winery stand out. Create an easy-to-use website that advertises special events, sells your products, offers some special deals, develops content, and has great photographs.
Wine is a visual product, and photos will sell your product. Develop a social media platform that helps you reach your audience. Facebook has special business pages and groups that will help you reach wine lovers and professionals. Pinterest is a visual medium that is a great place to publish photos of your products and special events. On Google, you can advertise locally and reach customers in your town or city.
Instagram is another social media platform where businesses can share photos and videos. Research where your customer base is online and use the best platforms for your business. With California being the fourth-largest producer of wine throughout the world, you’ll have many competitors. Research them to see what they use and what they are doing. This can give you some new ideas for your own marketing and digital media strategy.
Offer Unique Special Events
Offer some virtual events that will bring in new customers. Concerts, wine tasting with experts talking about your wine and how it can be paired with food, a tour of your winery, and how you make your wine will increase sales. Plan wine tours and special events with wine and food for adults and large parties.
Lifestyle programs are popular with consumers as well. Tasting events that pair your wines with food are a great way to increase summer business. Everyone likes to be outdoors in warmer weather! With this in mind, make sure your winery looks exceptional upon arrival. This means you need to spruce up the front of your building by planting grass, adding flowers, and hanging beautiful plants. One pro-tip when it comes to planting grass next to a building: grade the soil beforehand so that, when spraying on the hydroseeding slurry, it drops by at least two inches every 100 feet. This way, your winery’s lawn will look great and inviting for customers!
Address Customer Complaints Quickly – and Provide A Solution
Handle customer complaints online and in-person about your products and services quickly. Offer a discount on the wine or a free bottle to replace it when you run into difficulty. Train your staff to listen to customers and to find a solution to the problem. Appoint a staff member to answer social media complaints. With damaged products, offer to replace them or offer a special discount the next time they buy. Plan ahead with your staff on how to handle customer complaints effectively.
Train your staff and reward them for good customer service with gift certificates or special discounts on your products. Give a free lunch at your cafe with a glass of wine. Your employees are important to your marketing success.
Sell Your Wines Online and Simplify Ordering
Sell your wines on your websites. Before you do this, look into the laws in your state for selling wine online. You will probably need a winery license, a retailer’s license, alcohol dealer registration, and shippers’ license from the states you plan to sell to. In California, direct shipping is allowed for consumers. Before you jump into this process, make sure you cover the legal end of it. Selling on your own website means getting all the necessary documents.
This is ideal for wineries that plan to sell their product on an ongoing basis. Another way is to sell your wines through online retailers; they buy your wines and sell them as part of their stock. These are the most practical ways to sell your wine locally to customers who can’t make it into your winery.
Reach Out to Bloggers and Writers to Create Content Regularly
Reach out to writers and influencers that write about wine for publicity purposes. Invite them to a wine tasting with food so they can review your products. Offer them a tour and wine tasting in exchange for publicity. Look for influencers on social media that have a large following in the wine industry. Look for writers or customers that like your brand with a smaller following to create marketing publicity.
You should also start a blog and write about your wines, such as how they can be paired with food. This is a good place to spotlight special events at your winery as well. With over 400 million entrepreneurs throughout the world, you need to stand out. Develop live videos to post on Facebook, YouTube, and other social media platforms to promote your local winery and lifestyle topics, too!
Overall, making your winery stand out requires planning and incorporating lifestyle content into your marketing plan. Customers are looking for ways to use your products and learn new lifestyle strategies, so give them a reason to come to your winery today!
