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Wine and spirits marketing has never been a walk in the park. Over time, it has become crucial for wineries to master their wine marketing strategies and keep up with alcohol consumption trends to increase sales. Wineries worldwide are competing against each other, and consumption patterns are changing. That’s why wineries must align their marketing strategies with new consumer trends. So how do you Maximize Your Winery’s Digital Marketing?
Consumer Transparency Is A Must
Over time, consumers have become more pinky and educated, and they first gather all the information about wine before making a purchase decision. Consumers want easy access to the price list and other product information. Moreover, the increased access to information via the internet has also enabled consumers to compare products and verify all data. Transparency also applies to the storage, transportation, and traceability of wines. As a result, winemakers worldwide have begun to specify and complement the detailed list of the materials used in their bottles and ingredients used in the production. Since wineries have limited space and much information, marketers can use QR codes to store facts and other additional information consumers may want about a service or product.
Adaptation and Agile Thinking
Individuality adaptation and agile thinking are at the heart of any marketer who wants to thrive in the 21st century. Brands have become customer-centric, and customers want to invest in products that are as personalized as possible. As a result, the adoption of wine marketing strategies and brewing unique brands that are meaningful to the needs of consumers has become crucial. As a result, winemakers have become more consumer-centric than before to try to revamp their marketing strategies. Wineries have already detected this trend by using bottles that label the customer’s identity to boost their wine marketing efforts.
Wine Events and Tastings
Drinking wine in the basement with friends while listening to classical music can go a long way to enhancing customer experience and increasing the success of your marketing efforts. Wineries worldwide now participate in outdoor events or hold open events to get closer to their target audience. While this isn’t a new way to increase sales and spread the word about a product, it is still valuable for marketing. Wineries can use these events to present themselves, get close to their customers, and win new ones. However, winemakers need to be bold and use wallpapers, branded wine glasses, and balloons to increase the success of their marketing efforts.
Environmental Protection
Of course, almost all consumers are concerned about their surroundings. In recent years, winemakers have shifted their focus to producing wines and spirits that are friendly to the environment. As a result, breweries that care about animal welfare, climate change, and the environment have a higher selling success. The same applies to marketing since consumers prefer low-sulfite, organic, and natural wines.
Authenticity
Shoppers are always interested in knowing any story hidden behind the background of a brand. Such accounts allow alcohol drinkers to experience their favorite brands on different levels. Appearance, smell, and taste are no longer enough to evoke a consumer or prospect’s special feeling. For example, winemakers in a market with cheap products can produce unique alternatives that appeal to their customers.
The key to boosting alcohol sales is to invest in eco-friendly production practices and high-quality raw materials. In addition, recent alcohol marketing trends revolve around videos, so it’s time for wineries to use videos to discuss the people behind the wine, the winemaking process, and vineyards.
Flavor Specialization vs. Variety
Though consumers feel the market has no variety, winemakers produce the same flavors. In response to this trend, wineries worldwide offer specialized products to meet the needs of their target segments. As a result, large assortments of wines are no longer economically feasible and necessary for a successful distributor marketing strategy.
Website Optimization and Experience
A website that mirrors your winery’s unique in-person experience is a must. In addition, a great website that aligns with user expectations and provides an extraordinary experience is critical to extending and reinforcing your brand throughout the customer’s journey.
A great website design should include more than just being pretty. Winery websites should consist of the following:
- Search Engine Optimization For Wine Brands – to help the local market and people traveling to the town your winery is located within find you or the events you are having, it is imperative to work on your Local SEO rankings.
- Information Architecture – ensuring users find the information they need is critical to a great user experience.
- Sales Opportunities – Not all wineries can sell alcohol on their website, but there are opportunities to expand your products into wine-inspired home decorations, wine accessories, and branded products.
- Fantastic Imagery – This can include professional photography of your wine, location, events, videos, drone videos of your facility, or even 360 product photography of your wine bottles.
- Mobile Optimized – Recent research has also shown that millions of people use mobile phones to browse online, so wineries need to make their web pages compatible with mobile devices. Of course, a higher propensity to buy comes with a great user experience.
Well-Being and Health
Of course, every consumer is out there to find a balanced life. But, even in their pursuit of pleasure, consumers are concerned about their well-being, and thus, everyone is interested in their surroundings and the welfare of the whole community.
Wineries want to give their customers a feeling that their purchase contributes to their well-being.
Wine Clubs
Wine clubs catering to wine enthusiasts are still a hot trend providing incremental wineries sales. While tasting rooms account for 47 percent of Direct-To-Consumer (DTC) sales, wine clubs are close to 33 percent, making them one of a winery’s most profitable business channels.
Nearly every wine brand or retailer with marketing know-how uses clubs to nurture relationships with VIP customers and generate significant revenue streams. The best wine clubs appeal to hard-core wine lovers with benefits such as first access to special bottling or invitations to exclusive dinners, tastings, and events.
Social Media
Social networking platforms offer a new platform for brands to interact with their target audiences through social media marketing. It allows marketers to segment their audience according to their purchase preferences and personal information and speeds up the spread of media messages to millions.
Winemakers can use Facebook and Twitter platforms to send videos and pictures of the current state of their cellar, vineyard, and wine sales. Winemakers must also respond to their customers and tell them they always care about them. The wineries’ most used social media networks to engage customers are Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook.
Instagram is the best platform for customer engagement because of its ease of use. Her tips include; telling real stories that go beyond facts and figures and focus on current trends; know if the audience is trade media or lifestyle and pitch for their “beat”; and get wine to the influencer. – Juliana Colangelo, Colangelo & Partners
Aerial Photography and Drone Videos of Wineries
There is no more beautiful than a high-quality flyover shot of a winery during the fall when the grapes are ripe, and the landscape is flourishing.
For marketers seeking cut-through content, capturing aerial drone photography is a great tactic to stand out from the crowd and give your users a bird’s eye view of your beautiful facility.
User-Generated Content
User-generated content is content related to a brand that its customers voluntarily produce. With over 60 million images uploaded to Instagram daily, UGC is among the most scalable ways wineries showcase products, celebrate fans, and drive revenue. This is why encouraging and sharing user-generated content on Instagram is becoming a trendy and effective winery tactic.
Wine drinkers are happy to share pics of their favorite wine or their tasting experience and get them reposted, so long as they get credit in the caption.
Remember The New Generation Of Buyers
The Y generation is looking for options in almost all aspects of life, including eating, entertainment, and work. Their wine and spirits consumption is on the rise and will continue to grow over time, so it makes sense for wineries to relook at their wine marketing strategies to get closer to their wishes and needs.
Youths want to invest in packages suited for their wallets’ size and nomadic lifestyle. Wineries have now started to sell wines in smaller bottles than before to get closer to the millennial generation. Wineries in countries such as Australia and France have already begun to sell wines in tubes with the same capacity as a glass of wine. Such packages can add value to wine marketing efforts and reduce production and processing costs since wine bottles are sold at a higher price.