Start by asking: Who’s drinking my wine? Are you talking to the guys who visited your farm? – the key to selling your wine is building your brand
Thinking past the label. When the wine speaks to you. And how to share that story with your people. If the recent Covid-19 pandemic taught us anything, it’s that you can’t always rely on the traditional methods or channels to help you sell your wine.
From blanket bans to supply chain disruption. We’ve learnt that things can get scary. And we’ve seen that people don’t want just wine, they want THAT wine. Their wine. Now, how are you working to give it to them?
We’re talking wine brand building here. Where you think beyond the label and really understand who drinks your wine and why, so you can find a better way to sell your wine – online, from the farm, in the shop, it doesn’t matter, if you get the basics right. So, to help guide you, ask yourself these 7 questions:
SELL YOUR WINE: 7 QUESTIONS EVERY WINEMAKER SHOULD BE ASKING RIGHT NOW
1. WHO’S DRINKING YOUR WINE?
Do you know? Really? Do you have a database of super-loyal fans that you can phone or email right now with a special offer? See, there’s a disconnect that happens even with the best wines if you’re not thinking along wine-brand terms. It goes something like this:
People visit your farm and they love it. They love your wines, they love everything about it. Maybe they want to share their experiences online with their friends. Now, when they share, can they tag you in on the conversation? Is your social media linked to your website to drive interest (in case their friends want to come visit too)?
Now, if you haven’t captured them somewhere while they were there by you – got them to follow your page or sign up to your newsletter, there’s a good chance their memories will fade in time. And, along with the memories, goes the emotional connection they had to your brand.
A wine brand guide will help you “capture” and retain those emotional connections. And without it, you get to the next point of disconnect.
2. WILL THEY BUY YOUR WINE WHEN THEY LEAVE?
They loved your wine, right? But will they buy it next time in the shop? You just can’t know, if you’re not connecting with them. Research shows that if you keep communicating with people after they leave your place of business, you stay top of mind and they’re way more likely to buy your product next time.
Think about it: If you could just right now reach out to everyone who ever visited your wine farm, how many bottles could you sell?
3. WHAT IS YOUR WINE BRAND?
Your brand is so much more than your name and logo – or the label. It’s who you are, your reputation, value and craft. It’s built over time and it’s what brings all the feelings and memories people associate with your brand together.
In short, your brand is what builds relationships. A good way to think of it is as what people say about you when you leave the room.
And, if you don’t know what that is or how to impact and use it to forge relationships with loyal customers, we can help. At Design Infestation, we’re experts at brand strategy.
4. WHAT IS YOUR MESSAGE?
Next, how do you tell your brand story? It’s important because that’s what makes the emotional connection real. When people see who you are and know what you’re about, they feel a link with you. And that makes them way more likely to buy your wine next time.
One way to think about it is, when a person leaves your farm and the memories start to fade, your message is what replaces those memories. It’s sharing information about what you’re doing, new wines or projects you’re working on etc. The stuff that makes them go: “I wish I was back there right now.”
One way we help brands tell those stories is through content, whether digital or even print (depending on who your market is) – see our content creation service and brand design expertise.
5. WHERE ARE YOU SHARING THAT MESSAGE?
Here’s an important one: If you want to talk to someone, you have to do it where they’re hanging out. There are so many different places to connect with people these days, you have to know which is the right one for you and your audience. You have to be not only where they are, but also where they are buying.
And that only comes from really knowing your customer, which is what a brand agency, like us, specialises in. And then having the right message and delivering in the right place at the right time.
We recently showed that you don’t need a big budget to make a huge splash. See how we created success for three different brands with very different size budgets in our social media success stories.
6. WHO ARE THE NEW WINE DRINKERS?
Next, you need to think a little further. Beyond your current loyal customer. Yes, there might be like-minded people out there who just haven’t visited your farm yet – a good wine brand helps you reach those. But there’s also the next generation to keep in mind.
Millennials (18–34-year-olds) make up about 27% of the South African population, and they buy about 37% of the wine sold in SA. And, in 10 years’ time, that share is going to be much bigger. Now, millennials are notoriously tech-savvy and very health-, quality- and brand-conscious. So how are you reaching them to build for the future?
7. WHO’S YOUR COMPETITION?
Are you keeping an eye on the craft beer and gin industry? The gin market is growing by a whopping 100% every year, especially among millennials. And there’s a lesson here from the US: Winemakers increased the market share of wine sold to millennials in the States from 42% in 2015 to 65% in 2016–2019 (that includes a massive increase of 33% in wine sales in 2017).
And they did it by meeting millennials where they hang out – online. More than that, they differentiated and positioned their brands, and used their brand stories to drive sales.
It’s simple. Develop your brand. That’s how you sell your wine.
And we can help you do that right now – click to ask us to call you back.
BONUS: DOWNLOAD AND SHARE ALL THIS INFO
We’ve compiled all this info in a nice doc you can download and share with friends. Download our wine brand guide here.
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