Now that you’ve got your back-end, inventory and fulfillment up and running for your wine club, it’s time to focus on growth and retention! Wine clubs offer strong recurring revenue which is why 75 percent of wineries have one. Here are some great strategies you can implement to help you achieve wine club success.
This won’t be the first time you’ve heard it but leveraging your story and embracing what makes your winery unique is one of the best ways to resonate with your members. Tell your story loud and proud and turn your casual drinkers into your cheering squad. Every business is unique, but ask yourself, what makes you, you!? Two great examples of confident brand stories are Gentleman Farmer Wines: “The human side of winemaking” and Mi Sueño Winery: “Taste the American dream”.
You’ll find that once you have a defined story, talking about your wine becomes easier. Next comes the need to communicate the advantages of joining your club. We call it the 59 second rule. In a mere 59 seconds a potential member should understand all your club advantages.
-Naked Winery’s newest Bubbly Club Membership page
On your website: Use bullet points or pop-ups to showcase your offering. Remember to keep it short. For example: free shipping, exclusive wines for members only, private event invitations, special discounts, vintner celebration, etc. Keep the process easy. Consider having an enquiry button, as well as a purchase button. The enquiry button is a way for customers to reach out with questions so that they can become club members faster.
In the tasting room: Have printed handouts handy and your staff trained to talk about your club with confidence. Demonstrate to visitors that they can relive their wonderful tasting experience every few months when they are a member. Emphasize how they then become part of your story. Use quality visuals and keep it short and sweet.
In their shipment: Knowing your customer will be in a great mood upon opening their delivery, embrace the occasion and go the extra mile to make it extra thoughtful. You could, for example, include tasting notes inside each box.
Need a template to kick-start your creative juices? Download your free mailer template right now on the top right of this page. Courtesy of Outshinery.
This printed sheet should include individual bottle shots with tasting and reminder notes next to it. You might include the best drink by date, optimal degustation temperature, aging, level of exclusivity, pairing ideas & recipes. If you’re sending a shipment to your VIP members, why not try a handwritten thank you card or an invitation to a private event for your local members!
If a picture is worth a thousand words, make sure to share photos of your products whenever and wherever you can! For both existing and potential club members, imagery creates an evocative and emotional bond. It helps people connect to your brand. You can create a real community amongst your members by encouraging people to share what you are all about.
On your website: Keep your homepage fresh and engaging! More often than not, it’s one of the first places people are pointed to. Test and analyze banners or pop-ups with unique tracking codes to see what is making your customers click-through to purchase! Also, don’t forget to keep your social icons on every page and prioritize them on your contact page. You might not know which platform a customer relies on. For the Outshinery team, Instagram is a huge driver of traffic. For your winery, it might be Tripadvisor, Google, Facebook, Foursquare, Google, Instagram or Twitter. Make sure ALL your information is up-to-date! We recommend turning on notifications to allow prompt responses and comments.
In the tasting room: Chances are your visitors are having a great time, so why let the fun fade once they leave? Make the most of their experience by encouraging them to become a member right there, in the tasting room. Whether it’s a prompt by your staff, a bathroom poster or an iPad at the bar, you can leverage your imagery and a POS system to maximize sign ups on the spot.
Stand out and make people curious… or at least give them something to laugh about! Take note from Hard Row to Hoe Winery and their epic story of whimsy and hard work. Judy and Don, the owners, embraced their story and got creative in naming their Wine Club offerings Oar House and the Double Dip Program. (We also love the three-tiered Wine Club memberships offered by Bonny Doon!)
Give your club members special treatment! Don’t send the same email blast to your wine club members, casual buyers, or subscribers who have yet to purchase from you.
On your website and social media: Aim to get everything ready a month ahead of time. Capitalize on seasonality and quarterly shipping dates. You can even place your product into realistic scenes with Outshinery’s lifestyle images for example. These ready-to-use images are a game-changer for the industry. Discover how Macari Wines announced their summer ready rosé.
In the tasting room: Since a majority of club sign ups happen in the tasting room, you can immediately collect the information that will help you create relevant and personalized content. Train your staff to take notes in your CRM (Customer relationship management software) to be able to segment later.
The secrets to growing your wine club aren’t by the actions you take once a year. It’s by what you do everyday, or at least what you set up! Stay top of mind by including your wine club in all of your communications. Be present on all platforms and engage with online conversations. Entice potential club members with your imagery and seal the deal with your story. The good news is, if you’re having fun and believe in what you do, people notice.
Now, show us just how great it is to be in your club!
Don't forget to download your free wine club mailer template right now on the top right of this page. Courtesy of Outshinery.
With December almost here, we felt a mix of excitement and panic when we spotted Christmas decorations at our local supermarket! While the holiday season and all of its “madness” is truly upon us, there’s still a big task list on every marketing team’s agenda.
Now, don’t panic: if you feel behind schedule marketing-wise, take a deep breath and keep on reading. We’re here to help!
Your holiday campaign doesn’t have to be planned months in advance, nor does it need hefty budgets or a lot of buzzwords. Instead, focus on establishing clear goals, making the most of your images, and targeting the needs of your customers.
You and your team can start tackling these three simple tasks today to make this holiday season a surefire success!
Before you answer what, ask yourself why.
Having a goal gives you both long-term vision and short-term motivation. Creating a clear goal (if you haven’t already) can give you and your team focus…especially if you’re in a time crunch).
Grab a coffee (or glass of wine, we won’t judge!) and put a 20-minute timer on your phone. Answer the following questions:
Break your answer into detailed action steps that start with a verb. Go granular, list it all! For example:
Pin your answers on the wall (a few post-it notes on the side of the screen works too). Quickly review: would each item from my action steps help me achieve the specific goal I set? If the answer is “not really”, remove that action altogether.
*Need a hand with goals? Check out our suggestions below:
Humans (that includes your customers!), are wired for visual stimuli.
Your product images are there when you or your product can't be. This means these images are integral for both your online, social media and marketing presence. If a picture is worth a thousand words, what's stopping you from making your bottle shine?
Create your own imagery
From professional photo shoots to iPhone snaps of your team in the tasting room, your photos play a key role in selling your brand. If you have the budget for a photographer, remember your hero image can be used on the website homepage, product page, flyers, in-store and tasting room promotions, email marketing, social media… the list goes on. Don’t tell your customers to buy your wine this holiday, show them!
Source your own imagery
While you may not have time (or the budget) to organize a photo shoot, you’ve still got options! Services like Outshinery can save you time AND dollars. Choose a scene that perfectly captures what you want to say, tell us what bottle you want to feature… and that’s it! You now have a high quality hero image you can use everywhere! Save yourself the hassle and make your products shine. Check out these accounts to discover the potential: @MorganWinery and @MiSuenoWinery
Intrigued? Want to have a closer look at Outshinery’s ready-to-use imagery?
Download the Holiday Toolkit at the top right inside of this page: get perfectly-curated lifestyle images and a marketing calendar!
Tap into user-generated content
If your customers are already tagging you in their photos with your product you’ve hit the jackpot! If not, it’s time to offer friendly in-store reminders or post-purchase emails! Tools like Hootsuite, Instagram tags and Google search are the best ways to find the visuals your fans are sharing. Not sure where to start? Jump onto Instagram and search your product name in tags. Check out accounts like #Bonnydoonwine and #Penfoldswine
Step into your customer's shoes with a persona analysis.
While you know your brand inside and out, sometimes you need to take a step away from the screen, or the barrel, and analyze how you fit into your customer’s life.
To get in the mindset of your customers you’ll want to create two or three personas that genuinely reflect a top customer of yours. Give them a name, a family, a job - the more realistic you can be the better you can identify their needs. These personas will help you both understand your customers and better solve their problems. And when you solve their problems, everyone wins.
For each one of them answer:
You may be surprised by the insights you gain from this simple exercise. Draft a simple to-do list from your discoveries. Some of which may be: free shipping for orders over $XXX, free gift wrapping when you come to the tasting room, online giveaway for when people sign up to your newsletter, hosting a seasonal tasting room event, recipe sharing with the perfect wine pairing… you can get as creative as you want with these ideas!
We hope you found these three tips enlightening! What’s more, Outshinery partnered up with WineDirect to help you out in this (crazy) busy season.
This download includes:
You can also access your toolkit using the form on the top right inside of this page. Enjoy and have a wonderful holiday!
How can you sell more using Facebook & Instagram?
By now we all know that making great wine is not enough to sell great wine. In this digital age you have to beat the jungle drums and get the world excited about your product. You also have to beat those drums in person, in store and online. Take note of our strategies below to make this summer shine for sales!
In 2017 one the best ways to connect with your customers and make your product top of mind is with social media. Here is the equation I like to work by:
Online presence + customer engagement = loyal customers + sales
Sounds good, but where to start? Keep reading to learn my top 3 tips.
A marketer's best friend is a library of product photos, videos, user-generated content... the more, the merrier! Facebook posts with images see 2.3X more engagement than those without.
Here's a simple way to look at where these may be coming from:
The sweet spot is right in the middle!
Ask yourself:
Those questions are worth answering, even though it may be slightly uncomfortable! Fret not, there are always new efficient and cost-effective ways to re-boot your approach to content creation. Check out a previous post here on why investing in your wine images will help you sell more wine.
Once you’ve defined your brand’s story you need to finalize your images. I would suggest for the summer season to focus on: special occasions or events, customers' experience at the tasting room, behind-the-scenes with the team, summer recipes to pair with your libations... the list goes on! Let's use some examples to make it more concrete.
Summer = sun, beach, waves, sunglasses, taking it slow
Macari Vineyards Instagram post to announce their new release perfect for summer.
Summer = fireworks, fun, Canada Day/Independence Day, late nights
Mouton Noir Wines Instagram post to promote their iconic Other People's Pinot Gris.
Summer = bbq, picnic, outdoor life, friends
Bonny Doon Vineyard leveraging Instagram to promote the wines of the season.
Here’s the catch: for every post you share on Facebook or Instagram, chances are only a quarter of your followers will see it on their feed (!).
The solution? Repeat your message. I find that pre-built templates are perfect to tweak a key visual without having to reinvent the wheel each time. It keeps the feed looking fresh while reinforcing the message without looking spammy.
Don’t go posting everything at once! Facebook and Instagram’s algorithms will penalize you for it. I recommend taking at least 4 hours in-between postings, or, try schedule a post at the same time everyday for two weeks. You’ll train your followers to expect a post from you, then you may even find they go searching for it!
Every good marketer knows the value in scheduling content. There are a lot of options out there: Hootsuite, Later or a simple Google Doc. The goal is to save you time and ensure your content is going out at the right time. You want to build hype and share your story more than once!
My top tips:
You now have the tactical knowledge. It’s time to put it into practice and start beating your own drums! Boost your summer season, sell more wine and don’t forget to have fun along the way. Consumers pick up on that!
Finally, you’re never alone: if you have any questions reach out via email or engage with me on social @Outshinery
I look forward to hearing your success stories!
Want to put your learning into practise?
Make it a whole lot easier on yourself, use the free social media resource kit the team at Outshinery put together. Download your free copy via the form.
