Wine marketing is unique in that one of its biggest challenges is getting your wine brand known by consumers, something particularly true for smaller wineries. Fortunately, the digital revolution has made it possible for wineries to reach wider audiences and boost sales, accelerating growth at a faster pace than in previous years. With digital marketing, wineries can leverage opportunities to sell to more consumers via compelling storytelling that builds relationships and customer loyalty.
NextGen Wine Marketing takes a holistic approach to create differentiated online presences for our winery clients. While investing in just one type of digital marketing can move your brand closer to its goals, we believe our all-inclusive approach helps clients reach their full potential more quickly. Here’s how we do it.
Winery SEO
It’s true that search engine optimization (SEO) success generally requires more time than other digital marketing tactics but, provided it’s done consistently, it’s also proven to be one of the greatest drivers of online traffic. You might say that SEO epitomizes the saying “slow and steady wins the race.”
SEO is optimizing your winery website to better appeal to search engines and rank your site higher on search engine result pages (SERP). Keyword research is used to determine which keywords are likely fit best for targeting your specified audiences. Keywords that prioritize the user experience are then integrated into your website’s page content and blog.
Together with other tactics like PPC advertising, SEO leads to a better return on investment, as it allows your brand to capture the audience’s immediate attention and demand.
Social Media for Wineries
Nearly every winery now has some sort of social media presence. For wineries, social media marketing can provide the broadest and most diverse audience possible, reaching potential customers on whichever platforms they use. Setting up social media campaigns that consistently deliver includes:
- Identifying your target audience.
- Creating high-quality and useful content and ads.
- Focusing on building brand awareness which eventually leads to conversions.
Perhaps the most significant benefit of social media marketing is that it allows you to reach audiences you might not otherwise. Millions of people use social media, and it is imperative businesses capitalize on that. Plus, social media campaigns help you understand how to reach audiences more effectively with your email campaigns and choose keywords for your SEO and PPC efforts.
Winery Advertising
Wineries looking to accelerate brand awareness and achieve faster short-term results often find success by including paid media in their marketing mix. Pay-per-click advertising (PPC) and social media advertising allow you to capitalize on search and social media popularity to target audiences based on their browsing behavior, search intent, and interests.
Examples of high-converting winery advertising campaigns that can achieve quick results include tasting room visits, online wine sales, virtual tastings, and club member subscriptions. Seasonal marketing campaigns allow wineries to market their wines during particular seasons and enable them to solidify their brand’s persona, vision, and mission.
Our approach to winery advertising focuses on using paid search ads, social media advertising, and Google display ads to raise awareness, retarget, and convert everyone, no matter if they’re casual wine drinkers or serious wine connoisseurs. The goal is to personalize outreach and educate consumers on how to choose from the thousands of wine choices put before them.
The most popular and effective ad campaigns are Google ads, Facebook ads, and Instagram ads.
- Google display ads work a little differently from Facebook and Instagram ads. These display ads come in different dimensions, appear on websites and apps, and can be used to target people based on location, behaviors, and other demographics. You can also use them to retarget visitors to your winery website. Visually appealing Google display ads are ideal for getting your winery’s name out to a broad audience, creating greater brand awareness in support of your other digital tactics.
- Facebook and Instagram ads are distinct from Google display ads, as they’re targeted to people on social media. These ads are working well for raising awareness, allow you to use your digital campaigns to find and appeal to your niche market, and are highly effective for eCommerce. The ads excel at mirroring your existing customers and let you target people who “look like” them and are more likely to be interested in what you offer. You can use Facebook and Instagram ads to spread the word in Facebook newsfeeds, Instagram feeds, Instagram and Facebook stories, and Facebook messenger.
Is one type of ad better than the other? Not really, as advertising success usually depends on your business, your audience, and your goals. For instance, are you primarily looking to generate leads and increase sales? Then you should probably use both approaches. Facebook and Instagram ads are generally best when you’re more interested in building brand awareness or a larger social media following. Google search ads are great for attracting people that already have an intent, searching for something specific like “best tasting room to visit” or “great California red wine”.
Ultimately, it takes extensive research and time to determine the right advertising strategy for your winery. That’s why it’s so critical that the digital marketing agency you choose thoroughly understands your business’s goals and your audiences’ needs.
Winery Email Marketing
It seems every year you read an article about how “email is dead.” The truth? Email marketing campaigns remain the single most highly converting method of sales, particularly direct-to-consumer (DTC) wine sales.
Personalized email marketing campaigns captivate and convert. You can create a custom wine club email strategy that woos members and gives them the shopping experience they deserve. Mobile-ready email marketing lets audiences view your campaigns from whatever device they choose while drip campaigns nurture new list subscribers. Marketing automation accelerates your winery email efforts and helps you share relevant information based on product preferences or readiness to buy.
Wine Marketing to Grow On
Winemaking itself has remained essentially unchanged for centuries, but the industry itself has exploded. In 2002, the U.S. wine industry saw $30 billion in sales. Today, it’s the largest market in the world, with over $60 billion in sales.
Many wineries have used digital marketing strategies to redefine how great wine can be promoted in front of the right target audience while gaining the loyalty of passionate consumers. They’ve done it by:
- Envisioning something extraordinary.
- Mobilizing the power of social media and digital “word-of-mouth.”
- Inviting their audiences to join the conversation and give feedback.
The most successful digital-embracing wineries understand that consumers often feel overwhelmed with all their options, so they use digital solutions to share their unique vision and cultivate avid followers through authentic connections. Their rewards are a significant and growing online reach and visibility, increased consumer engagement, and increased sales.
Whether you want to create a new eCommerce winery website or you are looking to build an entire digital marketing strategy, award-winning NextGen Wine Marketing is here to help your wine business grow. To learn more about our holistic approach to wine marketing, reach out to us today to schedule a no-obligation consultation.