our
winery has probably invested heavily to improve the quality of its
wines, so how best do you let people know about it? Investing in print
ads in major food and wine magazines may merely preach to the
converted, and according to IMI (an industry research firm), only one in eight consumers said they were influenced by a national sponsorship.
Unlike
food products, you can't mail out samples and it makes sense to tailor
your demographic to your specific brand tiers so you're not just
shot-gunning your marketing efforts. The key question then becomes, how
do you get folks to switch brands? Or maybe it's, "How do you get
people to taste how great your wines are?"
One effective way is consumer sampling.
With the help of a California based wine marketing and promotions agency, for example, BV
(Beaulieu Vineyards) wines implemented a program three years ago to
help them achieve both short-term sales goals and long-term brand
equity throughout some of their most competitive markets, California,
Arizona and Nevada.
By
providing a luxurious set-up in a customized branded tent--which
included antique wood and velvet furniture, white tablecloth covered
tasting stations, wine racks, a timeline explaining the history of the
winery and all it's achievements, pedestals and oriental rugs--trained
wine experts were on hand to educate consumers on wine tasting and the
winemaking process. They gave consumers the opportunity to try the
different types of wine BV offered and a gift certificate for a dollar
off a bottle so that the effectiveness of the program could be measured
in part through coupon redemption. Their agency's relationships with
event managers and database of consumer events throughout the West
Coast allowed them to target the most effective sampling opportunities
for each price point tier of wines such as the Coastal, Napa and
Reserve varietals.