So, getting back to the discussion about wine marketing and your wine brand; we’ve been unsure how to attack this. Mostly due to the fact that there are numerous ways and opportunities as a winery to market yourself and provide amazing customer service. We weren’t sure whether to put everything into one blog post or to write a book…instead, we are going to break it up and have each blog post contain a couple of points that we think could benefit a winery. In other words, we have a lot to say!
Smelly Wine Marketing?
The first thing we’ll mention is smell, not the smell of the wine, rather your facility. If the potpourri is too strong, if it smells like cat pee, if it’s overly musty, or smells of a thousand other foul or overwhelming odors; you are ruining the wine tasting experience. One should never walk into a tasting room and smell anything too strong that could over power the wine or make the wine smell or taste like crap.
Surprisingly, this has happened to us on more occasions than it should have, so we strongly suggest that you wake up and smell the odor. Fix it or it will affect sales and turn people off. Even if that smell lasts for one day, you could turn off newbies to your tasting room…this overlooked problem has to be fixed!
Good Looks Sell
The second issue we’ll bring up in this post is about the look and décor in your tasting room. We’re not talking about atmosphere so much here because we feel atmosphere involves the overall feel of the tasting room along with the people that pour there. For now, we’ll talk strictly about the look of your tasting room and often times the look as you walk/ drive up to the tasting room.
Does the look fit your personality? Did you have a goal with the look? Does the merchandise you choose to carry ever sell? Are the walls peeling? Is the front door falling apart? Is it freezing cold or too freakin’ hot? Is the countertop clean? Has the floor been swept or mopped? There are literally a million factors on this one and you, as the winery, have to be paying attention, or again, people may be turned off and tell their friends all about their experience.
If you don’t understand marketing or customer service or don’t have time to worry about it, we suggest you get someone to come in to consult you on what’s going on. We understand, you wear many hats and it’s hard to do everything…but you cannot risk your brand, can you? We also understand if you aren’t a “Marketing person” you may not care much about the importance of the things we are discussing, but trust us, when building a brand and maintaining a brand…all of this is crucial! The key is realizing where your strengths and weaknesses are, and getting someone strong to help in the area of your weaknesses…after all, no matter how “romantic” being a winemaker is, you ARE in BUSINESS!
This will conclude our first in an ongoing series on wine marketing and customer service in the wine industry. Any thoughts?
I went to a tasting room in the southern Willamette Valley in May, they had a kitchen right behind the tasting bar..that day they were sauteing garlic cloves. Guess what their wines all smelled like? 🙂 It was mind boggling that no one thought about this. Garlic is so strong, even a tiny bit will cause problems when trying to evaluate a wine. Needless to say I haven’t been back.
Hey Beau! Thanks for the story…that’s exactly what we’re talking about! It’s those kinds of things that people need to take into consideration. Whether its a temporary thing or common practice, customers are affected by lots of influencers when tasting wine! Cheers!!!