Dezel

A strategy is KEY to success in anything and a multi-faceted strategy that takes into consideration the voice of the customer is critical. MY post stemmed from my interaction with Spokane Wineries, who are all small in nature, and learning that only two of them are using Social Media. These wineries already have a huge advantage over the 13 others who are sitting on the sidelines. The 1000 Facebook fans of Whitestone or Liberty Lake Cellars have huge interaction opportunities that the others are missing out on. These wineries are creating emotional connections with their consumers that the others are not. My statement was intended to cause urgency – urgency to think through a strategy that includes social media. This post was intended to be a kick start with some basic principles for getting going. I love your added insight and would love to connect with you as a resource for those that reach out to as a result of this ongoing series.

Thanks again!

Social Media is changing the way we can build relationships with customers today, but comparing an unused twitter account to a store with no inventory without having a clear understanding how a winery currently engages with its customers seems to be an alarmists view of things rather than a long term strategic approach.

Many companies created a website because everyone was doing it, but have had little or no traffic. From that standpoint, small businesses get the attitude “I tried it and it didn’t work”. What they didn’t do, is create a long term strategic plan that would incorporate their website as part of their overall marketing. They were sold on ‘build it and they will come’ idea, and it failed to deliver. I think that most small businesses are using this resistant thinking with Social Media, feeling that they were promised the world with their website and it didn’t deliver, so what is different about Social Media?

What I am talking about here is strategy. @SeattleWineGal has some excellent posts on her blog that states this clearly. Other comments here are also excellent suggestions. The point I am coming from is that Social Media/ Web 2.0 is a tactic. It is a way to keep connections with your customers. But first, you need to know who your customers are.

Using wineries as an example. A winery may have several channels to distribute their wine. Wholesale – thru a distributor or direct distribution, retail – at the winery, online thru the winery website or thru a fulfillment center on another wine site.

Each of these methods of distribution have different customers. Wholesale – customers may go to a wine shop, a grocery story or specialty shop and find a huge selection of wine. They then either have a favorite they are looking for, or will be looking for something new/different. When looking for their favorite, the only thing important is knowing what store carries their bottle. If they look for something different, it is usually based on a recommendation by friend or acquaintance, the wine shop steward, a review or article.

Let’s take the average Washington winery – it is a smaller winery, makes handcrafted wines, may sell only 2k to 20k cases;s it may sell 25 percent wholesale thru a distributor for a large store chain, 25 percent direct distribution for a few smaller novelty gift shops, and 50 percent retail thru its tasting room.

The strategy for the wholesale is to get the word out so customers know what stores to find the wine – and that is thru the distributor, co-op advertising, maybe a review, TV/radio ads or a listing thru printed media. The problem for the winery is that they may never get to know these customers, unless the customers have an easy way to reach the winery. It is real hard to develop a relationship unless the customer engages first. If the printed media and advertising doesn’t include the various ways to get in touch with the winery, then the winery can’t engage. If the winery already has printed labels, business cards and brochures, and can’t control what the distrubutors push to the stores, it can be very costly to have everything reprinted just to say that you do social media.

Customers that come in the tasting room is different, there is face-to-face interaction – initial time to engage a customer and develop a relationship. A winery can get to know the customer, and find out if they like newsletters and/or tweets. It is easy to suggest to the customer how to keep in touch, actually find out what the preferences of each customer are, and cater to those needs.

Two different product delivery strategies, two different customer relationship strategies.

Another thing to consider, is how a winery keeps in touch with customers overall. If a winery primarily engages with a newsletter once a month or quarter, then using Twitter/Facebook making daily or weekly tweets may be overkill and could actually offend some customers. So they need to give the customers the choice on how to be contacted, as well as have different strategies for newsletter and tweet delivery. Each tactic needs to be strategically considered in the larger marketing plan, which should incorporate all marketing, such as TV and print advertising, press releases, tour guides, reviews and articles, etc. They also need to have segmented lists, so that tourists are not blasted with ‘join us at local events’ if they don’t live in the area, and locals or wine club members are not blasted to ‘join the wine club’. For a small vintner that wears many hats in the business, this can be very overwhelming indeed.

The key to making any marketing method successful is to plan the strategy, make specific goals, determine who the customer is, determine what tools and techniques need to be used, determine how to measure the performance, take action by testing, then tune the techniques to get optimum results. It doesn’t matter if it is Social Media or print advertising. I think most busineses would ‘get it’ if they were approached on this strategic thinking rather than ‘hurry before its too late’ idea. My clients have, anyway.