Why Most Wineries are NOT “Getting It”

I  am in the middle of reading a lot of ground breaking work on branding on the web and what makes social commerce successful.  On Friday, I was reading a piece from Dave Evans (on a ClickZ feed).  He wrote “For 75 years marketers enjoyed the right to interrupt via traditional media, because marketers owned - through advertising expenditures - the media. Now consumers own it and it's our turn to listen. And listen we must….Assume that your "ability to interrupt" is replaced by your "opportunity to participate."   I was talking about this with my partner and I came to realize that because of the significant expense that is involved with traditional media the vast majority of wineries have never been involved with even that.

Now there are many people suggesting that the wineries use this low cost approach to reaching (to engage) consumers (including me).  But why?  Wineries have never used any promotion but real word of mouth.  Why change what they have been doing since the dawn of winemaking?

There are 2 key reasons – globalization of the wine industry and the power of the Internet. Consumers are using the power of the Internet to talk about wines all around the world.  People everywhere are becoming connected and those that are wine lovers are talking about their favorite new discovery…is your wine one of them?  With wines being bought and sold around the world it is getting easier and easier to find these wines, certainly within the US.  And if they can’t find your wine consumers will buy a similar wine (and another winery will get the sale).

Another important consideration is they do “not” want to talk with the importer, the distributor…they want to speak with someone who is involved with the winery and understand them.  As Brian Solis wrote (in the book Engage!) “People are seeking answers and direction, not messages or sale pitches”.  In conversations with a number of retailers, we have asked them what if 5 consumers came in to ask for a wine if they heard about it on the Internet?  Most answered that by the 2nd person they would be on the phone with a distributor asking them to get that wine....reach the wine consumers and you will increase your sales.

This phenomenon is only starting…we are at the beginning…so jump in now while it is still easy to.