Wine Marketing Paul Wagner, President, BALZAC Instructor, Napa Valley College Wine Marketing & Sales

GOAL OF MARKETING: OPENING THE DOOR Define Winery Position Understand Distribution Support Sales

How are Sales and Marketing Different? Sales is the transformation of inventory into cash. Marketing is the development and protection of the brand. These are not mutually supportive goals

What is a brand? A brand is the symbol that consumers associate with your company and products. It’s worth is a direct measure of your marketing success. If you have a company, you already have a brand.

So what is your position? If you have a brand, you have a position. Do you know what it is? How can you affect it? What do you want it to be?

That’s really big question: What do you want your brand to be?

So how do you answer it? Build on what you have Eliminate the negative Look down the road

SWOT DIAGRAM Strengths   Weaknesses Opportunities Threats

SWOT Analyze competitive marketing programs Focus on high return programs Invest in long term strategies

Build your Brand Lead the category Own a word in the consumers’ minds Create value for the company All this will help sales

PULLING THROUGH THE PIPELINE How does marketing help?   Who really gets people to buy a specific wine? Role play it. What can it do that advertising can't? Can it build long term success, relationships, results?

DON’T JUST TALK; LISTEN “Propaganda ends where dialogue begins.” Marshall McCluhan

WHAT EVERY WINERY WANTS QUALITY Best buys High scores News Interesting photos More buyers, better sales

WHAT THE MARKET WANTS QUALITY Authenticity Personality Best buys High scores Interesting photos

WHERE DO YOU APPLY THIS? Promotions Placement Pricing Product! This is your brand. This is your message to the world.

DON’T JUST TALK; LISTEN “Propaganda ends where dialogue begins.” Marshall McCluhan

COST EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATIONS : Public relations Promotions Special events

SWOT—AGAIN Analyze competitive programs Focus on high return programs Invest in long term strategies

HOW DO YOU CONVEY QUALITY? Scores, Prices, and your own marketing   Scores: everybody gets good scores these days Prices: what the market will bear How to convey quality?

THAT’S MARKETING Do you stage your house when you sell it? Do you detail your car? Now it’s time for your wine Packaging Marketing Affiliations Strategy and Tactics

WHAT ARE QUALITY CUES? Heavier bottles– like heavier silverware.   Label paper vs. design Cork, Capsule, Case Wood boxes?

DO CAPSULES MATTER? They prepare the consumer’s perceptions They affect perceptions immediately Point of Consumption—at home, Or in a restaurant.

CREATE PERCEPTION Is a capsule a message? Who receives it? Plastic or Pure Tin? Everything you do matters 

MARKET RESEARCH TO DEVELOP PROGRAMS Read the stories, study the trends   Talk to them, find out what they want Give them what they want!

SOUND HARD? Frank Lloyd Wright “Except as I were given some well defined limitations or requirements -- the more specific the better -- there would be no problem to work with, nothing to work out; why, then, the Artist?” Frank Lloyd Wright

TELL A GOOD STORY Stories are about people, not things Give readers a way to respond Give yourself a way to connect

CREATE A GOOD DESTINATION What do visitors want? This is not about wine—it’s about lifestyle. Get them involved

CREATE RELATIONSHIPS Make your visitors feel at home Get them involved Give them an experience

CREATE COMMUNITY The best source of new business is existing customers Call them. Talk to them. Write them. Connect on and off-line.

EVERY INTERACTION IS AN INVITATION Always create a reason to talk again Call key customers and talk to them Remind them of your relationship

SPECIAL EVENTS Wine festivals Donations Market visits Word of mouth—the buzz

WINE FESTIVALS: GOALS AND BUDGETS Trade show booths--play to win, don't just show the flag Who will notice if you're not there--and how to deal with them Wine costs, travel expenses Piggyback for cost effectiveness Everyone else will be in town at the same time

DONATIONS: GOALS AND BUDGETS Play to win--and think big One big role is better than twenty bit parts What can you get in return? Negotiate

MARKET VISITS: GOALS AND BUDGETS Distributor meeting Key accounts lunch Media lunch Consumer event

IN SUMMARY Know your message Identify your audience Deliver the message Evaluate results

DEFINE EXPECTATIONS Goals and budgets Hard results vs. Image enhancement Be accountable—for all our sakes