A recent Wines & Vines article had me scratching my head in ponderous wonderment. While I admire Pilot Peak winery in the Sierra Foothills for their participation in a reality television that led to an increase in their wine club signups by 50%, I have to wonder if their success is something to emulate for other wineries.
Unfortunately, in my opinion, the answer is a resounding, “No”—a “lightening in the bottle” public relations coup does not make for sustainable success, nor a case study for that matter.
Now, to be fair, a good story must have a human-interest element to it, which the Wines & Vines article has. In addition, getting a winery to go on record about a successful and PLANNED marketing program is as difficult as, say, getting KFC to turn over their recipe for 11 herbs and spices. Case in point, Duane Hoff, owner of Fantesca, mentioned in a marketing story on this site in May, declined to divulge any details about his Google Adwords marketing program on several occasions, pat theoreticals standing in for any substantive information. So, it may be that a television production featuring a winery makes for good story fodder, absent emulatable results, and that’s good enough.
However, focusing on and SHARING actual, sustainable marketing tactics that lead to results is something that IS needed in the domestic wine business – if for no other reason than the fact that success breeds confidence and confidence breed’s innovation.
If a winery sees other wineries doing something well in the ultimate industry parlor game of, “Show me, don’t tell me” then we could begin to see a wave of proactivity (and coloring outside the lines of the standard marketing playbook) as others gain the confidence to try their own hand at success, appearances on Lifetime TV notwithstanding.
Instead of glorifying marketing moxie and luck, which the domestic wine business clings to like a woobie, I am going to focus on two wineries and their online wine marketing campaigns that have shown Smith Barney-like results by increasing their mailing list, sales and mindshare the old-fashioned way, by earning it.
In the first of two parts, we start with Conway Family Wines in the Arroyo Grande Valley AVA in San Luis Obispo County, California.
A family-owned business started in 2007 with the purchase of the Rancho Arroyo Grande Vineyards; Conway Family Wines have scaled production to 30,000 cases around two labels: Deep Sea and the eponymous vineyard estate wines. Deep Sea is sourced from maritime influenced vineyards on the Central Coast.
Primarily run by the youngest generation of Conway’s, the five children of Chris and Ann Conway, I spoke with Gillian, VP of Communications, to learn more about their Facebook marketing program, an initiative I was tipped off to by ubiquitous, but discreet advertising on Facebook.
According to Conway, the Facebook advertising program developed very organically. First, upon graduation from Emerson College in 2007, Facebook was a means for Conway to update friends and family on the happenings at the winery. Then, as Fan pages developed it was a means to connect with customers of the winery in a one-to-one way. Finally, as Facebook introduced advertising, Facebook became an opportunity to create personalized awareness of Deep Sea and Conway Family Wines to wine enthusiasts on the social networking site, potentially converting the wine-interested into customers.
And, perhaps speaking to the generational shifts that are occurring in wine marketing, Conway notes, “We’re a young winery that is run by young people. We are used to being marketed –to online. I guess the old way of wine marketing was to have a tasting room, attend the big consumer tastings and hope for great scores.” That works for some, but not all wineries. “Online marketing and outreach (is) the best way to reach wine drinkers, and introduce ourselves to the world,” Conway noted.
According to Conway, “We aren’t spending a ridiculous amount for our Facebook ads, that’s one of the things that is so great about them (and) we are able to maximize everything Facebook offers in terms of ads, mailing list sign up’s, offers, etc. while still having a relationship with our friends and fans.”
The mechanics of the program are simple:
• Cost-per-click advertising on Facebook that are served to people who have self-identified an interest around keywords like, “wine” with a daily budget that is set by Conway ($5)
• Conway is running two sets of ads on Facebook – one links to a page on their web site with a 10% discount offer for those who sign-up for their email list and another is a September only offer for 30% off the Deep Sea red, also tracked via a page on their web site (see here and here).
The results, however, are staggering. Conway said, “ … It’s a long road to building a huge customer base online, especially for a new winery.”
Yet, in just a couple week period of time, with a daily budget of $5 (which has never been exceeded) and an average daily cost of .50 cents based on the number of clicks, Conway Family Wines has received over 2.5 million impressions and 800 clicks to their web site and the offers. While declining to offer specifics, she said, “A large percentage of those clicks turn into sales on our web site. It’s very easy to track.”
And, very easy to see a return on investment.
She continued in reference to their Deep Sea Facebook Fan page, “The Deep Sea page went from being something I occasionally updated to being a proactive method of reaching wine lovers, gaining fans, spreading the word and ultimately selling wine.”
The takeaway for other wineries? Steal this idea.
An hour of time and a non-technical layperson can have a campaign up and running on Facebook (more details here). And, the bonus is Facebook can integrate into an existing winery customer database. Said Conway, “There are ways to link your website email sign-ups with your Facebook email sign ups. So, if you join our mailing list on Facebook, it automatically joins you in our consumer database which is linked to our web site. The promotion code on Facebook automatically syncs with our web site if you enter your email and want to place an order.”
The final takeaway? “We’re dedicated to creating a discussion and interacting on a more personal level with our fans through Facebook … we will start to run special offers, and giveaways for our Facebook fans only … DTC is the Holy Grail of selling wine – it’s the best way to communicate with your customers because there is no third-party between you, and the winery benefits the most in terms of sales margins.”
Amen. And, a double “Amen” if Facebook can help a winery achieve those DTC results.
In Part II of this post, I’ll examine a different tactic, with similar positive results from Clos du Val.
Links for Reference
Conway Family Wines / Deep Sea Wines Landing Page #1
Conway Family Wines / Deep Sea Wines Landing Page #2
Deep Sea Wines Facebook Fan Page
Information on Facebook Advertising
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