Michele Rennie

Wine Direct Solutionsmichele@winedirectsolutions.com

7 Must-do’s to Boost Your DTC Engagement

Michele Rennie

• 10+ years Direct-to-Consumer Marketing with SMWE & Constellation Brands.

• DTC & Wine Tourism Consultant ~ Wine Direct Solutions

• Innkeeper ~ Girasol Vineyard & Inn

• Adjunct Faculty Walla Walla Community College ~ Wine Marketing

• Past Board Chair and Marketing Committee Chair ~ Tourism Walla Walla (2008-2013)

How will your winery connect with more visitors?

• Increase Visitor traffic.

• Maximize tasting room revenue.

• More Engagement.

• More Ambassadors.

Topics

1. Boost your Online Presence

2. Content is King

3. Be Social Media Smart

4. Extend your Reach

5. Talk Native

6. Be Visual

7. By Appointment Tastings

Digital Marketing of Old Isn’t Delivering

1) Boost your Online Presence

• Be on all travel-related websites:i.e TripAdvisor, Yelp, Wikipedia, WA Wine Commission, Woodinville Wine Country.

• Make sure sites have updated information (hours/days) and great photos.

• Encourage reviews (helps with local search rankings).

• Use social listening to monitor what visitors are saying about your winery.

• Google alerts.

• Engage…nicely, Thank you’s & Ask!

2) Content is King

• Celebrate wine country life on your website and in your tasting room.

• Highlight your story and people.

• Why you do what you do is more important than what you do!

• Websites need to mobile. Day-trippers are planning on the go.

• Content needs to consumed in small, tasty, visually appealing bites.

• Establish an editorial calendar for content ideas and publishing dates: • Holidays, sports, events, seasons.

3) Be Social Media Smart

• Facebook is #1 place where your customers connect.

• Instagram photos can post directly to Facebook. Facebook has become a visual medium.

• From Facebook, auto-post to Twitter. Max. 110 characters.

• Instagram 15 seconds of video content. Vines 6 secs. Most YouTube videos are too long!

• Pinterest, mostly female, with high inclination to purchase what they post or aspire to have what they posted.

#Reserve90

4) Extend your Reach

• Facebook extends your organic posts to only 3-5% of your followers unless it sees engagement.

• Monitor # of Likes, Comments and Shares.

• If you are scoring with organic reach, consider sponsoring post.

• Facebook Ads for more reach, new likes. Inexpensive, targeted.

• Use hashtags -- searchable across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

• #Woodinville, #WAwine

5) Talk Native

• Post fresh, vibrant, authentic content that looks exactly like the status updates that friends are posting.

• Less text, more photos.

• Not always about your wine or your winery.

• Talk about and support: • your community, your industry &

your people

• More witty, timely, funny commentary on trending topics.

• Give, give, give … then ask

Come on down to Sleight of Hand today and get your SleeveFace on! We're pouring our entire lineup of wines today! Tonight, Trey will be pouring at Portalis Wine Bar in Ballard for a wine class from 630-730. Call to see if they still have space!

Trending Topics#sleeveface

6) Be Visual

• Use great images, not stock.

• Use professional photography when possible.

• Learn how to take great smartphone images and video.

• Don’t post ugly stuff. Bad photography reflects on your brand.

• Get your visitors to post their photos.

• Create a photo opportunity for visitors to post on their SM page.

7) Create Experiences

• Create events and experiences that beg to be shared.

• Host “you-need-to-be-here” member events.

• Reward check-ins.

• Target your guests before they get to your winery by offering them options. • Private tastings• Reserve tastings• Wine & Food Pairings

• New research shows that by appointment, seated tastings outperform standard tastings.

Create memorable, shareable moments!

Silicon Valley Bank/Wine Business Monthly 2014 Tasting Room Survey

Percentage of Wine Buyers to Non-Buyers by Tasting Venue

Silicon Valley Bank/Wine Business Monthly 2014 Tasting Room Survey

By Appointment Tastings

• Won’t work for every winery as it impactsspace and staffing.

• Third Party software (Vino Visit & Cellar Pass) adds seamlessly to your website to take reservations, collect customer data and provides robust reporting.

• Reduce cancellations by 50% and no-shows by 67%.

• Turn a website visit into a commitment to visit your winery.

• Allows you to allocate your tasting room resources and schedule for these tastings.

• Visitors can schedule their tastings at their convenience, reducing phone & email tag.

This is your time to:

• Engage

• Dazzle

• Connect &

• Stay Connected

Have a great season!

Thank you!

Michele@winedirectsolutions.com