Tactics to increase wine visitors engagement before, during and after a tasting room visit. Topics: online resources, reviews, websites, social media, reservations. Presented to the Woodinville Wine Country Association wineries.

1. Michele Rennie
Wine Direct Solutions
michele@winedirectsolutions.com
7Must-do’s to Boost Your DTC Engagement

2. 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)

3. How will your
winery connect
with more visitors?
• Increase Visitor traffic.
• Maximize tasting room
revenue.
• More Engagement.
• More Ambassadors.

4. 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

5. Digital Marketing of Old Isn’t Delivering

6. 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!

7. 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.

9. 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

10. 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

12. 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

13. 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

15. 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.

18. 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.

19. Create memorable, shareable moments!

20. Silicon Valley Bank/Wine Business Monthly 2014 Tasting Room Survey
Percentage of Wine Buyers to Non-Buyers by Tasting Venue

21. Silicon Valley Bank/Wine Business Monthly 2014 Tasting Room Survey

22. By Appointment Tastings
• Won’t work for every winery as it impacts
space 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.

23. This is your time to:
• Engage
• Dazzle
• Connect &
• Stay Connected
Have a great season!
Thank you!
Michele@winedirectsolutions.com