This presentation, given in Ontario, CA, focuses on how Canadian wineries can leverage US tourism and direct-to-consumer wine relationships to gain more sales, demand, and brand advocates.

1. DIRECT TO CONSUMER WEBINAR SERIES
BUILDING U.S. TOURIST BRAND ADVOCATES

2. Got Wine?

3. How do we sell a 3-dimensional story in
a two dimensional world?
How do you capture the essence of your brand online?
Visitors are exposed to a number of stimuli that help frame their experience at your winery. They
breathe fresh warm air that blows across the valley floor as they enjoy expansive views, marvel
at architectural details, and soak in the overall ambiance of your tasting room during their visit.
All of these things help engage and interest them.
Is your website doing the same?
Question for the Day:

4. DTC Targeting
The Vino-Tourist
The Opportunity
Source: http://www.canadianvintners.com/?p=294
Canada’s Wine Industry: Ripe, Robust, Remarkable
http://www.canadianvintners.com/?p=294

5. DTC Best Practice: 360 Degree Customer View
 eCommerce
Wine Club
Allocations
Tasting Room
Recipe Engine
Social Media
(Social Commerce)
Mobile
Telesales (inbound &
outbound)
SMS (Text)
Email Marketing
Visitor
Reservations
Newsletter
Mobile POS
Search Engine
Optimization (SEO)
Retail Locator

6. DTC Best Practice: Model of Customer Progression
DISCOVERY
• Search engines
• Word of mouth
• Travel websites
• Regional
organizations
• Lifestyle
websites
ENGAGEMENT
• Visits website
• Visits tasting
room
ACQUISITION
• Purchases wine
online
• Buys wine in
tasting room
• Joins wine club
LOYALTY/LOVE
• Email
communication
• Facebook shares
• Special events

7.  Wine, food, travel forums
 Existing customers
 Referrals from local
businesses
 Social media channels
 Friends and family
 Special events
 Wine publications and blogs
 Search Engine Optimization
 Search Engine Marketing
Getting Found
Building Advocates
Discovery: Socializing Brick & Mortar
Source: www.tripadvisor.com, Ram’s Gate Winery

8. How do you attract visitors
and grow your customer
base?
Inbound Marketing is a system that allows
interested buyers to actually FIND YOU via
a combination of:
 Content Marketing
 Search Engine Optimization
 Social Media
 Lead Generation & Nurturing
Discovery: Getting Found

9. Discovery: Content Marketing
1. Create useful, usable content that
adds value to the customer
experience with your brand.
2. Perform outreach, and determine
the best outlets to publish (high-
profile guest blogging, social
networks, your own website).
3. Identify influencers who will share
your content and further
discussion.
4. Pay attention to the
responses, and engage your
audience.
5. Analyze the results, measure the
impact (new links to your
website, new visitors, increased
social media activity, more sales).

10. Discovery: The customer funnel
Unaware
• Purpose: Create awareness, brand discovery
• Blog posts, web page, customer stories, advertising, industry trends
Interested
• Purpose: Provide usefulness, education, create interest
• Regional travel guides, events, independent articles, demonstrated
values, email newsletters
Desire
• Purpose: Incentivize, stir emotion, demonstrate values
• Demonstrate charity contributions, connect with lifestyles, build
community of social sharing
Purchase
• Purpose: Secure customer, provide good experience, build loyalty
• Reviews & ratings, customer service, upsells and promos,
personalized content, streamlined checkout

11. 
Engagement: Making a Difference
Source: www.kj.com

12. Every tasting room visitor is a
potential customer.
 Collect email addresses
 Personally invite to Tasting Room Events and
Winemaker Dinners
 Welcome “Check ins” via FourSquare, Facebook
 Promote reviews of your business
(Yelp, TripAdvisor) and wines (Cellartracker)
 Communicate Club benefits and incentives
 Convey your winery’s story
 Don’t be afraid to ask for the sale
Acquisition: Build Relationships

13. Consumers are on-the-go and want quick
and easy access to basic information.
99% of the time, they want to do one of
five things:
 Call Winery
 Find Tasting Room
 Locate Wine
 Buy Wine
 Join Wine Club
Acquisition: Go Mobile!

14. LOYALTY
GOT WINE CLUB!
• Imports account for 35% of wine consumed in
the US.
• If a customer likes your product, they will be
loyal beyond your countries border.
• Create partnerships with local
restaurants, hotels, and destinations to
collectively entice return visits.
• Ship It Home USA can help ease the burden
that the LCBO places on exporting to the
United States.

15. To Do List – Top 5 Things
1. Expand company profiles on both local and national
travel and tourism sites like Fodors, Destination
Canada, Virtual Tourist, and Lonely Planet.
2. Encourage visitors and fans to leave reviews at Trip
Advisor, Zagat, Google+, Facebook.
3. Create useful and usable website content that includes
resources, things to do, local knowledge, and popular
destinations near your winery.
4. Claim your Google+ Local page.
5. Contribute guest blog posts on travel blogs and
websites to increase exposure from new audiences.

16. Thank You

17. YOUR WEBSITE IS A MARKETING TOOL
More traffic to your website leads to more purchases, visits to your tasting room, and brand recognition.
But most wineries struggle to get visitors who search for anything but their brand name.
Think about what's relevant to your winery - the varietals you make, the region you're located in, or the
story behind your labels. Create a list of keywords that you can associate that go beyond your brand
name. Branded search traffic accounts for about 95% of most winery websites traffic, which means they
aren't getting much exposure from new, unfamiliar faces.
Instead, try to focus on building your site to be a hub of information for not just your wines and your
history, but the surrounding area, the vineyards, the AVAs, places to stay, things to see, and anything else
that's relevant. Your website should be a flytrap for tourists looking to plan their vacation, or visit that
special winery with a picnic area, great view, or wedding venue.
3 Traffic Sources you must cultivate:
 Organic search engines.
 Referral sites, especially from
local
 regional sites.
 Local maps search results.
Appendix A:
Varietals
• Cabernet, Rose, Muscat
Regional
• Carneros, Willamette, Rutherford
Others
• Wine tasting/tours
• Weddings
• Boutique
Build a relevant list of keywords