By Susan DeMatei
As harvest wraps up, you should be ready to pounce on Q4. There are several reasons OND (October, November, December) is a crucial period for Direct to Consumer Sales. First, it in the high point between the summer slump, where it is often too hot to ship or consumers go for cold beers and cocktails over wine, and Q1 where New Years Resolutions have us grabbing electrolyte water and swearing to balance our budgets. Second, the reasons to remind our consumers about wine are too numerous to count. There are large family dinners in need of wine pairings, parties in need of hostess gifts, corporate and personal gifting in need of that classy yet universal item. And, thanks to Daylight Savings time, we leave work in the dark during the OND months—making us feel as though we’ve worked harder, longer, stretched our capabilities farther—and are deserving of a reward. So, just in general we tend to spend more money on luxury products during OND on ourselves. In strictly financial terms, Q4 often shows better ecommerce sales than the other three quarters combined, and it is your last chance to show your shareholders, board or boss that you can make the yearly sales goal.
The downside – everyone knows this. From car companies with gigantic ribbons to your local grocery store with a discount on cranberries, everyone has a sale on something and the competitive noise is deafening. As an individual winery, it may seem daunting to compete with Amazon and Wine.com and jump into the ecommerce pool with the sharks, but there are ten things you can do to make the most out of your fourth quarter.
- “Silver Bells, Silver Bells, its Shipping Time in the City.” Know and widely share your Holiday shipping deadlines.
The Amazon affect is never more keenly felt than in the shipping and delivery expectations of consumers. Amazon offers insanely fast delivery and even has the US Post service working for them on Sundays. This has set the expectation bar VERY high for consumers. How does Amazon do this? They self-fulfill, and according to GeekWire’s analysis released in February, Amazon lost $7.2 billion on shipping costs in 2017. While this is clearly great for consumers, it puts the rest of us in the untenable position to compete. And while, logically, consumers should know that a small family winery cannot take an order at 8pm on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and have the wine there the next day in time for celebration, that is what the public is being trained as the “new normal”.
You can avoid this confusion right off the bat by clearly posting your shipping deadlines. You don’t have the power to compete, but you do have the power to set your own customer expectation. Make sure they are posted on your site, in your emails and on your cart checkout pages. Also, make sure your staff knows all your “drop dead” dates. It will help alleviate disappointed customers, which is a sure fire way to lose Club Members, lower Yelp scores, and raise your boss’ blood pressure. You can turn this into an advantage, as well. You can use the cut-off dates to create urgency by sending out reminders or sweeten the deal right before your shipping cutoff.
- “Grandma Got Run Over by a John Deere.” Visiting family is a great sales opportunity.
If you’re like most wineries, many of your Club Members live locally. The holidays bring the inevitable in-law invasion and it will not be long before they want to get out of the house and are looking for things to do. Holiday Club events at this time of year offer your Members a chance to relax as well as a welcome distraction for guests. For you, they are an effective way to capture a new audience.
Now is not the time for “Member +1” limitations. Come one and come all and keep the event simple and festive, like a drop by open house with mulled wine and “make your own cork tree ornament”. Invites can be simple, too. For Club Members and VIPs, you might want to use something more tangible and personal like a physical Holiday gift card or event invite. But for others, there are many inexpensive card services like Paperless Post and Evite offers online cards as part of their invite system. Don’t try to compete with corporate holiday parties in the evening, but grab a Sunday afternoon to provide that break from holiday shopping. And, encourage shopping. Be sure to provide wine gift boxes and bags, and since everyone is from out-of-town, an additional shipping incentive might be a good idea, too.
- “Have a Holly Jolly Gift Box.” Provide packaging.
Speaking of gift boxes and bags, 2, 3 and 6 bottle gift boxes are hot items during the Holidays. These need not be expensive wood burned or custom labeled, but your local shipping store may have a simple black, red or cardboard box that will fit the bill. You can offer them as stand alone, or put gift packs together at a discount. But if you do pre-select, make sure to offer variety, include the best sellers and set them at a variety of price tiers – such as $25, $50 and $100. Remember to include the price of the box in the gift pack price before discounting, or as the discount. (A nice box will often trump a discount.)
Gift boxes are nice for consumers, but really great as corporate gifts. Be sure to get the word out early to business owners that might be looking for employee, vendor, or customer gifts. For most wineries, email is still the most effective direct line of communication of gift sets. Constant Contact, Mail Chimp and Vertical Response users can find holiday template ideas to spruce up their marketing. Emails are most effective as a delivery for these sales or events to your contact list. Be sure to include a call-to-action link and ALWAYS give them opportunity to purchase direct with a click to your ecommerce store from the email.
- “Deck the Halls with Boughs of Tchotchkes.” ‘Non wine items can add incentive.
‘Tis the season for ornaments, candles, and bottle sweaters. But, keep a couple guidelines in line. First, make sure it goes with your brand, and the concept of wine. A logo hat or that cute baby onesie probably doesn’t make people think about buying wine. Second, think about shipping. A decanter with your logo may seem like a logical gift, but just make sure you have a way to safely ship it. Thirdly, steer away from the corkscrew or bottle stopper. This year resist the temptation to offer the same ol’ Holiday swag and stand out. People generally shop in wineries for local, unique products that look like they came from a winery. Partner with local craftsman and designers who are trying to capitalize on the Holiday’s, too. Finally, offer these items individually, but also with wine as a discounted pack and gift packaging for the highest opportunity for sales.
- “I’ll have a Blue Facebook Christmas.” Update your social media.
The rising use of e-commerce in Q4 increases opportunities for wine marketers, but it also increases the difficulty of truly standing out in the market. For wineries looking to effectively engage with online consumers, one of the most important components will be effectively integrating the brand’s social media platforms into the overall online experience. Consumers shopping online will also be referencing the brand in either positive or negative ways on social media. Brand owners can use social media to be part of those conversations to build their brands, or miss that opportunity. If your winery has Holiday spirit, then show it off. Now is a perfect time to update your profile photos and post your holiday sales deadlines and events. Pinterest and Instagram are obvious choices, but also temporarily update your Yelp, TripAdvisor, Twitter, and Facebook profiles.
- “O Come, All Ye Fruitcakes.” Food pairing ideas give customers a reason to buy.
The Holidays are more about food then they are about wine. Play off this natural partnership with Holiday food pairing ideas. When you offer recipe pairings, or recipes that include your wine, it just gives your existing buyers a way to incorporate your wine in their life and a reason to buy more. Share them on your website, emails, in-the-box Club materials and Social Media. Don’t have any recipe ideas? Call for entries on Twitter or Facebook. It’s a great way to create engagement while showcasing your best Holiday wines.
- “Do You Hear What’s Around Here?” Tie in with offsite events.
Don’t’ have the time, space or resources to hold your own event? Take advantage of Holiday opportunities in your area. Find events you can participate in and get the message out. Concerts, street fairs, tree lightings or craft fairs are all great opportunities to get your brand out to the public so you can bolster your mailing list and reach new potential customers.
- “Santa’s Got a Bag of Swag.” Don’t forget your best customers.
Now is the time to thank those faithful evangelists that bring joy every year by buying copious amounts of your wine. A quick analysis of your database should reveal who your top 5 or 10 purchasers have been this past year. A signed bottle of their favorite wine or a gift package with a personalized card shows a personal touch that will be appreciated and go a long way to continuing your relationship. Gift cards are a popular way to say thank you and bring more sales, as well. Customers can choose to redeem or re-gift and sales almost always exceed the card value
- “All I Want for Christmas is a Nebuchadnezzer.” Bring out the large formats.
They’re dusty, heavy, and take up space in the warehouse. No, we’re not talking about your cellar staff, we mean the large formats. While they seemed to be a good idea during bottling, they are usually forgotten for the rest of the year. However these big boys make impressive presents and are popular during the holidays. So, dust them off, find a gift box for them, display them, pour them, sell them…now is the time.
- “Let it Show, Let it Show, Let it Show.” Charitable tie-ins tug at heartstrings during the holidays.
The Holidays are about giving, and if you want to get mercenary about it, this is also the last time for tax write-offs. There are many charities around this time of year looking for auction items. Donate some large formats or remaining cases that aren’t moving. Or show your support by offering a percentage of sales as a contribution to a local charity. You can also support an employee food or gift drive or volunteer day. All of these suggestions are good PR, good for morale, good for sales, good for social media content, and good for your community.
Whew! That’s a lot of bad jingle puns for what is a short amount of time in your marketing calendar. So many options, so little time. Let’s make a list and check it twice:
- If you do a Holiday campaign, know its objective. Sell wine? Not necessarily. Often times, Holiday promotions are about retention and brand recognition. This is a festive time of year and marketing is all about “emotion”, as described in a recent Forbes article. Don’t just throw out a discount, but make a theme that’s reflected in everything you do this time of year.
- Make a list of all the assets you can use to make sales in Q4. Do you have a great property that is already decorated? Do you have inventory you can afford to discounts, or large formats the trade isn’t using? Are you already partnering with other businesses or charities? Often if you look at what you have to work with, the ideas will flow from there.
- Make a campaign theme. Now tie the objectives and assets into a coordinated theme. This can be a visual element, or a tagline or focus that makes sense for your winery brand. Then carry this through the website, all the emails, and social media.
- Set a timeline. A campaign has a lot of moving parts: copywriting, design, event planning, etc. Timing is everything. Allow plenty of lead-time for design and be sure to accommodate any lead times required by your vendors. Send your emails out well before your shipping deadlines. Message your audience early and often, but be sure to keep it all in sync, and make sure to build in contingencies for mishaps and mayhem.
- Communicate to the team. Is everyone clear on roles and timing? Does your staff know what to do when a gift card shows up at the register? The team needs to be fully informed of the promotion, the messaging and the timelines in order to successfully deliver on that customer expectation.
Still too much? Don’t worry, you won’t get to all of these ideas. Just pick a few and do them well. The important thing is to not let the Holidays get by without some marketing effort.
Susan DeMatei is the owner of WineGlass Marketing, a full service direct marketing firm working within the wine industry in Napa, California. www.wineglassmarketing.com
