How Do Wine Brands Build a Loyal Following?
America’s wine industry is worth over $61 billion dollars with nearly 800 new wineries opened last year. If you want to stand a chance against the competition, your wine brand needs to stand out.
One of the best ways to stand out is to grow your customers’ brand loyalty.
Returning customers are hugely valuable to your business. These buyers become ambassadors for your brand when they tell their friends and family about you. Their word-of-mouth-marketing is invaluable.
So, if you want to set yourself apart from other wine brands, check out these tips on building loyalty.
Provide Value Over Promotion
Like other successful wine brands, you need to have an online presence. That means using social media marketing to your advantage.
Coming up with content for your social pages is half the battle.
Avoid making the detrimental mistake of only promoting yourself on your social media pages. People don’t go on Instagram to read pitches and get sold to. They go for entertainment, learning, and answers to their questions.
Plan your next month of social media posts in advance. Focus on making your page one that your customers want to follow.
Make posts about other attractions in your city, awesome food pairings, wine storing tips, and posts about the people behind your brand. These types of posts will garner more loyalty than posts describing your top-selling pinot grigio.
Upgrade Your Customer Service
Did you know that American customers will tell around 15 people about poor customer service experiences they’ve had? That’s 15 people discouraged from buying your wine.
Customer service has the power to build or break your business.
If you want to wow customers so they want to come back, invest in better customer service. Perhaps you should invest in high-quality team training. Or, you want to start hiring a stronger caliber of customer service representatives.
Make sure you’re always getting feedback from your customers. If they had a poor experience, rectify it immediately.
Host Unique Events
Part of successful winery marketing is hosting events. Wine tours and food tastings are common events held by wine brands. You might also have the property to host weddings and parties.
While these can boost your revenue, they aren’t especially unique or memorable.
Catch new customers’ attention with interesting events at your winery. You could host a themed fundraiser with star-studded entertainment. Or, host a weekend wellness retreat.
Gather data on which events you host are most successful. Then, choose a few to become annual events that guests can come back to each year. This builds an ongoing relationship and encourages their loyalty to your brand.
Also, consider going off-site for events. Set up a pop-up free tasting in a new city where you can meet a new group of potential customers.
