No-one likes criticism. It's often hard to swallow. And I try not to rant about the wine industry I love so much. But it's a Herculean task in task in the face of the myopic, deer-in-the-headlights attitude adopted by some of our best wineries in relation to promoting and selling their wines. So you'll forgive me if I vent some of my frustration...
It has all come to a head this week because we're launching ThirstyBert, a wine network for the US and Canada which will kick off with profiles of over 5,000 wineries. You heard it here first.
In creating the new network, a considerable amount of time has gone into analysing what has worked and what hasn't worked during the three years we've been running BoozeMonkey, in order to capitalize on the experience we have gained and avoid making the same mistakes twice.
It also led us to look at some of our major frustrations when dealing with the industry, some of which I mentioned in my Dumber Than A Bag Of Hammers article last week. I was delighted that it was so well received (1,500 hits) and that it produced a flood of supportive email, but I was a little bit surprised there wasn't a single negative comment, despite my describing the recent emergence of flash wine sales sites as "an uncomfortable genital rash": maybe I'm not the only one who sees how prices are being eroded by continued 50-70% off deals? It's a dream for punters of course, but it is a legacy which will haunt us down the line...
So, aside from social media (which was covered in the article above) and flash sites, here are just three of our main frustrations: if you're a winery, how many of the boxes do you tick? Be honest. And give yourself a hard slap for each one.
1) Wine Review Samples
If you're in the business of selling wine, you want good reviews. Honest reviews. Reviews which will be read by as many people as possible, to encourage them to seek out your wines for themselves.
We provide a reviews section on BoozeMonkey and we offer to review every wine, good or bad, which comes through the door. You won't find a better offer anywhere else, I guarantee it. Particularly since we go out of our way to promote every review on across a variety of social media sites to maximize their exposure to potential customers.
Now I don't mind so much that some wineries are too cheap to stick a bottle in the mail for review. Okay, I mind a *bit*: admittedly we're in Spain at the moment -- doing the European thing before it all goes up in flames -- so the postage is a little more, but we're not talking big bucks... But what really sticks in my crevice is when wineries review their own wines, they wax lyrical about a $12 Pinot Gris, and (here's the best bit) they give it 97pts!
Seriously? Where's the honesty in that? Where's the integrity? How do you expect anyone to keep a straight face? That's like Penfold's BS claims on the back of their $5 Shiraz that you can taste chocolate and ripe plums... only if you've been eating chocolate and plums before you take a swig!
97pts? You're deluded! In any other country in the world you'd be under 24-hour supervision and you'd spend your days in a rubber room wearing a crash helmet. Get a grip!
2) Winery Websites
This "build it and they will come" attitude has to stop. They won't. You are not Kevin Costner. It's time to get a clue.
Having a website is better than not having one, but a few badly-presented pages of information will not result in increased sales. Neither will a well-presented website for that matter, if you manage to hide the sales pages deep within the site and make your wine all but invisible to the outside world.
And what's the deal with not promoting your website? You hand out business cards and promotional material with your telephone number on it: why not your web address? And why not give people an incentive to visit your website? Collect their email addresses on the site so you can send them a quarterly newsletter and "members only" offers. It's an easy way to build brand loyalty and to keep them coming back for more.
But simply having a website is not a solution to your problems. The internet provides amazing potential to level the promotional playing field, but it is JUST A TOOL: it is NOT A MAGIC WAND. You need to use it to make it work for you. And that is what produces the main complaint we hear from wineries: "I tried the internet but it doesn't work".
Give me strength...
3) China Will Solve Our Problems...
Mate, if you're struggling to engage with customers in English and you can't find a credible route to market in your own backyard, what chance do you really stand of taking advantage of China's new-found love of the grape? On a 10-scale, how good is your Mandarin?
Some people will tackle the Chinese market alone: they are the entrepreneurs and they're noticeable because they are always moving, always networking and always looking for opportunities. But if you don't fit that mould (and most don't) then you've got a long wait before you'll see any surge in sales from China.
Is there something you could do about it? Well, I know it goes against the grain in the Aussie wine industry where "every man for himself" seems to be the motto (along with "regulate and tax the shit out of it" to make sure the business environment is as hostile as possible), but working together to promote your regions and making good use of your Regional Association would be a start. There's strength in numbers and with a bit of effort you could lead the industry in being the first to market your region seriously to the largest potential wine market on the planet... just an idea.
Please feel free to leave a comment below: complaining about the problems won't make them go away, but talking about them and coming up with solutions... well, it's worth a try.
Cheers,
Marc
