How many of you have walked by a wine shop window and bought just because of the label? In this article I go through examples of marketing strategies that wine producers are using to sell.
Here are 5 marketing strategies to sell wine and some facts you didn’t know about this drink desired by everyone.
What are the 5 marketing strategies to sell wine?
I will mention some strategies to understand marketing to sell wine.
Before launching a product it is important to study your market, its needs and preferences.
1. Market research
First of all, make a short list of all the data you need to segment your market. Let’s use an example to perfectly illustrate each strategy.
Always ask yourself: What problem does my target audience have and how can I solve it?
Once you have made your market segmentation list, analyse your target audience part by part. There is a very useful structure that I will explain below. This market segmentation technique has been developed by Jürgen Klarić, considered among the 10 most influential marketers in the world.
The target audience goes hand in hand with the product or service, which is why it is important that you analyse your audience perfectly. The consumer is our focus and the product is our best working tool, so you must not neglect its quality. Pay attention to the following example.
Note: I advise you to do surveys to find out more about the preferences of your target audience.
2. SWOT analysis
Little by little we are discovering these marketing strategies to sell wine. Surely you have heard about the SWOT analysis, and if not, don’t worry, I will briefly explain what it is and how you should apply it to marketing to sell wine.
S: Strengths
W: Weaknesses
O: Opportunities
T: Threats
With this exercise you will be able to identify the situation of your company internally through strengths and weaknesses, and externally through opportunities and threats, in this case referring to the company’s environment, such as the competition, the situation of the country, etc.
3. Determine objectives
To determine your company’s objectives you should focus on one main objective and at least three secondary ones.
There is a foolproof technique for defining your objectives and that is the SMART technique. It refers to each of the characteristics that you should take into account when setting a goal or objective.
S: Specific
M: Mensurable
A: Achievable
R: Relevant
T: Timely
Following on from the previous example, here below I explain in detail how to apply this technique.
Main objective:
- To be a point of reference for young people.
Secondary objectives:
- Website optimisation.
- Creation of a product for a young audience.
- Positioning Elephant on social networks (Facebook and Instagram).
- Growth of the client portfolio.
- Selling the product online both nationally and internationally.
Once we have defined our objectives we must ask ourselves several questions to develop the SMART technique.
S: Specific
What do we want to achieve with our objective?
- To add young people to our client portfolio in the next 4 months, starting with a city in Spain.
What are our obstacles?
- The competition that is focused on the young public.
- Young people prefer other drinks to wine.
Who will help to achieve the objective?
- Marketing team.
Where?
- Through social networks (Facebook and Instagram).
M: Measurable
- To increase our sales by 30% (4 months) by adding to our customer base young-adult public between 21 and 38 years old.
A: Achievable
How can a goal be achieved?
- We want to add young people to our customer base in 4 months, after doing a market study, assigning tasks, optimising the website and manufacturing the new product. So, we will focus on social networks with a simple and valuable language, which will make the wine more attractive, until we achieve an increase of 100 followers per week.
R: Relevant
- Wine has always been aimed at an audience over 50 years of age and at experts on the subject, which is why it has set itself the objective of being a reference point for young people, as it is important to recover the culture of wine for all audiences.
T: Time-bound
- First, we will create a marketing campaign (short term).
- Manufacture of the new product (medium term).
- Increase 30% of our sales (medium term).
- Sale of the product in supermarkets in a single city (medium term).
- To position ourselves as a reference within the young public (long term).
- Finally, sell the product online both nationally and internationally (long term).
4. The 4 P’s of marketing
After discovering our objectives through the SMART technique, it is necessary to apply the 4 P’s of marketing defined by the American professor accountant, Jerome McCarthy.
Product
Price
Place
Promotion
Product
As I mentioned before, the product is our best working tool. So, this is where you have to think about its quality and appearance.
We came to the conclusion that our target audience (young people) wants to buy experiences rather than a product, so the following will be taken into account:
- Taste
The wine will have two versions: red wine with soft and woody flavours, and soft and sweet red wine that can be mixed with other ingredients such as lemon, soda, etc.
- Label
Visual impact is very important in a product, so we will focus on the label and play with different colours and textures.
- Identity
Young people want to feel identified with the product, so we will add a short history of the wine told in a dynamic and interesting way for our audience.
Price
Although pricing a product is not an easy task, it is important to ask yourself a number of questions and there is nothing better than answering them with surveys.
- What is my target audience buying?
Our target audience likes red wine the most.
- What is their purchasing power?
Our target audience is willing to pay for a bottle of wine between
3.50 to 10 euros, depending on the occasion.
- Which brand do they buy?
Instead of looking at a brand, they are attracted by labels and a catchy name.
- What flavours do they like the most?
Red wine and, depending on the occasion, sweeter wines to prepare other drinks such as calimochos, summer reds, etc.
- What are the prices of the competition?
The lowest price of our competitors’ red wine is 11,95 euros.
Place
Young people buy wine mostly in supermarkets and rarely in bars. So we will focus on supermarkets.
In the first four months we will focus on supermarkets in one city in Spain. However, from the very beginning we will start selling online with deliveries all over Spain.
Promotion
The average consumer is attracted by promotions and promotions of a product.
According to the example, the marketing plan is dedicated to young people, so we will reach them in the following way:
- Discounts as it is a novelty product.
- Promotion through social networks (Facebook and Instagram).
- Additionally, an exclusive invitation to the launch party, not focusing on the product but on the experience.
5. Create a wine marketing calendar
Last but not least, it is very important to create a timetable, because you need to keep track of the activities that need to be carried out in order to meet your objectives and see the results of your project. You can do this through a Gantt chart.
With these simple steps you can set up a Gantt chart:
- Make one of all the necessary activities of your project.
- Clearly define the time frame for each task. Although, don’t forget to set priorities and an order of achievement.
- Finally, group the different activities in a chart. Below is an example.
6. Examples of wine marketing
Walking through the supermarket I came across some wines that caught my eye and wanted to share them with you. Certainly, you can see how they have played with the style and personification of the wine. Very ingenious.
ENATE “Wine marketing”
This wine started a contemporary art collection with works by great national and international artists. So, each of their wines is associated with a renowned painter. As you can see on its label there is a work of art, in this case it belongs to Víctor Mira.
Matsu “Wine marketing”
In particularly, this winery has decided to pay tribute to three generations of farmers by stamping their faces on the label.
Campo de Borja “Wine marketing”
It caught my attention because of the label. I thought it was very original that the description of the wine was written in handwriting:
“The traditional good work of Fuendejalón’s harvesters and breeders guarantees this unique wine. The bottling at origin guarantees its provenance”.
García y Carrión – Don Luciano La Mancha “Wine marketing”
Definitely, there is nothing better than catching your audience with a story. This tempranillo refers to the well-known character Don Quijote de La Mancha.
“The adventurer who forges his own destiny. The new Quixote, creative and disruptive. This is Don Luciano, with a touch of madness and willing to try different things. A knight who walks determinedly, with the shadow of his faithful friend, between the winds of La Mancha and cutting whirlpools with the blades of his bicycle. A communion between tradition and new times, between inheritance and the need to reinvent oneself. Because it is the wind that moves giants and inspires the brave and passionate”.
Hoy Friends – Garnacha y tempranillo “Wine marketing”
Of course, it catches you with the picture on its label depicting a barbecue among friends, accompanied by its name “Hoy Friends”. So, the description of the wine invites you to share it with friends and to live today:
“Don’t leave for tomorrow what you can enjoy today. Live today, dream today, jump today and celebrate the Hoy…”.
So, these were the 5 marketing secrets to sell wine. All these strategies can be applied to any product or service, as long as you ask yourself: What problem does my target audience have and how can I solve it?
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Read the Spanish version here.