Most brands these days are a clever name and good looking label that an advertising department can run a campaign around and a distributor can push down the pipe. Nobody really thinks about the idea of building a brand by changing the way you actually market and sell the wine. If you could approach these tactics differently and appeal to the consumer and trade in a way that makes their lives easier, this new vehicle would become the brand in itself more so than the pretty label and tasty juice. Stormhoek, Twisted Oak, Pinot Blogger, and Sacre Bleu have pioneered direct marketing for a wine brand and have found some success doing it this way. However, the next generation of wine brands will learn how to break down the barriers of the industry and start actually selling the product in a unique way.
Here are a few steps that we plan to follow: Read the rest of this entry »
Current laws allow wines to be shipped direct-to-trade IF a distributor is involved in the transaction. The distributor is responsible to pay the taxes, and…well, thats it. A virtual inventory portfolio is - all of the wines, that a distributor represents, in the direct-to-trade markets.
Supplier’s take their inventory, and place it in a fulfillment/distribution warehouse, where it is kept on consignment basis. (technically, this could be the distributor’s warehouse) The supplier is responsible for shipping it to the warehouse, and is responsible for all the costs of warehousing the wine. When a trade order is placed for the wine, it ships directly from this fullfillment center to the restaurant/specialty shop/retailer. Once the wine is delivered, the monies to cover the taxes are then transferred to you, the distributor, along with a ‘virtual portfolio handling fee of $3-$5 / case. Read the rest of this entry »
MARKETING
SMO (Social Media Optimization), optimize your content for Facebook, Flickr, You Tube, Ning, My Space, Wikipedia, ZoomInfo, iTunes.
Social Bookmarking (Viral), our proven reputable accounts can guarantee front page results on Digg, Reddit, Netscape, Furl, Ma.gnol.ia, Spurl, De.licio.us, Yahoo MyWeb (learn more -> here)
SEO (Search Engine Optimization), optimize your website’s content and links to gain higher results in search engines. (don’t forget to ask about our SEO analysis)
SEM (Search Engine Marketing) , we’ll manage your paid search, and other search marketing services to bring you the most traffic for your marketing $1. We have a proficient knowledge of AdWords, AdSense, Yahoo Search Marketing, MSN adCenter.
Email & Newsletter Management, we’ll manage your email and newsletters through iContact. Copywriting is available. (learn more -> here)
Affiliate Marketing, increase your number of affiliates and manage your account through Link Share (learn more -> here)
Event Promotion, send us some of your products and we will feature them at the tasting parties we throw, pics
SALES CONSULTATION
Direct Sales Strategies , Alliances with Inertia Beverage Group, Wine Tasting Network, and Bev Access, have allowed us to open up the sales channel so you don’t have to depend on distributors to get your products to market. (learn more -> here)
Distribution Strategies, Our partnership with top wholesalers allows us to get your products through the traditional system and into big trade outlets. This provides a powerfully balanced way to build your brand. However, your brand must have justifiable online traction and virtual sales before being ready for distribution.
Importation Strategies, Our sister importer, World Imports, is looking for the best juice in the world. If you have some great wine, and would like to introduce your product into the US market, we have the expertise to ensure the process is as smooth as possible. (learn more -> here)
For more information and a FREE quote, please fill out this form:
We recently started a series on getting your online sales vehicle rolling. Today, we are going under the hood to talk about the e-commerce engine used to power your shopping cart. At Grape Thinking, we have an established relationship with Inertia Beverage Group, as Paul, Andrea, and crew, in our humble opinions, have the best grasp and influence on the changes in the industry and are truly “Powering the Wine Revolution”. As such, they rank as our recommended engine.
So, what does this sales engine do exactly? As a winery, it has the vital role of coordinating the sales request between your customer and their bank, your fulfillment center and your bank.
A good engine should: Read the rest of this entry »
If you own a website or a blog, it’s a hard feeling to beat when you receive your affiliate payments. Of course, it is always important that you set-up affiliate networks with products/services/companies that you trust and ideally use yourself. One of the easiest ways to do this is through a service such as LinkShare. LinkShare allows you to choose who you will be advertising for, as they have a huge selection of merchants. Once you sign up, which is a very easy process, you can do a search “google style” or browse through their selection of merchants by category or product. You are then forwarded to a page to accept the terms and agreements for that particular merchant, and review their referral fees. Afterwards, you can then review the many options that you have for banner ads and links.
Now… here comes the fun part. Getting YOUR link out, and turning that funny looking bit of text into revenue to use for dinner and a movie. Here are some things that can help:
- Write a blog post, incorporating your new affiliate link
- Place the banner ads in rotation on your site
- Seek out people who need your product (forums and other blogs)
- Run a viral campaign based around one of your affiliates (We can help here!!)
- Don’t forget to include links in your newsletters
- Create an additional page on your site listing all of your affiliates, and why you chose them
Most importantly, remember that when you send people to someone else’s website you are laying out your reputation. Don’t be an affiliate just for the money, make sure you would actually use the product or service. Check out our some examples by doing a search at TasteVine.
If your trying to sell your wine online, check out this post on “Building a Direct Sales Vehicle“
