Wine Branding Strategy

How do you choose what wine to drink?

We’ve all been there before. Walking down the long aisles of our favorite wine store trying to choose the wine we would like to consume for the evening. Perhaps a recommendation from a friend, a certain style of wine, or something we read on the Internet has got us searching for something in particular. However, more often than not we are casually browsing for something that catches our eye. Perhaps we choose a wine because it’s from a certain region of the world. We have fond memories of a past vacation or it’s somewhere we want to travel so we want to try some wine from that place. Or maybe it’s a label that caught our eye. The simple fact of the matter is that a wine branding strategy is hugely important for influencing consumer behavior, but so many wine producers don’t focus on it.

What’s outside of the bottle is almost as important as what’s inside.

While a sommelier might disagree and think what’s inside the bottle is the only thing that truly matters, to the average wine consumer, branding plays a major factor in determining what wine they purchase. Whether they are ordering a bottle at a restaurant or serving a bottle to guests at home, the name and appearance of the wine brand have a strong influence on people’s expectations of the wine. A wine branding strategy that tells a story about how your wine came to be and portraying an image that can be easily remembered is hugely important. No matter how good the wine, if it’s not something that can be remembered or recognized easily it’s less likely to encourage a repeat purchase.

Creating an Effective Wine Branding Strategy

Here are a few of the keys to successful wine branding:

• Bottle Appearance: Wine producers should think of their wine bottle label as a mini-billboard that has the purpose of trying to sell their wine. It’s much more than just a logo and description of what’s inside the bottle. This is the first thing potential drinkers will notice.
• Branded Online Assets: Whether it’s your website, social media channels, or profile on a website like Vivino, it’s crucial to make sure you convey the same message and design. Wine is an extremely saturated industry no matter what type you produce, so it’s very important to maintain a brand image people will respect and remember.
• A Story That’s Set in Stone: Whether it’s the description on the bottle, a rep at a wine event, or the sommelier at a local restaurant, you want to engrain your wine’s story into everyone who sells the product. People will always remember a good story, so crafting the perfect tale about the vineyard, location, and grapes is very important.

There’s no other product out there that holds the allure and sophistication of wine. It’s consumed all over the world and each corner of this planet has its various preferences and consumer behavior when it comes to wine. While it’s not always easy to create a wine branding strategy that appeals to a global audience, it’s crucial that no matter how big or small your vineyard, you’ve developed a plan for how you want the public to view your wines. Perhaps it’s a homegrown, local angle you want to embody or it could be a vintage, old-world style, the feeling consumers get from your wine will inevitably play into their enjoyment of the product. A wine brand that gets people excited or intrigued encourages the buyer to share the story with their friends, and has impressive online assets (website, social media, etc…) will stick in people’s mind and influence their future purchases. Too many wines these days look the same and while the quality of wine from large producers to family vineyards has never been higher, the wine industry is far behind that of branding for breweries and spirits.

Let Us Help Craft Your Wine Branding Strategy

We are a team of experienced marketing and branding professionals whose mission is to change the way wine is bought and sold. We want to help vineyards and wine producers to create or improve their brands to reach a wider audience, improve their image, and ultimately sell more wine. We offer a plethora of wine marketing and branding services to help producers grow. Whether you are looking to completely rebrand your business, start a new brand, or simply strategize your marketing assets to better embody your current brand, we would love to work with you.

For more information on wine branding strategy please don’t hesitate to Contact The Brandsmen today.