Industries
Wine & Spirits
Not all wineries or distilleries need more consumer direct sales and visits but those that do, a hyper-local marketing strategy is the best way to grow revenue and loyal followers.
Local Visits = Higher Profits
Our CEO has been collecting wines for over 20 years and two of his favorite wine regions are the Napa Valley and Montalcino Italy. When wineries sell their wine to wholesalers, they make less than 50% of what they would make at retail. Winery tour visits can create long-term, loyal customers that pay full retail. Wineries that are lucky to get someone to visit on their honeymoon, might see a lifetime member on their active buyers list.
Not all wineries need more customers, especially wineries that have received repeated high praise from wine publications such as Wine Spectator or The Wine Spectator. New wineries or those that have capacity to sell more to local visitors need a modern local marketing strategy. Let’s look at two searches; one for Napa wineries near Yountville and wineries in Montalcino, a popular city for Brunello di Montalcino wines.
Who Shows Up?
There are dozens of wineries in and around Yountville, so why do these three appear out of all the choices? The same goes for Montalcino, what made these three producers show from the approximately 150 active producers?
The answer is local search engine optimization whether it is accidental or deliberate. Some wineries in these popular tourist destinations understand the power of Google My Business reviews, but some obviously don’t have a clue. We could not find a single winery in Montalcino with over 100 customer reviews yet this is a must-visit destination for Italian wine collectors!
You can’t see it in these two examples, but none of the wineries are investing money with Google advertising to promote their GMB listings like we documented in the legal and medical industries. This is a big opportunity for any winery not showing in the Google Maps 3-pack.
It’s Not Just Reviews
Local search optimization is not just about having the most reviews on Google My Business. Selling wine to tourists is a big business in all popular winemaking regions of the world. This search for the best wine shops in Montalcino shows a very interesting fact. Enoteca la Fortezza has 682 reviews yet it ranked third in the list.
Consumers spend hours each day on social media, and it is now very common for consumers to read reviews on Facebook about a tourist destination, restaurant, or hotel. It is good to see that 31 people have reviewed this winery with an average of 4.9 stars. In fact, our CEO has visited this winery and had a great tour. However, the last review was posted four months ago ( Oct 31, 2019) and the second to last (July 2, 2019) was posted eight months ago, based on this posting date.
Any business the relies on tourism must by hyper sensitive to creating a steady stream of online reviews. Knowing that consumers use multiple sources to research and plan their vacations, Localiente can help wineries, distilleries, hotels, restaurants, and destination getaways to have greater local visibility.