The Guru
It’s been almost one year since I’ve had the opportunity to talk with Christian Oggenfuss about the current key points of focus for wine business direct-to-consumer marketing. Our conversations usually consist of one or two questions followed by an on-point discussion of the topic at hand, that in-part seems like a post-doctoral lecture and in-part a clear, concise and actionable approach to a winery’s most profitable sales channel. We should all have knowledge gurus that, based on their specific areas of experience, are our go to reference sources. Christian Oggenfuss is my DTC guru. I’m the marketer with questions and Christian is the knowledge resource with answers.
I recently engaged in a phone conversation with a senior level wine business marketing 
executive about a certain winery’s
direct-to-consumer marketing efforts, centering around CRM/POS integration and consumer real time engagement efforts. The discussion ended on an unresolved basis, and I wanted to get some additional insights from Christian to gain a fresh perspective on how to resolve identifiable points of friction in the consumer facing segments of this key winery retail marketing sales channel. Christian, appointed, in late April, as Director of Marketing at PlumpJack and CADE wineries, agreed to meet and offered to share his insights with the readers of the AoD vlog.
A DTC Tutorial
Wine Business Direct to Consumer Marketing Focus
Based on the direct-to-consumer marketing insights that I’ve observed and enacted during my wine business career, here is a short list of suggested DTC best practices:
- Develop a brand specific strategic & tactical DTC plan within the capabilities of your winery
- Develop trackable goals and visit monthly by reviewing your DTC KPIs
- Develop and enact a frictionless customer information capture system, whether
from an inbound online interface or outreach in-person interactions - Develop and implement a consumer focused CRM (relationship management program) with the ability to utilize, in actionable ways, all consumer inquiries, interactions and commerce
- Insure that your consumer facing software development is shaped from the perspective of your winery sales and marketing efforts and not driven by back office accounting silos
- Insure that your POS and CRM systems have a seamless interface and that both points of entry populate data (client information) without digital conflict
- Design and develop your winery web site’s ecommerce portal to provide an intuitive eSales experience by avoiding points of friction and shopping cart abondonment
- Create a business culture that is focused on customer awareness and retention by engaging your customers and building real, sustainable relationships
- Excel in customer service
- Outreach marketing is one of the keys to any viable winery DTC effort. Remember that the wine business is social, and that your winery brand
customers like your wines and want to hear from you. Your clients want to be recognized and treated like insiders. So, pick up the phone and call and engage your customers in a conversation. Let them know the latest shipment info, that magnum offer or the members only wine library release. Follow-up with a contact email. This isn’t about selling widgets. The best DTC marketing practices are customer centered, and focus on the creation of visceral and memorable experiences.
Copyright© 2011 Agents of Disruption Blog™ All rights reserved.
Agents of Disruption 