Creative Ways to Advertise Your Local Portland Winery

Jennifer McMahan

Jennifer McMahan About The Author

May 19, 2021 12:14:00 PM

shutterstock_578684329

Oregon's wine industry is one of the strongest in the country, which means there's plenty of demand and plenty of flexibility to form your market and branding message. However, it also means there's a lot of competition for customers to sort through. Your brand needs to overcome the challenges of getting their attention, securing their first purchase, and converting them to long-term customers. Because the market is so saturated, it's crucial to position your local winery brand as innovative, fresh, and unique. You also need to accommodate generational changes instead of seeing what worked for previous generations of companies. Here, we'll explore creative advertising options to make your Oregon or southwest Washington winery stand out among your competitors. 

Learn More About Succesfully Measuring Your ROI!

Offer Unique, Personalized Experiences With Your Wine 

Screen Shot 2021-05-12 at 3.11.38 PMEvery consumer market is focusing on customer experience. Shoppers have an endless array of local, national, and international choices available to them, they don't have to choose brands that offer substandard products or impersonal shopping experiences. Both younger and older generations have wide access to shop around, so it’s essential to create a strong, unique brand that suits their lifestyle, preferences, and tastes. Focus your efforts to reach your specific audience, since trying to reach too big of a market will water down your brand.  

To create a unique shopping and brand experience around your company, consider these strategies: 

  • Focus your advertisements around a feeling or an emotional story rather than technical details of your winemaking. 
  • Create interactive advertising, like quizzes that educate new customers about the varieties of wine that suit their tastes best while giving you greater insight into your leads. It increases the likelihood that a new customer's first purchase will be satisfying and that they will come back to your winery. 
  • Create experiential products, rather than simply selling wine. You can sell wine tasting kits that inform and entertain buyers that include detailed profiles of different wine samples, allowing your buyers to explore their palettes, using tasting mats and notebooks, or other accessories that highlight your wine. 

Creating fun memories and authentically engaging with customers during the marketing, shopping, and drinking stages of your customer's journey with your brand is critical for forming a positive connection. Focus on giving them a fantastic experience, either at home or with generous hospitality in your tasting room. 

Tell Stories Through Your Wine 

Emotion is at the center of every advertising campaign. One of the best ways to cultivate positive, long-lasting emotions is through storytelling-based marketing is by creating a connection with your customers using storytelling-based marketing. Your campaign can focus on the romantic aspects of wine, show friends bonding as they try different wines, and even showcase cozy relaxation. Regardless of your exact product or your brand's core values, it's crucial to find and highlight stories that resonate best with your audience, making them feel more connected. Feeling a connection with your brand increases loyalty and potentially turns people into lifelong 

Telling immersive stories is easier than ever with the wide variety of marketing platforms available. Online advertising platforms and local channels have made omnichannel marketing possible for small winery brands, even in a crowded market. For example, you can use social media videos to craft your wine's brand’s narrative by telling your company’s history, letting customers know more about your team, culture, and mission. The more insight consumers have into the stories behind your brand, especially if they're specific and resonate with the audience, they’ll develop a deeper connection with your products.  

You can also use the products themselves to develop your brand. The packaging style, the information on the products, and even your product variety inform consumers about your brand's story. Minimalist packaging and information about a company's green practices can resonate with an environmentally-conscious audience. In contrast, bright colors and fun fonts or descriptions can resonate with audiences that want to experiment with unique flavor combinations. By focusing on the details of how you advertise, package, and sell your product, you can tell a story in an instant or take consumers through a more extended narrative. 

Control Your Narrative 

Screen Shot 2021-05-12 at 3.11.44 PMFully utilizing your social media platforms and other advertising outlets doesn't just let you get in front of your audience. It also allows third parties to know how to discuss and frame your brand. Local restaurants, event holders, and wine industry influencers will use the resources you provide to form their understanding of your brand. By clearly laying out your story and message (as well as nurturing your brand’s emotional connotation), you control how your products are perceived.  

A solid social media presence lets influencers and reporters have easy access to photos, facts, names, and contact information. By making their jobs easier, you are more likely to be featured (and featured positively) than brands with little to no online information. Also, by making your channels the dominant source of information, you won't let competitors or unknown parties take center stage in talking about your products and company. 

Advertise On Less Crowded Platforms 

Every popular social media platform is saturated with advertisements, especially from more prominent national brands. If these crowded platforms are outside of your budget, you can quickly turn to more creative (and just as effective) techniques, such as: 

  • Sponsoring podcasts that your audiences listen to 
  • Creating your own YouTube videos or supporting small channels 
  • Advertising on platforms like Pinterest 

Small marketing platforms tend to have incredibly engaged audiences with higher concentrations of shoppers likely to be interested in your products. It allows you to build authentic, longer-lasting relationships with your audiences while saving money by using less competitive channels. That creates a more cost-effective strategy, allowing you to expand your offerings or marketing reach. 

Successful Small Winery Marketing Requires Innovation 

Screen Shot 2021-05-12 at 3.11.51 PMOregon and southwest Washington wineries are experiencing a lot of success, but that popularity is creating a lot of competition. Use innovative marketing practices that help you engage your unique core audience, so you don't water down your brand or get drowned out. Wineries offer experiences and can make great use of alternative marketing methods, alongside traditional channels, to offer a fantastic experience before someone is even a customer. Working with a media company can help you stay current and take advantage of evolving marketing trends. 

New call-to-action