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