The Social Place: Sharing the stories of New Zealand wine
Living in the heart of Waiheke wine country gives Chrissy Powlesland seasonal insights that delight her in life and work.
Tom Steward, co-owner of boutique digital marketing agency Trigger, and Tracey Green, owner of business and marketing consultancy Directional, recently worked with Destination Marlborough to help operators tighten their web. It’s important that everything is current, says Tom. “That your website looks its best and you have that 2022 perspective on what your website should be saying and looking like.” Tracey adds that the international market has different buying patterns compared to the domestic. “Review your product offering, marketing collateral and ensure your shipping and distribution details are up to date.”
Here are more of their insights:
Your website needs to:
- be easy to navigate
- have flawless storytelling
- have a strong unique selling point for your winery
- implement a good strategy for gathering reviews and managing them for future potential customers
- ensure the click to purchase is quick and efficient
Getting traffic and ensuring they stay there
- Start with leveraging your Google My Business and understand how to optimise the platform to drive traffic.
- Use all your social platforms to drive traffic.
- It's imperative that your website is mobile friendly.
- The attention span of the website visitor has become shorter, so it is important to captivate them and deliver the key content they are looking for immediately. The first third of your website is the most valuable; it needs to have a call to action and be captivating. Making people scroll down a page limits your conversion and loses their interest.
What's changed since 2019?
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It’s a new playing field – audience expectations have changed, and content needs to be updated.
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Travellers are looking for immersive experiences and opportunities to connect with those making the product.
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They want to know who you are and your story as they make purchasing decisions. Sharing information on your staff, your winemakers and your history is important.
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Visitors are more tech savvy - they have spent a lot of time on digital devices
over the last two years, and if a website doesn’t speak to them immediately, they will move on. -
Make sure you have real time updates on any operational changes to cellar door openings or other experiences available at the winery. These need to be on your website, Google My Business and on
any other third-party websites you have listed on.
Wine companies do some things well...
They are great at making wine look glamorous, with beautiful imagery. They also do fantastic outdoor advertising - you can walk into any airport and see multiple stunning advertisements for wine and wineries.
...but they could do better
People are looking for more authentic stories from all producers, so it’s important to provide more storytelling about the wine and the people behind it, and most importantly their sustainability story.
