Blog

At VingDirect, we exist to help family wineries grow their direct to consumer sales. Our winery clients receive education and training, customized consulting, and our Performance Tracker (PT) software, which provides actionable tasting room data. Ours is the only benchmarking tool in the wine industry and we’re happy to share 2016 learnings and insight to... View Article

DTC, DTC, DTC, it’s at the top of every winery’s list. But what in the heck does it mean? DTC stands for Direct to Consumer (customer) and yes, this term is unique to the wine industry, probably because wine is one of the few products that must legally travel through a wholesaler or broker to... View Article

Most marketing, sales, and hospitality employees are looking forward to next year and are being asked to plan programs, staffing and sales. This means going through your list and checking it twice to see what worked and what didn’t in 2016. Here are some things review when planning for next season. Metrics! If you are... View Article

Outbound Phone Sales, Outbound Hospitality, Outbound Telemarketing... Whatever we call it, the truth is the thought of calling customers and club members inspires fear in the heart of winery owners. We associate outbound telemarketing with sleazy sales people, but your winery customers don’t view you that way. In fact, they are thrilled when they see... View Article

Wine tasting has been a favorite pastime for my husband and I as long as I can remember. Being that we would frequent wine country about once a year, we considered ourselves to be pretty familiar with the tasting experience. That is until I started working in the industry. I was shocked to find out... View Article

You’ve probably heard the old adage… “You can’t manage what you don’t measure” and measuring is even more important if you want to grow your direct to consumer (DTC) sales. We all know how important it is to measure your DTC results, but if you are a family winery you may be short on time... View Article

Let’s face it. You already have a brand image and I’m not talking about your wine labels. Think about your favorite brand. Do you have a picture in your mind of the products, or the store, or the experiences you’ve had with the brand? Lexus, Tiffany, Target, Four Seasons. These are examples of strong brands.... View Article

To be… or not to be… Some wineries question whether they want a wine club. They are concerned about the consumer’s perception of a wine club. Whether you decide to call it a club, a society, or a membership, there’s no doubt that building a structure for reoccurring shipments offers many benefits. Here are just... View Article

Let’s face it…. the magic happens in your tasting room. It’s where guests connect with your winery and decide whether they will continue the relationship by joining your club or providing you with their email address. Everything that happens after the tasting room is marketing! How do you create successful consumer marketing campaigns? We believe... View Article

Baseball season is about to begin, and so is the busy season at your winery! After spring training for weeks, the players are ready. Your winery team seems ready too, but somehow when “The Show” starts, we have to sit up and pay attention. Spring Training for Your Winery Spring training is almost as old... View Article