What do brands and religions have in common? They both strive to be authentic, build relationships, seek loyalty and lifelong relationships with customers. Religions create devotion and in a sense, brands try to do the same thing. However, more often than not, brands fall short. Marketers and businesses can learn many valuable lessons from religion when they’re trying to sell current and future wine products and gain loyal customers for life.

A wine brand has the potential for greater long-term success when it inspires loyalty. Loyalty is a result of many factors, which generate dedicated customers who can’t imagine living without your wine product. Just as important as loyalty is a brand that can create traditions, as do religions. Wine is an extremely ritualistic, cultural experience that brands should make themselves a part of. Rituals become a way of life, often passed down from generation to generation, and wine brands should do their best to become synonymous with said traditions, or rituals.

Again it all comes down to emotion and creating connection. There is a large gap between brands and emotional products. Religion connects to people emotionally. Thus, marketers could learn a thing or two from religion.

Brand Sense, by Martin Lindstrom talks about the Ten Rules of Sensory Branding. It is a list of 10 things a brand, in this case a wine brand, should do in order to rise above being a traditional, follower brand, and move toward making their brand a religious experience for loyal customers.

1. A sense of belonging – community and relationships
2. A clear vision – your purpose should be transparent as should your leader
3. Enemies – visible enemy makes people show true colors and align with something they identify with
4. Evangelism – spreading the word; essential component to attract new consumers
5. Grandeur – create wonderment and awe
6. Storytelling – create and establish a product that tells a story that consumers can add to
7. Sensory appeal – religions appeal to the five senses and so should wine brands – sound (listening), sight (design – shape, size, color), taste and smell are synonymous, touch (texture)
8. Rituals – traditional celebrations; annual winery events, weekly retail tasting events, monthly restaurant wine dinners
9. Symbols – religions function around icons, brands should to – turn your label into an icon
10. Mystery – create mystique to make your wine brand more sought after.

All of these attributes create stability and show that you as a wine brand are in it for the long hall. If you want your customers to be devoted to your brand for a long time, you have to show that you are devoted to your brand for a long time. Religion provides certainty to instability and brands should to. If you follow the 10 Rules of Sensory Branding, your customers will be more loyal to your wine brand.

My husband has been interviewing for a job in Santa Barbara, CA and we have been on pins and needles waiting to hear something. This whole process got me thinking about why it is that companies hire who they hire.

I remember after I was hired as the Academic Coordinator for the Department of Cultural and Social Anthropology at Stanford University, one of my new colleagues told me the reason I was hired wasn’t necessarily because of my experience, but more so because of the person I am. I had experience in higher education administration, but I didn’t have direct experience with the position I was being interviewed for. They knew they could train me to do the technical stuff, but they couldn’t change who I was as a person so they knew they had to hire the right personality from the beginning.

I think about all of the companies that hire solely based on experience or level of education, but don’t spend enough time trying to learning about the individual being considered. There are so many great people out there who may not have the experience or education you’re looking for, but have more personality, intelligence and heart to put into their work than any experienced or educated person.

When it comes to the wine industry, of course you want someone with wine knowledge and business savvy, or sales experience. However, in many cases you can teach people the technical aspects. What you cannot do is train them to be the person you want them to be. I think it’s more important to find the right person to train, than to find the trained person who isn’t going to treat your customers they way you want them to, or be an ambassador for your product because they really don’t care.

My husband doesn’t have the direct experience for the position he’s being considered for, and it would be a level up for him, but he’s still being considered and is up against people who have much more experience than he does. I believe what’s keeping him in the running is the hiring team is not only considering his education and experience, but also who he is as a person – his abilities, is intelligence, his dedication.

I think more companies should do this. I think they would have less work on their hands, have happier, more loyal employees, and as such, happier and more loyal customers.

So next time you receive a resume from someone who doesn’t have the experience or education you’re asking for, think about giving them a chance anyway – they may be willing to give you their all, but you won’t know unless you consider them.

French winemakers have launched a new concept, Vignerons a la Maison, whereby they bring their wines into your come and conduct a tasting. Due to the slowed economy, winemakers have had trouble bringing customers to their estates or to trade fairs. Instead of giving up, they have decided to bring their wine to customers.

I think this is a great idea and perhaps something American producers should also consider. There is a genuine hospitality about it. It allows consumers to get to know winemakers and their wines intimately and learn about them on a much deeper level. I think this is a great way to create customer loyalty.

Here’s a link to the article so you can read more on it for yourself.

With the infinite amount of wine on the shelves in supermarkets and wine stores, it’s obvious there is confusion and twice as obvious is the fact that the label on the wine bottle needs to be as descriptive as possible in order to eliminate confusion, tell a story, create a connection with a consumer, and hopefully gain a loyal customer. Unfortunately, many producers have yet to do this. Either they don’t put anything on the back of the label, or what they do put on the back of the label has no bearing on the story of the producer or the wine itself.

I ordered a fantastic book last week, called Wine Labels On Bottle Design (affiliate link), by Eduardo Delfraile. this book gives a short history of wine labels, has pictures of old wine labels and newer, more modern wine labels. The modern wine labels we see today are accompanied by an appendix that includes short descriptions of what the label means, whether it be about the producer, the winery, the grapes, the winemaking, etc.

Now, if only we can get these descriptions out of the back of the book and onto the wine labels themselves. These descriptions need to be readily available to the consumer, not in the back of a book where the descriptions of the labels have no direct relation to the purchase of a wine.

However, until the producers wise up, I suggest you buy this book and learn what some of these wineries are all about. I highly suggest producers buy this book to get a feel for what they should be putting on the their labels to let consumers know who they are and where they’re coming from. Once again, it’s about making your brand as transparent as possible to consumers. Help them to understand you. Eliminate the confusion. Make them want to buy your wine.

Just a quick post today about a great event happening this weekend – Outside Lands Festival – in San Francisco.  If you’re anywhere near you should try to attend. There’s great music, food, wine, people and atmosphere. Here’s a write up I did on it last year, on another blog I write, which will give you some background. 

Here’s an article written yesterday about how the vintners who will be at the festival are targeting millennials.  Last year 80,000 people attended the event and of those, roughly two thirds ventured into the wine area to check it out. The hope is to attract people who usually drink beer, as well as others.

Whether or not you like wine, you should check out the festivities. Even if you’re not into wine, go check out the Winelands area – you might be pleasantly surprised.

Cheers!

Whether you like it or not, transparency in business is here and it’s not going away any time soon. Instead of shying away from it, you should embrace it.

Transparency is about being honest, open, accountable and responsible. It’s about making your business more personal. Customers are looking to make a connection with your brand and by being transparent, you are forging that connection.

There are a few ways you can make your business more transparent.

1. Honesty – don’t hold back any pertinent information that is important for your customer to know.

2. Community – know your audience and be involved every step of the way, on a local level or otherwise

3. Straight Talker – be confident in what you know and shout it from the rooftops, but don’t say what you don’t know. Don’t be a fake.

4. Responsiveness – connect with your consumers and follow up with them.

5. Point of view – think about the opinion you offer before you offer it. Think about any ramifications that can come from sharing your thoughts on Twitter, Facebook or otherwise.

There’s an article in the LA Times that shows how transparent pricing in the wine industry is becoming, thanks to Wine-Searcher.com.  Wine-searcher.com levels the wine industry playing field

There’s another article in Wines & Vines, Winemaker Talks, Consumers Buy, which shows the positive effect a winemaker’s transparency with consumers can have.

The point is simple – be a window, not a wall.

Cheers!

It’s quite simple; the concepts need to successfully operated a winery, restaurant, retail shop, or any other business, are based on simple principles.

This is what I’m talkin’ about – from V. Sattui Winery -  “What hasn’t changed, he insists, is his golden rule of customer service. ‘It’s how you treat people,’ he says. ‘Treat everyone like you would like to be treated’.”

If you don’t get it, you better try harder.

Please read this article!!! http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/08/06/FD801EK4J4.DTL

Busa Wine is a retail shop that finds success with email marketing and online marketing tools. Check out the video to see where they see success.

Guest article by Natalie MacLean

Top 10 Wines for Green Veggies

New York, July 26, 2010 – Which wines go best with “green food”, such as asparagus, peppers and peas? How about other fresh vegetables that we’ll enjoy this summer and fall?”

Green foods are the problem children of the wine world,” says Natalie MacLean, editor of one of the largest wine sites on the web at www.nataliemaclean.com. “But as a stubborn hedonist, I’ve found some terrific wines to drink with them.”

Natalie has just launched a new mobile application for iPhone, iPod Touch, BlackBerry, Droid and other smartphones. Developed by Cerado, this app builds on the success of her Drinks Matcher and includes all the pairings in the original app, plus thousands of wine reviews, recipes, articles, blog posts, glossary definitions, cellar journal and winery directory. Essentially, it’s a suite of ten wine apps rolled into one. You can access the new app at www.nataliemaclean.com/mobileapp.

In the spirit of going green (and giving back green), the new app is free.  With the Nat Decants Mobile App, you won’t need the luck of the Irish to pick the right wines, whether you’re in the pub, at a friend’s house or at the liquor store restocking. It’s like having a sommelier in your pocket.

Nat Decants Free Mobile App Features:

- Find 380,000 professionally tested food and wine pairings
not generated by computer algorithm
- Access thousands of wine reviews by an independent journalist
rather than by the wine store or winery that represents the wines
- Search the reviews by winery, price, score, region, grape, vintage, food match
- Track your wines in your virtual cellar and add your own journal notes and scores
- Search a directory of 10,000+ wineries to buy wine or plan a visit
- Find thousands of tasty, tested recipes for every wine
- Get wine savvy with articles, glossary definitions & blog posts
- Share on Twitter, Facebook and e-mail with friends

Natalie’s Top 10 Green Wine & Food Matches

1. Corned beef and cabbage: Pinot Blanc
2. Irish Stew: Cabernet Franc
3. Spring Asparagus: Gruner Veltliner
4. Field greens salad: Riesling
5. Tomatoes: Pinot Noir
6. Green peppers: Sparkling Wine
7. Grilled veggies: Rose
8. Green peas: Sauvignon Blanc
9. Spinach and bacon salad: Merlot
Artichoke: Verdicchio

For more tips on pairing green food and wine, visit http://bit.ly/dsYG0g.

To get the free Nat Decants Mobile App visit:
www.nataliemaclean.com/mobileapp
For iPod Touch or iPhone, visit iTunes:
http://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/nat-decants/id353052386?mt=8
For BlackBerry, visit App World:
http://appworld.blackberry.com/webstore/content/10584
For Droid, Nexus One, Nokia, Palm Pre and other smartphones, use the mobilized web site here:
http://www.nataliemaclean.com/mobile ;

About Natalie:
Natalie MacLean is an independent journalist and author of the bestseller Red, White and Drunk All Over. More than 110,000 wine and food lovers subscribe to her free monthly e-newsletter. Natalie is the only person to have won both the M.F.K. Fisher Distinguished Writing Award from the James Beard Foundation and the M.F.K. Fisher Award for Excellence in Culinary Writing from Les Dames d’Escoffier International. At the World Food Media Awards in Australia, she was named the World’s Best Drinks Writer: www.nataliemaclean.com/bio.

Twitter:  http://twitter.com/nataliemaclean
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/natdecants
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/pub/natalie-maclean/a/364/70b
YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/natdecants
Newsletter: www.nataliemaclean.com/subscribe

I think we all know how helpful online wine communities and social networks can be. They usually offer a place to keep track of the wines you’ve tasted, share your tasting notes with others and explore wines others have tried. While there are quite a few out there, CellarTracker is one of the first ones to come on the scene. 

For those of you not familiar with CellarTracker, it offers wine cellar management software and online tasting note capability. If you go to their homepage, you can see the features and benefits listed right there. The web design is rather simplistic, not very glamorous.

However, this may not be the case for much longer. They have a new BETA site called GrapeStories. It’s much more user friendly and easier to navigate, but keeps the same functionality. I think it also offers more of a community like social media format, which is great for networking and forming relationships.

For those of you who use CellarTracker, have you checked out their BETA site? What do you think?

For those of you who do not use CellarTracker, I think you should check out the traditional site, as well as the BETA. It’s a great source, and will be even better once GrapeStories is official.

Cheers!