Online Network Unites Wine Industry Suppliers
Thick, heavy directories were once a mainstay for B-to-B marketers trying to reach peers and prospects within their sector. They all had at least one such well-worn book on their desks.
The winery and vineyard business in the United States—going back well more than 100 years in many regions—is no exception. It's a business organized around small, geographic pockets, which puts a heavy marketing burden on the suppliers who are trying to sell equipment and professional services to those firms.
The best way to reach such a diverse audience today, of course, isn't with a tome that becomes outdated even before the ink dries but rather online.
The Wine Industry Network (WIN) is an online marketplace that launched last October to help foster a sense of community in the industry. "In the old print directories, there just wasn't enough information to make an informed buying decision," says George Christie, a long-time wine industry marketer who founded the site. "Now, they can have the whole market in front of them in one place."
About 175 wine industry suppliers—everyone from what Christie calls the "bottle, barrel and cork guys" to attorneys and accountants providing professional services—now have profiles listed at wineindustrynetwork.com. Some of them are small companies with few marketing resources and less marketing acumen. Others are big corporations, but looking for a venue where they can appeal to a focused customer niche.
The WIN has four categories: winemaking and production; vineyards; professional services and operations; and sales and marketing. Visitors to the Web site sign up for e-newsletters distributed every other week that are aimed at their specific categories. The newsletters contain the logos and information from suppliers that fit the particular category. As of June, the WIN had about 17,000 of the sector suppliers' B-to-B customer targets signed up, including 12,000 alone in the winemaking and vineyard categories.
Vino by the Numbers: The Metrics of B-to-B Networking
Suppliers pay monthly dues to be listed on the site, ranging from $45 per month for a basic membership to $90 per month to be highlighted in multiple product search categories.
Christie said the WIN builds its subscriber and member lists not only through direct site visits but also by signing up wine industry members at trade shows, via social media and even by phone. Ultimately, Christie knows the top thing B-to-B suppliers in his sector are looking for is proof of return on investment, which he is more than happy to provide by making site metrics and reports available to them.
Information on monthly reports includes:
- Number of clicks per month on a supplier profile.
- How many site visitors found a profile by searching for products and services.
- Top items searched.
- Number of pages clicked overall.
- If a visitor found the site via a newsletter.
Christie said many people advised him against providing too much information about the site's effectiveness, but "to me, one of the benefits of the Internet is you can provide transparency. With print marketing, you often don't know who is seeing you."
Top-Shelf Ideas: Tips on B-to-B Community Building
Christie offered some thoughts on what you should keep in mind if considering creating your own niche B-to-B networking community.
1. Online, even small guys can look big. Smaller suppliers can achieve a greater reach online and be listed in close proximity to larger competitors
2. Big guys can look small too. In sectors like the wine industry, Christie says, big companies can benefit from looking like smaller, more intimate operations ready to make their customers feel like part of the family.
3. Social media is often free but has indirect costs: Leaping into places like Facebook and LinkedIn is free upfront, but the indirect cost comes in the ability to maintain and frequently update your social media presence.
4. Have realistic expectations. The WIN, for example, is a B-to-B marketplace focused on a defined sector, so monthly clicks are not going to number into the thousands. "If 30 to 50 people have clicked on your logo in a given month, then you are doing fine. The people who need to see you are seeing you."
Wine Industry Network Expands Social Media Marketing Services
WineIndustryNetwork.com Continues Strategic Growth of Online Wine Business Community
Healdsburg, Calif., June 7, 2010 – The Wine Industry Network (WIN), the fastest growing and most cutting edge B2B marketplace and online resource for the wine industry today announced the expansion of their direct marketing services to include a more comprehensive social media marketing platform for industry buyers and suppliers.
Current economic conditions continue to challenge businesses of all sizes to look for new and innovative ways to reach potential customers. WIN is addressing this challenge by creating new sales channels for their supplier members with the launch of the WIN blog, a customized social networking platform that encourages dialog and provides relevant industry information, and by offering enhanced social media marketing services. These services extend the reach of their members while providing them with a cost-effective addition to traditional marketing. WIN also leverages existing social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and is strategically building the wine industry’s largest online business community, taking B2B marketing to a new level.
“Our primary objective is to help our members achieve the highest return on their marketing investment,” said Elizabeth Slater, Executive Vice President/Founder of Wine Industry Network. “The expansion of our social media platform provides access to more customers for our members and optimizes the WIN online presence on their behalf”.
“Social Marketing is rapidly changing the way brands communicate with their customers,” said George Christie, President/Founder of Wine Industry Network. “Our innovative approach and new social marketing platform helps our supplier members engage in more direct and meaningful conversations, which in turn is reinforcing their brand equity, their relationships, and their revenues.
Technically Speaking
NorthBay biz talks to five organizations that are mixing technology and service, with results that will lower costs and improve the overall customer experience.
When New Jersey native George Christie came to California in 1991, he got into the wine industry right away. He spent the next 15 years wearing a lot of hats, from national marketing to general winery operations. He also honed his technological skills and, in 2006, launched a wine marketing consulting firm that offered video marketing and production. With his help, wineries and suppliers started posting informational videos on their websites.
Christie also noticed an unfilled niche in the industry. “When I started consulting full-time, I realized how difficult it is to get good, accurate information” about products and services, he says.
Christie wasn’t alone in his assessment. During a conversation with Elizabeth Slater of InShort Direct Marketing, a longtime wine industry marketer, they shared with each other that they were regularly contacted by clients asking for referrals to suppliers. Their conversations led to the launch of Wine Industry Network (WIN), a comprehensive online marketplace and referral source for wine industry buyers.
With an initial investment of $150,000, WIN is growing monthly. Christie and Slater are focused on providing information and connecting suppliers to clients. “One of our main objectives was to make sure that, from a purchasing perspective, we had a platform that would provide as much information as possible so the suppliers we represented could really show off what they had to offer,” Christie says. “No one else was even thinking about helping suppliers that way, but we knew we had to do it because it was good for the industry.”
To launch the site, WIN aggregated information on almost 1,000 of the best wine industry suppliers, about 200 of which have already become paying members of the network in just six months. Membership dues range from $35 a month for small wine regions to $90 a month for companies that cover all of North America.
Membership benefits include a robust profile on the website that can be accessed and easily updated by the member, and what Christie calls “integrated marketing,” a combination of email marketing campaigns, videos, pictures, social media and more. “We want suppliers to think of us as a direct marketing agency—an online extension of their current marketing efforts. We bolt onto whatever marketing they’re already doing.”
Christie envisions a robust, business-to-business marketplace. “We knew that just building the site wouldn’t be enough. We need to be facilitating the exchange of information between suppliers and prospective customers.” Emails are sent out weekly to a WIN database of 15,000 industry contacts. Recipients can choose which categories of information they want to receive. “We’re offering an ability to participate in cooperative marketing campaigns.”
WIN members can also track the effectiveness of their investment in real time. “Members can log in and see the back-end data: how many visitors clicked on their website, what pages they read in the listing, and so forth. It’s about complete transparency. That’s the way the world is moving.”
The WIN model depends on affordable membership fees (so any-sized supplier can participate) coupled with a rapid return on investment. “This is an ‘all ships rise with the tide’ opportunity,” Christie says. “If you have a tradeshow and you only have one bottle guy, only one cork guy…no one would come. This is a case where exclusivity isn’t good; the more companies we have, the better it is for everyone. We’re marketing experts and we’ll help you differentiate yourselves, but let’s all get here first.”
WIN staff spends a lot of time with members and is committed to augmenting the technology focus with personal contact. “There are a lot of good suppliers out there who don’t have big budgets,” says Christie. “Our pricing strategy is that they’re just one deal away from converting a WIN membership from an expense to an investment. Our premise is how to over-deliver on our marketing services so this is one of the easiest buying decisions they’ll make.”
Christie says he and Slater are experienced marketers, but adds that they want to “make sure we stay authentic. We’re not advertising people, we’re winery people, and we know other winery people are out there trying to make good decisions. They just need access to better information…and that’s what WIN is all about.”
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Media Contact: Tami Christie 707.433.2557 ext. 103 tami@wineindustrynetwork.com |
For Immediate Release
Wine Industry Network Continues to Gain Momentum
Unified Symposium Attendees and Exhibitors Realize Potential of Industry Resource Site
Healdsburg, Calif., February 10, 2010 – The Wine Industry Network (WIN), the fastest growing wine industry business to business network in North America, generated a tremendous response at the 2010 Unified Wine and Grape Symposium and significantly increased the number of registered users on the site.
WIN, launched this past October, is helping industry suppliers build their businesses in the challenging economic climate by blending technology with tradition. The scrappy start-up company that is the brain-child of industry veterans George Christie and Elizabeth Slater provides a more comprehensive resource with direct marketing features such as targeted email campaigns, social network marketing, and strategic industry alliances, all of which allow supplier members to target, track and measure sales and marketing efforts. By continuing to evolve the site and services to meet the needs of WIN members and users, the industry is quickly incorporating the WIN site in their business-to-business purchases & marketing programs. While the reception by suppliers has been very positive from the beginning, the overwhelming increase in new registered site users at the show was a welcomed affirmation.
“We were thrilled at the response from winery attendees and industry suppliers who took the time to visit our booth and learn more about WIN”, said Elizabeth Slater, Executive Vice President/Founder of Wine Industry Network. “Once they saw the services, resource information, and capabilities available on our site, they didn’t hesitate to sign up”.
“Our focus and commitment to excellent service, creative thinking, and bottom line results for our WIN members and industry users is what has generated this type of response”, said George Christie, President/Founder of the Wine Industry Network. “The people we spoke to at the show were able to see first-hand the value that WIN brings to the industry”.
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The North Bay Business Journal announces the launch of WIN!
WIN Press Room
The Wine Industry Network (WIN) is evolving daily. This press room was created specifically to help journalists find the latest information quickly and easily. At WIN, we are about innovation and results. The WIN inspiration is about meeting the needs of wine industry suppliers and buyers by
providing in an Internet platform, a virtual meeting place, where suppliers and buyers can effectively and efficiently connect regionally, nationally and internationally.
Our commitment to the business of wine led to the Wine Industry Network concept. A web based, wine industry specific, B2B marketplace dedicated to servicing both buyers and suppliers through a variety of direct and interactive marketing features. What makes WIN unique is that this is all we do. We are focused 100 percent on driving business for our members and helping prospective buyers find exactly the right supplier or service professional every time.
Products and Services, Ratings & Referrals, Marketing Videos, Business Tips & Tactics, information on Industry Associations, Educational Institutions and a wide range of Wine Business Resources are what members will find today. We are already working on the next set of features designed specifically to give supplier members access to the best on-line marketing tools currently available.
Supporting wine industry professionals and suppliers by offering the highest level of customer service is the WIN cornerstone. Our work never stops. Everyday, we move forward with new ideas. We intend to revolutionize the way the wine industry buyers and suppliers interact, and in a way that saves time, increases profitability and leverages the latest in marketing technology.
When you learn about who we are, and what our backgrounds are, you will know why meeting and exceeding customer expectations is what drives us.
For journalists, this is a comprehensive stop in learning about, and keeping up-to-date on the Wine Industry Network.
· FAST FACTS
· ABOUT WIN
· LATEST NEWS
· WIN TIMELINE
· PRESS RELEASES
· FOUNDER BIOS
· PRESS KIT LOGO
· WIN IN THE NEWS
WINE INDUSTRY NETWORK FAST FACTS
WHAT: The Wine Industry Network, WIN, is a comprehensive business-to-business (B2B) Internet marketplace that connects industry professionals effectively and efficiently with wine industry, suppliers, consultants and service professionals. Users may search both geographically and by category of interest. The site was created to provide information crucial to the success of the wine industry in an updated and easily accessible format.
WIN provides current and relevant information about suppliers and service professionals serving the North American and the global wine industry.
For Suppliers & Service Professionals, WIN is a more effective and efficient resource to reach potential customers, and to promote and sell their products and services.
WIN assists buyers to:
· identify & connect efficiently with industry suppliers
· gather information to manage their business successfully
For suppliers WIN:
· is an internet based marketplace and direct marketing agency committed to the business of wine and driving business to its members
· is the most targeted and measurable sales and marketing platform
· provides downloadable current winery listings and new winery alerts
WHO: Founded by industry experts George Christie and Elizabeth (E) Slater.
WHERE: Healdsburg, California
CORPORATE CONTACT: PO Box 924
Healdsburg, CA 95448
877.717.2946
CONTACT: Tami Christie
Voice: 707.953.9672
E-mail: Tami@WineIndustryNetwork.com
HOW : The Wine Industry Network is a supplier supported internet marketplace with the primary objective to find and connect the right buyer with the right supplier every time in a way that is easier than anything currently available. WIN is funded through supplier memberships that range in price from $35 to $90 per month depending on desired visibility. Additional advertising opportunities are available to members. Using the site’s tools and resources are free to both members and subscribers.
FEATURES: Members Products & Services : An environmentally-friendly, technologically-current and comprehensive Internet marketplace of products and services that is both fast and effective to use. Suppliers are easily accessible and can be sorted regionally, nationally and internationally as well as by category. Member presentations of their products and services are on dedicated individual web pages on WineIndustryNetwork.com. Members present product and company information to potential customers, including contact and key personnel, videos, photographs and pricing. New information can be added easily, immediately and frequently. Members have access to opt-in e-mail marketing and regular reports on site traffic, click-through rates and other web metrics.
Supplier Ratings & Referrals: Cumulative ratings are awarded suppliers and service professionals by the people who use their business. Those in the industry with first hand knowledge also may write referrals. Oversight of both referrals and ratings is strict, and enforced. Suppliers have an opportunity to respond to negative comments.
Educational Videos: Categorical listings of educational and informational videos on all facets of the wine and grape industries are available.
Business Tips & Tactics: A variety of topics vital to the industry including production, vineyard, operations, tasting room management and marketing may be easily downloaded and shared as PDF, word or excel files.
Supplier News: Users select the supplier news they want delivered to their inbox to keep them in touch with what’s new and essential to their business.
Wine Industry Associations & Educational Institutions: Individual web pages showing information, programs and curriculum is provided at no charge to associations and educational institutions.
WIN Timeline
August 2007: Wine industry marketing and customer service/sales leader Elizabeth Slater approaches wine marketing expert George Christie, to discuss how best to address the needs of her clients. Christie has been focusing on new technology including video in his wine marketing consultancy.
September 2007: As Christie and Slater brainstorm, a major similarity about their wine marketing consultancies emerges – they both regularly receive calls asking them for references and contact names for suppliers. They are asked for information about everything from corks to lawyers, to event planners, to barrels. Christie and Slater begin to think about a way to create a website that would supply that information for North America, as well as by region and category, to provide a comprehensive and preference-based solution for their winery clients.
January 2008: Christie attends the annual Unified Wine and Grape Symposium. As he walks the tradeshow floor, he wonders what do suppliers do to get their message out the other 362 days a year? How are suppliers reaching customers? What do they do if their product release date is too late for this trade show? Must they wait another year? Christie realizes that what the industry needs is an Internet based, economically and environmentally-conscious resource site. One that is current, convenient and interactive. He is energized with the idea and calls an enthusiastic Slater as he drives back from the show.
Christie and Slater talk about the marketing limitations of the existing resources. Both see the answer as an offshoot of earlier discussions. They decide to put energy into a data resource that will give wineries and suppliers a way to connect to the benefit of both. They will call it Wine Industry Network with the objective of creating a WIN-WIN environment for both buyers and suppliers.
Feb - April 2008: The original concept of an online directory expands under the influence of Christie and Slater’s marketing expertise. Their winery and supplier customers want more than just a listing and website link. They need an innovative sales and marketing tool for suppliers and an information rich research and purchasing tool for buyers. The site evolves into a robust, supplier-supported marketplace.
May to Nov 2008: Christie and Slater talk to their clients and contacts in the wine industry about the idea. The responses are overwhelmingly positive from both wineries and suppliers.
November 2008: A website developer is selected and Christie and Slater move forward with funding and building the resource and marketing site while continuing to work for their existing clients. They commit more than 80 hours a week and $90,000 to moving the project forward. The site look and concept is a team effort between Christie, Slater and more than 20 advisors representing wineries, suppliers, service professionals, associations, educational institutions and technology experts.
Jan – Sep 2009: Christie and Slater continue to talk to key industry professionals about the WIN concept and receive almost unanimous support. They create the new site with the features and programs most needed by the wine industry.
October 2009: Site launch
George Christie
Founder & President
George Christie settled in Sonoma County in 1991 where he quickly realized that the wine industry was where he wanted to concentrate his efforts. Since that time, he has been involved in nearly every aspect of the wine industry, from vineyard operations and grower relations to distributor realignments and national marketing campaigns.
In 2006 Christie launched his own marketing company, leveraging his years of industry experience assisting wineries to use both traditional and cutting edge marketing techniques to establish a voice in the sea of winery and wine promotion. An early advocate of video marketing and production, Christie has produced more than 100 marketing videos for wineries such as Domaine Carneros, Wattle Creek and Rodney Strong along with industry suppliers Leroi Tonnellerie and associations like Heart of Sonoma Valley, ZAP and the Meritage Alliance.
Always an active member in the wine community, Christie has also held board positions with the Russian River Wine Road, Winegrowers of Dry Creek Valley and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Sonoma County Vintners.
His unique and well rounded background allows him to better understand the needs of both wineries and suppliers and have led to a site that is the wine industry resource for business information.
George was born in New Jersey and graduated with a Business Management degree from York College of Pennsylvania in 1989. He currently resides in Healdsburg, CA with his family.
Elizabeth Slater
Founder & Executive Vice President
A recognized expert in the fields of direct marketing and sales in the wine marketplace. Slater has taught more wineries and winery associations how to create and improve the effectiveness of their direct marketing programs and to make the most of each customer's potential than anyone in the wine industry today.
With the same humor and psychological insight she has used so effectively to understand the uniquely different challenges of wine businesses - large and small - Slater focused on co-creating WIN. Making it a direct marketing website that exemplifies everything she has discovered in more than 20 years in the wine industry and business-to-business marketing.
Quick-witted and original, Slater is a sought after speaker on winery sales, marketing, customer service, advertising and management topics. Wineries listen because she has the experience and creativity in the wine trenches to support her words.
After holding key marketing and sales management positions in national and international companies including the fast food, motorcycle, automotive, medical and computer industries, Slater turned her attention to wine in 1990 with the goal of starting her own wine marketing company. To learn the industry from the inside, she worked for two different wineries in four years. After developing and mastering the art of tasting room selling, she went on to handle all aspects of increasing their sales through direct marketing using the keen knowledge and insightfulness that she had used so successfully for other industries.
As the owner of the wine industry-consulting firm, In Short Direct Marketing, Slater has created marketing programs and events for the Russian River Wine Road including Winter Wineland and Wine & Food Affair. Under her direction, Passport to the Dry Creek Valley became one of the most popular, sought after and acclaimed events in the industry.
A born communicator, Slater teaches wine marketing courses at Santa Rosa Junior College and classes at Sonoma State, is the Vineyard & Winery Management marketing columnist, the program director of Tasting Room Profitability and a featured speaker at Wineries Unlimited. She lends her strategic planning expertise as a member of the Octagon Group in assisting different industries and businesses in rebuilding and improving their capabilities.
