5 Tips For Building a Stellar Digital Ecosystem For Wine & Spirits Companies

A Changing Retail Landscape

The global pandemic has changed everything about our lives, from the way we socialize to the way we shop. Because of this changing retail landscape, wine and spirits companies are finally turning to the digital space. We’ve put together 5 tips to help you transition to a digital business and be competitive in an ever-evolving marketplace.

E-Commerce Vs. E-Marketing

When making the transition from brick-and-mortar to online, the key is to think of yourself as a digital business and not just a company that offers the ability to purchase your beverages through an e-commerce site. While a digital business can have an e-commerce component, it utilizes multiple interconnected e-marketing tactics and takes into account the entire buying cycle—from awareness, consideration, analysis and purchase, and finally to loyalty—and caters to the customer’s needs at each step.

Understanding What Drives Buying Power

To build a successful digital business you need give your online properties the same attention you give to your tasting rooms. Because people make buying decisions on emotions and justify those purchases with logic, your digital properties are an incredible tool for influencing how a customer feels about your product. Your digital properties must provide the experience that creates the desired emotion—this leads to meaningful connection to your product, repeat business and loyal brand champions.

Just as you would invest in creating an exceptional and meaningful experience in your tasting room, you also need to invest in the digital experience. Is it consistent with your brand aesthetics and mission? Is your messaging consistent? Does it communicate your unique value proposition?

To create an effective Digital Ecosystem, you must consider the digital properties that will be most effective in engaging and communicating value to your target customer. In this blog we’re going to show you how to create a Digital Ecosystem for your wine or spirits company, gain a foothold and find the traction needed to reach your target customers.

1. Build Strong Brand Framework

In order to be competitive in marketing your wine or spirits company, you need strong brand framework. The pillars of brand framework are your brand’s promise, positioning, voice, target audience, and visual identity. These pillars should be built upon your brand’s foundation, which includes your mission, your values, and your unique value proposition. When you have laid the groundwork for strong brand framework, everything you do for any marketing initiative should support that.

2. Be Clear, Concise & Consistent In Your Brand Messaging

Your digital presence should be focused on a singular message that supports your unique value proposition. Your unique value proposition is the thing or things that sets your product apart from every other product in your category. But it’s not just enough to be different—you need to know how to communicate that difference clearly, concisely and consistently. Having a singular, clear and consistent message will help you build familiarity and trust.

3. Create A Digital Marketing Stack

To start building your Digital Ecosystem, start with a digital marketing stack that makes sense for your wine or spirits brand. The most important thing to remember is that each of your physical and/or digital properties and the campaigns that are related to them should be interconnected and work to support each other. There is value in any given marketing tactic, but tactics that work in partnership will provide exponential results. The sample stack below illustrates how marketing tactics for a wine varietal campaign launch are interconnected and bolster each other.

4. Start Simple With Functional, Beautiful Web Design

The most important piece of your Digital Ecosystem is your website. Your website is your online tasting room and your biggest tool to convert lookers into buyers and consumers into brand champions with engaging content. Your website’s primary job is to showcase your expertise, build your reputation, generate new business, and offer sales channels and customer service.

5. Adjust Metrics To Optimize Performance

When you launch a marketing campaign, be it email, a landing page, or social advertisement, you should have key performance indicators (KPI) that help you measure the performance of your campaign. By analyzing results, you can continually track your progress towards your goals. Analytics provide valuable insights about campaign metrics, and you can adjust these metrics—such as changing the send time or day on email campaigns, using variations in copy and/or imagery on landing pages, or adjusting your target audiences on social ads—throughout your campaign lifecycle to optimize the campaign’s overall performance.

Once you build a Digital Ecosystem that makes sense for your wine or spirits brand, you can start harnessing its power. Not only is a well-thought-out Digital Ecosystem more efficient and effective in communicating value and driving sales, it is a better experience for your customer because it is intuitive and seamless. A Digital Ecosystem also provides valuable insights into who your customers are, how they think, and what motivates them to buy, and become the brand loyalists that will attract more, similar customers.

Need Help Building A Digital Ecosystem?

Affinity Creative Group is comprised of an expert team of talented creatives who are highly experienced in creating functional digital ecosystems for wine and spirits companies. If you need help building your digital ecosystem, get in touch today to find out how we can help!

About the Author:
Justin Witt is Digital Media Director at Affinity Creative Group, Mare Island, CA. Justin has spent his career designing and developing brand-centric, strategic and engaging digital and media for clients across California’s Wine Country. With a passion for connecting brands with their audiences at the emotional level, Justin enjoys inspiring the imagination of clients and their consumers through beautiful design and impactful marketing strategies and experiences.