Last Updated on December 3, 2021 by Troika Gellido

Do you need a better approach to targeting wineries? It may be time to develop a new winery supplier marketing strategy. A well-defined strategy can help you reach wineries more effectively if you build it around their unique needs.

Before you develop a new marketing strategy, you should stop and take some time to think about what needs your potential clients might have. By asking yourself the following questions, you can build a strategy that presents your services as the solution they need:

• Who do your target wineries serve right now?
• Who are your target wineries attempting to reach?
• Are your target wineries attempting to grow or stabilize their position in the market?

Let’s look at each of the questions in more detail and examine the ways that they should inform your marketing strategy. To start, let’s consider who the wineries you’d like to target are currently serving in the market.

Who do your target wineries serve right now?

Wine is a wonderfully diverse market that serves everyone from elite collectors to young, trendy college kids. Most wineries that you’ll want to reach are focused on one sector of this market in particular. Whether you can help them serve that sector depends on the type of products that you offer.

To lay the foundation of your marketing strategy, decide whether you are going to target premium wineries or mass-market wineries (or wineries in between). Your decision should be reflected in all of the other elements of your strategy, including:

• The language you use in your ads (is your writing elaborate or plain-spoken?)
• The images that you use in your advertisements (for example, the settings where your products are featured)
• The products or services that you push most prominently (are they the most premium products you sell, or the mid-tier ones?)

Remember though; there are more targeting considerations than just the price point. Review your target winery’s website, advertisements, and art to determine if they may be targeting:

• Young wine buyers
• Daring/experimental wine buyers
• Urban, suburban, or rural wine buyers

If you can match the tone and targeting being used by your target wineries, you can present yourself as a supplier partner who truly understands their needs. 

You can also elaborate on this strategy by considering not only the customers they are targeting but the ones that they intend to target next.

Who are your target wineries attempting to reach?

Most businesses aren’t comfortable with complacency, and wineries are no different. If you want to really communicate your value to your potential clients, you need to show them that you’re ready to help them reach their next market.

Naturally, you can’t focus your marketing on a single winery’s needs, so you should look at segments that many wineries are attempting to reach. For example, Millennials have become a major target of wineries as wine consumption by that segment has continued to rise.

Many wineries have struggled with how to reach that demographic, so you can emphasize how your products can help them do just that. Here are a few examples:

• More Millennials are demanding that their brands be green. If you sell wine supply products built from recycled materials, you can emphasize that fact so that wineries can pass the value down to their customers.
• Millennials love creative art and interesting containers for their wine. If you can help deliver this for wineries, you can advertise that you can help them reach millennials more effectively.
• Millennials are showing a clear preference for sparkling and fruity wines. If you carry equipment or materials that can help wineries shift their production to these wines, you can make it a focal point of your marketing plan.

These are just some examples of how wine suppliers can adapt to help wineries serve a single segment. Think about the ways you can help them reach other in-demand segments, including collectors, business customers, and baby boomers.

In addition to considering where wineries are trying to go, you should consider how quickly they want to do it. 

Are your target wineries attempting to grow or stabilize their position in the market?

Not all businesses are looking to grow at the same pace. Whatever their goals, they want to work with suppliers who understand their needs and have the ability to cater to them. A winery that’s ready to take the next big step is much different than one who is maintaining their current output, and there are a number of ways you can approach them.

If you want to make yourself appealing to rapidly-expanding wineries:

• Emphasize that you offer bulk deals
• Emphasize how rapidly you can deliver supplies
• Showcase large-scale equipment you sell

If you want to make yourself appealing to wineries looking to control costs:

• Emphasize your best bargains
• Emphasize how you can accommodate small orders

How well you can cater to expanding or careful wineries is usually a matter of what products you sell. Try to be creative in packaging your products together so that you can directly meet the needs of the wineries you’re targeting. 

Develop a Winning Winery Supplier Marketing Strategy for Targeting Wineries

Now, you know how to develop a marketing strategy that will help you reach wineries more effectively than ever before. Make sure that you consider what market a winery is serving right now. That way, you can develop your branding in line with theirs to show them that you can be a reliable partner.

Then, consider how you can help them reach the markets that they’re striving to serve next. Showcase how your products can help them reach the people who may be buying their wines tomorrow.

Finally, show them that you’re receptive to whether they’re looking to spend big or grow conservatively. That will help you build trust.