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The winery business may seem like a dream business from the outside, but in BC and a number of other renowned places around the world the industry is fiercely competitive. Even those with viticultural savvy may lose out to those with a better online marketing strategy. To help you acquire new visitors and customers you need to make a change so that 2021 is not just a good year, but a great one! Here’s what you need to do to make that happen.

Top 5 Online Marketing Tips for Wineries

1. Claim Your Google My Business Listing

Most online search taking place for wineries follows a simple convention. Potential customers search “(location) wineries” or “wineries near me“. So you want your winery to show up on the Google Map, which will be delivered above traditional search engine results. To accomplish this you need to verify your winery (and address) on Google My Business. Get started right here.

Once your profile has been completed, add your business name and address to as many local business directories as possible. There will also be one or more online winery directories (i.e. wine411.ca, etc.) in your city, province, state, and country, so be sure to get listed with each of these. Ensure that your name, address and phone number (NAP) is consistent on ALL directories as this is vetted by Google. The greater the number of business and winery directories you are listed on (with a consistent NAP) the greater the likelihood of a high-ranking Google Map position.

2. Create Sections for Tastings, Tours, and Events

The primary reason people are searching for information on local wineries is to attend tastings and tours. They are searching using keywords strings such as “wine tastings (location)” and “winery tours near me“. Having a Google My Business (above) profile is not enough to capture this search, Your website must have a section (page/URL) devoted entirely to wine tastings and tours featuring content (paragraphs, imagery, and video) to showcase what the experience is like at your particular winery.

Beyond traditional tastings and tours, individuals, groups, and organizations are looking to wineries as activity venues for events such as weddings and corporate parties. If your winery offers event space with corresponding tastings and catering then you will want to create a new section for this as well, complete with engaging content to back it up.

Optimize each new section for online search, and you can then use the new pages for PPC, email, and social media campaigns.

3. Sell Wines Online with Juiced Up eCommerce 

To sustain business beyond your busy summer schedule and harvesting season you need to sell bottles when visitors are not at your winery. You also need to hedge the risk of being overdependent on retailer orders – a revenue channel that has been challenged by recent supply chain disruptions. Buffering wholesale volume with online sales to the public is key. However, far too few wineries have established effective online sales portals for their vinho do Porto, Pinot blanc, and Viognier. Follow these 5 tips to optimizing your winery’s eCommerce shop and you’ll enjoy a healthy revenue stream even in the “off season”.

4. Engage and Inform With Your Blog

A typical website navigational hierarchy will include the homepage, an about page, a contact/location page, an e-store, and the aforementioned pages for tastings, tours, and events. These static pages are critical for SEO, PPC, email, and social media campaigns. However, you need to pour fresh content into your site on a weekly basis. This should be accomplished via your blog. The blog should be engaging, informative, and tailored not to industry peers, but to prospective visitors and customers. Thankfully in your field (or should we say vineyard) the topical possibilities are nearly endless. Here are some great subjects (which may sprout numerous articles) to cover in your website’s weekly blog:

  • Wine and food pairing
  • How to taste wine
  • How to buy/choose wine
  • Best wines for celebrations (birthdays, holidays, weddings, etc.)
  • New wine releases
  • Other (be creative!)

Just like with the other pages addressed above, blog articles make for perfect pairing with your SEO, PPC, email, and social media campaigns.

5. Increase Your Social Media Marketing Efforts

If you really want to squash competing grape growers then you need to ramp up your social media efforts. The food & beverage category on social media is one of the most popular, and wine especially translates well to photo and video posts on Instagram – your primary focus for social network marketing with 4.87 million #winery hashtags and counting. Photograph (and shoot video of) everything, from vineyard to cellar, and post new content on a daily basis. Followers who enjoy a glass of wine will never tire of this subject matter so don’t worry about overkill.


Members of the Strategis Consulting team are self-professed oenophiles so rest assured that you’re in good hands when placing your digital marketing strategy in our care (and we accept bottles as partial payment). Contact us today to learn more.