The Key to Building Brand Loyalty among Millennials

THE BOOZE BIN

By Pia Mara Finkell (@piamara)

Writing from sunny St. Helena in Napa Valley today, I am particularly psyched out of my mind to attend the Nomacorc Symposium for wine marketing managers on “Marketing to the Next Generation of Wine Drinkers” today at the Culinary Institute of America. The lineup of speakers is killer, from the king of all things wine, social media and the JETS, Gary Vaynerchuk (@garyvee), to wine blogger extraordinaire, Joe Roberts (@1WineDude). I wonder if there will be a JETS v. Steelers showdown? But I digress.

The conference will surely bring plenty of learnings, which I’ll share in an upcoming post. The roundtable discussion on “Strategies for Building Wine Brand Loyalty” is of particular interest. The session poses the question “what makes a wine drinker come back to a brand over and over again?” Building brand loyalty is, of course, key to the growth of any brand, but particularly challenging when it comes to wine and Millennials.

As a generation, Millennials are known for experimentalism and openness in trying new brands, but perhaps are not the easiest crowd to hold on to for the long haul. So, what makes us such a challenge to win(e) over? Is it even possible to hold our attention in this fast paced world where the next hot thing is just one aisle over?

One of today’s panelists, Joe Roberts of 1WineDude isn’t so sure, or at least he knows brands won’t be able to use the same approach to build loyalty among the Boomer generation. So, what is the right strategy? The answer is not quite as simple as the following, but for the sake of brevity, here are three words to use as your mantra in  building brand loyalty among Millennials:

1. Excellence: Bottom line, put something good out there. If the quality of your wine is top-notch, you won’t have to work quite as hard to market yourself, because we’ll do it for you. In a recent BizReport article, fellow Millennial and PR executive at Edelman in Bangalore, Arathi Menon, summed it up well: "Focus on making an excellent product. If you do so then all of your marketing will be true… and most of the marketing will be done by us."

2. Authenticity: I’ve written about this before, but it’s worth repeating. Just because  you are hoping to reach Millennials doesn’t mean you should change who you are, sport a fauxhawk or start wearing Converse. Please don’t. Stay true to who you are (don’t worry, white Reeboks can be very cool), be proud of your awesome wine and story, and find a way to share that experience with us.

Leah Hennessy of Millenier put together a good approach to building brand loyalty through authentic experiences here, and Hardy Wallace of DirtySouthWine makes this good point: “A business should have one message – the truth. If you want to target market segments, alter your platform not your message.”

3. Engagement: So, now you’ve got a great bottle of wine, you’re staying true to your story and message… now what? Engage, engage, engage. It’s a time commitment. Sign on to Twitter and Facebook, and join the conversation already taking place about your brand. It’s all about the relationship. Just like with dating, when you’ve had a nice encounter with someone, it is so important to keep in touch. Engage them via social media and keep it interesting with news and events from your winery, wine or region.

Photos courtesy of 1WineDude and StellaCat.

About Pia Mara Finkell:

With over a decade of experience in communications, Pia has a strong background in wine, beer and food public relations, marketing and promotional strategy. A vice president in CRT/tanaka’s Food & Beverage Practice, Pia oversees public relations, traditional and social media programs, strategic partnerships and program development for various beverage alcohol and food accounts, including the Wines of Rioja, Les Vins Georges Duboeuf and the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers. Her agency work has helped win various industry awards, including two Bronze Anvils, Silver Anvil, Bulldog Digital/Social (Gold and Silver), PR News Platinum, two PR News Digitals, Clarion, Big Apple, Commonwealth and a Telly. In recognition of her passion and client work, Pia also won the CRT/tanaka annual Whatcanbe Client Award in 2011. In 2010, Pia created the weekly BuzzBin column called 'The Booze Bin,' offering up interesting musings on the beverage alcohol industry and all things booze. Depending on the season, what she's cooking, and whether or not the Yankees are winning, Pia can be found toasting a glass or pint of something awesome.