Building A Brand.
One of the biggest issues facing Paso-Primero is establishing our brand. We know we make great wines but finding enough elbow room to get noticed in a crowded marketplace is difficult to say the least. And to make things even harder for ourselves we’ve started from scratch with an annual budget that is dwarfed by a sales rep’s bar tab. We can’t afford to fund press trips, can’t afford to attend industry events and even sending out samples needs to be planned well in advance. In a world of hospitality, nepotism and glad-handing we’ve only got ourselves and our wines.
In many ways this is a huge advantage. We’ve got a hell of a story to tell, we’re genuinely passionate about our wines and we make wines we love to drink rather than paint-by-numbers wines aiming to fill briefs for multinationals. But how do we use these advantages? How can we get the word out about Paso-Primero and Pasotismo? I think we’ve got a few marketing routes and they all have pitfalls and benefits that aren’t always talked about. As it’s January and I’m currently figuring out my options for promoting Paso, I thought you might like to read my thoughts on what those options look like.
ROBERT KATAI
Social Media and the infamous ‘influencers’.
Luckily for new brands we live in a world of self-promotion with social media revolutionising how businesses can find their way into consumers’ pockets. There is a big limiting factor on this though. You’ve got to create content that’s viable in a sea of very talented creators. It’s easy to mock influencer culture (and I frequently do) but the good ones are managing to stand out using a medium available to practically everyone. That’s impressive. And just because social media is only a few years old, it doesn’t make the fact they’re generating huge swathes of traffic any less so.
My big issue with social media and (certain) influencers is the lack of an open and honest approach to the wines they’re promoting. I’m not saying they don’t love wine, and many are more qualified than I am, but when you’re sent on an all expenses paid trip to Provence, you’re not going to give anything other than glowing reports. And when my feed is dominated by the same wines at the same times you can see the trail of breadcrumbs and it all feels so disingenuous. I appreciate they’re being more open about the advertorials and maybe I’m a miserable, jealous sod but they offer up a relentless gush of paid-for enthusiasm and it feels like I’m stuck flicking through a glossy society magazine. It’s one of the reasons I have breaks from social media. I just don’t have the patience or the aptitude to play the game and provide a relentless stream of adverts.
I have done very well on social media so I’m not going away, I’m just going to re-evaluate how I use it and what I want to say. My point of difference is I’m a producer. I live the world of Paso and that’s what I should open up to people. Ignore the regular flush of jealousy that comes from seeing pretty people doing pretty things in pretty places. Embrace their space in the world of wine. Let them unleash their glossy lives on the world and accept that I’m not their target market. I need to share the dirt under my fingernails and share a true picture of what Paso is. If they want to shout about Paso, it’ll be because our wines are great and too good for them to ignore. Not because I paid them to.
Traditional press and critical reviews.
The world of wine still revolves around recommendations. There is nothing buyers like more than a bit of validation before they take your wines on. This is the main reason I send wine to the traditional press. Don’t get me wrong, the short-term goal is always an upswing in retail sales, but we’ve been in a lot of the nationals and only the Guardian has ever gained us tangible returns (thank you Fiona Beckett!). The majority of our reviews have done almost nothing to change our sales. It’s impossible to know how well they benefit us in the long run but if we can’t get recognisable sales from these reviews, their only value is giving us a soundbite to add to our promo material. But that’s not to be sniffed at. It takes a lot to get through the door of a merchant and a word from an MW or a respected journalist massively tips the scales in your favour. These reviews are not dispensed with on a regular basis though so chasing them is not a viable addition to our promo plans. We just have to run with them when we get the chance and shout them from every roof top that will have us.
Competitons.
Maybe it’s a latent competitive streak that comes from being an arm-chair sports fan, but I get very excited about entering our wines into competitions. I clearly love my own wines and this over-enthusiasm makes me think we’re going to win every time, but we don’t have to hit top spot to potentially get big rewards. Wine competitions are structured in a way to ensure there’s a table big enough for lots of people to feed off. There will be top spots for specific wines, regions, or styles but there will be many, many tiers below this. And those tiers are open to all. There is no limit to the number of medals handed out and it’s long been proven that accolades help sell wine. If we can grab one, celebrate it and trade off it for a year or so, the costs involved in entering are well worth it. And if we enter the right competition, at the right time, then maybe the right people will notice us. But competitions aren’t cheap. You’re looking at £125 to £165 to enter each wine and each entry needs to be sent in triplicate or more. It means we’re at the thick end of £200 per wine just to get started. Across a portfolio of six wines and with four or five credible competitions to enter, it’s time to start cherry picking. We send what we think we can afford and what we think will give us a return. It’s not an exact science though and once we even managed to get completely different scores for the label design on Paso-Primero Tinto and Paso-Primero Rosado. There was a 20-point difference, and they have the same label….
Word of mouth.
Maybe it doesn’t fit in here, but I did a tasting last night for a local WI so it’s fresh in my mind. Nothing, and I mean nothing, is as valuable as word of mouth. If you get told to try a wine by a friend, you take that recommendation and run with it. It’s why I put so much enthusiasm into hosting tastings. It’s why I drive out on a freezing January night to a village hall in the middle of nowhere. It’s why I do everything I can to get to any events hosted by our customers. I want to tell people about my wines, and I want people to remember Paso-Primero. With a young family I’m going to have to hold back on them a bit, but I still believe they’re the best way of creating a loyal customer base.