Raise a glass to National Wine Day

Wine is the third-largest segment of the global alcoholic drinks market, so it’s a safe bet a number of your customers (and potential customers) are wine enthusiasts. By holding an event, promotion or appreciation of National Wine Day, you encourage these customers to engage with your business. Business Wire reports the global wine market is forecast to reach a global consumption of more than 30 billion litres between 2016-2020. So, grab yourself a glass, crack out the cheese and start planning an event that’ll have the wannabe connoisseurs flocking to your business.

Pubs & Bars

Hospitality businesses are best placed to take advantage of National Wine Day, with wet lead businesses such as bars and pubs able to unashamedly showcase their full selection. Celebrating National Wine Day provides an opportunity to create a sense of occasion and there are a number of ways to do this.

Take the opportunity to encourage your customers to sample more expensive wines. By knocking down the price of a glass of wine by as little as 10% you encourage customers to try something beyond their staple house choices. Customers getting a taste for more expensive varieties may just stick with their choice when the promotion ends. Consumers enjoy the feeling of getting a deal, so price reduction promotions will always pull in custom.

Hosting guest wines is a good way to add some variety to your wine offering. Make some links with local producers and invite them into to show off their products. English wine is growing in popularity, with a number of producers winning awards across the country. English Wine Week follows national Wine day on the 27th of May. If you do get involved, don’t forget to share the love across social media using #EnglishWineWeek on twitter @englishwine and @englishwineweek.

Try having a pub quiz with a twist by holding a mystery wine tasting. Teams can pay a small fee for entry covering the cost price of the wines. They each sample a selection and have to guess the variety of the wine. Games are effective in creating a lively and fun atmosphere and is effective for up selling different types of wine. You could hold different rounds such as sampling three reds, followed by three whites, rose and sparkling and the team with the highest number of correct guesses winning a selection of their choice.

Restaurants

Restaurateurs have an opportunity to get creative, pairing wines with courses or making suggestions for each dish. The simplest way to share your suggestions is by using chalkboards or menu inserts. Make sure you include key details on your description, such as vintage, country of origin and price.

Alternatively, for a little investment, you can send your front of house staff on a wine course. Up-skilling your staff in this way allows them to make astute observations and recommendations, immediately elevating the level of service your customers receive. This not only improves the customer experience by building memorable rapport with your staff, it’s also great for boosting employee engagement.

Ambitious eateries could even trial a whole new menu, pairing local produce with specialists wines. Having a set multicourse menu with a different wine choice for each course isn’t something your customer will experience regularly. Such events create a sense of exclusivity allowing you to price the menu accordingly. Don’t forget to finish off with a selection of dessert wines!

Holding a traditional wine tasting event is a good way to welcome new customers to your business. Events of this nature allow you to show off your expertise so make sure the person guiding the session has good knowledge of wine. Click here to get some tips on holding a successful wine tasting. If you aren’t confident your wine trivia stands to the test, why not invite your supplier in to lead the session? Many suppliers will be happy to offer their service on the promise of an increased monthly wine bill.

Retail

It’s not just hospitality businesses who can get their hand in celebrating National Wine Day. Clearly, businesses with direct links to the beverage, such as wine merchants, off-licences and convenience stores, can run promotions to boost sales. Running a social media competition is a good way to encourage engagement with your brand and increase your social footprint. Competitions, where users have to like, follow and share in order to win a case of wine, for example, will have a large uptake, as this requires minimal effort on their part, but affords your business maximum exposure.

Business such as hairdressers, or beauty parlours where customers come in to sit down and enjoy a service, could offer customers a complimentary glass of wine. By offering the customer a little extra, you create a memorable experience they’re likely to share with friends and relatives, by word of mouth and social media. These customers become your brand advocates, which is a perhaps the most effective marketing tool for introducing new customers to your business.

Conclusion

National Wine day offers all kinds of businesses the opportunity to get involved and celebrate a drink of such variety and versatility. Even a small effort, such as sharing a few pictures of your selection on social media (using #NationalWineDay to tag your posts) or updating your chalk board to advertise a special offer could pay off. Simple actions such as these have the potential to boost spend per head and create a memorable and enjoyable customer experiences that encourage enagement with yor brand.