There have been a lot of doom-and-gloom headlines about the state of conventional DTC marketing. Some declare that "marketers face an existential crisis."
The reasoning is simple: many of the direct marketing tactics used in the wine industry have seen better days. From the death of third-party cookies to social media channels saturated by ads, what worked just a few years ago, isn't working well any longer.
And this isn't an anecdotal observation or posturing. Consider that:
Globally, 42.7% of internet users use ad blockers.
75% of emails are never read.
74% of people are tired of social media ads.
There's no point in whining about marketing tactics that used to work. A silent protest won't lead to higher open or click-through rates.
So, what can you do?
Follow the lead of innovative companies and invest in SMS marketing. And while you're at it, hire an SMS wine marketer.
This article makes a case for why your winery's next marketing hire needs expertise in text message marketing.
Why Are SMS Marketers in Demand?
SMS marketers are in demand because there's been an enormous increase in companies sending texts.
57% of businesses planned to increase their text marketing budget last year. As the amount of money spent on sending texts increases, growth-oriented retailers are looking for the right people to ensure their money is spent wisely.
To understand what led to this demand for SMS marketers, we first need to know why today's most relevant brands are investing in SMS:
Declining effectiveness of traditional marketing channels
High school biology texts once taught the perception of pain is often relative by invoking a story about frogs. If happy frogs jump into hot water, they try to escape quickly. But if the temperature is raised slowly enough, the poor frogs won't feel the burn even though they're getting cooked.
Maybe that's how we got to the point of accepting the performance of industry-standard marketing tools that simply don't work for most wine consumers.
Thankfully the world is changing: in 2020, AirBnb reduced its performance advertising by $542 million and saw no material impact on sales. They continued cutting their budget in 2021, with similar results.
It's not just recognizable brands like AirBnb that have realized how ineffective their marketing is. There are tons of small and medium-sized businesses that have wasted considerable time and money on popular advertising channels like Facebook and Google.
You can say the same thing about email marketing, where 79% of people will never even open your message. Devoting hours to sending an email that only a small portion of your list will ever read doesn't seem like a wise way to spend anyone's time.
The rise of mobile marketing
Against the backdrop of declining marketing performance, we've seen mobile traffic overtake desktop traffic. On top of this, people spend as much as 5.7 hours a day on their phones.
Savvy wine marketers know to meet their customers where they are. Because of this, the focus has shifted to mobile marketing:
> Designers now focus on mobile-first design
> Most new marketing channels are mobile-focused (TikTok is a great example)
> Even SEO has become mobile-first
It's no surprise, then, that the number of companies sending texts has increased rapidly. SMS has one of the highest ROIs of any marketing tool, with conversion rates as high as 29%.
SMS marketing is particularly effective with older wine consumers
Some observers have criticized our industry for relying on older, more affluent consumers.
But as it turns out, Gen-X and Baby Boomers love SMS marketing. That's why wineries leveraging text marketing last year reported 50% better results than other retail segments.
And with SMS wine marketers enjoying 32-times better customer engagement than email marketers, the race is on to invest in text and hire digital wine marketing professionals fluent in SMS.
Who Makes a Good SMS Wine Marketer?
If your business is looking to invest in success with SMS marketing, you're not alone. Thousands of current job openings now mention text marketing as a job requirement.
And if you read through any of the listings, you'll soon find they differ wildly in what they require.
Sometimes a marketing role appears to be poorly defined because it's new. Over time, roles can evolve quickly to meet the channel's needs or beat the competition.
Look at content marketing. Ten years ago, it was good enough to hire a "blogger" and have them churn out a couple of lightweight blog posts a week.
Now digital marketers are looking for writers with journalism backgrounds who can write thousand-word articles on topics as niche as generational marketing in the wine industry.
Much like social media marketing ten years ago, SMS wine marketing is still in its nascent stage. So just having someone dedicated to your text messaging efforts is likely to be enough to generate value.
Still, there are a couple of things to consider when hiring for this role:
It's probably not a bad idea to hire someone who has proven they can run effective direct marketing campaigns. Direct response marketing has its own goals and metrics, so it helps if you hire team members that know the relationships between lists, offers, and creative.
Experienced email marketers are often a good fit because they already know what drives DTC success, and they can leverage email to grow an opt-in SMS list quickly.
Look for a marketer with social media experience. They'll quickly pick up the conversational tone needed when texting customers. And they'll see opportunities to share content and offers these channels.
Since wine is a restricted product, your SMS marketing team should have demonstrated experience complying with state and federal regulations. The laws governing SMS wine marketing aren't hard to follow, but you want someone who knows the importance of compliance.
All marketers need to be data-driven. However, because you can see results in almost real-time, it helps to have someone in the role who has proven they can interpret and act on data.
SMS Wine Marketers: An Evolving Role
SMS wine marketing is much like email 20 years ago, with much to learn and the promise of game-changing results.
With the right team, DTC wineries looking to outcompete their rivals this year can use SMS marketing to grow any entirely new sales channel this year. And for wine marketing professionals looking to expand their impact in the industry, SMS marketing offers an exciting new career path.
We hope this guide has given you a great place to start as you find the right marketer for your brand. Go forth and conquer the new world of text marketing.
Happy Selling!