Marketing Wine to Millenials

Here’s another BIG reason for wineries to adopt Social Media in 2009.  The Millennials!

They are the biggest growth opportunity for the wine industry and more needs to be done to develop this important segment. I read this post today by a self described millennial, Leah Hennessy, regarding how to sell wine to Millennials.

Leah says , “Somehow (Millennials) have gotten to the point where we’re getting $15 – $20 everyday drinking wine, but we’ve never been to a tasting, never been to a winery, and feel like we have no idea what we’re actually doing. It doesn’t stop us from buying, but it does keep us in our comfort zone of the same familiar aisle at Trader Joe’s. And there’s the issue.”

She provided the chart above based on her own research, showing where Millennials are doing their wine buying and explains why they feel most comfortable buying wine at Trader Joes.

You should read her full post to get her take on how to best to reach the Millennials, but here are a few of the thoughts she puts forward: hold wine tastings geared towards younger drinkers, throw events, reach out to younger social groups in your area, get creative, and top on my list is embrace social media even if you’re intimidated.

I know this age group is hungry to learn more about wine because every time I have a wine tasting (a few times a year) a large number of my daughter’s friends always show up, and if there is wine available to buy, they always buy some. They tell me that they want to learn more about wine but are generally intimidated about the unknown process of going to a winery.  They are afraid they might look stupid by what they don’t know.

The wine industry needs to work together make it easier, less intimidating, and fun for the Millennials if we want to get their business going forward.

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Tagged as: @MyVineSpace, cheryl wolhar, cult wine, marketing, Millennials, social media, social networking