winery

Are Custom Phone Apps for Wineries and Mobile versions of websites the next big thing? Is this the technology we need to get a jump on to stay competitive?

I say YES!

Mark Norman – Director of Marketing and Business Development at The Wine Societies wrote this post in the “Wine Collectors Only” group on LinkedIn today and I just had to post it below in it’s entirety.

For those wineries that are just getting used to websites, ecommerce and starting to think about social media, as Mark says, “If you think you can wait, DON’T. It won’t be instead of but an addition to, and if you are still doing business, you’ll probably decide to wait on that one too.”

I am passionate about this topic because we need to get the word out to wineries of all sizes because there are still those that are waiting. People don’t understand how fast new technologies are changing our lives. I keep telling people that our way of life is changing completely and totally. Most people just smile and think I am crazy, but watch and see.

Check with me in just two years and let’s see just how different things are.  So I agree with Mark, we need to be ready for the web 3.0 revolution because it is going to move faster than we expect.

For some people, web 2.0 and social media, “is a brave new world”… exciting and dangerous all at the same time. I say embrace the danger and drive through it!  Those too timid to try something new are missing a huge opportunity and they will probably miss the next one too. Some people are just not ready to think differently.

I can’t tell you how many people smile and sound proud when they say, “I don’t twitter”.  I just smile to myself knowing that they are the ones that will be left behind.

Here is Mark’s post:

“Yesterday, a connection on LinkedIn was responding to comments left by another in regards to new smart phone applications (apps). Tom had said that he only uses his cell phone for talking. Todd Havens’ (Director of Marketing at The Visionaire Group) responded that he used his smart phone for everything but talking. I said I wished I could wrap up Todd’s comments and send every winery in the U.S. a copy…because he is not alone…there are millions like him doing very similar things across a wide cross-section of products / businesses.

Todd Havens had stated that “it even saved him $25 at the grocery store this past weekend because he as able to show the store manager that Kraft had extended the deadline on a big promotion by surfing to the Kraft site in less than a minute”. Its not just social media…it’s everything from “banking….to shopping lists”. Simply, it is a way of life that has vastly changed over the last few years, our entire culture is being touched by all of these advancements and for those businesses who want to see the next decade they better realized that there is “no turning back”, there is no waiting…its rocketing forward. Saying that you will get involved next year doesn’t do it…there is such an impossible catch up that you will never get current!

The phone apps will continue to improve and the last thing I read was that the phones coming out later this year (early next year) will be more computer-like than phone-like. I understand that there are more developers working on phone apps than any other software category (including games). It will very definitely include social network apps, so if you think people are connected now just wait.

Wineries should be getting ready with mobile versions of their websites. I say “should” because I have yet to see any of them promoting it. Don’t faint or fall over, but I am sure that within the next 18 to 24 months experts will be recommending that wineries have their “own apps”.

Hope you get the point. It’s not going to stop or slow down. It’s not going to get easier but only more involved. It probably took the Internet about 5 to 6 years to engulf the world. Web 2.0 sites were able to do the same thing in only 2 to 3 years…and what about Web 3.0 or whatever they call it?

I can guarantee that in some basement or garage people are currently working on something that will get named (Web 3.0 or something) that will be a further revolution, a next step of this communication world. If you think you can wait, DON’T. It won’t be instead of but an addition to, and if you are still doing business, you’ll probably decide to wait on that one too.”

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Tagged as: LinkedIn, Mobile phone, US, Visionaire Group, Web 3.0, Website, winery, World Wide Web

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