Downtime continued -- a source of creativity

In my last post, I wrote about the power of downtime.  A couple of weeks later, I took my own advice and kept smart phone use to a maximum of 15 minutes per day while on a very enjoyable vacation.  I returned energized, focused and ready to tackle the always busy summer filled with new client engagements and their events.

Fast-forward two weeks after vacation and I've clocked about 70 hours in each with some very late nights and early mornings.  The first week, I could blame the early mornings on jet lag; at the end of the second, I am reminded of the constant struggle for balance in our society and among entrepreneurs -- it's especially hard when you truly love what you do.

Last night, while returning from a full day meeting in wine country, I heard a radio talk show host discussing how to enhance creative flow.  (Unsurprisingly, tackling work projects was not listed as a way to enhance creativity and productivity.)  She is indeed correct about time -- one of our most "precious resources", and how down-time allows us to capture a quiet, focused mind for problem solving.

The times when we feel most overloaded and "stuck" are exactly when we need to take a break.  Switching gears with a walk, music, aromatherapy, massage, napping, spending time with a pet, or even day-dreaming all qualify as relaxation activities.  I am personally guilty of hurrying my beloved Newfies on our walk so I rush back into my office.  And I can't remember the last time I actually drifted into a day-dream -- do adults even do that?

Tomorrow is officially a work- and technology-free day for me at Trellis Wine Consulting.  Perhaps I'll re-read one of my favorite books: Flow, The Psychology of Optimal Experience, which discusses how to improve life quality by ordering the conscious.

Power of Down Time and Disconnecting

We've all seen it and we're (probably) all guilty of it.  I sure am.  Smart Phone addictive tendencies. If it's the last thing you check before falling asleep, the first thing you see in the morning, and a part of your daily life -- even while on vacation, you need to know about some insightful research.

Leslie Perlow, author of Sleeping with Your Smart Phone and Harvard Business School Professor, challenged a team of Boston Consulting Group professionals to take "predictable time off". These "world's leading business advisors" fit the addictive tendencies I mention above, and over 90% work over 50 hours per week with a third clocking in at 65.

The results reported in Harvard Business Review were very telling -- I highlight a few below:

• 51 percent (versus 27 percent) were excited to start work in the morning
• 72 percent (versus 49 percent) were satisfied with their job
• 54 percent (versus 38 percent) were satisfied with their work-life balance

This parallels a recent change at Volkswagen, which turns off the email push to Blackberries beginning 30 minutes after the end of the work day until 30 minutes before the next starts.  Interestingly, this is only for union workers in Germany -- not management, but I wonder if this will become a broader trend given the research findings.

My relationship with my first Blackberry (and the expectation that I would always be "on" as a PR professional) started ten years ago, so it is a tough habit to break.  In the last six months, I've been turning off on Sundays, and I have seen my creativity, productivity and energy levels increase.  Last year I even took a 10 day vacation without my phone.  (Well, I brought it with me, but it was turned off the entire time.)

The areas where I'm still struggling are early morning and evening times, when the urge to connect, produce for clients, or just make sure everything okay, is a strong one.  Perlow's research proves something I've known deep down for a long time -- that constant connectivity is neither the most efficient, effective, or health way to run a business.  It also proves that "mother is always right" because she told me to establish a set schedule and stick to it within the first month of starting my business.

Here's to a more productive, creative and healthier way of working!

I recently explored, How: Why How We Do Anything Means Everything... in Business (and in Life). Author, Dov Seidman, a noted leadership expert, demonstrates that the nature of today's fast-paced, information-driven, social media enhanced environment has changed the nature of reputation and culture building.  As a marketer and management consultant, Seidman's message struck an important chord.

Our personal and professional "brands" are under more scrutiny than ever before.  In the 1960's -- think Mad Men era marketing, simply devising a great visual and copy strategy then funding it well would build a brand.  Now, forty years later, there are a multitude of inputs into creating and fortifying a brand's reputation.  Primary examples include positioning (intended by the company -- a la Mad Men), the actual living internal culture created by team members, traditional media reviews and real-time customer feedback made possible by social media.  All of these measures and more contributes to a brand or company's net reputation quotient.

So how we conduct ourselves is much more important than what we proclaim.  It is no longer enough to demonstrate only quantitative success metrics; a brand must strive to create a positive culture and reputation, which necessarily means embracing the qualitative measures of integrity, values, social responsibility and more.  Since we are constantly being evaluated, our messages must be more genuine; more organic and less concocted.

Personal and company reputation are therefore now the sum of "how" we've achieved instead of the collection of "what" we have achieved.  How is your company reflecting this in its marketing communication and management efforts?  Have you changed your approach to brand and leadership management in the last 10, 20 or 40 years?

Our spring newsletter went out today highlighting a risky, but important topic for our industry -- the Top Five Excuses for neglecting marketing investment.

The first two -- "we don't have time" and "we don't have a budget" are perhaps the most common, but the other three are just as important to understanding the misconceptions surrounding the demand creation function.

We are excited to announce that we're in the process of developing an industry-wide sales and marketing survey.  The results report including benchmark metrics will be made available to all who participate.  The survey will go out this summer with results to be released just before harvest.

Highlight Wines from Taste WA

We attended one of my favorite annual events this past weekend -- Taste WA in Seattle.  (For those who missed it, a smaller version of the event is being held in Portland on Monday, April 23 at Pure Space.)

The Washington Wine Commission team always does a fantastic job with this event, and over the years has added seminars led by industry leaders and national media, and more recently changed to a two-day format.  I particularly like Taste WA from an event management and consumer experience perspective for the following reasons:

* great value - from the wide support by industry to the high level of service, this is an excellent place to learn and taste fantastic wine

* appropriate venue - it is held in a central location with plenty of space (Century Link Event Center) and tables are well laid out

* ease of arrival/departure - there is plenty of parking and public transport

* well-organized - registration and check-in are easy, and they use email marketing for confirmations and reminders, and there are many staff available


Both the Red Willow Vineyard Exploration and Celebrated Vintages seminars were highlights for me.  The Sauer family's Red Willow can be viewed as the birthplace of Syrah and one of the most beautiful properties in the state.  Its elevation ranges from 1000-1300 feet and it has a very distinctive chapel atop the vineyard with a view of the Cascades -- it's breath-taking.

During the Red Willow Syrah seminar, we tasted six different winemakers' wines from Red Willow, including Betz, Columbia, Efeste, Gramercy, Mark Ryan and Owen Rowe.  The Betz Cote Patriarche 2009 was the stand out for me.  It had enticing black cherry, blueberry, white pepper, mocha and forest floor aromas with deep, complex fruit notes on the palate.  The wine is still quite youthful and has much more complexity to develop.  It had a delicious peppery -- almost pepperoni-like finish that just went on and on...

Sunday's Celebrated Vintages seminar was sold out for good reason.  The presenters took us on a journey beginning in 1987, when there were 60 wineries and 9000 planted acres, and ending at the present day with Washington's 740 wineries and 43,000 acres under vine.  During the last 25 years, the panel mentioned 1975, 76, 78, 83, 89, 92, 94, 95, 99 and 2005 as standouts.  We tasted and compared the following wines:

1995 Woodward Canyon Charbonneau, Walla Walla
1995 Col Solare, Columbia Valley
1999 DeLille Harrison Hill Vineyard, Yakima
1999 L'Ecole 41 Cabernet Sauvignon, Walla Walla
2005 Leonetti Cabernet Sauvignon, Walla Walla
2005 Betz Pere re Famille Cabernet Sauvignon, Columbia Valley

All of the wines showed finesse, balance and beauty.  The two that most arrested me were the Woodward Canyon and L'Ecole 41.  The Woodward Canyon showed worn leather, tar, black cherry, raspberry, cigar box and complex dirt aromas mixed with pencil shavings.  The palate demonstrated all of these flavors and the finish lingered for some time.  The L'Ecole 41 had a prettier (less bold) and more red-fruited make up: raspberry, cherry, black cherry, bark, worn leather and cigar box aromas.  It blossomed into a very smooth, velveteen texture with a hint of smoke on the mid-palate and a persistent red-fruit finish.  This persistent red fruit we learned is a function of the vineyard sourcing -- it's a characteristic of Seven Hills.

In closing, the below wines tasted during the Grand Tasting are also memorable:

Maison Bleue Rose
Dunham Cellars Riesling
Domaine Pouillon Gewurtztraminer
L'Ecole 41 Semillon
McKinley Springs Chenin Blanc
Airfield Aviator Red
Airfield Spitfire Red
Boudreaux Cabernet Sauvignon and Reserve Cab
Bunnell Apic Rhone Blend
McKinley Springs Cabernet Sauvignon

If only we could have tasted more!

Pinning is Believing: Share Your Winery Story on Pinterest

by Janel Lubanski, Media Relations and Client Services

If you haven’t heard the buzz about Pinterest, the ultimate virtual bulletin board site that takes social sharing to the next level, you may be missing out on a new medium to reach your customers.

Pinterest is a virtual platform that allows users to organize and share photos and videos found on the web.  

How it works:

A user creates a themed board and adds Pins -- photos and videos to his or her board; similar to other social media sites, these can be liked and repined (shared) to followers’ boards. Inspired by the phrase, “a picture is worth a thousand words”, what better way to share your brand’s story than through an infinite imagery portal?

In February, this two-year old company reported a 10.4 million-user count, seeing 11.7 million unique visitors in the month of January alone.

Why should your business care?  While its not as heavily utilized as other social media giants such as Facebook, businesses who have jumped on the bandwagon are seeing increased sales and web traffic -- both of which are sworn to be a direct result from their presence on Pinterest. This is not your “here today, gone tomorrow” social media site. In February, a comScore statistic report noted that daily Pinterest users have increased by more than 145% since the beginning of 2012. See more stats here.

A company profile on Pinterest enables you to share your brand’s life story using product and event imagery and videography. 

The benefits are similar to those of your other social media profiles such as Facebook or Twitter; Pintrest engages customers and drives awareness to your products, brand and website without the high costs of advertising.  The only difference is that customers are engaged by what they see.  It’s an ideal platform for storytelling.

Here are few ways to put Pinterest to work for your brand:

Share and Promote your Products

Add photos, videos, products for sale, recipes, gifts, etc. -- anything that can depict your brand. When adding a photo, include a short, clear description of the pin to help improve your search-engine ranking. Don’t forget to brand your boards. There are currently a total of 32 different categories under which to classify pins on Pinterest.  These categories help code a user’s board under a specific theme.  Photos and videos can be more easily found if the description has a keyword for which a fellow “pinner” is searching.

Appeal to the Masses

Instead of creating only one board of your wine collection to be classified under Food & Drink, create a board of images from your winery and classify it under Architecture, Outdoors, or Travel & Places. 

Let’s say your vineyard is part of a long family history and tradition.  Pin a timeline of photos or a video and classify it under History.  If your winery hosts weddings, create a board of past weddings that have taken place at your winery. Wedding boards are extremely popular on Pinterest.  By creating themed boards and classifying them in numerous topics, you will reach a greater amount of potential pinners and repins. 

Engage Followers and Customers

Follow boards and encourage others to follow you back -- sound familiar? Remember to show what has become the standard in social media interaction etiquette: if someone repins your photo (you can set notifications for this), send a thank you note.

Interlink

Interlink your actions on Pinterest with Facebook and Twitter.  Post a tweet about a new board or encourage your followers on Facebook to follow your boards on Pinterest.  For increased optimization across all your social media platforms, Pinterest allows users to share a new pin on their Facebook and Twitter pages.

Promote your Incentives

Are you conducting a contest or give-away?  Share it on Pinterest.  This will give consumers a reason to learn more about the contest from your Facebook page, which will entice them to sign up through your website and share it with their followers on Twitter – optimization at its finest.

Integrating Pinterest into your social media strategy can be beneficial if you seek more outreach and interaction with your customers.  If you don’t yet have a social media strategy or if you would like to improve your current practices, contact us for a complimentary consultation.

 

5 Tips for Handling Donation Requests

Wineries are constantly approached for donations.  In fact, smaller producers -- for example, many of those here in the Pacific Northwest-- could probably donate their entire production.  From health organizations such as American Heart Association and Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (a cause dear to my heart) to family support non-profits like Habitat for Humanity and YMCA, and the various opportunities at local animal shelters, arts groups and schools; there is no shortage of worthy charitable causes.

The wine industry is a giving group.  We want to support our communities and well know the joyful camaraderie (and giving boost) wine can bring to a fund-raising affair.  So how can a winery or related businesses with a desire to contribute to the greater good, while building brand awareness, build an effective strategy without becoming a non-profit itself?  I offer donation best practices below:

1. Become a camera lens.  First, zoom away from all of the requests and into the bigger picture.  How many cases of wine do you sell per year?  What is your winery's annual revenue? 

Determine a percentage of cases and revenue you're willing to donate based on these figures.  A very generous 5000 case winery-- XYZ-- looking to donate 3% of its cases, therefore; has 150 cases with which to work.  Since XYZ's donated wine retails for $250 per case, this cash value donation translates into a very significant $37,500.

2. Think like an investor with your lens.  Now, zoom in and decide how you are going to invest this donation.  It's a sizable amount, so it must provide a return on your business and brand investment. 

Will you give one case to 150 worthy organizations?  Or will you select a focused few causes and give them 50 cases each?  This decision is somewhat personal -- how many causes are important to you and your team members?

My husband, who is a financial advisor, recommends diversification for his clients. Holding a properly varied "basket" of financial investments makes sense for most long-term investors. The key in his industry and in ours is neither too over- nor under-diversify.  In wine, I'd argue that the basket should be smaller than in finance to maximize impact.

If XYZ spreads its brand very thin with one case donated to 150 organizations, many consumers will be very lightly touched.   If XYZ chooses only one organization, a very small group of people will be touched multiple times.  The answer is somewhere in the middle depending on XYZ's personal vision for charitable support, production size and donation philosophy. 

Consider the additional ROI of involving your staff or club members in your decision of which organizations to support.  This can be a tool for retention and provide a deeper connection to your brand.  When I worked as Director of Marketing & Communications for Premium Port Wines, the Symington Family Estates' North American importer, we were given a very generous one day per month to volunteer in the community. 

XYZ winery could offer each team member five to ten cases to donate which is both a benefit and a marketing exercise.  This winery could also allocate 20 cases to its club membership and offer them a feedback survey with the opportunity to vote on a charitable cause. 

3. Test the chemistry.  Is the organization a fit wit your brand? Do you hold similar values?  And most importantly, is there personal meaning?

I have worked with Leukemia & Lymphoma Society for many years.  From a childhood friend who suffered from the disease to several adult friends who have been affected, blood cancers have always resonated with me, and I like the way the LLS organization is run.*  One of the key ways it raises money is through community participation in sports via Team in Training.  I was a triathlon member, captain and, eventually assistant coach of a Bay Area team during the near decade I lived there and found the personal fitness and fund-raising journeys of my colleagues to be a synergistic inspiration.  (There is a lot to learn from the way LLS markets its teams.)

Which organizations align with your winery?  Do these causes inspire your staff, club members and community?

4. Require a "fitness" regimen, especially for the bigger donations.  I don't expect everyone to find raising money per mile completed a worthy exercise, but I do recommend a regimented approach.  For a donation offer to be most attractive to a winery, it must satisfy the following conditions:  a) advance notice, b) co-marketing, and 3) exclusivity and recognition for larger gifts.

If XYZ agrees to give 20 cases to a 250-person high profile dinner event, I have certain expectations.  The solicitation should arrive at minimum four months prior to the event, preferably six.  (This-sized donation means your winery should be an "A list" guest, not a seat-filling invitee.)

Advanced notice gives you time to collaborate and market the event, both to the organization's members and your mailing list.  It also means that the charity will have time to include your winery's name, logo and marketing message on its invitations, website, e-marketing promotion, etc.  And you will have time to reach out to their members with a special offer beforehand if you are able to secure a mailing list.

Exclusivity means that at a significant level of donation, your wine should be the focus of the event.  (If you're donating a magnum, this doesn't apply, but for the dinner pairing example I give, it does.)  Sponsored by "XYZ Winery" is an attractive marketing tool; being buried among a list of wineries is not.

A final part of this regimen is recognition.  Exclusive wine donors should be announced and thanked during the event, which is a standard practice.  From the cocktail hour where you request signage indicating your brand and the specific wine served (and not to forget, server training so they aren't offering "a Merlot") to the announcements during dinner, your winery should be recognized.


5. Don't forget your CPA.  Our accountant friends are presently right in the middle of their "harvest," with only one month go to until tax day.  They can advise you regarding your donation practices and should be kept informed of your charitable contributions.  So be sure to document all of your good deeds -- this can come in handy when your business taxes are due and can even be used as a marketing tool.  After all, as an XYZ club member, wouldn't you be proud of supporting an organization that donated 20% of its net profits to charitable causes?

In closing, remember that the person requesting a donation from you is somewhat like the buyer you are soliciting for a placement of your wine.  You are both calling on people who receive many more requests than they can honor.  And you are both potential customers of the business.  Never be rude to someone soliciting wine for donation -- this could be a former, current or future club member.

Once you have a charitable donation strategy in place, it will be that much easier to grant those requests that fit with your winery's vision and politely decline those that don't.  Whenever I turn down a request for a charitable donation, I strive to offer an idea to the solicitor -- for example, a lead for a winery who supports the particular cause. And if it's possible to give something such as a limited time special purchase rate or complimentary tasting, I always accept because it drives new customers to my clients' businesses.