What's the Point of Getting My Wine Mentioned in the Media?

An answer to an age old question

For about 35 years now, I’ve worked as a wine public and media relations consultant. I love this work. I’ve had a chance to represent and help tell the stories of a number of very cool wineries and other wine-related companies over the years including Matanzas Creek, Bucklin Old Hill Ranch, Caldwell Vineayrds, DeLoach, Roshambo Winery, Signorello, Combsveille Vintners and Growers and WineBid, just to name a small collection of them. But the other day, a person in the wine industry reached out to me and asked two very (to me) odd questions: “What is the point of getting mentioned in the media and why should I think it will help me sell more wine?

The question was followed up with, “No one reads anymore and I can say what I want about my wines on social media.”

Is it true?

I was actually taken aback by the question at first. I wasn’t sure how to respond. So much so that I didn’t realize I was silent until I heard over my phone, “Are you still there?”

I was still there. But only barely because I realized the questions were actually rhetorical and that the person asking them believed fervently that there was no point getting covered in the media and that even if they did, they believed it would not result in any additional wine sales.

I gathered myself and my thoughts and responded with the single most important truth about wine marketing that I knew: “The single most important way to increase your wine sales is to put your brand in front of wine buyers who are not yet customers. There are many ways to do this, some more, some less expensive and effective. Exposing your brand to new customers via the media is among the least expensive and most effective ways to do this.”