#WBC18 Lightning Talk: Austin Beeman

Lightning Talks: We will have 8 of your fellow attendees get up on stage to deliver five-minute, Ignite-style “Lightning Talks”. With 20 slides each advancing automatically on 15-second intervals, speakers have to be on the top of their game to deliver fun, informative, often hilarious talks. 2018 Presenters:

Michael Fagin | West Coast Weather
Nancy Koziol | The Oethical Oenologist
Richard Baxter | Wine and Health
Austin Beeman | Understanding Wine with Austin Beeman
Roslyne Buchanan & Jennifer Cockrall-King | Roslyne Buchanan/Cottage Life Magazine
Marty Sparks | LuchaVino
Anne Keery | Aspiring Winos
Liz Barrett | What’s in That Bottle

Transcript

1. What the Wine Business Sees When They Look at Our Blogs By Austin Beeman @austinbeeman www.austinbeeman.com
2. Who am I? …and why should you care?
5. 2015: I launched a Blogger Engagement Program at Bonny Doon Vineyard Went from 6 bloggers to 150 at a cost of ~$20,000
6. The purpose was to grow DTC (Direct-to- Consumer) Sales. with a focus on the e-commerce side
7. DTC sales are becoming increasing vital for small & medium size wine companies.
8. I continue to believe that engaging wine bloggers is the key to growing DTC sales beyond the tasting room.
9. Positive #1: Look Cool … or at least professional
10. Positive #2: Make it easy to send you samples. • Have a sample address and a policy • Don’t make me have to chase you down to give you free wine.
11. Positive #3: Be a real person
12. Positive #4: Link to the winery’s website
13. Positive #5: Be well written … or at least spelle things correctly
14. Negative #1: Don’t be Entitled
15. People who are overly precious and specific also tend to be those most likely to find fault in my wine.
16. Negative #2: Don’t let me find bad wine reviews Especially funny and well written ones!
17. Rock Star Move #1: Thank us for the samples
18. Rock Star Move #2: Notify Us When the Review Goes Live!
19. 83% growth in E-Commerce within the first 6 months!
20. If you are truly able to influence your audience, smart wineries will be lining up to work with you!
21. Austin Beeman acbwine@gmail.com @austinbeeman on IG and Twitter www.austinbeeman.com Don’t hesitate to reach out to me with any questions.