Wines & Vines quotes Huffman

In the Wines and Vines, May 2002 issue, Anne Louise Bannon utilized the expertise of HuffmanCom staff.

"Festivals for your bottom line"

It's a safe bet that somewhere in this country on any given weekend there are several different communities each having a festival of some sort or other. Add that to umpteen kajillion charity events and you've got yourself a whole bevy of opportunities to market your product.

But will it be worth hauling out your cases, taking one or more of your staff out of your tasting room, donating the wine or selling it to the festival at a significant discount, especially if you can't sell the bottles yourselves? Yes and no.

"It's not a bad marketing tool to get in front of (the consumers) and let them taste your product," said Don Huffman, owner of HuffmanCom.com, a marketing and communications company.

Huffman said that personal contact at a festival is one thing that can make your wine stand out among all the others on the supermarket shelf.

"The toughest thing is breaking through," Huffman said. "Particularly those labels that are just sitting in the market at a price point that makes it hard to stand out. Make sure people see your label and are able to recognize it again."

Huffman strongly suggests putting together a list of various events, both locally and further afield, and looking at who's likely to be there. "You look at those that are going to benefit you the most and go backwards from there," he said.

Wines & Vines online

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