Tips for marketing a wine label

bottle colorMarketing for a wine label might seem like a pretty easy task. Step one, create a delicious wine. Step two, give to thirsty customers.

Unfortunately, every other winery and winemaker has the same idea. The wine market is highly saturated with competition ranging from boutique operations all the way to giant corporations.

To market your wine, you’ll need to focus on a few things.

 

Understand Your Customer

First and foremost, you must understand who you are selling to. A lot of different types of people drink wine. Not all of them are your customers. The quickest way to fail is to try to sell to everybody. Build a niche audience for your wine.

The type of wine drinker you are marketing to will vastly change your strategy moving forward. There is a vast range of wine drinkers out there from the highly sophisticated to the ones who will drink straight out of a Franzia bag.

Know Your Competition

Once you know which audience of wine drinkers you’d like to target, the next step is to identify your competitors. Doing this will allow you to see what is already being done to try and reach these customers.

Objectively look at your competitor’s pricing, labeling, bottles, and messaging. It’s easy to say off the cuff that they are doing a poor job and you can do so much better. However, you need to be your bias aside and really evaluate what your competitors are doing well and what they are doing poorly.

Emulate what they are doing right (ex: pricing) and take advantage of areas where they are weak. Perhaps they have non-organic ingredients whereas you do or they have bland packaging. These are both areas you can exploit.

Clever Name and Design

So you know your customers and you know your competition. Now you can get to the fun stuff. The first fun step is to create a name and backstory for your brand. Remember, you brand is new so you have to make an impression at first sight.

Determine a clever, meaningful, unique, or descriptive name for your wine. From there you can begin to determine the labeling that will grace your bottles’ exterior.

Ideal wine labels will be eye catching, tell a story about the wine, provide food pairings, and capture your brand’s essence in ten words or less. It won’t be easy and it is highly recommended that you hire a professional designer to create the labels.

After all, you specialize in making delicious wine, not works of art.

Digital Marketing

Once all of the pieces in place you can begin promotional efforts. The most efficient, cost-effective way to market your brand is through the digital space. You will not be able to compete with the likes of Barefoot in the traditional space (television, print, and radio).

Create a website for your wines and pair that with appropriate social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.

Get your wine off the ground and onto the shelves through incredibly designed labels using Bottle Labeler’s variety of labeling products.

Marketing a Beer Label

Tips for marketing a beer label

 

There is probably not a better time for launching your beer label than now. Beer advocates all of the United States are flocking to try each new brew that craft breweries put out. However, you’re also late to the party. There is a ton of competition in the craft beer market because of this surplus in demand.

 

If you plan on launching a beer label, there are a handful of marketing tips you should keep in mind.

 

Know Your Customers

 

There is not a company in the world that can achieve success without knowing its customer based. Understanding your customers allows you to appropriately interact with them and potentially cater to some of their feedback.

 

Your audience should be relatively small. Not every beer drinker is your target audience. There are plenty of people who would prefer a generic light beer to the craft beers you are brewing. Your goal is to find your niche audience and reach them.

 

Know Your Brand

 

Breweries are allowed to have attitude unlike many corporations. You are able to get away with being edgy or risque if you want. However if that is not the type of customer you have or the type of person you are, it is probably not the best route for your marketing efforts.

 

Some beers are elegant and more refined. For example, Stella Artois uses class as one of its primary selling points. Their commercials feature drinkers in suits and cocktail dresses. Other beer companies feature sports fanatics watching the game. Knowing your brand means knowing what occasions and locations your beer is popular at.

 

Create a Unique Label

 

A unique label is at the heart of every beer. A unique label does not mean you have to go design heavy and hire a custom artist. Some labels do a great job of minimalist design and perfect typeface.

 

Your bottle’s label should represent your brand and your customers. It needs to be unique enough to stand out but also be identifiable with your audience.

 

Keep it Local to Start

 

In general, people like to support their local community especially when it comes to craft beers. They know that if they support you in your early days, it will benefit them in the long run. Your beer could go from limited supply, to the next hottest taproom in town if they support you.

 

Promote your beer in your community as a local brewer and gain the support in your immediate geographic area before attempting to launch nationally.

 

Get your beer off the ground and onto the shelves through incredibly designed labels using Bottle Labeler’s variety of labeling products.

Common differences between American and European wine labels

 

There are a few main differences between American wine labels and European labels. Some information on a wine label is there because it’s required by law, and some information is there because it’s traditional to include it.

American Wines Are Labeled by Varietal Grape

American labels include the type of grape used to make the wine. The variety of grape can only be listed on the label if the wine contains at least 75% of that variety. European labels don’t usually mention the type of grape used to make the wine.

European Wines Are Labeled by Growing Region

European labels include the location where the wine grapes were grown. Climate and soil composition can affect the growth of grapes. This gives wines a variety of subtle flavor differences. The taste of a wine depends on where the vineyard is located. American wine bottles don’t always mention the region where the grapes were grown.

Some Trademarked Names Are on European Labels Only

Certain types of wine have their names trademarked in Europe. Varieties of wine such as Bordeaux, Champagne or Burgundy are named after the regions they were grown in. A wine not grown in these areas can’t have the name on its label. However, American laws allow these names to be used with a qualifier. An American wine labeler can use the names “California Champagne” or “American Bordeaux” for example.

American Labels Mention Sulfite Content

A requirement of American labels is to note that the wines contain sulfites. All grapes have sulfites in them, but most wines have sulfites added as preservatives as well. European wine bottles are not required to mention sulfite content.

Government Health Warnings on Labels

In the United States, all wine bottles are required to state the Surgeon General’s warning about alcohol consumption while pregnant or driving. European wines have no similar requirement.

Label Art Differences Between Countries

Most labels on European wine have a minimalist design. The information on the bottle’s label is more important than a flashy appearance. American labels, however, are more likely to be decorative. There is a great variety of designs on American wine bottles. Some are basic, but many are colorful and creative.

 

For your Bottle labeling needs use a Bottle-Matic for single labels and a Bottle-Matic II for your front and back labels.

What Does Your Label Say About Your Wine

Unique Wine and Beer Labels

Many manufacturers put a lot of work into creating unique wine and beer labels so they’ll be more interesting than other brands. This is a great way to set apart the bottle to catch the eye of shoppers in the store, but it’s also the best way to inject a little personality into the product. bottle_labels

Bottle labels appeal to more people than just potential customers looking for a great drink for their party. Bottle collectors around the world add to their stock piles based on the uniqueness of the bottles rather than the year and type of the wine inside.

One important aspect of a creative label is its ability to infuse culture and beauty into the design like the one seen below in the Vine Parma Wine. The design is beautiful and classy, but in the lines lies more than meaningless swirls. Upon closer inspection, you will notice that there are basic details about the wine like the bar code, alcohol content, distribution information and more spun among the art work, making this a true masterpiece.

Bottle_labels_2One of the best ways to make a bottle label more memorable is by inserting a little humor while still maintaining a classy feel. Laughing Stock Wine takes this approach with their labels, using their stock symbol their name on each bottle. The year is placed below the symbol where it’s easy to see, and the different bottle shapes make them a fun addition to a collection.

Whatever your preference is on sweet wine, you have to appreciate this packaging. The detail on the Honey Moon Wine bottle is attractive, bright, and very creative. There are a lot of bottles that harness this kind of creativity, but the small details like the cork takes this one step beyond the rest.

yellow_bottleThis next set of bottles is a collector’s dream because it is practically a collection within a collection. The Gut Oggau Portrait collection comes from Austria and the labels were designed by the artist Jung von Matt. Each bottle was given his unique signature in the design. The reason there are many faces is because he believed that just as every man has his own preference with drink, every one should be represented. This has led to a generic family grouping with many generations, grandparents, parents, and children.

bottle_s_with_face_labelsThe last label is one that has a fun tradition behind it. The Spooks Ale brand has been the official Ghost Brew for All Hallows for years so the labels are intended to look creepy. While this could easily be a tacky, over-the-top design, this bottle label worked perfectly because the blood spatters and stains that seep in on the edges are merely scary accents that create an atmosphere that fits the theme.

The next time you are picking out the perfect beer or wine for your party, stop for a minute and notice the labels. There is a lot of creativity that goes into some of them. Who knows, if you take some time to start appreciating the character and personality in these labels, you may even end up starting your own unique label collection.

Tips to Improve Your custom Labels

Boosting the sales of your product can be as simple as following some guidelines for the look of you label. Take a look at these tips and start improving your product today.

 

Designing a Successful Bottle Label

bottle colorThe first thing someone notices about a product is its packaging. For bottled products, the label is where all the information and most the creativity is displayed. When you design a bottle label, there are several things that you should pay attention to in order to improve your sales and attract more customers. The basic components of a label are text, colors, and graphics and all of them work together to make a great design.

Text and Readability

The most important thing to remember about the text on the label is to keep it readable. Many fonts are hard to read and if there is any sort of difficulty, the consumer will pass right by your product. This also means that you should pay attention to the size of your text, making sure it is not too small and not too big (so some of it wraps around and out of sight). It is critical to ensure that people passing by can read your entire label.

Another aspect of proper labeling is using words that actually make sense. Pay attention to the way you word your product information on the label. The words should flow smoothly and be easily understood. If your message is not conveyed to the customer, you have lost a sale.

Colors

There isn’t a lot you can do with the actual bottle, since they are fairly standardized, depending on what’s going in them. The label is going to be the only colorful aspect of many products. Bright, bold colors are generally a good idea, since they attract attention better than light colors. It is okay to use some crazy and bold colors on your labels since it is such a small part of the overall look. Just remember to stick with your company colors as much as possible though.

The color of the text should be in contrast to the background. If the words are too similar in color or shade to the background, it will be very difficult to read. If you are determined to use light wording on top of light colors, you can use tricks like adding thick, dark outlines to the letters to make them pop off the label.

Graphics and Branding

The most important graphic you are going to put on your product is your logo. Make sure that it is also big enough for people to notice, even at a glance. There are a lot of benefits to highlighting your logo on your label, but it is especially important for building your brand awareness.

When a product first enters the market, the most common mistake is using graphics that are irrelevant. If your product is bottled water, for example, a logical graphic would be something related to nature rather than a random object like a musical instrument. There are many ways to keep graphics relevant, so just be sure that it makes sense.

A Design for Success

While it may seem that rules can be restricting, they are actually great at helping to direct and harness creativity. Have fun with your label designs. This part of the creative process can seem like a lot of work, but it is also very fulfilling. When you pay close attention to the details of the text, colors, and graphics, you can have a great looking label design that will last for a long time.