Bringing Wine to Life w/ Jacki Strum, Wine Enthusiast Media XChateau Wine Podcast

Growing up around wine has not dimmed the passion Jacki Strum brings to her work as President of Wine Enthusiast Media.  In the first of a series on the evolution of the wine critic, Jacki tells us about how Wine Enthusiast has expanded its platform from print into web, social media, podcasts, and even Tik Tok.  As well as how they assess wines (blindly) as a wine critic and how those ratings are used to help people buy wine.  We really get under the hood of the wine media business in this episode of XChateau! 
Detailed Show Notes: 
Jacki's backgroundShe grew up in wine (her parents founded Wine Enthusiast in the late 1970s)Studied wine through WSET Level 3Digital media in wine & spirits backgroundFounded Thirsty Nest - a wine & spirits gift registry platform, media, and commerce hybrid that is part of Wine EnthusiastWine media in the late 1980sWine Enthusiast (“WE”) magazine founded in 1988, Robert Parker wrote for WE for a whileWine Spectator was around, but not much else“French Paradox” on 60 Minutes (1991) about the health benefits of wine was the catalyst for the entire wine industry in the US, which helped the magazine take off as wellWE media platformPrint publication - still successfulDid well during Covid as people were sick of screens and hard newsWebsite - growing exponentiallyHouses the entire database of wine reviewsBuying guide went “through the roof” during Covid due to an increase in online wine sales65% of visitors go to the website to buy wineSocial mediaInstagram - now the biggest platform, easy to shop, easy to commentFacebook - still important, but fading vs. InstagramTwitterTesting Tik Tok - believes will be the future of educational contentPodcast - done well and testing a few other seriesNewsletter / email - still coreBeverage Industry Enthusiast - trade/industry news grew a lot during CovidWE company motto - “We bring wine to life”It plays into the journalism approach - including the lifestyle elements of wineRatings help people buy wineCore demographic - “the curious wine consumer,” which is more of a mindset vs. an age or genderWine criticism and ratingsTaste completely blindTaste w/in 1 regionAdvertisers have no say on ratingsDo points still sell wine? 100 points or Wine of the Year can still build a brandMost ratings are a powerful tool in the marketing toolset, but just a piece of the puzzleCertain critic/magazine names still carry more weight than othersMore at the bottom of the marketing funnel - helps close the saleAt the top of the funnel - general brand awareness - WE builds partnerships with brands for marketing, including various content and social influencersWE Buying Guide (ratings)It comes up 1st on Google, which gives it more credibilityReview ~25,000 wines per yearPath to building a wine brand todayScores are still helpful and freeNeed to build out the marketing stack and figure out the storytelling - start with social mediaThe catalog did well during Covid - people needed wine storage, upgraded glassware, etc.…Return on ad spend with WEPartners wanted to get closer to the sale, have become more ROI drivenImplemented digital shopping carts to track purchasesKey metrics for ROAS (return on ad spend)Email acquisitionWine salesImpressionsPodcasts - can use discount codes to track the impactThe natural feeling of podcasts make an ad feel more realWebinars did well for email acquisitionAny campaigns that boosted DTC sales or signups did wellDigital advertising has grown a lot during CovidLots of influencer marketing - leverage 40 Under 40 contacts, usually people WE has written aboutOften custom build ad partnership plans with clientsWE Catalog provides the richest database in the industry to create good ad targeting Get access to library episodes
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