SA wine businesses going global with online tools

Google Street View in South Africa boasts the most comprehensive database of winelands imagery in the world, from Klein Constantia to Jordan Wines, allowing users to view and navigate through wine estates, vineyards, historic buildings and gardens. This year we've been busy collecting imagery of several dozen more wineries to add to Street View.

The arrival of Street View in the winelands, however, is only one aspect of how South African wineries and exporters are increasingly looking to technology and innovation to capture and retain new customers, both locally and globally, in a competitive and ever-changing market.

Embracing online marketing

Many wineries have set up their own websites, allowing customers to find them easily and buy wine online. A significant number are taking their digital strategy further by embracing online marketing.

Take Noble Hill, for example, a 30-hectare vineyard near Franschhoek that makes red wine, white wine and olive oil. It started using Google Maps about a year ago, with the belief that more and more people are planning trips to the winelands online.

"The process to sign up and display photos, opening hours, contact information, and customer reviews on a Maps listing is very easy," says Kristopher Tillery, director at Noble Hill. "Pretty soon we had a professional-looking listing which cost us nothing, and has reaped great financial results."

Google AdWords

Noble Hill also uses Google AdWords to boost its business and sales, and draw visitors to its niche Latin and Mexican-inspired restaurant.

When companies advertise with Google AdWords, they select keywords that trigger their ads. The ads only appear when users are looking for something directly related to the company's product or service and businesses only pay when someone clicks on their ad.

Noble Hill estimates that every US dollar its spends on AdWords brings in 10-15 US dollars in revenue to the restaurant - quite a return on investment.

Another good example

Cybercellar.com, a leading online wine retailer in SA, is another good example. When Cybercellar opened its virtual doors way back in December 1998, Google had only just been born, AdWords didn't exist yet, and convincing South Africans to part with their hard earned cash via the Internet was an uphill battle. But slowly and surely, the popularity of buying wine online grew.

As Cybercellar CEO Fiona Phillips explains, "When we expanded into Europe a few years ago, AdWords was invaluable to us in terms of acquiring new EU and UK customers. It's an ongoing process, as there's no finish line. Whist we use alternative marketing methods to look after customer retention, when it comes to customer acquisition, Google AdWords is critical."

Cybercellar is planning to launch soon in the US, and it is already looking at a completely new Google AdWords campaign for that specific market, taking into account how different users search for specific brands.

Can afford to think big

In summary, with today's online marketing options, wine businesses can afford to think big and break down international barriers. All they need is a website, Google AdWords and a few other free Google business tools, and they can begin reaching customers far and wide.