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Without strategy, marketing is just expensive guesswork. In these posts, we go deep on what actually makes marketing effective—positioning, planning, customer research, and clear decision-making. Whether you're rethinking your business model or just trying to spend smarter, these articles will help you build a foundation that works.
Welcome back to The Wine Marketer’s Radar, where we decode the most important business, marketing, and consumer stories outside the wine world—and connect the dots to what they mean for your brand. This week, we’re talking about a shift in loyalty marketing, a breakout brand campaign that ditches AI in favor of abuelas, the continued…
Continue reading CRM 3.0, Anti-AI Campaigns, and the Digital Video Surge
“Voice of Customer.” Yes, we know, it sounds like corporate marketing jargon (something we diligently try to avoid here at 5forests). Simply put, it means making a deliberate effort to listen deeply and systematically to your customers’ real thoughts, words, and feelings. If you’ve never heard this phrase, don’t worry; it’s neither as scary nor…
Continue reading Voice of Customer: The overlooked strategy that can transform your wine marketing
Why winery growth needs more than good intentions How many times have you heard me say, “A goal without a plan is just a wish….” Growth is the number one reason people come to 5forests, and most of the time we find ourselves having to first work with our client to define exactly what that…
Continue reading How to Set Goals and KPIs That Actually Grow Your Winery
Before we get into this week’s stories, a quick plug for something I’m really proud of. We’ve just dropped a brand new guide: The Strategic Winery’s Guide to Modern Marketing. It’s 34 pages of clear, actionable advice built specifically for winery teams — not generic marketing BS, but a roadmap to help you connect campaigns…
Continue reading Is Premiumization Still Smart for Wine Brands?
This week, I’m recording from Verona! What better place than one of the world’s largest wine fairs to look at a few trends and tensions that wine needs to know but may be missing—from consumer expectations around search and relevance to the misuse of “culture” in strategy to a growing disconnect between what marketers say…
Continue reading What Wine Brands Get Wrong About Strategy, Culture & Social
It’s no secret that the wine industry is in the middle of a rough patch. Consumer behavior is shifting. Younger generations aren’t picking up wine like we expected. Sales are sluggish. And while the internet is full of “hot takes” about what to do next, most of them overlook a basic truth: You can’t market…
Continue reading Why Wineries Hire Fractional CMOs Instead of Marketing Staff
The PESTEL framework—which stands for Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental, and Legal factors—is a comprehensive tool for analyzing the macro-environmental influences that affect business operations. A PESTEL analysis helps organizations identify external factors that could impact their performance both negatively or positively. By systematically examining each element, businesses can develop strategies to leverage opportunities and…
Continue reading PESTEL Factors and Their Impact on Business: An In-Depth Analysis
The wine industry loves a good acronym, and today, I want to talk about one that gets tossed around in strategy circles and LinkedIn comments but often overlooked when things get “real”: PESTEL. Politics, Economics, Social, Technology, Environment, and Legal factors—each one capable of changing the course of our business with a single policy announcement…
Continue reading Why PESTEL Matters (Yes, Even in Wine)
We live in a time when everyone’s got an idea. Scroll through LinkedIn or sit through any conference, and you’ll hear countless grand visions and brilliant plans of how to change the world of wine. I see people get caught up in the fantasy of what could be—building castles in the sky with no foundation.…
Continue reading Ideas Are Cheap
In this episode, Polly dives into marketing non-alcohol beverages. Discover the secrets behind successful integration of non-alcohol options, understanding your customer base, and enhancing the overall experience for non-alc consumers. Join us as we explore how to make your non-alcohol offerings an integral and celebrated part of your brand. The Transcript How do you market…
Continue reading Marketing Non-Alcohol Beverages: Strategies For Success
How many times have you heard us say, “Good marketing is all about the customer”? As any marketer worth their salt will attest, understanding your customers lies at the heart of successful marketing strategies. Yet, traditional methods of representing customer profiles often fail to capture the truth of your audience and fail to make that…
Continue reading Narrative Customer Personas for Wineries: Go Beyond Demographics
In the latest episode of Uncorked, Polly Hammond sits down with Dan Petroski, founder and winemaker at Massican. Known for his forward-thinking approach, Dan shared insights on how he challenges conventional wine marketing, the influence of social media, and the importance of adapting to change in the wine industry. From Tradition to Innovation in Wine…
Continue reading Dan Petroski on Reinventing Wine Marketing Strategy