If one thing is certain, this pandemic has shown us that nothing is certain. Just a month ago, we were in New York City, attending Vinexpo 2020 at the Javits Center with wine makers and trade people from all over the world. Nine winemakers from the Czech Republic were with us, and while coronavirus was starting to top headlines, I don’t think any of us expected what was to come when we all went home.

Now, Europe’s borders are closed, New York City is the “epicenter” of the epidemic in the United States, and the Javits Center has now become a temporary 2500-bed hospital to treat overflow patients from local hospitals as well as patients with COVID-19. It’s a bit of a different reality from just a month ago.

Photo Credit: (GREGG VIGLIOTTI/for New York Daily News)

And the impact to local businesses - particularly those in hospitality - is just beginning to take hold. The reality of needing to shut down in an effort to minimize the pandemic is now becoming material to business owners. What felt like the right thing to do is now another source of anxiety - how to keep business afloat while the doors are shut.

While we may not be able to offer much assistance, or the much needed funds to help pay wages, operating costs, or any of the other things that must go on even with shut doors, we can offer a few tips to help keep the drum beat of your company’s brand out in the market and in the mind’s of customers. When this is all over, people will be dying to get back out there, meet for drinks and enjoy a glass of brilliant wine with some long-missed friends.

So to help you with some ideas that will help bring everyone back after all this is over, here are three tips to stay relevant during the pandemic.

Hold Virtual Wine Tastings.

This might be the one idea I hear talked about the most, but actually done the least. While it sounds easy in concept, actually doing it is a bit overwhelming and intimidating if you’re not used to virtual formats prior to this. The trick is to not overthink it. Think about what you naturally do, and find a tool to help you do it.

For example, Van Potts, good friend and owner of Preston-Layne & Partners, a full service wine marketing and sales organization, has begun holding his own Friday Happy Hours on Facebook Live. He selects a wine, and fields questions from his Facebook audience to cover topics across the board. It’s interactive, personal, and fun - a perfect combo for a time like this!

Other platforms you can use are Instagram Live or Zoom meetings. Each is able to broadcast live, take questions from and interact with your audience, and have recordings to be able to use and share after the event is over.

Educate & Entertain Your Customers.

The above could fall into this category, but for those who are a bit shy of holding a live event, worried of stage-fright, or just not comfortable hosting, you can think about ways to educate and entertain your audience without hosting an event. This is a perfect time to share information about your wines with customers. People are on social media more now than ever, and using digital channels to stay connected.

https://www.civilwines.com/blog/vinarstvi-volarik

An example here is Arielle DeSoucey at Civil Wines, and her video blog series on wines from Moravia, Czech Republic. In full disclosure, Arielle has been creating these videos well before the social distancing protocol or the border closures, but is still a great example of something you can create in the comfort of your home that offers value to your audience. Unlike live tastings, you can script, edit, and preview the content before making it live to the world.

Arielle uses YouTube to host her videos, and embeds them right on her website and shares them through her social media channels. A great way to create once, and use multiple times in different outlets.

Other ways to provide educational or entertaining content:

Add to or create a blog. You’re reading this one, aren’t you? :-)
Email updates to your email list. Free tools like MailChimp and HubSpot make it easy to get a message out.
Get active on social media. Post updates, share what you’re doing at home, and connect with your followers.

We even took a stab at it ourselves. Heidi and I typically get together regularly to share a glass (or more likely a bottle) of brilliant wine together. So in this time of social distancing - we took it online. Check it out!

Chip In.

Most of us in the wine business are so because wine brings people together. We are social by nature and love wine because it’s naturally social. It’s an easy way to connect with friends, and a bridge to meeting new people.

An inspiring example is Eleven Madison Park in New York City. This Michelin restaurant that was once dubbed the world’s best restaurant, with an award-winning wine list to die for, shut down like the rest of New York City’s restaurants to try and contain the pandemic. But recently they reopened, and “turned Eleven Madison Park into a commissary kitchen with the goal of producing thousand of meals per day for those who are working in the front lines and those who are deeply affected by the current crisis.”

Eleven Madison Park. Photo credit: New York Times

While not all of us have the resources of an award-winning Madison Avenue establishment, we all can do little things to help our communities. Volunteer to shop for and deliver groceries for neighbors who are high risk. Make meals for health care workers and first responders. Whatever it is, if you find a way to chip in, you not only help others, but are taking control of this seemingly uncontrollable situation and taking action.

Need a little lift in this crazy time? Check out our Wine Drinker’s Guide to Social Distancing.

Stay safe and healthy out there. Cheers!

Three Tips to Help Businesses in the Wine Trade Stay Relevant During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Hold Virtual Wine Tastings.

Educate & Entertain Your Customers.

Chip In.