Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/705606
w w w. v w m m e d i a . c o m J u l y - A u g 2 016 | V I N E YA R D & W I N E RY M A N A G E M E N T 1 9 of Kickstarter campaigns fail. In the food and drink category, 93% fail. That was sobering," Barber admits, although he adds that's the best ratio any crowdfunding plat- form has. Knowing this failure rate, the u n s c r u p u l o u s m a y t r y t o t a k e advantage of the situation. When news of the Barbers' campaign broke, the winemaker says he was inundated with public relations firms wanting to promote the cou- ple's story. "Unless they're the real deal — public relations companies that will cost you $5,000 plus — they're worthless," he says. Some took money from the couple for work that was never realized. "The best thing we did was get our social network analyzed with Krowdster," says Barber. Barber used it to analyze his social network and to get stats that let him set realistic goals. "Look at the stats and get real," says Barber. "Know m o n e y t h a n a n y o n e e l s e . " I n August 2014, the couple raised a lit- tle more than their goal of $26,000 in 30 days. "We're now coming into our third harvest, and we've almost sold out of everything from 2014," she says. For Smith-Story, the silver lin- ing was connecting with people through their story. She estimates that between 70% and 80% of their campaign contributors were total strangers prior to the Kick- starter project. Many of them have since become wine club members and close friends of the winery. FAST AND FURIOUS "The cool thing about crowd- funding is that it builds customers and fans," says winemaker Michael Barber, who, along with his wife, Lorraine, ran a successful campaign last year to raise $20,000 for their Barber Cellars tasting room in Peta- luma, Calif. "People feel invested in the proj- ect. Some of our best wine club customers have come from our Kickstarter campaign, and we now have repeat customers and lifelong patrons of the brand," he says. Obviously, not all Kickstarter campaigns are successful. In fact, the vast majority fail. "Krowdster [a crowdfunding marketing and public relations platform] says that 85% boutique winery in Sonoma County, Calif., with her husband, Eric Story. "We used Kickstarter as a plat- form to bring Smith Story wines to the world," she says. "We didn't start our winery with a silver spoon or money behind us. We came into this as working people in the wine industry." The couple made their own video on a Mac laptop and asked people to help them pay their farmers and vineyard workers. Once a Kickstarter campaign launches, the real work begins. "You have to run a Kickstarter cam- paign like it's a small business," n o t e s S m i t h - S t o r y w i t h r e g a r d to promoting and managing the campaign. "We wore our hearts on our sleeves with our updates. It was a very authentic campaign, and I think that resonated with people," she says. "It was like, 'Holy crap everyone, our Pinot Noir is at 21 °Brix and we're picking in three days!'" In terms of social media, Smith- Story promoted the campaign pri- marily through Instagram. As the founder of TexaCali Wine Co., she had existing blog followers and a robust mailing list with which to share her story. The Smith-Storys' dog, Lord S a n d w i c h , i s a m u c h - f e a t u r e d face on the winery's website. The dog has his own followers, whom Smith-Story admits, "gave more Barber Cellars' tasting room is a second example of a dream that became reality thanks to crowdfunding. WINE WISE MARKETING JENNIFER STRAILEY