Table of Contents

Table of Contents............................................................................................................1
I. Executive Summary....................................................................................................2
II. Introduction...............................................................................................................3
III. Situation Analysis.....................................................................................................3
A. Market Summary...................................................................................................3
Market demographics and needs............................................................................4
Market trends and target market growth................................................................5
SWOT Analysis..........................................................................................................5
Competition................................................................................................................6
Product Offering.........................................................................................................6
Keys to success and critical issues.............................................................................6
IV. Marketing strategy....................................................................................................7
A. Mission..................................................................................................................7
B. Marketing Objectives............................................................................................7
C. Financial Objectives..............................................................................................8
D. Target Markets.......................................................................................................8
E. Positioning.............................................................................................................9
F. Strategy Summary..................................................................................................9
V. Marketing Mix.........................................................................................................10
New Service.............................................................................................................10
Pricing......................................................................................................................10
Promotion.................................................................................................................10
Channel.....................................................................................................................10
VI. Marketing Research...............................................................................................10
VII. Controls.................................................................................................................11
References....................................................................................................................13
Appendix 1

1
I. Executive Summary

Crooked River Winery is a family run business that has not previously had a
structured marketing plan. The plan identifies ways in which to raise awareness in the
marketplace of the products and services provided by the company. The company
wishes to retain current customers and increase market share.

The preferred strategies are to develop a new website outlining all of the products and
services on offer, as the current website does not reflect current offerings, e.g. the
Wine Club. Within the new website there will be a facility for customers to order
online, a feature not currently offered. Also on the new website there will be the
option of customer surveys and customer feedback, in order to enhance the company’s
customer service and customer satisfaction levels. Current customers will be emailed
a link to the new website and invited to browse.

As the majority of the winery’s customers are from Sydney, particularly the
Sutherland Shire the plan allows for a letter box drop of brochures in that area as well
as the nearby St. George area, to raise awareness of product and service offerings to
prospective customers planning a day trip to the South Coast. In order to cater to
overnight visitors, brochures will also be placed in local hotels, motels and bed and
breakfast establishments.

Radio advertisements on one local and one Sydney radio station are also planned.
These will be limited due to cost constraints, until effectiveness of the advertisements
is proven.

2
II. Introduction
Crooked River Winery has not had a structured marketing plan in the past. The
Company wants to retain and improve its current market share, so it needs to raise
the current level of awareness in the marketplace of its products and services and
the level of satisfaction of current customers.

III. Situation Analysis

The company is a family owned an operated business. The winery produces
120,000 bottles of a variety of table wines and four ports. There is also a café,
which is open for lunch Thursday through Sunday and the café also caters for
weddings. The company runs wine appreciation courses on Thursday and Friday,
for a minimum of 6 people. The company also has a Wine Club and members are
sent a case of wine every three months, however, the Wine Club is not noted on
their current website.

The winery offers visitors an experience to customers, to enjoy the beautiful

environment between the mountains and the ocean, tasting a variety of wine and
enjoying good food. The physical location of the winery is well situated for a
share of the tourist market, being close to the coastal towns of Kiama and
Gerringong and an easy drive to inland mountain areas of Berry, Jaspers Brush
and the Kangaroo Valley. Close proximity to Sydney is also an asset.

The company does not have distributors of their products.

There are at least five other wineries within an easy drive of Crooked River Wines
(www.southcoastleisuretimes.com.au).

A. Market Summary
The region is visited by significant numbers of domestic and international tourists,
day trippers and overnight visitors. Domestic visitors are increasing, with the
majority coming from Sydney. The company has advised that of their current
Sydney customers, the majority are from the Sutherland Shire. The two main
segments of domestic overnight visitors are ‘peer group travellers’ seeking a fun

3
 experience with friends and ‘wanderers’ taking time to explore and discover.
These segments are ideal target markets for the company to offer a ‘food and wine
experience’ and for repeat business as these customers may continue to buy wine
from the company in future years.

Market demographics and needs

Tourism New South Wales reports that in 2007 domestic overnight visitors to the
region fall into the categories of ‘holiday and leisure’ (41.9%) and ‘visiting friends
and relatives’ (41.0%). 20% of visitors to the region were aged ’35-44 years’ and
the second largest group was ’45-54 years’. The majority of visitors are from
intrastate (74.7%), Sydney contributed more than regional NSW
(www.tourism.nsw.gov.au).

Holiday visitors are segmented in the following categories (Tourism NSW):

Pompadours – want luxury
Compatriots – mostly families
True Travellers – want depth of experience
Peer group travellers – seeking a fun experience with friends
Wanderers – taking time to explore and discover

30% of domestic overnight visitors to the region are Wanderers and 29% are Peer
Group Travellers. Whilst in the region 53.6% of visitors ‘ate out at restaurants’.
(Appendix 1). These visitors spent an average of $135 per night in the region,
including transport costs.

In 2007, international overnight visitors to the region visit for ‘holiday/pleasure’

(51.4%) and ‘visiting friends and relatives’ (29.8%). The largest source of visitors
were from the UK (19.45), USA (13.6%) and New Zealand (10.9%). These
visitors spent and average of $76 per night, excluding package expenditure.

The region received over 3.3 million domestic day trip visitors in 2007 for the
purpose of ‘holiday or leisure’ (56.6%), ‘visiting friends and relatives’ (28.6%).

4
 These visitors ‘ate out at restaurants’ (46.1%), ‘visit friends and relatives’ (33.6%)
and ‘general sight seeing’ (27.8%).

Market trends and target market growth

Tourism New South Wales reports that the region received almost 0.9 million
domestic overnight visitors in 2007, an increase of 4.8% on 2006. Domestic
visitors spent over 2.2 million nights in the region, down by 8.3% on 2006. This
indicates more increased visitors staying less time and paying more, $135 per
night in 2007 compared to $106 per night in 2006.
There were 57,100 international overnight visitors to the region, an increase of
31.6% on 2006. These visitors spent over 1.3 million nights in the region, an
increase of 32.0% on 2006. When comparing 2005 and 2007 data European
visitors have decreased significantly and visitors from the USA and New Zealand
have increased significantly.
The number of domestic day trip visitors increased by 14.3% in 2007 to 3.3
million from 2.9 million in 2006.

In Australia the Baby Boomer age demographic consume 30% of wine volume,
younger segments, i.e. 18-24 years represent only 6% of wine consumed (Levine
& Pownall, 2004:7).

SWOT Analysis
Strengths Variety of wines
Location
Friendly, motivated staff
Diversifying use of raw materials
Wine Club
Weaknesses Promotion/advertising
Website
Distribution system
Equipment failure
Online ordering
Staff shortages

5
 Opportunities Market awareness
Great experience for customers
Diversify products
Conference facilities
Accommodation

Threats Weather
Competition from other wineries
Drop in tourism
Cost of petrol

Competition
There are nine wineries within an easy drive of the Company. Coolangatta Estate
is a major competitor, offering a variety of wines (less than Crooked River),
accommodation, restaurant, function facilities, nine hole golf course. Silos Estate
is also a competitor offering accommodation, art gallery, restaurant, function
facilities. Other competitors in the area offer a combination of some of these
product offerings, on a much smaller scale.

Product Offering
8 varieties of white wines
11 varieties of red wines
Wine Club, members receive one case every three months.
Café open for lunch Thursday – Sunday offering gourmet food
Wedding reception/functions service
Wine appreciation course Thursday & Friday only

Keys to success and critical issues

• Advertising/promotion through new website, radio advertisements and
brochures distribution to ensure potential customers know what we
offer. The ability for customers to order online may enhance growth.
• Maintain effective staff, the overall customer experience is dependent
on them.

6
 • Resource management, maintenance of vines, café offerings,
equipment etc.
• Product offerings, large variety of red and white table wines, varieties
not offered elsewhere.
•

IV. Marketing strategy

The over all strategy and objectives of Crooked River Wines is to increase wine sales
through a newly integrated online website system and to increase market awareness of
the product and services through radio advertisements and brochures.

A. Mission
Crooked River Wine’s mission is to produce world class quality wine from grapes
grown on rich volcanic alluvial soil, in Gerringong, NSW, a valley between the
mountains and the sea, for the ultimate enjoyment of its customers. We want to
provide an experience full of events, we are working in harmony and are committed
to sharing information about the enjoyment of food and wine tasting is a new lifestyle.

B. Marketing Objectives
The company’s main target market is tourist, thus their main marketing objective is to
increase sales by targeting new markets through radio channels and brochures to
increase and retain their existing customers. One of the target markets is in the city of
Sydney, particularly in the St. George and Sutherland Shire area. By dropping
brochures in letterboxes in the target areas, it will increase the awareness and provide
more information to the prospective customers.

The Crooked River Winery is a family run business and mainly deals in direct sales;
they do not have an online ordering system. The intention is to increase market share
with a newly integrated website which also provides an online survey system to
receive feedback from the customers, to join the Wine Club and also what information
customers would prefer to see on the website. The company aims to increase
awareness by staying in touch with the customers and sending them their web links to
encourage them to participate in the online survey so that they can improve efficiency.

7
Sending out brochures to corporate companies and thus focusing on their needs also.
The company hopes to improve their image by increasing the number of members in
their wine club and providing them with additional benefits.

The main marketing and financial objective of Crooked River Wines is to increase
sales by 10% and to retain the existing customers by providing outstanding products
and services and appreciating customer value.

C. Financial Objectives
Being a small but successful wine company, Crooked River Wines wants to increase
its sales by 10% and at the same times wants to widen its horizons by entering new
target markets through geographical and demographical views. This company serves
local as well as international consumers. Crooked River Wines has led a comfortable
existence through the development and maintenance of a loyal customer base.

To achieve their financial objectives, Crooked River Wines needs a marketing

solution that would reduce current costs, balance their power of their one-on-one
relationships with current clients, and cost effectively reach prospective customers.

D. Target Markets
The various target markets in connection to the Crooked River Wines are domestic
overnight and day visitors to the region who fall into the categories of ‘holiday and
leisure’ and ‘visiting friends and relatives’. There are international travellers who
mainly come from the United Kingdom and New Zealand. They attract a lot of people
from Sydney mainly from the Sutherland Shire district. With the help of the various
promotional techniques such as radio advertisements and brochures we can reach out
to a desired target market. Radio advertisements on local and one Sydney stations
would make prospective customers aware of our existence and hence give them an
opportunity to visit, thus giving us the privilege of offering them an experience.

8
E. Positioning
Being a family run business they are passionate about the product and services they
sell and ensure that the customer has a lasting experience. They thus want to keep the
target market age group open as they would like to provide an experience to one and
all. They have a variety of wines ranging from red, white, romance series and port.
Positioning is how your target market defines you in relation to your competitors.
Good positioning conditions determine the uniqueness of the product and the benefits
it offers to the target market.

Positioning is important because you are competing with existing competition, to

stand out with a unique benefit and to gain attention. They want to provide an
experience to those who want to experiment. The product and services they offer meet
the needs of tourists, and being a family fun business the customer value is the most
important to them as the thrive on word of mouth publicity.

F. Strategy Summary
Marketing and financial strategies discussed for the Crooked River Wines are to
increase sales by a 10% margin and to retain and improve its existing market and thus
to improve the quality of their product and services to meet customer needs. To
increase its market share and awareness respectively by implementing certain new
methods of awareness such as a newly designed website, which offers a newer theme,
newly added benefits on the product and services offered, ability to learn about and
sign up for wine club membership, an online ordering system, locating necessary
information more efficiently, and customer surveys and customer feedback forum.

Introducing and increasing the awareness by new modes of advertising through radio
advertisements, thus aiming at visitors to the region of all age groups, sending out
brochures to the selected target markets and not forgetting corporate companies with
information that meets their needs. Lastly reminding their customers about their
online forum and to participate in them and to work on recommendations received
religiously.

9
V. Marketing Mix

New Service
To provide a better service for customers a new website will be developed with the
addition of an online order system and online customer survey and feedback forum.

Pricing
It is not necessary that we change current pricing. Prices will be maintained at the
current level, which is similar to our competitors.

Our value proposition is ease of ordering online and delivering a better service to
customers.

Promotion
In order to raise awareness of the new website and online ordering system, existing
customers will have the website link emailed to them with an invitation to visit the
new website. Advertising on radio will also be undertaken for a limited period and
the new website will be included in the advertisement. Current brochures will be
distributed to local accommodation providers for them to display to visitors to the
region.

Channel
Direct sales are the preferred option, via the cellar door or online ordering.

VI. Marketing Research

With our research clearly pointing to the fact that our promotional activities is not up
to the mark and we are unable to reach to the wider customer base that we expect to
reach. We have decided to under take certain promotional activities. These are some
of the research we are going to undertake;
Online Promotion: There is going to be new way in which customer can order the
wine from the winery. In this new era where technology is taking over all form of

10
retail business online shopping is one of our new service that will be offered to our
valued customer.

Radio Advertisement: This is another area where we are going to focus on our
research. Radio audience generally covers those entire customer bases so it will be
easier to reach to all segment of customer fond of wine.

Brochures: What we can do here is leave all the brochures in the area surrounding
hotel or restaurant so that people are aware about this place and know al the service
offered by this winery.

Online Customer Survey and Feedback: Close attention will be paid to customer
feedback.

VII. Controls
As discussed earlier we are aware that the website of this company is very poor and
earlier promotion under taken by this firm has been unsatisfactory. A website is unable
to provide even basic information required by existing or potential customer.
Therefore we need to revamp all our strategies now. We have introduced online
survey in our new website to measure customer satisfaction. Therefore we have to
mitigate these problems by undertaking our research work.

We have decided to take different measure to boost our firms profile in target market
by designing new integrated online system which is highly attractive, cost effective
and easily accessible to the customer. We need to check our performance measure on
daily basis. We need to check how many people are visiting our website and
responding to it. And another way to measure our performance is by asking customer
who visits our firm to fill up small questionnaire to know how they got to know about
the firm. Since we get our feedback from the customer on the regular basis we need to
work their advice and grievance and assure them that their concern will be address as
soon as possible.

11
There are chances that the research may not work out according to our expectation. So
we need to be aware of this fact and make sure we are preparing with a back up plan.
Radio advertisement in Australia is very expensive but it can reach wider section of
the consumer base resulting sometimes with cost blow out. With regarding brochures
there are likely chances that people may not see it and just take it as any other junk
mail. So we need to really carefully plan all our researching tools. If these problem
arises or we get the feedback that these procedure are not very effective then we can
address it but pulling out advertisement from radio and taking out our brochures from
the surrounding area and focus on the research method which has the positive effect to
our firm.

12
References

http://www.crookedriverwines.com/index.html
http://www.southcoastleisuretimes.com.au/wineries.html
http://www.southcoastleisuretimes.com.au/LocalAreaStatistics_p2821.aspx
Kotler, P. & Keller, K.L. Marketing Management 12e, Prentice Hall, New Jersey,
2006.

Levine, M, Pownall, S., Wine Industry Outlook: Consumption Demographics,

Market Segmentation, Trends and Opportunities, Wine Industry Outlook
Conference, Sydney, Australia, 25 Nov, 2004.

13