You’re probably reading everywhere, including from me (like in this blog post about how marketing is still important) – that you need to adapt your business ASAP and pivot to an online format, curbside pickup, or delivery. 

I want to address that I understand that this isn’t easily achievable. 

For some, when we are put in situations where we have to adapt quickly -- we find a way to do it. Sometimes the idea was on a to-do list for years, and you never got around to focusing on because business was fine. Some never thought about implementing anything new to begin with. Others started but never followed through because there is always something more important to focus on (I was regularly in that boat).  Even more, people find themselves working for companies that hesitate to implement anything new - and many of those people are currently furloughed or let go during this pandemic.

I understand that is the case for a lot of people, and it has been for me. I purposely never wanted to turn my business into a social media marketing agency, because I didn’t want to deal with the “business” side of being a small business owner. The idea of having employees, dealing with payroll taxes, or training people scared me. 

I never marketed my business, even though I teach marketing

 ... And I never had to because word-of-mouth allowed me to continue working how I wanted to for so long. I never had to actually “market” my business. Though, I would say that my focus on connections through social media was a way of establishing long-term relationships, which is the best form of marketing. But traditional marketing mediums like print ads, digital ads, even email marketing were never on my radar because I was comfortable with where I was in my career. 

It wasn’t until I moved to the East Bay where I didn’t have connections, that I realized that I had gotten too comfortable with where I was with my business. I talked a lot about my journey as an entrepreneur in this blog post. Comfortable is fine; it’s the status quo. And the status quo works when everything’s going “normal.”  

Northern California businesses understand that the fire season is not a normal time. Once a year for the last three years, a lot of companies had to pivot during the few weeks when a fire has hit Sonoma County or Butte County. This caused families and businesses to have to evacuate, deal with power outages, or people had to stay inside due to the overwhelming smoke outside.

Throughout the last three years, we’ve seen businesses pivot to helping those in need during and right after the fires (and floods). But right after, life went back to relative normalcy. 

Tourists came back to wine country, spent money out at restaurants, stayed in hotels, and went winetasting.  

The Trend Of Creating An “Experience” In Wine Country

A trend the wine industry has been seeing for a while is that people are spending more time at one winery. This is because the idea of creating an experience, like a cave tour or a wine and food pairing, became more necessary as customer habits changed. Visitors aren’t winery hopping like they used to. The extended experience, combined with an abundance of wineries, has made it harder for wineries to stand out. 

Even before the fires or this COVID-19 pandemic, the wineries that have pivoted to creating experiences for their customers have been the ones to thrive. Wineries had to pivot into looking at their tasting rooms as more of a holistic experience versus just focusing on the wine. 

Iron Horse Vineyards in Russian River Valley had Oyster Sundays and invited The Oyster Girls to sell oysters, shrimp, and caviar to guests every Sunday during the summertime. This was a hit with sparkling wine lovers as well as those who didn’t like wine but loved seafood, and a good view.

JaM Cellars in Napa and Pax Wines in Sebastopol created their tasting rooms to be more like lounges, where guests could connect, drink wine and listen to live music in the evening. 

Charles Krug Winery in St. Helena, in Napa Valley, created a series of stand up comedy events where guests could enjoy live standup and drink wine. 

Each of these experiences attracted wine drinkers, as well as their non-wine drinking friends.

It hasn’t just been wineries that have had to adapt to new ways of selling to customers. Retail shops have had to move a lot of their business online in order to complete. And big retailers like Madewell and Alethea have turned their physical boutiques into event spaces with yoga classes, and even wine tastings!

On That Note: Pivots Don’t Have To Be A Complete 180 From Business As Usual. 

The gradual pivot that some wineries have had to create these experiences wasn’t overnight. 

And this is the takeaway I want you to remember from this blog post. Even now, with everything so up in the air with this pandemic, and our shelter in place orders — you don’t have to completely change your business model to find success. Or more importantly, you don’t have to change the core values that you are passionate about when it comes to your business.

The Importance of Creating Value Over Selling

A thing I have noticed about the trend of experiences is that it is about creating additional value to customers and giving them what they want, vs focusing solely on selling a product or service.

Right now we are seeing this with many companies across the world (when they can), like fashion companies, or small retailers on Etsy who are focusing on creating masks for medical professionals and everyday people. Or restaurants like Gott's Roadside in Napa, San Francisco and Walnut Creek providing 100% of the proceeds of their takeout menu to their employees who lost their jobs due to the shelter in place orders.

These are businesses that CAN provide additional value to people, but even companies that are worried about their business can spend some time thinking about how they can create value to their community. And that even looks like asking their community to help them so they can help their employees.

Small Changes to Pivot Your Small Business Strategy

It’s small changes that can make the difference in getting you through right now and then helping ensure that the next time crisis happens, you’re a little bit more prepared. 

Here are some creative ideas that restaurants and wineries are doing as we shelter in place here in the bay area. What I love about some of the creative ideas is that they are relatively simple things, like dressing up when doing a restaurant delivery—or writing a creative note for your customers in your to-go container. Figure out what may make sense for your brand, and your connection to your customers and try something new and fun!

If you are still not sure how pivoting your business could work RIGHT NOW, then try to spend some time brainstorming new ideas that you could do after you open your business back up. And if you can right now, try to create or research new ways you can develop systems to market your business more efficiently once you do go back. 

Little changes can add up. <3