Yadkin Valley Wine Trail ®
Advertising Opportunity for Yadkin Valley Area Businesses
Your business can now reach thousands of discerning wine-loving travelers
to this
site as they plan their visit to the growing number of Yadkin Valley wineries
and vineyards. Visitors to the wineries on the Yadkin Valley Wine Trail ® are seeking dining, lodging, shopping,
cultural and recreation venues to enhance their visit to "The Heart of
North Carolina Wine Country." Let them know you are here and want their
business. Winery tourism is one of the few areas that continues to expand
- now you be a part of it!
If you are a business located in or immediately adjacent to the Yadkin Valley, you have a unique opportunity to reach out to visitors coming
to the area for winery visits. Our Yadkin
Valley Wine Trail ® site caters specifically to the winery
visitor. North Carolina is a state with a higher percentage of visitors
arriving by auto than many other states along the east coast of the USA.
There are over 10 million potential visitors within an eight hour drive.. Winery visitors have a higher average income than many other tourists.
They are looking for a total experience when they visit Yadkin Valley wineries
and vineyards. They are
more likely to stay in bed and breakfasts and more likely to dine at upscale
establishments. They have the disposable income for purchases such as
antiques, art, and jewelry, and many are looking for recreational activities to
supplement an extended stay. They tend to "tread lightly" on the
local infrastructure. Your business can now capitalize on the opportunity
to have them as *your* customers! With well over two dozen operating wineries and
vineyards
along the Yadkin
Valley Wine Trail ® open to the public for winery or vineyard tours, tasting and
sales, you can join the growing number of astute business owners who want to connect
with these visitors. See below for additional information and advertising
opportunities!
Why why should you consider our website as one tool in your advertising arsenal?
1) Yadkin
Valley Wine Trail ® is a local service-disabled
Vietnam veteran-owned small business concern, not
some faceless bureaucratic organization located hours away from the Yadkin Valley;
2) Yadkin
Valley Wine Trail ® has a proactive finger on the pulse of winery-related
tourism, as evidenced by the "On the Horizon" section, while other
organizations often don't even know that a winery or a new business has been open
for months, and only then when they were notified by the new winery or business;
3) Yadkin
Valley Wine Trail ® updates an interactive Google map program
(now with geo-location coordinates) to identify wineries and participating
businesses, and as of August 1, 2010, this interactive map had been viewed over
38,000 times! (those are Google's tracking numbers, not ours);
4) Thousands of
visitors find this Yadkin
Valley Wine Trail ® site via well-placed search engine listings when they
plan a trip to the Yadkin Valley, and you have the first opportunity to get
their ancillary business (lodging, dining, art galleries, antiques, recreation,
etc);
5) In September 2009, the Yadkin
Valley Wine Trail ® distributed over
10,000 maps and brochures at tourism locations in the area, with
icons and text information about businesses that want winery tourists in *their*
businesses as well as the area wineries; and
6) In 2012, we hope to release our brand new Yadkin
Valley Wine Trail ® Official
Passport, with discounts in excess of $300 for visitors who purchase them at
wineries and other select locations. This includes reduced tasting fees,
discounts on post-tasting purchases, discounts on multiple nights lodging, discounts on beverages or desserts when
entrees are purchased, and other savings to encourage winery tourists to visit
*your* business.
Try
it yourself - Imagine you are a winery tourist seeking information for a visit to
the Yadkin Valley wineries. Search Google for the term 'wineries in the
yadkin valley' or the term 'yadkin valley wineries.' Yadkin
Valley Wine Trail ® has
continually been listed at or very near the top of the first results page. Once
visitors land on our Yadkin
Valley Wine Trail ® site, they are easily able to locate your
business and visit your home page.
We Mean Business!
An ongoing analysis (using the free commercially available Stat Counter program) of current
Subscribed Enhanced Listing clients on our Yadkin Valley Wine Trail site reveals the following annual
click-through rates by visitors from our main page to the Subscribing wineries
and other businesses catering to winery visitors:
Visitors to our Yadkin Valley Wine Trail ® website have clicked
through to our Subscribed businesses over 66,000 times (on an annualized) basis
through
May 2012!
34 Subscribed Winery clients have received over 51,000 click-throughs to
their websites
23 Subscribed Lodging clients have received over 8,300
click-throughs to their websites
7 Subscribed Dining clients have received almost 1,500 click-throughs to their websites
11 Subscribed Other Category clients (including arts and antiques, culture, recreation,
shopping, tours and real property) have received over 5,200
click-throughs to their websites
A click-through is a conscious and positive action taken by a visitor to visit
a local business website which has a Subscribed Enhanced Listing with us. While a visitor who clicks on a Subscribed
client's website does not guarantee a
sale, it *does* indicate they had an express interest in finding out more about
the business. With your Subscribed Enhanced Listing, we redirect them to *your* website
where *you* can sell them on *your* particular service. Your presence on
our
Yadkin Valley Wine Trail ®
maps and brochures makes you stand out from the crowd of
non-Subscribing businesses. See below for comments
from current advertisers on out site. We challenge you to find a more
effective bang for your advertising buck anywhere!
Studies support the demographics behind Yadkin Valley
Winery Tourism:
Since
2001, I have spoken to numerous Yadkin Valley business groups and professional
organizations, in an attempt to help businesses recognize the economic value of
wine-related tourism. Until 2008, my observations have been anecdotal,
without hard fact to support quantitative data. During late 2007,
Appalachian State University (ASU) distributed surveys to visitors at sixteen wineries
throughout the state to determine the demographics of visitors to wineries in
North Carolina, including the Yadkin Valley. The results of the ASU study,
published in June 2008, revealed the following insightful
data, which not only supported my prior seven years observations, but did so on
a much more quantitative basis Among the results of the survey, there is
some valuable information which you, as a business owner desiring to capture
some of the winery tourism dollar, ought to know.....
1) North Carolina is tied for third place in the nation (with
Pennsylvania, Missouri and Oregon) for
U.S. Wine Tourism Market Share (five percent), trailing only California (31
percent) and New York (10 percent), according to a TIA and Edge Research (2007)
Profile of Culinary Travelers, 2006 Edition;
2) The average survey respondent was 47 years old (ages
ranged from 21 to 92);
3) Eighty percent of responding visitors surveyed had annual household incomes of at least
$50,000; fifty-eight percent had household incomes in excess of $75,000;
thirty-seven percent in excess of $100,000; fifteen percent in excess of
$125,000; thirteen percent in
excess of $150,000; and nine percent had household incomes in excess of $175,000 per
year.
4) Sixty-three percent of respondents were college graduates;
5) Fifty-five percent were North Carolina residents, followed
by 7.5% from South Carolina, 6.2% from Florida, 3% from Virginia, 2% each from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio and
Tennessee, and one percent each from Georgia, Washington and Michigan. Six
respondents from outside the USA (Canada, the United Kingdom, India and Italy). Of the North Carolina residents, 52 percent
were new visitors and 48 percent were repeat to the winery where the survey was
distributed.
6) Forty-eight percent
stayed locally overnight at least one night, half of those in a
hotel or a bed and breakfast;
7) Forty percent were in the area to specifically
visit wineries;
8) Activities linked with the respondents winery visits
included sightseeing, fine dining, shopping, outdoor recreation, historical
sites, entertainment, parks, museums and sporting events;.
14) The average party spent $176 on wine during their winery
visit (out of
state visitors on average outspent in-state visitors by 50% for wine purchased);
15) The most influential information source for visitors who
responded was
a friend, a relative or personal experience (39 percent), followed by roadside
ads (21 percent) , the internet and print media (19 percent each) and then all
other methods (2 percent). (Yadkin Valley Wine Trail comment: Other than friend or relative,
your Subscribed Enhanced Listing on the Yadkin Valley Wine Trail website is
significantly less
expensive than any of the other methods mentioned!)
NOTE: To see the full study
published by ASU, click
here. The study will be displayed in a new browser window. When finished, close that browser window to be returned to this
page. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the ASU publication, which
is maintained on the NC Department of Commerce web-site.
Comments from Current Subscribed Enhanced
Listing Clients:
"Our winery's web page designer asked us who you were that was delivering
so many visitors to the home page that he built for us, and said the numbers
were very impressive! We can't wait to start selling your Yadkin Valley
Wine Trail Official Passport this fall." (from Karyn Howard,
marketing director, RayLen Vineyards - August 2009)
"More than 3% of the visitors to our winery website originate from the
links on your page, we are very pleased." (from Van Coe, owner, Stony
Knoll Vineyards - August 2009)
"I have really enjoyed being on your website. We have received reservations
from it. [I] see that you have a map of lodging, wineries, and restaurants. I
think it is a great idea...." (from Courtney Brickey, owner, Aquilla
Creek Cottage - 05/11/2009)
"Before we renewed our winery and restaurant listing, I checked with out IT
manager, and he indicated your site is among our top-five outside sites
delivering visitors to our home page. We are renewing our listings and adding our
lodging property as well." (from George Danka, manager, Shelton
Vineyards, Harvest Grill Restaurant at Shelton Vineyards, and Hampton Inn &
Suites at Shelton Vineyards - April 2009)
"I ... have visited the Yadkin Valley Wine Trail page many times. It's an
excellent reference page. In fact I have it bookmarked in my favorites. I love
the link to the Google map of the wineries. It makes it very easy to plan
visits." (from Mike Huber, owner, Wells Knob Cabin - 01/03/2009)
"We want to thank you for your wonderful web site. The last 2
weekends our guests found us on your website." (from
Larry & Beth Gardner, inkeepers, The Belle House B&B - 09/05/2008)
Innkeeper
Yadkin Valley Businesses - Here Is Your Opportunity To Reach These
Winery Visitors!
1) Add your business listing to the Yadkin
Valley Wine Trail ® site now.
With a Subscribed Enhanced Listing, your
business name, address and phone number, along with a hyperlink to your home page listed on this site.
That same information, plus geo-coordinates, will also be placed on our Google
map to assist visitors in finding your business.
2) Your Subscribed Listing entitles you to be included in
our Yadkin
Valley Wine Trail ® printed
map/brochure. You will receive a supply of Yadkin
Valley Wine Trail ® printed maps/brochures to pass out to visitors to your business.
Other participating businesses will also receive a supply of map/brochures, so you
will receive the benefits of pooled advertising to reach the maximum number of
wine-loving visitors at a minimal cost. Brochures will also be placed at area
Visitor Centers, Chambers of Commerce, and Convention Centers. The initial
run was 10,00 maps and brochures. They will be updated on a regular basis as new participating businesses join the Yadkin
Valley Wine Trail ® . Each business will be
provided with a Yadkin
Valley Wine Trail ® window decal (see below) which you may display in your business.
You will also be licensed for the annual period to use the trademarked term
"Yadkin
Valley Wine Trail ®" for advertising your business as you deem appropriate.
The brochure will ultimately be available online to site visitors so they may print a
copy in advance of their trip to the Yadkin
Valley Wine Trail ®.
If you would like more information about promoting your business along the Yadkin
Valley Wine Trail ®, click
here and a pre-addressed e-mail message will appear. Your privacy will
be respected, and your e-mail address will not be sold, bartered, or traded.
Thank you for your interest!
Bob Hodge
Yadkin Valley Wine Trail ®
North Carolina, USA
Yadkin Valley Wine Trail ® Subscribed Enhanced Listing
Member Window Decal
(One provided to each new Subscribed Enhanced Listing client for window display
at your business - please specify inside
glass or outside glass)
(actual decal is on clear vinyl with white outline for text and trademarked logo)
Yadkin Valley Wine Trail ®
Oval Vehicle Decal
(One provided to each new Subscribed
Enhanced Listing client - additional Oval Vehicle Decals available for $2.00
each for use or resale)
Yadkin Valley Wine Trail ®
Bumper Decal
(Available for $2 each for use or resale)
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