For the past four months, those who market and produce events in Wine Country have effectively been in a hibernation state.  While significant time has been spent helping clients postpone or reschedule their event dates, actual sales efforts have been reduced for various reasons.

• 1. Non-essential travel restrictions prevented couples from coming to wine country, booking lodging, and enjoying a weekend while shopping for sites.
• 2. Couples who need to travel by air to wine country find that method less desirable during a pandemic and have chosen not to visit as they had done in the past.
• 3. Couples are naturally cautious because of the continued uncertainty associated with when a return to normal is realistic.

While there are numerous other reasons why bookings are not at their historical level, other factors are impacting the desired results.

One of the primary issues is that many event sites have furloughed or reduced their dedicated event staff hours.  The result has been delayed response to client inquires so prospective clients move forward with sites that are responding promptly.

Another factor is that many sites remain in a preseason state, not quite ready for prime time.  While wineries have spent significant time doing whatever they can to reopen under the various and shifting guidelines, many of the event spaces at these wineries are not up to their usual level of fit and finish, which has always negatively impacted bookings in the past.

A third reason associated with the decline in bookings is that many primary / more popular event sites have rolled over 2020 clients into 2021, thereby cannibalizing potential dates for next season.

This last reason should, in some ways, have an impact on the majority of sites that are not those primary / most popular sites. If there is more opportunity in 2021 for secondary sites, why are they not booking?

Our conversations with prospective clients and internal discussions show the prime impediment for secondary sites is awareness.  The overwhelming norm is most sites do not have an impactful web presence and coupled with the fact that pay-per-click is not employed, sites are simply not showing up as prospective clients are performing their searches.

Suggestions for anyone looking to boost bookings for 2021 would be to start now and identify the keywords they wish to bid on and begin a pay-per-click campaign.  A drive properly conducted should result in increased inquires, provided staff is in place to respond promptly, and your site is ready for site tours.  With these measures, you should see a nice boost in bookings for next year.

The most popular and regularly searched keywords for Wine Country Weddings cost between $1-$5 per click. While this may seem expensive at first glance, full SEO on your website, optimized images, clear call to action opportunities, and the right information on your site are crucial elements in converting those clicks to inquiries.  Data supports that the average advertising cost (including advertising on wedding lead generation websites) to convert a visitor to your website into an inquiry is between $40-$50.  Depending on your event site’s desirability, the total cost of advertising to obtain a booking is between $1,000 – $2,000.  The prime/popular places will be at the lower end of the range, and the secondary sites or sites new to events will be at the higher end of the range.  Again, depending on your site’s desirability, assume another $400-$700 for sales time to respond to prospect communications and conduct site tours.  Given your staff and venue are ready, this cost should easily be offset by the average of 100 bottles of wine purchased at an event and the revenue received for the site fee.