The weather is shifting, trip-planning season is underway, and tasting room traffic is about to pick up. This is the good news. The bad news? If you're reading this and thinking "we'll get to our spring marketing when spring gets here," you're behind. The tasting rooms that stay full from April...

Generous. That's the very best word I can think of, to describe last week's Outbound Sales webinar. The panelists were generous with their time and content, and all participants were generous with their conversation. Here is the link to the webinar, in case you missed it or if you'd like to...

A few years ago at the DTC Wine Symposium, a panelist joked about the modern winery website formula: the guy, the dog, the truck, and the vineyard. Beautiful backdrop, strong lifestyle photography, a thoughtful founder story. Polished, absolutely. Strategically distinct, rarely. The critique wasn’t...

Marketing budgets may be getting leaner but visitor expectations sure are not. One of the smartest moves a winery can make isn't a bigger spend: it's a shared one. Pooling resources with neighboring wineries doesn't dilute your brand. It amplifies it, elevates your entire area as a destination, and...

HipMaps and the Direct To Consumer Wine Symposium teamed up to enhance the attendee experience at the upcoming 2026 DTC Wine Symposium in Monterey, California from January 20th to 22nd. The Wine Symposium HipMap features hand-selected local favorites: hot spots and hidden gems recommended by...

HipMaps and Alexander Valley Winegrowers (AVWG) have collaborated to bring AVWG's 40-year legacy to life through a custom-designed HipMap and interactive app experience! A Community Built on Family and Tradition Located in northeastern Sonoma County just north of Healdsburg, California, the...

HOW TO KEEP YOUR BRAND TOP OF MIND WHEN CUSTOMERS ARE DROWNING IN HOLIDAY EMAILS The inbox in December isn’t a communication tool—it’s a full-contact sport. Every brand, from the global megastore to the local dog bakery, is shouting their way into people’s attention span with flashing subject...

Meta Ads, Miracle Results If your holiday Meta ads felt like lighting money on fire in a festive candle, that’s not because social is dead. It’s because your targeting and flighting were built for wishful thinking, not gifting intent. The fix isn’t magic. It’s method. You can absolutely turn Meta...

The right tools can make a winemaker's job easier and craft a better product. But staying abreast of technological advancements takes time, and testing alternative tools requires repetition to build confidence in the results. Perhaps that’s why so many winemakers rely on the winemaking community...

Why Less Visitation to Wine Country is Everyone's Problem Wineries with tasting rooms know all too well that foot traffic is shrinking. But it was our clients without a hospitality arm who got us thinking: how important is the on-site channel to the wine industry as a whole? Maybe we’re just...