Atlanta Wine School Grows with E-Marketing

Michael Bryan, founder and director of the        Atlanta Wine School, certainly has a sophisticated palate when it comes to win. But Bryan also has sophisticated marketing skills.  The entrepreneur has annually incorporated every product capability to grow Georgia's only institution for wine appreciation more than 30 per cent annually.

The broad e-marketing capabilities of the product have features that ensure you get the most for your efforts.  Bryan uses the solution to create and deliver monthly e-newsletters that provide valuable information and nurture the market.  He conducts frequent targeted online surveys to gather specific information helpful to running the school. The web forms simply capturing new contacts for the database, and email campaigns sent quarterly generate additional interest.

Bryan studies the online reporting to track and analyze results in order to know who reacted to what and where to adjust for improved results. He can segment audiences and personalize and test messages for more effectiveness. Bryan says, "Having this product is like having a larger, very knowledgeable and dependable staff always ready to pitch in.

Providing Value to the Community

"I believe you need to build a relationship of trust with people before you can ask them for anything," says Bryan. "We do that by giving them information of value in our wine newsletter." Every month since march 2003, Bryan has sent the Atlanta Wine School newsletter, full of tips and industry reports, to a list of recipients that has grown from 500 to 10,000 people. The newsletter's five years of success is significant, evidenced by the fact that since the initial send to personal contacts, everyone else has had to proactively subscribe to it using the automated opt-in form.

E-marketing is the learning institution's primary communications tool. "There isn't a more effective way to reach a database of contacts one a one-to-one basis as cost efficiently," Bryan says. "Now our community of wine lovers is receptive to reading about and participating in the courses and events we offer."

To date, Atlanta Wine School has run 148 dedicated campaigns to inform, and whet the interest of constituents in the wine community. Four times year, it promotes wine festivals by sending out 1.6 million emails.

An experienced e-Marketer, Bryan tracks and compares the difference between sending out HTML versus text-based emails.  He has seen 5 to 8 % click-thru rates through HTML, and 4.1% for text-based emails.

Asking the Community for Input

Gathering realistic feedback is a valuable component of accommodating the needs of the wine community as well as being an essential e-Marketing tool.

"We use the surveys to better understand our community," says Bryan. Through nearly 20 online surveys, the ever-burgeoning community has been a continuing source of helpful input that shapes course content and class schedules.

He's learned some valuable information about his subscribers through the survey process, including that they prefer course to be held on Sundays through Thursdays, and that 7 P.M. is the most convenient time to begin. As a result, the Atlanta Wine School is able to confidently meet its markets' needs because of the ability to easily survey community members.

Recognizing the Hidden Benefit

Knowing he would use an e-Marketing solution exclusively, Bryan did his homework before he chose a partner. First, he looked closely at the feature set to make sure it met his needs. He found a robust system that he could leverage to meet his growth goals. He was careful to consider price and found a surprisingly affordable solution.  Although a sophisticated e-Marketing himself, he concluded that personal service and support would be important as he expanded his staff. Here he found an unsurpassed commitment to dedicated support with unlimited training and consulting available.

During his selection process he discovered a hidden benefit. The product has gained a stellar reputation with the ISP's for its adherence to regulatory requirements and best practices for emailing. Our servers are considered "clean" and emails are readily accepted from most ISP's. This greatly increases the likelihood that his emails will be delivered promptly every time. After over 5 years using our solution, this wine education is enjoying the fine taste of success.

 About eProspector

eProspector has been a leader in e-Marketing since 1999. We offer a solution for relationship-based emailing such as to customers and prospects, called eProspector CustomerReachT, as well as a solution for new business lead development, called eProspector.  Most companies need both due to the difference in the compliance requirements as well as email design capabilities. Contact us for more information at www.eprospector.com .