Beyond SMS & Email: 2 Proven DTC Channels for More Wine Sales in 2025 New Direct Mail Strategies & Affordable Mobile Apps Deliver Quick Wins As we barrel into OND — the most critical sales quarter for wine brands — many DTC marketing teams are staring down a sobering reality: sales are slumping, inboxes are saturated, and SMS campaigns are losing steam.  The two primary direct marketing channels most wineries rely on — email (used by 85% of brands) and SMS (used by 15%) — are showing serious signs of fatigue. Promotional emails are increasingly buried in spam folders, and just last week, some of the industry’s leading SMS providers urged wineries to limit their use of SMS this holiday season due to deliverability concerns. So what now? If you’re a wine marketer looking for incremental sales this year without taking big risks, it’s time to revisit two proven channels that have quietly regained their edge: direct mail and affordabl

Texas Just Changed the Rules for SMS Marketing Here's What DTC Wineries Need to Know If you’re a U.S. winery using SMS marketing -- or even just considering it -- you need to know about a new Texas law that quietly went into effect on September 1, 2025.  Senate Bill 140 (S.B. 140) expands the state’s telemarketing laws to include promotional text messages, and it applies to any business texting Texas residents, regardless of where that business is located. For small, family-owned wineries already navigating a shrinking market, this law could introduce new compliance risks, legal exposure, and operational headaches.  And while I’ve long been an advocate for SMS wine marketing, we can no longer recommend it for most wineries unless they’re either exempt from S.B. 140 or have a customer base concentrated in Texas. Let’s break down what’s changed -- and what you can do about it. ⚖️ What S.B. 140 Actually Says S.B. 140 updates the

Discover Pragmatic AI Tools to Help Wine Marketers in 2025 Cut through the hype with AI Wine Marketing News Believe it or not, it's been two years since AI tools made their debut in DTC wine marketing. First-generation tools, such as ChatGPT, found a productive niche in copywriting, image generation, and video production.  Now, "AI Agents" are stealing the headlines with hyped-up promises paired with perilous predictions of doom. That's why VinterActive publishes AI Wine Marketing News -- a bi-weekly news digest -- featuring only trustworthy AI news items relevant to wine marketers. CLICK HERE TO READ THIS WEEK'S EDITION In this week's edition, we're featuring 5 news items:     Apple: The Illusion of Thinking Salesforce AI Research: Study shows AI agents struggle with CRM and confidentiality Futurism: ChatGPT "Absolutely Wrecked" at Chess by Atari 2600 Console From 1977 MIT Media Lab: Your Brain on ChatGPT Princeton: Ho

Free Educational Resource from VinterActive - Grow Your Business & Career - "Let There Be Light!"For wine marketers navigating choppy waters, it’s hard to know if AI is friend or foe. That’s why we publish AI Wine Marketing News. In this free bi-weekly news digest, we sift through the hype to highlight AI news relevant to wine marketers. WHY AI WINE MARKETING NEWS? Our focus is on pragmatic uses of AI technology in the wine industry. We only follow reputable news sources. We confirm the validity of all content we share, and analyze AI news with one question in mind: “What does this mean for wine marketers?” If you think learning about AI might help your business or career, we invite you to subscribe at no cost. THREE FREE WAYS TO SUBSCRIBE LinkedIn: If you use LinkedIn, subscribe to “AI Wine Marketing News” here: https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=7296203585329999872 Email: If your email relia

AI Wine Marketing Agents Help Small Brands Innovate The AI revolution has finally come for DTC wine marketers! We’re not talking about creepy 6-fingered hands or generic copy generated at the speed of AI. Today’s AI wine marketing agents combine speed and fluency with expert training to help small teams outperform with better ideas and faster implementation, thanks to the assistance of AI. WHY WORK WITH AN AI MARKETING AGENT? It’s no secret that the majority of direct-to-consumer (DTC) wineries are small brands, lucky to have even a part-time marketing team. Despite working miracles on non-existent budgets, the most challenging part of being a solo DTC wine marketer is often working alone without the benefit of professional colleagues you can brainstorm with. That’s why we built Miri: DTC Wine Marketing Advisor HOW CAN MIRI HELP? Miri’s extensive training includes 20 years of proprietary DTC wine marketing data, focusing on best practices in tast

Wine Marketers: You’re Probably Using AI Wrong Here's the way to work with your AI Marketing Assistant... Earlier this year, I leaned into GenAI to learn how it might help wine marketers survive a challenging time. Like many wine marketers, I initially viewed AI as another traditional business tool.  I’d ask a question (input) and wait for the computer’s answer (output).  Results? Sometimes insightful or artful, but often decidedly less so. It turns out I was using GenAI wrong when I first approached this unique beast. Here's what I learned... WORKING WITH AI AS A COLLEAGUE...NOT A TOOL Working with GenAI as a colleague, instead of using it as a tool, made all the difference in the world for me.  Instead of simply saying “write a business plan,” I ask my AI assistants to ask me questions about my goals and limitations, enabling them to do their best work tailored to my needs. Then the give-and-take of my conversations with Gen

Free AI Agents Help DTC Marketers Innovate Faster & Boost Sales It’s a jungle right now for DTC wine marketers tasked to invent new ways to win consumer loyalty amid brutal competition and declining demand. The good news – especially for the thousands of small and mid-size brands that define our industry – is that affordable AI Wine Marketing Agents can now help any size team outcompete rivals with better ideas and faster implementation of winning campaigns. That’s why VinterActive built the industry’s first family of expert AI Agents trained in the best practices of DTC wine marketing. Meet the Team Now The world premiere of our first five agents is at this year’s Wine Sales Symposium on May 14, 2025 in Santa Rosa, CA. But, you can grab a sneak peek using this private link: https://www.vinteractive.com/ai-powered-wine-marketing-agents Whether you “Ask Miri” for DTC wine marketing advice, “Ask Leah” for

Today’s customers expect fast, convenient support — and they don’t care how small your team is. If they can’t get an answer quickly (and on their terms), they’ll move on. That’s a real challenge for small and mid-size wineries, especially those juggling tasting room traffic, fulfillment, events, and direct-to-consumer (DTC) sales — often with no dedicated customer support team. So what’s the solution? In our latest blog post, we break down the pros and cons of four common customer communication tools — live chat, chatbots, SMS, and AI agents — to help wineries choose the best fit for their business model, resources, and customer expectations. Here’s a preview: ✅ Live chat works great if someone’s there to respond — but for most small wineries, that’s not realistic. Often, customers are asked to “leave a number,” which turns a helpful tool into a dead end. ✅ Basic chatbots (rule-based

ATTENTION: WINE MARKETERS It's official, the 2nd generation of AI wine marketing tools has finally arrived!  In our view, we can either learn how to master AI, or there's a decent chance AI will master us. That's why VinterActive created a FREE LinkedIn Newsletter -- AI Wine Marketing News -- not to sell our products and services but to help our friends and neighbors in wine country understand the new AI tools that can help your business and career thrive in 2025 and beyond. Subscribers to our newsletter receive an expertly curated bi-weekly summary of AI news relevant to wine marketers, wine business owners, researchers, and any professional exploring the intersection of wine marketing and our industry's rapidly evolving AI toolset. Some say AI technology will be as essential as electricity or the steam engine.   We won't go that far yet, but it reminds us of the dawn of personal computing. If you've never experienced what a new technolo

CLEVERTECH is the presenting sponsor of the 2024 North Coast Wine Industry Expo - WINExpo, we proudly invite wine and spirits professionals to join us in Booth #220 on December 5th, at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds, in Santa Rosa, CA. Clevertech: Shaping the Future of Wine & Spirits Packaging As a trusted partner in fully integrated front and end-of-line packaging solutions, CLEVERTECH brings decades of expertise to the wine industry. Our solutions cater to the unique requirements of wine production and packaging, from depalletizing to case packing to palletizing and much more. With innovations in customization, efficiency, and integration, we’re here to support wine producers in achieving operational excellence and optimizing their packaging lines to maintain quality. What to Expect from Clevertech at WIN Expo 2024 Visitors to our booth will learn how CLEVERTECH's technology can streamline the wine packaging process and achieve their capex goals with cutting-edge front