Using her background in graphic design and inability to read large blocks of text, Madeline Puckette, Co-Founder and Content Director of Wine Folly, has transformed wine communication using infographics and other writing methods to enable wine discovery for more people. What started as a content marketing strategy for a planned wine club, Wine Folly has become one of the core landing sites for wine globally and an essential resource for wine beginners in their wine journey. Here about the journey, the business, and the future with Global Wine Database. If you love the show, please consider supporting us on Patreon. Detailed Show Notes:Madeline’s backgroundGrandfather got into wine through mail order and readingDad bought a wine subscription to K&L Wine Merchants when she was 21 (in 2004) at art school, which got her into wine and provided her “Aha!” wine moment - a Cotes du Rhone that didn’t taste like fruit but like black olivesShe was a musician and a graphic designerAfter she lost her job in 2009, she helped out at a wine bar which exposed her to more wineDid the Ruinart Challenge competition in San Francisco and got runner up on a Chardonnay blind tastingWent on to pass Certified with the Court of Master Sommeliers (“CMS”)While in the startup community in Seattle, she wanted to combine web with a wine concept and started Wine FollyWine Folly’s foundingIt didn’t want to have a blogThe initial concept was to have an online wine club with videos exploring the wine regions of the world12/25/2011 - 1st post on how to wrap a bottle of wine for ChristmasWine informational content started as a content marketing strategy to get high search engine optimization (“SEO”) but became what people wantedWine Folly todayAn online portal for the topic of wine1st infographic - “how to choose wine” - was a joke but went viral and the Facebook account grew by 7,000 in 1 dayPrinted and sold the infographic as posters - sold 52 in the 1st two daysUses an inverted pyramid writing style - articles start with the simple, straightforward answer and then grows with more details at the bottomWine Folly users - the focus is on wine beginners - there are always more people getting into wineMarketing Wine FollyViral things tend to peak and go downSEO “long tail” work - content marketing, posting 3 articles/week for years for free was what built the siteTried some paid marketing for productsSocial media - “like a billboard,” metrics are smaller than everything else (<10% of traffic to the website comes from social) but builds awarenessKey metrics - reach and revenue are primary metrics / OKRsDefining reach can be complex - can include duration of visits, looking at a 2nd page, etc.~20M unique visitors/year on the websiteLaunching online classes - including a French wine course in March, uses a self-challenge model to force people to learn and figure things outSeeing a declining interest in wine - the “wine” search ranking has been declining over the last 5 yearsYouTube channelHas been growing rapidly recently (~60k followers in Jan 2022)Need consistency of content to do well - 1 piece/week would be idealWine is challenging on YouTube to create a digestible format because wine is just in your glass. It’s all in your head -> success might be more about personalityOther successful wine channels - Wine King, Bon Appetit w/ Andre MackYouTube is a place to self-learnSocial media strategyNeed to have content that matches the purpose of the social media channelWine Folly does a lot of analysis on what does well or notConsistency is the core strategyBusiness modelLaunched a wine club in 2021 in partnership with Wine Access“Like a Food52 of wine” - wine accessories (e.g., tools, maps, wine flavor charts, visual learning tools)No advertising, but investigating it now, looking at partnership/sponsorship opportunitiesTools and book section are the most successful, courses coming up fastBooks1st was in 2015, 2nd in 2018More a marketing opportunity to get credibilitySale