You've only got one chance to make a first impression. Before visitors can taste your wine, they need to find your property. And before they do that, they need a reason. If yours is a well-known and sought-after brand, that alone might be sufficient reason to track you down.

But for the majority of visitors to Australia's wine regions, the quality of the wine is not always enough. In fact, the region's reputation for quality wine will usually be known, so there is probably an assumption that every winery in the region produces decent wine.

Visitor Attractors
Some visitors don't pre-plan their winery visits and will respond favourably to things like prominent signage and entry statements. Others will rely on referrals from friends, family or other attractions they've visited. Another segment will take their friends and family to tried and trusted cellar doors, while the more adventurous will deliberately seek out somewhere new.

Valuable Business Referrals
Whilst you may not believe that you can directly control the way other businesses in your community talk about you to their customers, in reality you can influence their perception. Did you know that two of the businesses most often asked for advice on where to visit in a region are the newsagents and service station? You need to be aware of how they perceive you and what information they're actually relaying to people. You can achieve this by taking the time to develop a relationship with them, invite them to visit your property or occasionally drop in a bottle of wine. You can then be confident they will have a positive message to convey.

It's another example of casting the net wide to encapsulate all the elements that will impact on the number of visitors that find their way to you. Paying attention to all of the external factors, both on your property and within your community, will pay big dividends.