Reflecting on purple cork’s pivot to B2B
Who knew? Growing a B2B startup can have such important roots in B2C. At the end of the day, we're all human and we’re all craving exciting ways to engage and be social.
Here are a few things I’ve learned the last two years building purple cork:
B2C beginnings
When I left the B2B tech marketing world in 2020 to pursue my passion for wine and startups, I wasn’t quite sure where the journey would take me. With purple cork, the idea was to make great wines and winemakers accessible to everyone during covid, at a time when we were all craving connection more than ever.
Our first tagline was, “The best wines are the ones we drink with friends.” This has always been the vibe of purple cork–it’s social and a chance to connect through a shared activity, like sipping the same wine or champagne in homes across multiple time zones while getting to chat with the winemaker, friends and family.
At this time, the concept of a virtual wine tasting was brand new. So I started small. I partnered with a couple of small, rare wineries and put a website together. I posted a schedule of events with different winemakers and consumers signed up. People often joined in multiples for date-nights, girls nights and family get-togethers, looking forward to the breakout rooms for catching up. Early attendees enjoyed the events, which felt informal, fun and educational, without being stuffy.
I was a team of one with a few contractors, doing everything in my power to make sure wines made it to their destinations in time and that everything went off without a hitch. I encouraged feedback and paid close attention during the events for clues about what was working and what could be improved. Marketing was largely word-of-mouth.
I am thankful for those early days. Working directly with consumers helped purple cork find its footing and work out the kinks, figuring out global wine delivery, event time management, and Zoom technology. Amazing friendships formed with the winemakers and winery teams. Little did I know how important these early learnings and relationships would be.
Transition to B2B
In Q4 2020, things went into overdrive. Travel was suspended, in-person events were on hold and every business was looking for ways to engage their customers and prospects. It became apparent very quickly that there was a big market opportunity if we could sell purple cork to CMOs and field marketing professionals. I had always planned to market to businesses, but given the expense of B2B marketing, I thought B2C would drive referrals and help get our name out there.
Without spending money on SEM or advertising, the proverbial phone started ringing off the hook. Software companies, VC’s, biotech companies and consulting firms were all looking for a partner that could help with virtual events and conferences. And off we went.
Surprising similarities
You might think the product needed to change a lot for businesses. Not so fast! The vision remained the same—providing a fun and engaging experience with exclusive winemakers. The events maintained the same energy and flair. We built out a team. We continued to manage the logistics and details, taking the workload off of our event-planning clients. They were impressed with the high level of service and knew that their attendees would be taken care of individually.
When I think back to our first events and compare them with our events today, they’re largely the same. The fun consumer vibe carries over to our corporate events. Yes, there might be a three minute introduction from a CEO or the breakout rooms discussion might revolve around a business challenge, but the events don’t feel like a business meeting.
Now we embrace client feedback the way we listened to early consumers, leading us to add a range of non-wine offerings (bourbon, tequila, beer, cooking, etc.) and additional value-add services like registration pages and attendee communications.
My advice to B2B marketers: keep it light! Don’t be afraid to bring some FUN to your corporate events. The fact that people stay on purple cork events long after they are supposed to end proves this point. Fun is such a key part of the purple cork brand because at the end of the day, we're all consumers craving connection and entertainment.
While we like to have a good time, we also love closing deals. This more casual style event can drive some serious business results, with most purple cork clients seeing 5-10x+ ROI. Qualified has closed $1 million in revenue and counting. Social sells!
It’s all about relationships
Whether you’re B2B or B2C, successful companies run on relationships. It’s easy to fall into the business trap of being too dry and not interactive, losing the human element and emotional connection with your future customers. Work to build an emotional relationship with your end users. Simply having better features won’t be enough when your competitors come knocking. Be different, be human, and have some fun!
I think you’ll find like I did that getting back to consumer needs can move your business forward in surprising ways.
