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Dievole is a thousand year old winery and olive producer that specializes intense flavors and one-of-a-kind tasting experiences via its resort winery. Nestled in the town of Castelnuovo Berardenga, Italy (about halfway between Florence and Siena), the company changed ownership in 2012, which sparked a renewal in the winery’s mission. As it blended an established tradition with new ideas, Dievole developed a content marketing strategy to help connect it with wine enthusiasts around the world.

“Before we were only using offline or traditional marketing strategies,” says Elena Oprea, marketing lead at Dievole. “But we realized that we needed a digital marketing strategy to be known around the world.”

In creating Dievole’s digital footprint, the marketing team wanted to do more than just launch a website and share product photos. She wanted to craft an educational experience for wine enthusiasts of all levels, and to position Dievole as an innovative and authoritative resource.

“The wine business is quite traditional, and online communication was a very big step for us,” says Oprea. “Our strategy to is to engage with our target market through digital media, which is scarcely addressed by the Italian wine market. We decided to make infographics a core part of that strategy.”

Among Dievole’s most successful infographics were educational resources about food pairings, a year in the life of a vine, and a glimpse into the wine cultivation process. Dievole is currently using these resources for the company’s newsletter, PR, social media, and PPC campaigns. Here are the most important lessons they’ve learned along the way:

Put yourself in your audience’s shoes

In crafting Dievole’s content marketing strategy, the team was starting from scratch. To determine where and how to get started, team members drew upon in-depth industry knowledge and direct interactions with clients.

“I’ve been working in the winery for the last seven years,” says Oprea. “Even in straight contact with private clients. So, I just put myself in their shoes, wondering what they would like to see, or, what are they curious about.”

One of the trends that Oprea has noticed is that wine aficionados are curious about the industry as a whole.

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From Dievole’s “How Wine is Made” infographic.

“They are already very knowledgeable and are curious to learn more,” says Oprea. “They’re interested in the technical details and anything that has to do with vintages, varieties, fruit-bearing capabilities, and age.”

Dievole’s ongoing goal is to communicate this information in a simple and attractive way, from a visual point of view.