February 1, 2011 – To accommodate the agency’s expanding digital services, Kelsey Quickstad has joined Benson Marketing Group’s Napa office. Kelsey graduated from Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo with a degree in marketing and minors in Wine & Viticulture and Spanish. She joined the agency as an intern in fall 2010, and was hired as a full-time team member in January.

January 15, 2011 — Benson Marketing Group’s new social media marketing service, “Mission Control,” added several clients in its first full month of operation. The Mission Control team is now working on new clients including Robert Mondavi Winery and Redtree Wines, and funneling existing clients into the service for greater focus, including J. Lohr Vineyards & Winery and the Loire Valley Wine Bureau. “Adding a robust, but lower-cost social media service to our existing digital capabilities has been very well received by wineries of different sizes,” said Jeremy Benson, president. More information at Mission Control.

November 4, 2010, Napa, CA – Take your Social Media Marketing to new heights with “Mission Control.” Benson Marketing Group’s package leverages the tactics and technology proven to create online buzz, drive sales and cultivate ambassadors.

We focus on engaging, authentic, pitch-perfect messaging to fuel your Social Media success. For only $1,500/month/brand, Mission Control provides a solution that most wineries cannot afford on their own:

• A Dedicated Team focused on your Social Media success.
• Continuous Monitoring to proactively manage your brand’s online reputation – yelp, Facebook, Twitter, etc.
• Proactive Posting using brand messaging, editorial calendars, and decision tree-style guidelines that ensure message consistency and timeliness on your Social Media sites
• Opportunistic Posting to engage consumers before they even think of your brand – increases  visits, website traffic, email sig-ups, and Facebook fans
• 360° Content Management to ensure seamless, timely content rollout across all Social Media assets
• Data Integration to optimize campaigns in real-time using Internet-based data.
• Monthly Reporting providing the whole team with a feedback loop.

How does it work?

1. We Focus on the Tactics that Drive Results: Among many Social Media strategies, engaging consumers in meaningful, authentic dialogue – and enabling consumer-to-consumer dialogue – is what creates profitable brand ambassadors. Sure, you could spend more on advertising and gimmicks, but your next brand advocate is waiting to hear from you, and Mission Control makes sure you respond.
2. We Provide Expertise: Most wineries can’t afford a full-time Social Media staff, so Benson amortizes these costs to deliver the time and expertise required for success. To do this right takes time and skill, and there’s no substitute for either one.
3. We Leverage Data for Your Benefit: Most wineries won’t spend $10,000 or more for the sophisticated monitoring and measurement tools that Benson deploys. Mission Control centralizes a variety of Internet data streams so we can optimize your campaign in real-time.

Why “Mission Control”?
For Benson’s current Social Media campaigns, we re-considered how office design could more efficiently use real-time data streams: website, Social Media, email, etc. The answer was to put all the controls in one place and someone said, “That workstation looks like NASA’s Mission Control.”

Many CPG companies, including Gatorade, take a similar approach: integrating staff, data and process into cohesive Social Media campaigns.

3-2-1-Let’s Get Started!
For a full presentation, contact Jeremy Benson, president, 707.254.1107, benson@bensonmarketing.com.