Client Acquisition Costs Never Go Away, but the Good Ones Appreciate in Value
How Wineries Can Benefit from what Wealth Management Already Learned About Younger Clients
Private wealth management learned an important lesson a long time ago that most winery marketing hasn't caught up to yet: the client worth acquiring is rarely the one who looks profitable today. It's the one who will be profitable for the next 30 years — if someone earns their trust before a competitor does.
After spending many years leading marketing for major wealth management firms, this is one of the most transferrable marketing truths that I see. Wineries chasing the visibly high-spending 55-plus buyer (while writing off the 27-year-old) are optimizing for this quarter's revenue at the expense of the next two decades of relationship building and revenue growth.
The Parallel is Right on the Money
A private bank doesn't onboard a 26-year-old client because of the assets she has now. It onboards her because of the assets she will have at 45. And more importantly, because switching wealth managers later in life is friction-heavy, so the firm that earns her trust early has a much lower chance of losing this client to a competitor.
Wine brand loyalty works on the same mechanics. A drinker's palate, budget, and occasions all expand as they age; the winery that becomes "their" brand at 27 has a real shot at staying their brand at 45, long past the point where a single bottle's margin is the point.
Why Wineries Resist this Math
The resistance to this approach for some wineries is understandable. If younger buyers currently spend less per visit and buy less often, the near-term numbers look worse than chasing an already-established, bigger-spending customer. But that's the same short-sighted point-of-view that high-net-worth wealth firms and private banks abandoned once they modeled lifetime value instead of first-year revenue. Younger drinkers who do engage with wine are already showing a "drink less, spend more per bottle" pattern — spending more per occasion even if total occasions decline.
That's not a buyer to write off: that's a buyer in the early stage of a much longer-term and profitable relationship.
What this Looks Like in Practice
Build a relationship product, not just a transaction. A wine club, loyalty tier, or early-access list designed around a 25-year relationship looks different from one designed to move current inventory.
Price the entry point deliberately. The private wealth management equivalent of a "starter account" is a winery's approachable, well-branded tier that doesn't feel like a discount line. It feels like the beginning of something bigger, desirable and long-lasting.
Measure differently. Track cohort retention and spend growth over years, not just the per-visit average ticket. The client who spends less now but sticks around is worth more than the one-time high spender.
Taking cues from the world of wealth management marketing can have a positive impact on a winery’s overall approach to its marketing strategy. It’s worth taking the time to consider what has worked in other, relatable, industries as you plan your next phase of marketing.
See more posts about winery marketing.
By Mike Belobradic — Winery, tourism, and hospitality marketing consultant with 30 years of executive brand and marketing leadership across major Canadian financial institutions, now focused on wineries, regional tourism boards, and hospitality brands. WSET-credentialed, culinary-trained, and a KCBS-certified barbecue judge, Mike is the founder of Smoke Fire Grill™ and creator of the Northern Barbecue™ method.
FAQ
Isn't it riskier to invest marketing dollars in buyers who spend less right now?
It's riskier not to. The buyer who costs less to acquire today and stays loyal for two decades typically outperforms a higher-spending buyer with no loyalty mechanism. Wealth management firms have found that early-career clients outperform one-off high-net-worth transactions over time and this is transferrable to many wine brands.
How is this different from just "marketing to younger people"?
It's a shift in what you measure, for one thing. Marketing to younger people as a demographic tactic chases volume. Building for lifetime customer value treats the same buyer as the start of a multi-decade relationship, which changes pricing, loyalty design, and how success gets tracked.
What's the first step for a winery that wants to build this into its strategy?
Start by defining what a 10-year customer relationship actually looks like for your brand, then design one entry-point product — a club, a tasting series, a loyalty tier — specifically to start that relationship, rather than just to move today's wine inventory.