EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Sonoma Hanzell Vineyard can benefit from creating the blog at free of cost, and using it as a way of advertisement to increase the sales. Regardless of how big or small the business companies are, both direct and indirect benefits results, as shown by this in-depth study and research conducted by San Francisco State University. The Hanzell Vineyard authorized the study when advertising department sought the companys approval for creating the blog. The executive council requested evidence demonstrating that creating and maintain the blog could actually benefit the Vineyard.

Our conclusion that the Hanzell Vineyard benefits from creating a blog is based on data collected by online databases, personal interview with managers and sales team of those vineyards, facts and documents from past research, and professional statistics reports.

Analysis of data revealed benefits in three areas:

Participation: Lot of customers found the vineyards blog very helpful and used it to ask the question or to post the complaints. The vineyards used their blog to strengthen their relationships with customers. More than 20 percent of new customers visited the blog and nearly 40 percent of old customers are still in touch with vineyards.

Revenues: In average, the vineyards earned 18 percent or more sales on the same year after creating the blog and updating it on daily basis. By 3-5 years, the sales went up by 30 percent or more. More than 38 percent of them bought the wine through the blog.

Indirect Benefit: Because of the increasing number of bloggers and their active participation on the social networking websites, the Vineyards will indirectly gain publicity through the bloggers to the users friends and families