by J. Smith

Guerrilla marketing tactics usually means blanketing a parking lot with flyers underneath car windshield wipers or advertisements greeting you at every street corner, but for Dave Smith and his homemade wine company, it means going where the customers are. On Tuesdays, he’s at Stadium Village Farmers Market, Wednesdays at the Original Farmers Market at City Market, the Columbus Farmers Market every Saturday and on the second Saturday of the month at the Binford Farmers Market, all in Indiana, the Indianapolis Star reports. The marketing strategy has been a gold mine for Smith as he connects with customers and sells out of his fruit-flavored wines.

“I wanted to be able to talk with people,” he told the Indianapolis Star about his decision to take his wines directly to customers instead of setting up a traditional tasting room. “In this type of setting, they’re more relaxed. You get a nice camaraderie.”

From the looks of the profile, Smith’s business model and personable nature are what attract clients to his booths in various parts of the city. His free samples go over so well that he frequently sells out, with non-drinkers often his best customers.

“Although he had sold out of the four cases of wine he had brought to the market, Smith kept pouring samples and taking orders for that tropical-tasting Calypso Breeze, the raspberry-infused white zinfandel he calls Rhazz, and his peach wine, an intensely fruity chardonnay that is his most popular,” the Indiana Star reports.

Smith’s winery is the only black owned winery in Indiana, making his regional monopoly and guerrilla marketing techniques the winemaker to beat.