The Power of Community-based Marketing

Most of the businesses I work with are service-based solopreneurs. But when Maddison Violet of Ve Oh Lay Acres reached out to be podcast guest, it was an easy “yes” for me.

For one thing, I like drinking wine and talking with the owner of a winery was irresistible. The other reason I wanted to talk with Maddison is the success story she shares. In particular, the way in which she and her husband have fostered strong relationships with their local community and how those connections have helped their business thrive.

The only bummer here is that Ve Oh Lay wines aren’t yet for sale outside of Canada. But Maddison assures me visitors are warmly welcomed should you decide to take a trip to their vineyards in British Columbia. 

Sounds like a great trip to me!

Learn more about Ve Oh Lay Acres Winery & Farm here: www.veohlayacres.com/

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My mission is to change the way small business owners market themselves and it’s very important to me that I reach as many people as possible.

Transcript

Judy Murdoch: Hello and welcome to the Marketing Root Reward Podcast. I'm your host, Judy Murdoch. And today I am speaking with Madison Violet. Is it Violet or is it Violet?  

Maddison Violet: Um, it's actually Vle.  

Judy Murdoch: Vle. All right, perfect. Thank you. 

Madison Vle is a part of a family owned winery in British Columbia. So Madison, please introduce yourself and say a little bit more about your company.  

Maddison Violet: Oh, well I am a, the winemaker at Vle Acres. Um, that's where the name comes in from. I'm also a wife and an avid animal lover as well too. 

We have a beautiful 11 acres here, so we farm a variety of fruit crops, grapes, um, as well as a decent collection of animals.  

Judy Murdoch: That's fantastic. So tell me, how did you get into wine making? Because I think I often will think of wine making as one of those, like sort, it's sort of an aspirational. Career for a lot of people who have dust jobs, you know, they think like, oh, one day I'll buy some land, I'll be a winemaker. 

But I mean, from my perspective, I don't see being a winemaker to be for the faint of heart. I mean, it is a tangible product. You are growing crops, so, you know, there's the whole issue of nature and you know, climate and those types of conditions. Not to mention the whole business part. So what got you engaged in wine making? 

Maddison Violet: So I've been in the industry for 10 years now. Um, I originally started working in a restaurant who used to do like fancy wine and food pairing dinners, and it was just all these beautiful wines from around the world paired with all these different foods. Sometimes it would be the same grape, but from different regions featured six or seven times. 

And it was just so fascinating that you have the same product, but it's so different every climate, every country, there's so many like style differences. You can be in the same region, but two winemakers will make it differently. So that kind of led me to the Somalia side, and then I moved back to British Columbia. 

I was out in Alberta, actually at the West Edmonton Mall. And then I started working in a winery, uh, doing the tasting room, and then they needed help in the vineyard and I was still in school studying, so I thought that this would be a great opportunity in order to really see it from the beginning to end. 

And then I was able to do my first wine harvest that year, and I was just so hooked on the wine making, uh, soel. I kind of pivoted from the sommelier side and started to do the actual wine making. So I went down to uc, Davis did a two year wine making certificate there. I'm still mostly, I would say more experienced based. 

I don't have as much technical schooling behind me as I'd want. 

Judy Murdoch: Mm-hmm. 
 

Maddison Violet: But that's kind of the beautiful thing about wine, is it, it can be a passion project. 

Judy Murdoch: Mm-hmm. 
 

Maddison Violet: And that's definitely what it is for me. I was lucky enough to travel around with wine and then, so I went to New Zealand. I went to Australia, California, and then unfortunately, COVID came in and kind of ruined my travel plans and we were feeling very optimistic and we were like, why don't we do this ourselves? 

And then we decided to pack up our lives. We moved away from all of our friends and family. We found a beautiful property that had the bones. So it was, uh, it's an old gentleman had the farm. So it was, there was a lot of love that had to be put back into it. Uh, we planted the vineyard. We designed the tasting room. Twice, actually. 

We had to create our cellar. It was a long journey. We've been working on it since 2021.  

Judy Murdoch: I bet. Yeah.  

Maddison Violet: And then in 2023, we opened to the public.  

Judy Murdoch: Wow. Wow. So I have a question. I looked at your website and you have a great website.  

Maddison Violet: Oh, thank you. 

Judy Murdoch: I just want to compliment you on that. I especially like your history page. 

It's very colorful, it's very engaging. It's a lot of fun to look at. Um, so it sounds like the brand VLA has been around for a long time. So tell me a little bit about the history, kind of how, what is the history and then how does the history, you know, like connect with what you are doing currently?  

Maddison Violet: Yes. So my husband is like the really cool guy. He's got all of the fun wine history behind him. So his family actually started a winery called. B-Y-R-R-H back in 1866.  

Judy Murdoch: Wow.  
 

Maddison Violet: In France. Yep. In Perpen, France. Yeah. Wild. It's actually still existed today. 

Judy Murdoch: Yeah. 
 

Maddison Violet: It's a big, massive facility. It's huge. We have yet to actually visit it, but it's on the list in the next few years to go. 

Judy Murdoch: Mm-hmm. 
 

Maddison Violet: And that's kinda where the family history started and that went all the way through to the seventies. They did end up selling it to a big, corporate company. 

Judy Murdoch: Mm-hmm. 
 

Maddison Violet: Bernard Ricard. Then his grandparents came over from Europe and decided to start a winery here in Canada. 

They searched all over. They were down in California. They were in South Africa, and then they founded this little region called the Fraser Valley, and they purchased 55 acres, and then they started the first winery in that region. And then, unfortunately Laurent was like 14 when his grandparents could no longer take care of the winery. 

Uh, so it did end up getting sold and passed on. 

Judy Murdoch: Mm-hmm. 
 

Maddison Violet: And we, he just, we kind of always wanted to really honor that and kind of bring back that legacy. Um, they did everything from wine and cognac, rum. They did spirits. They just like to ferment and distill things and oh, there's a lot of cool history with it. 

Um, they worked with Gustav Eiffel, so he actually designed the railway track before he went on to do the Eiffel Tower. 

Judy Murdoch: Mm-hmm. 
 

Maddison Violet: Um, when they were going through times of war, they were like bearing stuff underground. Um, at one point, they actually had the world's largest wine vat. It does over a million liters. 

Judy Murdoch: That's crazy.  

Maddison Violet: They are very cool. It's, I'm fortunate enough, I've like married into like wine royalty essentially. Oh. And we just really wanted to bring that back. We wanted to really bring the family notes back into it and kind of continue that legacy and we would love to leave our winery for our kids and carry that on. 

Judy Murdoch: I love that. I love that. Tell me a little bit more on, I guess, like, the technical side and because I love wine by the way. It's one of the reasons that I wanted to speak with you today. 'cause I really do love wine. And, you know, the wine the culture, kind of like, how people appreciate wine. It's changed a lot, you know, like in some ways I think wine has gone a couple things. First of all, just the number of wineries. In so many different parts of the world. So that's like one trend, you know, that I've seen is so many more regions now, you know, like produce wine. So that's one thing. And it seems to me that just enjoying wine and enjoying different types of wine have become a lot more accessible to a much broader range of people. So you don't need to be somebody who is extremely wealthy with access to a very, very small selection of French wines.  

Maddison Violet: So for us, um, marketing isn't about selling harder, it's about telling the truth well.  

Judy Murdoch: Okay.  
 

Maddison Violet: We go for more experience over promotion, so we're not hammering sales down your throat or BOGO deals. It's about coming here and feeling the real connection. When the experience is honest and rooted in care, marketing stops feeling like marketing. And that's, that's something... 

Judy Murdoch: absolute agree 

Maddison Violet: I've always struggled with is, um, like, what, what are the good sales tactics? How do you talk to people? 

But  

Judy Murdoch: Right.  
 

Maddison Violet: If they want to support you, they will, and they'll do that through connection. Marketing kind of becomes an extension of how you treat people. And that's what I love when people come to Viole Acres, that's what they get. It's people are real at the end of the day. We're not dealing with these big corporate corporations. These are our neighbors. They're our friends. They're our kids' school teachers. They're real people. And if you're just honest and open with them, you'll create your own loyal audience. It's not just all about algorithms. It's about real conversation.  

Judy Murdoch: No, I totally agree with you. 

How long did it take you? If I can ask this question, where you felt you hit sort of a critical mass where you felt like it was no longer you having to do all the outreach and people actually were recognizing you and coming to you as well? 

Maddison Violet: Absolutely. Honestly, just last year, that was our third summer. So like the first year when we opened was fantastic. We were super busy, but it was hard to gauge who was coming to us because they wanted us, or it was just because we were the newest thing on the block. 

Judy Murdoch: Okay. 
 

Maddison Violet: Um, the second year was unfortunate. We had massive highway closures. There was a huge fire that ripped through the area, so our tourism was down. 

Judy Murdoch: Right. 
 

Maddison Violet: That we generally got to see more of our local community and who near us is supporting us. And then the third year, the tourists were coming back. We didn't have a bad fire. 

Like we're talking like you can't seal out the windows. 

Judy Murdoch: Yeah. 
 

Maddison Violet: 'Cause it's like apocalyptic from the fires. It's very unfortunate. But the third year was amazing. So many return customers. 

Judy Murdoch: I love it. 

Maddison Violet: They were making a trip special for us. That's what they were telling us. And it's like for me, just for little me, like, whoa. 

We take actually a lot of photos with our returning customers too. So I have like multiple years with 'em. Um, a lot of them recognize the changes that we've done and, uh, 'cause of course it's. We didn't, the way the winery looks today, it didn't look that way three years ago. 'cause we're constantly changing it, listening to the feedback from our clients and our customers. 

Judy Murdoch: Right. 
 

Maddison Violet: What do you want?  

Judy Murdoch: Right. Right, right. Yeah. Yeah. I love that. I love that. 

My approach to marketing is extremely relational and connection based because, as you have said, I'm a big believer in the power of community and the power of connections, especially with what you are doing, because you are so community based. 

So I really like hearing about your success and how well your approach is working.  

Maddison Violet: Thank you. Thank you. We've, I feel like we've tried everything and this has been the most fluid, the most natural. Um, because I am lucky enough to be the face of the business. I don't wanna put on a mask every day. I don't wanna be hiding behind something. 

You build relationships with these people. I don't wanna be not who I am. I don't, I don't think I could manage to do that six or seven days a week. Pretending. Yeah. So we're, we're honest about it. 

Judy Murdoch: Mm-hmm.  
 

Maddison Violet: Yeah. It's, you know, it's wine doesn't have to be exclusive or intimidating. It needs to be personal. 

Judy Murdoch: Agreed. I mean, I agree with everything you said. I really like your approach. 

So there are going to be people who are listening or watching and they see the bottles of wine behind you and they're going to say, oh man, I wanna try that. How do I get it? How do I get some? So, particularly for American audiences and people who are not in Canada tell folks. 

How can they experience you and your wines and support you?  

Maddison Violet: Well, we are available across many retailers in bc. Unfortunately, you will have to come across the border to come visit us. Yes, uh, we are working though on getting our wines into America. So once we get through the big stack of paperwork and all of the clearance, then one day, but as of right now, um, for sure for 2026, um, we are located in Summerland in British Columbia. 

So we are in the heart of the wine region called the Okanagan Valley. There's tons of other locations to visit us as well too. So you can do a whole wine route. We actually do um, RV campers as well. 

Judy Murdoch: Nice. 
 

Maddison Violet: So you can come up from the states in your rv. You could come stay cool winery with us. 

We'll hang out after hours. I love it. We also have a kitchen site too, so we got food, wine, camping. No shortage of animals and friends around. Um, you can also find us online. If any of your listeners have friends that live in bc, you know what? I can't ship it, but you can ship it personally, so maybe someone can do a favor and order it and then bring it down when they're visiting. 

Um, you can find us online on Instagram as well too to follow along with our story.  

Judy Murdoch: Cool. So I will make sure to have your web address so that people can visit your website. You, you really do have a great website. It is very friendly. It's very accessible. Yeah. No, you do it. It's a lot of fun to visit and yeah, it's just kind of like the right amount of information. 

Maddison Violet: Okay, good.  
 

Judy Murdoch: You know? Yeah.  

Maddison Violet: Website's the bane in my existence. I do it all myself and it drives me crazy.  

Judy Murdoch: You're doing a good job. I mean, just, okay.  

Maddison Violet: Thank you.  
 

Judy Murdoch: From my perspective as somebody visiting a retail website, it's really good.  

Maddison Violet: Good, good. Oh, thank you so much.  

Judy Murdoch: You are very welcome. This was delightful. 

This was so delightful. It was really nice to meet you and learn more about your business and your wines.  

Maddison Violet: Thank you so much for having me. It's been, it's been scary putting myself out there.  

Judy Murdoch: Yeah. 
 

Maddison Violet: Like, Hey, do you wanna talk? And people are like, no. I'm like, that's okay. That's fine. 

Judy Murdoch: It's really scary. 

Maddison Violet: It's a fun journey. 

And thank you so much for giving me the opportunity, uh, to share my story and to talk about our winery. And it's a marketing and just business. It's, it's, this isn't great.  

Judy Murdoch: Good. Thank you very much. Thank you.  

Maddison Violet: Okay. Awesome.