You wear a dozen hats every single day. You are the head winemaker, the HR department, the events coordinator, and the marketing director. When it comes time to make a business decision—like testing a new event concept or finding ways to boost weekend bottle sales—you often have to make the call in a vacuum.

Sometimes, you just need to bounce an idea off someone before you spend time or money on it.

Enter: Artificial Intelligence.

While most people think of AI (like ChatGPT or Gemini) simply as a tool to write social media captions or emails, its real power lies in strategy. Today, we are going to look at how to use AI not just as a writer, but as your Virtual Board of Advisors.

The Golden Rule of Winery AI

Before we dive into the prompts, we need to establish the Golden Rule of AI : AI gets you 80% of the way there.

AI is excellent at researching, brainstorming, and organizing data. However, you are the captain. AI is the engine, but you are the steering wheel. It will give you the ideas, but you must apply your unique brand voice and the final emotional hook.

With that in mind, here are two ways to use AI as your strategic partner.

Tactic 1: Give AI a Job (The Tasting Room Manager)

Instead of logging into ChatGPT and asking a generic question, assign the AI a specific role. Tell it exactly who it is acting as to get highly tailored, industry-specific advice.

The Prompt to Try:

“Act as my Tasting Room Manager. Give me 3 fresh ideas to increase bottle sales during our busy Saturday shifts without being pushy.”

By giving the AI the persona of a Tasting Room Manager, it filters out generic retail advice and focuses on the hospitality and flow of a winery environment.

Tactic 2: The Virtual Board of Advisors

Have a big idea but aren’t sure if it will be profitable? Use AI to poke holes in your plan and identify blind spots before you launch.

The Prompt to Try:

“I want to host a $100/ticket wine pairing dinner next month. Act as my financial and marketing advisor. Tell me the risks of this idea and what I need to do to make it sell out.”

The AI will likely bring up considerations you might have missed in the excitement of planning—such as food-cost margins, staffing requirements, or lead time for marketing—acting as a vital sounding board.

Ready to Stop Guessing with Your Marketing?

AI is an incredible sounding board, but it cannot replace a real community of winery owners and an expert guide.

If you want to stop guessing with your marketing and build a system that actually moves cases, join my 8-Week Digital Marketing for Wineries Workshop launching this April. Together, we will build your marketing engine, bounce ideas off a real community of your peers, and solve your specific tasting room challenges.

Want more prompts? Join the course waitlist today and get my Digital Marketing for Wineries: AI Cheat Sheet featuring 10 prompts to save you hours.

Click here to join the waitlist and download your free Cheat Sheet!