The Gin Guide Membership

Becoming a Membership of The Gin Guide brings a whole heap of tangible benefits, promotion, coverage, credibility and exclusives. Memberships have a simple aim to enable us to shout about your gin and to do our best to get your gin in as many people's glasses as possible, whether you are a brand new, small batch distillery or a long-established gin producer.

Below are some additional details and Terms and Conditions on Membership and the benefits, and if you have any questions or queries please feel free to email members@theginguide.com. 

Details of Membership Benefits and Terms & Conditions

Review of your gin/s

• A sample of your gin will be required for a review and tasting notes to be completed. Your profile will only include comments and tasting notes from The Gin Guide once a sample of your gin has been received, tasted and reviewed.
• When sending samples for review, all shipping, tax and duty costs must be covered by the sender. The Gin Guide is unable to accept any deliveries required payments to be made.

Half Price Entry into The Gin Guide Awards

• The Gin Guide Awards will next take place in January - May 2019. Entry details will be released to Members first.
• Members of The Gin Guide receive 33% off the entry fee for one occurrence of The Gin Guide Awards per year of Membership. Gins under a different producer's name or brand are considered separate and would require a separate Membership to achieve the discounted rate.
• The Awards are open to all gin producers including non-Members. 
• Some Awards categories are not open to paid entry and are shortlisted by the Awards panel and by consumer panels. 
• Being a Member of The Gin Guide does not guarantee an award will be won or that your gin will be shortlisted, and Members' gins will be judged equally in blind tastings alongside non-Members' gins.
• Samples of your gin will be requested and required for tasting in order to complete your entry to The Gin Guide Awards.

Use of The Guide Guide Member Badge

• Members of The Gin Guide will receive the exclusive 'The Gin Guide Member' badge in digital format.
• The Gin Guide Member badge may only be used by current, paid Members of The Gin Guide after confirmation has been received.
• The Gin Guide Member badge may be used on digital and printed materials. When used on websites, the badge image must be hyperlinked to your gin's review on The Gin Guide.
• The Gin Guide Member badge must be removed from any digital materials (including the Member's website) within 7 days of Membership ending. Printed materials featuring The Gin Guide Member badge must not longer be distributed once Membership has lapsed. 

Web Link to Your Website

• Members of The Gin Guide will have links put in place from The Gin Guide's review page of your gin to your website, to help drive traffic and sales, and for SEO benefits.
• The link may only direct to the website of the gin, distillery or brand.

Purchase Links

• The review page for your gin will encourage purchases via your own website and/or via online retailers of your choice.
• Links to Amazon or Master of Malt may also be featured unless requested otherwise.

Inclusion in the Distillery Guide

• 'Distillery Members' of The Gin Guide who offer regular tours, tastings and gin making experiences will be featured in The Gin Guide's online Distillery Guide to help promote them and achieve more bookings. Where applicable, the review page for your gin/gins will link to your page in the Distillery Guide, encouraging readers to find out more and book with you.
• A representative of The Gin Guide will endeavor to visit mainland UK distilleries to complete distillery tour reviews, but this cannot be guaranteed.
• Following any visits to your distillery, an additional 'Behind the Scenes' feature will be created for each Distillery Member, including photos taken by The Gin Guide if we are able to visit, or provided by the distillery. 

Event inclusion in the Events Calendar 

• To help gin lovers discover your events, any one-off and infrequent events can be submitted by the host/organiser for inclusion in The Gin Guide Events Calendar (launching in late 2018) via the Events Submission Form or to events@theginguide.com.
• Events will be included at the discretion of The Gin Guide. Frequent and regularly recurring events may not be included.

Multiple Gin Profiles

• Members of The Gin Guide who have opted for a Membership with 'up to 3 gin profiles' may submit product extensions and variations for review and to feature on The Gin Guide.
• Product extensions and variations include Navy Strength, Barrel-Aged, Flavoured, Fruit and Seasonal varieties, but not Gin Liqueurs or other spirits, and will be featured at the discretion of The Gin Guide.
• Gins considered to be a different brand rather than a variation of an existing gin range are not applicable but may still be submitted to The Gin Guide for review. The same benefits can be gained for these gins under separate Memberships

Feature in Articles & Content

• Members of The Gin Guide will be eligible to feature in articles/content pieces produced by The Gin Guide.
• Your gin will typically feature alongside other gins and will include text and imagery as well as 1 or more appropriate link to the gin's review page, Meet the Maker interview, your own website, or an appropriate online retailer to encourage purchases.
• Articles and content will be sent to Members as notification. Suggested edits to content will be taken into account at the discretion of The Gin Guide. Any factual errors will be corrected.
• Articles and content pieces will be distributed throughout the year, but specific requests will be considered and taken into account at the discretion of The Gin Guide.
• Each article/content piece will be promoted using The Gin Guide social media channels and paid social media advertising will sometimes be used to increase the reach, traffic and engagement for each article/content piece. 

Events

• The Gin Guide attends industry events, food and drink festivals, corporate events, and venues' events to host tastings, G&T discovery bars, and to help people discover new gins and new ways to enjoy gin. 
• In agreement with each gin producer, Members of The Gin Guide will get priority to be featured and promoted at tastings and events. 
• Being a Member of The Gin Guide does not guarantee featuring at a tasting or event. Selections are made based on The Gin Guide's shortlists of the most suitable gins for the specific event, theme, audience and season.
• The Gin Guide will be attending an increased level of events in 2018, including representing and promoting a selection of gins at each event on behalf of producers that could not attend themselves or where the event cost is prohibitive for small producers. Members of The Gin Guide are given priority invitations to be represented by The Gin Guide for each event opportunity. Where The Gin Guide has a stand at an event and is representing your gin, supply of stock, marketing collateral and an additional cost may apply in contribution to event costs.

33% Discount on Marketing Services 

• The Gin Guide offers specialist marketing services, including online marketing, PR, web design and marketing strategy.
• The 33% discount on services includes Consultancy, Online Advertising, Search Engine Optimisation, Social Media and Social Media Advertising, Conversion Rate Optimisation, content creation, ghost writing and copy writing.  
• The 33% discount applies to one-off services and to the first 3 months of recurring/ongoing services.

Priority Access / Invites

• We have a lot of hugely exciting plans for the next 12 months, from events and pop-ups to publications and products. Our promise to Members of The Gin Guide is that you will always be the first to hear about announcements, invitations and collaboration opportunities.
• Sometimes venues, publishers and other relevant third parties will have to know about certain activities beforehand of course :) 

Gin of the Week - Additional Cost

• Members of The Gin Guide are able to make a further payment, in addition to their Membership cost, to specify one (1) gin they produce to be featured as a Gin of the Week.
• Each Gin of the Week gets increased coverage through appearing on The Gin Guide homepage and in social media posts.
• The week in which each gin is Gin of the Week is at the discretion of The Gin Guide but specific requests will be accommodated where possible to tie in with your promotional activities or events.

Product Giveaways & Competitions - Additional Cost

• Members of The Gin Guide are able to make a further payment, in addition to their Membership cost, for The Gin Guide to run a giveaway competition on Twitter and/or Instagram. 
• Full competition T&Cs will be provided on The Gin Guide. The format of the competition (typically 'follow and retweet to enter') will be determined by The Gin Guide in agreement with the Member.
• The winner of each competition will be selected at random by The Gin Guide, unless requested otherwise. Contact details of the winner will be provided to the Members to fulfill the prize offered.

General Terms and Conditions

• Your Member status and benefits commence on the day of payment receipt.
• Your Member status does not auto-renew, we think it's a bit cheeky to assume that and want to tell you all about the plans the for next 12 months, so reminders will be sent out prior to your Membership renewal time.
• Failure to renew will result in the loss of Member status, the benefits will cease and The Gin Guide Member badge can no longer be used.
• Prices and benefits are subject to annual change. The aim is to include even more amazing benefits each year and even better value for money.
• From the date you become a Member of The Gin Guide, you will have a 14 day grace period if you change your mind.
• No cancellation is possible after the 14 day grace period and partial or pro-rata refunds cannot be provided.
• If Membership is cancelled within the 14 day period or is not renewed, benefits will end and the Member badge can no longer be used. 

Read the full Terms & Conditions and details of benefits. If you have any questions at all, please email members@theginguide.com