10 Simple Coffee Shop Marketing Ideas

10 Coffee Shop Marketing Ideas

You have finally realized your dream of opening your own small coffee shop. You have everything perfect and in place. The floors are shiny, the coffee smells wonderful, and your business is going pretty well. The thing is that coffee shops these days are a dime a dozen, since everyone is drinking coffee. If you want your coffee shop to stay on top, you need to be sure that you have some unique marketing ideas to keep it that way. Below you will find some tips to help you choose unique marketing ideas to keep your coffee shop on top.

Coffee shops are popular across a wide range of demographic groups. They’re also quite ubiquitous. That leads to an important challenge.

How do you market a coffee shop so that you attract the customers you need?

Great news! All the information you need is right here. These 10 coffee shop marketing ideas will help you to create a unique marketing strategy. This will help you remain competitive, while keeping your target customers happy.
How do You Market a Coffee Shop?

The tips here can work in any situation. However, the were created with an important assumption. You must know your customer. What works for a place in a suburban shopping strip may not work for a small coffee shop in a quaint neighborhood. Combine the tips here with the unique features of your shop for the best results.

Creating a website is a good idea, but a blogsite is even better. A blogsite makes it possible for you to put up not only current but also entertaining content on a daily basis. You want to make sure that your blogsite is listed in all the right places and don’t forget to get the word out on social media every chance you get. Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter will do a lot to help you create business for your brand.

1. Market in Your Own Neighborhood

Yes, this may seem like an obvious tactic, but it works. Advertising on billboards, bus stops, and at other outdoor areas will do a lot to get the word out there for you. If is also a good idea to talk to other business owners in your area and see if you can swap advertising. This is not only a good way to advertise everyone’s business in the neighborhood, it is also a great way to be sure that you know everyone and form lasting partnerships.

Not all marketing needs to be done online. Just take a moment to Google ‘funny chalkboard signs’. You’ll see loads of funny and creative chalkboard signs from in front of restaurants, cafes, and coffee shops. Work with a local chalkboard artist, or use your own creative skills to create a sign that draws customers in.

2. Make Your Shop Friendly With Free Wifi And Available Outlets

There’s nothing new about offering Wifi and charging outlets to your customers. However, there are ways you can go about this that can help your marketing efforts immensely.

One step you can take is to require customers to login using their email. Then, add a simple opt-in checkbox for your email list. You can also route customers to your Facebook page when they connect to the internet. You can even request a like or review before enabling full internet access.

3. Let Customers Pick The Daily Special

Give them what they want! Consider launching an online campaign that allows your customers to suggest or vote on daily specials. This tip may not work for all coffee shops, but if it works for yours, you’ll earn some great engagement.

One easy way to do this is to create a hashtag, and offer your customers a selection of options. If you’re not up to letting them create their own specialty coffee concoction, you can have them choose from offers such as a free cookie with a large coffee.

4. Offer Giveaways

Giveaways are popular because they work. Not only can a popular giveaway campaign get customers into your shop, you can also use this to create more online engagement. The trick here isn’t to simply hand out a free product. Instead, use an attractive offer attract social media followers, collect email addresses, or get people to hype a new product. For example, you can offer a free cup of a new coffee to anyone who will check in, and share a specific hashtag.

5. Work With Your Coffee Supplier

The company that supplies your coffee is likely working with other customers in your target area. Some of these may be your competitors, but others are potential customers. Some might even be potential partners. Hand your supplier some coupons or flyers, and ask them to hand them out to anyone who might be interested in enjoying their coffee at your shop.

If your coffee supplier provides break room coffee for local businesses, you may be able to reach out to those businesses with special offers. You might even be able to connect on social media for some mutually beneficial promotional efforts.

6. Host Events

Your coffee shop isn’t just a place to get a quick cup of something. It’s a hangout spot that attracts neighborhood regulars. You can attract even more customers by hosting interesting events. Here are a few ideas:

• Showings for local artists
• Book signings
• Open Mic nights
• Trivia nights
• Board game tournaments
• Book clubs
• Create a Referral Program

Rewards programs and loyalty cards are fine, but there’s not much unique about them. They may help you earn some repeat business, but a referral program will help you attract customers who you might not otherwise reach. At the same time, you can reward loyal customers.

To make things run even more efficiently, implement your referral program online. Ask customers to share a photo they’ve taken at your coffee. Then, have them tag a specific number of friends. If any of those friends come to visit, you can offer the poster a small reward. You might also offer a ‘first-timers’ discount to the friends as well.

7. Take Advantage of Social Media

Of course, if you’re going to use social media to drive your referral program, you may as well take full advantage of the marketing tools available to you on social. Your Facebook page is the perfect place to start.

Presumably, you have a Facebook page, but are you using it? By posting regular updates, and sharing content that is interesting to your audience, you’ll generate more engagement. Those likes and shares can lead to more customers.

Once you’ve created Facebook as a bit of a home page, you are ready to branch out to other platforms. Instagram works particularly well because of its visual nature. Twitter is great for audience engagement.

What should you post? That depends on your audience. Of course, you should share pictures of your coffees and baked goods. Post pictures of specials and videos of your baristas doing what they do best. You can also share local news, post coupon codes, and provide information about any special offers.

Finally, don’t forget to use social media to boost customer engagement. Encourage customers to check in, share pictures, even use a special hashtag to help you promote your shop. Then, be sure that you respond by engaging and interacting.

8. Personalize

This simple technique is the perfect way to reach out to customers on the simplest level. Include a personalized message on customer’s cups, sleeves, and receipts. It only takes a few moments, but can make a big difference when combined with an equally personalized greeting from the barista.

9. Use Customer Reviews

Customer reviews are great feedback. You can also use them as marketing tools. Encourage satisfied customers to leave reviews on Google, Yelp, and other pages. Pass out comment cards asking customers about their experiences. Then, use the positive feedback you receive as testimonials.

10. Guerilla Marketing Tactics

You need a forceful marketing campaign in order to get the word out there about your coffee shop. You should have employees get out in parking lots and pass out everything from coupons to fliers to promote your business effectively. One surefire way to make sure that the word is spread is to have custom-made custom coffee sleeves for your coffee.

It is estimated that the average cup of coffee is carried around everywhere the coffee drinker goes for an average of 30 to 45 minutes. This entire time, the attractive sleeve on your coffee can be catching people’s eyes and advertising your business like nothing else can.

You can even take some coffee and sweets to donate to the local churches and community centers, which will help get the word out there quickly and make you feel great about helping out.

These are just a few of the ways to market your coffee shop and have it on the top of the food chain in no time at all. While a cozy, homey place to go is great for your customers, to bring in more customers you need to market aggressively and to the right audience. Following the tips above will help you not only increase your business, but form lasting relationships in the business community as well.