There’s nothing like a good cup of coffee to get your day started. Some of the greatest ideas in the world were born because of it! It helps give you a kick of energy before you go in for a long shift, keeps you awake at night as you’re racing to meet a deadline, and it has become a staple for first dates. There is no understating the importance of coffee in modern society, and you have become one of those who want to share the joys of it with the world.
You have bought all of the high-tech cappuccino machines, studied recipes for hours on end, and bought out a space that will be uniquely yours. However, maybe the location isn’t ideal, or you’re having trouble getting customers. This is where some creative thinking and some market research come into play.
You’ve probably already seen and written up multiple reports containing marketing and sales jargon that you’ve already forgotten about since you graduated from business school, so let’s explore some simple tactics and terms to keep in mind when you’re trying to answer the big overall question: “How can I improve my sales?”
What’s Your Coffee Shop’s Foot Traffic and How Should It Impact Your Budget?
First of all, you need to figure out how much foot traffic you’re getting at your location. This will help you narrow down what kind of marketing you need to do to promote your shop and entice people to come in. Then you can figure out the exact amount that you need to be spending to bring those marketing strategies to life.
If you’re on a busy street in a mid-size to a big city, then you probably already get a lot of foot traffic daily. These are people who are coming from and going to work during the week, looking for a spot to have lunch, and going out shopping or running other errands on the weekends.
If that’s the case, then it’s best to focus on the storefront and any signage that you may have. Any potential customer that has given your shop a quick glance and moved on in the past will be more likely to stop dead in their tracks if they see something that they like in the window.
If you’re in a smaller town, then you’ll be relying more on thinking up ways to get more repeat customers rather than pushing for a bunch of new ones. Chances are that there aren’t going to be that many other coffee shops nearby, so you won’t have to invest in a giant neon sign to try to separate yourself from the competition.
Remembering people’s names, orders, and general things about them will be a sure-fire way to get them to have a good impression and increase the chances of them returning. After all, it’s much easier to keep coming back to a place that you know is good, rather than spend a bunch of gas going to the next town over in search of quality drinks as well as service.
If you’re in a seriously rural location, where the only sight as far as the eye can see is cornfields and maybe a cow if you’re lucky, then don’t panic! In this scenario, you’ll need to look into putting more effort into a website and your social media presence. If you haven’t done so already, you should make sure that your business is registered on Google Maps. For any coffee shop, house, or kiosk this is a must.
When people search up “coffee shop near me”, yours will hopefully be one of the top search results, if not the top result. Offering a one-of-a-kind experience, some creative concoctions made from local ingredients, and/or a kind of deal that even Starbucks doesn’t have will give a good incentive for people to haul themselves all the way over for.
One of a kind, or a franchise?
Another factor that you have to consider is that there are different strategies for one-of-a-kind coffee shops and franchises. What may work for one business owner might not be an easy solution for another who is on a different level.
You can look into updating your brand design to try to pull in some new customers or give existing customers a reason to stick around. If you’ve been dreaming of turning your shop into a regional or even national chain, then there is another guide that will help you take that step. For now, let’s explore the facts around each set-up.
For small businesses, there are a couple of factors to consider when allocating your budget. How long you’ve been in business and how many other shops that you are competing with are just a few things to keep in mind. The U.S. Small Business Administration typically advises that those who earn a revenue of less than $5 million allocate 7-8 percent of that specifically for marketing and advertising.
There are experts who estimate lower and slightly higher percentages, so it’s ultimately up to you as the owner. If you are confident that spending more on advertising for your business will net you higher profits, then absolutely shoot for the moon. However, it’s a good rule of thumb to keep a reserve in case those campaigns fall through.
For those who own a franchise, it’s best to consider turning to the digital sphere with your marketing. One of the biggest email services didn’t create the “promotions” tab for no reason. Those who receive info on new and upcoming flavors of coffee, coupons that advertise combo deals with a drink and a snack, and participation in different events are more likely to click, save, and buy. It also wouldn’t hurt to do some research into your customer base. You can then look into buying ad space on certain sites that pull in a lot of the target demographic.
Analyzing The Funnel When Creating the Marketing Budget for Your Coffee Business
You could suffer the insane boredom of looking up a bunch of reports and studies done with a variety of different businesses to search for the secret of getting high profits, but you’re a self-respecting business owner who deserves more clarity.
That’s why there is a new way of looking at how to tailor your marketing and advertisement strategies that will work best for you and your business. Here are the four simple steps that you can use to judge how well your advertising campaigns will work based on your individual goals.
Attention- “Within the next year, coffee as we know it will change forever.” Whoa, what now? How is this possible?!
See how that works? Your interest was piqued just now with that crazy headline. Every article, every essay, everything that is written for an audience should have some kind of hook to grab the attention of the reader.
Simply put, “why should I care about this message?” It can be an interesting or important fact that everybody needs to have inside their brain right now. Just make sure that it has some truth behind it that you can use in the body of your promotional email or within your signage.
For example, you could mention the nationwide coffee shortage going on in current events. “Get your coffee before it’s gone!” or something along those lines. That should get people running to your store in no time.
Interest- Now that you have grabbed people’s attention, you need to keep a hold of it before it goes on to the shop next door.
With this step, don’t be afraid to get a little more personal. If you’re doing an event where a portion of the proceeds will go to a certain charity, highlight the charity and what exactly the money will be used for. If you’ve got pet-friendly elements to your shop like specific treats for dogs and water bowls, feel free to let your customers know!
As long as the content that you choose to put out is engaging to your customer base, they will be more likely to stay on the webpage longer or stay looking at your storefront at least a few seconds longer than they would have otherwise.
Once interest is established, the game isn’t over yet. For some, it may be a quick decision of whether they should come in or not. However, some need just a little more convincing. The key is to balance your campaign so that it doesn’t sound too desperate, but also give people ample reason to enter.
Desire- The attention is grabbed, interest levels are increasing, and now you need to ease the customer over the threshold.
This is the part where you have to be offering something that the customer won’t be able to get at the Starbucks across the street. Whether it be the promise of pumpkin spice lattes all year round, a unique atmosphere, or free refills on standard cups, it should be something that makes people say “I want that. I need that. I need it NOW.”
The trick here isn’t necessarily to one-up your competition. No satisfaction is truly gained from making someone else lose business. In reality, it’s to stand out and make people judge for themselves which is the coffee shop to rule them all. Your main job is to uphold the best image and message for your store that you can.
As Albert Einstein once said, “try not to become one of success, rather one of value.”
Action- Hooray! The customer is inside, repeat, the customer is inside.
This is probably going to be the easiest step out of the total in this list. All you have to do now is make sure you provide the best customer service possible. Even if you’re not physically in the store the whole time, your employees should have a good comprehension of the values and services that your shop is built upon.
From the moment they step through the door, to when they are leaving with a pep in their step because of your product, those that make a purchase with you shouldn’t ever have to stand around with a confused look on their face or be waiting for hours for a simple cup of black coffee.
Customer service can make or break someone’s experience, and it will affect whether they will come back or recommend others to join them during their next visit. No pressure, of course.
The main focus of nurturing the customer through the entire process is so that they can see that all of the marketing techniques and fancy-looking emails weren’t just for show. Rather, that your shop can back itself up when it’s really put to the test. You can probably imagine how shocked people will be if they see a specific design or atmosphere that’s advertised, but it doesn’t show up when they come searching for it.
While this may be the last step to tailoring your marketing campaign, don’t just assume that it’s over. You will need to keep things fresh and go through the judicial process all over again when you’re looking for more ways to engage customers.
Build Your Coffee Shop Marketing Budget Wisely And They Will Come
You should now have a better idea of how much you should be spending on your advertising and marketing campaign. The only question left to be asking yourself is, “what exactly am I going to be spending it on?”.
There are a wide variety of options for you to choose from, from going old school and renting a blimp (yes, they do still exist ), to passing out flyers on the street. However you do it, don’t just take whatever the most successful businesses are doing these days and paste it into your advertisements. Make it as unique as your business is.
Below are a few ideas that you can consider when trying to find new ways to engage with your target demographic.
Social Media
With the invention of smartphones, it has become so much easier to take pictures of anything and everything, as well as sharing those pictures with others. Not to mention how much easier it has gotten to share anything that’s on our minds.
There are a couple of ways that you can use social media to your advantage. One way is to create a special drink that not only tastes good but is visually appealing. Start with a simple email announcement with a picture of your own, and then let the Instagrammers come to you and be able to give virtually free advertising when they try it out for themselves.
Another way is to create a page for your business and maintain regular engagement with your customers. You can post polls to see what people would like to see more or less of, answer questions, and possibly open up a Facebook group to talk about the different products.
Once you have mastered the use of social media as well as any millennial, the possibilities are endless.
Farmer’s markets
If you’ve just moved to a new town or city in order to open up your business, you’re going to have to find a way to introduce yourself. You could always just open shop and hope that customers will just automatically flock to you, but where’s the fun in that?
Try setting up a stand at your local farmer’s market with some free samples for people to try and fall in love with. Then you can let them know of your location. You might end up not just building rapport with the local community, but making some friends as well.
Offer workshops/classes
Not only is there a different kind of quality to homemade coffee where you can ground the beans yourself and add a slew of other kinds of ingredients, but the entire process can be fun. Why not share the joy and teach some recipes that customers can take home with them if they can’t get all the way out to your shop?
If you’ve got your own patented bag of beans to sell, you can offer them at a discount (or even give out a bag for free) if they attend a workshop. These days, there are going to be plenty of people who are on the hunt for new skills to learn as well as some mental stimulation, so use that to your advantage.
Appeal to niche groups
There are social groups for everything these days, such as craft beer, fishing, even attending local protests. One of the best ways to gain a following is through word of mouth, so once you’ve netted in one or two specific groups, they will be more likely to share your shop’s info with their friends and friends of friends.
For example:
- Geocachers-if there’s an open area either in or around your shop with a cleverly hidden/constructed cache, you can post it on the official website and have some treasure-hunters stop in. What better place to take a break from searching for caches than at a coffee shop?
- Meetup groups. Reach out to a couple of groups online and offer them a space to host a meeting. They will be very likely to repay the favor with repeated business.
Host local art
A lot of people associate coffee shops with fine art. Not only do they do this to showcase local artists and get their names out there to potential buyers, but there is an ulterior motive underneath that.
Having art decor around makes for a more friendly and engaging atmosphere. People are more likely to look around their surroundings rather than on their phones if you’ve got a particularly striking piece up on display. If you update the decor from time to time, you’ll be able to keep the interior fresh and customers will want to keep coming back to see what’s new.
Put art into your coffee
Speaking of art, there are more ways to showcase it besides hanging it up on your interior walls. If you’re able to get more creative with your cappuccinos, not only will your customers want to order those more than other drinks, but they will want to share pictures with their friends and followers. You can also incorporate latte art into workshops so your customers can learn how to do it at home, and/or offer different filters and recipe books.
Hire quality employees
As the owner, one of your biggest responsibilities is hiring the right kind of people who will further your brand and upholding your shop’s values. You can use your entire marketing budget on flashy ads, email promotions, and big bright neon signs, but if a customer’s experience is dampened by a rude employee, all of your efforts will be for naught.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, hiring employees who are especially outgoing and friendly will bring in more frequent returning customers. Sometimes all it takes to make someone’s day is one special interaction. We have all had at least one store employee in our lives that made it a joy to come back and visit the store not just for the product, but for the people there as well.
Let the people decide
Sometimes you can only do so much research before you start running out of new ideas to bring new customers in or old customers back. Before you make that call to rent out an elephant carrying a special banner, why not take a chance and ask your customer base what kinds of things they would want to see?
Ask engaging questions on your social media page, put out a suggestions box near the register, or even just go around to different tables asking for people’s general opinions. It may sound like a lot of human interaction and can be daunting to some, but people are generally more open to giving their opinions when asked directly. You could even work out a system where if you complete a survey, you could get a free regular coffee.
Putting Your Mouth Where Your Coffee Shop Marketing Money Is
Now, you may have an ample budget ready to start using for marketing and advertising for your business, and you may already have noted down a few strategies, but that is only half the battle. The real test is showing off your confidence in your coffee shop and all it has to offer your target audience. How well you present yourself and your business will determine the success of your campaign.
Creating your own hashtags for people to share online, popping up in people’s inboxes with coupons and news of new flavors and treats, all of these options are viable strategies. One may work better than the other, and in that case it is wise to adapt and build upon experiences.
Remember, if you’re located in an area where foot traffic may be significantly lower than another shop’s, don’t give up. There are a lot of successful businesses who are placed out of the way and people still manage to find them and pay them visits. It may even be to your benefit to network with other businesses because in the end, we are stronger together.
