Marketing a café can seem like a marathon, and you just don’t know where to start. However, by following a few simple strategies, cafes can improve their marketing.
It’s much like preparing the food you serve to your customers. Think about that process, and how the steps all lead to one final result, and hopefully a good result!
Choose a recipe
Firstly, choose a direction. Not all cafes are created equally. What type of customer do you want to attract with this brilliant new marketing? Do you want your café to appeal mainly to families? Or students? Or office workers? Will you have a liquor license or are you strictly a soft drink premises? You need to decide all of this first so you know what type of marketing to invest in.
Prepare the ingredients
There are so many different ways to market a café:
- Street signage
- Word of mouth
- Social Media
- Events in store
- Loyalty programs
- Cross promotion
- Paid advertisements
- Website and/or online presence
- Local directories (print and online)
- Expand your menu or revamp existing
- Promotions and special offers (Mother’s day etc)
- Customer suggestions box: find out what they really want
Pick three or four to begin with and run with them. Do them well. Then move on to other strategies if needed.
Taste test
Now you can mix all the ingredients together and run a taste test. Monitor your marketing every week to see if sales are increasing. Record if you are attracting new customers, or simply selling more to existing customers. Then you will know which marketing strategies are working the best. If street signage is working, then consider casually asking your customers what it was about the signage that they liked. Use this to leverage all your other marketing.
Have your cake and eat it too!
When you try new marketing strategies and they actually work, you will feel quite proud, and perhaps a little tired! Take a moment to enjoy your successful business. Running a café can be challenging but hopefully you are doing it for the right reasons and now you are enjoying the rewards of your hard work.
Clean up ready for the next meal
It is good practice to clean up and prepare for a new day. This is not meant literally, but refers to the importance of heeding the lessons of your marketing program. Print notes and file away your research. If you found that social media helped you then jot down some notes. If you found your paid advertising was a success, make sure you keep a copy of the advert and consider running it again in the future.
From start to finish, keep track of what you are doing, look for different ways to operate and know what makes your customers tick. Marketing can be trial and error but to avoid costly mistakes, watch closely and do not be afraid to ask for help.
