10 Cafe Marketing Ideas to Power Up Your Business

Coffee is the second most consumed beverage in the world (the first is water, of course), so it’s a common assumption that going into the cafe business is always a safe bet. In reality, you can easily find a coffee shop in almost every block and you’ll have to employ innovative marketing strategies to remain competitive in the local market. From diversified beverage offerings to traditional but tried-and-tested advertising techniques, here are 10 cafe marketing ideas to power up your business.

10 Marketing Ideas Powered by Caffeine

It’s safe to say that you’ll always find that familiar comfort in a cup of coffee wherever you in the world you may go. Most countries have their own coffee culture and if they’re also home to one or two of the biggest coffee franchises in the world, then there’s a thriving market for homegrown coffee shops, as well. If you need to level up your coffee game with actionable ideas and tips that you can start implementing asap, here are 10 cafe marketing ideas you can try.

Cafe Promotion Idea #1: Use Fancy Coffee Cup Sleeves

Using branded and fancy coffee cup sleeves may not seem like an innovative cafe promotion idea, but this is a tried-and-tested and one of simplest and most cost-effective ways to advertise your brand. You can opt for the traditional carton sleeves or spring for the reusable fabric ones. Use cool or relatable designs that your customer will love, especially for the fabric coffee cup sleeves. Your customers appreciate having a coffee cup sleeve they can reuse any time and anywhere, and they’ll also be “promoting” your brand every time they use it.

Picture a customer going to work with one of these cup sleeves. Their co-workers will see the cool design, get curious, and ask you where they got it. It’s practically free advertising. You can create a number of different designs for your customers to choose from — people love having options. You can also hand these out at local events, in gyms, or at supermarkets. Wherever you picture your audience going, go find them and introduce your brand via these simple, practical, and effective marketing paraphernalia.

Cafe Advertising Idea #2: Promote Your Brand With an Enticing Store Front

“You eat with your eyes first” — keep this in mind when conceptualizing an enticing store front design. This is another conventional but reliable cafe advertising idea, but you have the creative freedom to make your store front as unique and appealing as possible.

It doesn’t matter if you have the best vegan coffee or the highest quality of coffee beans in town. If your storefront looks “basic,” is lacking in aesthetic appeal, or, worse, is dirty, it shouldn’t be a big mystery why customers are not flocking to your shop.

When decorating your store front, make sure it will instantly grab the attention of passersby. Choose the right colors, whether for the letter fonts or an artwork you’re putting up; create excitement or provoke curiosity. You can use your store’s picture window for your advertisement, or opt for the traditional white board stand right outside your entrance. Have a relaxing al fresco setup, just like Go Get ‘em Tiger’s patio-inspired expansion in one of their stores in L.A. Or take a look at one of EL&N London’s stores with its trademark pink and floral enchanting aesthetic.

Marketing Cafe Idea #3: Offer a Bottomless Mug

This cafe marketing idea is a twist on the bottomless mug promo. Customers who want a refill of a certain drink — you can use this idea to promote other coffee drinks on your menu — will only have to pay half the price each time. Again, you can have this as a time-limited offering, paired with a pastry or breakfast meal, or as part of an event or celebration.

This tactic gives your customers the feeling that they’re saving money and you’re giving them a nice advantage. It’s a nice way to encourage them to keep coming back or to boost the sales of certain menu items.

You can also try Sunrise Coffee’s coffee discount idea below. The discount means providing a little savings for your customers’ wallets, while also making an impactful move for the environment. Reducing waste and helping the planet in such a simple way can make a big difference in your brand’s positioning as an eco-friendly café.

Cafe Marketing Idea #4: Offer Refills at Half Price

This cafe marketing idea is a twist on the bottomless mug promo. Customers who want a refill of a certain drink — you can use this idea to promote other coffee drinks on your menu — will only have to pay half the price each time. Again, you can have this as a time-limited offering, paired with a pastry or breakfast meal, or as part of an event or celebration.

This tactic gives your customers the feeling that they’re saving money and you’re giving them a nice advantage. It’s a nice way to encourage them to keep coming back or to boost the sales of certain menu items.

You can also try Sunrise Coffee’s coffee discount idea below. The discount means providing a little savings for your customers’ wallets, while also making an impactful move for the environment. Reducing waste and helping the planet in such a simple way can make a big difference in your brand’s positioning as an eco-friendly café.

Marketing Idea #5: Take Full Advantage of a Convenient and Rewarding Loyalty Program

This cafe marketing idea employs certain elements of game playing to encourage customer engagement. For a coffee shop, a basic loyalty program typically involves “stages” that customers have to complete — purchasing a certain number of drinks — in order to get their reward — a free beverage.

Instead of the old-fashioned loyalty cards, use an app to make your program digital, and more enticing and convenient. You can save customers from the hassle of carrying around their loyalty card and rummaging in their bags or wallets to find it. With everyone attached to their smartphones and using all kinds of apps to easily access various services, going digital with your loyalty program is not only trendy, but makes good business sense.

Cafe Marketing Strategy #6: Create Seasonal Drink Specials

Let’s be honest here. Absolutely everyone enjoys holiday specials, even those that say “Christmas is just another day” or “Valentine’s is just a commercial scheme.” Yes, a lot of customers may recognize seasonal drinks as just another cafe marketing idea, but they still love the exciting variety, novelty, and spirit of celebration that come with the limited-time run of these drinks. Seasonal drinks enhance the experience of whatever season is being celebrated; for many people, these drinks also become an important part of their tradition and nostalgia.

Because they’re offered for a limited time, customers are going to want to have them as often as possible, while they’re available. This marketing idea makes your seasonal coffee the highlight of your customers’ day, and your establishment an even more significant component of their routine.

Create new drinks for every special holiday. Take a page out of Starbucks’ book, but make your seasonal drinks uniquely your own, as well. When you get this right, you’ll have something special that your customers will always look forward to year in and year out.

Promotion Idea #7: Launch a Hashtag Campaign

This cafe marketing idea is especially effective in strengthening online presence, particularly on social media. In addition, a hashtag campaign will not only help you get brand awareness; it will also give you invaluable user-generated content. Here are some tips to keep in mind when launching a hashtag campaign.

1. Create a hashtag that’s related and specific to your business. It must also be concise and easy to remember — a hashtag with 3 words or fewer is ideal. For example, if you serve vegan coffee in coffee cups with unique and beautiful artwork, you can use the hashtag, #[yourvenue]artvegancoffee.
2. Encourage your customers to participate. Run a contest or offer discounts to qualified participants, i.e., they have to follow your page, post a selfie with your product, and use the hashtag in their caption. You can offer gift cards, a brewing coffee kit, or roasted coffee from your brand as contest prizes. Don’t forget to ask your customers to tag your social media page in their posts to help widen your audience reach.
3. Promote your hashtag campaign. When posting about your hashtag campaign, don’t forget to use a variety of hashtags together with the hashtag you’re promoting.

Cafe Marketing Idea #8: Make Your Interiors Unique and Appealing

These days, it’s not enough to simply have the appropriate dining room layout, cozy chairs and couches, and an overall clean venue — at least not if you want your coffee shop to stand out in every way possible. Making your interiors unique, appealing, and worthy of being photographed is a cafe marketing idea you should adapt if you want to generate tons of user-generated content online.

Cover your venue with artwork, for example. The walls outside your store are a good place to start. Paint coffee beans, people, or your cafe’s logo. Develop a brand style and aesthetic that evokes a particular feeling or sparks instant association with your brand when people walk by.

Do you want to position yourself as a modern café for tech-savvy customers? A traditional brewery for authentic coffee lovers? Or an eco-friendly café with cups made from recyclable paper? You can communicate your brand’s vision and messaging through visual/graphic design.

Competition is fierce, so make your venue appealing to a large market. Verve Coffee is a good example; the cafe achieves a relaxed and welcoming atmosphere with arrows that point customers to their venue and a clean, bright, and sleek look.

Cafe Marketing Idea #9: Host Tempting Giveaways

This cafe marketing idea is easy and exciting. You can integrate your hashtag campaign into the giveaway to hit two birds with one coffee bean, er stone. Host your giveaway on Instagram to get more customer engagement — both for your contest and your social media account/s. The basic social media contest formula of “Follow, like, and tag a friend” can grow your followers 70% in just three months!

Fazenda Coffee Roasters’ #NationalCoffeeDay giveaway is a great example.

Cafe Marketing Strategy #10: Enhance Your Customer’s WiFi Experience

A good cafe marketing strategy won’t be complete without this one. WiFi for a coffee shop is no longer just a perk, but a necessity for most customers. And you have to go the extra mile to provide an enhanced guest WiFi experience — because, these days, a lot of customers can get picky when choosing an establishment that offers free WiFi, so you should make them want to choose you by providing a WiFi connection that’s reliable and fast.

Coffee shops, in particular, benefit from having guests stay longer because it usually means they’ll be ordering more coffee and even food. If your customers know that they can enjoy good connectivity in your establishment and, of course, great coffee, it will be one of their favorite places for hanging out. And especially if your target demographic includes university students, office workers, work-from-home employees, or business executives, an excellent WiFi connection will definitely set you apart from the rest.

Brew Product Offerings Based on the Latest Market Trends

In addition to positioning yourself as a unique brand that offers unique drinks or a unique coffee experience, you should also keep your eye on current and upcoming trends in the industry to help you brew cafe marketing ideas that are timely and universally appealing. Here are some of the latest coffee industry trends to watch out for. * Buttered coffee * Nitro cold brew coffee * Quality blends to create a mixture of flavor aromas from a combination of different single-origin beans * Non-dairy milk alternatives * Koji fermented coffee * Fair-trade coffee * Snap-chilled coffee * Bottled coffee

Good Coffee and Good WiFi to Nurture Good Customer Connections

Having excellent coffee beans and a wide selection of delicious caffeinated beverage concoctions is not enough to stimulate your coffee shop business. You need creative and engaging cafe marketing ideas to drive people to your venue. Serving good coffee and good WiFi will guarantee that they’ll stay for a while and keep coming back.

Choose the right WiFi system for your coffee shop to meet your customers’ connectivity needs and your business needs. A fully customizable WiFi system, like Beambox, can help you build and nurture customer connections in more ways than one. Create your restaurant email list or SMS subscriber list, promote new products, drive customers to your social media pages, and manage your online reputation via your WiFi marketing platform.

Beambox is an all-in-one WiFi solution that accomplishes all of the above and more. We have an existing client base of over 3,000 venues, and our customizable WiFi marketing solutions have been used in impressive and rewarding ways. You can drive sales with time-sensitive deals and promos for your restaurant, boost social engagement through Instagram or Facebook contests, and climb up on online ranking platforms through real-time customer reviews. Accelerate your business growth — start your Beambox free trial today!

---