I know through experience that enticing new customers is a difficult task. You want to get a barrage of new customers through your front door but don’t have masses of time or money to spend on fancy marketing strategies.
I have put together some ideas I have used in the past when managing cafes to get people through the door, in particular new people.
Make Something Instagramable
As we all know social media is huge in this day and age. You probably have instagrammers, bloggers and influencers in your cafe on a daily basis who post their daily coffee or daily breakfast.
The key is to identify this kind of customer and give them one of your BRAND NEW products, whether it be a hot chocolate with all the toppings or an iced coffee with ice cream and whipped cream. Ask them to post a picture to their loyal following, be sure to ask them to tag your cafe/ coffee shop to build awareness.
In terms of a new and noteworthy hot chocolate, you could ditch the regular chocolate powder and use melted Belgian chocolate instead, top it with whipped cream and chocolate shavings instead of sprinkles. The simplest of changes can make your drink more worthy of an instagram, facebook or blog post.
An easy way to make your customers aware of this is adding it to your specials board or adding a sign outside your door, this will encourage people to come in and try your new creation.
Obviously this creation doesn’t have to be a brand new product, it could just be something on your normal menu with a new look or just revamped.
Get Found On Google
People are searching for coffee or cafes nearby on Google, do you show up when they do?
If you are not in the top listings, this means you’re most likely losing out on multiple customers.
Here are a 3 ways you can improve your ranking and attract more customers when they search for cafes in your area:
Ask for reviews. The amount of reviews and responses from you are factors in what improve your ranking. Good or bad reviews, you should be responding to all of them.
Business details. Making sure your address, trading hours and website are all present and correct.
Quality photos of your business. First impressions matter and if you have professional photographs of your cafe looking slick. People will want to visit.
Give To Charity
Holding a charity event sounds like a lot to handle but this isn’t always the case.
Charity events don’t have to take a lot of time to organize and plan. It can be as easy as partnering with a local charity and giving them part of your profits. Often the charity provides resources to advertise the cause.
In the past I have held charity days, I was in Australia at the time, we donated a dollar from every coffee sold to a specific charity.
You could advertise this as an event on your social media and your website. You could also have someone from the charity on-site to explain to your customers how the money will be used.
Outdoor Signs with Direction
Old fashioned signage. Of course this would need to fit with your brand.
In a couple of cafes I have worked in, we were close to train stations, so we locked up a bike with a sign with directions in full view of everyone leaving the train station. You could look also into placement in bus shelters, nearby your business.
It isn’t the most glamorous of adverts but it is really effective. This method gets your branding in front of people and the more people that see it the more chance they come and try your delicious coffee, hot chocolates or cakes.
Focus On A Niche
This is easy. Do you welcome dogs? Do you offer special drinks for toddlers?
Attracting parents with toddlers is as easy offering a free babycino with any coffee or grown up drink. Babycino’s cost very little but will get mums and dads talking about the place that looks after their little ones as good as them. It also helps to keep them quiet while your adult customers catch up.
Coffee on a dog walk is not uncommon. Whether it be takeaway or sitting in, providing a dog bowl with water or dog biscuits for furry friends goes a long way with dog owners.
Try to surprise your customers with little extras that don’t cost much but can make their day that little bit brighter.
I hope you have enjoyed this read and if you have any questions regarding these ideas or anything regarding your cafe, coffee shop or restaurant, don’t hesitate to reach out using the details below.
Forest Espresso
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