You can have the best coffee in the world with one of the most unique vibes your customers could experience, but if they don’t know about your shop… growing your business is extremely hard to do.
Whether you serve only take away customers, offer a dine-in experience, or both, with the massive corporate chains and huge amounts of VC funding in the space, marketing can get expensive.
That means you can’t just hope and pray that people will just flock to your business.
You need to be able to stand out, to reach more people, and show what you have to offer if you want your coffee shop to not just survive — but thrive — in this industry.
With the right coffee shop marketing approach, you can grab more customers without having to spend 10’s of thousands of dollars a month on marketing.
In this guide, we’re going show you exactly how to compete against those massive marketing budgets so people can learn about your shop — and keep coming back for more.
The first step in marketing your shop is establishing a presence on the most widely-used platform.
Create a ‘Google My Business’ Profile
Google My Business is a free tool that lets business owners manage how their information appears across Google, including both Google Search and Google Maps.
By verifying and editing your business information on Google My Business, you can help customers find your shop.
This is one of the easiest free strategies you can use to start raising awareness for your business.
Here’s what our Google My Business profile looks like when you search for us on Google:
Whenever customers search for your business (or a similar business), your information will appear in the searches with that card.
This makes it significantly easier for potential customers to find you when they search for either your products or services — or one of your competitor’s products and services.
Customers will also get to see your reviews and ratings to quickly determine whether or not other people have enjoyed their experience with your shop.
And when it comes to laying the foundation for your marketing in your local area, it’s hard to beat this free and mobile-friendly way to showcase your business.
You can have it up and running in as little as 10-15 minutes, too, by following these steps…
Step 1: Create or Claim Your Business Profile
First, you’re going to need to create a Google Account if you don’t already have one.
Then, once you have an account, you can go to Google My Business (or Google Business Profiles) and click on “Manage Now” or “Sign In.”
When you land on the next page, you can enter your business name and then follow the prompts to either create a new listing or claim an existing one.
You will need to verify your business by following Google’s verification process. This could either be through phone, email, or a postcard sent to your business’s physical address.
Step 2: Complete Your Profile
After verifying your profile, you’ll need to enter your business details — your address, phone number, website, business hours, etc.
You’ll be given an opportunity to add photos that represent your business — images of your products, your storefront, your menu, and your team all make great additions to your business profile.
Finally, you’ll write a description that explains what your coffee shop is all about, what customers will experience when they visit, and possible incentives for visiting your shop, instead of your competitor’s.
Step 3: Encourage Reviews
Since social proof, ratings, and reviews are one of the biggest drivers of traffic for Google My Business listings, you’ll want to encourage your patrons to leave a review about you on Google.
Once you’ve done that, your Google Business Profile is set up and ready to begin using.
Establish A Presence On Social Media
The next strategy you can use to start raising awareness for your shop is establishing a presence on social media and getting active on the major platforms.
Today’s coffee shops are not just pit stops — they’re destinations.
They’re coworking spaces, dating spots, places of solace, and hubs of creativity.
Reflecting this vibe online helps not only enhance your brand’s visibility, but also helps show customers what they’ll get to experience if they visit your shop.
Some of the best platforms for coffee shops are TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook.
These are more visual platforms that attract a wide range of age groups and make it easy for both you and your customers to share content about your shop.
And to help get your creative wheels spinning so you know exactly what to post to these platforms, take a look at some of the best content we’ve found.
You can showcase your products:
Or show off the vibe in your shop:
You can showcase your process, how you source your beans, or how you brew your coffee:
You can even post inspirationals that your audience might relate to:
Or, you can use any of the ideas below:
- Daily special drinks, offers, or incentives to visit.
- Your customer of the week/month and stories about them.
- “How it’s made” videos for your most popular drinks.
- Trivia about coffee beans, their origins, or even your local area.
- Coffee recipes that people can use at home.
- “Meet our staff” features and stories.
- Customer reviews and testimonials.
- “Mug of the Day” featuring quirky or unique mugs from your shop.
- DIY coffee art and tutorials.
- History of coffee and fun facts about it.
And so much more.
The key to establishing a strong presence on social media is making sure that your content is attractive, engaging, and helps people feel good about wanting to visit your shop.
Tap Into Local Influencers
Influencer marketing, if you’re unfamiliar with the term, is a form of social media marketing that can help you quickly establish a foundation in your area.
In the past, influencer marketing was typically limited to only celebrities and a few well-known bloggers.
In 2023 and beyond, though, that has changed and social media influencers have saturated the market.
For your business, you can tap into these influencer’s reach to help your shop foster authentic connections with customers in your area, higher trust and engagement, and even drive more people into your business.
Local influencers don’t necessarily need millions of followers to help raise awareness for your business, either. Even with a small following, a few key endorsements of your brand and mentions about your shop can have a huge impact on your marketing and reach in your local area.
The reason it works so well is because it can give you fast exposure to a brand new audience, remind an existing audience that you’re open for business, and give you a huge amount of social proof.
Since people in their audience already trust the recommendations they make, you can build instant credibility just by being featured on one of their posts.
When you partner with influencers in your area, you can also ask them to create more content for you that you can repurpose and use in your marketing down the road.
To find these influencers, you’ll want to start by connecting with the “micro-influencers” in your area.
They typically have a smaller, more tight-knit community, and collaborations with them tend to be more affordable than when you’re approaching influencers with a larger audience.
You can find local bloggers and community pages that may have your target audience inside of them who regularly feature local businesses, places to visit, events, and news about their area.
Or, you can ask your customers if they may know someone who features content about the area or even if they, themselves, may have a following and if they would be willing to help you promote your shop.
When it comes to exchanging services, you can either pay them directly for the mentions they create or offer them incentives, like a free meal or free coffee for a week, in exchange for their collaboration.
To make influencer marketing work for your business, though, you’ll want to make sure that it’s enticing for them to participate in the collaboration.
Many times, this can be as simple as creating a picturesque, cozy, Instagram-worthy corner in your shop.
They’ll appreciate the effort you’ve put into it and it gives them a great place to take a selfie to post.
The key here, though, is making sure you’re fostering the relationship you have with them. Don’t just pay them once and forget about them.
Spend some time on their social media, follow them, appreciate their content, or just shoot them a message simply to catch up. They’ll appreciate the gesture and relationships matter more than anything when it comes to influencer marketing.
Then, when they create content featuring your shop, make sure you’re re-sharing it to your own pages, giving them credit. This helps increase their visibility — and yours.
Leverage Email Marketing
Email marketing is one of the easiest ways to establish a direct, one-to-one connection with your customers.
Email eliminates having to play to the social media algorithms so they serve your content up to your audience so you can share content the way you prefer to share it.
You can use everything from a mix of text and images to videos, and even plain text if that’s the brand personality you’re attempting to cultivate.
To get started, follow these basic steps.
First, start with a list.
All you need to start collecting emails is a physical signup sheet inside of your shop with an incentive that gives people a reason to share their email address with you.
Then, you’ll want to create a digital signup sheet, or landing page, where visitors can enter their email information on your website or social media profile.
For your digital signup sheet, you can use a tool like ClickFunnels to get started in 10-15 minutes.
When you start your free trial, you can choose from dozens of different, customizable templates to make sure your digital signup sheet helps reflect your brand’s personality.
You can edit everything from directly inside the ClickFunnels dashboard, so you don’t need to be a designer or developer to quickly get up and running.
Or, if you prefer, you can start from scratch and build your pages using our drag-and-drop editor.
Then, when it comes time to create the emails you’ll send out, you want to make sure you’re keeping them short and engaging, featuring crisp content that makes people look forward to receiving the emails you send them.
To help get your creative wheels spinning, here are some ideas you can draw inspiration from:
- Welcome Email: For new subscribers or first-time customers.
- Daily or Weekly Specials: Highlighting unique offerings.
- Coffee of the Month: Showcase a special blend or brew.
- Behind-the-Scenes: Glimpses into coffee sourcing or brewing processes.
- Customer Spotlights: Sharing stories of regular patrons.
- Loyalty Program Updates: Details on points, rewards, or how to earn more.
- Events and Workshops: Invites or announcements about in-shop events.
- Seasonal Promotions: Special offers or themed drinks for seasons.
Here’s an example of a seasonal promotion:
You can also send:
- Recipes: Share a DIY coffee recipe.
- Exclusive Discounts: For email subscribers only.
- Feedback Requests: Asking for reviews or suggestions.
- Local Collaborations: Promoting a local event or collaboration.
- Anniversaries: Celebrating the shop’s opening or other milestones.
- Birthday emails: Send emails to customers on their birthdays with special promotions.
- Staff Introductions: Meet-the-team type emails.
- Seasonal Changes: Introducing summer iced drinks or winter warmers.
- Referral Programs: Encourage sharing in exchange for perks.
- Coffee Facts & Trivia: Fun tidbits about coffee.
- New location updates, and so much more.
Inside the emails you send, you’ll want to ensure you’re using strong CTAs — or calls to action — whether that’s a simple “Visit Us For A Special Discount” or “Check Out Our New Brew”.
Then, you’ll need to keep an eye on your metrics to help you figure out what’s working and what isn’t. With ClickFunnels, monitoring your metrics is easy to do with the intuitive, easy-to-read dashboard.
Implement Loyalty Programs
Now, when it comes to marketing your coffee shop, the strategies we’ve talked about so far have primarily revolved around bringing new customers into your business.
But what about bringing those customers back again and again?
Since it costs so much more to acquire a new customer than it does to retain your existing customers, one strategy works great for keeping them coming back for more: loyalty programs.
Implementing loyalty programs helps ensure steady growth in your business and drives increased word-of-mouth marketing since your existing customers are incentivized to share the word.
These don’t have to be super-complicated to implement, either.
To give you an idea, check out these examples.
Stamp Cards where after a certain number of purchases (e.g., 9 coffees), the next one is free:
Points System: For every purchase, customers accumulate points:
After accumulating a certain number, they can redeem them for a free item.
You can also use subscription models that allow customers to pay a monthly fee for a daily brew. This helps guarantee regular visits and a steady income.
Or offering exclusive member days where, during specific days and hours, loyalty members can get additional points, special discounts, or unique offerings.
Another loyalty program would be allowing loyal customers the ability to skip the line during rush hours or giving them early access to new flavors, seasonal drinks, or limited offers.
You can even offer special member events like tasting sessions, coffee brewing classes, or even cafe nights and mixers to your most loyal patrons.
The key with each of these strategies revolves around raising awareness, making sure customers can easily find you, and ensuring they want to keep coming back for more.
If you follow the coffee shop marketing strategies we’ve laid out for you in this guide, you’ll be able to establish a strong foundation in your area — even against your biggest competitors with massive household names and huge VC-funded budgets.
Before you start implementing them, though, make sure you’re laying the right foundation with your online presence — so you’re able to capture more of the attention you generate.
Use a tool like ClickFunnels to build your landing pages, collect visitor’s emails, deliver your email marketing messages, and manage your loyalty programs with just a few clicks.If you haven’t already, click here to start your free 14-day trial now and give ClickFunnels a test run to see exactly how powerful it can be when it comes to growing your coffee shop.