How To Market Your Cafe
With a cafe or coffee shop on almost every street corner, attracting new customers and standing out from the crowd may not be as easy as pie.
While the level of competition may be high, having an effective cafe marketing strategy may help get new customers in your door and increase your cafe sales. From having a solid plan, to going all ‘foodie’ on instagram to running local competitions, there are many things you can do to promote your cafe
Keep reading to find out more!
Cafe Marketing Ideas
While there are many successful cafes out there, both private and franchised, there is a big difference between the most successful ones and all the rest. And, that difference may lie in your own cafe marketing strategy, and what you ‘bake up’ to ensure you do stand out from all the rest.
Before you can work on your cafe marketing or develop your cafe marketing strategy, it is important to first identify your target audience, understand the demographics, and set SMART goals and objectives.
A key component of creating a cafe marketing strategy is clearly defining your objectives and what you want your marketing efforts to achieve.
You can read our guide to creating a business plan here: https://www.suprima.com.au/blog/bakery-business-plan/
Social Media Marketing for Cafes
One relatively new way to market your cafe is to use social media marketing. This is a way of marketing that uses social media platforms like
Facebook and Instagram to reach customers. Social media marketing has been proven to increase sales and awareness for businesses.
Simply start by setting up your social media accounts in the name of your cafe, and start posting content related to your food and menu items. As social is very visually focused, imagery is important.
Have a look at our Instagram here for ideas on cafe related food posts: https://www.instagram.com/suprimabakeries/
Send email campaigns or have an email newsletter
Using an email marketing service, such as Mailchimp, is an effective way to stay in touch with your cafe customers.
Why not try some of these tips:
- Add a signup form to your website
- Run competitions where customers agree to provide their email to you, in return for entering to win a price (or a delicious baked treat)
- Update customers on season menu changes or new ingredients
- Share recipes or food inspiration
- Create excitement and a personal touch by having an employee of the month or customer of the month, and mention this in the newsletter.
Promote your business with a cafe website
A business without a website or online presence is like dough without yeast, it is a key ingredient needed to help your business rise and grow!
Cafe websites can be used for the following benefits:
- Online ordering and online bookings
- Showcase your cafe menu
- Rank for keywords on Google
- It’s a great place to publish customer reviews
- Publish a photo gallery to showcase your menu items.
Even if you are one of the only cafes in town, it pays to have an online presence. You can easily setup a website these days.
Customer reviews – these are essential!
It is no secret that online reviews can play a major role in the success of your cafe. They have been proven to increase customer engagement, drive traffic to your website and increase sales!
Positive online reviews can help your business grow and can also provide you with an edge over local cafes. It is extremely important for every business to focus on customer satisfaction and make sure their customers are happy with their experience.
Note: if you are receiving negative reviews, think of these as areas you can look to improve.
Start by setting up your Google My Business local map/profile. Follow this guide by Google: https://www.google.com/business/
Run local competitions or tasting days!
It’s true that most people like to win something, and even more people enjoy a free tasting!
A well-baked competition has the potential to create a lot of buzz around your cafe, which is ideal for boosting your customer count and increasing brand awareness.
If you are searching for ways to boost sales and attract new customers to your cafe consider some of these competition ideas:
- Photo sharing competition on social media
- Staff bake-off
- Mystery ingredient competition
- Enter regional baking competitions and compete under your own brand name
Read more about bakery and cafe competition ideas on our blog here: https://www.suprima.com.au/blog/bakery-competition-ideas/
Bake with high-quality frozen dough products
Delicious and high-quality products are a sure-fire way to get customers in your door and enjoy your bakery items and baked goods!
Suprima supplies frozen dough products to cafes, supermarkets, wholesalers, bakeries and small businesses throughout the country. Some of our best-selling products include pizza dough balls, chocolate scrolls, bread rolls and more.
Partner with Suprima as your trusted supplier of frozen dough. Contact our team at Suprima Bakeries and grow your business today.
