5 Digital Marketing Strategies for Cafe’s
It’s a bright day, you woke up feeling great. You crave a cup of coffee, and the first thing you do is search for “cafes near me”. Digital Marketing plays an important role in enabling business horses and entrepreneurs to appear for relevant search queries.
Digital Marketing Strategies for a Cafe which small scale businesses can themselves implement for their brands.
- Optimization of the phrase “cafe near me”
- Visual Representation of the cafe
- Audience Engagement/ Review of the customers
- Social media presence
- Optimize hashtags
Optimization of the term “Cafe near me”
When we pick up our smartphones the first thing we type when we are searching for a cafe or a coffee shop is with the phrase near me. Google maps appears and we get different options of coffee shops which are in and around the vicinity. Google My Business enables you to put your brand on google maps where searchers can get relevant answers to their search queries.
Populating your google my business is another important factor to be considered where details like the accurate address, the services provided by the brand , photos at the location as well as of the products and other details need to be given. Google my business analytics can give you insights on what your customers are looking for , how often they have called you or how often they have taken directions to visit your business house can enable you to plan your strategies accordingly.
Visual Representation of the cafe
Cafe and coffee shops are a more visually oriented brand and creating content that is in the form of images and videos will enable you to engage with your potential audience. For example, if the color of the business is blue, make sure to use this color when you create content on various social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, etc. Cafe owners should build a monthly theme around seasonality or any occasion that is coming up so that it drives customers to the cafe
Example: During their festive marketing efforts, Starbucks introduced a new whole bean coffee, #StarbucksDiwaliBlend, for their consumers across the country and selected global markets. Starbucks Diwali Blend celebrates the region’s rich and cultural coffee heritage. The company launched the #SketchTheBlend campaign, where participants could win 5 free beverages by designing the Diwali Blend cup and sleeve
Reviews trusted form of advertising
Food bloggers , customers and people who visit your cafe will review you , yes you need to ask for reviews since they are the second most trusted form of advertising after word of mouth. All reviews you will need to reply to, incase of negative reviews you need to respond to them. First issue an apology for the negative experience that the customer has had and then offer them a better experience when they visit again. Also make sure your response is polite and as professional as possible for two reasons: to make sure that the person who has reviewed you will realize that you care about your customers and secondly so that other potential customers. Also make sure that you do not take positive reviews for granted , do reply to them.
Marketing on social media based on cafe
Social media marketing is the most important for any brand , it is imperative for all brands to be present on social media since their customers are actively spending time on social media platforms consuming content as well as sharing their experiences with brands. They enjoy posting pictures with their Freekeshakes or their hot cup of cappuccino as well as tagging the brand. These posts become an invaluable source of marketing called user generated content. Also since brands want customers to keep visiting their cafe they come up with different promotional activities as well as freebies on certain dates of the month.
Example: Di Bella Coffee uses an array of strategies, such as partnering with certain campaigns, such as #GOTWithDiBella, where Game of Thrones characters sit at a Di Bella outlet and discuss coffee.For example, The true history of the world is the history of great conversations over a cup of coffee – Tyson Lannister.
Optimization of Hashtags
The use of hashtags is equally important, to increase the organic search ranking of the cafe there are 3 main kinds of hashtags that need to be used: location-based hashtags, tag words for the brand or business, and call-to-action hashtags. The maximum amount of hashtags in the post is 3 to 10. How often should you be posting content for your brand? You must post photos, videos, reels, etc. four to five times a week. Do not repeat the same hashtags in the same order every time you post.Example: Di Bella Coffee came up with a campaign regarding #OKCupid in which pet owners would be encouraged to bring their pets to the outlet and receive a 20% discount on their order on Valentine’s Day in this campaign they used hashtag that could promote their campaign
Conclusion
Getting food bloggers to visit your cafe and review it would be another way of getting people to know about your cafe. You can also come up with a menu based on the seasons and post pictures on social media platforms to give people a compelling reason to visit your cafe. Curate content even behind the scenes of coffee being prepared or muffins being baked, people enjoy watching behind the scene content. Another important thing while sharing content on social media is adding music to it , try to add trending songs as well as catchy numbers which are popular with the masses. Equipped with all these tips I’m sure you can jump start your digital marketing plan for your cafe and within a few week you are sure to reap the benefits of these efforts.
