New Year – New Coffee Shop Marketing Strategies

New year, new opportunities, Dilworth is still serving great coffee! As a new coffee shop manager or owner, innovative ways to market and share your great coffee are going to be on your mind. A good coffee shop marketing strategy is key to building fresh sales. Good thing it’s on our minds too! Dilworth is your partner in crime (so to speak), and we’re here to make sure you use the new year to seize all the marketing opportunities coming down your path.

Social Media is as Big as Ever

This may sound obvious, but having an online presence for any business is important these days, especially for new coffee shops. But what should you be showcasing?

Leading Up to the Big Day

For weeks, even months until the opening day of your shop, you should be posting content. Pictures of the build-out inside, videos of testing out drinks, and anything behind the scenes to fan the flame of excitement gathering around your new shop. Content is going to be a key feature in any coffee shop marketing strategy you implement.

Create Connections with Your Team

Unless the main source of your shop’s revenue is drive-thru business, almost every customer you serve is going to be walking through your business and talking directly to the people making your product (their cup of coffee). Because of this very direct relationship, your coffee shop’s social media presence can be more than promoting a new drink or reminding followers you’re closed on a holiday.

Take the opportunity to let your customers know who will be making their drinks. This doesn’t have to be each barista talking directly to the camera and introducing themselves, but a picture or video that features some of the people behind the bar could do a lot more to build kinship with your shop than you might think.

Offer Up Signature & Seasonal Drinks

The most successful way to build a grassroots following for your brand-new coffee shop is simpler than you think, great coffee! And creating a signature beverage named after your shop is a special way to do that.

This is a drink that your shop becomes known for, and customers begin to associate with your brand. Often a creative twist on a latte or just a special syrup no one has had before like a maple-peach schnapps syrup or a whiskey barrel plum puree syrup. Whatever creative flavor you come up with, promote that one drink again and again until you’re known as the “plum puree place”—that’s when you’ll begin to build a following.

Along with a signature drink, implementing consistent seasonal drinks is a great coffee shop marketing strategy. During the Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter creating one or two delicious seasonally inspired recipes will draw in new customers to sample your wares. Bringing out new drinks four times a year will not only draw in new customers and build excitement, but it will also communicate to your customers that you care about their experience with your coffee, and that’s what it’s all about.

Good thing Dilworth carries all the coffee shop supplies you’ll need to craft exciting seasonal drinks.

Everyone Loves Merch & Promos

Merchandise to market your coffee shop is not a new idea, but the things you sell as merch can vary. Consider offering:

• Retail 12oz bags of coffee beans: These are a very easy way to raise your ticket and price and let your customers bring a little piece of your shop home with them. 
• Mugs with your brand colors an logo: Simple pieces of merch that you just let sit on the shelves until someone takes you home.
• Vibrant and expressive t-shirts: Telling unreached customers what your shop is all about is an elegant  way to bring people in to try a cup.

A successful coffee shop marketing strategy needs to have funds set aside for great merchandise. As far as promotions go, giving away free coffee is never going to fail! Even something limited and simple like “Free Espresso Friday” or “Free Drip Refills before 10 AM” can expand your customer base by a good amount. You’ll likely lose money in the short term, but you want to sell people their second cup of coffee, not their first.

Brew Up Success with a Friendly Partnership

The new year brings fresh opportunities for your coffee shop to shine. Whether you're building buzz through social media, creating unforgettable signature drinks, or enhancing your brand with stylish merchandise, you’re taking a step towards a robust coffee shop marketing strategy. Does taking on these new challenges seem a little overwhelming? Dilworth is here to help you with all your coffee shop needs! Along with beans and syrups, we’re happy to set you up with one of our coffee experts to talk shop, about your shop!