With more coffee shops cropping up by the day, one of your most powerful assets for standing out lies in community. The unique details of your shop and neighborhood simply can’t be replicated anywhere else.
According to a recent marketplace study by Faire, Americans are willing to spend another $150 to make sure their favorite local businesses stay open. Millennials and Gen Z are particularly passionate about supporting local brands – 96% and 100% said they would be glad to take action to help local brands, respectively.
Increasing your community involvement is easier when you tap into why coffee drinkers want to come back.
Why do people love their local businesses so much? These reasons range from wanting to support the people who work there to enjoying the convenience of shops just a short walk away. This love translates into more time – and money – spent at your shop.
We’re going to help you increase that community involvement with our local marketing guide. By the end, you’ll walk away with fresh insights into customer behavior and new ideas to encourage repeat business.
Tap Into Local Events In Your Community
Increasing local involvement in your community starts with what makes your community unique. Local events that can’t be found anywhere else are an exciting place to start brewing up ideas.
Does your city or town have any special festivals, seasonal events, or local traditions? How about art scenes, such as galleries, concert halls, and boutique shops? When coming up with a local coffee marketing guide, start digging into your community’s one-of-a-kind elements and how your coffee shop can support them. In turn, people will be all too glad to support you back.
You can use your coffee accessories and merchandise to generate buzz around local festivals or limited-time events. We offer customizable sleeves you can swap in for a limited amount of time to encourage word-of-mouth. If you want a longer-lasting impression, we also provide t-shirts you can pass out before or during the event.
For example, let’s say you live in a city with a seasonal berry-picking festival. You could honor that celebration with berry-focused merchandise, such as a custom bag with a limited-edition berry logo. You could also create berry-themed drinks at your coffee shop and pair them with colorful disposable cups.
Host Your Own Events To Make Your Coffee Shop A Must-Visit Location
You don’t always have to wait for a holiday to make your coffee shop a must-visit location. Crafting your own events is a stellar method of showcasing what makes your coffee shop truly special.
Hosting events takes a little planning and budgeting, but the long-term gains could be immense. A Sweap study found 72% of event marketers emphasizing the community aspect when promoting new events. Another survey found 88% of community professionals stating that access to a community vastly improved the customer experience.
Crafting your own events shows that your coffee shop is more than just a place to grab a drink. It’s a familiar and cozy spot to meet people, try new things, and craft new memories. When you think about it, the compounding effect of unique events makes sense. Would you rather have a customer rave about an amazing latte, or an amazing latte and a fun slam poetry night?
- A few ideas you can start musing over for your coffee shop are:
- Open mic night for poetry or comedy
- Live music by local musicians
- Art showcases, such as paintings, crafts, or photography
- Latte art competitions or espresso tasting
- School events to teach kids about making coffee
This is just the tip of the iceberg. You can gather more insights into in-demand events by running polls on social media or asking in-person customers to fill out surveys.
Limited-edition merchandise is ideal for local events because they create one-of-a-kind memorabilia – a t-shirt design or tote bag with a custom design commissioned by a local artist. Not only does this approach represent your commitment to community first-hand, you create organic word-of-mouth through one-of-a-kind memorabilia.
(You can also get more mileage out of unique apparel by promoting it through your social media. This helps build community in-person and online to increase customer retention.)
Give Back To Your Community Through Fundraisers
Fundraisers are a thoughtful way to resonate with people’s values and create a more personal connection with your coffee shop. The majority of people in a philanthropy survey stated they donate based on personal values and belief systems.
As such, your first step in a fundraiser coffee marketing campaign is narrowing down your brand values. For example, if you only source organically grown coffee for your shop, you could donate a portion of your shop’s proceeds to a sustainable non-profit for a month.
Another way of crafting a fundraiser is to generate word-of-mouth for a good cause and collect in-person or online donations. This is an effective approach for people who are on a tight budget, but still want to chip in. To put it in perspective: three hundred café visitors donating just $1 is $300 you can put toward your goal.
Raising awareness is easier with the right accessories and merchandise on your side. Custom sleeves can generate a little awareness for people short on time. Dedicated fundraiser merch for practical items, such as a baseball cap, can also generate long-term word-of-mouth.
Collaborate With Local Businesses For Your Coffee Marketing Campaign
When you support local businesses, you create a snowball effect of happy first impressions that ripple throughout your community. A customer who originally wasn’t going to visit your café could change their mind once they find out you supported a business they love.
A smart foundation to build this local coffee marketing strategy on is making sure everyone benefits from the collaboration. For example, if your coffee shop sells pastries, sandwiches, or treats, you can source your ingredients from local grocery wholesalers or farmers. This means repeat business for local food providers and steady supply for your shop.
- A few more ideas you can mull over as you craft your coffee marketing strategy are:
- Collaborate with local publications and/or blogs to give them bespoke coverage of your coffee shop (such as features, interviews, and press releases)
- Work with art galleries – you can feature art to bring in visitors, then offer a discount to artists who contribute
- Hiring local painters or cleaners to keep your coffee shop looking beautiful year-round
Implement A Loyalty Program To Incentivize Repeat Purchases
Loyalty programs are exactly what they sound like – programs that encourage brand loyalty by periodically rewarding customers for repeat business. These programs often take the form of punch cards (for in-person purchases) or points (for online purchases).
After a certain amount of purchases, customers can get free drinks, discounts, or dibs on rare merchandise. There’s nothing quite like a goodie or two to generate goodwill around your café.
Loyalty programs are a must-have for a long-term marketing strategy. It’s far more cost-effective to keep an existing customer around than to acquire a new one. According to Optimove, bringing in new customers is five times more costly than retaining old ones.
Loyal customers also spend up to 33% more than less loyal customers. When people frequent the same business and get to know the people who work there better, it’s a natural transition into a more close-knit community. If your profit margins can accommodate it, you can also consider student or senior discounts.
We view loyalty programs as one of the most effective coffee marketing practices. Even customers that haven’t visited in a while may swing back just to fill out the last spot in their card.
Keep Your Social Media Active To Cultivate An Online Community
We touched on using social media to keep in touch with your online community, but this type of coffee marketing strategy deserves its own section. An active social media account ensures you’re always in touch with your customers no matter where life takes them.
Even loyal and local customers will sometimes prefer to buy something online in lieu of swinging by the store. As such, you’ll have an easier time reaching them where they are with a targeted SEO campaign.
Whether you’re just putting together your social media accounts or have been running social media pages for a while, below are a few tips to help your posts reach the right people:
- Use relevant, local hashtags to help nearby customers find you (double-check these for recent activity, too)
- Use local short and long-tail keywords in both your content and copy
- Don’t forget to add alt text with your primary keywords
- Post consistently to stay top-of-mind
Build Your Community With Materials You Can Count On
Building your coffee shop’s community doesn’t happen overnight. Earning people’s goodwill and trust is an ongoing effort that comes with sharing your business in authentic ways.
We can help you make sure your message is consistent every single time. At Your Brand Cafe, we provide coffee shops with high-quality, custom accessories and apparel at unbeatable prices. Your dedicated coffee marketing campaign, unique events, and fundraisers will naturally follow suit.
If you’re not ready to commit, we have $5 samples of our eco-friendly supplies and merchandise. We’re more than happy to help you create a coffee shop community you can be proud of.
Ashe Samuels
Ashley (Ashe) Samuels is a business writer and marketing strategist in the food and beverage industry with a focus in coffee, tea, and alcohol. She has nearly a decade of experience helping brands launch products, build awareness, and craft marketing strategies. She's passionate about sustainability, wellness, and leaving the coffee industry a better place.