Your love of coffee helped you open a local coffee shop, but you are not getting as much foot traffic as you would like. Even if word of mouth got the ball rolling, you may still need a boost to let the neighborhood know what you’re all about. If you’re hoping to increase your customer base, here are three ways to promote your local coffee shop with ease.
Social Media
We will start by going over the most common, and possibly most efficient, method of promoting social media platforms. Back in the day, social media typically consisted of blogs that depicted a person’s experiences. Now, blogs can be about anything. Even how the roast coffee beans can convert leads to customers over time. But when you’re just starting out, you need more than a blog. You need an online presence, preferably one that gives users an inside look. Coffee shops should curate content that appeals to the senses, visually and even olfactory. Instagram, Facebook and TikTok are three of the top platforms you can post live videos and curated content about your shop.
Something that isn’t talked about a lot is how to properly use social media to your advantage. Anyone can slap a few posts on a social media account, but that is not all it takes to boost your ROI. As a business and a brand, you need to build presence and that means you must post on a routine basis that keeps your audience engaged. It is important to note that hashtags should also be used to make sure you’re getting attention from the right people. Another method you can use is to try to get in touch with influencers. Some people are more famous and have a bigger follower count than others on social media.
Focus on SEO
SEO is another way to get your coffee shop noticed. Search engine optimization uses very specific keywords or phrases that your ideal customer may use when looking for something online. However, as simple as SEO may seem, there is a strategy behind it. Not everyone searches in the same way, so you need to research what words your target audience uses. And when it comes to local SEO, you need to specific.
If you want to turn rankings into revenue, you need to think like a consumer. If you were looking for a business like yours, what would you search? It’s a good idea to use geo tags along with specific words locals may use. With the conversion-focused content, people who were previously considering you may become a returning customer. This is exactly what you want to aim for when producing content.
Advertise Outside
You should also use signage to promote your coffee shop locally. You want people in your area to notice you in real time as well. You can do this by setting up signs and posting the directions to your shop. You can even hire someone to manually hand out flyers with discounts to passing pedestrians. The key is to boost organic traffic while letting would-be customers know you are there when they want a cup of joe.
