Marketing is one of the biggest ways to gain customers. You need to get them in your store so they can experience your great coffee.

Just be sure to fit your Advertising to your goals. Marketing is not created equal.

Word of mouth Marketing is best, but how do you begin? By building trust with customers so they buy from you. Then they tell all their friends! Get people talking with these 5 free Marketing strategy ideas:

Social Media

This isn’t just a trend anymore. Twitter and Facebook are just two sites to stay connected and build relationships with your customers. You can see what others are saying about your business and to easily take care of any  customer complaints that may arise and quickly fix the situation. You can even post proceedings to Facebooks “event” feature.

E-newsletter

Keep customers updated on events, specials, and coupons, even highlight an employee or co-worker. Offer a sign-up sheet for your customers at the cafe’ counter and a subscription on your site to keep them updated. Try Mailchimp or Aweber.

Blog

Write about events-music, throw-downs, fundraisers, meetups, networking groups. Be sure to take a lot of pictures so customers can see what a great time others are having and will want to make the next event. For customers that did attend, can tell about their experience (customer testimonials) of how much fun they had.

Yelp.com

Register your cafe’ on Yelp to be reviewed and see how you stack up to other local businesses. Will yours be the “Top cafe’” in town?

Be Newsworthy

Are you sponsoring an event, hosting a fundraiser or donating coffee? Build company reputation and goodwill within the community while gaining the attention of the media. And in-turn, gain more customers.

Discussion: How do you market your company? Do you use any of these strategies? What experience have you had using these strategies?

Jennifer Vaaler is the no-nonsense blogger of Daily Demitasse. Her fuel is also her passion as a Barista by day and freelance copywriter by night and has been featured in trade Industry Journal, Coffee Talk. She specializes in Consulting and writing copy for the Specialty Coffee Industry. When she’s not wielding a portfilter or pen, Jennifer enjoys a great book, crafts and good movie.

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Author: Jennifer

Coffee Advocate, Barista, Freelance Copy Writer. Bridging the gap between coffee enthusiasts and the specialty coffee industry.