If you own or manage a cafe in Australia and are looking for innovative ideas to market it, you have come to the right place.
With so many ideas and the ever-changing ways of marketing today, it is only natural to struggle to keep up with the latest trends. But with this blog, we are going to share some exciting ideas that are sure to take your cafe business to new heights in Australia.
Best Ways to Market Your Cafe in Australia
These days, it is no longer enough to open a stunning coffee shop with mouthwatering food, amazing coffee, and top-notch service. Well, it never was. In order for new clients to visit, they must be aware of you. But will it be via internet searches, Instagram, or word of mouth? In this instance, you must cover them all, and more.
So here are some of our favourite cafe marketing ideas to help you get started.
- Focus on Specific Customers
- Signage
- Make Something Newsworthy
- Use a Cafe POS system
- Grow Your Social Media Following
- Give out Free Coffee (On Special Occasions)
6 Effective Strategies to Market Cafes in 2024
Now that we have listed out the strategies, let us dive into the details.
- Focus on Specific Customers
Given the competitive nature of the market, it is more crucial than ever to concentrate on particular clientele groups. The goal is to find specific ways to become the undisputed number one choice for your segment of customers among all of their options for coffee, breakfast, or lunch with friends.
Avoid attempting to please everyone; instead, concentrate on satisfying the needs of your target audience.
- Signage
Consider how someone passing by in a car or on foot might perceive your cafe as you step outside. Will it be noticed by them? Can you clearly see the name from a distance? It might be useful to have an A-frame or outdoor chalkboard. (However, for information on what is permitted, check the local regulations). A cafe’s identity is conveyed even with outdoor furniture and umbrellas. Numerous individuals will be passing by on foot and in cars without realising you are there. Your goal should be to capture their interest.
- Make Something Newsworthy
People rarely go out of their way to tell their friends about ‘above average service’ or ‘decent food’.They may start talking if you do something they have never seen before. Here’s an example. In a café that one of our friends opened a few years ago, they decided to go ‘all in’ on their hot chocolates and mochas. Instead of using traditional chocolate powder, they purchased a small soup urn and melted couverture Lindt chocolate as the base ingredient. They simply wrote “melted hot chocolate” in chalk on an A-frame sign and waited for word of mouth to spread.
By winter, the food had been promoted in local magazines and social media, resulting in weekly sales of thousands of dollars for a product often overlooked by cafés. Of all, to be noteworthy, you can’t simply imitate a product that everyone else is selling. Our advice: choose a product you already sell and figure out how to make it even more fantastic. If something is truly remarkable, people will talk.
- Use a Cafe POS System
A cafe’s point-of-sale software usually has a number of marketing capabilities that can help with email marketing, customer loyalty programs, and other campaigns. This can be quite beneficial to your marketing efforts because it provides vital insights into your customers’ behaviour, sales records, and more. POS Systems like POSApt, Square, Lightspeed, are popular options to choose from in Australia.
- Grow Your Social Media Following
With so many people utilising social media, it makes sense for your restaurant to have a presence on at least a few platforms. Promoting your café on social media is an excellent method to engage with consumers, highlight your cuisine, and boost sales.
Social media may also be an excellent platform for advertising your cafe business. Hospitality advertisements are widespread on platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. They are frequently an inexpensive approach to reach locals and raise brand awareness.
You can also list your business on hospitality platforms like Food and Wine with Love, OpenTable, Yelp, etc. to generate more traffic to your cafe. These platforms have niche-specific customers which helps you get more relevant customer that will actually come up to your cafe to have a cup of coffee.
- Give out Free Coffee (On Special Occasions)
Local café businesses rely on repeat consumers. These consumers may visit every week, every day, or even numerous times every day (not kidding).
It is extremely difficult to persuade someone to modify their daily routine by offering percentage discounts, ‘buy-one-get-one-free’ deals, or loyalty programmes. People adore getting something for free with no ties attached. For a coffee shop, the cost of a complimentary coffee is insignificant compared to the thousands of dollars that frequent customers may spend over the next few years.
Of course, the goal is to attract repeat clients, so it makes sense to target those who live or work within a short distance of the business.
Conclusion
Hopefully, some of the ideas on this list have provided you with inspiration for your business. However, it is important to note that none of these strategies is a substitute for developing a comprehensive marketing strategy for your company.
An effective strategy begins with recognising the individual clients you want to reach, and then connecting what you give and say (your message) with their needs.
Our advice: whether you’re starting a cafe or expanding an existing one, take the time to create a café business plan. This will help you discover who your customers are and how you can construct a business that is a good fit for them. In our experience, getting that correctly is the true key to long-term success.
