If you’re considering a coffee franchise, one of the areas you’re probably concerned about is marketing. Without the right kind of marketing you’re going to find yourself one lonely coffee shop owner. The benefit of investing in a coffee franchise is that you’ll have a lot of support with training and marketing from the franchise company. However, many marketing guides for franchises haven’t yet scratched the surface of the opportunities available online for marketing a local business like a coffee café.
1. Make sure your company has a website.
In this day and age, most people search for stores and companies online even if they are shopping locally. If you don’t have a website, this should be your first investment (after the coffee franchise of course!). Your website can be a platform for all of your online marketing messages. You can update customers on weekly specials, special events and new flavors.
2. Develop a profile on local business review sites.
Local business review sites have grown by leaps and bounds in the last few years. Yelp.com, InsiderPages.com and BooRah.com are all local review sites that allow users to post reviews about businesses. First, be sure that your coffee business has a page on each site. If a page has already been created by a fan, be sure that the information is correct. Pay attention to negative comments and see if you can change policies in order to reduce the amount of negative comments. You can also use these platforms to offer special deals and encourage participation from your loyal customers.
3. Build a Facebook page.
Facebook pages are the place to highlight your business on one of the most popular social networking platforms. Facebook boasts a usership of over 150 million people – so it’s a smart move to make sure that your coffee franchise is getting the exposure that it needs. With a Facebook page, you’ll be able to post information about your coffee business, and interact with members of your community. Facebook can also link in with other aspects of your online marketing plan – like your website and your Twitter account.
4. Create a Twitter account.
Speaking of Twitter, you can get a lot of mileage out of having a Twitter account. First, build a following of local customers by using Twitter’s location based search features. Tweeting a few times during the day about your specials, asking your followers questions and answering any questions you get will help you make your mark in your area and create loyal customers. Your Twitter account and Facebook account can be linked so that your Tweets will automatically be displayed on your Facebook account for maximum coverage.
5. Participate in Groupon.com.
Groupon.com and other “deal of the day” sites are popular with local consumers who want to get deals on services and products in the area. By being part of these deal of the day sites, you’ll expose your coffee business to a variety of new customers. Just make sure that it makes sense for your business and will be cost effective.