Don’t get me wrong – but most specialty cafés I’ve visited all look the same. Over-stocked brew
bars, dried flowers in a jar, egg benedict, blackboard, and hanging lightbulbs – do all these look
familiar?
So what can you do to break all these cookie-cutter molds that cafés have built around? Well,
the following are innovative strategies that can make your café stand out:
1. Leverage Social Media
Whether you run a tiny local café or a massive, multinational coffee shop, social media has
become a vital part of the marketing strategies of almost all businesses.
However, many businesses take social media lightly. Most start a social media account and fail
to keep it running and updated. This often leads to negative publicity for coffee shops, making
customers believe your café is no longer open.
Always being active on social media will make your café noticed. Publishing engaging content
regularly and joining relevant conversations will push your business forward.
2. Invest in a Coffee Vending Machine
In the UK alone, they drink over 50 million cups of coffee. Coffee’s popularity has increased
sales in cafés and has already caught up with tea, now among the most favorite drinks in
offices.
It is now safer to say – coffee isn’t going anyway, not anytime soon. So, it is high time you make
this more convenient in your café through a coffee vending machine.
When you consider a coffee vending machine for your workplace, you not only get better
efficiency but also enjoy affordability, reliability, low maintenance, and freedom of choice, to
name a few.
3. Be Friendly and Generous
This seems like a no-brainer, but it makes a big difference in keeping customers happy. Bringing
in new customers and recommendations both give good results. If you plan to introduce new
products, let people try them as a special offer or as a free sample to capture customers’
attention.
4. Focus on Uniqueness and Quality
Like other coffee owners, you compete with other shops and places, allowing consumers to
have coffee fixes, like convenience stores, gas stores, and supermarkets.
While it is true those places provide more affordable fixes, what they’re unable to do is give
customers a better experience through freshly and quality brewed coffee all the time – but your
café can.
To do that, look for trends people rave about. For instance, you can take advantage of the viral
Korean dalgona coffee but give it a unique and new twist to improve customers’ experience.
5. Create a Strong, Emotional Connection
Your café’s concept centers on the experience you need to give customers. For instance, you
might want to serve alcohol/smoothies/soups/baked goods and have live music at your café to
give your customers a great experience.
You may also use your café’s concept to facilitate emotional connection, which you want
customers to have. Signage, uniforms, service, ambiance, colors, logo, and name of your café
should play a vital role in supporting that emotional connection.
Final Say
Making your coffee shop stand out is essential in ensuring its success in the market. By
concentrating on these aspects, as a café owner, you will create a memorable and unique experience for your customers.