First, how do you attract new customers to your coffee shop beyond the people that just walk by or are already familiar with your shop? A good location, unique and friendly ambience, and of course great coffee is a good start, but considering that anyone can get coffee anywhere, even online sometimes, is this enough?

Second, starting a coffee shop is neither easy nor inexpensive. But what budget is enough for marketing a coffee shop?

In this blog post, I will address all of these questions and more – how you can leverage innovative and cost-effective Eddystone beacon technology to attract new customers, establish a solid reputation in your community, and attract large volumes of loyal and sometimes daily patrons.

Coffee shop marketing strategies currently in use

In a recent survey about the marketing budget for a coffee shop that we rolled out, we received 1400 responses from coffee shop owners. Interestingly, we found out that almost 70% of the coffee shops spend close to $100 a month on marketing. Few of the strategies that these coffee shops incorporate are –

1. Deals and offers (Unlimited coffee or cheaper refills) in the special menu cards
2. Gift card promotions
3. Social media ads
4. Print advertisements, Billboards and Flexi banners with the coffee shop logo
5. Sponsor relevant TV programs, radio programs and community-based programs
6. Distribute fliers and handbills in targeted areas from time to time
7. Advertise the coffee shop on local travelling magazines and yellow pages

Why are these strategies not very effective?

Even though you are doing your best to inform visitors about the ongoing deals and promotions, it might easily slip through the cracks.

As a local coffee shop, use of social media might not be a significant contributor to the success of your business. Your customers stop by your store and pick up a coffee because it’s local, convenient, social and of good quality. Social media might not really help. Talking about social media advertisements – they have a click-through-rate of 0.119%. Clearly, it doesn’t make an impact.

Moreover, when it comes to competing with other coffee shops in the locality, you have to be very creative to stay on top. The strategies listed above are not only expensive but also something every coffee shop owner is doing.

So, how can Eddystone beacons help coffee shops tackle these problems?

Beacons use short-range, low-energy Bluetooth transmitters to send alerts to mobile devices nearby and trigger contextually relevant messages to consumers who are near your coffee shop. The beauty of Eddystone beacons is that it does not even need an app to send notifications. Services such as Nearby in Android devices and CloseBy is Samsung devices scan for Eddystone notifications. Once an Eddystone URL is detected, it notifies the user. 

Download the Eddystone 101 ebook and become an expert on what you can do with it.

1. Attract new customers – Implement a pull strategy

With Eddystone beacons deployed at your storefront, you can directly communicate with your consumer’s phone and tell her about specials, discounts and coupons. The outcome of such campaigns is positive because coffee shop owners have a much more robust picture of what customers are doing in and around their stores, and they can base their offers on data rather than assumptions. For most of our customers owning a coffee shop, the click-through-rate (CTR) is 3-4%, which is 30 times the CTR of a Facebook ad!

2. Inform customers about your services/events to bring them back

You might be offering a suite of services for your customers at the coffee shop, such as free WiFi, electrical outlets at each table for laptops, poetry readings and more, but it’s important to inform them about it at the right place and time. And Eddystone beacons are just pro at it!

Also, to widen the reach, push a shareable link about the service/event so that they can forward it to friends and family as well.

3. Push loyalty programs to win frequent patrons

Loyalty programs can be as simple as notifications with the promise of receiving every Nth cup of coffee free, which can be attractive to daily coffee drinkers. These offers are most effective while customers are paying their bills.

4. Quantify the success of your marketing campaigns

For local businesses, it is important to understand what works and what doesn’t. Budget dedicated to marketing fails only when one cannot numerically predict the ROI from it. One of the major faults in billboards, fliers, magazine ads etc. is that you cannot measure the impact. It is difficult to learn what language connects best with the mass, which places are the best for advertisement etc.

With Beaconstac, you do not have to worry about analytics (for both Eddystone and ibeacon). The platform has dedicated emphasis on measuring the notifications sent out to various places, the conversion from them, the format that works well and much more.

How to measure beacon success with analytics.

To wrap up

Local coffee shops face a huge competition from their big-box counterparts such as Starbucks and CCDs as well as other main street businesses. And Beacons can truly be the cutting edge marketing strategy for them, given how cost-effective it is and still gives the wide reach that other technologies can possibly give.

If you’re a coffee shop owner or marketer, here’s how you can get in touch. If you are planning to try out beacons, take a look at Beaconstac, that includes everything you need to get started. Using Beaconstac you can set up your own campaign, without a developer’s help!