Before starting out your coffee business, I will tell you that coffee is undoubtedly the most ingested beverage that stimulates daily activities and leads one to a nearby cafe. As a student, though not a coffee drinker, I believe a coffee shop is a study-type setting as it motivates learning. And I have once been to a cafe with several beverage options though coffee being the most itemized.
WHAT IS THIS REALLY ABOUT?
Moreover, this strategic plan will highlight the likely steps to running a coffee business. There is only so much advice that you can implement to improve or start your business. However, I reckon a strategy plan, such as what follows, will help you achieve your business goals, and keep in mind that it does not matter your startup scale!
Digital Goals/Hints To Set Up Your Online Coffee Business
1. CONNECT WITH CUSTOMERS THROUGH SOLID CONTENT MARKETING
If we put out helpful and informative content that depicts coffee brewing methods, new drink recipes, and new roasting trends, it would definitely attract website visitors. Content marketing traditionally includes blogging, videos and podcasts that lead customers to your website. Along with creating such useful content, make sure it is shareable. Many content marketing management tools exist to help you come up with topics and make connections in the coffee world. Be consistent in releasing content, so your customers have a reason to come back to your website and become loyal customers. Create a schedule for your content and the measures you will take to market your website.
2. BOOST YOUR BRAND’S SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE
Your online business will engage a small pool of people until you create social media profiles for your business. When you enter the world of social media, your engagement will start booming. Customers will start to share your products and content, and you’ll be noticed on a wider scale. You’ll aim to create profiles on the most popular social media platforms first and you can try out new ones and read up on projected social media trends to stay ahead of your competitors. Social media keeps consumers in the loop. If you are tense about handling many social media profiles at once, management resources could take the pressure off. Use a social media marketing management tool to organize your next posts.
3. EQUIP YOUR WEBSITE WITH POPULAR PAYMENT RESOURCES
Your online business is mainly about exchanging goods for payment and you want to make the process of receiving your conversions accurate. Place clear instructions and payment tools on your website, and your customers will be on their way to enjoying their fresh cup. PayPal and Google Pay are among the top payment solutions for online businesses. Your aim should be to offer payment methods on your e-commerce website that are most convenient for your customers and that are the most popular in online purchasing. Invoice payment methods like PayPal are effortless and extremely common for online shoppers.
4. RUN AN EMAIL CAMPAIGN
Email marketing as we all know is an essential component for e-commerce businesses nowadays, and online coffee companies surely employ this tactic to encourage their continued purchases and loyalty. Use engaging analytic tools to observe how many times your emails incited responses, open links and secured goals.
Try to Automate your email system so that your customers regularly receive messages about new products and reminders about specials and company news. Also, provide a way for customers to alter the frequency of email updates and offers. Allowing them to personalize the email relationship increases the likelihood of a positive response.
5. PARTNER WITH OTHER BRANDS/INFLUENCERS
Other online brands that pair well with coffee, will promote your business in many lucrative ways. This business relationship is mutually beneficial because you can also feature their products on your blog or social media. Adding brand ambassadors or influencers will make your online coffee business famous. Many different tools identify the influencers in your industry for you so that you can choose the right people to promote your coffee. Add a special place for your partnerships on your website so consumers see your supporters and the trajectory of your online business. Choose influencers who represent your target audience and can build your reputation.
Top Metrics to Track to Measure Your Online Coffee Shop’s Performance
- Customer Loyalty
A key KPI for online coffee businesses is loyalty system participation. This helps coffee shop owners understand whether they’re growing their customer base and if their existing customers see and internalize the business’s value proposition. The more participation you have, the more engaged you feel your customer base is and that tends to correlate with a rise in sales.
- Customer lifetime value
- Issues resolved
- Cost per lead
- Sales revenue
When your shop sells coffee and promotes them through your social media presence, you definitely want to know if all of your efforts are paying off. To figure out your sales revenue, take a look at your Google Analytics or website builder. You’ll be able to see which clicks from social media to your website converted into purchases and what the total from that is.
- Lead conversion rate
- Non-revenue conversions
- Several other KPI’s for Reach & Engagement
With reach & engagement metrics, you’ll know that people are looking at your coffee posts and business accounts. Most powerful KPI’s –
- Follower count
- Impressions
- Post reach
- Web traffic
- Share of voice
SWOT ANALYSIS OF ONLINE COFFEE SHOP
- Strengths
- Accessibility
- Lower Prices
- Weaknesses
- Industry Specific
- Opportunities
- Growing Market
- Influencers
- Threats
- Competition
- Fraud
- Data Concerns
- Monopolies
How To More Than Spice Up Your Coffee Business
- THE RIGHT LOCATION
Over 1 Billion people in the world drink coffee. Now, how many is that out of the world’s population. You do the math. The point is there should be avid coffee lovers in your corner of the world, so you need to pull them all to one place, which will be your cafe.
Suburban areas and small towns are the best options. In urban areas, one needs to remember that there are more competitors from the fast-food business.
COST AND PROFIT
It is crucial to weigh the cost of rent and profit. Think, is one too difficult to attain? I know you may be wondering, “but a city is more densely populated; it is the most reasonable to set up.” But, remember that success will not first happen, well, until you appeal to the right people.
THE RIGHT PLACES
Remember my anecdote about being a non-coffee drinker; I may well be among the minority of college students without a droplet of coffee in my body. Approximately 92% of university students rely on coffee for their academic activities.
These sorts of trends say so much–they really could get you a solid customer base.
2. MOOD AND MUSIC
These days people are aesthetic lovers–if your coffee shop happens to have unique aspects, you will attract them. And if aesthetic does not float your boat, you may consider setting up a book club, having an open bookshelf or hosting well-chosen events.
SETUP: The high-table chair set-up with a mix of low tables is ideal based on shop capacity. Also, separate spaces will accommodate students or people seeking a quiet area.
MUSIC: Relaxing music–jazz, slow, retro–rather than hip hop sets the mood for a coffee shop. For this, think about what relaxation feels like, with no pressure or rush, and unlike a fast-food setting.
LIGHTING: You could easily experiment with different lighting to suit time and weather changes. Of course, you do not want to have tons of spectrum; this will be all the more unsatisfying.
A great place to check is Pinterest. There are tons of saved pins–photos and videos–for unique preferences. Most prefer minimalism with white or yellow light options and different light intensities.
3. GIVE THEM A UNIQUE MENU
It is equally crucial to include munching items for customers, including bagels, croissants, and donuts.
RECIPE!
With the right recipe and craft, you may rightly provide your customers’ cravings. You may choose your in-store prepared bakery or sell out-of-store bakery goods.
It all depends on what you aim for your brand. Do you want to start channelling your inner baker? Also, remember your business focal point. If you prefer to offer coffee and bakery goods, go for it.
Or, choose a menu of your choice that is both appealing and light; people do not necessarily go to a coffee shop with the hopes that they will fill themselves. You are not a fine-dining or fast-food location!
4. PEEK AND PLAN
Think of checking up on competitors as an accessory item. It is there to help you look good; if you choose the right outfit, it should well walk with you. The competitor includes fast-food business such as McDonald’s and Tim Hortons.
Note, the latter has built a good rapport for coffee services. Focus first on their consumers and ask, “what attracts them to such services?” If this moment you think like yet another coffee shop owner, it may hinder focus points.
- First, gauge their consumers, location, employee, and image.
- Second, if you do have a coffee shop, do not scrap your business plan. Take one aspect of the competitor and transform it to suit your brand image. Such even applies to all business owners.
- Always keep it real and never, in an attempt to improve your image, be unethical towards other businesses.
5. PIECES OF EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES
You will need pieces of equipment and supplies for coffee preparations and more. They include refrigerators and freezers, toasters, industrial coffee grinder(s), automatic drip coffee makers, a high-quality espresso machine.
In fact, it depends on your business scale and your go-to methods. You could prefer the traditional coffee-making techniques which could significantly influence your brand. However, it is not to say that you cannot achieve this with regular pieces of machinery. You are creative; you very likely know what you want to portray; take my word for it!
6. EMPLOYMENT
Most coffee shops have highly skilled coffee brewers–they are called baristas. It will largely depend on your business outlook since you will need to weigh your available options.
Additionally, maybe you are your barista so give yourself the podium. You may take the lead in your coffee shop, so the brand surrounds your ideals. Also, based on customer influx, you may rely on employees to represent your ideals with their skills.
7. PERSONALIZE IT!
In this digital marketing age, there is a tendency to brew creativity. Make use of your creative hand and plan. You cannot plan creativity, but you can plan your success and goals.
AUTHORS:
Afshin Qamar and Fatimah Aderinto are interns at the International Institute of Digital Marketing. We hope, to anyone reading this out there, that your coffee business or any such business is a success!