How can I attract more customers to my cafe?
Opening a small cafe has always been a lifelong dream of mine. As an experienced branding consultant and activist, I am always delighted to initiate such projects. You know in every corner of the cities, at the end of the most remote alley even, there exists a cafe.
This is indeed a double-edged sword in many ways, meaning that the competition can get heated and daunting. On the other hand, a wise person would use it to their advantage since they can easily do a field study. With this perspective the small cafe owner who seeks to expand their marketing and network of customers can easily assess the success of the other cafes, and what makes them unique and famous in the first place. These days, the youth crave the odd ones, they all have an unquenchable thirst to be the black sheep of the community.
Hence, the majority of teenagers mostly follow bizarre and odd clothing, lifestyles, restaurants, and cafes. The other matter would be what reminds people of good times, their favorite music band, movies, series, etc. Here I spoiled one of the main marketing ideas.
An interesting way for a cafe to stand out is to be unique
You must have heard the sentence among the younger generation: “Have you been to the new cafe at ………..? The ……… it is amazing!!” or “They dress like …..”
One way to start a successful business, especially a cafe, is to go with the trend, the popular music being played, and the staff looking fashionable. The music is so loud that from the outside even it would attract the attention of pedestrians. Nonetheless, I beg to differ. In my perspective, if one is about to open a cafe, there must be something different about it, preferably everything! Depending on the size, location, and target audience, the difference can emerge and show itself.
One of the best ways for every business is to get inspired by the ideas of the successful ones, then determine what the ideal image in our mind is, and after that find the closest point between them. Yet, as I stated before, the city, country, and environment indeed play colorful roles in this regard.
For instance, if you start selling alcoholic drinks in a cafe, it might sound OK but, not in a Muslim country! You know where I am going. The thing is, becoming inspired by successful similar businesses is completely OK. Nonetheless, one should never lower their standards to that level. Maybe you are destined to fly 20 times higher than that point. So, observe, learn, study, and own it! Add your specialized spice or touch, that is where magic lies. Of course the quality of corporate branding in the first place, brand name, visual aspects of the location, menu standards, etc.
All must be considered when a new brand and business is being born. What we are talking about here is doing magic, touching people’s souls so that they never forget your cafe for the rest of their lives.
Setting and time could be the means to distinguish your cafe from others
The first thing that can vividly distinguish your cafe from the others would be the setting and time. Let’s see what they are and how they can aid us in forming a second-to-none cafe.
Setting
The setting is referred to the location in which a story happens mostly when a movie or story is criticized. Anyway, we can benefit from the same technique for instance in a dry area we could opt for decorating the cafe with an excessive number of plants as if the customer has set foot in a jungle.
Recreating imaginary locations of famous stories and films is a guaranteed success, the quality of implementation of course matters as well. Let’s say, your cafe represents King’s Cross station where Harry Potter & his fellow wizards depart for Hogwarts. The whole interior design stems from the theme and the cafe is indeed the train station, staff could dress as Hogwarts students and the bartender as the station officer.
I would personally suggest memorable stories, animations, or films since all generations are mostly acquainted with them or have a strong bond deep within. One of my favorite cartoons is Peter Pan.
A kind and magical character that teaches children love and freedom. The setting is London and Neverland which is like another dimension. The theme should presumably be the forest of Neverland in which the lost boys live and deal with Caption Hook & his crew. It is needless to say the staff are dressed as the characters of the cartoon and the most dominant thing could be the menu, either digital or on paper it looks enchanting.
Time
Time can be a primary factor in determining a unique form for the cafe. If I were in the shoes of someone eager to start a special cafe, I would go for the Renaissance, a specific country fashion could also be chosen as a reference.
Davinci’s time also could be a perfect option. Of course, these are my personal preferences and yours could be in the future which delves into the imagination and a more subjective taste and menu.
Each of these items covers the whole team, ranging from the tiny items on the counter such as candies or business cards to the menu, chandeliers, dresses, website design, social media, and even the linguistic elements and features of the staff in a cafe could be a source of interest, motivation and the reason for the customers to keep coming back.
Marketing Compromise
This is a made-up phrase of my own which is indeed fitting to what I am about to tell you. See as the name sounds, a business is a form of give and take, dealing such as the ancient times. It is true that they pay for something, and that something would be the order they receive.
However, the psychological touch that a reward leaves could be eternal, as immortal as a vampire! More than just a coffee, a full-time companion, and a constant reminder that might work better than a billboard. Hence, I believe rewards in business are amazingly influential. For instance, the fifth order is free or 50% off.
If your customer brings another companion for the first time, they receive one extra order. It is so fun to sit and think of numerous ways to design such offers. Also by considering the setting and theme of the cafe, for instance, Harry Potter, some prizes could be set and a form of scoring or grading. Customers could be divided into four groups just like in the movie, and receive grades.
The one who reaches the specified score receives the scarf of that group. As I mentioned, these are merely examples off the top of my head to help you visualize what I mean. I am sure you will think of much better ideas for your small cafe.
Not Just a Coffee Shop; the Story of Multi-Concept Cafes
Sometimes, people who own a cafe have other infatuations and interests alongside a cozy tranquil cafe which could also be off-the-beaten-track. Book cafes are one of the most common choices which can receive any form, theme, or timeline and emerge as a magical destination and resort for people who are regular cafe customers who happen to be interested in literature, poetry, history, and broadly speaking books.
I know a book cafe in my city that is famous for presenting profoundly rare books passed on to him from his grandfather to customers, in a way that they are always on the shelves, available for customers to grab and read while enjoying their order.
Gallery- Cafe
I have seen many cafe owners in my life and the majority tended to be artists, musicians, or enthusiasts of both. Hence, if they intend to open a cafe, their choice will be the combination of cafe and gallery. Not only does it help and promote local artists professionally and financially, but also it could help the publicity and popularity of the cafe as well.
Review sessions regarding the exhibitions might become a norm. Art collectors and dealers could be invited officially to check out the new generation of artists some of which could turn out to be geniuses. People could be exposed to a more touching spiritual form of life which is indeed precious in the robotic mechanical lifestyle they tend to lead.
Blind-Date Cafe
A form of activity is asserted to become trendy these days, some cafes have some platforms online. Customers obtain memberships through which they access the blind dates with other people sitting at specific tables. It is totally like a game and so much fun.
Some other forms of cafes that can be mixed with other areas of interest or expertise would be Game Cafes, Senior-Cafe, History-Cafe, National-Cafe, Religions-Cafe, Language-Cafe, etc.
In this article, innovative and practical notions were meant to be introduced to the readers and viewers in a brief way that won’t turn into a boring theoretical script. On the other hand, the objective was to make it as concrete and tangible as possible so that our dear readers use it and come up with their avant-garde ideas for their small one-of-a-kind cafe.
