Opening Notes is a new content series from La Marzocco focusing on the information everyone should know before they open their first café. Over the next few months, this series will examine topics that cover business practices, marketing ideas, and café operations, each featuring a coffee expert in that field.
Ivana Chan is a Marketing and E-commerce consultant focused on coffee businesses. She works with people to achieve their business goals for their online stores, with years of experience in marketing, PR, and advertising. One of the first stores she worked with surpassed 100,000 online orders, ultimately growing their revenue by twelve times over three years. She’s also part of Raise the Bar, a nonprofit reimagining what professional growth looks like in specialty coffee that’s hosting its first Level Up event in September. We reached out to her to learn more about how digital communications are important for a café and to find out what information café owners need to know about digital marketing.
Why are digital communications so important for a new café?
It’s a direct representation of your café, team, brand, flavor of hospitality, and the entire experience that people get to have when they first hear about you on Instagram or look you up on Google Maps. Why not make a great first impression before your customer even reaches the register?
What are the key channels a café owner should consider when setting up digital comms?
Definitely think about which specific channels you (the owner) or your team will be capable of actively managing on a regular basis. I run into many teams that “feel the need” to be on or posting on 5+ channels, and then get stuck in a rut because there isn’t enough bandwidth from the team to put consistent attention towards planning and executing regularly through all those channels. It’s ideal for a café owner to at least have a direct way of managing their business listings (on Google, Maps, etc), and then after that, I would suggest thinking about your favorite mediums (writing, art/design, photography, video, etc) and then choosing your channels from there.
How do digital comms attract new customers?
Through digital comms, you build the brand sensory experience leading up to your in-person experience. It’s a way of leveraging design, music, and words to share about who you are and why you source/roast/make, and serve the coffee that you do. Digital comms offer the opportunity to connect with the travelers who pass through your city, the people in your neighboring towns, or on the opposite coast, putting your café and coffee on the map for people’s “Want to go/must try” lists.
What are the ways that digital comms can help you retain a customer base?
Thoughtfully articulated digital comms are a gentle way of getting in touch with people without needing to walk right up to interrupt someone in the middle of doing something else. Who doesn’t enjoy a cute email reminder of the delicious seasonal drink they can still try while the house-made syrup is still in season? Or getting the first sneak peek at your new project? Or getting a little promotion? Or simply actually hearing from you, or your team?
How much emphasis should a café owner put on digital comms as part of their opening plan?
It should definitely be a part of the opening planning process, and I think a great time to start thinking about digital comms is whenever you have a menu in place. For opening a new spot or sharing about anything new, please consider taking a moment to jot down your story and grab some photos (or hire someone to help, and better yet, make videos, too) and put them together in one doc or folder. It’ll make it easier to share with your local press, or come back to a central place to pull ideas for more social post ideas and such.
If a café owner had to prioritize one digital comms channel, what would you say is the most important?
Email. Make a habit of making great emails regularly. Going from there, you (or your team) could easily adapt your social assets and everything else. People who are signed up for your email are truly tapped in. The process of crafting an email combines thinking about your story, your visual assets, and your offerings.
When should a café owner consider hiring a digital comms consultant or specialist?
Whenever you want some extra support, I always think it’s nice to get a second opinion or perspective, and you can always work together to make a plan that works for both of you. Bringing in a digital comms consultant or specialist is a great way to invest in new marketing strategies to set up your business for success in the long run. If you create a successful campaign and an organized foundation for it, then usually someone else can be trained to pick things up from there and keep the momentum going. Learn and gain something of value, whether it’s the perfect template for your future marketing projects or simply discovering what and how to prioritize.
What are some examples of a digital comms campaign that a café owner can run?
Invent your own promotion for an occasion that matters to you — I love creating opportunities to celebrate a unique aspect of a café or team. You could also offer a deeper dive into the why/how of something! Reveal the behind-the-scenes for how it all came together, without trapping someone in the corner for a 2-hour storytime about all the work that actually went into it. Another personal favorite is cross-collaboration, which is an opportunity to work with partners who share values similar to your own. Coffee is an inherently team effort, as it passes through literal borders and so many people’s hands, equipment, and spaces before making it into the mug. 🙂
How does a thoughtful digital comms strategy promote business growth?
Developing the digital strategy often forces a team to think about reaching a goal (or set of goals). A thoughtful digital comms strategy means you have taken a moment to think about who you’re talking to, what you’re talking about, and how you’re saying it — it creates a solid foundation to look back on after you’ve tried different tactics over a set period of time. It’s super valuable because it shows and tells you what worked, what didn’t, what sucked to make, what was easy and fun to make, and what was crazy or kinda weird, but turned out to be your best idea yet.
Where can a café owner learn more about the best ways to stay in touch with their customers?
To find the best way to stay in touch with your specific customers, I’d encourage you to try asking them directly. Make a survey, and learn what they want to see from you and how they want to hear from you the most. Definitely ask them how they heard/learned about you once you’ve got multiple channels set up! If you have the resources to do more extensive research, that could be another chance to tap into a specialist – a bit of market research goes a long way.
To learn more, you can contact Ivana Chan through her website and buy tickets for Level Up on its website.
