17 Common Coffeeshop Advertising Venues and How They Stack Up

What is advertising?

Advertising: a form of communication used to encourage or persuade an audience (viewers, readers or listeners) to continue or take some new action.

Aside from the obvious fact that the above ad would not work in today’s marketplace, did it work at all in its own day? That is a difficult question to answer from my perspective, but I’m sure someone somewhere in some boardroom asked that question of the people who placed the ad. They probably also asked for proof of the ad’s effectiveness before giving permission to continue it. Do you do the same for your advertising dollars? And how do you define success advertising? Remember, anything you spend time and/or money on to promote your business may be classified as advertising.

Everyone says they are the best

Advertising in the coffee business, retail coffee shops in particular, can be difficult to execute and even more difficult to evaluate the success of. Many businesses want your advertising dollars and you must choose who gets them, if any.

People will come out of the woodwork, especially when you first open your store and tell you why their advertising medium will, “Reach 50,000 people”, “Is better than the competition because…” or give you a relevant-or-not reason to get a check from you. What they tell you is most times true, but it doesn’t mean that it will be affordable and effective for you.

Advertising fundamentals

So how do you know whether a specific medium of advertising works and should you invest your time and money into it?

• Evaluate the Investment - Just because something “only” costs you time doesn’t mean you can afford it. Time is money, and where you spend yours should yield a fair return. Time spent on unproductive actions is a real loss. Money spent on advertising must yield measurable and profitable results.
• Determine your Goals - Success is typically defined as gains in market share, gross revenues, or profits. But some advertising falls outside these criteria and may be desirable, important or even essential to your business. Any retail store without even a modest website would be considered lacking, or even irrelevant, except in unusual circumstances. You may not be able to gauge the sales a website brings in, but you certainly wouldn’t want to be without one.
• Establish your Plan - The age-old adage “He who fails to plan, plans to fail” has stood the test of time for a reason. Putting together a 10 year plan is probably not realistic, but yearly plans are a must. How will you know a good opportunity, or whether it fits into your budget, if you haven’t previously considered your options? If you don’t plan you may miss valuable opportunities or waste money on a smooth salesman’s pitch for an ineffective product.
• Evaluate the Results - What is planning without evaluation? Your plans are what you think will happen. Course correction is what you do in the middle of plan execution. Post mortem or effectiveness review is what you do after the fact. You thought something would bring in 100 new customers, but it didn’t bring in 1. Without reviewing systems in place, you’ll do the same thing the next year with your great plan. And it will be the same money wasting effort.

Reasons and methods of advertising

1. Awareness - You may be a new business and no one knows you exist. You may have added a new product line and need to get the word out so your demographic knows you now sell this particular item. These are probably the best reasons to do actual print advertising. A short-to-mid term effective newspaper ad, local magazine ad, billboard or other print method could bring real value and awareness where time alone would take too long.
2. Reminder - Some locations or markets may require a more steady print presence showing that you still exist, still care and are bringing your mad skills to the market everyday. This is typically not as valuable or essential for a coffee shop, but it’s not a hard and fast rule.
3. Build your brand - If you own multiple stores, are looking to add a store or want to sell your concept, building brand awareness can add real value. It may or may not be reflected in actual sales as much as maintaining those sales.
4. Aggressive competition - You may have local competition wanting to duke it out in the advertising world and pressure you to play the game. Be careful of this because you can spend a lot of money very quickly in an area that may not be building long-term value for you and your business.
5. Healthy positive image - Some people believe advertising so much that they feel that if you advertise you must be doing well. Me, on the other hand, not so much.

Coffeeshop advertising venues and grade for each

Some of the venues listed below are free to participate in. This typically makes using them a no brainer. Many advertisers will pressure clients to offer discounts, buy-one-get-one, or other specials, but by offering discounts you enter the discount world. One day you may look at the erosion of your profit margin and say “enough”. But because you’ve trained everyone to judge you based on discount, not quality, you’ll lose. Discounting gives a feel of desperation, where branding yourself shows confidence.
(taking into account average investment, return on investment, effectiveness and relevance not related to a one time event such as store opening):

1. Magazine (local) – C
2. Newspaper (local) – C-
3. Radio (local) – C-
4. Phone book - E
5. Cable TV - D-
6. Billboard - C
7. Movie theater (pre-movie commercial) - D+
8. Entertainment Book (BOGO) - B
9. Local BOGO coupon book for school, non-profit, etc. - B
10. Website - A
11. Website coupons (on your own website) - F
12. Online Banner ads – E
13. Online directories (those that list coffee shops, free wifi, etc.) - A-
14. Direct mailers and mail coupons - C-
15. Social media – spending time on Facebook, Yelp, Foursquare, Twitter and others - B+
16. Specific coupons or other deals with local college, church, group, non-profit, etc. - A
17. Best advertising venues – donations, gift cards, free product and more to support local non-profits, charitable organizations, church, school or other related groups. - A+

It may not be advertising proper, but great customer service, great product, smiling faces, clean bathrooms and an inviting atmosphere in your store is the best advertising you can do. Do those and watch people become your best advertisers – literally walking billboards promoting your store. While appropriate and effective advertising can add value, using common sense to run a great store is your best advertising investment - A+++