Café marketing: 20 ideas that bring in more regulars

The best marketing for a café is whatever makes customers come back next week. It is less about ads and more about what happens at the counter: that you recognise people, that the coffee is just as good every time and that there is a reason to choose you tomorrow as well.

Here are 20 ideas that cost little and can be tested in a week. They are sorted into four groups: in the café, in the neighbourhood, online and with a loyalty programme.

In the café

Most of a café's marketing happens where the customer is already standing. It is easier to bring back someone who has been in once than to attract a brand new customer, so start here.

1. 1

   Learn your regulars' orders

   “Oat latte as usual?” is the cheapest marketing there is. Ask your staff to notice the customers who come in several times a week and what they usually have. Jot it down on a note behind the counter until it sticks.

2. 2

   Make the menu readable in seconds

   Customers decide while they queue. Fewer lines, clear prices and two or three items you highlight make it easier to try something new. Take off anything that hardly ever sells.

3. 3

   Offer free wifi without the hassle

   Put a QR code on the tables so customers connect with one scan instead of asking for the password. Anyone who has worked or studied at your café once is happy to come back to the same table.

4. 4

   Have a bake of the day

   One item that changes every day, written on a board by the till, gives regulars something new to try and your staff something to talk about. It does not need to be elaborate: a new flavour of cake will do.

5. 5

   Let the window and the smell do the work

   Bake or warm something up when the most people are walking past, and put your best things in the window. A café that looks lively from the street gets more people through the door.

Make the menu with our free café menu maker, and the wifi code with the wifi QR code generator. Both print as ready-made posters.

In the neighbourhood

1. 1

   Offer nearby offices coffee and cake

   Take a simple menu round the offices, salons and shops within a few streets. A regular Friday order for one office can become a big weekly order, and the people who work there find their way to you on other days too.

2. 2

   Swap posters with a neighbour

   Put up a small sign for the gym or bookshop next door and ask them to do the same for you. You both reach people who are already in the area, and it costs nothing.

3. 3

   Put a sign out on the pavement

   A short, funny line and the bake of the day on an A-board make passers-by stop. Change the text often so regulars read it every time. Check with your local council which rules apply to signs on public pavements.

4. 4

   Join in when something happens in the area

   A car boot sale, a market or the end of the school year: a small table outside with coffee, or an offer for anyone who comes in that day, helps new customers find you.

5. 5

   Fill the quiet hours with people who live nearby

   A morning coffee for parents on parental leave, a knitting group or a book club on a quiet afternoon. It gives the empty hours a purpose and gives local people a reason to come every week.

Online

1. 1

   Keep your Google profile up to date

   The right opening hours, a photo of today's bakes and replies to reviews. Lots of people look for their next café on the map on their phone, so your profile is often the first thing they see of you.

2. 2

   Ask for reviews with a QR code

   When a customer says the coffee was good, ask for a review. A QR code by the till takes them straight to your review page. Never offer anything in return, and ask every customer, not just the ones you think are happy. Otherwise you break Google's rules.

3. 3

   Post what is new today

   A quick photo or video of this morning's buns on Instagram or Facebook is enough. What matters is that you post often and that it shows your café, not stock photos.

4. 4

   Show the people behind the counter

   Let customers get to know the barista, the baker and the owner. People come back to faces they recognise, even if they have only seen them in a photo.

5. 5

   Reply to everything

   Reply to comments, messages and reviews within a day. A friendly line to someone who complains shows every other reader how you look after your customers.

Make the review code with our Google review QR code generator. Paste in the link from your Google Business Profile and print the poster.

Loyalty

A loyalty programme makes the habit visible. Every stamp shows customers they are working towards something, and the reward gives them a concrete reason to choose your café over the one on the corner. Here are five ways to make it work day to day.

1. 1

   Start a loyalty card with 8 to 10 stamps

   For a daily coffee habit, 8 to 10 stamps is often about right. What many people call a stamp card or punch card, we call a loyalty card, and it can be on paper or sit in the customer's Apple Wallet or Google Wallet.

2. 2

   Choose a reward customers want

   A free coffee is clear and simple. Coffee and cake for two or a bag of coffee beans can feel more generous. What matters is that the reward can be explained in one sentence.

3. 3

   Mention it with every purchase

   “Do you have our loyalty card? Every tenth coffee is free.” Without that sentence at the till, fewer people sign up, however nice the poster looks.

4. 4

   Send a reminder when it is quiet

   With a digital loyalty card you can send a push notification to cardholders on a rainy Tuesday, for example some news or an offer that is only valid today. In Stampioo, push campaigns are included in Pro.

5. 5

   Celebrate when the card is full

   Make a moment of the redemption: congratulate the customer and ask what they would like. With a digital card, a new card starts automatically once the reward is redeemed, so the habit carries on.

You can start with a printable café loyalty card and find more suggestions among our reward ideas for cafés.

Which ideas should you start with?

If you only have time for three: learn the orders, put up a review code by the till and start a loyalty card your staff mention with every purchase. The three work together. Customers feel recognised, new customers find you and the habit gets a reward.

How to tell if it is working

Café marketing does not need to be measured with sophisticated tools. Write down a few figures before you start and compare them after four weeks:

• How many customers have joined the loyalty programme, and how many of them have come back?
• How many new reviews have you had, and what do customers write about?
• How do sales on your quietest day compare with before?
• Which idea got the most customers talking at the till?

Keep what is moving in the right direction and replace the rest. It is better to run five ideas well every week than to try twenty just once.

Want to see how a digital loyalty programme works in a café, from the QR code by the till to push notifications? Read more on our page for cafés.