How to get more customers in your cafe
People love to explore new cafes which has led to new ones springing up on nearly every street corner. This has added to competition within the restaurant trade which means new cafe owners will need to overcome quite a few hurdles in order to establish a reliable customer base.
To operate efficiently and at the same time bring something new to the table is an absolute necessity if you want to stand out from your competition. To help you understand the key to achieving your goals and establishing yourself, we have come up with a few things you should try.
1. Promotions and marketing through referrals
Of course, every new business needs to be promoted to get itself known in the market. Of all the best ways of marketing, referral marketing is the unbeatable way of getting an audience for your business.
Nothing works better than a recommendation who someone who has experienced the service in real-time. This way you will be able to build a chain of loyal customers.
Add incentives to grab attention, after all, who doesn’t love a good deal as well as delicious food? Some good examples are “bring a friend, and get a 30% discount on your next visit!” And if you wish to take it up a notch, you could add something unique with your own creativity or maybe offer a free tea or coffee for first-time customers.
Referral programs are a proven method of generating extraordinary results. Give it a try!
2. Emphasising reviews
With social media playing such a big role in life these days, most people will visit a review page first before actually visiting the place. This means if you fail to make an impression with your reviews you could lose prospective customers.
So encourage great reviews. However, you will not get glowing reviews just by providing excellent service to your customers, you will have to ask them them to leave a review. You can further promote this exercise by adding a few incentives or make it real-time during the billing process.
This will not only get your customers' feedback but will also allow you to analysis any flaws in your services, if any. Use this as inspiration and work on providing better a experience for your customers.
3. A strong social media presence
As I said, the power of social media is paramount in this world so you need to build a solid presence across all the channels you think your target audience will be following. You can't attract customers just by having a presence, you need to stay active and keep all your profiles regularly update with recently activities and news from your cafe.
For example, regularly share any stories added by people visiting and interact with people via comments and DMs.
4. Power of collaborations
If you look at the success stories of nearby cafes, you will discover campaigns in which they collaborated with non-competing businesses, such as a beauty salon, spa or a book shop. Customer are often given discount coupons or vouchers to use at any partner businesses - usually given once the customer has paid his or her bill.
This happens both ways, so people visiting your collaboration partner will also get a discount to use at your cafe. You will be able to tap new markets that weren’t in your target area.
5. Host events
If you can host an event which features a performance from a band, singer or a famous personality, it will be a game-changer. We have already discussed the influence of social media on your business and clearly the personality or band you will host will also have a comparatively bigger social media presence.
This will give you access to a wider audience and a chance to create a buzz both before and after the event. If utilised wisely, this can be the breakthrough you need to establish a loyal customer base.
6. Taking online orders
With the advent of technology and online ordering apps, the food market has completely changed. To eat your restaurant’s special lasagna or pasta customers don’t have to come to you physically now. Everything is digitalised and if you are not, then it's a huge setback in your progress.
You must also adapt to this changing trend and start taking orders online. Additionally, invest in a credible and efficient online ordering system and sign-up on all the online delivery applications out there.
Over to you…
The cafe business is quite saturated, and if you want to cut through it, be successful and make profits, you must offer something that others aren’t. You need to have your own unique selling proposition, and I am sure the above article will help you find that!
