2020. What a year. Coffee shops, as well as other eateries and hospitality businesses, have endured hell. Forced to close their doors or pivot their business offering in a way never imaged in order to survive, 2020 has thrown just about everything at us.
For many then, 2020 will have reduced footfall, custom, and revenue.
Luckily, Christmas is around the corner. A time of cheer, joy, and festivity. Many of your consumers will be on the lookout for seasonal promotions. So, why not give them what they want?
Help your customers see out 2020 in style with these fun promotions for your coffee shop.
Share in the Holiday Spirit
No matter the holiday in which you’re celebrating, be it Halloween or in this instance Christmas, it’s vital that your coffee shop gets involved with the community holiday spirit.
The possibilities are endless. However, the bare minimum that you should aim to achieve is to create a ‘themed’ environment for your coffee shop, for your customers to come and enjoy. This could just be through the inclusion of festive music, or perhaps the festive decoration of your shop as well - baubles and tinsel anyone? The point we’re trying to make is that customers don’t expect your coffee shop to turn into winter wonderland, but they will appreciate any effort you make.
Your coffee shop should scream to the highstreet that you’re open for Christmas business and ready to attract the weary shoppers in for a hot, recovery drink.
Create a Themed, Festive Product
Seasonal products are nothing new to coffee shops now, but that’s not to say you shouldn’t offer your own. It’s a tried and tested method of driving footfall to your café, increasing sales and increasing social engagement.
Use your creativity, add something new to the menu. Oftentimes, this can be derived from a current offering, but given a festive twist. For example, a gingerbread hot chocolate. If you’re stuck, there are a wide variety of festive coffees to choose from, known to be popular.
Additionally, you may consider creating festive food items for your customers. Seasonal cookies, embracing seasonal flavourings such as nutmeg, gingerbread and cinnamon, always go down a treat and are easy to make. However, there are other options such as mince pies and panettone, which may prove to be just as popular.
If you don’t have the time or resources to seasonalise your menu, contemplate decorating current offerings instead. This can be done through adding edible toppings to your drinks, or adopting festive designs when it comes to your latte art – a Christmas tree perhaps?
Run a Seasonal Social Media Competition
Your coffee shop should be regularly active on social media. If it isn’t, we’d highly suggest it. Christmas is the most important time of the year to have active social media profiles. It allows you to market your new festive drinks and food and make regular customers aware of any events or promotions taking place. It also allows your business to be tagged in ‘user-generated content’, which you may then decide to repost yourself.
Consider becoming a member of local groups, which adds to your community involvement and should allow you to target potential customers with marketing materials. It’s important to remember though that social media platforms, whilst they should be used to promote products, should also focus on brand awareness and building relationships with customers, through the creation of topical conversations.
However, it’s important to note that these competitions shouldn’t start and stop with social media. In order to reach as many customers as possible, you should be running the competition through your email and physical shop as well, for a fully integrated approach to the campaign!
Learn more about how your coffee shop can utilise social media and email marketing.
Partner Up With a Charity
Everyone knows that Christmas is the time of giving. If your coffee shop doesn’t have a regular charitable relationship already, this is the best time of the year to pursue one, showing that you’re dedicated to giving back to the community.
There are a number of ways your café can contribute to a charitable cause. Allocating a percentage of revenue gained from festive products or creating charitable gifts are two options.
By teaming up with a charitable organisation, customers are likely to view your shop favourably, compared to your competition.
Whoever or however you decide to help a charity, make sure that the partnership is visible. Put it on your outdoor sign. Shout about it to your social media followers, explain your chosen charities mission and encourage engagement. At the end of the campaign, let people know how much money you raised, so they can feel a sense of achievement or pride in knowing that they contributed to a great cause.
Reward Loyal Customers
The holidays are spent with those we cherish and appreciate. As a coffee shop owner, that should extend to your most loyal customers.
Now's a good time to show your customers you value them. Give them an extra incentive to keep coming back and tell their friends about your cafe.
Creating a Christmas loyalty card scheme is an easy way to increase return customers over the festive period. Simple matt-finish business cards with boxes to stamp aren’t expensive. Of course, when you’re giving away free drinks or food, you’re reducing your profit margin a touch, but the extra custom will likely make up the difference.
Alternatively, consider sending out a Christmas mailer to your loyal customer base with a unique Christmas discount code.
Make Christmas Work for You
No matter what you decide to do this Christmas to help promote your shop, remember to be creative! Chances are, most shops on your highstreet will be as switched on when it comes to promoting for Christmas - you need to ensure that you stand out from the crowd.
If you employ your resources and platforms to incorporate the holidays in ways that are fun and engaging for your customers, you’ll reap the rewards this Christmas.
If you think there are any promotional activities we’ve missed out on or would like to share with us your favourite promotion technique, tag us on social media @nationwidecoffee.