My Coffee Pro

Google Plus Coffee Guru My Coffee Pro

MyCoffeePro — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 22:58:14 +0000

I want to become the Coffee Guru of Google Plus … will you help by circling the My Coffee Pro Google Plus Page?

Pay It Forward … with Coffee

MyCoffeePro — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 15:21:18 +0000

Pay It Forward Coffee

My buddy Jennifer over at dailydemitasse.com had a nice post for the new year.

Pay it forward and buy a stranger a coffee to start their week off right. Doing something nice not only give someone you don’t know a surprise, it doesn’t hurt knowing you’ve made that happen.

When you take part, Please share with a link to this post. Tweet #PayItWithCoffee Mondays or comment on Facebook with #PayItWithCoffee Mondays.Buy a stranger a coffee to pay it forward and start their week off right. If you’re checking in on Foursquare, tell everyone on there “Buy a stranger a coffee to pay it forward and start their week off right #PayItWithCoffee Mondays.”

Read it all here

Coffee & Marketing to Your Customers

MyCoffeePro — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 18:01:35 +0000

A word cloud based on what I talk about the most via my blog and social media.

https://plus.google.com/u/0/104226133029319075907/posts/4GvofuG3YTT

Join me on Google+ http://gotoplus.me/mycoffeepro

My Coffee Pro at Cafe Moto

MyCoffeePro — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 14:38:26 +0000

It’s official, I start my new job at Cafe Moto today. They happen to be a large roaster here in San Diego. I hope to put all of my coffee experience and skills to the test and help expand and organize this company over the coming months and years.

Check out our Cafe Moto Facebook Page

Follow Cafe Moto on Twitter

Wish me luck

13 Coffee Shop Marketing Halloween Treats

MyCoffeePro — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 05:06:54 +0000

Did you know that Halloween is the third largest party occasion, after New Year’s and The Super Bowl? Halloween generates $2.5 billion in sales … $500 million are spent on costumes alone.

Wondering how you can make sure your coffee business gets a sweet piece of that treat? Here’s a little list of marketing ideas to get you started:

Donate coffee and refreshments to the radio staff at the biggest Haunted House (or hayride, or corn-maze, Halloween attraction whatever it is) in your area … you’re bound to get mentioned on air.
Really play on the “I’m a Zombie before My First Coffee” theme … how far can you take that idea and run with it?
Give away a free pound of coffee to anyone coming in on Halloween in a costume that ties into your branding, or whatever theme you choose … make sure you’re pretty specific on what the costume can and can’t be and don’t forget to take plenty of photos to post into social media.
Have a Great Pumpkin donation/giveaway contest: For a $1 or more donation, customers get to enter their name in a giveaway of a giant pumpkin (proudly displayed in your shop until it’s won). All donations go to a local charity in the spirit of the season.
Host a Halloween Party … with contests for best/scariest/creative costumes of course. Try to get some neighboring businesses to join with you and make it a block party that the kids can go from business to business trick or treating.
Throw a Haunted Halloween Sale … from Midnight until 2am, 31% Off!
Promote a “Coffee Killer” video contest where entrants submit their “coffee killer” themed videos to your YouTube channel and the winner gets a very nice Grand Prize … like a trip to an origin country and visit to a coffee farm.
Send out a few costumed employees to hand out Free Drink coupons.
Decorate everywhere for Halloween. Don’t stop with store decorations, put Halloween stickers on to-go cups, give your website a Halloween touch, and don’t forget your email marketing campaigns … give them trick or treat discount codes. Get creative … draw a skeleton hand on the sidewalk pointing into your shop … or a chalk outline of a dead person with a spilled coffee facing away from your shop.
Give out chocolate covered coffee beans to any adults in costume on Halloween.
Why leave the gift baskets to Christmas? I say buy a few skull and pumpkin mugs and make up some Halloween baskets!
Have your baker make special pastries that are ONLY available during the last 13 days counting down to Halloween (Lady’s Fingers anyone?).
Create 13 Spooky Specials … for 13 days counting down to Halloween have a different Spooky Special of the Day.

What do you do different and unique for marketing your coffee shop at Halloween?

7 Steps to Increase Coffee Customer Loyalty

MyCoffeePro — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 16:05:00 +0000

In today’s coffee marketplace, it’s essential that you have some form of a customer database … and that you routinely use and update that database. Google “customer database software” and choose what works best for your coffee business and situation.

Once you’ve entered all your customers into your database, analyze it’s information and segment your customers into buying groups. I personally like to use 4 groups: 1. Platinum, 2. Gold, 3. Silver, and 4. Bronze; categorized by their spending habits of Recency, Frequency, and Monetary (RFM formula –see below).

Now create and use your Customer Loyalty program with the following tips:

1. Know Them

Note their names, their families names, their birthdays, their specific preferences or special needs. You can use this information to interact and keep in touch with them.

2. Inform Them

Which of them would appreciate knowing that you’ve just received that special something they always ask for? If you get in a complimentary item to something they’ve purchased from you in the past, contact them to see if they’d be interested in the new item.

3. Help Them

Write a weekly or monthly newsletter to relay any pertinent information you think might affect their lives. If you’re sharing valuable information with your customers then they will think of you as a great resource and welcome your communications with them.

4. Surprise Them

Send your best customers a special coupon or a little birthday or anniversary gift. Make sure this falls outside of any "loyalty" program you already have in place so they’ll view and value it as a true gift from you.

5. Delight Them

Go above and beyond birthday and anniversary cards and gifts. Inform your customer’s significant other that you have great items in stock so that they can surprise their loved one on this upcoming occasion. Got a new item that you think compliments something they’ve purchased from you in the past? A special occasion is a great excuse to offer them your new item as a free sample. If it truly is something complimentary and suites their tastes, they might start ordering both items on a regular basis.

6. Thank Them

The most powerful words in the English language are "Please" and "Thank you". Make sure you use these words regularly in all your communications with your customers. Try sending a hand-written thank you letter after any major purchase.

7. Reward Them

Everyone loves to be recognized for their loyalty and value to you. Make sure you have an incentive or loyalty program in place (i.e. buy 10, get 1 free) and link it to that trusty database so you can give them something extra special on their birthday or anniversary … just for being loyal.

Always remember:

If you’re loyal to your customers, they’ll be loyal to you.

Follow this link, the RFM Formula, to learn more about how to use it with your customer data in your marketing campaigns.

Top 10 Funny Coffee Quotes

MyCoffeePro — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 20:55:04 +0000

I was going to do one of those lists of funny coffee quotes, but a couple of my coffee blog buddies beat me to it.

So I decided to pick ten out of their lists to share with you.

I’d stop drinking coffee, but I’m no quitter. ~Author unkown
Caffeine isn’t a drug, it’s a vitamin! ~Author unknown
Decaf? No, it’s dangerous to dilute my caffeine stream. ~Author unknown
Sleep is a symptom of caffeine deprivation. ~Author unkown
Do I like my coffee black? There are other colors? ~Author unknown
Man does not live by coffee alone. Have a danish. ~Author unknown
If it ain’t caffeinated, it ain’t coffee! ~Author unkown
Retirement is one great big giant coffee break. ~Author unknown
I never drink coffee at lunch. I find it keeps me awake for the afternoon. ~Ronald Reagan
Way too much coffee. But if it weren’t for the coffee, I’d have no identifiable personality whatsoever. ~David Letterman

Here are the “funny coffee” posts from my coffee buddies I mentioned earlier:

Jennifer Vaaler

http://dailydemitasse.com/2010/08/26-funny-coffee-quotes/

Mike Crimmins

http://dailyshotofcoffee.com/16-of-the-best-coffee-quotes/

5 Coffee Shop Holiday Marketing Ideas

MyCoffeePro — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 01:43:13 +0000

I know what you’re thinking “holiday marketing? it’s only September!” … yes, but now is the time to get your holiday marketing planned out and all your preparations in order so that you can effectively launch and run with these ideas.

1. Have “13 Spooky Specials”, “30 Days of Thanks”, “12 Coffees of Christmas” specials: Each day until Halloween/Thanksgiving/Christmas, have a different Holiday Drink Special at a special price. This exposes your customers to more of your product offerings and gets them to try new things. You can read my article here “12 Coffees of Christmas” to see I utilized this concept to review some of our local coffee shops for Christmas.

2. Decorate your retail & online presence: Don’t just decorate your physical store, this is a great time to put up some customized graphics on your website too … and don’t forget to do the same with your email marketing, newsletters, and print materials if you can afford it.

3. Have a Holiday Photo Contest: Have customers submit their holiday photos via your company Facebook page and “tag” themselves and your business in the photo, then randomly draw out winners from the submissions. For Halloween, you could have “Scariest Costume” or “Cutest Pet Costume”. For Christmas, you could have “Best Santa” or “Best Present”. Promote the contest both online and in your store.

4. Create a Holiday Charity Tree: Buy a bunch of cheap ornaments (or print out paper ones) and give them out to customers that donate $1 or more to a local charity, have the customers write their name on the ornament and hang it on the tree. An alternative is to buy nice ornaments, not let the customer write anything on them, and reuse the ornaments every year (not as wasteful). If you want to get really adventurous, you could have a separate tree and ornaments each month for each separate holiday!

5. Give out Party Favors with each purchase: Wrapped candies work for any and all of the 3 major holidays … like jolly ranchers for Halloween, candy corn for Thanksgiving, and candy canes for Christmas.

Don’t forget to promote your holiday marketing events everywhere you can … send out press releases, email blasts, in-store posters/flyers, and make sure all your staff are talking about them and building buzz too.

Are You Listening to Your Coffee Customers?

MyCoffeePro — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 12:50:00 +0000

What’s the difference between “hearing” and “listening” to your customers?

Hearing is a passive role, while listening is an active participation as part of a dialog.

By taking the time to actually listen to your customers wants and needs, you create a foundation to build your relationship deeper and richer … leading to an increase in the life-time value of those customers to your coffee business.

Actively creating a dialog with your customers ensures that your coffee business continues to grow and not only meets, but exceeds your customer’s needs.

How do you create such a dialog?

Conduct a survey. Use a “Customer Suggestions” box. Make it part of your employee’s basic daily tasks to ask how customers are doing and if everything was to their satisfaction and/or what can be improved. Use the your receipts to drive customers online to fill out a survey and enter a drawing for a chance to win a reward. Ask some of your most valued customers to become part of an advisory board and offer the members a special discount for participating. Get involved with social media and listen to what your customers are saying about you and your coffee company … just remember that social media is a dialog, not just another platform to broadcast your ads.

3 Keys to Listening:

1. Listen. Truly listen … don’t start thinking of a response, don’t start thinking of solutions yet … simply listen.

2. Repeat. Repeat back what they’ve said and ensure that’s what the customer was trying to communicate.

3. Clarify. Ask open-ended questions to get to the heart of the matter. After you’ve offered a solution, ask more questions to ensure it satisfies the situation. Use the tried and true staple questions: Who, What, When, Where and How.

Now get out there and create a dialog with your coffee customers!

Open your ears, clear your mind … and listen.

Postcards for Coffee Marketing Success

chasemann — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 17:55:00 +0000

Why should your coffee business use postcards to market?

Postcards are extremely cheap to print in full-color from online digital printers and for a little extra investment, some will rent or sell you a mailing list and even address and mail them for you while offering bulk postage rates.

Here’s a short list of other reasons to consider marketing your coffee shop with postcards:

1. Simplicity: a postcard has to get someone’s attention as they’re going through the mail. Simple headlines work best. Make believe that every word is costing you $1,000. Example headlines: “Need More Coffee?”, “50% off Sale!”, “Happy Birthday !”

2. Timeliness: you can print postcards in small batches in order to effectively target the right customer at the right time. Remind customers that it’s time for another pound of beans, or it’s been a while since they’ve visited your store and you miss them, or even just to wish them a happy birthday.

3. Double-Sided: it’s good for the front of your postcard to pose a question and the back of it to answer that question. Or use the front side like a poster and the backside to list details for an event or promotion.

4. Attractiveness: no envelopes. No gimmicks. An attractive postcard will be kept around … especially if it has a discount.

5. Measurability: a postcard can be a coupon, a gift certificate, or a ticket to an event. Ask customers to present the coupon to take advantage of an offer or promotion. Tracking your postcards helps you measure the effectiveness of your promotions.

For a few postcard marketing ideas, you may read my previous post, 14 Coffee Marketing ideas for Direct Mail & More.

A postage-paid postcard can increase response rates up to 8%!