A friend of mine recently opened a cafe selling Chinese tea. He’s a tea connoisseur. The cafe also sells desserts, simple meals and coffee. One issue is the cafe is situated in a small mall that doesn’t have alot of traffic. So a good part of the marketing will have to involve drawing people there. As an exercise, I brainstormed a little about what he can do to market his cafe.

Here’s my notes:

  1. Ask customers to like their FB page on the spot and get a discount when they pay.
  2. Foursquare checkin: Mayor gets a discount
  3. Facebook/Foursquare checkin: Get a discount
  4. Invite food bloggers to write reviews. Locals with Twitter accounts too.
  5. Give out stickers/decals
  6. Run an email newsletter. The goal here is not to sell the cafe, but to become an authority in terms of tea as well as matters related to potential customers (such as health, etc). Content can incude tea, tea appreciation, tea knowledge, lifestyle related stuff, including festivities.
  7. Free wifi, with login page showing promotions and interesting information
  8. Run bundles with neighbouring shops, especially restaurants. The neighbours are also taking a hit because of the low traffic. It’s in their best interest to pool resources and work together.
  9. Good old pamphlet by the road. Give this out yourself and get an opportunity to talk to people and see their reaction.
  10. Host meetups of small groups
  11. Groupon-style daily deals, but only when there is a good product.

A braindump on content marketing and newsletter topics:

  • Coffee vs tea
  • Infographic, such as types of tea
  • How to differentiate between good and bad tea
  • Pairing tea with different food
  • Benefits of tea
  • Debunk myths and misunderstandings of tea
  • Out-teach people about tea and related stuff
  • Who likes tea? What else would they like. Talk about those
  • Tea in different cultures/countries/regions
  • How to brew a good pot of tea. The “true” way, as well as the quick and simple way
  • Drinking tea is healthy, so talk about health, food, exercise, sleeping habits, etc
  • Bundle in gift packs and hampers