Cafe and Coffee Shop Marketing
Attract extra customers to your cafe or coffee shop, and increase sales, with a free and ethical marketing strategy.
You do this by hosting a Free or Donate bookstall at your venue and raising money for a local charity. Your customers can take a book for free or donate any amount they think is fair.
Free marketing strategy
A bookstall is a great way to promote your cafe or coffee shop for free.
Free press coverage
A free book offer can lead to a large amount of valuable free publicity in the local press, which is one of the main ways this promotion strategy will increase customers and sales.
You can be "the cafe or coffee shop that gives away free books".
Free social media marketing plan
Giving away free books is viral content that will be widely shared by your followers. It costs you nothing and is a great social media marketing strategy for cafe or coffee shop owners.
Why spend money on expensive Facebook or Instagram ads?
Free guerrilla marketing
If you're looking for creative advertising ideas with real impact, you could also give away free books at random locations that are close to your cafe or coffee shop.
Use books that have been donated to your bookstall for this.
For example, if there is a local park nearby with lots of people walking about, you could leave a book on a bench with a "Free Book" sticky note attached.
Inside the book you can write a message that invites people to find more free books at your bookstall. This is a great way to attract customers to your premises.
For maximum effect, you could also give away a free cup of coffee if they return the book.
Increase foot traffic and sales
Knowing how to increase foot traffic (footfall) in your cafe or coffee shop, without spending any money on advertising, is the key to unlocking the full potential of your business.
A Free or Donate book offer is a simple way to boost foot traffic, and increase sales as a result.
Ethical marketing strategy
Importantly, a Free or Donate bookstall will also boost your ethical credentials.
Support a charity
Most customers value corporate social responsibility very highly, and supporting a local charity is an effective way to do this, and increase community engagement.
Sustainability
A bookstall encourages the reuse of secondhand books, saving them from landfill and helping the environment.
Start a bookstall
If you'd like to start a bookstall and attract customers to your cafe or coffee shop with a really effective marketing plan, please see the following page.
Other marketing ideas
There are many other general cafe and coffee shop promotion ideas of course.
It could be a loyalty program to reward customers with free drinks, happy hour discounts, giving away free samples, collaborating with local businesses or hosting community events.
All of these can still be used in addition to starting a Free or Donate bookstall.