One of the challenges we've had trying to run the cafe during our first proper winter season is determining how much advertising to do; what to say; where to place it and; when to place it. Whilst we still have 4 more crucial days remaining I have learnt a few things:
1) concise messages highlighting a specific product/ service are far more productive than general overviews.
2) the classic statement, "I know 50% of advertising works I just don't know which 50%" is so very true.
3) longevity or shelf-life of the media you use is incredibly important for a small business.
4) using various media is essential.
Our decision resulted in us purchasing local press space (qtr pages over the course of 3 weeks) highlighting some of the retail products, roadside signage stating we had gift baskets, gift certificates and our usual offer of buy 1lb of coffee get any drink free. Radio was used - a Christian station called Shine FM - providing us with 120 15-second slots to briefly encourage people to stop by. We used google ads and I added Christmas gift ideasto the news section of our website.
So, what worked? It's all down to the quality of your message and a certain amount of luck. The luck part meaning the decision by media companies to decide where your ad is positioned. Both local press and radio have no interest in committing to specifics. Media planning out here is not an option. It's infuriating. The roadside ads are a huge puller but do nothing to make your message feel like quality.
The only figures I can judge the above on is our sales and the visits to the website. And so far they're both looking ok.
Other marketing areas have been a huge learning curve too. From position of product instore, pricing, signage,through to creating gift baskets and determining size with price point.
Interesting enough, our push back in Oct/Nov to highlight the cafe as the perfect venue for Christmas parties has been a huge success (roadside ads and local paper plus signage in-store). Around 10 were booked with half taking us close to our maximum capacity. This important revenue stream has exposed new faces to haven and even generated some good retail sales.
One thing we did do properly was bring in ample supplies. I wanted to avoid any issue of selling out so having the liquidity from sales over the year to help us stock up was vital.
I will be honest though and say that I learnt this Christmas that we are a cafe first and a retailer second. It is taking long enough for people to discover us as a cafe, let alone realize we offer Christmas gifts as well! I just need to keep reminding myself that we're only 1 year old!
Saturday, December 20
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