28 marketing ideas for your café
Written for owners, not marketers: every idea is specific, free or nearly free, and most take under 30 minutes. Grouped by what you are trying to make happen.
More customers this month
Win the 'coffee near me' photo test
Add five photos to your Google Business Profile, all shot at 11am in daylight: the drink in a hand, the seating, the counter, the front door from the pavement, the cake case. That strip decides between you and the café on the next corner.
About 45 min
Count regulars, not covers
For a week, mark every customer as a first-timer, an occasional or a regular. Cafés live on the third column. The split tells you whether to chase new faces or look after the ones already walking in.
About 0 min extra
Post the drink at the hour people want it
Shoot your signature drink in daylight and post it at 8am and again at 2:30pm, the two moments people decide. Caption it with a review quote and one instruction: 'we're open, come and sit down.'
About 20 min
Reply to every review, name the barista
Answer every Google review from the last three months and name whoever served them. It reads as a real place run by real people, and active profiles rank higher in local search.
About 30 min
Turn the loyalty card into a list
Swap the paper stamp card for one that asks for a number or an email: 'tenth coffee free, and we'll message you when the new beans land.' A café's list is its cheapest table-filler, forever.
About 20 min
Get on the office coffee run
Take a tray of samples into the three biggest workplaces within a five-minute walk and offer a standing order with a group price. One office round is a dozen coffees at the same time, every working day.
About 45 min
Read the week and double down
Read your regulars tally. Mostly first-timers? Fix the reason they don't come back: speed, seat, welcome. Mostly regulars? You have a footfall problem, not a coffee problem. Different problem, different week.
About 10 min
Fill my quiet days
Find the flat hour
Pull last month's takings by hour. Most cafés have a hole between the lunch rush and school pick-up. Name it exactly (say Monday to Wednesday, 2–4pm) and point everything this week at that hole.
About 10 min
Make the quiet hour a working hour
That hole is your best asset for anyone with a laptop: a 2–4pm price on coffee and cake, plugs, no time limit, and WiFi you can honestly call fast. Say the speed out loud: that's what they're choosing on.
About 20 min
Tell the morning queue about the afternoon
The people already buying your 8am flat white are the cheapest to move. A line at the till, a card in the bag, one message to your list: 'afternoons are ours now, here's why.'
About 25 min
Book the quiet hour out
Offer the window free to a local group that needs a room: a book club, a baby group, a knitting night, a language exchange. Ten people who'd otherwise be nowhere become ten drinks and a photo.
About 30 min
Post the sunny corner the night before
Shoot the empty window table in good light and post it at 8pm with 'tomorrow from two'. Everyone who hates queuing is a customer you can only ever win at an off-peak hour.
About 20 min
Serve it and ask
On the day, mention the afternoon deal to every morning customer and ask each afternoon arrival what brought them in. You're testing something, not hoping for something.
About 0 min extra
Judge it on the till, not the vibe
Compare the 2–4pm take with the same hours last week. Better? Lock it in for a month and get it on the A-board. Flat? Change the offer, not the hours: the hours need repeating before they stick.
About 10 min
Want these as a day-by-day plan instead of a list? The free 7-day plan arranges them for your exact goal, no account needed.
Launch something new
Say what it is in one sentence
Finish this: 'it's [what], for [who], and you'll love it because [the one specific thing].' 'New single-origin from Rwanda, tastes of blackcurrant' beats 'exciting new coffee' every single time.
About 20 min
Tease the bag, not the cup
Post the unopened bag, the grinder being dialled in, the cupping spoons, and a day. Curiosity does the work for free, and coffee drinkers genuinely enjoy the build-up.
About 15 min
Pull free shots for the regulars
Give your regulars and your list a taste the day before and ask what they can taste. They'll write your tasting notes for you and tell three people each that they had it first.
About 20 min
Launch it on the board and on Google
Reveal at 8am: best daylight photo, your one-liner, the price said plainly, one ask: 'come and try it'. Write it on the A-board and add it as a Google post within the hour.
About 30 min
Post the first person who loved it
Photograph the first customer's reaction with their permission, or screenshot the first message about it. One real person is worth any amount of your own description.
About 15 min
Catch the people who missed it
Second post three days in: different photo, same sentence: 'still on, still tasting like blackcurrant.' Most orders come from the reminder, not the reveal.
About 15 min
Count cups, not likes
How many did you sell, at what margin, and did anyone order it twice? Repeat orders are the only vote that counts in a café. Keep it, re-price it, or take it off the board.
About 15 min
Get known locally
Same café on every map
Make yourself identical on Google, Apple Maps, Instagram, Facebook and any local guide: same name, same photo, same hours, same phone. A café with wrong bank-holiday hours loses those customers permanently.
About 45 min
Choose the thing you're best at
Pick one thing to be known for (the coffee, the cheese toastie, the dogs welcome, the quiet) and lean into it in most of what you post. Famous for one beats fine at everything.
About 15 min
Introduce the people behind the machine
Post your baristas: names, how long they've been with you, their own drink. People come back for someone who remembers their order, and this is the post that reliably travels furthest locally.
About 25 min
Be useful in the local groups
Join the two or three community feeds where your town talks and be genuinely helpful (answer, recommend, congratulate) without ever advertising. That's who gets tagged under 'anywhere good for coffee?'
About 20 min
Team up with the shop next door
Do one real collaboration with a nearby non-competitor: their cake in your case, your coffee at their late opening, a shared loyalty card. Two audiences, no spend, borrowed trust in both directions.
About 30 min
Give people something to photograph
One wall, one mug, one line on the cup that people repeat. Then a small card on the table: 'tag us. We repost our favourites.' Your customers become your media channel and they do it for free.
About 25 min
Keep the drumbeat
Three posts a week (one from behind the counter, one drink or dish, one human) and ten minutes a day answering every comment, review and tag. Six weeks of rhythm is what makes a café somebody's default.
About 20 min
Or stop doing this alone.
Kate, an AI CMO, and twelve specialists do all of the above for your café: the posts written, the pictures planned, the numbers read. 14-day trial, card to start, cancel before it ends to avoid a charge.