When we think of marketing, it’s almost always easy to confine our options to social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, Pinterest or even Tiktok. It’s always the usual suspects - the popular ones.
But there are unconventional marketing methods that a budding cafepreneur like you would be wise to explore. Case in point: Spotify.
Here at Bean & Barley, we advocate for online media presence and in this digital age, its importance simply cannot be overemphasized.
What does this implicate for your coffee business?
In trendspotting marketing avenues, we explored sound or audio marketing. The trend that marketers noticed was the emergence of niche platforms for marketing. One such platform that has since grown in its brand value is Spotify, and while this might seem counter-intuitive to use this as a marketing channel for your coffee business at first, this can actually be a great idea.
The giant music and podcast streaming platform is leading its market. Streaming services have radically changed the way people consume music, and Spotify claims 36% of the global streaming market. In 2019, it experienced hypergrowth from 217 million to 256 million active users, eventually surpassing its closest competitor, Apple Music.
Some brands you might be familiar with are already using Spotify as a platform to promote themselves, and the results have never been more exciting. And this becomes more attractive when put in context. The immense popularity of Spotify as a streaming service and the diversity and flexibility of its playlists is something you can capitalize on.
Why should you consider Spotify?
1. Incredible audience insights
For content creators, it has a streaming intelligence feature that allows them to reveal your target audience’s mood, tastes and even their general browsing behavior. These figures are further broken down into different demographics.
2. Unprecedented growth in music and streaming services
In 2022, it is predicted that revenue from streaming services alone will surpass that of the entire recorded-music market. Music marketing is a timeless yet unique strategy, after all.
3. Redefined storytelling and personalization
Spotify spells an opportunity for businesses like you to tell stories in a different format. The basics of storytelling will be the same but there will be a personalized touch to it through playlist curation for your consumers - the coffee lovers. With the traditional social media platforms, you create what we call “visual voice”. But to succeed in Spotify, you need to create an auditory voice that goes hand in hand with your brand personality, say the various moods of your cafe, that you think will be liked by your target demographic.
Begin by asking the questions, “What kind of music or topics will resonate well with my cafe? What are the common interests of my customers or prospects? Who do I want to engage with, and later possibly sell to?”
In looking for answers, look no further than the online community that you are a part of or have built.
Take some time and figure out what “sound” your cafe should go with. And once you’ve done this, you know you’re ready to promote yourself on Spotify.
Marketing with Spotify Playlists
We already told you the numbers of Spotify’s huge following and with it comes a demand for playlists.
While you do not have to create your own playlist, curating a playlist dedicated to the theme of coffee and its effect on one’s mood, attention to work or even sleeping pattern, will drive potential consumers to your coffee shop.
Humans are no strangers to information overload. With the internet being filled with a huge, indisposable amount of written content that our minds can’t possibly consume in a day, audio information attempts to engage your customers. This can be a welcoming break from the monotony. Additionally, it leaves enough room for messages to be conveyed in a highly interactive way that written content may not essentially provide.
Most businesses have already started augmenting podcasts along with music into their marketing strategies. It is high time you start implementing them for the growth of your coffee brand.
Luckily for a cafepreneur like you, the ease with which you can create playlists in Spotify makes it a cost-effective yet still attractive option for marketing your cafe.
1. Create Your Own Playlists
You can start creating playlists around a particular mood or activity that is relevant to your cafe. This is commonly how playlists are created, and a few brands have already done this. Regardless of which style of playlists you decide to create, there are few basic things you should keep in mind:
The playlist has to make sense for your brand. It would have been off-brand for, say, Coca-Cola to make workout playlists, or for Anytime Fitness to make a road trip playlist. The playlist you curate has to stay true to what your cafe represents.
You have to put at least 10 tracks in each playlist. The more songs you add, the better.
Align the playlist length with your intended purpose. While a workout playlist may last around an hour, a work or study playlist may last 2-5 hours.
Include a variety of songs. Try not to use the same artist multiple times in the playlist, too. If your playlist is curated around a mood, you may want to stick to a similar genre or group songs that present a similarity in their lyrics.
Keep your playlists updated! Add, remove, or change songs frequently. The followers of your playlist get notified when you do this, and it’ll keep your brand right in front of their eyes.
2. Create collaborative playlists
Extend your online communities with a collaborative playlist. Spotify enables you to create a framework where other users - in this case, your customers, can add songs of their own liking. What you are doing by inviting a collaboration is driving user-generated content that we explored in another article.
This generates a hype around the playlist that you create and the people you have invited to contribute to your playlists are likely to share it, too. The best part of this all is that it is free with a premium Spotify subscription.
As with all user-generated content, your customers who add to your playlists get a sense of investment and connection with your brand to a larger and broader extent than if they couldn’t participate in it.
Basically, this adds a way for you to engage with your target consumers, too.
Remember: In creating your playlists, make it a point to give them a consistent naming style. Make it fun - make it your own. You can even add an emoji to the end of the name so that your playlist stands out when searched. Add a custom cover photo with your cafe logo in it. You will need to use a square JPEG image that can’t be more than 4 MB for this.
Promoting your playlists
Once you have created your playlist or the collaboration with other users who contributed is done, the next obvious step is to start promoting them. This is how you get the maximum reach possible. Because evidently, there are billions of playlists on Spotify, you and members of your online community are going to have to put in a little bit of effort to get noticed.
1. Share your playlists on other social media
Firstly, you can start by sharing the link to your playlist on your coffee shop’s social networks. Spotify allows you to share your playlists directly on Snapchat, WhatsApp, Instagram Stories, Facebook, Messenger, or Twitter. You can even copy the link to the playlist and share it elsewhere, too.
To make it more specialized, create dedicated posts to the launch of your Spotify playlist.
When on other social media, you can encourage your audience to share the playlists—or their favorite songs from the playlist—to their social media timelines, as well. Ask questions on how they feel when listening to your playlist, which song reminds them of which coffee flavor, or which artist they feel like tuning into according to their mood.
2. Promote on other unconventional platforms
Consider adding links to your Spotify account on other places such as your email signature for correspondences, your cafe websites, or talk about it on threads on networks or forums where you are active. If you spot opportunities to talk about your playlists at events, you could do that to get the word out. These are organic methods (unpaid in nature) for your brand to drive an audience to your Spotify account.
The possibilities are endless on Spotify, and for a budding cafe entrepreneur like you, you are unlikely to run out of new ways to use the platform for success. While you might be inclined to feel that Spotify is not traditionally considered a social channel, what’s really important is for your coffee brand to be present where your customers are, and then find ways to engage with them effectively.
You often hear frequent cafe customers say, “Let’s go to that cafe with a good playlist.” Be that kind of cafe that seamlessly integrates music and audio into your customers’ experience.
Spotify is one of the most famous music streaming apps in the world, and could potentially be a gold mine for marketers, as well.
Do you need help with your marketing efforts? Talk to us.
Reference:
1 Muralidharan, V. (2020). Getting started with Spotify for marketing | The Social Journal. The Social Journal. Retrieved 23 June 2021, from https://www.zoho.com/social/journal/getting-started-with-spotify-for-marketing.html.
2 Spotify For Business - Getting All The Benefits - Bunny Studio. Bunny Studio. (2020). Retrieved 23 June 2021, from https://bunnystudio.com/blog/library/audio-ads/spotify-for-business-getting-all-the-benefits/.
3 Scheck, S. (2017). 6 Reasons Why Your Business Should Use Podcasting - Small Business Trends. Small Business Trends. Retrieved 23 June 2021, from https://smallbiztrends.com/2017/01/benefits-of-podcasting.html#:~:text=A%20podcast%20is%20a%20set%20of%20digital%20audio
Comentários