We’re not talking about your logo, or a sketch of your coffee shop – though eye-catching illustrations are a great marketing ploy in themselves. We’re talking about National Doodle Day. Yes, you’ve read that correctly. We’ve recently uploaded an updated 2018 Commercial Coffee Shop Calendar with a handful of new dates for your diary and, as part of that research, we came across National Doodle Day. As you might have guessed, there’s serious intent behind a seemingly frivolous event. It supports the work of the charity Epilepsy Action. The idea is that celebrities put pen or pencil to paper, and the public bids on their drawings. All very lovely, but how does this apply to your coffee shop marketing?
We suggest a simple doodle for your coffee incentive, whereby each customer has the option of knocking out a quick sketch, in return for which you’ll donate a set amount of the price of their hot beverage to Epilepsy Action. Alternatively, you could collect customers’ sketches, along with their contact details, and hold a prize draw at the end of the day. If you’re active on social media – as we’ve advised before – get permission from your customers to share their doodles and include links to the National Doodle Day website. It’s great publicity for the charity, an effective little fundraiser, and – just like the Macmillan Coffee Morning we discussed in our last coffee blog update – raises awareness of your café at the same time. Like all events, you’ll get maximum benefit if you plan ahead, so if it sounds like the kind of fun your customers might leap at, add National Doodle Day to Friday 22nd September in your diary.
Support a charity that’s close to your heart
The coffee shop events calendar has dozens of general holidays, coffee-related and food-related national awareness days already listed. What we haven’t done is include every national charity day. We’ve tried to keep it succinct and relevant. But lending your support to a charity that has a special meaning for you can make for good PR as well as making a difference to the cause, so it’s worth doing some research to see if your charity has nominated a particular day for fundraising.
It doesn’t stop there, either. How about World Smile Day? What could be cheerier than putting a smile on the face of every customer who pops in for a coffee? Or National Poetry Day, when you might run a competition encouraging customers who stop for a bite to eat to come up with a limerick or haiku?
Your coffee shop marketing plan should always be evolving, adapting to test new ideas. So, if you haven’t already added the most important events of the year to your business diary, head over to the Commercial Coffee Shop Calendar and start planning in advance.