content marketing – dragonsandflowers

a bright orange hand peeling back sticker on decaf coffee bag

Decaf coffee marketing is pretty archaic. For all the developments the coffee industry makes technologically and culturally, this niche might as well be in the stone age!

Coffee marketing in general aims to provide several critical values in a single package. On average, a coffee bag will boast its environmental sustainability, ethical sourcing commitment, and/or specialty bean cultivation. Where decaf coffee marketing often stumbles is its missed opportunities. When today’s approaches are not spouting tired catchphrases, they’re failing to stress the physical or mental health benefits.

Falling back on clichés may be easier, but they won’t make your business stand out from the competition (and may even turn buyers off entirely).

How can you improve your decaf coffee marketing to raise awareness or clinch more buyers? I’m going to share a few tips on how to promote your coffee business, from my perspective as both a coffee marketer and a passionate decaf drinker.

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coffee

Coffee Marketing Tips (and Predictions) for Ten Growing Industry Trends

April 12, 2022April 13, 2022 Ashe

What new standards do you think the coffee industry will have over the next ten years? Working on coffee marketing over the next three months seems like a tall order in the pandemic.

If we can rely on anything, it’s the fact that coffee comes in waves. First wave coffee was as simple as could be, focusing on introducing this plant to a mainstream audience. The second wave completed the deal and turned coffee into an everyday beverage. Third wave is what Western coffee drinkers – particularly those interested in the specialty space – are most familiar with, focusing on environmental sustainability and cultural growth.

The fourth wave of coffee is still in the air, but current trends are already setting the stage. I’m going to look at ten coffee trends set to become standards over the next ten years and what that means for the cards in your deck – your coffee marketing strategies.

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coffee, guide, industry news

The Coffee Marketing Compendium: How Roasters Build Trust With Email Newsletters

August 26, 2019September 18, 2021 Ashe

Come one, microroasters and roaster-cafes, come all: now is the best time to improve your coffee marketing strategy.

There are more than a few transparency problems in coffee, from inaccurate green packaging to frustrated farmers. Roasters have their work cut out for them managing single-source coffee, keeping up with certifications and appealing to their own unique slice of the market. Customers want to know the bag of Arabica coffee they’re getting comes from somewhere they can see. Somewhere they can practically touch, albeit through the polished image of a persistent vlog and blog campaign.

When you don’t line up actions with words? It will plant a seed that will grow out of your control.

Email marketing is one of the most affordable and effective methods of building trust — it boasts an average of $38 for every $1 spent and is used by over 90% of B2B marketers today. Email is a constant reminder that your roasting technique isn’t like anyone else’s. It’s more one-on-one than social media, while not as noisy as banners or autoplay videos.

Here I’ll be taking a look at email marketing strategies that are designed to weave through the trust and transparency issues plaguing the coffee industry, as well as a few ideas you can try out immediately.

Let’s get started.

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coffee, industry news

Growing Confidence From The Ground Up: Building Trust In The Coffee Industry

August 6, 2019 Ashe

Trust doesn’t happen overnight. It can, however, be lost overnight.

The coffee industry has been coming face-to-face with trust issues in the past few months alone. Green Mountain Keurigs, an easily recognizable grocery store coffee brand, has been hit with a customer lawsuit citing dishonest marketing practices. News reports having been honing in on how farmers are left out of coffee buying and distribution conversations. Studies have cropped up finding consumers disillusioned with green labels, despite environmental certifications coming in many varieties and requiring a lot of work to obtain. Starbucks, the titular coffee behemoth, has been cagey concerning details on how much the corporation has been paying farmers.

All this information is overwhelming…and rightfully so. Whether you are a distributor, roaster or cafe owner, you literally cannot afford not to build trust.

Buyers can sniff dishonesty a mile away. Keeping tight lips may seem wise in the short-term, but in the long-term can and will affect everyone up and down the coffee line. There is no quick answer when it comes to building trust, either. Not when you have to cultivate the individuality of the people you work with and the people you hope to buy from your business. There are, however, obvious pitfalls that should be avoided moving forward.

Let’s take a look.

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