Cat Cafe Marketing

Marketing and advertising for your Cat Cafe involve creating awareness for your cafe and driving your supporters to make a reservation. Additionally, you may also want to encourage volunteers and donations for your rescue partner. 

If you’re managing your Cat Cafe’s marketing, here are some marketing strategy tips that might help you out.

Marketing strategy for Cat Cafes

With time, money, and expertise in mind, here’s how you can develop a simple yet effective marketing strategy for your Cat Cafe.

Many restaurants will allocate 10% of their revenue towards marketing. This could be spent on print advertising, Google or Yelp pay-per-click, or social media advertising. However, many Cat Cafes don’t operate exactly like a restaurant and don’t have 10% revenue they can invest in marketing. 

Investing in free or organic marketing channels can still provide the foundation for success. 

Determine your goals and outline the main steps needed to achieve those goals. This is an excellent time to focus on areas of opportunity or events you want to develop. You can also add partnership objectives to your marketing goals. 

Lastly, think about how you can create value with your marketing efforts for exponential results. One example might be to spend your time building a beautiful newsletter template that can be used each month rather than creating a single, one-time email.

Marketing channels & frequency

Daily social media marketing and monthly newsletters are a must when it comes to Cat Cafe marketing. You should also be promoting monthly events, weekly specials, and new cats that come in. Luckily, Cat Cafes have access to a lot of content, which allows you to post and share updates often. 

Here are a few marketing channels you can use and how often you should be using them.

Your website

The best place to invest some time and resources is your website. Even if people find you on Instagram or TikTok, they will still visit your website to make a reservation. There are several great options for making your own very professional, effective, and fully functional websites. 

Use high-quality photos and videos to showcase your cats, food and beverage, and special events on your website. Make sure the photos are bright, clear, and professional-looking.

Try creating a blog that introduces visitors to the cats who live in your cafe. Include short bios of each cat, along with pictures of them in action. 

Lastly, consider adding an events page with details about upcoming Cat Cafe activities, such as adoption days or Cat Yoga classes. 

Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

Don’t let SEO and Pay-Per-Click (PPC) intimidate you. Google helps make SEO easy to understand, and their PPC platform is actually quite simple to use. I’m talking about the basics, of course, but the foundation for success is built on the basics. 

The reason Search Engine Marketing (SEM) should be considered in your high-level marketing strategy is because of how powerful it is when done right. Google, Bing, Facebook, YouTube, and Yelp are all Search Engines. SEO and SEM are about being found on these platforms, and if your supporters, volunteers, and donors can’t find you, then you have some work to do.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Making sure your Cat Cafe’s website shows up #1 on Google and other search engines is crucial to your business’s success. SEO is mainly about creating content with the right words and in the right structure.

Your website’s content should include frequently asked questions, information about what makes your cafe unique, and reviews from customers. Doing this will help make sure that when someone searches for “cat cafes” or “cafes near me” they can find your site easily.

Finally, create backlinks by connecting with other businesses related to yours (pet stores or pet adoption centers) or local news outlets and ask them to link back to your page from their website or social media pages. This adds credibility to your business and gives you better visibility in search results pages. 

Paid Advertising And Pay-Per-Click (PPC)

In most cases, paid advertising should be used to supplement the free channels. The reason is that the free channels are your best value and most sustainable because they are not reliant on PPC. With that said, PPC can work wonders for a Cat Cafe.

Display advertising, Retargeting, and more dynamic PPC campaigns are easy to build and manage in Google’s AdWords. You can set daily and monthly budgets to easily test campaigns and control your budgets. Consider including a monthly PPC budget in your marketing strategy. 

PPC also includes social media channels. Instagram and Facebook offer easy-to-use Ad Manager platforms that allow you to boost posts to targeted audiences. These platforms allow you to set a daily spending limit which makes them very convenient. 

Google offers 501(c)(3) nonprofits a Grant for $10,000 a month in free advertising. If you’re nonprofit rescue partner has the Google Grant, you can use it for your Cat Cafe! 

Email marketing

Every organization should have email and newsletters in its marketing strategy. Emails are a great way to connect with your audience because they can be content-driven. Monthly newsletters featuring upcoming events are a great way to increase reservations. 

Email platforms are inexpensive and usually priced based on the email list sizes. Spend time early on improving your email and newsletter templates and plan your communications calendar. Don’t forget to feature your adorable and adoptable kitties! 

Local advertising

Cat Cafes operate in a physical location, so making local advertising a focus of your marketing strategy will significantly improve results and impact. Marketing for “local” does require a few considerations to improve location-based intent.

First, claim all your local listings on directories like Google My Business, Bing Places, Yelp, etc. Check your area and industry to find other directories for your market, such as the Cat Cafe directory ilovecatcafes.com. Ensure your address, contact information, and descriptions are consistent across all listings.

Yelp

Yelp is an invaluable tool for marketing cat cafes. It provides a platform for customers to share their experiences, which can help increase positive exposure for the cafe. By utilizing Yelp’s features, such as reviews and photos, cat cafe owners can showcase their establishment and gain more customers. 

Additionally, by responding to customer feedback in a timely manner, cafe owners can demonstrate their commitment to customer satisfaction and build trust with potential customers. 

Lastly, Yelp’s advertising tools allow businesses to reach wider audiences through targeted campaigns. With the help of Yelp, cat cafes can connect to the people who are most likely to appreciate their unique offerings and have a successful marketing strategy.