Coffee Cup Marketing (Pt. 3)

[Michael Brown]

Coffee Cup Marketing - Part Three

The past two Comanche Marketing tips have discussed coffee cup marketing. Another method involves Styrofoam, not ceramic cups. It's an old tip, but fits with the last two, so here it goes again.

Visit any church and you will likely find plenty of coffee on hand. I'm not suggesting it's needed, only that it's present. Churches with adult Sunday School programs seem especially prone to distributing gallons of coffee. And churches are always looking for money or ways to save money.

Sniff, sniff. This smells like opportunity. Buy Styrofoam coffee cups with your logo and phone number printed on them. Contact area churches and tell them you are willing to donate free coffee cups if they want them. Many, not all, will say yes.

But don't measure the potential of the program by the reaction you encounter in your own church. For some reason, churches are more willing to accept donations like this from outsiders than from their own members. In fact, you might try other churches first.

Churches aren't the only place where you can donate coffee cups. You can give them to PTAs for use in their parent meetings. Give them to the VFW, the Elks Club, and so on.

Specially printed cups are expensive, but only when compared to the plain white version. They're a cheap way to get your name in front of a group of people week in and week out. Furthermore, your name gains a positive association.

Over time you might want to enhance your coffee cup marketing. Imprint your name on one side. Imprint a coupon on the other. The coupon could be dollars off and it could also be something along the lines of "Turn this cup in on a service call and earn $5 for your church/club/PTA."

Copyright © 2002 Matt Michel