Coffee mugs can make for an effective marketing tool at virtually any type of business, from restaurants to grocery stores, to little boutique shops. There truly are no limits on where a coffee mug can be sold, given away, or marketed to your customers. As a promotional strategy, coffee mugs are remarkably popular. And since it’s a type of promotional drinkware, people are going to be more likely to keep them for at least a year or more. Moreover custom drinkware generates extremely high impressions among customers and potential customers. Coffee cups are no exception. They’re inexpensive, fun to use, easy to implement/customize, and help you get your message out into the world quickly. Today, we’re talking about coffee mugs and how to use them for marketing at your business.
Table of Contents
Why Coffee Mugs?
Coffee mugs are one of the best promotional tools you can possibly have. Everyone loves coffee, or at least a large number of people in the United States do. Coffee is the life blood of many Americans and fills a big chunk of their days. There’s a coffee shop on nearly every corner these days. That and people love to drink coffee or talk about it. Using coffee mugs as part of your branding and overall marketing strategy can help you interact with your customers in a meaningful way, build loyalty, and relate to them through a common interest. You can sell them, give them away, or use them to promote particular services, making them a versatile marketing tool for any organization.
Types of Mugs
Coffee mugs come in all sorts of different styles and configurations. The most common type of coffee mugs you’ll probably find and sell to your customers is the porcelain coffee mug. These are the typical ones, featuring a handle, that most people have in there pantries for cups. Folks use them every single day. They come in so many different sizes and styles that there’s something for everybody. They’re also easy to clean, last a long time, and are incredibly durable. That’s not to say dropping a coffee cup won’t break it, but they can definitely stand up to some punishment on some of the rougher mornings customers might have. The only real downside to porcelain is that it can be a little pricier than plastic or glass mugs. But with that you get the quality of porcelain and the ability to customize it with screen printing or an imprinted design that can catch a potential buyer’s eye. Coffee mugs can also come in stainless steel which provides a more modern or sleek appearance, ceramic (which is much more affordable than porcelain), glass, or porcelain. Ceramic is the least costly and highest value coffee mug because it can be high quality as it’s made from clay fired in a ceramic oven, and glazed to protect it. By comparison, porcelain is made from raw materials that get fired at extremely high temperatures. Spend some time acquainting yourself with different coffee mug types to determine what’s going to be best for your business and then sit back and enjoy the extra customers and business you’ll get from offering quality promotional mugs at your store.
Customization
Another great thing about coffee mugs and cups is that you can customize them. So what does customization look like in a coffee mug? Customizing a coffee mug starts with determining a size, color, and text for the month itself. Offer different sizes to cater to your customers’ tastes. Most coffee mugs are probably going to be 12 to 16 oz. You can also choose the color of your mug to help with your branding and help your mugs stand out. You can choose whichever color best represents what you want people to know about your business. For instance, if you’re placing a logo or image on the mug, you’ll want to create a contrasting background. If you’re going with a solid color, you’ll want to find colors that align with your branding and use contrasting text to make sure that your visuals pop. You can experiment with different color configurations or images/text to essentially give customers a mug that will match their personalities. Furthermore, you should put your company logo, name, contact info, and/or text on the mug to make sure that it can continue to help others recognize your brand. When other people see your company’s name on the mug, that can help increase your business through word of mouth. Offering custom logo coffee mugs to your customers is the ideal means of getting them to fall in love with your company and become regular customers well into the future simply because you offer something that’s high value, funcintonal, and amazing all at the same time.
Promotional Ideas
Coffee Mugs are a great promotional tool for any business, but you need to use them effectively. What makes them such great promotional items is that they’re memorable and cool. Your brand stays in a customer’s mind longer than if they just saw your name on a flyer, sign, or on TV. Some good ways to promote them or to give them to your employees as an appreciation for their hard work. Believe it or not, your employees can help you passively advertise your business if they feel good about you. For the general public, you can give them away at trade shows, include them as part of a buy one get one free initiative, give them as part of an employee rewards program or some sort of points redemption, or simply sell them. Use them to integrate with other deals in the store to provide customers with the opportunity to save money. If you sell food or drinks, you might include a coffee mug as part of an overall discount. Let’s say the customer wants to buy a beverage. You can give them a 10% discount or something similar if they buy a coffee cup too. You can also offer customization services for the coffee cups so a customer can put their own message next to your logo or company name. Overall, the sky’s the limit for promotional opportunities, and it’s limited only to your imagination as a company.
Customer Appreciation
At the end of the day, you might want to consider giving away some of your custom mugs as part of a larger customer appreciation initiative. Coffee mugs are good for customer appreciation, employee appreciation, and as holiday gifts too! Coffee mugs can be given away to your company’s clients as a way to thank them for their continued business. You can also do a giveaway where customers purchase certain products and receive a free coffee month. Perhaps you could put a coupon on your website or do a social media contest that involves winning a special customized mug. Ultimately, the choice is yours, but there are plenty of ways to engage with customers using the prize of a free custom coffee cup.