Watched a local cafe spend $500 on Instagram ads but ignore their actual customers

They had a line out the door last Saturday, but the owner was glued to his phone trying to boost a post. I heard him tell his barista, 'The online numbers are what matter.' Meanwhile, people were leaving because the wait was too long. How can you grow if you're not fixing the real problem in front of you? Has anyone else seen a business chase shiny objects instead of solving basic issues?

3 comments

3 Comments

rowan59313d ago

Laughing at myself a little because I've definitely been that owner staring at a phone while people are waiting. Like, my coffee shop had a line out the door and I was too busy tweaking our ad targeting to notice the espresso machine was broken. It's like I wanted to grow the business on paper but forgot the actual people in front of me were the ones paying the bills. Learned that lesson the hard way when a regular told me, 'Your wifi is faster than your latte art.' So yeah, shiny objects are tempting but they don't fix the fact that your cookies are stale or your barista needs help.

sarah_brown2mo ago

Ugh, that's so frustrating to watch. Seen it happen before, and it always ends the same way. You gotta fix the line out the door first, or those ad views are just showing people a bad time. The best marketing is a smooth shop that makes people want to come back.

wyatt_jones2mo ago

Look at it from his side though. Those ads could bring in way more people over time. A long line today might mean a packed shop all week from new customers.