A week from now, I’ll have experienced a full year working at The Cup. It’s quite exciting! I’ve experienced my ups and downs — coming from a huge company (Coca-Cola) to a small family owned business has it’s differences. At Crimson Cup, you have all the opportunity in the world to try new processes, new initiatives, and new products in a quicker manner than going through all the red tape in a large company. Every day is a growing experience, to become a better person and to build a brand, a product, a company. The one thing from Coke I initially missed was all the resources that provided consumer insight, trends, growth reports, and competitive analysis. Not having those resources at my finger tips means I can’t sit in my office and plan for opportunities. I have to go out and find my own data. This has been so much fun and possibly even a little more insightful than reading reports.
With this crazy economy, everything I planned back in September has been altered. Consumers have changed, priorities have changed, competition has changed and opportunities have changed. I find myself focusing on retention initiatives and trying to find new consumers at an increasingly urgent rate. Consumers have choices, yeah, we’ve always known that…but right now it’s extremely imperative to provide them with an option they can’t refuse. Since consumers are making a choice to give you their money, we have to make sure we excel at customer service, and, most importantly, provide the best product possible.
In all my years in the beverage industry, I have never been more confident in the products I am representing then I am with Crimson Cup’s products. I’ve never heard ONE negative word about our products. This is amazing! Especially after spending 10 years with the “Coke vs. Pepsi” war. There has never been a Crimson Cup vs ________because there is no comparison, which is awesome.
Like I said earlier, I want to make sure we keep current customers coming back for more and I want to find new customers to be a part of our community. Here are just a few ways we’re trying to achive these goals…
1. We’re currently building our database at our coffee shop to start a weekly email blast.
2. We’ve visited 20 “touch points” in the Clintonville Community, to introduce/re-introduce our products, by giving them “goody bags” filled with coffee samples, menus, and coupons.
3. We’ve started reminding and educating customers about Crimson Cup…We are family owned and have been locally roasting coffee since 1991. This is one of our key points of difference.
4. We’re launching a new product, Frozen Hot Chocolate. Which is an awesome creamy, chocolaty treat. (Check out the last blog post for more info)
I feel confident once we get our product into consumer’s hands, the fresh, delightful aroma will perk up their senses, the smooth taste will warm their hearts and that brief moment of well deserved relaxation will bring a smile to their face.
Let Crimson Cup make you smile. It’s made me smile the last year.
