How you are wasting your marketing budget and what works instead

If you run a coffee business today, you have probably been told that you need SEO, that you need to spend on Google Ads, and that you have to keep posting on social media if you want to grow. These channels are presented as the only way to survive in a crowded market. They promise visibility. They promise reach. They promise that people will see you.

The problem is that what they are really built to optimize for is attention. They are designed to give you impressions, clicks, and views. But attention is shallow. It is temporary. And it does not guarantee trust, repeat customers, or lasting growth.

To understand why, you need to look at how these systems actually work.

How Google Ads works and what it really buys

Google Ads runs on an auction system. You choose a keyword, like “coffee beans Dubai” or “best espresso machine,” and you bid for the chance to appear when someone searches for it. If you win the bid, your ad is displayed. When someone clicks, you pay, whether or not that click turns into a sale.

What you are really buying in this system is a shot at attention. You are not paying for a customer. You are paying for a chance. And the moment you stop spending, the attention stops as well.

This is why so many coffee businesses feel like they are on a treadmill. You keep paying because you are scared that if you stop, nobody will find you. And in many ways that is true, because your visibility is rented, not owned.

How SEO works and why it is unstable

Search engine optimization, or SEO, is often sold as the organic alternative. Instead of paying for ads, you work to improve your website so it ranks higher in Google search results. But the rules of this game are written by Google, and they change constantly.

In 2023, Google itself reported that it ran more than 700,000 experiments on search, which led to over 4,000 improvements to Search in that year alone. In 2022, the number was even higher at 4,725 improvements. These changes include small adjustments and major updates called “core updates” that can completely rearrange rankings for entire industries. Google documents these updates here.

Google also runs overlapping experiments, meaning different users can see different versions of ranking systems or features at the same time.

For coffee business owners, this means SEO is never fully under your control. You can spend months optimizing your site, only for a new update to undo your progress overnight.

How social media ranking works

Social media seems simple. You post, people follow you, they see your content. But that is not how it actually works. Every social platform, whether it is Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok, uses algorithms to decide what appears in someone’s feed.

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, explains this openly. Their algorithms predict what each user is most likely to engage with and then show more of that type of content. You can read more about this in Meta’s documentation here.

Platforms also run experiments all the time. Meta has described multi-month waves of tests that start with small groups of people and then expand to more countries before going global. You can see examples of this in their newsroom updates.

The result is that what works one week may not work the next. Coffee businesses often feel forced to keep testing different formats, captions, posting times, and even types of content just to keep visibility from dropping.

The treadmill of constant testing

Because search and social platforms are always changing, marketers have to run endless A/B tests to figure out what still works. Google has published its own research on the infrastructure that supports many overlapping experiments at the same time.

Large companies can afford to play this game. They have staff, time, and budgets to experiment constantly. But coffee business owners rarely have that luxury. Running a café, a roastery, or an e-commerce store already takes everything you have. Treating marketing as a never-ending laboratory drains energy and money without building something you can keep.

Why attention does not equal growth

Attention looks good on a dashboard. A spike in clicks, a thousand new views, a bunch of new followers. It feels like progress. But attention alone does not translate into growth.

The moment you stop paying for ads, the clicks disappear. The moment you stop posting daily, the reach drops. What you had was rented visibility. And rented visibility always expires.

Research confirms this.

• The study “Long Run Effects of Promotion Depth on New versus Established Customers” (Anderson and Simester, 2004, Kellogg School of Management) found that deep promotions did drive repeat purchases among first-time buyers but actually reduced future purchases among existing customers. In other words, promotions created short-term spikes but harmed long-term value. You can read the study here.
• A meta-analysis titled “The effect of sales promotion on post-promotion brand preference: A meta-analysis”(Nijs et al., 2001) reviewed 51 studies and found that sales promotions do not significantly affect brand preference once they end. The uplift disappears after the promotion. You can find the study here.
• Another study, “The Long-Term Impact of Promotion and Advertising on Consumer Brand Choice” (Mela, Gupta, Lehmann, 1997), showed that while promotions drive short-term sales, their long-term effects can be negative and less profitable overall. In contrast, advertising tended to support brand equity and growth. You can access it here.

Together, these studies confirm what many coffee business owners already feel in their gut. Promotions, SEO tricks, and paid ads may deliver a burst of attention. But they do not create lasting change.

Why the goal should be connection not attention

The real goal is not to be noticed. It is to be remembered when someone needs what you offer. That is the difference between attention and connection.

Attention is shallow. It can be bought, it can be borrowed, and it can vanish as quickly as it arrived. A customer might notice your ad or like your post without ever remembering who you are the next day. Connection has depth. It is built slowly, through repeated contact that adds value each time.

Trust is the foundation of connection. A coffee business earns trust by showing up consistently with something useful. That might be a tip about brewing, a story about a farm you source from, or even a simple thank you note after a purchase. Trust does not come from one viral post or one clever campaign. It comes from a steady rhythm of communication that proves reliability.

Email is the best tool for this because it gives you space and continuity. You are not squeezed into a headline or competing against an endless scroll. In an inbox, you have room to explain, to share, and to be understood. Over time, your messages accumulate into a story. That story tells the customer what you stand for, what you know, and why you can be trusted.

When you focus on connection, you stop measuring success by likes or impressions. You start measuring it by whether your emails are opened, whether people reply, and whether customers return when they are ready to buy. That is when growth becomes real.

What you control with email marketing

Email is direct. There is no algorithm standing between you and your reader. You decide the message, the timing, and the frequency. You decide how to measure success.

Here is what you own with email:

1. Audience ownership. The list belongs to you. An algorithm change cannot take it away.
2. Delivery. No feed decides whether your message appears.
3. Timing. You choose when to send and how often.
4. Cost control. Sending one more email costs very little compared with buying another round of ads.
5. Relationship depth. Subscribers have opted in. They want to hear from you.

An email list is not just another channel. It is an asset that grows in value. Each new subscriber makes your business stronger.

A simple plan to build and use your list

Step one. Add a subscribe box to your website. Make the promise clear. Offer something of value, like weekly brew guides or behind-the-scenes stories from your roastery.

Step two. Create a welcome series. Three short emails are enough. First, set expectations. Second, share something useful like a brewing tip. Third, invite a reply by asking what their favorite brewing method is.

Step three. Choose a rhythm. Weekly works best for most coffee businesses. Pick a day and stick with it.

Step four. Measure the right things. Opens, clicks, and replies. Pay attention to what people write back. Adjust your next email based on that feedback.

Step five. Use social and search to feed your list. Every campaign should have a clear path to subscription. That way, rented attention turns into owned connection.

When SEO and ads still make sense

SEO and ads are not worthless. They can still help people discover you. The mistake is treating them as the foundation. Use them instead as entry points. Let them bring people to your site or your café, and then guide those people into your email list.

The bottom line for coffee business owners

Search and social platforms change constantly. Google and Meta run thousands of experiments every year that can rearrange what works without warning. Larger companies can keep up with constant testing. Coffee business owners rarely can.

The way forward is to build something you own. An email list gives you control. It gives you the ability to build trust slowly and steadily. It gives you the chance to connect, not just chase attention. And connection is what keeps a coffee business alive.

FAQ

Do Google Ads work for coffee businesses?

They can bring short bursts of traffic. But the results stop the moment you stop paying. Ads can be useful for specific promotions, but only if you have a clear way to capture email addresses during that spike.

Does SEO work for coffee businesses?

SEO can bring steady traffic, but it is fragile. Google changes its ranking systems thousands of times each year, and core updates can shift entire industries. Always build email capture into high-traffic pages so you keep value even if rankings change.

Is social media worth using for coffee businesses?

Yes, as a discovery tool. But reach is controlled by algorithms that update constantly. Always include a path to subscribe by email so you turn followers into real contacts.

Why is email more reliable for coffee businesses?

Email is direct. You own the list, you control delivery, and you can build trust over time. It is the most reliable way to create lasting relationships with your customers.