A recent Grubstreet article discussed “The Iced Coffee Economy” and gave interesting insights into all the planning, consideration and cost analysis that goes into preparing a coffee business for the iced coffee “season.” The article leads in with Jonathan Rubinstein from Joe, discussing how this season can vary, so business owners have to prepare accordingly:

“Each year, there is one day when the world changes,” he says. It’s the day when the entire population it seems switches from hot coffee to cold, served from plastic pitchers into cups full of ice.” When that happens, Rubinstein says, “my whole business changes for the next four months.”

Small business marketing used to come with a hard cost and pre-determined ad budgets. Because digital marketing has evolved, though, so have these budgets, which are shrinking as technology gets better and resources become more accessible.

Here are five ways to make the best of this shrinking budget:

How much is a loyal customer worth to your business? The Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) of every customer retained will help you determine how much you’re willing to spend in order to attract and keep those customers.

When deciding how the lifetime value of each customer is important to your business, consider the following customer value facts from CORE Restaurant Marketing, and how they might impact building loyalty and communicating with your most valuable customers:

Loyal customers are planted and grown; they’re not just in bloom the moment they walk into your store. Part of being an extraordinary business owner is the ability to connect with your customers in such a way that each one feels like they left with more than they walked in with.

Accomplish this by educating customers through your interactions, which can be easily attained in any type of business.

This week in small business news, West Coast businesses show off their social media muscles, Foodspotting gives restaurants a dashboard, a sandwich shop masters the art of feedback, local contests win the hearts of small business owners, and take-out orders start a debate.

Small business owners get a little hop in their step when any marketing campaign goes right, but especially when it’s a low-cost loyalty marketing incentive. Watching the welcome mat track more footprints and feeling the cash registers wear out their hinges never gets old.

In a recent article about value and customer loyalty programs, Hubspot pointed out great metrics that are fantastic for measuring the effects of your loyalty program. Here are the helpful analytics you should be looking at and why we agree that they are important for small businesses:

If you want to transmit a one-way message to your customers, a billboard is a wonderful option; radio ads work well too, for that matter.

However, if your goal is to build a business around loyal customers, a better option is to use a marketing channel like Twitter, where engagement is one-to-many and one-on-one. You and the customer, the customer and you. Here are some tips for making that digital relationship more personal.

Did you know that in March purchasers visited Pinterest 2.7 times as often and pinned 3.1 times as many items as non-purchasers?

In a previous post, you learned how to get your restaurant or store up and running on Pinterest. Now it’s time to court local customers and build your in-store following! We’ll look at quick ways to use Pinterest search and your boards to help customers discover your new menu items, services and products whenever they leave the store so that they’ll want to run back.

There are customers loyal to your business who care passionately about their community and are committed to supporting the growth of small businesses.

Several restaurants are taking this excitement and strong sense of community to the next level by teaming up with those loyal customers to make a difference for worthy causes. Check out these fantastic ways you and your customers can collaborate for more “do-good” power:

This week in small business news, local businesses prove that fair trade is profitable, 100 inner city businesses make millions, some tips for being Google-friendly all the time, a look at the state of retail sales this season, and some thoughts on how to say no to customer suggestions.