Analysis of Colour Brown’s Original Content
Colour Brown is a coffee shop mainly serving clients with high-quality roast coffee. They’re one of the forerunners in the Hong Kong local coffee industry, which holds many coffee-related competitions, such as coffee cupping and latte art. From their coffee beans to coffee products, they want to connect coffee, art, and communities, making people value the quality and cultures of roast coffee.
Colour Brown’s Six Content Problems
-Unsuccessful Customer Engagement
-Storytelling Issues
-Unclear Brand Images and Content Styles
-Missing Values
Before
Unsuccessful Customer Engagement
Instagram is the major social media platform that Colour Brown uses for its promotions; however, its content successfully introduces the products but fails to convey their value to customers.
For example, consider the Instagram post on the left where Colour Brown promotes its new bakery products. The post provides information about the new bread but lacks customer engagement. There are two essential questions arise:
How could their new product connect with their customers?
Why is the new product essential to their customers?
Ineffective Storytelling
It also relates to Colour Brown’s storytelling problems, in which they present only the idea and result of the new product, failing to share the development process with customers. As a result, customers may not fully comprehend the challenges and struggles involved in the product's development.
‘People don’t care about your business and its success; they care about you and your struggles.’
Referring to 'The Minimalist Entrepreneur' by Sahil Lavingia, the CEO of Gumroad, it's highlighted that stories lacking conflicts and struggles in the processes are less engaging and may not resonate as strongly with the audience.
After
Rewrite: Completing the Values and Stories
Connection: Products & Customers
According to the Harvard Business Review, 'Customer value models are based on assessments of the costs and benefits of a given market offering in a particular customer application.
Colour Brown should put what their customers are concerned about at the beginning of their content, like the prices, rather than the concept of the products. So, it could quickly form connections with people, including those who are unfamiliar with their values. After that, they will have more time and space to explain the ideas and stories of their products.
Research:
According to data from Brock Johnson, an Instagram expert, 41% of people 'never' or 'rarely' read the whole caption, and most users will stop reading after the first 3 sentences.
In Colour Brown's original content, the first and only thing they mentioned is the concept and idea of the new bread. It is hard to capture the attention of people who don't know Colour Brown. The content didn’t tell people why they should care about the new bread!
Suggestions:
To capture attention in the beginning, as seen in the edited version, begin by addressing what people might care about. Then, delve into the details of the messages and passions related to the new bread. This approach can enhance engagement and draw in a broader audience.
To connect customers with stories but not information!
Unclear Brand Images & Content Styles
Could you relate all the posts to the same account?
The owner of Colour Brown considered his personal image as a part of the brand image but failed to align with the brand values and messages.
Instagram Posts Data Review
According to data from Colour Brown's Instagram, approximately 20.5% of posts focus on the owner’s personal life, close to the 26.8% dedicated to coffee promotion or 21.60% to events. However, the majority of personal life photos featuring content such as dogs, vacations, and toy collections aren’t related to coffee. Therefore, these posts couldn’t contribute to the development of Colour Brown’s brand values.
The potential confusion between a business and personal account poses a risk, potentially leading to the loss of potential customers, especially coffee enthusiasts, who may not be interested in the owner's personal image, even with just ONE post.
Colour Brown should focus on building their brand value in their content, and the sharing of the owner’s personal life should be kept ///////separate.
Newsletters
To establish people’s interest in roasted coffee, Colour Brown should share knowledge and information about the coffee industry, educating people who aren’t familiar with this area. Writing newsletters to educate and promote their new products could establish a space for people to enter the coffee world, where they could also appreciate its values and start drinking coffee. Here are the newsletters I designed for their new coffee product promotions:
In this situation, how can Colour Brown convince people to buy their products?
How do people receive Colour Brown’s Newsletters?
To share information, Colour Brown can start with their members – those are the people Colour Brown has received information from and could share newsletters through emails. Some of their members might be pursuing their products for other reasons and may not know much about their roast coffee.
According to data from Constant Contact 2023, an email marketing software company, the email open rate for the Dining and Food Service industry is 38.03%, compared to the average of 16.97%. This indicates that sending newsletters is still one of the significant ways to promote Colour Brown’s products.
For non-members or potential customers, Colour Brown should begin with social media. They could enhance their content, transitioning from daily sharing to educational and informative content.
Missing Values: Education
Research
According to Statista, the overall revenue for instant coffee in Hong Kong is $132.4 million, whereas roast coffee stands at $9.1 million. This suggests that Hong Kong people are more interested in instant coffee, indicating a smaller group may want to try or enjoy roast coffee. Moreover, the top drink in Hong Kong is tea, and the revenue in the Tea market is around $211.9 million.
In other words, there are reasons to believe there are many tea lovers and people who aren’t interested in high-quality coffee, making roast coffee a niche market in Hong Kong.
Moreover, competitors like Starbucks could also take away their potential clients. According to the data of Wall Street Market, Starbucks in Hong Kong received at least $9.37 billion in 2023. Based on the Hong Kong Professional Coffee Association, there are 250 independent coffee shops in the market, and Starbucks has around 170 stores.
Conclusion
Colour Brown is a fantastic local Hong Kong brand promoting high-quality coffee products. However, there is room for improvement in their content design. Even though they offer excellent coffee, if they don't effectively convey how exceptional their coffee is, people might still not try it. To expand their customer base and business, having a solid content design is crucial to their business development.