Coffee Klatch, a small coffee chain on a never ending quest around the world in search of the finest coffee, has used foursquare to create unique experiences for their customers. Coffee Klatch didn’t have success because they claimed their venue on foursquare or because they ran a foursquare Special, though they did do these things, what allowed Coffee Klatch to obtain, engage, and retain customers was their dedication to learning about the foursquare culture and infusing it into the Coffee Klatch culture. Coffee Klatch made sure employees were aware of their new marketing tool and even encouraged them to incorporate foursquare into their daily routines.
“Mexican Mocha for the Mayor”, said a Coffee Klatch employee one day to my friend Matthew. Matthew Gallizzi is the founder of NotixTech, a mobile website developer, and was the foursquare Mayor of Coffee Klatch at the time (and still is). He went to Coffee Klatch for his daily Mocha and was actually recognized and greeted as the Mayor. Upon ordering his coffee, those beautiful words came from behind the register. Those 5 simple words should tell you all that you need to know about the commitment Coffee Klatch made to using foursquare.
How did it happen for Coffee Klatch? Although we don’t know if this is true, it’s probably safe to say that they started by learning about foursquare, once they knew what it was and what it could do, they created a Plan for how they were going to use foursquare to promote their business, then they went to work executing their Plan, part of which was making sure that all staff was trained on how to handle the everyday management of customers using foursquare at Coffee Klatch, and finally they stayed committed, got creative, and made sure to recognize their foursquare-using customers. By taking the time to truly understand how to use foursquare for their business, Coffee Klatch was able to engage Matthew to the point that he is posting about Coffee Klatch on Facebook, he’s created a YouTube video sharing his experience with Coffee Klatch & foursquare, and he’s telling everyone who will listen how great of a coffee shop Coffee Klatch is… Pretty nice payoff for a little extra work.
Through their use of foursquare Coffee Klatch was able to create a unique experience for Matthew, an experience that he thought was worth sharing. Please take a few minutes to watch the video below to hear his foursquare Coffee Klatch story. Who knows, it might inspire you to get creative and start using foursquare to Obtain, Engage, & Retain customers for your small business.
Looking for an example to help solidify what was described above?? Let’s say that a foursquare user is in close proximity to your business. She goes ahead and opens foursquare to check-in at a local venue. Before or after she checks-in, she taps on the Tips button to check out all of the Nearby Tips. If you’re actively prompting your customers to leave foursquare tips about your venue, then those tips will show up under Nearby Tips. Depending on your tips, the prospect may decide to stop by your business (if its relevant to her interests). Sometimes your business won’t be relevant to her interests, but other times your products & services will be highly relevant. If you have positive foursquare tips associated with your foursquare venue, then you’re more likely to attract her to your store. The flip side is that you don’t have any tips at all, which means your business will never get in front of that prospect. You totally lose out on a new potential client.
For those business owners who have gone through the process of claiming a venue on foursquare, but have not yet heard back from anyone at foursquare, please feel free to email foursquare at bizhelp@foursquare.com or team@foursquare.com. Here at Catalyst Marketers, we claimed our venue a few months back. Like many business owners out there who are using 
When foursquare users visit your store, and go to check-in on foursquare at your venue, they can leave a tip about your venue. Even those folks who aren’t actually in your store, but are reviewing your venue from foursquare.com, can leave a foursquare tip at your venue. Foursquare tips are limited only to the customer’s imagination.
Upon checking-in at a location, a foursquare user can click the “Tips” tab on her smart phone to review all of the latest foursquare tips associated with that venue. Others will be checking out your foursquare tips via foursquare.com. Either way, your message will get in front of the right people, at the right time (when they are either at your location, near your location, or checking you out via the website). 
