Never before has it been more important to invest in your companies communication and marketing than right now. Connection to our customers and also our staff is the life blood of the cafe and drives everything we do. Additionally, the health of your shop is determined in large part by the health of the relationships you create with the consumer and those relationships are driven by how you communicate.  What are the guiding principles for effective communication? How are small businesses uniquely positioned to build great relationships? And how can we find clarity on strategy and methods that are sustainable long-term? All of these questions and more are going to be answered in today's master class on communication and marketing wit special guest, Spencer M. Ross, PHD.  Spencer M. Ross, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor of Marketing (and specialty coffee enthusiast) at University of Massachusetts Lowell’s Manning School of Business. His dual research interests focus on the intersection of marketing and public policy and on consumer engagement with digital marketing. In the transformative consumer research/public policy context, Ross is primarily focused on sustainable consumption behaviors; he has published work in the European Journal of Marketing and the Journal of Business Ethics on consumer dispositions toward prosocial consumption versus self-interest. He has also published on consumer sustainability issues in the Journal of Business Research, Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, and Journal of Consumer Affairs, and presented on consumer sustainability at the 2019 SCA Coffee Expo. Today Spencer breaks down principles and approaches to guide you as you invest in your customer relationships through communication.  Amongst other topics we cover:  How communication fits in your companies larger strategy Being Consumer-centric Tuning into local Consistency  Investing in customer relationships Advantage of agility Internal marketing Creating a communication strategy that is doable long term  Links: Spencer on Instagram Spencer on Twitter Paper on "Sustainable Decision Making"     JOIN THE KTTS MIGHT NETWORK!!! https://keys-to-the-shop.mn.co     The BEST in commercial coffee equipment www.prima-coffee.com/keys   Want the best plant based beverage for your coffee drinks?  www.pacificfoods.com/food-service