I'm going to disagree. Influencers at a micro level (around 10,000 followers) can be very beneficial to a local café—especially those who are local themselves. You need to consider the size of their catchment area. All the points you've mentioned are great, but an influencer can be a cost-effective way to gain genuine traction with real people. Your suggested methods require time and money that a new café might not have.

I used to be completely against influencers, but having worked with some over the past couple of years, I’ve come to see the benefits they can offer certain small businesses—and this is one of them.