It's fine to ask for a coffee meeting if you want to learn more about an industry, position, or the company.
Hiring, and interviewing is as much about mutual likeablitily as it is skills and qualifications. You can always train for skill and knowledge more than you can train for attitude.
Another thing to remember is as more medium and large companies start to use applicant tracking systems, they generally filter out very good people who don't happen to have the right keywords in their resume that they upload.
Standing out will become more important in those cases.
Ultimately, while what you know is important, who you know can help.
Hiring, and interviewing is as much about mutual likeablitily as it is skills and qualifications. You can always train for skill and knowledge more than you can train for attitude.
Another thing to remember is as more medium and large companies start to use applicant tracking systems, they generally filter out very good people who don't happen to have the right keywords in their resume that they upload.
Standing out will become more important in those cases.
Ultimately, while what you know is important, who you know can help.