Marketing is one of the most important aspects of any business if you want to make it successful which is why a lot of new businesses often devise a promotion/marketing plan to grow and expand their organization. However, promoting a business isn’t easy and requires careful planning if you want to execute it efficiently.
The same holds true for your bakery business also. Once you have the initial materials and licenses in place and have finally opened your bakery to customers, you need to come up with different ways to promote it. How will you lure in more customers? What are the different ways that you can employ to reach out to a larger audience?
All these questions are important to answer if you want to expand your bakery business and want to grow your customer base. We understand how difficult this can be so we have listed down a few ways in which you can market your bakery and reach out to more people.
Step 1: Determine your Audience
Before you launch your baked goods and start promoting your bakery business, you need to first determine your target audience. You will need to determine the food products which you are planning to offer to the customers and figure out to whom it would appeal the most. Think carefully about your customer base and the people who are likely to become regular customers to your bakery.
Once you have pinpointed your target audience, you will be easily able to come up with a marketing plan for your bakery business.
Step 2: Determine Best Medium for Advertisement
Once you have figured out your potential customers, you will need to decide what all marketing mediums you can employ to reach out to them. Always remember that different people will spend different amount of time in various activities which is what you have to use to your advantage. Now, if your ideal customers are children then you can use the Internet, School events, etc. to let them know about your business.
If your ideal customer base is office-going people then it would be better to put up a few posters or a stall outside the office area or on different social media sites. It is important that you figure out where your ideal customer base is likely to spend time and then use it to promote your bakery business. Also, make sure that you try different modes of marketing like putting posters, giving discounts, etc. in order to attract customers. Always remember that different people will respond to different types of advertising, so make the best of the resources available to you.
Step 3: Start your Business and Employ Marketing Strategies
Once you have come up with your marketing strategy and target customer base, it is time to start your bakery business with a bang. If you want your bakery business to grow and become popular then getting the right start is important. If you don’t spread the word about your new bakery business then no one will get to know about it. So, it is important that you start marketing your bakery before you open it.
One of the best ways to market your bakery products is by spreading the word to your family and friends and then asking them to do the same. This way, at least 20-30 people will know that you are opening a bakery and will be able to further share the information with their friends and family.
Although word of mouth is not the best marketing strategy, it is a good way to kick-start your bakery business. However, there are several other ways you can promote your bakery so make sure you cover them all.
Create a Brand and Logo
Yes, one of the best ways to promote your bakery business is by getting a brand name and logo for your business. People relate to brand logos more easily which will make it easier for you to attract customers. So, choose a good bakery name which will catch people’s attention and then get a nice and trendy logo for it which will help people realize that you have a bakery business. Once you have a bakery name and logo in place, marketing your business will become easier.
Design Posters, Pamphlets, and Sign Boards
Try to make posters, pamphlets, business cards, etc. for your bakery and then share it with people around you. This is a good way to garner more customers and make sure that you have complete information of your bakery on these cards and signs. Include your bakery name, location, contact number, and add a few bakery products which you sell over here.
Another great way to promote your bakery would be by creating a menu for your bakery and then printing it out on paper and then handing to people who roam around your bakery. People love checking out food items and their rates so a menu will come in handy to make more people aware of your bakery. You can also hand out business cards to your customers and friends so that they can contact you for future orders as well.
Also, getting sign boards for your bakery is a great way to let know more people about the kind of products you sell and how good you are.
Give out Free Samples
Another efficient way to lure in customers is by offering tasting samples to the people and to give out free baked goods to anyone who visits or passes by your bakery. A lot of people prepare a booth inside the bakery to give out free samples while others keep a server outside the bakery to give free tasting. This will help in bringing traffic to your bakery store if they like what they taste. So, make sure that you offer something unique and delicious when doing the free sample marketing.
Also, try not to give samples of something will take too much effort or ingredients like a cupcake, donut, etc. Giving free samples of mini muffins, cookies, and so on sounds like a better choice.
Use Social Media for Promotion
Social Media Marketing has become quite popular recently as people have started indulging in more social media like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc. So, don’t miss out on using these platforms to market your bakery business. You can create a page for your bakery on the different social media platforms and then share your content to attract customers.
Your content can include pictures and videos of your baked products or collaborations with some other popular individuals who have a great following. You can also reach out to social media influencers or food bloggers to taste your goods and then write about it and promote it for you. Trust me, this is one of the most effective ways to reach out to thousands of people at a time and barely takes any money too. You can also use Facebook to share details about your bakery store and any events that are being held there. People respond particularly well to food photos so try to showcase your baked goods more and include the interiors of your bakery to get more customers.
Social media will play a major role in your marketing strategy and if executed properly can easily get you tons of loyal customers.
Make a Blog or a Website
Apart from using social media platforms, you can also make an online website for your bakery where you can allow the customer to order things online. An online website makes it convenient for the customers to order their favorite bakery item without having to leave their house and will make you more favorable to the customers. Giving discounts and free delivery schemes to your customers will make you more famous among them and more likely to be chosen when the customer needs to order some desserts or baked goods for the home.
If you don’t want to start an online website then you can open a blog for your bakery instead and promote your business by sharing baking recipes, baking event details, and so on. Blogs are a cheap and effective way to increase your customer base and you can attract more people by giving discounts to people who subscribe to your blog.
Give Deals and Discounts to Attract Customers
As mentioned earlier, providing discounts and attractive offers to people on your bakery items will help in tempting more customers towards your bakery. So, try to implement new schemes regularly to keep your bakery tempting. If you have some baked goods which are less popular then you can give them in a free scheme to your loyal customers or you can give discount coupons to people who regularly shop at your bakery.
Also, make sure that you make your deals and offers sound exciting to your users so that they are tempted to try it. Don’t say things like ‘2400 INR for 13 cupcakes’, instead, say something like ‘2400 INR for 12 cupcakes plus 1 cupcake free’. Try to make your offers sound interesting so that your customers are forced to check them out.
Step 4: Attend Farm Markets and Local Food Events
Apart from the above-mentioned promoting and marketing schemes, it is also important that you make your brand recognizable by participating in food events around your area. One such way is by setting up a stall at Farmer’s market where you can sell your baked goods and get recognition for your bakery. If your place doesn’t hold farmers market then you can take up local catering gigs for schools, offices, etc. to grow your bakery business.
You can also try contacting the local food events that are likely to happen in your city and then get yourself a spot. You can also host events in collaboration with other brands by offering to provide the event with free baked products, this will make your bakery more clearly visible to people and will allow you to gather some loyal customers and new opportunities. When you are attending the local food events, make sure that you offer something unique and freshly baked items and make your booth interesting and attractive so that more people come to check it out. If people come to your booth at these local events and end up liking your products then they are more likely to contact you for other baking related orders.
Step 5: Keep your Customers Happy
One of the most important things to remember is that bad publicity can harm your bakery’s image. So, make sure that you keep your regular customers happy and satisfied with good quality products. This is the path to long-term success and growth of your bakery so don’t neglect it.
If you keep your present customers happy then they are likely to share the details of your bakery with their friend and family and create a chain of word-of-mouth advertising. This is quite a powerful advertising method and is likely to get you more customers than other advertising mediums.
If you offer discounts and deals to your regular customers then the chances of them recommending you to their friends increase further and help in bringing more customers to your bakery store.
Step 6: Engage in Networking
Lastly, you need to create a loyal network for your bakery. This means that you need to attend various food conferences, bakery events, etc. where you will get in contact with other bakery owners, vendors, etc. who can help in promoting your business.
Networking will make your bakery business easier to handle and grow as you will have contact information of other vendors and businesses who might need your services or who might help you in getting good bakery events to expand. Trust me, networking goes a long way in growing your business and can help you in sticky situations as well.
So, now that you know about the various methods and steps involved in promoting your bakery, why not go ahead and give it a try? Once you try these marketing methods you will see how useful and helpful they are in expanding your bakery business.