Cake Decorating Business #5: Basic Marketing

Part #5: Basic Marketing

Marketing is the second thing other than pricing which seems to frustrate a lot of cake business owners. We know it’s important, we know we need to do it, yet many of us seem mystified by what marketing for our business actually is. The good news is, most of us are marketing our cake businesses on a daily basis, we just don’t know that’s what we are doing. Marketing is basically getting your business and products known to the market, where “the market” is the people who are potentially going to buy them. Essentially the important thing to remember is that marketing is also about building your reputation and all the activities you are doing which helps that goal along.

There are four different tools you can use to market in your business, commonly referred to as ‘the four P’s’ (created by EJ McCarthy.) These are the things which you can do something about which market your business as a whole, and the combination of these is ultimately about getting the right product in front of the people at the right time.

• Product: This is what you have to offer the market. You might answer questions such as: How it is different to what others are currently offering? What is the quality of your product? Is the packaging premium or budget? What added services do you offer? What does it actually look like? This P is all about the actual item or service that you are bringing to the market.
• Price: This is all about the money as it relates to your product. Is it priced at the high end or the low end? Do you offer discounts of any kind? What are the payment terms? Is the price reflective of the product’s quality (it should)?
• Place: This is about how the product actually gets to your customer. How do they buy it? Do you hold inventory or stock? What is the ordering process? In what different places will your product be found? How will you fit it into the current marketplace?
• Promotion: This is how you communicate to your client about your products and services. This might include a advertising on various platforms, promotions, public relations, marketing activities like flyers or events, social media and so on.

Each of these items have value in and of themselves, but it’s how they all come together which makes up the overall marketing of your business. Often we think of marketing just as that last one (promotion) but it’s really about the much bigger picture. It’s important to make sure all of the P’s are giving the same message, that your marketing is consistent across all of those areas. As an example, if you are selling your product online as a high end, exclusive product – but customers can purchase it at a local supermarket and the packaging is very basic, then your marketing mix is not right and it’s sending mixed messages to your potential customers. Alternatively if you promote that you are an ‘affordable’ cake maker, but your minimal required spend for customers is $500, then you’re only making your products ‘affordable’ to the high end of the market. Chances are the higher end of the market is a group who probably wouldn’t be attracted to a company that calls themselves ‘affordable’ – they probably prefer a cake maker who calls themselves ‘couture’, exclusive’, or ‘luxe’.

Earlier in this article I said that most of us are marketing our business every day, we just don’t know it. If you look at the list of four P’s, you can probably find some ways that you are daily marketing. So as an example, the new shiny cake boxes you just ordered (product), the last quote you costed out properly (price), the new cafe that is now going to offer your treats (placement) and the tone of voice you use on your Facebook account (promotion) – all of these are marketing your business in different parts of the P’s.

You’re building a story around your business and your products and that’s what the marketing mix is all about, ensuring that all the parts of the story come together well enough so that your product entices the right kind of person (the person you want as your ideal client) to come to your door.

Written by Michelle Green 2014, Copyright The Business of Baking