Who doesn’t eat desserts? In every part of the world, no matter how different the cuisine is, dessert always completes the meal. With this, the bakers are popping up their businesses everywhere – even if it doesn’t have a tangible shop. Virtual bakeries have boomed since the pandemic hit. People have got a lot of time on their hands, hence, they chose baking as their pastime or a side gig or a full time business. Even the smallest convenience store has opened up a section of bakery equipment.
Well, to market their bakery, traditional marketing is off the list since everyone is stuck at their homes. This gives light to digital marketing! YAY!
Here are ways to expand the audience for bakeries through digital marketing –
Step 1: Drawing a Blueprint
- Setting up goals: This is a crucial step to start up any business. So, take a while to jot down the objective, vision, requirement, available resources, budget, short-term and long-term goals, etc. It gives a clear viewpoint and helps to foresee future problems.
- Uniqueness in your goods: Also known as unique selling point (USP). Make your products stand out from the rest. It is up to you how different you want your products to be; one unique quality about your product which will help you to differentiate from others.
- Who are your target audience: Setting the goal is one thing and the target audience is another. Targeting the audience will only help to optimize the business efficiently. Plus, it is cost effective. Your target audience may include a specific group of demographics, location or behaviors and interests. Every target audience has specific interests and may engage differently with your campaigns.
- SWOT Analysis: It is simple yet effective strategic planning. It helps to analyze the strength of your business, weaknesses in the business, various opportunities that arise and the threats that can be avoided in the future. You can either use it for overall business or for specific segments like sales, production or even marketing. This way, you can see how the overall strategy developed from the SWOT analysis will filter down to the segments below before committing to it.
- Overview of the business: Deciding what the menu will be, where the bakery shop will be located, the prices of the baked goods, etc. is equally important. This information will be used wherever you mention your business. So think strategically!
Step 2: Utilize social media smartly
- Make them smell your desserts through pictures: So what if you can not open your doors of the shop and entice the hungry patrons with the mouth-watering odor of your delicious baked goods? You can use the power of social media to do the same. 49% of the world’s population uses social media. You can upload an appealing picture of your baked goods on social media. From which, one can even smell through the picture!
Once, they’re allured with it, they will check out your profile or website. They could even share it on their feeds or buy your baked goods.
- Reach out to the Influencers: Nowadays, influencers have a bigger impact than the celebrities. Shocking yet true! Well, you should use this very much and make the most of it. These influencers can present your goods in a very creative way and make it seem attractive and delicious. As a result, it’ll have a bigger reach.
- Conduct surveys and giveaways: Online surveys are not only cost friendly but also it helps to understand your consumers better. When you have the insights of what consumer likes, you provide services which will meet the desire and need of consumers. With this, they value you by being loyal to you since you are paying attention to their needs.
On the other hand, giving away freebies is not a brilliant way to stick up to the budget but it gains their attention and trust. They are also apt to purchase something extra which wasn’t even on their list!
- Up to date: In today’s world, the consumer first checks the information about the business, especially an eatery – ranking about the food, comments, whether the business is genuine, etc. Keeping your profile or website updated will help the consumer to easily know everything about your bakery.
Step 3: Always be friendly
This is something which is not related to any digital marketing strategy tool but it is a quality which needs to be implied while carrying out digital marketing. Bakers have to create an atmosphere where the consumers feel comfortable and homely.
Never ignore a review, be it a negative one. Try to solve the issue which the consumer has with politeness. Keep the communication line open. It goes without saying that you should greet customers with a smile when they come through your door, whether that’s a virtual door or door with hinges!