5 Easy Ways to Grow Your Cake Business

You will begin to see your business grow and gain new clients with these 5 Easy Ways to Grow Your Cake Business without spending any money on advertising.

5 Easy Ways to Grow Your Cake Business

A few weeks ago I was talking with a client that I was mentoring and she asked about growing her cake business. She was looking for easy ways to grow her business without spending a lot of money on advertising. That's when I jotted down some notes and summed up these 5 Easy Ways to Grow Your Cake Business.

The fantastic thing is that these tips are free or will cost you very little money.  {Check out my coaching services here.}

When I started my business, I had very little money to invest and no knowledge of how to advertise even if I had wanted to. These 5 tips come from learning on the fly, trial and error, and experience.

I am confident that if you enact one or more of these tips, you will begin to see your business grow and you will gain new clients. Let's get to it!

Tag Clients on Social Media

1. Friend request your clients on Facebook and tag them when you post their cakes.  This is probably the biggest way I grew my customer base. When I'd post the cake pics from my business page (watermarked with my business name) and tag my clients, their family and friends would immediately know who made their cake and I almost always gained at least one or two new inquiries for every new cake I'd post! I talk more about that here.

Take Beautiful Photos

2. Take beautiful cake photos and share them online!   I wasn't even planning to have a cake business when I shared my first few cakes on Facebook. Without even trying - I immediately started gaining customers (read that full story here) simply by posting pics on my personal Facebook page. One big key? Beautiful pictures.  

If your pictures are dark, blurry, have distracting backgrounds (no cluttered counters or dirty dishes please), then that will not appeal to new clients. But if they're bright, clean, and pretty - people will be drawn to them! Check out Craftsy photography classes to learn almost anything you need to know about cake photography.

Related: Explore and take photography classes with a cheap Craftsy membership.

Related posts:  My Best Tip to Improve Your Cake Photography

Include Business Cards with Orders

3. Get great business cards and include them when you send out orders.  Back when I was actively trying to gain new clients and more orders, I included 3-5 business cards on or in the boxes of every order I sent out. That way if guests at the party or wedding asked who did the cake, my client could not only tell them but hand them a card! I can't tell you how many times I gained new clients this way. Grab some beautiful cards here.

If other local businesses allow, you can also place them on the counter or in the windows where potential clients might hang out.

Have your own website

4. Start your own website. While social media is fantastic (see #1 and #2), nothing can replace having your own website where customers can look at your portfolio,  make order inquiries, see your prices and menu, etc. You could even build an entirely separate stream of income with blogging, but if that's not your thing, having a simple, beautiful website with basic information and photos is greatly beneficial.

Related posts: Earn More Money with Your Cake Business (without doing more cakes!)

Network with local businesses

5. Network with other local businesses in the same niche. I have befriended a local restaurant owner who recommends my cakes. When her customers book a party or catering job with her and they need a cake, she calls me! I had no idea she would do this when we initially became friends, but it's great that she does! I have lost count of how many cakes I've made based on her recommendation.

I also have contacts with local photographers, wedding planners, and caterers. We recommend each other for services when our clients make inquiries and it's beneficial for everybody! Note:  I didn't begin relationships with any of these people simply to gain an edge in my business. I recommended them because I genuinely like their work and the friendships and mutual promotion followed. Being authentic and putting people first is key!!

The great thing about these 5 Easy Ways to Grow Your Cake Business is that they won't cost you a lot of money (if any) other than the business cards and the website (which is cheaper to set up than you think). Granted they won't explode your business overnight, but they will bring slow and steady growth, which is best!

By having the referrals of previous clients and fellow business owners, you will build a reputation and client base that will serve you well for years to come. Having a website will add a professional edge to your business that clients will admire and trust. And having beautiful photos can do nothing but showcase your work and draw more paying customers to your business.

Do you have other tips or suggestions to grow a cake business? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments!

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