I am trying to come up with ideas to get my whole theme down. With a logo designer the question came up ( a quick live chat) who is it you will be marketing to? My guess...women?! Cuz guys don't usually buy the cakes? But cakes can be made for many occasions. So would women be the right answer?

I know some of you have gotten this far and asked yourself this question!

I would say so.. I think most men would have a hard time remembering to pick up a cake at a grocery store.. nevermind custom ordering one!

So far, I have had a mixture of both, men and women! I have had a call for a teacher's 50th bday at school..her dh called me. A friend who is a dj also has called me, 3x in the past month for cakes....he is great! I am finding out that men DO THINK ABOUT CAKES, not just women.

I am trying to reach out and market to both...and so far, so good......

Yes, in all the cakes I've done, maybe only 2 or 3 were ordered by men! The grooms in my bridal couples have always had an imput in their cakes - which I find quite refreshing!

I remember my logo designer asking me the same question. I definitely agree that it is women! I ended up going with a logo that appeals to women, but that also does not repulse men!!

I would say yes Women are the majority. But I have had a few men ask about cakes for the wives. At the same time I've had men ask other women to ask me too.

cCc

dont limit yourself to just woman.

My actual target market has been companies. DBF idea.......... he is a strategic ananlyst (boring to me lol)

His idea was market towards companies. Do cakes for company events and generally a lot of companies will buy a birthday cake for employees. From one company I have a guanteed 45 cakes a year, plus the run off that I get when the employees started calling to order cakes for their families birthdays, etc.

I know 45 cakes may not seem a lot to some of you, but when you are studying law and raising all the children listed below, trust me, IT"S ENOUGH for me!!!

Was a much quicker start up then having to chase individual customers.

Thank you DBF

Yeah, I would guess that each of our businesses vary a bit in who our target market really is... I have found that my target market is definitely about 95% women, and of those, I am marketing to:
Brides
Mothers with children under 13 years old

And I have noticed that my young mothers with kids under 5 market has completely exploded. I do so many extravagant 1st b-day and baby shower cakes; I am shocked at how they pass my name around!

I tend to get mostly baby shower orders. I guess pregant woman are just drawn to me because of my kids! lol

ok this is a great question. I have a pastry shop so i do supply more than just cakes so I am not sure if my input will help but... I have a few local high end resturants that sell my stuff exclusively as their desserts. so here is a quick list of my target markets

walk ins
resturants
coffee shops
local business (I have a book store, a wine shop, a country market and a jewlery store that buy from me every week)
party planners
caterers
wedding clients / grooms cakes/ wedding favors and dessert buffets
baby and wedding showers
brithdays
furnerals
annaversaries
holiday pies cookies and cakes
businesses ( I have done a few packages for local business that were having meetings and wanted to offer those in attendance something yummy, as well as company picnics)
local events (such as the red hats, the librarys various events, and such)

umm I think that is it but I am sure I will think of more things we have done after I post this. I hope this has helped

i find most of my customers are women, and teenagers, it has become somewhat "trendy" i've found out lately, for teens to get the cakes for their parties from me.

i think they call that the "nag factor"...ha ha..."mom, i must have a cake from littlecake, or i will die!"

teens have LOTS of parties, those sweet 16 cakes can cost as much as a wedding cake.

It's funny you mention that about the teen parties. I had an email this week from a mom inquiring about a 3 tier cake for her daughter's 16th b-day party. It turned out it was actually the daughter that sent it and the mom knew nothing about the cake. A couple days later the mom calls me, (I had called and left a message and sent an email), and said she had known nothing about the cake until that morning. I tell you though this 16 yo knew what she wanted and had it all laid out. I wish all my customers were that decisive!!

To OP, most of my customers have been brides and working mothers of young children, with some bridal showers and baby showers thrown in there.

Kristin