Some Easy, Fairly Inexpensive Ways To Advertise!

Business By KHalstead Updated 1 Dec 2009 , 2:19pm by love2makecakes

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KHalstead Posted 27 Nov 2009 , 4:43pm
post #1 of 18

Hey guys, I just wanted to share some tips on advertising that maybe not everyone has thought of that have been quite successful for me!

1. I call it reverse advertising and have talked about it some on here before. Basically you go to http://www.google.com/alerts and type in some keywords that you want to get hits on. I type in "wedding cake in Conneaut, Oh" (that's where I live and conduct business), I choose how often I'd like to receive emails every time someone looks up these keywords, I then go to the websites they're searching them on (generally it's a wedding site of some sort) and use the "free advertising" section that 9 out of 10 of them have. When you get the free advert. generally you have limited info you can include such as website, phone number, address.......however, when someone searches, you come up and they know how to get ahold of you. Even if they don't get 20 pics and a nice background with it.


2. The newspaper is your friend. My local newspaper has a section that shows newly engaged couples. I go to my local $ store and stock up on greeting cards that say "Congratulations" Or "Congratulations on your engagement" I usually get them for around $.50/each. I then buy a stamp and for less than $1.00 per couple I can send out a nice greeting card with a simple message that says something to the effect of "Congratulations on your upcoming marriage, I wish you both the best of luck in your new life together,
Sincerely,
Tina Halstead
Tina's Sugar Shack
Conneaut, Oh

Then I pop in a business card so they know I make cakes, and that's it. The card is handwritten and addressed to both bride and groom if they live together, if they live separately I mail them EACH a card separately.

I have mailed out 16 cards for a total of $16.00 + or - spent and it has resulted in 6 weddings with my profits being around $3,000 + or - a few dollars.

this has been a HUGE tactic in my advertising arsenal!
My DH is the one who had the idea and I tried it and it really works. People feel like it's very personal and usually you're the first one to Congratulate them with a card in the mail. Sometimes I include a coupon for 10% off orders over $300.00 or something as well or say something like "Call today to schedule your complimentary wedding cake tasting"

3. I have Cake Boss (program not show) which makes this one a cinch. 2 weeks before my past bride's anniversaries (which are already on my calendar I love Cake Boss) I send them a card, again congratulating them on their anniversary and a general note saying that it was such a pleasure working with them and I wish them the best. Almost every single time I've either received an order from them and sometimes a phone call letting me know that they were so glad I contacted them because they had lost my number and wanted to get a cake for so and so's birthday or whatever! It makes them feel like you have really remembered them and cared about them and their wedding day. When I take wedding cake orders, I always ask the name of the groom and include this in the "notes' section for that particular customer on Cake Boss and then when I go to send the anniversary cards I can write "Dear Adam and Jaime" instead of Mr. and Mrs. so and so...because they don't always remember telling me their husband's name because it was only one time so they're usually pretty touched that I would "remember" write everything down...all notes at consultations that I write I rip out of my notebook and put them in a file with that bride's name on it for future reference.

I do this same thing for customers that order HUGE cakes for their kids' birthdays (you know the ones) I send them a card saying "Happy 6th Birthday Isabella!" in the mail several weeks before the date they received the cake the year before....and just say...hope you have an awesome birthday this year!!! Never fails...the parents go "oh yeah, I need to get that cake ordered" and they call. Works like a charm.



Well, i guess that's it for right now...just thought I'd share those with those of you that don't have hundreds to spend on advertising but want a way to get the word out!

17 replies
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SJ169 Posted 27 Nov 2009 , 5:11pm
post #2 of 18

Thanks for posting this! I love the newspaper idea!

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cheesecakes-galore Posted 27 Nov 2009 , 5:37pm
post #3 of 18

I am glad to see someone else does the same thing on the newspapers! My DH was nagging me about being a spam sender. But it really does work! Except I use postcards that I ordered from a cheap website (vista in the name) with a wedding design on the front and my Company name, so it costs even less to send!

Thanks for the other tips too! Great idea!

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cas17 Posted 27 Nov 2009 , 5:44pm
post #4 of 18

thanks for the great ideas!

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indydebi Posted 27 Nov 2009 , 5:57pm
post #5 of 18

The newspaper idea is a great one. "Back in the day" that's how we all got started, by sending a note to the bride with a copy of their engagement. It was my sister who suggested this to me ... she said she found her cake lady this way when her engagement appeared in the paper.

And now with www.whitepages.com and www.switchboard.com, it's way easier to look up addresses (some papers don't print their address.)

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mixinvixen Posted 27 Nov 2009 , 6:00pm
post #6 of 18

i must be dense today...how are you getting the card to the engaged couple...how do you get their address?

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jenncowin Posted 27 Nov 2009 , 6:04pm
post #7 of 18

I LOVE the newspaper idea and the sending a birthday card the next year! I'm going to have to try that!

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indydebi Posted 27 Nov 2009 , 6:06pm
post #8 of 18
Quote:
Originally Posted by mixinvixen

i must be dense today...how are you getting the card to the engaged couple...how do you get their address?




Look them up on the above address/phone number look ups in my above post (we must have hit enter close to the same time). Sometimes I can't find the bride, but I can find the parents address.

As mentioned, we all have it MUCH better now than I did when I was doing this 30 years ago, when all we had was the local phone book, and we hoped and prayed they had a listed phone number! How did we EVER do business without the internet!!??

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KHalstead Posted 27 Nov 2009 , 8:38pm
post #9 of 18

my newspaper actually give their addresses!

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KHalstead Posted 27 Nov 2009 , 8:39pm
post #10 of 18
Quote:
Originally Posted by cheesecakes galore

I am glad to see someone else does the same thing on the newspapers! My DH was nagging me about being a spam sender. But it really does work! Except I use postcards that I ordered from a cheap website (vista in the name) with a wedding design on the front and my Company name, so it costs even less to send!

Thanks for the other tips too! Great idea!




I use postcards from them too, for regular birthday orders and such but for the BTB I always send a greeting card, I just think it seems more personal and looks like I went out of my way to Congratulate them.

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-Tubbs Posted 27 Nov 2009 , 11:36pm
post #11 of 18

These are really great ideas. Thanks for posting!

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MORSELSBYMARK Posted 28 Nov 2009 , 12:17am
post #12 of 18

great advice - thanks!

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JenniferMI Posted 29 Nov 2009 , 3:22pm
post #13 of 18

Great ideas, thanks for sharing!

Jen icon_smile.gif

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lami Posted 29 Nov 2009 , 7:37pm
post #14 of 18

Thanks for sharing these great ideas. God bless you.

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essence706 Posted 29 Nov 2009 , 8:29pm
post #15 of 18

These are all great ideas! Thanks so much for sharing.

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jenmat Posted 1 Dec 2009 , 3:59am
post #16 of 18

really fun and easy ideas.. but I've noticed that most people in my newspaper engagements announcements are posted about 1-3 months in advance of the actual event. Anyone else notice this? Maybe its just tradition in this area, or maybe I'm just smoking something...

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sugarandslice Posted 1 Dec 2009 , 4:10am
post #17 of 18

Thanks for sharing. I didn't know about Google alerts but I've now set up quite a few. Can't wait to see what they show me.

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love2makecakes Posted 1 Dec 2009 , 2:19pm
post #18 of 18

I love all those ideas! I was just telling my husband how dissapointed I am that I had many more cakes booked at this time last year for the next wedding season than I for the coming up year... The problem is that I am a pretty much word of mouth baker and I need to get more proactive to get my name out there.

I was thinking about sending out Christmas cards from my business to all past orderees with a coupon to use in 2010...

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