Seeking Opinions/help On Business Brochure

Business By Stitches Updated 28 Jun 2013 , 11:38pm by jason_kraft

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Stitches Posted 27 Jun 2013 , 3:42pm
post #1 of 46

I think I'm close to being done creating my Wholesale Wedding Cake brochure. This will only go to wholesale clients along with my business card and cake samples. It's a double sided tri-fold brochure so it looks a little weird online as photographs. The hue/lightness is adjusted for print, so everything appears lighter then it looks when it's printed.

 

My questions/opinions wanted is about my general content. I had all this info. loaded into my brochure originally and after showing it to my hubby he thought it was all wrong. He felt that no one is going to sit and read my brochure page by page..........it's just a sales tool showing a glimpse of your work.....not explaining everything someone needs to know about your business. Is he correct? That's how I tried to design my brochure but if it misses the mark please tell me?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks in advance

45 replies
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shake n cake Posted 27 Jun 2013 , 4:02pm
post #2 of 46

I think its very nice! Clean and concise  icon_smile.gif Plus pretty cake pictures!

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jason_kraft Posted 27 Jun 2013 , 4:11pm
post #3 of 46

AFirst pass:

- Your web site address should be more obvious since that will be the next step. Ideally you will want to link directly to an info page targeted at wholesale customers - Needs more specific pricing examples - Not a big fan of the word "modest" as a descriptor for your cakes - Copy needs to be more professional in terms of tone and spelling/grammar (e.g. use the word "really" less) - Highlight your most interesting flavors - Highlight the simplicity of your ingredients (maybe include a sample ingredients list) - Get rid of the marketing fluff (most of the "Why should you use us" section)

The goal of your brochure should be to get the customer to call you or go to the wholesale section of your web site and contact you there.

You may want to work with a marketing professional on this (especially on the copy), a small investment now will greatly improve the first impression you make on customers.

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pinkfluffycupcake Posted 27 Jun 2013 , 5:23pm
post #4 of 46
  • I agree with Jason to cut down on the use of the word "really" and eliminate the category of "modest" cakes.  
  • There should not be a comma between "you" and "use" in the sentence "Why should you use us?"
  • For the bullet points under the heading of "Why should you use us", use periods, not exclamation points.
  • I'm also not clear on exactly which audience this is targeting: the wholesale customers or the wedding clients?  It seems like it's geared towards the wedding customers.  If it's geared towards the wholesale clients, you need to explain why your service is a benefit to them.
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kaylawaylalayla Posted 27 Jun 2013 , 6:29pm
post #5 of 46

AMaybe simple? Classic? Traditional? Simply elegant?

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Stitches Posted 27 Jun 2013 , 6:39pm
post #6 of 46

My category of 'Modest' cakes was originally titled 'Simple' cakes. But it was suggested to me on another thread that using the word 'Simple' wasn't the best choice of words. I also think there's a couple other decorators that use that title of 'Simple' so I didn't want to copy them. The concept is pre-designed cakes that are not at all customizable. Do you guys like the use of 'Pre-Designed' Cakes (in place of 'Modest')? If not, would you have any other suggestions?

 

The audience I'm targeting is wholesale wedding cake buyers chefs and managers (not the brides) at country clubs, banquet halls, hotels, etc...

 

 

I thought I was specifying why my service was a benefit for them in my bullet points;

Why should you use US? 

¨ Your customers will notice the difference in the quality of our cakes.

¨ Better products increase your sales.

¨ We are dependable, honest and well respected with-in the industry! (We offer professional references)

¨ We are easy to work with.

¨ Our cakes look great and taste incredible.

¨ We have over 25 years of professional pastry experience.

 

 
So these need correction/help (I get that)..... Jason suggested I hire a marketing professional for guidance. My fear is when I hire someone else, their work doesn't turn out any better then mine.........and than I've wasted money and both of our time. Would you have any specific suggestions of better points I should be making about why I'm of benefit to them?
 
(I'm not going to correct my brochure and repost it yet. Thank-you, I do agree with the suggestions made so far. Instead I'm going to take in all the corrections I should make here in thread before I correct the original.)
 

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jason_kraft Posted 27 Jun 2013 , 7:31pm
post #7 of 46

ADo you need to make a distinction at all between "Pre-Designed" cakes and custom cakes? You may simply want to include your pre-designed cakes as examples of custom cakes you can create, which in turn could be offered by your wholesale partner to their customers. Unless you keep an inventory of frozen cakes it seems unnecessarily limiting to not allow any customization at all.

Re working with a marketing professional, you would need to interview them and see samples of their work, just as a bride would do when shopping for a wedding cake. You may even be able to get a "tasting", i.e. a demonstration of how they would reword a few of your points or redesign part of your brochure.

For the bullet point list, I would focus on what you can differently from the venue's existing bakery vendor. Presumably the existing vendor is easy to work with and makes high quality products, otherwise they wouldn't have been chosen. The point that better products increase sales may be true (or it may not, depending on the target market and price points), but how does it impact profitability, and how does this point relate to your competitive advantage (besides your products being "better", which is a subjective term)?

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kaylawaylalayla Posted 27 Jun 2013 , 7:33pm
post #8 of 46

ASo would you be selling the wedding cakes to them and they would sell them again to the bride? Sorry I know this is probably a silly question

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jenmat Posted 27 Jun 2013 , 9:46pm
post #9 of 46

I actually like the whole thing except for the modest thing. The brochure is very attractive and well-designed IMO.

 

I don't like the word 'with-in' the wedding industry under the why choose us heading. Take the hyphen out. 

 

As far as modest, I think it implies cheap for some reason. It's an awkward term. But what to replace it with? Finish the sentence Custom vrs.......

 

Standard

 

Classic

 

Set design

 

I dunno, maybe a thesaurus would help? lol

 

I like the idea of the modest line though- no fuss from them means time savings for you! I've been wanting to try that, but I don't know if I have enough room in my schedule each year to make time for both custom and standard work. 

Nice job!

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Stitches Posted 27 Jun 2013 , 9:49pm
post #10 of 46
Quote:
Originally Posted by jason_kraft 

Do you need to make a distinction at all between "Pre-Designed" cakes and custom cakes? You may simply want to include your pre-designed cakes as examples of custom cakes you can create, which in turn could be offered by your wholesale partner to their customers. Unless you keep an inventory of frozen cakes it seems unnecessarily limiting to not allow any customization at all.
 

First, thank-you for your help Jason, it's definitely appreciated! This is the only point I can answer right now, as I'm still trying to figure out my thoughts about other points.

 

Yes, I do need to make a distinction between my 'Pre-Designed' cakes and custom cakes. They are very different (which now writing those 4 words... makes me realize I must not be conveying that well, so I'll work on that issue too). Everything I make is custom and made to order, nothing is frozen (I mention that in my brochure). I give each vendor a disk (they may copy into their system) and a nice folder that shows photographs each cake I offer in this line.........and it explains the flavor and design choices too. The vendor gets a price sheet, the clients version doesn't show pricing from me.

 

Most (but not all) vendors have their own pricing structure/plans the client can choose from. You know, for $69.99 you get a choice of chicken entrée, salad and soup, for $79.99 they get a choice of beef entrée, salad and soup, etc... My system has 3 levels and the vendor can either enclose my product in with their own pricing category (so with the chicken entrée you can choose any cake from level A or with their beef entrée package the client can choose and cake from level A or level B, etc...) or they can show the client my cake book separate from their food.

 

So I have 3 pricing tiers and as the price goes up the selection of cake flavors, fillings and cake designs increase accordingly. A bride can not choose a different filling or cake flavor if it isn't offered in the same design tier their cake is. In order to get that higher tiered filling or design, they MUST pay for the higher tier too. At the third tier (the most expensive) they can choose from any of my 'Modest' designs and flavors.

 

 

 Where as with a completely custom cake, I'll make just about any flavor cake and filling plus create any design they want. Everything about that is custom priced just as I would do with a retail customer. The only difference is, when I offer custom cakes to these vendors I only show the vendor my price and they are free to up sell the cost. I will be selling that custom cake at a wholesale price (of course I'm not going to be cheap either!)

 

Hope that all made sense and it should explain kaylawaylalayla's question too.

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Stitches Posted 27 Jun 2013 , 9:58pm
post #11 of 46

Thanks for the kind words too.

 

Here's a similar concept (except they've done it better then I) http://www.asimplecake.com/

 

The word 'Modest' or 'Simple' whatever............the truth is, it is a cheaper line then completely custom...........somehow the name has to say that. There for a while everyone was using the words like 'Couture' for custom cakes and 'Off The Rack' for not custom.

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jason_kraft Posted 27 Jun 2013 , 10:32pm
post #12 of 46

AI understand that you want to have some simpler preset options available, but I'm still not clear on why you have the pricing scheme set up that way, it seems overcomplicated and not as flexible as it could be.

There are really only two cost components that cause the per-serving price of a cake to vary: ingredients and labor. There's nothing wrong with having different levels of flavors and designs, but usually there won't be a dependency that forces the customer to a higher flavor level if they choose a higher design level or vice-versa. It doesn't cost you anything extra to use a different flavor in the same pricing tier.

If I were putting together a pricing strategy like this I would have a set of basic designs and basic flavors (vanilla, chocolate, etc) set the starting price. For an additional cost they could upgrade to any premium flavor (for example, add a fruit filling), or they could upgrade to a more complex predetermined design, or both. If they want a new flavor that isn't available or a new design that's not in the predetermined set, the venue would contact me and I would quote a price (which of course would be higher due to the custom work).

This way, all your cakes would be "custom" cakes, but some would just be more custom (and more expensive) than others. The "off the rack" model only works if you are picking from an existing inventory.

BTW it might be interesting to acquire the pricing plans the venue offers, work up some examples that integrate your products, and present those to the venue while highlighting the different upsell opportunities available.

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kaylawaylalayla Posted 27 Jun 2013 , 10:41pm
post #13 of 46

AThanks, that cleared it up completely. And that website is awesome!

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kaylawaylalayla Posted 27 Jun 2013 , 10:50pm
post #14 of 46

AAnd maybe I'm being a little dense today, but I feel likeI just read the same thing twice. From om stitches and then from jason.

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Stitches Posted 27 Jun 2013 , 11:36pm
post #15 of 46
Quote:
Originally Posted by jason_kraft 
.If I were putting together a pricing strategy like this I would have a set of basic designs and basic flavors (vanilla, chocolate, etc) set the starting price. For an additional cost they could upgrade to any premium flavor (for example, add a fruit filling), or they could upgrade to a more complex predetermined design, or both. If they want a new flavor that isn't available or a new design that's not in the predetermined set, the venue would contact me and I would quote a price (which of course would be higher due to the custom work).

This way, all your cakes would be "custom" cakes, but some would just be more custom (and more expensive) than others. The "off the rack" model only works if you are picking from an existing inventory.
 

Yes, I think we are saying the same exact thing.......just different words.

 

" It doesn't cost you anything extra to use a different flavor in the same pricing tier" Huh....you must not have understood me. There is a HUGE difference in my costs to bake a vanilla cake verses a carrot cake. All butter cream is way cheaper then fresh raspberries for a filling, etc...

 

So tier 'A level' cakes your choice in cake is; chocolate or vanilla, period. A 'level B' option would now include a red velvet cake, apple cake and chocolate or vanilla. A 'level C' option would includes carrot cake and hazelnut cake as well as all the over flavors previously offered in less expensive levels/packages.

 

I've had several brides upgrade for a different filling option.

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jason_kraft Posted 28 Jun 2013 , 12:09am
post #16 of 46

A

Original message sent by Stitches

[COLOR=4B0082]" It doesn't cost you anything extra to use a different flavor in the same pricing tier"[/COLOR] Huh....you must not have understood me. There is a HUGE difference in my costs to bake a vanilla cake verses a carrot cake. All butter cream is way cheaper then fresh raspberries for a filling, etc...

Which is why vanilla cake and BC would be in a lower priced tier than carrot cake and fresh fruit. But, for example, if a cake was offered with vanilla BC and a customer wanted to substitute chocolate BC (assuming both cost the same) it wouldn't cost you anything extra to make that substitution.

I've had several brides upgrade for a different filling option.

If they can upgrade to a premium filling options without also having to pick a premium design, that makes more sense to me.

I think we are basically saying the same thing, your description seemed to imply that a design upgrade was required if a customer wanted a flavor upgrade.

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CWR41 Posted 28 Jun 2013 , 1:07am
post #17 of 46
Quote:
Originally Posted by Stitches 
(....Instead I'm going to take in all the corrections I should make here in thread before I correct the original.)

So, are you asking for help with proofreading too?

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kikiandkyle Posted 28 Jun 2013 , 1:27am
post #18 of 46

AHow about using 'pre-designed', or even 'standard designs'? I see the need to distinguish between them in the photos because you have different prices for them, but it's hard to come up with a word for it!

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Stitches Posted 28 Jun 2013 , 2:20am
post #19 of 46

"I think we are basically saying the same thing, your description seemed to imply that a design upgrade was required if a customer wanted a flavor upgrade."

 

If a customer wants a flavor upgrade that allows them to choose an upgraded design too, that's their option they don't have to upgrade the design. Same thing if they want an upgraded design, they can still have a basic flavor and not an upgraded flavor. But they pay for the upgraded package/level. You can't pick an upgrade with-out it costing the full upgraded package.

 

So, are you asking for help with proofreading too?

 

Yes, please! I can't see them.

 

How about using 'pre-designed', or even 'standard designs'?

 

I'm totally searching for the right descriptive word! My least expensive cakes aren't all 'Traditional' nor 'Standard'. They are however 'Simple' designs for me to execute. 'Modest' does make sense I think because they are modest in cost and design. "Pre-Designed' also works but doesn't suggest lower cost.

 

I see the need to distinguish between them in the photos because you have different prices for them, but it's hard to come up with a word for it!

 

I show some photos of the 'Modest' cake line on the page that mentions that option 'Modest' Wedding Cakes. And the page where I offer completely custom cakes I have photographs of custom cakes. Do you think I need to label each photograph in my brochure so a vendor can instantly tell, because it's not obvious yet?

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CWR41 Posted 28 Jun 2013 , 2:44am
post #20 of 46
Quote:

Originally Posted by Stitches 

So, are you asking for help with proofreading too?

 

Yes, please! I can't see them.

Cool...

top quality REAL ingredients
top-quality REAL ingredients

from scratch, we
from scratch.  We

never use mixes or ready made products.
never use mixes or ready-made products.

Our 100% all butter frostings
Our 100% all-butter frostings

Why should you, use US?
Why should you use us?

We are dependable, honest and well respected.
We are dependable, honest, and well respected.

with-in the industry! (We offer professional references)
within the industry! (We offer professional references.)

a really great tasting cake
a really great-tasting cake

available, bake fresh to order and really care
available, bake fresh to order, and really care

at your business and create
at your business to create

at 3.50 per person.
at $3.50 per person. (period is black, but the rest of the text is white.)
 

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CWR41 Posted 28 Jun 2013 , 2:46am
post #21 of 46
Quote:
Originally Posted by Stitches 
I'm totally searching for the right descriptive word! My least expensive cakes aren't all 'Traditional' nor 'Standard'. They are however 'Simple' designs for me to execute. 'Modest' does make sense I think because they are modest in cost and design. "Pre-Designed' also works but doesn't suggest lower cost.

Basic.

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jason_kraft Posted 28 Jun 2013 , 3:05am
post #22 of 46

A

Original message sent by Stitches

If a customer wants a flavor upgrade that allows them to choose an upgraded design too, that's their option they don't have to upgrade the design. Same thing if they want an upgraded design, they can still have a basic flavor and not an upgraded flavor. But they pay for the upgraded package/level. You can't pick an upgrade with-out it costing the full upgraded package.

So if a customer decides to gets an upgraded design, they get an upgraded flavor for free, and vice versa?

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kaylawaylalayla Posted 28 Jun 2013 , 3:06am
post #23 of 46

ABasic seems to have a negative connotation to me at least sometimes when it com es to wedding cakes. But it might be just me. Brides want the wedding to reflect themselves and might not think of themselvesas basic.

Also 100% all butter seems rredundant anyways. Maybe just 100% butter or all butter

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jason_kraft Posted 28 Jun 2013 , 3:14am
post #24 of 46

A

Original message sent by kaylawaylalayla

Also 100% all butter seems rredundant anyways. Maybe just 100% butter or all butter

You also have to consider that 100% all butter frosting would just be butter. Something like "made with real, all-natural butter" would be more accurate.

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denetteb Posted 28 Jun 2013 , 3:19am
post #25 of 46

It seems to me that the part about real ingredients is repeated on each side.  Since we cakers are having trouble with the concept, maybe your wholesale customers would also.  Could you use the same terminology you are using to describe it to us.  For example on one page, have one pricing tier on each trifold.  Give brief examples, with flavors, pics, design, pricing.  Emphasizing how simple it will be for them to use with their brides.  Don't call it a name or modest or anything, use 1, 2, 3 or a, b, c. 

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Benzy55 Posted 28 Jun 2013 , 3:29am
post #26 of 46

I find that there is too much to read in your brochure but I do love the pictures.

I feel like there are too many bullets and too much information included.  I just

went to a food show and I came home with tons of brochures and most I just

dumped into the trash when I got home, the ones I kept were concise and to

the point. I don't need to know if someone has 25 years baking experience or

that they are honest and dependable, I will find that out pretty quickly when I

do business with them.

I think it is important to say what does make your cakes different from the

rest, will the venue make a bigger percentage if they buy from you or do you

sell a quality product that people are sure to rave about and tell their friends

about to send the place more business?  I think that it looks pretty professional

for what you have done so far.  Good Luck!

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Stitches Posted 28 Jun 2013 , 3:34am
post #27 of 46

CWR41 you totally crack me up!!!!!!!!!!! It must drive you crazy suffering through all the mis-spelled and punctuated writing on the internet. I LOVE your help and can't begin to tell you how much I appreciate it!!!!

 

So if a customer decides to gets an upgraded design, they get an upgraded flavor for free, and vice versa?

 

Yes. You have to remember that I'm not having any contact with the brides selling this way.The vendor sends me a simple email with the cake name, flavors, dated and count, no variations, no exceptions. It's got to be as simplified as possible (which it is). I've been selling this way for over a year now and it's working quite well. I've got my costs all figured out, any change bumps it into a higher price level. There aren't huge differences in design difficulty for me (all 38 cake designs are easy ones) really it's about the cost of my ingredients. 

Now when your talking about a custom cake sold through a vendor I charge for everything. I talk to the brides the vendor doesn't even need to know the details of the cake, other than my price.

 

Also 100% all butter seems redundant anyways. Maybe just 100% butter or all butter

 

I agree, but there's a lot of people who add shortening to their butter cream and some people who don't put any butter in their butter cream frosting. 100% pure butter cream????

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kikiandkyle Posted 28 Jun 2013 , 3:36am
post #28 of 46

ARemember that this is a wholesale brochure, not a client brochure, so they are more likely to get the right impression from the words standard or pre-designed, and the price you list under the description explains that its a lower cost cake.

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kaylawaylalayla Posted 28 Jun 2013 , 3:44am
post #29 of 46

A100% butter based buttercream

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kaylawaylalayla Posted 28 Jun 2013 , 3:47am
post #30 of 46

ARemember the thread you made the other day about if you should update your basic designs? The way you explained it there I thought was good.

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