Are you preparing a marketing strategy for your cookie business?

If you are ready to launch your business or have a cookie business up and running, now is the time. In the process of growing your cookie business, you’ll want to refer to your business plan template and consistently create new marketing strategies to appeal to potential customers. 

Because cookies are deliciously popular, it seems that all it would take to create a successful marketing strategy would be to have a potential customer take one bite out of a warm, freshly-baked cookie. That would seal the deal right there.

However, on the practical side of marketing efforts, it takes work to learn how to start a cookie business, and it takes work to learn how to market one, as well. It will be wise to consider several types of marketing efforts to reach your audience most effectively. Let’s talk about them in detail.

Step 1. Determine Your Target Audience 

The first question to ask yourself is related to your audience: who are they? How do they know about your cookies? Do you deliver cookies and sell them from a cookie shop or only online? The answers to these questions will determine your marketing efforts.

After you’ve determined who your customers could be and your best method of delivery, it’s time to move closer to the subject of effective marketing.

Step 2. Determine The Products And Services Your Cookie Business Will Offer

Carefully consider the scope of your cookie business and the services you will choose to provide. 

Products:

• Will you sell more than 12 different kinds of cookies, or will you specialize in 6 or fewer kinds?
• How many estimated cookies will be baked each day?
• Will your cookies have a type or theme such as “homemade favorites” or “buttery delicacies”?
• Will your business make cookies for pets?
• Will your business provide custom-designed cookies for special occasions?
• Will you expand your business to include muffins, scones, tea biscuits, and/or pastries?
• Will you offer beverages like a variety of relaxing teas or specialty coffee?

Services:

• In your current location, can you bake enough cookies to fulfill large orders?
• Will your business cater cookies at events?
• What will your company do with inventory that is past its shelf life?
• How will your cookies be delivered: in-store, via express services, or by company vehicles?
• How will your cookies be packaged for delivery or pick-up?

Step 3. Apply The Most Effective Marketing Strategies

Evaluate the following marketing strategies to determine which will successfully represent the type of cookies your business provides and the delivery methods you’ve chosen to use.

• Brand ambassadors

If there was ever a best marketing strategy for cookies, it would be the brand ambassador campaign. In order to utilize brand ambassadors, you’ll need to deploy several dozen cookies, several cookie marketing folks, and several flyers into the regional areas you’ve targeted for sales.

Place cookie ambassadors in busy retail areas, shopping malls, or near corporate buildings. The ambassadors will offer a free cookie and a cookie brochure to everyone who passes by. A brand ambassador educates the world about the delicious cookies available from your cookie business; they must be personable and promise not to eat all the cookies.

• Website marketing

If your method of cookie delivery is through your website, you’ll want first to create a smashing website with easy “buy” buttons, payment transaction pages, and a very smooth transition from one page to another. Use SEO content and high-resolution images to showcase your cookies. Offer specials for online viewers only and add seasonal cookie promotions.

• Retail marketing

A marketing strategy in your retail store location that will always be welcomed is the aroma of fresh cookies wafting through the interior of the store. Food appeals to the five senses, and the scent of cookies baking adds to the delicious cookies customers will view, resulting in your two most effective marketing tools: smell and sight.

Incentivize customers by offering in-store specials and free cookie tastings, as well. Offer holiday or seasonal announcement fliers as well as sales promos to each customer.

• Facebook and Instagram posts and stories

Provide high-resolution images of customers eating your cookies; pull traffic in by positioning captions on the images that indicate the delight of those who are eating.

Bring attention to your cookies by showing them in magnified images, where an ingredient, such as a single chocolate chip, can be highly detailed. Evoke deliciousness. Use a combination of the visual images of cookies and the people who love them to market the experience on social media platforms.

Conclusion

These are only a few of the successful marketing strategies you may choose to employ for your own cookie business. Above all, use the sensory delight of your cookies to bring enjoyment to your customers. Use metrics to measure the success of your strategies and continue to creatively tie your cookie business to a product line the world loves.