Why your cake business is failing

WHY YOUR CAKE BUSINESS IS FAILING (AND WHAT YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT)

It’s disheartening when your cake business is slow. We start to feel like a failure, like this business was a bad idea. There have been times when I have asked myself if I was mad to leave my sensible office job and jump into the crazy world of cake decorating.

I would often go weeks without a single order, and my heart would sink when another local cake maker would reveal that they were flooded with orders. But things improved and what I realise now is that I was selling a niche product and couldn’t expect to mop up generic local cake orders because my cakes were not generic: I didn’t use fondant, and didn’t make novelty cakes and so had to work harder to find my customers.

If you want to improve your sales, you have to audit your business. Start by looking back over the previous years’ business. If you used to get plenty of orders, but little has changed in the way you work or your offer, it’s clear that what worked well for you in the past, is not working so well anymore. This could be because:

  • Competition has grown. In many areas there are a lot more cake makers than there were before the 2020 lockdown. Prices are rock bottom.

  • The cake industry has changed and you are still doing the same old thing.

  • It’s more difficult to reach potential customers via social media without paying for ads.

So if you are suffering from low sales, you need to solve these problems by asking yourself three questions:

1 What can I do to stand out from this increased competition? How can I identify and build on my cakes’ USP? 

2 Is my offer relevant? Demand for fondant and novelty cakes is falling fast; do I need to learn or improve my skills in other areas? 

3 What can I do to get new customers? How would someone who desires the type of cake that I offer find me? Who is my ideal customer? Where are they hanging out?

In a challenging economic climate, businesses have to adapt. If your local cake market is saturated, you will need to stand-out as different and this requires a bit of strategic thinking when it comes to marketing, as you are moving away from a position as ‘a local cake maker’ to an ‘extraordinary cake maker’, with a distinguishable style.

This means no longer relying on word-of-mouth for new business; you need to cast your net wider. Build engagement on Instagram and TikTok. Make lots of dummies of cakes in the style that you love to make and populate your grid with them. Blog about them. 

Try advertising on Google and Facebook. It doesn’t cost much to dip your toe in, and potential customers are no longer put off by the ‘sponsored’ tag. They half expect a successful business to be advertising on Google at least.

The first step is to STOP copying other cakes. If you’re unsure of what your style may be, have a play. Experiment.

It’s time to start earning what you’re worth.

Join the Floral Cake Revolution for more business tips www.floralcakerevolution.com



Emma Page