Branding your bakery
Branding your business will really help you when it comes to marketing your bakery, it will give you direction and will help guide the language you use, the style of your marketing design…all the way down to how to package your orders.
We’ve looked at the far reach of branding for bakeries before, and that it covers the style of your cakes/baked goods, packaging, photography, the apron you wear to serve, language (meaning the tone and vibe of the words you put out there), social media and business stationery (invoices/email signature/receipts) – that’s a lot to think about!
To help make sure that everything is cohesive and ‘on brand’ it is helpful to create a business mission statement, or your brand statement. This is a short statement, made up of a couple of sentences, that succinctly sums up your business, what you offer and who you offer it to. Simple, right?
To help, I’ve created a ‘Bakery Brand Worksheet’ which you can download when you sign-up to my newsletter at the link below, but we’re going to break it all down in this post and go through the questions included in the worksheet.
The ultimate FREE guide to DIYing your bakery brand & website
The goal at the end of this process is to have created our mission statement, and hopefully by considering the following questions your mission statement will become clearer and easier to write.
So let’s dive in!
Your bakery
1 – Brand Words
The first thing I want you to consider are the words you associate with your bakery. Don’t hold back at first, just scribble down all of the words that pop into your head when you think about your bakery. Some examples would be – fun, elegant, organic, quality, couture, bespoke, parties, bright, natural, weddings.
Once you’ve filled your page, have a look at everything you’ve written and think about how closely they relate to your business and your products. Focus in on the works that truly feel aligned with your business and that encapsulate the ethos of your bakery. Circle those words, or type them out again to keep them in mind.
2 – Your Products
Next up we’re going to look at what you sell. Is there a common theme? Do you focus on certain events, or types of product? If you do a bit of everything is there something about the ingredients that ties everything together? Start by writing down everything to get the thoughts flowing, then think about what it is that brings them all together – you’ll need this info for the next question!
3 – Unique Selling Point
Every business needs something that makes them stand out from the rest. This is sometimes called a niche, or USP (unique selling point) but it’s really that one thing that you specialise in. Was there a common theme in the products that you create? Maybe your unique selling point is you and your style of baking or decorating. Maybe it’s that you only create vegan products, or that you only use local ingredients. Or you specialise in savoury bakes, or French patisserie. Look at your bakery and write down what is it that makes your products unique.
4 – What Your Known For
This is a similar question to the one above, but that’s because it’s very important. Here we can think more generally, rather than specifically about your products. What do you want people to think of when they think of your bakery. Maybe it’s your premises, your flavours, your decorating style. Write down the main thing you want your bakery to be known for.
Your customers
1 – Your Ideal Customer
Have you done ideal customer work? This is an analysis of your typical and more common customer. This is a key part of how you will market your bakery and deserves a post all of its own! For the purposes of your mission statement though, you’re going to write down a couple of sentences about your ideal customer. Are they a couple who value quality ingredients and are happy with the cost associated with skills, looking for an organic wedding cake? Or a busy mum looking for a stress way free to cater for their childs party? When thinking about your ideal customer, I recommend thinking about what their problem is and how your bakery is solving it.
2 – How Your Customers Feel
How will your customers feel when they think about your business, work with and order from you? At ease, valued, confident? An across the board feeling you want from customers is confidence in you, but other than that they can feel a sense of fun, being serious, professionalism. Think carefully about how people will feel about you.
Related: How Customers See Your Bakery
3 – How Will Customers Talk About Your Business
When a customer is speaking about your bakery and, hopefully, recommending it what is the language they will use? Think about the words they may use to describe you and your bakery. Reflecting your customers language in your brand statement will help them know you are the perfect bakery for them.
The ultimate FREE guide to DIYing your bakery brand & website
Mission Statement
Now you’ve got a whole heap of information about your bakery. Take some time and review all of your answers, maybe even let them percolate in your brain overnight before you return to writing your mission statement. This is the important part, where you will bring all of this wonderful knowledge together and distill it down into a couple of sentences.
Don’t worry about not getting it right the first time. This will definitely take a few drafts, and maybe even test out a few of your statements on your friends or colleagues to make sure you’re on the right track and that they can see your bakery in your statement.
This statement will be so valuable to you and your business. You will use it when you meet people face to face, you will use it in all of your social media bio’s and it will form the copy found on the homepage of your website. It is a consistent statement that people will begin to associate with only you, and you will become known for being and doing exactly what your statement says.
