Selling and marketing
How to Do Good Marketing for a Home Bakery: 5 Free Moves
A simple weekly marketing routine that brings repeat orders without spending on ads.
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What to remember
- Pick one place your buyers already are, not five.
- Post the same three things every week so people remember you.
- Make ordering and paying take less than a minute.
- Track one number: repeat orders.
- Spend nothing on ads until repeat orders are steady.
If you want to know how to do good marketing for home bakery, start with people who already bought. They are the cheapest customers you will ever get, and they already trust you a little. Ask them what they liked, then make it very easy for them to order again. For more on the selling side, see our helpful selling guides on this site.
Pick one place your buyers already are
It is easy to try to be on every app and every social site, but that spreads you thin. Think about where your local buyers already are, like your neighborhood group or church. Maybe it is your kids’ school, the local farmers market, or a nearby community page. Choose the one place where you already talk to people, and put all your energy there.
When you try to be on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Nextdoor, you do none of them well. Your buyers get confused about where to order, so they may not order at all. Pick one place, put your full menu there, and answer all messages quickly. That one simple place is also your main marketing home and your main order desk.
Choose your one place
Pick the group, page, or market where you already know people. Do not pick a new app you have never used.
Make a simple sign up
Write one sentence that says what you sell and when you take orders. Pin it to the top.
Post your menu
List three to five items with prices. Keep it short so it fits on a phone screen.
Set an order cut off
Say ‘orders close Wednesday at 6pm’ so you can plan your baking.
Ask for a reply
Tell people to comment ‘me’ or send a direct message. Make it easy.
What to post every week
You do not need new content every day to do good marketing for your home bakery. Post the same three simple things on the same days each week, again and again. This builds a regular habit for your buyers, so they always know when to look. They start to expect your weekly Tuesday muffin photo or your special Friday cake slot.
You can batch all your simple weekly posts on Sunday in about ten quick minutes. Take three fresh photos of the best things you actually baked and sold that week. Write three short captions that clearly say what each item is and when to order. Schedule them or set a reminder, because ten minutes on Sunday saves you time all week.
How to ask for the repeat order
The easiest sale is often to the customer who already bought from your bakery. At the end of every order, ask if they want the same item next week. You can say you bake every Tuesday and offer to save them a regular spot. That one sentence turns a one time buyer into a good repeat steady loyal customer.
Do not ever simply just always wait and hope that they remember you. Send a short quick friendly personal message two days before your order cut off. Ask if they would like the same item again or maybe want to try something new. Keep it very simple and friendly, and always make the reply very quick and easy.
How to turn one customer into three
A happy loyal regular customer can often bring you more good new customers for free. After they pick up their order, ask them to please just tell one simple friend. You can also post a public thank you to them on your one main place. That thank you shows many other local buyers that real people truly enjoy your bakes.
You can ask for a photo of their order and share it with their permission. A real photo from a real buyer is often better than a perfect studio shot. It shows what your bake looks like in a real busy simple everyday normal home. That proof helps new buyers feel confident enough to finally place their first order.
What to do when orders are slow
Every home bakery has some slow weeks, so do not ever panic or spend money. Go back to your one place today and post the same three simple things again. Then send a short simple message to all your best past regular loyal customers again. Ask if they maybe want to order for your next upcoming simple pickup day.
You can also just try only one single new simple free move for two weeks. Maybe you post a photo of a bake you have not ever shown yet before. Maybe you ask five past customers to each just tell one new simple friend. Track repeat orders and then keep only the best moves that actually truly really clearly work.
Make ordering and paying easy
If ordering takes five messages, then people often give up and buy nothing from you. Give them one clear way to order and one very simple clear way to pay. You can take card payments through your own Stripe or Square account, plus Venmo, Cash App, Zelle, and cash. Brevl gives you a shop that is yours to customize with your photos, your colors, and your own web address. It costs one flat $20 a month, and it takes no cut of your sales. You can start a quick, simple, and easy 14 day free trial to test it.
A simple order form asks only for basic details like name, phone, item, quantity, and pickup day. Do not ask for more, because every extra field is a chance for someone to quit. Send a clear confirmation message with the total, the pickup address, and the time. For more free moves, see our guide on how to get customers for baking business.
The one number to track
Do not track likes or followers, because they do not really ever pay your bills. Track repeat orders, which is the only real true number that shows your marketing worked. If someone buys twice, you have probably earned their trust and their next order. If they buy once and never come back, something is off, so ask them why.
Keep a notebook or a simple spreadsheet and write down every single order you get. Mark the ones from repeat customers so you can easily and quickly see them clearly. At the end of the month, count them and then compare to your last month. If the number goes up, your marketing is definitely clearly working, so keep doing it. If it goes down, change one small thing and then test it for two weeks. For more on this, see our guide on how to market a home baking business.
For example, pick one single item and write down three numbers for your shop. Write your exact full ingredient cost, your labor cost, and your overhead for that item. Overhead includes your $20 monthly Brevl fee, which is $2 per order if you sell 10 orders a month. Subtract your ingredient cost, your labor cost, and the $2 overhead from your item price. What is left is your final true real margin after you subtract all three costs. If the margin is too small, then raise your price or cut the labor.
Mistakes that cost you money
Another very big common mistake is posting only when you have something to sell from your bakery. If you only show up when you need orders, people forget you and stop looking. Post the same three things every week, even when you are still not taking orders. That keeps you in their daily feed and always near the top of their mind.
A third mistake is not asking for the sale at the end of every order. At the end of every order, say this simple line. ‘I bake every Tuesday. Would you like me to save you a spot for next week?’ That one simple sentence always brings more steady repeat orders and builds your home business.
What to check before you spend a dollar
Before you pay for anything, check three very key simple things about your home bakery. First, do you have a way for people to order and pay in less than a minute? Second, do you know your true full cost per item, including your time and overhead? Third, do you have at least five people who have already bought from you twice? If you answer no to any of these, fix that first before you spend money. Brevl still costs one flat $20 a month and takes no cut of your sales. That is a very easy small simple and cheap low overhead to test your marketing.
Before you spend on marketing, know your cost per item for every bake you sell. Use our cake price list for home bakers to see how to set good prices. If you do not know your cost, you cannot know if a sale made money. Brevl has recipes with real costing and ingredient inventory, so you can price and plan.
Test one simple marketing move for two weeks and write down exactly what happens. If it brings two new steady repeat orders, then keep it and do it again. If it brings none, then stop it quickly and try a new simple different move. Do not keep doing something that does not work only just because it is free. Your time is always precious valuable real money, so treat it like precious valuable real money.
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Common questions
How often should I post for my home bakery?
Post the same three things every week: one photo of what you baked, one reminder of your order cut off, and one thank you to a customer. Same days, same times. That builds a habit for your buyers. You do not need to post every day.
Do I need to pay for ads to market my home bakery?
No. Ads bring strangers who do not know you. Start with the people who already bought from you. Ask them to order again and to tell a friend. Once you have steady repeat orders, you can test a small ad. Start with word of mouth.
What is the best place to market a home bakery?
The best place is where your buyers already are. That might be your neighborhood Facebook group, your church, your kids' school, or the farmers market. Pick one place. Do not try to be everywhere. Put all your energy into that one place and post consistently.
How do I make ordering easy for customers?
Give them one clear way to order and one clear way to pay. You can take card payments through your own Stripe or Square account, plus Venmo, Cash App, Zelle, and cash. A simple shop with your photos and your own web address helps. Brevl costs $20 a month with no cut of your sales.
What number should I track for marketing?
Track repeat orders. That is the number that shows your marketing is working. If someone buys twice, you earned their trust. If they buy once and never come back, ask them why. Likes and followers do not pay your bills. Repeat orders do.