5 Festive SMS Marketing tips for Cake Makers
As we rapidly come towards the end of the year, attention is rapidly shifting to the festive season and for the UK’s many small (and not so small) independent cake makers, the busiest time of the year is about to kick off. The UK population is famous for having a sweet tooth, and at Christmas, we like few things more than to overindulge and enjoy getting our teeth into some delicious sweet treats. With time more of a premium than ever before, many restaurants, clubs and other Christmas party venues are looking to buy in rather than bake on site. With the choice of deserts such a focal point of most Christmas gatherings, it is essential to get it right – and that’s why more and more venues are turning to independent cake makers.
As well as being incredibly easy to use and highly effective in terms of open and conversion rates, SMS marketing is very practical at a time of year when, in the catering sector, it is very much all hands on deck and restaurant managers along with their team members have extremely limited time to sit in front of their computers and stay up to date with emails.
So how can cake makers use SMS Marketing to their advantage when it comes to Christmas catering? Here are five top tips from our team of experts.
1. What’s on the menu?
Depending on the scale of your cake making operation, you may specialise in just a few key ‘signature’ products or offer a much wider range to choose from. No matter how big your range, SMS Marketing is a great way to share information and updates about just what is available for the festive season.
You wouldn’t want to send an endless list of items by text, but it is a perfect way to share a link that allows your customers to view your product list online. Use a shortened link to direct them to your main seasonal product listing, or send them to a special updates page to ensure that new products get the attention they deserve. To improve sales, make sure all the relevant pricing information is clearly displayed along with calls to action such as ‘buy now’ buttons so that the ordering process is as simple as possible.
2. Last orders
With the Christmas season being so busy for the catering sector, there are often long lead times on essential products and kitchens can’t afford to miss deadlines. SMS Marketing is by far the easiest way to inform your customers of their Christmas order cut-off dates and times. A simple text message might look like this:
“Claire’s Cakes would like to remind our customers that the Christmas order deadline is Weds 6th December. Please order in advance to guarantee delivery on time.”
The advantages of using SMS marketing are that text messages by their very nature create a sense of urgency, and your customers are likely to read them straight away. You certainly wouldn’t want an upset customer complaining about not having seen an email! There’s no reason that you can’t send a few reminders too. Why not adapt the text above to read as follows:
“Two weeks left to place your Christmas orders with Claire’s Cakes! Don’t miss our December cut-off.”
3. Bulk discounts and special offers
If you are catering for larger venues, small restaurant chains and the likes, you’ll likely offer bulk discounts and special offers. What you don’t want to do is leave it to the customer to start the conversation – this can encourage them to turn to the competition.
Instead, use SMS Marketing as your secret weapon and make sure that your customers know exactly what pricing is available at the first possible opportunity. If they haven’t already checked your price list, send them a link. If you have a wholesale or volume purchasing section on your website, use an SMS message to send them there as soon as possible. If you don’t already have such a landing page, it can be worth creating one just to support your campaign as larger buyers tend to like being treated separately to those purchasing single units. It will help you to create a more professional image and demonstrate that you are serious about supplying at the right scale.
4. SMS Marketing for Suggestions and advice
When it comes to presentation, there is a lot more to getting the cakes right than simply putting them on a tray and sending them out to the tables. Restaurants and other venues are constantly looking for ways to add that magical finishing touch to their deserts in order to create a unique festive feel and impress an ever more demanding clientele.
Why not use SMS Marketing to send your customers valuable information such as serving suggestions for key lines, presentation ideas, complementary products and more. You’ll be adding value to the relationship and as a result, increasing the likelihood of a client making you their supplier of choice. Done well, it is also a great way to upsell and cross-sell products to increase your profits.
5. How can we help?
Anybody who has ever worked in the catering sector during the Christmas period will know just how stressful and difficult this time of year can be – and it doesn’t take much for those who haven’t to imagine it! With this in mind, why not show a little generosity by reaching out with a helping hand and letting your customers know you are there if they need you, no matter how big or small their questions. Try a simple message such as:
“Need help choosing your Christmas cakes? We’re happy to talk!” or:
“Not sure how many cakes you need to order? Give the team at Claire’s Cakes a call now and we’ll do the calculations for you”.
Such a seemingly small gesture may well pay dividends in terms of sales, as once a client has approached you for advice they are much more likely to convert.
Offering the answers to questions before your clients ask will enhance your reputation as a company who offers not just great products, but also has expertise in the field and offers exceptional customer service – all essential characteristics of a reliable Christmas supplier.
To find out more about getting your business started in SMS Marketing with Fastsms today, give our experts a call on 0800 954 5305 or contact us online for an instant response.
Related Articles
Growing a Business Around Your Family Life? Here’s Why Mumpreneurs Need SMS Marketing
Mums are natural entrepreneurs. And now they're turning that entrepreneurial spirit towards running a business, using their organisational skills to turn a profit from franchises and hobbies, fundraisers and baking. Mumpreneurs are on the march and they need smart marketing strategies like SMS that fit around their busy lives.
7 Ways The Financial Industry can Use SMS Messaging to Communicate with Customers
If there's one industry that's often assumed to be cold and impersonal, it's the financial industry. It's all about numbers and money, not about the people who have accounts, or need help with enquiries. The reputation may or may not be deserved, but there is a way to combat it: by making customers, investors, or clients feel like you care.
SMS Messaging for B2B Marketing
Ask most individuals and they will tell you that they generally use SMS messaging for personal communications. For B2B marketers, this single assumption often leads to this powerful channel being completely ignored. Whilst it may be true that most messages sent by individuals are indeed personal in nature, this is not necessarily the same for messages they receive. Read on to learn why SMS messaging has huge potential in B2B marketing and how to use it to increase ROI and engagement.
6 Psychological Tips for SMS Marketing Success
Getting to grips with the underlying psychology of how audiences react both consciously and subconsciously to your message is key to achieving the maximum effect in any type of marketing. All kinds of things come into play with different media, from colours and shapes to images and videos. Even the way things move can have a powerful effect on a viewer. Unlike many other forms of marketing, however, SMS marketing is unique in that the only tool you have is words - and not many of them. But armed with a basic knowledge of consumer psychology, 456 characters is more than enough to get the desired effect. In this article, we present our six top tips to take advantage of the psychology of SMS messaging.
Customer experience – The best way to advertise your business
Flash Sale – Get 10% free SMS
9 Reasons SMS Marketing is Far From Finished
With all the evidence indicating that text messaging still has plenty of life left in it, here are 9 reasons why SMS Marketing still has lots to offer. Don't miss out on what SMS marketing can bring to your business.
SMS Mаrkеtіng fоr Indереndеnt Fаѕhіоn Retailers
Enhancing Two-Way SMS Messaging with Autoresponders
SMS messaging can be a one-way, or a two-way affair. Sending coupons, sale notifications, or event announcements are all one-way messaging. The recipient doesn’t need to reply in order to use the information sent. In two-way messaging though, recipients can reply to your messages. And that makes it much more interesting, engaging, and potentially a lot more work to manage.
The Growth of SMS Among Professional Services Firms
We all know how great SMS marketing is for companies which sell to consumers, such as hairdressers, night clubs, garages and hotels. But why would a primarily business to business organisation want to use SMS marketing and why would it want to use FastSMS as its online SMS platform?