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Expanding Your Market

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When you think about McDonald’s, what food comes to mind? For most, it’s their crispy fries. Yet, do they advertise their fries? From what I can tell, McDonald’s has spent the last couple of years pouring voluminous amounts of money into advertisements for their specialty coffees and smoothies. Why? They’re expanding their market.

I went to a local ice cream parlor recently and saw a flyer promoting in-store birthday parties.What’s the purpose? This is another way to expand the ice cream shop’s market. Now,what can you do to expand your cupcake business market? First, you need to have a clear understanding of your standard target market. Is your cupcake business market made up of clients looking for organic and gluten-free? Or,is your market geared to parents of children who like bright colors,sprinkles, and the latest super heroes? Maybe, you cater to the wedding crowd? Once you know your standard clientele, you are better able to branch out from it in a logical,natural way.

Now that you know your market, it’s time to consider how to expand it. Expanding means adding to, enhancing, branching out…you get the idea? The best way to start is to expand in a way that is most logical for you. You can eventually pull off the occasional odd expansion, but you don’t want to start with that. For example,if your business specializes in fresh ingredients, maybe you can take your business out to the farmers’ market a few times a month. Your brand of cupcakes will fit right in and you can even incorporate local produce and create a partnership, all while introducing your treats to a new set of customers. If you find that young parents and children are your most frequent guests, how about setting up a class on a weekday evening where they can decorate cupcakes. They pay for the supplies and take home the cupcake. There’s no need to close the store; just set aside an area of space to use.Plus, it’s good for business for people to see the activity taking place.

Another idea for branching out is through the web. There is so much opportunity for expansion via the web that it certainly deserves its own book! First, you’ll have your own website, obviously. However, there is a multitude of ways to use it: blogs,online ordering, a shop, and advertisement links to other online stores like Amazon, King Arthur Flour, or Wilton. Besides a business website, the web also offers social media. The market is limitless through social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. Then, there is Youtube. Create short videos of the store, your displays, cake decorating tips, parties you’ve hosted and so on. Note:Before uploading videos make sure you have the approval of all people visible. There are countless marketing supports you can learn about and utilize for search engine optimization (SEO) purposes, too, involving the web.

Finally, give your expansion ideas time to work. Remember, you don’t want to do too much at once; so, it is important to do it right, wait, and then, assess. How has your expansion worked? Has it in fact expanded your market? Is it cost-effective to maintain? How has this affected the sales of your primary products? Once you can answer these questions, you’ll be able to make an informed decision about your next direction. We are firm believers in the Lean Startup Method (even for cupcakes) — starting with the minimum viable product, testing, evaluating and seeing if the new product will work and make money.


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