Promoting Your Bake Sale

Plan to have the details of your bake sale nailed down by ten weeks beforehand, so you can start proper promotions. Have at least a few (hopefully well-known) bakers committed and willing to talk to the media, if such opportunities arise.

If you're low on bakers, talk to locally-owned grocery stores and bakeries about becoming sponsors of the event. In exchange for their (free or low-cost) baked goods, they will be mentioned in promotion material and their logo will be on the fliers.

Once the plans are put together, you can start promoting!

Make your bake sale stand out! With so many churches, schools, sororities, workplaces and charities holding bake sales, you want to be remembered!

Consider this ideas:
- Put together a cookbook of the good for sale, print it (whether through a printer, online vanity press, or at your local copy store) and have it for sale.
- Offer the cookbook for free with a certain amount purchased ($50+, for example)
- T-shirts for the volunteers!
- Mixes - just add eggs and milk!
- Gift packages - goods packaged in baskets with ribbon, etc. Especially if your bake sale is during the holidays.
- Sell specialty goods as well - vegan, kosher, or gluten-free options.
- Offer free samples!

Brainstorm with your bake sale committee for more ideas!

At the eight-week mark, you should be sending out press releases to local newspaper (your town and the big metro paper), and local TV and radio stations. Mention your well-known bakers, sponsorships, how the kids are helping (if they are), that vegan/gluten-free/kosher/other specialty goods will be available, and free coffee or punch (if applicable), and what the funds will be used for.

For the next few weeks, send out a press release containing a recipe, an uplifting story, or other information, and include your bake sale date and location at the bottom.

Also pitch the TV stations - try to get a baker on one of the local shows with his/her favorite recipe and have the anchor taste the cookies/pie/whatever.

Also know that the media can be very last-minute. Always check your email and answering machine an hour before it starts, if possible. A reporter may have emailed or called to confirm the date and location. (On press releases and pitches, include a cell phone number so you can avoid this problem!)

Use social media to your advantage when promoting your bake sale. If it's to be on an annual or semi-annual basis, consider creating a MySpace profile and Facebook page (not profile) - especially if a large amount of your bakers or customers are involved with these online communities.

Even if it won't be an annual event, create a Facebook event listing.

List the bake sale on Craigslist in the week or two before the sale, as well as the night before.

Make a lens on Squidoo!

List the event on Eventful, Zvents and Yahoo Upcoming. If you include a picture (baked goods, last year's bake sale, etc), your event might be featured in your area! Post the event as soon as the details are finalized.

After the event is over, post pictures to your MySpace and Facebook accounts.

Remember to make fliers for your bake sale! Post these around town - at schools, church/temple, work, and anywhere with a bulletin board. You may want to ask your local paper to donate ad space for a small ad.

Also tell people about your bake sale - nothing like good old-fashioned word-of-mouth!