We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jaymee Martino a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jaymee, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Do you manage your own social media?

I manage my own social media. For me, posting to my page is something that I enjoy. Sometimes it gives me a break during the day and lets me see what is going on in the Instagram baking world! I really enjoy connecting with my customers, seeing photos of their cakes that they tag me in, and connecting with other bakers along the way. Managing my own social media helps me to stay up with what is trending in the cake world, help support other bakers, and see how my business is growing.

Jaymee, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Hi! My name is Jaymee and I started Yes, Please Bakeshop as a home baker in Cincinnati, Ohio back in August of 2021. While I’m originally from Cincinnati, I lived in Chicago for 5 years where I spent most of that time as a kid’s ceramics instructor at a studio. I also used to have my own ceramics business. Being creative is something that has been central to my identity, and I’ve always wanted to incorporate art into my way of making a living. With the onset of the pandemic, the hours I was spending teaching ceramics dramatically reduced, even though I was still doing so virtually. So, I decided to try something new. That’s when I took my first cake decorating class. I thought, this couldn’t be too difficult. When I finished decorating my first cake, I nearly cried with disappointment. It threw me for a loop! Let’s just say that it did not look like the teacher’s cake or any of the other students who took the class. A normal person would have stopped there, but instead it gave me drive and I became determined to master the craft of cake decorating. It felt like a fun challenge!
I’ve always enjoyed cooking and baking at home, so it felt like a natural transition from ceramics to pair my passion for food with my passion for art. After taking several more cake decorating classes and learning from other bakers on Youtube, I decided to post about the process on my personal Instagram. The next step for me was getting validation that I actually was improving. That’s when I began making cakes for friends and family to try so that I could get their feedback. After a couple months, it felt like there was a shift in myself. I realized that I was doing something that brought me so much joy–being in the kitchen, using my hands, and making people happy. I love that I can contribute to any celebration or satisfying someone’s sweet tooth!

I make cakes for any kind of celebration and for no special occasion at all–sometimes people just want cake, which I totally get! I have a huge sweet tooth myself, which can be tricky being surrounded by cakes all day long.

Consistency and determination have been key to my success. I try to not let myself get stressed out about sticking to a science of how frequently I am posting to social media for marketing. If I feel like posting a photo to Instagram, I do, which ends up being 2-3 times a week and that feels sustainable for me.

Lunchbox cakes, which are 4 inch, 2-layer cakes decorated with swiss meringue buttercream and a catchy phrase (such as “call me” or “love you”), were key in me launching my business and creating a niche. The small 1-2 serving cakes are enclosed in a see-through to-go container, making it easy for transport or digging in. They helped me create a brand at pop-ups and markets, and make great gifts for a bestie, parent, or significant other. They’re cute (because anything miniature is, am i right?!). But they also have been a great way to help my customer taste test some of the flavors that I offer before committing to a full sized custom cake.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

After feeling confident in my cake skills, I started taking photos of everything I was making. This way, I could start my Instagram already having a portfolio to show people. Making a website seemed daunting to me, so instead, I created an order form that I was able to put the link to in my Instagram bio. Once I had photos and an order form (Jotform) listed, I was ready to publish and share. I stayed consistent by posting photos and videos to my feed and stories. Using a combination of dessert and cake themed hashtags along with location hashtags (Cincinnati, Cincy, neighborhoods in the city), my posts were being seen by locals already following some of those hashtags. After about a month or so, I created a cake giveaway where people who entered, had to tag other friends that would be interested in winning the cake. This was so helpful for my business! Giveaways are a great tool to get more eyes on your business if you are feeling like things have been stagnant for a bit.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

Out of all the social media networks, Instagram has been the best source of new clients for me. I noticed that my target customer was on Instagram, and that I was quickly gaining traction with shares. Customers sharing their photos and tagging Yes, Please Bakeshop became a huge contributor of growth for my business. My posts were getting in front of people who were interested and I wasn’t limited to time and space like I would be with a pop-up, or a customer coming across my cakes in person. While I love pop-ups, they are a lot of work. I found that doing pop-ups was a great way to network with other small business owners and creators, but didn’t actually expand my business in the same way that building a brand and followers on Instagram has done. A chunk of my customers consist of influencers, photographers, and bloggers that are posting beautiful photos of my cakes. This is so helpful for my business!

Contact Info:

• Website: bit.ly/yespleasebakeshop
• Instagram: instagram.com/yespleasebakeshop/