I was talking to a friend the other day about the cookie biz we’re building.
The first thing he asked me?
“Saan yan? Sabihan mo ako para makadaan kami ng gf ko?”
And that’s fair.
That’s how most people still think.
Building a food biz (or any business in general) means there’s a physical shop.
I mean, our generation was raised to think that’s the dream!
And I get it…
Yes, of course, a physical store is actually part of our plan.
(THAT’S THE DREAM!)
But unless we win the lottery tomorrow, that plan is wayyyy down the road.
For us? At this stage? Managing a brick-and-mortar cookie business is like buying a one-way ticket to bankruptcy.
It’s just ridiculous how hard it is to do a more “familiar” business here in the Philippines. The rent, the taxes, the overhead?
Blegh. Shoot me in the head.
We had to find a way around it.
This is why social media like Tiktaktok and Instagermz are a god-sent gift for most small businesses here. Luckily, most of them are now aware of its power, and they’re slowly (and painfully) figuring out how to wield it.
Except for us.
I mean, I know how to do it — been studying it for some clients and my own brand.
But I just don’t like to do it.
Maybe that’s my contrarian brain speaking, but I just can’t bear the thought of grinding it out just for the clicks. Because yes, however those marketers are framing it, in social media, it’s all about the clicks.
Anyway, I explained half of that to my friend and he immediately agreed.
“Oo nga sabagay. Rent dyan eh kalamo nag babahay ka!”
“Diba!!! At dahil ako ang in-charge sa marketing, email na lang ang atake namin.”
I added.
“Ay aba. Kakaiba.”
Yup. That’s what people are usually saying when we mention emails.
And that’s exactly what I wanted to hear.
I think it’s time for small businesses to use email marketing.
For us, instead of battling for clicks and attention?
We’ll send emails to transport people into a different dimension.
…
…
Yup.
That’s a whimsical way to put it.
But that will be our approach to this — a cookie brand with its own weird world.
If you’re familiar, yes, we are heavily inspired by Ben Settle’s world-building idea.
Unlike other cookie biz, we won’t rely on pictures and videos — which sounds too risky (and borderline stupid) for a cookie brand — but that’s just the way we wanna do it.
What’s the point of building something that we wanna call ‘ours’ if we’ll just do what everybody else is doing right?
And honestly, I’d be lying if I said I was confident this would work.
Because really, just the thought of building this — which I really haven’t seen being done anywhere — makes my stomach flip out of my mouth like Yulo.
But this is something that really excites us. Especially me.
And I think that’s a good thing to have in this biz model.
How can anybody enjoy your world if you aren’t even excited to build it?
Yes, yes, I know I keep using that ‘world-building’ phrase like we’re building a theme park.
But it’s literally the perfect word to describe what we’re thinking.
We’ll separate our biz from the typical cutesy patootsy, rustic cookie vibe. Not even those high-end, bougie image that some brands are projecting.
We’ll make it as ‘other worldly’ as we can.
We’ll make it as if the customers will feel like they don’t want to buy other cookies and just stay with us, listen to our stories, and eat their damn cookie.
No, we won’t tie up our customers.
We can’t go the physical route, remember?
We’ll do it with emails — good ol’ fashioned relationship-building.
And I think it’s time you do it too.
For more email marketing tips and strategies that build a biz, go here: