We have an incredible baking scene full of talent here in Australia, and it’s time to shine the light on it.

Fivespice Creative is a creative content team comprised of myself and my wife Vanessa Anton, who is a graphic designer. We have both worked at Hunter TAFE where we met Dean Gibson and Dean Tilden – both teachers in the Building the Australian baking profile section. We discovered what amazing passion and talent these teachers have for their industry. When I first met Dean Gibson, he had just finished competing in the Asian Pastry Cup with teammate Adriano Zumbo. I was blown away to discover this competition existed and that nobody knew anything about it unless they were in the industry. I had many conversations with the Deans about the lack of exposure bakers and pastry chefs receive.

One of our most recent amazing experiences was working with the incredible Australian Baking Team in Jakarta where they competed to qualify for the Bakery World Cup. Nothing can prepare you for the excitement to see how well respected the team was overseas. There was even a 20m billboard on the freeway near the airport in Jakarta with their mugs on it. Then came the disappointment of how little acknowledgement the team received in their own country from our media, to some of their own industry peers.

To grow, there needs to be the perception of a strong industry. This means everyone has to help support each other’s businesses and celebrate everyone’s achievements. If young people see great opportunities, it will only increase the desire to become an apprentice. Here are some tips for boosting your, and the Building the Australian baking profile.

Tip one: If it’s not captured on film or photos, it never happened

This is pretty self-explanatory but we find that it’s not a priority when we do something good or interesting. If you have made an achievement, created an amazing new product, devised an incredible new technique or would like to educate people about the difference between products created from bakers as opposed to those bought from the supermarket – capture it! Whether you use it now or in 12 months, it doesn’t matter when you capture it, as you will then have it to use at any time. You don’t need expensive equipment either; you can just use your phone. John Ralley from textbook is the perfect example of how this can be successful. He posted a video of himself making croissants. It had four million views! Another of him glazing a cake had more than 27 million views.

Tip two: Have an up-to-date website with links to all of your social media pages

It could be a simple landing page that just has your contact details. It is well worth it – this is your key marketing tool.

Tip three: Create updates regularly

The more new and interesting things you post, the more tempting you make it for customers to want your product. If posting content on social media is not your thing, you need to learn how to do it or get somebody that can, whether it’s your apprentice or other staff more tech savvy. Or, you could pay a professional to do it on a monthly basis.

Tip four: When you create a FaceBook page and Instagram account, make it easy for people to remember

If you have a shop or market stall make sure you have them on display. If you use a menu, loyalty or business cards also display the details. People are more likely to check in while waiting.

Tip five: Share information from your industry associations and magazines

Hopefully they will support and share your content as well. The more sharing that goes on, the more Facebook will send it out to a wider audience.