Baking it Down with Sugar Cookie Marketing 🍪

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Who knew baking could be so... whisky. Okay - it's a pun on "risky," and Corrie wanted it to be the topic of today's podcast. Things you may be takin' a risk with - that you also may not realize. 

💸 And if you do realize it and accept the risk - that's okay! It's your business and your risk awareness. An assessed risk is one you're willing to take on - and willingly face the potential consequences if the worst happens.

 1️⃣ Copyright can be oh so wrong.

We've all been there - a client willing to throw cash money our way if only we could do this one Pooh set. It's tempting - and it's even cuter than it is tempting. And why shouldn't you take it on? Everyone else is violatin' the Big D's copyright (Big D = Disney). 

🐭 Will you get caught? Maybe not. Could you get caught? Maybe. But as long as you're willing to account for the risk involved with copyright infringement (a favorite topic of speculative arguments in the cookie groups btw). Take for instance this seller who didn't heed the Disney law teams' cease and desist on selling the Mickey and Minnie ear-themed headbands. "But everyone else was doin' it!" 🚔🚓👮 Yeah - I tried tellin' that line to the last officer who pulled me over - he didn't agree.

2️⃣ Allergy-Free ain't Risk-Free

🤧 When it comes to allergy-friendly or allergy-free requests, it can be risky business to promise somethin' you're not. And, if you're like me and don't suffer from severe food allergies, I doubt we truly understand how dangerous a food allergen can be to folks who are severely allergic. 

Which is why you won't find Corrie and I makin' promise we can't deliver when it comes to allergy requests. And who likes telling a customer no? 📑 No one - but I'd rather tell a customer no than tell a customer where they can send their lawsuit paperwork. 

3️⃣ Ensuring You're Insured

In the world of "whisk management," insurance is the plan. Insurance is the biggest racket, that is until you need it. FLIP insurance is a fan favorite in the bakery groups, and for around $25 bucks a month, you can rest easy with mitigated liability. It can also cover farmer's markets and events with its add-on dashboard. 

Why take the whisk when you can ensure the whe-ward (okay - the pun falls apart there)

4️⃣ Put it In Your Policies

Policies were written in blood - or well, for us - burned cookies. Most policies come after the fact which is synonymous with "too late." But you don't have to create a policy forged in blood sweat, and many tears because we crowd-sourced one in the Sugar Cookie Marketing Group! Click here to snag it.

5️⃣ Breaks Breaking Up Your Bottom Line

Hey, I love a good vacay - heck, I love a good, long vacay. But in the world of business, most customers don't accept "long" being any longer than about 2 weeks. Long breaks put the brakes on your bottom line. I'm not talkin' the weekend off here, or the week off there - I'm talkin' about "burnout breaks" where the baker plays Houdini for months at a time. 

🚗🚕🚙 Imagine being a local gas station and taking off like bakers do. ⛽ "Hey - no gas today. Actually no gas this month. But next month maybe. I'll let you know. Check on my Facebook page for details on my fuel-filled comeback. I'm not closing - but I'm not sure when I'll turn the pumps back on." 

6️⃣ Emergency No Fun-D

Nothing causes more stress like operating with a bare-bones bank account. This often happens when we have more bills left at the end of the month than we have dollar bills. 

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School's in sesh - and we ain't gatekeeping anything. Here's how we run a cookie class 

(note - we're lazy - so understand that whatever we tell ya is preceded by the question 🤔 "how can we accomplish the most with the least amount of effort and still create a fantastic time for our audience?")

 1️⃣ Marketing a Cookie Class

Apps we use:

• Eventbrite - to list the cookie class
• Facebook - to crosspost the class listing
• Flodesk - to email about the class
• Feedhive / FB Planner - to schedule posts to social media about the class
• Gmail - to email class attendees 

So - we use Eventbrite - it has fees. Why do we use it? It does a lot of the heavy lifting for even management for us, and it drives some traffic to our event as well. Could you use your own website? Sure! You'll be able to pocket more money in exchange for the additional management work on your end - a great trade. 

🤔 "But how can you post a picture of your sets so early?" 

We don't - I just use a placeholder image with the caption, "Class set photos coming soon!" To date, no one - like as in zero humans - has ever cared. Get the classes posted now - optimize them later! We like ending every class with a CTA (call-to-action) to sign up for a Christmas class even six months out. Since those classes sell out due to the nature of the seasonality of cookies at Christmas, our attendees like to feel that they snagged a class ahead of time. 

2️⃣ Class Prep

Corrie comes up with the class set and steps - which is awesome because it means it'll easy enough for beginners (and heeeyo - those steps are included in our new membership - Cookie Class Kits - if you don't wanna do the hard part yaself). 

The Bake-down:

• Six Cookies - 3.5 inches
• 4 Icing Colors - 2.5 oz - 3 oz
• Sprinkles - Condiment Cup

Goin' in with a "too advanced" set is going to get your audience frustrated. You may be an expert cookier, but these folks are likely just looking for a good time and not to enter the next Food Network Cookie Challenge, so go easy on 'em.

We bake one to two days before class. We may bring an extra set just incase things go south and a bag bursts or someone drops a cookie - but I like to keep that a hidden secret, and if all goes well, Corrie will package it into a kit a sell it later.

Supplies we bring to class:

• ➡️ Parchment paper (three sizes) - for cleanup
• ➡️ Baking tins (two sizes) - for designated spaces
• ➡️ 32'' TV - for the PowerPoint
• ➡️ Laptop with HDMI cable - for the PowerPoint
• ➡️ Sign-in Sheet
• ➡️ DLSR Camera - professional quality photos
• ➡️ Scribes (cheap ones from Amazon)
• ➡️ Piping Practice sheets (laminated at Fedex Kinkos)
• ➡️  To-Go Boxes (Amazon has cheap ones)
• ➡️  Ziploc Baggies - for them to take icing home

If you want the exact supplies we use - I link to those in each Cookie Class Kits course - but legit, this stuff is easy to find on Amazon.

3️⃣ Class Schedule

Here's our schedule on the day of class:

• 10:00 AM - get to the location
• 10:00 AM - 10:30 AM - Setup
• 10:30 AM - 11:00 AM - Take photos / make Reels / post to Stories
• 11:00 AM - Class Starts
• 11:00 AM - 11:15 AM - Introductions
• 11:15 AM - 11:20 AM - Cookie Decorating Basics (ya know - like how to use a scribe)
• 11:20 AM - 11:30 AM - Piping Practice
• 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM - Decorating 

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🧇 Leggo my Ego

You know what's delicious? 🍪 Your cookies.

You know what's even more delicious? 🍪 People tellin' you how amazing you are for those cookies. 😍

Attention is my favorite dessert. It's smooth, it's silky, and it's immediate satisfaction. It's like eating your favorite Talenti (Madagascar Mint btw) and then realizing you had a whole 'nother Talenti in the freezer that you forgot about.

🤤 Yum. YUM. 😋

But ego is the enemy of strategic marketing. Why? Because ego-centric marketing is not conversion-centric marketing. In conversion-focused marketing, we work on ways to convert our audience from an eyeball to a paying customer. In ego-centric marketing, we work on turning those eyeballs into likes.

🤔 "But don't we need likes to increase reach and thus engagement?"

Yeah - but why are you wanting those likes? To get people into your funnel? Or to get people to tell you how awesome you are? Only you know what your secret motives are - but in this week's 100th podcast - ️🎱 we challenge you to call your shots. If you're posting for an ego stroke and not a sale - shout out to the universe, 🗣️ "I WANT ATTENTION" - then post away, knowing full well your goal is to get an ego boost and not a bottom line boost.

😘 Ask yourself these questions to determine if you're doin' it for the ego boost or the bills. 🤑

👉 1. Are you posting because you know this is when your target audience is likely to make a purchase or are you just posting as soon as you get a set done because you're excited to show off your work?

👀 You finish an amazing set - so you hurry off to the 'Grams at 11:30 PM and post a "LOOK AT WHAT I MADE" photo completely disregarding posting strategy or active audience times. 😴 The few poor parents whose heads haven't hit the pillow yet give you a double tap before they head off to snooze-ville.

Your ego is stroked - but your inbox is void of any sales because normal people who aren't zombie-ing around against their better judgment (or cryin' kiddos) likely aren't pressin' the purchase button at 10-til-midnight. But you spent so long doing such an intricate set. Cool! Go get them likes! You deserve it - but remember, 🎱 call your shot.

👉 2. Are you posting sets you truly don't want to do that eat into your profits but puff up your ego?

Macrame? More like mac-ra-made-no-money. Corrie fessed up to ego-posting a set she'd "rather die than ever do again." So why post something you don't wanna redecorate to your audience? Ahhh - the never-satiable ego beggin' for that attention. If you want your audience to purchase more easy-breezy-beautiful-to-decorate-in-half-the-time mermaids, p👏o👏s👏t m👏e👏r👏m👏a👏i👏d👏s.

Or - post for likes - macrame-it-up. Cash in on the reactions! But 🎱 call your shot.

👉 3. Are you doing it to inflate your page numbers with other cookier likes or are you doing it to inflate your bottom line?

Cookiers love cookiers cookies. They're the biggest cookie-related fan club. So how do you attract those cookier eyeballs? 👀👀👀 Cookier hashtags. You know who isn't likely searching cookie industry hashtags? 🕵️ Your target audience who thinks "flood Friday" has more to do with the weather than with RI. 

A great indicator of ego-focused posting is using industry hashtags. Sure - hashtags help with the algo, but focusing on industry hashtags rather than your local hashtags? Recipe for an ego stroke. And enjoy it! Enjoy the attention from other cookies - because they're paying ya in heart reacts and "where'd ya get that cutter" comments. Just remember 🎱 call your shot.  

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Twin2 (Corrie) is weirdly obsessed with TikTok drama - and not just any TikTok drama - no, specifically Tumbler TikTok drama - you know, the cups? Yeah - that Tumbler. So imagine my surprise when Business Insider posts an article about the very Tumbler drama she's been popcorning about since last week. 😳

It's regarding all the good stuff - refunds, screenshots, screenshots of screenshots, Etsy reviews, mudsliggin' retorts - you know, the internet drama that gets you under a warm blanket for hours as you play judge-jury-executioner via your pocket computer. 

So I said - let's make a list of ways we can stay outta Business Insider articles and learn through other's experiences. Now - bless all the parties in this convoluted tail of chalice-themed cheap entertainment - I'm not pickin' sides. But grab a glass and let's work through this. 

Pictured: Big Debrah (from Business Insider > from TikTok)

📑 1. Have it in your policies.

Let the policy be the bad guy - it's you and the customer against the big bad small print. Consider everything you'll need to cover your butt (and in this case, your bottle). Refunds, response times, really-close-but-not-perfect color matching? Yeah - that stuff. And that way - when things go left, you can point at the right policy and see if you can work from there. 

At the beginning of this 🥤 Tumbler tumble, it seemed like the policies weren't clear on refunds when the shop made a boo-boo leaving things up to interpretation - ya know, like who pays return shipping, repairing damaged merchandise, etc.

🥶 2. Give it a minute - cool off!

To date - no one has died by not receiving an immediate reply to a cookie complaint. It's easy to get emotional when all we see is blood, sweat, and tears of work being complained about - so give yourself a break. 

In the 🥤 #tumblergate drama, the responses were goin' up faster than Corrie could place an Amazon order! No time to think out a response that makes you look good and the other party feel good. C-o-o-l o-f-f.

🤬 3. Keep it private and professional.

Stay outta the limelight on handling sticky issues. This isn't the time to get the courage to go Live on Instagram. Keep it private and professional - and a great way to do this is to imagine your response being read in a court of law. If it raises a judge's eyebrow - you probably need to take it back to the drawing board.

Things escalated here faster than goin' to the second floor at Tysons Mall when there's a clearance sale at Nordy. Blaming, accusing, and cursin' that would make your Gramma call up your Momma and have a few words herself - that's where this went - and unfortunately, lead to doxxing the buyer's address (revealing identifiable information). Yikes! 

👈 4. Take accountability.

Last I checked, none of us were perfect (except Phoebe-Woebe-Lemon-Squeeze 😺), so don't have shame in accepting your part in a problem. It's okay! Accountability allows the other side to also take some accountability as well. Taking zero accountability leaves the other party fighting 100% accountability. There's a world in which you can be at-fault 40% and that doesn't make you a bad person. It makes you a human.

In this version of 🥤 Tumbler-terror 5000, the original party points the blame back at the buyer - accusing the buyer of setting up the entire rouse to frame-blame the seller. Well - what else does the buyer have to do other than defend themselves?? Escalation nation! 

🤗 5. Work towards a mutual resolution.

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It's easy to get bogged down with orders and forget your social media - but not with twin2 lurkin' behind a phone screen! As she goes to engage weekly with the group hashtag, #sugarcookiemarketing, I asked her to come up with a list of the top 8 offenses she sees bakers makin' on social media that's likely robbin' from their bottom lines. 

Here goes:

😒 1. Not Putting your Location in the Instagram Bio

Check out Corrie's Instagram below (and give her a follow here) - see that? You can have your name and your location in your Instagram name - which is searchable (shout out to Kimberly for this tip) - that means not only will your handle be searchable, but any information provided in the name section of the profile as well. In this example, Corrie mentions location twice: once in the name, and again in the bio - in two differentways - her city and then the general area (Northern Virginia) to snag the attention of both her hyperlocal and broader, local audience.

🙁 2. Baker's Letting their Pinned Post get Dated

It's easy to set and forget a pinned post - and with Facebook's New Page Experience rolling out (with its fancy featured section), it's all the more important to keep this section updated. Recreate your pinned posts so the date reflects the current year - 2023 - even if it's the same exact content. It'll make your page look up-to-date (which reminds me - I need to do this myself 🙃). 

😞 3. Just Posting Photos on TikTok - no video content, no catch, no hook

Tiktokkers want one thing - video content filmed vertically - and they won't settle for less. Late 2022, TikTok gave us the (unfortunate) option to upload pictures as a slide show instead of video files. It's... well... boring, and not what the platform is intended for. So while - yes, awesome that you're getting content out there - 👀 it's a better use of time to get content that gets eyes out there. Remember, time = money!

Oh yeah - and don't forget that reach-giving hook. Hooks like, "This is the best thing I've ever heard in my entire life," "I just had the WORST experience," and "Here's something cookiers will never tell you..." are all great ways to get views (just be sure to follow up with content that matches the hype). 

😔 4. No Email Capture

What if Facebook and Instagram disappeared? Where would your business be? If you're thinkin' "up a creek sans paddle," consider creating an email capture. It's easy to do - even if you're not ready to send out emails just yet. Mailchimp allows for free account creation AND a free signup form - so you can start building that list now should Meta ever go the way of the DoDo.

😖 5. Cross-Posting with Hashtags

Facebook just can't seem to make #hashtags work, and we shouldn't try either. With apps like Facebook's free Planner (or Hootsuite, OneUp App, and Planoly), you can create content designed for the platform you are posting to. In two clicks, you can create a unique caption for the same content piece for both Instagram (a hashtag reach treasure trove) and Facebook (hashtag Sahara desert) that'll have your audience feelin' center stage and not like a posting afterthought. 

😓 6. Making Shop Links Hard to Find

Your audience ain't got the time to play hide and go seek with your website links. Making links hard to find (like putting links in Instagram captions where they're not clickable) means less money in your pocket. Telling people from a comment to go click on your website (rather than just linking to your website in that comment) is another game of "go fetch" you won't likely win. 

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🎓 The Best Cookie College Courses

New year, new you? Or new year, same you-who-said-last-year-would-be-different-but-didn't-take-the-steps-to-do-anything-differently? Okay, okay - I'll start playin' hard ball, but I'm still gonna pitch.

What if this year was different? What if you took the steps this week to ensure that 2023 will look nothin' like 2022? What if you joined the Cookie College and surrounded yourself with hundreds of other bakers focused on the exact same thing - being better this year than they were last?

Obviously, I'm biased - the Cookie College is an amalgamation of 15 years of marketing and sales knowledge bottled into 90 marketing courses, hundreds of freebie photos, and a group of 700 people forming a "hive" marketing mastermind. And I want you to join.

But because I hate sales-only emails, I'll feature the best courses in the College, but I'll also give you one freebie tip from each - how does that sound? At the end of this email - if you're sold, there will link to sign up. If you're not sold yet, snag those tips and implement them - I can guarantee they'll make your life easier.

• 🎒 Course #7 - In-Person Cookie Classes

Class is in session and we're learning about PROFIT margins! Cookie classes have been a really fun way to make money with cookies while also removing the stress of customs. We sell tickets for $75 for a 1.5 hour class and include all of that material in The Cookie College (you can preview the course materials here). Heck, we even recorded a live class for y'all. 

👀 Freebie Tip - post up your entire yearly schedule of cookie classes. We find that we fill up classes much more efficiently this way - Christmas classes (we did two this year) were booked by October! 

• 🔒 Course #18 - Password Management

My favorite topic - password managers. As you grow your business, you'll find yourself makin' more profiles and passwords than a five-year-old playin' a spy game. So what do? What you don't do is use the same password over and over again. You know who you are. 😂 You use a password manager to manage, store, diversify, and protect your passwords. Here's the course work preview for that class.

👀 Freebie Tip - my favorite password manager is LastPass (although there are others), and it's free for use on one device (I use it on my phone, iPad, and computer - so I pay - but it's well worth the yearly investment). 

• 📸 Course #19 - Photography and Cookies 

Corrie's baby-child of a course, she takes us through e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g in this class. From prop shoppin' to lighting to staging to editing (both Lightroom desktop and mobile). This is likely one of the most comprehensive courses in our lineup since it covers just so much of this rather expansive topic - but hey, pictures move product and getting a good foundation on your product photography will pay in dividends! Here's that course breakdown.

👀 Freebie Tip - Lightroom Mobile App (by Adobe) has a free version that'll get you 95% of what you want from a photo editing app. Highly recommend it.

• 📧 Course #29 - Gmail Power User Tips and Tricks 

I love Gmail - in fact, I use Workspace (Google's professional Gmail platform - I teach a few classes on this too) for all businesses I both run or work with. But Gmail - paid or free - can get out of control fast. If you wince when looking at your email notification bubble as it balloons past 1k, 2k, or even 10k - this course has your name all over it.