194. Baking it Down - Meta Verified

Summary

Podcast Summary: Episode 194 - "Meta Verified"

Podcast Information:

• Title: Baking it Down with Sugar Cookie Marketing 🍪
• Host/Authors: Heather and Corrie Miracle
• Episode: 194. Baking it Down - Meta Verified
• Release Date: January 14, 2025

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1. Introduction: The TikTok Ban and Its Implications

Heather and Corrie Miracle kick off Episode 194 by addressing a significant development in the social media landscape: the potential ban of TikTok, now escalating to the Supreme Court. They discuss the deadline of January 19th for the ban to take effect and explore the ripple effects this decision may have on content creators and small businesses.

Notable Quote:

Corrie: "The millions and millions of people who access TikTok every day are looking to go somewhere else, which is probably going to push them back to Meta platforms." [01:14]

The hosts highlight the challenges of transitioning to alternative platforms like Instagram and Facebook, noting the similarities in features such as Reels versus TikTok videos. They also touch upon emerging platforms like Neptune, emphasizing the difficulties new apps face in attracting users without an existing base.

Notable Quote:

Heather: "A lot of the issue with starting a social media platform is the chicken or the egg. You need users to attract users, but how do you get the users to attract?" [01:44]

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2. Main Topic: Meta Verified

The core of the episode centers around Meta Verified, a service offered by Meta (the parent company of Facebook and Instagram) that provides users with a blue check mark to signify verification. Heather and Corrie delve into the nuances of this feature, evaluating its benefits, costs, and overall value for small business owners, particularly those in the baking industry.

Understanding Meta Verified: Meta Verified allows both personal profiles and business pages to obtain a blue check mark, a feature traditionally reserved for celebrities and public figures. The transition to a paid verification system has democratized the process but also shifted its significance.

Business vs. Personal Profiles: Heather and Corrie discuss whether it's more advantageous for a business owner to apply Meta Verified to their personal profile or their business page. They consider factors such as where their lead generation primarily occurs and the visibility of their profiles within Facebook groups.

Notable Quote:

Corrie: "If your lead gen is coming through community groups that don't allow pages, then your personal profile may be a better investment to put that on your personal profile." [11:45]

Benefits of Meta Verified:

• Blue Check Mark: Serves as an attention-grabber, enhancing profile visibility and perceived authenticity.

  Notable Quote:

  Heather: "If you could click a button and turn a blue check mark on, the answer is yes, absolutely." [08:53]

• Impersonation Protection: Helps safeguard against scammers and unauthorized accounts mimicking your business.

  Notable Quote:

  Corrie: "You're fighting impersonation, which happens a lot with giveaways. The blue check mark helps verify your authenticity to your customers." [19:30]

• Enhanced Support: Meta Verified users receive prioritized customer support, including chat and email assistance.

  Notable Quote:

  Heather: "If you have an issue with your page, you get to talk to someone there, which is worlds better than talking to yourself." [22:22]

Costs and Tier Options: Meta Verified offers multiple tiers for business pages, ranging from $14.99/month to $479.99/year. Each tier provides different levels of support and additional features, such as enhanced profiles and profile linking.

Notable Quote:

Corrie: "Business standard is $14.99 a month or $143.99 a year, and business plus is $44.99 a month or $479.99 a year." [16:09]

Pros and Cons: While the blue check mark and enhanced support are valuable, the cost can be prohibitive for some small businesses. Additionally, the requirement for business documentation and the inability to frequently change profile pictures pose challenges.

Notable Quote:

Heather: "If you paid $15 for people's eyes to look at your comment first, absolutely worth it if it brings you in a hundred sales. But if it brings you nothing, it's an easy no." [18:26]

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3. Broader Marketing Strategies: Diversification and Ownership

Heather and Corrie emphasize the importance of not relying solely on a single platform for marketing. They discuss the vulnerabilities associated with platform dependency, such as account bans or changes in policies, and advocate for diversifying marketing channels to ensure business continuity.

Key Points:

• Platform Reliance Risks: Highlighting the potential fallout if a primary platform like TikTok or Meta experiences disruptions.

  Notable Quote:

  Corrie: "We own nothing on these platforms. You own your website and your email list because those are the closest things to ownership in your business." [32:03]

• Email Lists and Websites: Encouraging the cultivation of owned media channels, such as email lists and personal websites, to maintain direct communication with customers.

• Holistic Marketing Approach: Integrating multiple marketing strategies and platforms to build a resilient business model.

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4. Cookie College: Empowering Bakers with Comprehensive Courses

Throughout the episode, Heather and Corrie promote their Cookie College, a membership-based platform offering a variety of courses designed to help bakers enhance their business operations and marketing strategies. The Cookie College provides:

• Courses on Marketing Essentials: Including copywriting formulas and social media strategies.

  Notable Quote:

  Corrie: "Copy formula walks you through different formulas like AIDA—Attention, Interest, Desire, Action—that we use in our marketing." [42:46]

• Technical Skills Training: Covering topics such as photography, password management, and email inbox organization.

  Notable Quote:

  Heather: "Photography is very important in our industry. It's one of the most popular courses because great photos can significantly boost your marketing efforts." [45:50]

• Community Support: Access to a private Facebook group where members can interact, share experiences, and seek advice without customer bashing.

  Notable Quote:

  Corrie: "In the Cookie College, we can dive deeper into business topics, share mistakes, and collaboratively find solutions." [47:11]

Special Features:

• Monthly Challenges: Designed to keep members engaged and continuously improving their business practices.
• Digital Downloads: Providing practical tools like cookie cutters and icing designs to enhance product offerings.

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5. Listener Questions and Interactive Segment

Heather and Corrie engage with their audience by addressing listener questions submitted via text. Topics range from technical baking inquiries to personal preferences.

Example Question:

Listener [00:00:00]: "How would I make it a softer bite?"

Corrie: "You can add more corn syrup to your icing to achieve a softer bite. It balances out the hardness from the baking process." [53:56]

Notable Quote:

Corrie: "Corporate clients are marketing to their clients, not marketing for you. It's crucial to prioritize their needs over unsolicited marketing efforts." [56:51]

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6. Sponsors and Product Endorsements

While adhering to the podcast’s content guidelines, Heather and Corrie briefly mention their sponsors, highlighting products that assist in baking and business operations.

Notable Mentions:

• Royal Batch Meringue Powder: Praised for its quality and versatility in creating consistent icing.

  Notable Quote:

  Heather: "Royal Batch is the best meringue powder I've ever used. It’s perfect for achieving that sweet, vanilla taste and soft bite." [63:36]

• Eddie the Edible Printer: An innovative tool for decorating cookies with precision, beneficial for high-volume bakers.

  Notable Quote:

  Corrie: "Freddie, the automated icing machine, works seamlessly with Eddie, the edible printer. Together, they streamline the decoration process." [65:15]

• Backers Co Backdrops: Essential for enhancing photography setups, enabling bakers to create aesthetically pleasing product images.

  Notable Quote:

  Corrie: "Backers Co backdrops make our photography look professional, even in a less-than-ideal kitchen setting." [67:15]

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7. Personal Stories and Community Building

The episode concludes with Heather and Corrie sharing personal anecdotes, fostering a sense of community and relatability among listeners. They discuss their own birthday celebrations, highlighting the importance of planning and maintaining business focus amidst personal events.

Notable Quote:

Corrie: "If you’re feeling overwhelmed, remember that life is a series of mundane, repetitive tasks that create moments of happiness." [78:59]

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8. Key Takeaways and Conclusions

• Meta Verified offers measurable benefits for small business owners, including enhanced visibility and protection against impersonation. However, the cost and platform dependency risks must be carefully weighed.

• Diversification in marketing channels is essential to mitigate risks associated with reliance on a single platform.

• Cookie College serves as a comprehensive resource for bakers aiming to refine their business and marketing strategies, fostering a supportive community.

• Engagement with Audience: Addressing listener questions strengthens community ties and provides practical solutions to common challenges.

• Sponsors play a role in enhancing the podcast’s value proposition by introducing tools and products that streamline baking and business operations.

Final Thought: Heather and Corrie emphasize the importance of adaptability and continuous learning in the ever-evolving landscape of online marketing. By leveraging resources like Meta Verified and engaging with educational platforms like Cookie College, bakers can sustain and grow their businesses despite external changes.

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End of Summary

Transcript

[A]

It is back to the podcast on a Tuesday, not a Wednesday. Woo. Nice. We're back.

[B]

We're back in the swing of things. The snow has not melted. It is melting. It's supposed to be around, what, 48 on Saturday.

[A]

And rain, which I think will do a number on those parking lot snow piles. Yes.

[B]

There's a lot of snow piles.

[A]

You never realize how small a parking lot is until there's a snow pile. Yeah.

[B]

I tried to park and I was like, I think I'm on this piece of snow.

[A]

Look at that car hanging out of the spot. And I was like, oh, there's just a huge amount of snow. And they did not want to park. Yeah.

[B]

And you know, it becomes a lot tighter. You're fighting.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Tensions are. Yeah. Welcome to the Baking it down podcast. We are the twins. We actually are the host of this podcast, but we actually admin a group on Facebook called the Sugar Cookie Marketing Group. From that group. We see posts each week like everything is Valentine's Day. People are doing red, white and pink. But we also see things that are happening in the world of marketing from our day jobs. The big thing that's happening this week is the TikTok ban. It has gone to the Supreme Court. They've done their talks, they're waiting and deciding. The. The, the end day for it is January 19th. So that leads us to all these people. The millions and millions of people who access TikTok every day are looking to go somewhere else, which is probably going.

[A]

To likely push them back to meta platforms.

[B]

Yes. Because it's the most similar. You have reels versus TikTok videos.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

But it is the most natural way. And you're like, well, I don't like the. Here's the thing, there's advertisers who are willing to pay people who have an Instagram following. And Instagram following is the easiest thing to get versus starting off up on these new apps. Like there's an app people are talking about called Neptune. It's not even launched. It's just in the pre talks, the beta part. But that's an uphill battle because one it's not even around, so you can't send people to it.

[A]

A lot of the the issue with starting a social media platform is the chicken or the idea. You need users to attract users, but how do you get the users to attract.

[B]

And users don't want to make content unless they're getting paid and the platform isn't big enough to pay the content.

[A]

Right. So really it's kind of These, these big guys and people just kind of switch back and forth from them. And then you have the rumor meal. The rumor meal. I want that meal where Elon's going. And you got people protesting meta because of the political side.

[B]

Here's the thing. Big talk is YouTube. The problem, me and Heather even discussed this yesterday is the way that you film a TikTok is not the same way you would film for a YouTube video.

[A]

Now YouTube has two different components now it has YouTube shorts, which is the vertically filmed think. I think they're limited to under 60 seconds, under a minute. And that makes them.

[B]

The problem is TikTok and reals is a minute 30 like.

[A]

Right. So all the content. Well, I'm going to cross post it to YouTube. You are not. It will not. Trust me. I try to do that for Corey's and I kept saying what's the issue here? And then I have to go and trim it. And then it became a weird half video. Yeah.

[B]

But if you try to post those vertical ones as YouTube videos, that's not.

[A]

Yeah, you're even smaller. Right. I find that people who don't make content designed directly for YouTube, which is most of YouTube is horizontal. And what that means is the aspect ratio. You'd watch YouTube with your phone sideways, if that makes sense. And you'd watch TikTok with your phone upright. So therein lies the big issue of these cross postings. Because TikTok awards you for longer videos, YouTube punishes you by not allowing you to upload them. Because YouTube wants longer videos to be that horizontal aspect ratio right now. Yeah.

[B]

And just like water juice is the path of least resistance, creators will too.

[A]

So what's the Most like to TikTok back to Instagram.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

And Instagram has been doing a lot in allowing the cross posting of content to both Facebook and Instagram using Facebook Planner or cross posting in that connection. So what we're gonna see whether or not the TikTok ban takes effect regardless, it's the first lesson learned here is that don't put all your eggs in a single basket when it comes to marketing.

[B]

Yeah. You don't own things. You don't own having a platform. And being a creator on a platform, you do not own. You. We've seen it in the Facebook group. Hey, my account was banned. What do I do? I lost it. Someone hacked it. It's gone. So if you put all your eggs in the TikTok basket, you are trembling right now at the thought of it being taken away.

[A]

And you know it's so easy. And my parents were like, we don't have TikTok and we don't think it should exist. Right. Cause of the, you know, whatever. Whatever its security issues are. And I was like, right, that's very easy to say when your entire life and your job and how you pay your mortgage isn't attached to that platform. So I said, consider this. People who do become content creators, which we imbibe their content on a part of the cog as well, they have to quit their regular jobs to invest enough time into becoming these creators. Thus this ban could potentially means that someone's out of work.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. And you know, even small businesses, there's. I saw in our sourdough sellers group, someone said, you know, we make about a hundred thousand dollars a month on there, you know, from selling, from TikTok affiliate marketing, TikTok shop marketing. There's a lot of things that they've brought into that product.

[A]

And imagine, you know, the natural hedonistic treadmill of lifestyle inflation. Suddenly that giant portion of income is gone. So it's easy to lambast. It's easy to make fun of influencers. It's easy to make fun of content creators. But Corey and I are content creators as well. Imagine that Spotify goes away. So does this podcast. I know. Imagine that Facebook goes away. There goes sugar cookie marketing. So in a way, you are a content creator as well. And this is important to learn a lesson or plan ahead if you haven't learned that lesson yet.

[B]

So that brings us to the topic today. And Heather actually tested this a little last year, and we finally, what have we been a part of Meta Verified for about a year now.

[A]

I want to say I almost did it. I think it's April.

[B]

I think it's very close to the year. And we want to talk about being Meta Verified. The, the pluses to it, there's a few minuses, which is cost, and then.

[A]

Allow you to make your own decision. Yeah. The concept being here, all these people are returning back to a platform. Facebook is a very strong. When I say meta, we're talking about Facebook and Instagram. Meta is the company that, the umbrella company that owns them. So Meta Verified is Facebook verified or Instagram verified in this podcast? Is it a strategy? Is it a marketing strategy? Is it a good investment? Is it a waste of money? Where should you use, shouldn't use it. And then you can make a decision yourself.

[B]

Either way, me and Heather are forward against. We're, we're, we're in the middle of the road.

[A]

We, we're paid for it. I'm not sure I'm for it. So allow us to spend our. That's what I said. I told the cookie college, I want to spend this money for you guys and I'll report back if I think it's worth it. Six months a year in, I'm not sure, but I'm going to tell you what we've learned. Yes.

[B]

And there's, there's pluses to it and pluses that me and Heather have delved into and talked about that might be beneficial to you. Maybe down the road, maybe not.

[A]

Right now, at least you know it for sure.

[B]

For sure.

[A]

The title of podcast is just going to be meta verified. Uh, that way people can look it up if they want to listen to it. What it is is the blue check mark. So when you hear meta verified, if someone is meta verified or if a page is meta verified, they have a blue check mark after their name or business page. Blue check marks probably three or four years ago were synonymous with this is a famous person, this is a celebrity status. Right? You could not pay to get a blue check mark. You could only apply to get one. And after a manual view of the fact that you've been featured in articles like it was, it was impossible for.

[B]

The average Joe to get one. So that's why everyone associated you have a blue check. Oh, you must be right.

[A]

Justin Bieber's gonna have a blue check mark. Heather Miracle's not. And that's just kind of how it worked right then Elon Musk, I think he's the one who started this, he bought Twitter. So I was operating a loss and said instead of awarding blue check marks to people who don't pay me, I'm gonna allow anyone to purchase a blue check mark and have to pay me.

[B]

And it up upheavals them.

[A]

Years and years ago they were getting rid of the blue check marks and it caused these influencers that were truly just popular to freak out. But now they completely have appended the entire system.

[B]

It really has. Because now it's not so much your celebrity status, it's that you can find out.

[A]

So Elon Musk rolls it out to X, which was Twitter at the time. And then Meta Zuckerberg does the same thing for Instagram and Facebook, which changed a lot of how this stuff works. YouTube I don't think has ever had it. And then TikTok still honors what originally was. So we have these blue check marks and we have fact that in some aspects they do mean you're psychologically it does mean you're more important than the average profile. In reality, it means you have $15. Yeah. That is what it means. You are who you say you are.

[B]

Who you say you are. Meadow wants to give you a few extra bonuses for investing in this blue check mark. And that's what we wanted to cover today. Because maybe down the road, or maybe today, depending where you are, it might be beneficial to you. From the marketing aspect, I do want to spend a little time there. The psychology of it, which me and Heather love to discuss. Do you think that there is a benefit to having a blue check mark by either your personal profile or your business page, marketing wise?

[A]

If that's the end of the sentence, yes, it is. Benefit. It is more beneficial to have it than to not have it. Reason being, it's automatically an attention grabber. It is. It's from a visual aspect. Yes. From a psychological aspect of weird condition. To think blue checks mean you're fancy and you're real. That's also a secondary one. If that was the only question, if you could click a button and turn a blue check mark on, the answer is yes, absolutely.

[B]

Here's the thing. Me and Heather are technically called millennials. Most of our clients, those who are buying our bakes, are millennials as well. They associate that back in the day, that a blue check mark means you're a little bit better than who you say you are.

[A]

Our grandmother. Not a clue what's going on and not a clue.

[B]

Under us. Younger than us.

[A]

Understand. It's bought.

[B]

It's bought. So there is a. There is a little segment of the audience who still reveres what the blue check mark is.

[A]

Right. In terms of the attention getting. Yes. In terms of conversion assistance. Yes. For millennials. Yes. For the. And above us grandparents. Not clue.

[B]

But do you think for the grandparents that, you know, this is an authentic.

[A]

I don't think my grandmother sees a blue check and says that is an authentic profile.

[B]

True. So maybe what's the generation right above us call them?

[A]

Boomers.

[B]

Boomers.

[A]

What's she called?

[B]

Jeanette Do Jen.

[A]

They don't have that one. That one. They're called the people who found America. The founding fathers generation. Born in 1930. George Washington. Oh, silent generation. Because they just worked a lot. And then after. That's the boomers. So they're just tired. So sorry, I'll apologize for in a minute. So we have people. So what we have is Corey's kind of saying, in terms of who your audience is, does that affect it? Yes. In terms of Marketing, unfortunately, it's all a factor in this. So let's just start right off the bat. You can get meta verified for a personal profile.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Using Corey as an example. Corey Mira can get meta verified.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

It's a cheaper rate. The blue check mark costs less for a profile. You have to have had the profile for. You have had to be able to have posted to it. It's going to check to see if you posted before.

[B]

You have to have a profile picture that matches your.

[A]

Has to be your face. You're not posting a picture of a cookie in your hand.

[B]

It's not your dog.

[A]

Yeah. And so there's some requirements for that. One, that option has been out for almost a couple years now. Then business pages have the option and that rolled out last year.

[B]

And that's where I really want to focus today because I think the benefit if we are these small bakery businesses is to have the support through our bakery pages.

[A]

Now, Corey and I actually already recorded this podcast once. Hated it. Yeah. But it gave us a lot of. We were more arguing our ideas, whether or not we think it's a good idea in terms of the profile versus the page of which there's two different rates. Yes. There's a financial aspect of this, but there's two different rates. Corey and I were talking about in podcast one, whether it's ideal to use it on your personal profile or your business page. And I don't think it's a unilateral. Yes and no. No, I don't think. We decided an hour ago that if your lead gen is coming through community groups that don't allow pages. Yeah. And you're a profile.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Your personal profile. It may be a better investment to put that on your personal profile. Yeah.

[B]

So a lot of these groups that we're a part of, even the groups that me and Heather run, don't allow pages to join the group. So now you are just this nilly. It's not Cory the cookie baker.

[A]

It's going to be Cory Meera, Please buy from me.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

And that's going to be. You're just one of a thousand comments.

[B]

In a long thread. So what can grab the eye? We already talk about how you copy emojis. The last bastion to grab is a blue check mark.

[A]

If I was the buyer, if I was the op looking for a baker and I saw one baker that just says I sell cookies and one baker that had the profile picture of themselves, they had the blue check mark. They have nice copy. They use emojis, they have a Beautiful picture that matches the request I made. I'm going to put that one.

[B]

Would my eyes going down this thread of 50 recommendations stop there?

[A]

It would have to for the sheer fact your profile looks different than the others. And that's just a way our brain.

[B]

Heather, have we admin all these groups. We see a few people here and there that do have that blue check mark. It does catch our eyes.

[A]

Right.

[B]

Regardless, the comments can be as blase as whatever. But I will go to the profile that has that blue check mark and read that comment.

[A]

Okay, so that's, that's our first question whether it should be for your personal page. Well, I know what you, a lot of you guys are going to think, well, I always comment as myself. Right. Okay, I get that. But is your page, are you active as your page? Are you posting as your page a lot? Do you have a lot of followers? Then it may be better as a page, not a profile.

[B]

Yeah, as a page. Here's my thing. When someone comes to buy from it, that blue check mark does. I don't know. Blue is associated with the word loyalty, authenticity. Does that help?

[A]

I'm going to say it has an impact. How much impact it has, I'm not positive.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Yeah, that's true. If it was just turning it on and off, I would tell everybody to turn it on. Yeah, it's more than that. Unfortunately. The next step is you can't just go buy it. Like even if you have the money, you have to actually apply for it. And someone is manually reviewing for a personal profile, it said that they review your driver's license, that it matches your profile, that you have a posting history and then you have some money to spend.

[B]

So if you know, in the past, Corey Miracle, my other account got banned because I kept spelling words incorrectly.

[A]

And getting banned is that lesson girl.

[B]

So I made this account that I have now, which if you look me in the group, it's Corey Mira. I would not be able to get the blue check mark because my name does not match my government id.

[A]

We thought maybe it could be a strategy to see if they could make them. I wonder. Yeah, but Corey and my dad are mirrors. Miracles. So moving. It's because they don't think miracles are real word. I like a real estate.

[B]

Absolutely.

[A]

Okay. So you decide whether. Which one to go for a business, there's even more layers because of the anonymity of a business. They do more of a check. So you have to have a business address which could be your home address. Yeah, you have to have a business Contact information. And what was the other one? Business name. And then it said you also needed to have this three months. You had to page has to existed three months. So if you're already new, you don't even need to worry about this podcast. And then you may need to provide business documentation. So if you're like, this is just my hobby, you're not going to be.

[B]

Able to do this.

[A]

You have to provide either a tax document. I think it's going to be like state registration. So I registered sugar cookie marketing and that's what I think it provided, which produces the EIN number, which I also think I provided. I almost think if I can remember back, that I typed in the EIN number and it matched me to a business registered.

[B]

Oh, interesting.

[A]

I'm not sure. I gotta think about it. Interesting. So you have to provide those. So you have an additional layer of proving authenticity, which is great. I love that. So then. But my grandmother, the founding father, is not going to know that that meant that this is a real business.

[B]

It's unfortunate because I think Meta didn't do a good job of marketing it.

[A]

No.

[B]

So there was no knowledge.

[A]

The only people who are marketed to are the people who already have pages. So that's.

[B]

But you needed. You need to tell the people that we want to buy from us.

[A]

Like, these are businesses that are really great.

[B]

They care about you.

[A]

But is having an EIN mean you care? I don't know. It just means that you're trying to prove this authenticity. And then. And then kind of the big kicker here and why this is such a controversial argument between Corey and I is there is an associated cost and it's not cheap in regards to what you get.

[B]

I nar.

[A]

I nar. So I have the pricing page pulled up here. And if Corey and I are just going to go through, there's four plans you can choose from. I'm only going to talk about business pages. Yes, there is profile and I don't dive through that.

[B]

And it's cheaper. I don't think you get as much as you do. But because this is marketing and you're a baker and you have a bakery page, this is what we're going to focus on.

[A]

This strategy, though, is not cut and dry. If you are a real estate agent.

[B]

I know when you brought up the real estate agent, that was a good idea.

[A]

I know. It's a wild thing. So we do pay for this. I tested it out on sugar cookie marketing, Facebook and Instagram. And the wild part is those are two different charges. They did give me A bundle discount. But this is per profile, meaning this is even more expensive than what I'm reading here. So you have business standard, plus, premium and max. And what you get from these tiers determines whether this is a good or bad idea.

[B]

So before Heather goes into, there's only two that are really we are going to fall into.

[A]

And it's the standard and plus.

[B]

Standard and plus.

[A]

Because you guys don't want to know this price of premium and max. Yeah, here's the prices. Business standard. There's a monthly option. There's a discounted yearly option. It is cancel anytime. But again if you pay for the year, you're canceling in a year. Business standard is 1499amonth or 143.99 a year which saves you roughly 20 dol. Oh, or maybe $40. Yeah. Then we have business plus 44.99amonth. Again, this is for one profile. There's a bundle deal when you were checking out. It wasn't published until I was checking out.

[B]

Heather said she was onslaught of deals. Discounts.

[A]

Do you want to buy a watch? We'll sell it to you for seven more dollars then. USD yearly is 479.99 a year. So. Wow.

[B]

479.

[A]

Not cheap. That's not cheap.

[B]

Cheap, cheap.

[A]

We're going to go through. And the other ones is if you want to pay it's 119amonth or it's 350 months. Okay. Those two were not. But each one of these, the benefits stack on the, the, the T below it.

[B]

You got a little bit of a first one.

[A]

So here's what the cheapest one includes. So this is one profile 14.99 which a lot.

[B]

Most of us have just one.

[A]

Let's just have Instagram and Facebook. Let's do it.

[B]

Oh, I'm sorry.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I thought you meant like one page. No.

[A]

Yeah. We have two profiles but you can only pick one or you pay twice. Yeah.

[B]

So if you're, if you're considering this, do you get zero leads from Instagram? Maybe it's not behooving of you to get it for Instagram.

[A]

If my, if my Instagram is just a cross posting of my Facebook, I would not consider that for the cross.

[B]

Or if your Instagram, you really like it, get all your sales there and you just cross post to Facebook.

[A]

I would not do it on Facebook.

[B]

Right.

[A]

So the plan includes all these. Plan includes the, the badge, the check mark. So you get the check mark regardless. That was, that was it. Would you want to pay $15 for people's eyes to look at your comment first? Again, if that's the worst part of marketing. If the $15 brought you in a hundred, yes. Oh, absolutely. But if the $15 brought you nothing, then it's an easy no. But you just don't know until you do it. Impersonation protection. Now this is an interesting one. And this is why you'll see me recommend possibly getting meta verified to people who lose access to their pages or something.

[B]

Or here's the big thing. The impersonation happens a lot in the scammers and the spammers of the world. If you run a giveaway on your page and you're using, it's always ever changing. Used to be if you use the word giveaway, a guaranteed spam spammer would recreate your account because you can have as many pages with the same name as you want. They take your profile picture from your page, put it on this new page, then start contacting the people who commented to win your giveaway, saying, you've won, please reach out to us. Of course, that person would click to that page that commented and start sharing their personal information.

[A]

Oh yeah. I only know this cause I did it myself. If you want to learn more about that, listen to episode one 146, baking it down. And it's entitled giveaways 101.

[B]

A lot of times people only come to realize this whole scam after the fact so that I see them come to the group, oh my goodness, I use this word. There's pages like mine. The problem with these pages that are created after the giveaway, you can delete your giveaway.

[A]

You can delete the pages exist as this. Like, yes. Using dupe of your. Yeah.

[B]

Here's the problem. When your customers go to recommend you in groups and they do that, they don't know. It's like four of the same pages drop down, which one is you.

[A]

So we suspect that signing up for this would allow you to tell them these other pages, they're not me.

[B]

Yeah. Or the blue check mark would be more.

[A]

I'm not even gonna have to worry about that now. The blue check mark doesn't show all the time. When you're about to tag a page, it shows in various places. So it is annoying. However, if someone searched your page, it says, we'll show your page first.

[B]

Yeah. So I'm curious. Here's the problem. Me and Heather had run a giveaway once and we had about three accounts that were created a few seconds after three Pages.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

To get those accounts removed, it took four to five months.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And that was two of them.

[A]

We got them removed pretty quickly. The other one took a lot and we had a.

[B]

Like we have a group of 50,000 bakers that we asked to go report them.

[A]

Yeah. What if you didn't have. Yeah.

[B]

What if it was just you, the hubs, your sister and your dog? Like that. That's going to take a lot longer. A lot of times I see those pages remain up for these accounts and it's unfortunate because you're working so hard on your marketing and these scammers are actually benefiting from your hard work.

[A]

Yeah. Like they're all gone.

[B]

Yeah, I do. Yeah.

[A]

It said learn more about who appears first in search. And I bet it's going to say they appear first because meta verified. So what it says when somebody searches your name and a bunch of stuff shows up, the blue check mark profile will show up first.

[B]

So that's another aspect that might sway you.

[A]

I know, I know. So moving on. You also get that impersonation protection. You. And this is the kicker. This is the one that makes it not so cut and dry for me. You get meta verified support. So back when Facebook earlier years, there was no support then they were like, oh, this is actually working. Here's a support inbox chat. You could email people. Then they took that all away. I think it's because it was misused. It was misused. I think everyone's like, I don't like what this person wrote. You delete them. Then they moved it support to people who run Facebook ads. And the big strategy there is if you have a personal profile problem, run an ad and have the support have to help you, then I think they took that away. Now it is reserved for meta verified profiles, paying people. And you can either chat or email with an agent. And I specify that because on business, Max Zuckerberg shows up your house and eats.

[B]

You get a phone call.

[A]

Yeah, there's ones that have a phone call. So for the $120 one, you can actually call somebody. For the 44 99amonth, you take priority over the 14 99. But you all.

[B]

But still just calling.

[A]

And so I've seen people say when you need help with Facebook, this is the only way to reach them. And in that I do think the aspect is good.

[B]

The times that me and Heather have had to reach out to meta for an issue running an ad or company, they have been very nice in really trying to resolve any issues that we've run into.

[A]

So if you have an issue with maybe. I'm not going to say that you can get a issue with a hacked account because remember, this is per profile, meaning I can't pay them for one and ask a question about another.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Therein lies the issue. If your account was hacked and you lost access to your page, you can't sign up with another page unless you make it the original and do that impersonation thing and said maybe you could explain to them, this was my page, it was hacked.

[B]

That's a gamma. We're just speaking to maybes because we don't know.

[A]

I don't want my page hacks. I don't want to test this for you guys, but that could be that option. Meta verified support. I know that people get their pages unpublished a lot.

[B]

Yeah. So a lot of times what we're seeing pop up in the SugarCook Market Group, it says, my page is saying I'm not using my original content and that my page is unpublished now.

[A]

Right. And this could be that resolution to prove this is my content. You know, this isn't like a copyright claim or whatever, but you get to talk to somebody there, which is world's.

[B]

Better than talking to yourself.

[A]

Okay. It moves on Facebook and Instagram, you also get enhanced profiles, depending on which one you sign up with on Instagram. This seems to be more focused on Instagram, meaning in your bio you can list multiple links, you can add images to your links. That's the big push there. And that's on Instagram. It's on Facebook. So I, I think.

[B]

Do you think using Shorby.

[A]

Shorby is a.

[B]

What would you call that?

[A]

What is that? Shorby is a link tree competitor.

[B]

Yeah, it's a link tree competitor where you can list multiple.

[A]

And I can put one link. Right?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So if you didn't want to use a linktree, there's this theory that Facebook depreciated accounts that had link tree. So if you want to keep it native in the app, might be a strategy for you. Again, that's if you pay for it on Instagram.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And not if you pay for it on Facebook, because Facebook's not even going to have this option. But Facebook says, well, both of them, one's Facebook and Instagram, whatever you sign up for, you're going to rank first for that name.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

It's not like I'm going to be like how to learn to sell cookies and sugar cookie market group shows up. What it's going to be is someone's going to search sugar cookie marketing and my page will show up above things that it think may also be completed.

[B]

On Instagram, when we first swatted, someone had already taken the name Sugar cookie Marketing.

[A]

The handle.

[B]

Yeah, the handle. So what we had to do was sugar cookie marketing underscore, which is confusing.

[A]

That is creating audience confusion. Because why would the people so great at marketing you have to have the one with the underscore? It's because we are late to the game and somebody else and I offered them money and then never opened my DMs. So now paying for the blue check allows us to rank above the exact match keyword.

[B]

And because our branding is fluid across all our platforms, you seeing the blue check mark and seeing the logo, you're.

[A]

Going to likely say this one is probably them. On the flip side, things I didn't realize when because Meta Verified works off of verification, it doesn't let you change your profile picture all in it. So on your personal profile you have to be yourself. You can't be a picture of your dog.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But on the business page, you can only change your profile picture every 60 days. Yeah. If you're wondering why the sugar cookie marketing Instagram is still bendy, blendy, orange yellow, it's because I have to wait until January 25th. Right. To change it back. So. And it said when I went to change a profile picture, it said, listen, you can't do this as often as you're doing it. Your options are wait for 60 days or cancel your meta Verified plan, update your profile picture and sign back up.

[B]

I see a lot of bakers put their latest set as their profile picture, even though it is the out of their time.

[A]

Not going to do that with this. You can do it on your cover photo. Doesn't seem like they care about COVID photos, but they do care about that profile because that is what shows up in search. So the concept there being we don't want to tell everyone you're verified, you're who you are and then you switch it up on everybody. I don't think you can switch your page name after you sign up, but clearly they're like, just cancel it, switch it up and apply again. Yeah. Right. So something to keep in mind, that is a restriction there. And then it has the option you can also apply this to WhatsApp. But I don't use WhatsApp, so I don't really know how to talk about it.

[B]

Right. The, the thing between the two plans, the stand standard and the one that we have is you get two links per month to put on reels. I'm going to tell you, I've utilized that every month since we've had it. I don't feel like there's been an uptick in any greatness when it comes to that. So do I think that is worth the the linkage? No. People who are watching Instagram reels and Facebook reels are just wanting to watch reels at the time.

[A]

Right.

[B]

If I wanted to convert someone from a real to to buying, I'd probably run an ad.

[A]

I agree. So you're saying that real thing is not it.

[B]

I don't think I could attribute one sale or one person coming from that necessarily, to be quite honest with you.

[A]

I'm logging into our Instagram right now. It says an added benefit is that you can recommend other profiles that you own on a meta verified thing. So it's saying that there should be a place for me to say these are our other accounts. And I don't think that was there when I signed up.

[B]

And initially, I'm sure they're trying to add more. Here's the thing. The pricing can fluctuate. It's not locked in and the options can fluctuate. That's not locked in. So that's a little bit of a gamble. The great part of it is you can cancel and sign up anytime. So if the price jumps on you, you want to keep eyes on that just in case you can cancel. If a new thing is added, you want to always double check for whatever reason. Meta is not marketing this very well to anybody.

[A]

No, only markets it to people who are already have this. It's not like telling people like, hey, you person.

[B]

And it's not saying like, listen, like, look, you got a new option to add, right? Or it's going to the promotions and it's falling in a zillion other notifications that you're getting. You're not seeing it, right.

[A]

I don't even see any intuitive way to say, hey, recommend these other profiles I have, which would be nifty since I'm paying for this. So if I go to the profile I'm sitting at here, I'm going to click, oh, look, look, it's right here. The Facebook page has a direct link to it.

[B]

Oh, nice.

[A]

You see it right there? Okay, that's kind of nice. And then the Instagram handle is right there.

[B]

That's kind of nice.

[A]

That looks really nice.

[B]

Did you just add that?

[A]

I did not. I have no idea. I've never seen this before in my life. And then I'M not seeing. Oh, other profiles right there display other profiles showing Instagram. These profiles and Instagram. How's people confirm that they're related to your business.

[B]

So you're like, well I just did my bakery business. Here's the thing. Me and Heather have the cookie college. We have the Baking it down podcast Instagram account. So it'd be nice that those show. So when you come to the sugar cookie marketing and be like, oh you know what there's attached there.

[A]

Look at other profiles. I just turned it on. This wasn't a feature a minute ago. It was a feature when I signed up. Oh wow, that's so nice. So now if you guys want to check this out, go to sugar cookie marketing underscore and it will show the.

[B]

Cookie college Instagram account, the Facebook profile for the cookie college and the Facebook profile for sugar cookie marketing.

[A]

You know why it's not showing Baking it Down? Because it's still set as a personal profile.

[B]

Oh, interesting.

[A]

Yeah. So very interesting how it's cohesive and not at the same time. So that is the benefits of those. It's an interesting strategy. Corey's saying we're getting no click through in those reels.

[B]

I don't think that's a good benefit to it.

[A]

Okay. Enhanced profile, the listing the other accounts. Interesting. I don't know. That's a benefit to us. I'm pretty sure that's not a benefit to. Okay. It would be a benefit to somebody who pays for the Instagram. One is able to say this is my Facebook page.

[B]

That would be nice bringing to them. Be able to grow both.

[A]

And then it says featured account. I thought this one is pretty interesting because I think it's also been added since I paid for this. When you're scrolling scrolling your Facebook feed you'll see we scroll vertically, right. So we scroll from top to bottom. You'll see these business pages. Squares. Yeah. Listed left to right. So in horizontal you scroll through them. They're probably local businesses or businesses similar to what you're using. Those are recommended meta verified. They used to be an ad, now they're not. It's this. You pay to be meta verified.

[B]

That's nice.

[A]

That is going to be able to grow your account in an ad like way. Who knows what the targeting is?

[B]

I know who.

[A]

Right.

[B]

Hopefully if you're on searching for something it's showing you something similar to but.

[A]

With the $44.99 tier which to me too expensive.

[B]

Too expensive.

[A]

I'm gonna say blue check support. Yes. $14.99 a month. Still overpriced.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

If I had major problems with my profile, I would probably spring for the $120 a month and pay for it for one month. That's your phone call back in the.

[B]

Day, before this even existed. You could pay someone around 15 to 1900 dollars. If your Facebook account were to get banned or hacked. And with the promise and the prayer that they do their best to get you your account back, but there was no guarantee that it would happen. If that happened, would you want to pay $120 and talk to someone who actually works for the business, or would you want to pay nineteen hundred dollars and hope that they don't take your money and run?

[A]

Right, right. This is technically on sale, then technically it's on sale.

[B]

The problem is if you've been building your bakery business on Facebook for years and it's taken out from under you, I've seen a lot of people willing to do a lot to get that back.

[A]

Yeah. I mean, if that's your whole business thing, and that's what this kind of starts off with, is if all your income is coming from TikTok and TikTok closed, would you be out of a job? If all your leads are coming from Facebook and you lost your page, would you be out of income?

[B]

I know.

[A]

In which case 14.99 or 44.99 is actually great option.

[B]

At the end of the day, the closest thing that you own in your business is something like your website. You don't own where it ends up on Google, though, but you do own your website. You own the content on there. You can pull it down. You. It's up to you. You own your email list. So an email list is super strong to have. If your Facebook page goes down, you can still potentially reach some of those people with a strong email list. At the end of the day, you do not own your TikTok account.

[A]

You don't own anything.

[B]

No. Which. Those are the closest things you do.

[A]

To own when it comes to the Internet. We rent our website, we rent our domain name. The minute you don't pay that bill, it's back into the market.

[B]

But at least you don't post something wrong and it's taken from you.

[A]

And that. That. But okay, if you're delisted de indexed from Google Search, there is the potential for that too.

[B]

So at the end of the day, nothing's guaranteed.

[A]

Nothing's guaranteed. We got to diversify our income. We got to diversify our lead sources. That is a healthy business. Unfortunately, we Tend to find that one thing stands about above all. Corey and I said, what would we possibly do with Facebook groups?

[B]

Because the group is where you discover.

[A]

That'S where the funnel for the cookie college starts and stops. Well, you still have their emails. Yeah, but in the group, I'm able to build trust. I'm able to build, like, you know, help and create the funnel and create, you know, post promotions. Without that, where would we be? And that's why Corey's like, well, I'll post a TikTok and, you know, we're going to. Gonna start recording these podcasts for YouTube.

[B]

I know. Because at the end of the day, here's the thing. I've worked the last year, unfortunately, and grown our TikToks profiles to about 30,000 followers. And all that hard work will be taken away on potentially Saturday.

[A]

And such is. And such is.

[B]

And I can't do one gosh darn thing about it. It'll be just like, I gotta kiss that hard work goodbye. Thank goodness I have saved the videos from there that we can use on YouTube shorts and things like that.

[A]

YouTube super shorts, because they only allow under 60 seconds. So it's not even a direct translation from one profile from one platform to the other. Because Cory and I were talking about the YouTube strategy, like, you're only allowed to post under 60 seconds. So all the content you've already produced where TikTok was awarding longer content, is being penalized on that. So that then the next best one is reels. And that's where they're going to kind of what's crazy?

[B]

And I don't understand why YouTube did this. To monetize on TikTok, you need videos over a minute. It can be a minute in one second. To be eligible for the Creator Rewards program YouTube shorts, it has to be under one minute. So do you see where now you're either cutting off the last word that.

[A]

You said, here's my. Yes, here's my personal take on how I use YouTube. I do pay for YouTube Premium. I'm only watching horizontal videos on there. I'm not watching YouTube shorts. If it pops up, I. I swipe, yes, get away.

[B]

So then that's telling you that even all that content that you made that is good for TikToks and good for reals is not good for YouTube. But YouTube is a strong contender. A lot of people are moving to YouTube, but they're having to recognize it's.

[A]

Got to be a part of the holistic approach to a marketing plan. Marketing strategy. And I know you guys are like not another profile to manage. At the end of the day, it's how the game works and it's what allows new businesses to enter. When that old business put all their eggs in the single basket that got shut down on the 19th, a new business can rise. So we hate it as much as we love it.

[B]

Yeah. At the end of the day most people that are listening to this didn't utilize TikTok as a big money maker.

[A]

And I even say TikTok we've said in the past is more for the influencer type, more for the I want to create cookie content and then sell recipes than it is to I want to sell local.

[B]

And you made passive income. Whether it be your videos were monetized, you were doing like affiliate marketing or.

[A]

The TikTok page you to review.

[B]

But it's just a look into that. Never get too comfy, never get too cozy.

[A]

Man, we own nothing.

[B]

We own nothing.

[A]

I put a lot of time into Google plus and it is gone. It's in the Google grade. So before you think, well they would never take that away. Yes they would. It all comes down to a math problem of does this generate income?

[B]

I know. So it'll end up. I'll be curious. Heather, when we put.

[A]

We do my. Let me do my. My question right now. Would you pay for meta verified if.

[B]

I had a couch cushion and I opened it and there was happened to be a 10, a five and two quarters. I would for my business page.

[A]

For how long? As long as you found the couch cushion money.

[B]

Yes, I would think if you know come October, November and December there's tons of bakers out there. Yeah. Tons of bakers getting recommended. Ton of common. I would do it more towards that end so I just could. Could appear over this onslaught of recommendations and maybe chill it out in July.

[A]

Save my money. I think it took me about three days to get approved.

[B]

Oh nice to know.

[A]

So a little bit of a waiting period but I had all my, my ducks in a row. Like it wasn't like.

[B]

Right. It wasn't like you have to go get this and then now you're applying for the county or the state or anything like that.

[A]

Yeah. There's some thing I would have to say before if you ask me that question right now. Yeah. I would say to somebody, let me see what you're doing currently. Let me see what your marketing looks like right now.

[B]

Now because if it's so fine tuned.

[A]

Yeah. Definitely add it.

[B]

But if it's not fine, we have.

[A]

So many other places Okay.

[B]

I like that approach that if you have things to work on, to improve on.

[A]

If photography is really, really bad and you know it and you could take $15 and put it towards a backdrop or you can take that $15 and put it toward meta Verified. I'm going to say put it towards a backdrop because we want to have very pretty photos. Because if we reached everybody in the world but our photos weren't dialed in, then what's the point? That's true.

[B]

True. I like that approach.

[A]

Yeah. And I my dad was asking us he has his own company, was asking us some marketing questions. He was upset with his marketer and I was like hey, at the end of the day this all has to work together. I can't give you recommendation on a single point when I don't know the whole wheel. Yes. Like we can plug a tire but if the tire has a gouge on the other side there's no point in fixing the small nail.

[B]

If you are taking amazing photos and never posting them with good copy then.

[A]

We'Ve got another issue. Yeah, yeah. If you take amazing photos and write good copy but your website is just hit or miss, you don't have one, it's hard to get a hold of you again. It's still so look at your marketing as a cohesive whole. If you feel that you got a pretty dialed in. We'll never feel fully dialed in. Don't worry about it. No, yeah, yeah. But if you're like I'm pretty happy with how everything's going. I'm producing income. I think this 15 just the attention grabbing aspect of this may put me into selling another set this month. Then it's going to be a great investment.

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

But yeah it's going to have to.

[B]

At the end of the day if something happens to your page or something it's nice to have the option and.

[A]

Everyone yeah everyone like this is stupid. Not when you're paying for help desperate and you'll see me recommend meta verified. When people are like I my page is unpublished or I've lost access to it and I usually say I'm not sure if you can use this to get to them but it may be your best.

[B]

Let me tell you it's a better option than coming to sugar cookie market.

[A]

And be like would do ask. So it's pretty interesting concept. If TikTok does get banned or if it doesn't or if in the in the final hour gets sold to the American company will be interesting. I believe believe personally Corey and I try to Run a bet she won't put money on it. I believe that there's too much money at stake for that to get shut down. I think it's. I think in terms of branding, marketing, Ruthanne is like, tick tock, tick tock. Because it's all over the news. It is.

[B]

And you know what? So here's the thing. The thing that happened this morning, it's supposed to be banned on Saturday. The thing that happened this morning, someone is petitioning for. To give us another 270 days on the platform.

[A]

Yeah. So I saw that. I download TikTok every weekend and uninstall it, which I guess this will be my last time Friday. Maybe you should let yourself run free.

[B]

You can get a little early.

[A]

So what have. That's what they're saying is it might be just unpublished from the Play store and the itunes store. What do you guys call yours? The Apple Orchard. It might be plugged from the Apple Orchard, but it may still exist in your phone. And then there's rumors that it'll be uninstalled from your phone. Yeah.

[B]

No one. Nobody knows. This hasn't happened. Someone from India did say it happened to us five years ago. They actually. You weren't TikTok.

[A]

But they said it didn't disappear from the phone.

[B]

Yeah. So they don't even know.

[A]

Is it still banned?

[B]

It's still been. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So she was from India. She was like, let me. I'm using a VPN right now to talk to you. Yeah.

[A]

A proxy network would allow her to say I'm actually from America. And then her phone thinks she's from America and she's able to download it.

[B]

She's able to get past this problem.

[A]

Yes, it's happened, but I think the American user base on that platform moves a lot of money, and I think when a lot of money is involved. You said Elon Musk offered to buy it last night.

[B]

No way. Bytedance said 100 guys. We're not selling. But money speaks.

[A]

Mr. Handsome on Shark Tank, he's offered. Yeah, he's gotten people.

[B]

He's offering 20 billion, but he does not want. He said we don't want the algorithm, which is obviously.

[A]

I'm sorry, I need the algorithm.

[B]

That algorithm is very good. He's like, we'll build it. We'll build it back.

[A]

So usually don't love about Instagram reels. And I'm just doing my personal opinion piece here. Like, if I. If I accidentally sneeze and a video is playing at the same time, it'll be like, that's all she wants to see. Don't see anything but that. I sent Summer one funny video about it. It was like, the mom, you're on my last nerve. Me and my sister and they're tapped into all that. You see, it's all about sister stuff, which is funny. But I wanted to watch.

[B]

What's weird is AI is a lot on Reels and it's not on TikTok. And it's like these ladies are. It's like trying to show Dancing with the Stars are, you know, America's Got Talent. And so it's a guy looking and he's one of the judges. Judges. But then like, the lady turns into a horse. But like, someone has just spliced these two random videos. I don't want to see that. Like, that's not. But I saw one because I was like, is she turning into a horse?

[A]

And now it's all I see.

[B]

Speaking of upping your business and making 2025 your best business yet, if you're like, if you just listen to the podcast and you said, you know what, my photos aren't that good. You know what? My copy isn't converting I don't know how to market on Facebook book. We actually have the Cookie College. And Heather, what is the cookie college for someone just hearing those weird words put together for the first time?

[A]

I just did the get to know your membership 101 yesterday.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Turn did at 1pm you do it at night. So it was an interesting. What I tell people is we do lay heavy on class kits. Everything you need to teach a good class that's included in the college, but that's not what it is. By definition, the Cookie college is a membership that pays into class kits, how to teach classes, but also all these other courses.

[B]

What are somebody. Some more ambiguous courses that we never reference.

[A]

Somebody said, heather, you keep saying aida. What is that? And I was like, actually, there's a course in your membership. It's copy formula. Well, that sounds like a buzzword too. Yeah. I tell you what copy formula is, walk you through four or five different formulas I use, and then explain what that Aida formula, which is attention, interest, desire and action. You'll see that's how Corey and I write a lot of our copy copy, if you like, how we market the Cookie college is going to tell you everything I know and Corey knows that we've been working on for the last decade. And the interesting thing, like we said in today's podcast topic is marketing is ever changing that is great. And it is also the worst because you're never fully relaxed but you also have new opportunities because nobody is relaxed. Yeah.

[B]

Popular courses that people do take are Inbox Zero and what is you need.

[A]

To retake that Inbox zero technically. Imagine you open your Gmail, your business account account, your business email and you see zero emails there and anything that comes in is orders from today. A lot of times our inbox becomes a prison of productivity. It's too much, it's overwhelming, it's not organized. Inbox Zero uses the tools within Gmail to help manage your inbox. So a lot of times we get receipts from auto Bill. Let's pretend we signed up for Meta Verified. That's going to hit my account. That's great. I don't need to see everyone. I understand that I'm paying for that. So we can use Google labels to move that directly to one that's called receipts Receipts with a sub label of Facebook.

[B]

So you still have it, you still have access.

[A]

Not in that account. Then how to unsubscribe mass and subscribe is one.

[B]

What's been really great is I started using utilizing this inbox 0 when the crumbed cookies, my business changed its name to the mixing bowl. It was like a new slate. I said this is gonna be a new me. And now everything in that inbox is present and needs to be addressed. It either has been addressed, it's starred to be addressed. But when I get in there, I know this is exactly what I have. I don't feel overwhelmed. I feel that that's my to do list. It's easy to access. I'm not missing orders, I'm not missing people. You're in there.

[A]

It really creates, creates a safe space with your inbox.

[B]

So that's a good one. Another huge course that people.

[A]

Here's what I'm gonna say. Password manager. You know, mostly because this weekend my parents say, heather, we need help. They do. They see. And I said, okay dad, let me just log into a couple accounts. And I'm like, hey, where are these passwords? He's like, it's in a word document on my phone. And I took and I watched him open up his phone. He opened up his gallery app. It's got a thousand, two thousand photos in it, which is low for some people, but they're all screenshots of passwords.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And in the event that he ever loses those pictures, he is not signing. I know if it's not backed up. So password managers allow us to use really Strict password. Really clean password hygiene.

[B]

Talking about your Facebook page getting hacked. A lot of the times it's because we're using our I love my doggy102 so as your password. While you're like, no one will guess I love my doggy.

[A]

These passwords. My mom loves to use very guessable passwords. And she was like, but I just don't think the bad guy's gonna guess this one. And I was like, yeah, it's not a bad guy. It's a script. And the script is running so fast, faster than we think. And it's able to crack these passwords so, so fast. Yeah, we need 16 characters, upper lowercase.

[B]

Whatever happened with the boomers and the founders of America situation, they. They love to use one password. It's.

[A]

It's hard to remember. They opted as a business owner, there's so many places you need to log in, there's no way to remember. So the only solution is to use the same one over and over again.

[B]

So when that script gets a password that hits, they're not just always just staying on that one platform. They can go through a bunch to.

[A]

See if they're shared. I've been pwned.com. i've been, okay, right. You can go there and you can see which data breaches has hemorrhaged your password. And if you're using that password, which is on the dark web now, for sale on any financial institution website, you need to go and change.

[B]

Right? So that's another cool course that's slept upon, but a great one to start off with. The most popular one by far, Photography. And it's. It may be because it's valuable or it's maybe because I taught it. I do have a big fan base.

[A]

I think photography is very important in our industry. Another. And then the course, there's so many of them. And then I'll be working on my bamboo A1 mini course.

[B]

I can't wait for that one.

[A]

Yeah. Cause Cory's gonna get the printer. Ah, I need to take the course. You'll need to take the course.

[B]

I'm a visual learner. That's why these courses are done with you step by step. Heather's recording her screen, taking you through them. She recorded me for the photography one.

[A]

And my editing one.

[B]

You're going with me through it. So these are in depth courses done with you. Marketing. If you don't put in the work, don't worry, the work will not get done for you.

[A]

Yeah, unfortunately, it seems to work that.

[B]

Way on top of those courses. If you're like, I'm not really a course girl, there's a community aspect to it. And the community aspect is a private Facebook group called the cookie college by sugar cookies marketing.

[A]

Is that what it is?

[B]

It's always just in my latest search. And that's where people can dive into the. The hardcore business topics. Sugar cookie marketing. We love that a lot of people are asking more basic questions like, when are you starting your Valentine's day? Pre sales. In the cookie college, we're able to dive in deeper. So, hey, guys, here's what happened. The customer did this, I did this. What do now? And we can really dive in since we don't allow customer bashing in any of the groups. But the cookie college has this silent space.

[A]

They get the vibe that, well, you're not going to bash customers. And I still say, everyone, back on topic.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But there it's a lot more like, hey, here's what happened. I made this mistake. She made this mistake.

[B]

What are our someone's like, what's your goal here? Because if it's goal one, here's my approach here.

[A]

If it's goal two. Yeah, I've been saying this. Like, Corey's asking marketing questions over there. Because people are like, yeah, this is what I do. Someone had a great example. They said, I thought this was interesting because it happened to us. They said, I had a class over the weekend. I don't take attendance. My lesson learned is I will start taking attendance. I have name tags and whatever. Name tags aren't taken. That's who didn't show.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

She had the wildest thing happened. She's like, and I do not know who is at fault here, but one of the name tags was taken. This person sits there, but then the person who had that name shows up.

[B]

Oh, wild, right?

[A]

And. And I was like, everyone holler name tag. It wasn't something as simple as that. It must have been the first names or something.

[B]

Oh.

[A]

Then she was like, yeah, I'm one kit short. Because somebody in the. Someone's a mole. Yeah, someone's not supposed to be here. And the person who is. She's like the person who is supposed to be there. I had known because they've come to.

[B]

A lot of questions.

[A]

Her quick solution is she let that. That lady decorate her set. Smart.

[B]

Right?

[A]

But she was like, I never in. So somebody didn't pay. And I was like, well, probably the person who didn't pay likely has this similar name or doesn't realize that they made the mistake. And she was like, should I, should I should or not refund the lady who showed up and had to do my set. And we were like, you know, you probably, you know, the lady didn't want money back. She said she understood the thing I said, probably would go a long way if you did. And she's like, I know that's the answer. I just needed someone to say it. It's. It's.

[B]

So in the college, we're able to dive in. We have monthly challenges. Today we're doing this month. It's the touch of challenge in these challenges just make you more in tune with your business. Instead of checking out because either you got tired because your December was crazy, July and June, you know, these challenges keep you in touch with your business throughout the year. The cookie college. Right now, you can sign up atthecookie college.com. the monthly price is now 76. 76. So if you are like in 2025, I want to be a better business owner. I want 25, 2025 to be my year. Join us. There's about a thousand thousand of us in there. We're ready to grow. It's. It's just a very positive community, a very uplifting community.

[A]

Money where their mouth is. They're here to get squeeze the juice from that beer and they're going to make it work for them, which makes it even better for everyone who signs up. It does.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Somebody. I see people sign up. A lot of people, guys did join for that discount rate, which is awesome. When they get here, they're like, whoa, this is great.

[B]

Yeah, I know.

[A]

Yeah, I know. So a lot goes on there. And then every second Monday of the month, I teach a get to know your membership live. Corey drops free. We content all the time. Cookie class kits drop on the seventh. Now, we decided to say a date. Yes. And then the digital downloads, which I'm working on, it's all included in this Cookie College membership. The digital downloads last month were Valentine's Day cookie tags. And then this month, I'm turning those cookie tags into cookie cutters and Corey's producing a freebie photo with the stuff you would. And I was never seen on yesterday. They're very, very cute. Very cute. And. And it'll be fun to see that come together. So it'll be five. The digital downloads this month it'll be five mini cookie cutters and their corresponding images. Yes.

[B]

And so it's the SDL files that you're providing.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

If you don't have a custom 3D printer, that's okay. You can send the files to your favorite cutter shop and they can recreate it.

[A]

There's a lot of cutter shops that do that. Or libraries actually use 3D printers.

[B]

No.

[A]

Be wild for me to not know how to use a 3D printer and have to do one with an audience at a library.

[B]

I know.

[A]

Especially with how song you're going to hear me. Just kidding. I assume they got to keep them in rooms that would drive people insane. So. Yeah, that is the cookie college. You can learn more about that atthecookie college.com. and you can see the five tiers we offer. Unlike. Oh, just like meta verified. The highest tier includes everything we offer. White.

[B]

They got that from us.

[A]

Let's do my texting questions. Tanya emailed. I just asked her today for her address. Bet that is out. She didn't correct you on her name.

[B]

Calling her Tonya.

[A]

Tanya.

[B]

Tonya. T O N Y A.

[A]

What am I calling her?

[B]

Tanya. Tanya.

[A]

We have. Okay, 1, 2, 3, 4. I have four texting questions and I.

[B]

Get to choose a number.

[A]

Yes, one. Okay. Hold on. Let me just make sure there's no fan mail. Fan mail. Fan mail. Yeah, I think so. You pick number one. Okay. Okay. This is. I don't have a name because she texted and she's a fan one. So there's no name. This is 860- if you're listening to this and this is your area code and this is your text. Hi, twins. I love bakery. Oh, Bakety Bake. Royal batch. I switched from Genies. My question is how would I make it a softer bite? Soft to bite?

[B]

Bakety Bake is a. They're actually a podcast sponsor, so I'll just.

[A]

Let me do this one. Whoever wins this, eight eight six zero, Email me Heather sugarcookie Marketing with the rest of your phone number and then I'll connect you for your stupid card tray. Nice. There you go. That. Cause they're like, how am I going to tell this person it's really them? What if everyone emails me like, I'm 860?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So if you're 860 and you have.

[B]

Email, are you texted in about your royal batch question?

[A]

Congratulations. Email Heather SugarCookieMarting with the rest of your phone number and I'll. And I'll get you connected with feel.

[B]

You won a stupid car tray. What is a stupid car tray? It levels out your passenger side seat. So if you're doing a cookie delivery, if you're getting, you know, your purse, you want to spill over on the side, our cool water Bottles that we have.

[A]

Stanley's. Yeah. Yeah.

[B]

The stupid card tray is great for that. So congratulations. You're gonna love it. Me and Heather have one. We use it all the time.

[A]

We share it for a royal sound. Like really had one for a royal batch.

[B]

It already comes with corn syrup in, in the. As one of the ingredients.

[A]

That's the softer bite.

[B]

Then want a more softer bite? You'll add more of that corn. Usually you want to buy clear, clear corn syrup from the grocery store, you'll add that to it. It gives it even a softer bite.

[A]

Question, softer bite, in terms of the icing, wouldn't that have more to do with the cookie?

[B]

No. The icing technically has a little bit of a snap to it if there's no corn syrup in it at all. So if you have a drier cookie because you don't like so much butter content in there and you have a drier icing, it's going to give a harder bite. If you're doing layers, you know, because you have florals or things like that, that's a hard cookie to bite into. So you want to add even more than the recipe has in it and that's going to give you even more softer bite. If you're making those florals or a bunch of levels for some reason, when I do dual levels or triple levels, it's almost softer just because of the pure amount of icing.

[A]

I agree. I do agree. That feels softer. This is the next not a winner, but you can text in next week. This is from 907. They sent just an emoji with a thumbs up, which is hilarious. But here's the question. This one's not marking related. Just for fun. If you were gifted a free round trip trip ticket, all expense paid vacay to anywhere, where would you go?

[B]

I've always wanted to do an absolute cruise.

[A]

Cruise. We were going to do it and I hope it happened.

[B]

Oh, I know. Just a cruise.

[A]

Where would it float? A little tropical place. I'm not even off the boat. Or.

[B]

No, I'm scared to get off the boat, but I would if it was like a touristy area.

[A]

Like, okay, the British Virgin Island. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll get off on the boat. I do. No idea where those are, by the way.

[B]

Here's my thing. I've never seen, seen.

[A]

Did you tell them that you don't like to travel?

[B]

I don't also like to travel, so never seen clear water and I have an aversion to traveling.

[A]

So the battle is uphill.

[B]

But I thought On a boat, there's a lot less planning. Like you're on the boat's plan. Your. Your boat is taking you places you're not thinking and being like, oh, we have a plan at 2 o'clock or something like that. You can go to a little restaurant.

[A]

You know, I got it here. Apparently the boat you choose dictates a lot of how the trip goes.

[B]

I'm sure.

[A]

Were the, like, Disney boats. I've heard great things, but we're looking at Kiddos Kiddos Carnival. I've heard it's a Spirit Airlines of the Ocean. Oh, not sure, guys. If you float Carnival. Don't take that offensively. I've never floated with them. And then the. The Virgin Atlant. The Virgin boats don't allow kids at all.

[B]

Oh, no way.

[A]

No way. So I. And then the Norwegian. I have no idea. But that's interesting. So you just want to see tropical, clear water on a boat? Yeah, yeah.

[B]

I would love to experience boat, to sleep on the boat, to eat on the boat, to everything.

[A]

You are not a cool twin. You know, I've always said if I had to choose, I would. That's a good question. Thank you. Where would you go? Or you.

[B]

You like traveling more than I do and you don't even like it that much, right?

[A]

I would like to go probably. I went snowboarding Colorado that one time. I'd like to go with all my expenses paid by somebody else. To where? Aspen or Veil or whatever.

[B]

Yeah, I couldn't want to do that last when.

[A]

And we are East Coasters, and I don't think you've seen those mountains. I went that one time and I was, whoa, this is so wild that these people, this is their backyard. And like when you go skiing or snowboarding here, it's like there's yellow tape and lines and ropes everywhere. This one, they're like, hey, try not to die. If you do, let us know so we can find you.

[B]

Me and Heather, remembering back a few years ago, she wanted to go snowboarding and I guess was having a rough time in whatever relationship was in. So she invited me. And I felt very obligated. Obligated.

[A]

But her heart was not in it. I'm gonna tell you. I went down.

[B]

It was. It was a bitter cold. A bitter wet cold.

[A]

We were on the bunny hills. There was not. There's no trees stopping the wind.

[B]

I blowed right down into whatever the.

[A]

Coffee, like where somebody's like doing that fake smile. And Cory's like, shink, shink, shink, shink, shink. And I was like, do you want to go? And she's like, yeah. So then we only did one. I said, never again. Here's another text. This is from 713. Hi, twins. I've seen bakers in the group say that a corporate customer doesn't want labels on cookies, and the baker is concerned about not getting exposure to all the people who would be eating those cookies. I know many states have labeling requirements, which is an easy policy to lean on and shouldn't be waived. But for the states that don't have those laws, what are your thoughts on pushing back against the customer for the sake of exposure to more leads?

[B]

Here's my thing. My customer is that corporate person. That is who I need to focus 100%. They have paid me the money, and I am their baker. They are my one and only client. To use your customers as future marketing, that is a gamble because they feel used. Use. They know it. They know, like, because you're pushing back.

[A]

Now, they know it extra hard.

[B]

Yeah, they know it extra hard. Here's my thing. You cultivate that corporate order, that corporate client, and watch them come back to you over and over and over again.

[A]

That's much more valuable than potentially someone eating a cookie, turning it around, and seeing your thermal printed label with your ingredients on and saying like, oh, mixing well, cookie co did this maybe. I. I think that's so not guaranteed. Whereas a very, very happy corporate customer is almost a guaranteed returning customer.

[B]

Yeah. And to solidify a good relationship with a corporate returning client is by, by far the best relationship you can have.

[A]

Imagine. Okay, let's use this as a great example. Corey got Neiman Marcus. It was this lady, and she placed this one time order. Corey did everything she requested and did not private. Did not put buy from me on the back. Right. The lady was ecstatic with it. Because what they were doing is they were promoting a credit card or they were promoting a shoe line or a perfume. And they don't want to have to be like, he need to buy what was the perfume? Creed.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Also mixing bowls on the back, it's making the cookie do too much. And that's what the client doesn't want.

[B]

Corporate clients are marketing to their clients. That's where their relationship is. They're using you to do that.

[A]

Right. They could have bought like, okay, imagine. Imagine this. Because I think we think of this. Cookies are different than I think, imagine you ordered business cards, and on the back of the business card, vistaprint had its ad. Yeah. You'd never order from Vista.

[B]

You'd be like, I didn't want Vista print.

[A]

You're like, but it's a business card. Right, but this is the cookie. This is the business cookie. And we so badly want to put our logo on the back of that. Here's your option is have a better custom branded packaging in general. But again, they may or may not display that packaging. I would not ever push back on this unless it was out. Cottage law requires a food labeling. It would not be a big thing.

[B]

I see some bakers and I have these too, these cookie stamps. And you actually stamp the back of the cookie before you put it in the oven. I would not push my relationship with that corporate client.

[A]

Just sneak in there. I know people are like, that'll teach them and I'll get my brand in there. I think you're still risking the big. I think you're not zoomed out far enough to see you're risking the whole relationship with the client.

[B]

You are marketing for them. They're not marketing for you.

[A]

They're using your money. Their money bought your silence.

[B]

Yes, absolutely. So I would definitely cater to that client that actually gave you their money instead of looking beyond them to be like, they're my marketing avenue now.

[A]

If I donated cookies to a corporate cause and I made no money, you're going to see a buy from me somewhere.

[B]

If I'm going to a networking event, you're going to see a little Cory.

[A]

And I paid to be in that wedding venue thing. Venue thing. And on every cookie Cory gave away was Corey's personal information. Because we did not make money being there. We actually spent money being there in.

[B]

Law being that that event was my marketing.

[A]

Right.

[B]

So I put it there.

[A]

So, yeah, you're going to see me there. You're not going to see it on the Neiman Marcus order. That's not what they paid for. Last text. Hello, Heather and Corey. My name is Israel and I'm riding from Minnesota.

[B]

Minnesota.

[A]

First of all, I can't thank you enough for all this valuable knowledge that I've been learning from your SEM group, the Fabius podcast, and the cookie college I joined very recently.

[B]

Nice.

[A]

I've had to pause at episode. I've had. I had to pause episode 192. And I went back and I heard about texting last week, I guess, and about entering something, I guess. Oh, she's like, I know I'm super late, but I still wanted to text him just because I heard you mention Minneapolis, Minnesota. So here you go. Call me a loser, but don't really call Me a loser out loud? You're never a loser. You guys are both my favorite. Corey's my favorite baker and decorator and Heather's my favorite instructor and marketing guru. Very nice. Is right. You can still text in next week.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

This resets and your guys's questions are great. Someone's like, what about those of us who didn't win and didn't get her?

[B]

I know.

[A]

I said I'll post your question page and answer it there. That's nice. Very great idea. So if you guys want to text in the stupid car train again is up for grabs. Yeah, I still have to talk to Phil about that. So I don't have the discount code yet, but he's going to offer us one. I think it's 15%.

[B]

Phil got into the group this week.

[A]

So Phil, I'm working with Phil. He's stupid car trade guy and this, we should call this a stupid text in question segment.

[B]

Oh, that's hilarious. Stupid text. Yeah.

[A]

So stupid text resets next week. You can 5, 7. You can text in 5, 7, 1, 5, 5 6, 5 6, 4 4. Or if you're on apps like Spotify, it has a button at the top. You can click that as well. Great.

[B]

Thank you guys so much. Those questions were fantabulous.

[A]

This has been such a great project. And then Phil's like super stoked about it too. Nice.

[B]

Nice.

[A]

Okay, moving on to a sponsors. I know we already talked about the cook college. Can you just talk about the Galentine's day class?

[B]

Okay. The Galentine's day class is stupid, cute.

[A]

Stupid.

[B]

It's so stinking cute. So what the cookie class kits is, is everything you need to teach a cookie class. If you're like, you know what, I feel confident that I could teach a cookie class. I just don't have the time or the energy to create the step by step. PowerPoint to take the photos, to design the set, to design four colors that go within that set to make the cookie cutters. Listen, we got it. We have partnered up with sweeping collar for the cutters. Her sister in law, I think is the one who designs lady.

[A]

Very nice.

[B]

Talked to her once on social media. Her sister in law designs each cookie class kit. That's why they look so cohesive because they have the same designer about them. We take the photos, we take the step by step PowerPoints. We take the videos. Heather creates his graphics and copy. It's everything you need to teach a cookie class. All you need is you.

[A]

But the Galentine's day one is super Cute. So we have a couple Valentine's Day ones. You can get them when you join the college. Archived out of the class kits. But the Galentine's day one people were like, do we have one for that? Like my girls taking out my girls going to class. And the one has a Stanley Cup. It has a giant chocolate dip strawberry.

[B]

Diamond because you can buy yourself diamonds. It's got a rose because you can buy yourself flowers. And it has a the cutest little cupcake with the little heart.

[A]

So it's very cute. And that dropped and that's included in both the cookie class kits and cookie college membership. Better bang for your buck. Sign up for the college because you get 2023, 2024 and the 2025 class. Kids. Yeah. Cancel anytime. Much like Zuckerberg.

[B]

Much like Zucky. On to our podcast sponsors. Thank you for them. Without them, this would not be talking about Royal Batch. Royal Match is what the text in question had a question about Royal Batch. They're actually a podcast sponsor. Bakey Bake makes a meringue powder called Royal Batch. It's all I use. It's delicious. It's delectable. It is bright white because it already has white food coloring in it. It tastes like a sweet, sweet vanilla because it has vanilla extract already into it. And it has corn syrup in there so you get a softer bite. You can always add more. If you want almond extract, you can add that to it. If you want a more powerful vanilla, you can add that to it too. If you're working with florals, add more corn syrup to it. It is just the best. I've been using it for years. Exclusively.

[A]

Love it.

[B]

I absolutely is.

[A]

I can tell you that Corey is not lying to you when she says she loves it. I think, think if you had her husband, her dog, and a Bakey Bake Royal Batch and there was a house fire, I would, we, we would all pause to see which one she picked.

[B]

Listen, most.

[A]

Would you pick Royal Batch anyways?

[B]

Just kidding. Probably not. We'd be shortly behind.

[A]

Go get the Royal Batch.

[B]

The Royal Batch meringue powder. Like if you make your icing bags and it sits on the counter at room temperature, a lot of them separate super fast. I know this one does not separate super fast. So I can find myself coming, coming back to a color, using it a day later and it not being any different than the time. I. Yeah, I hate when you get that water that spurts out of it. I'm like, oh, great, I gotta rebag.

[A]

And tag this bad boy. I hate it when that happens to me too, I hate it. Code twins save you probably on shipping. And they have a couple different options now, more than when we first started. Five pound bag, one pound bag, tester bags. I saw a little duster look.

[B]

I love the dust.

[A]

I saw a shirt.

[B]

Yeah, there's a corn starch duster. I will be honest. I haven't put the cornstarch in it because I already had a cornstarch bag. I love it for cookie dusting. So right before you put the cookies in the bags, you can dust off the crumb so your cookies look really good to your clients the first time they see it. So I take a little duster to it, put it in the bag tag.

[A]

Good, you know, but she has the. Is it a cookie duster or is it cornstarch bag? It's both. Okay. Cornstarch bag. Moving on to our next sponsor, Eddie, the edible printer. Yeah, just use. They posted about Freddie in their group.

[B]

They did.

[A]

It's going to a. I was reading through the comments. People are like, hey, I'm pre ordered. What's my updates? And they're like, we have. I think it was 250 units that it'll start shipping at the end of January. So these are already sold, I think. Yeah, I think it was 100 on that one.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So they have like a promotional video and someone had a couple really great questions in the comments. So Freddy is an automated icing machine. Eddie is a direct to food printer. Freddie is the one they've been teasing with us. Teasing for years.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And Eddie is the one that's been really. The podcast sponsored release. I'd mentioned Freddie. So. So Freddie, someone's like, I want to see it. I. I don't want it to ice all the way the edges. And then he was like, yeah, you just said that on the computer. Oh, wow. Yes. And someone's like, well, is this going to save a lot of time? He's like, it won't compete. He. The admin was like, it won't compete with dipping. Nothing could make it faster than dipping. He's like, this is designed for. I'm gonna walk. I'm gonna leave these shapes. I'm gonna walk away. And when I come back, all 12 shapes. Because it works on the carousel. All 12 shapes will be decorated or ice. Yeah. Nice. So that was his thing there. And then someone's like, does it do really unique shapes? And he said, yeah, that's. That took the. They were like the last 10% of the code was the hardest to Write to get the custom shave. So it does have that. They were going to post videos if you want to check that out. Join Eddie Printer Users group on Facebook. That's where they're making these Freddy updates. Yeah.

[B]

So if you want that Freddy update, honestly, Freddie works great with eddie.

[A]

Freddie is $4,000, Eddie is $3,000. So we're looking at a combined cost of 7,000. But imagine. And that's not chump change at all. A lot. I would probably say, if you would buy, buy. And I'm just biased because I haven't even seen the Freddy. I'd buy that Eddie first. Yeah. Because I think that's going to allow you to pay for something like the Freddy. And let's say, I think the Freddy's going to be really well designed for brick and mortar. Absolutely.

[B]

That's what I was just thinking.

[A]

Sure. For sure. And imagine it's good for someone who does really high volume. We're coming back to a white, fully decorated ice cookie. Ready for your piping pleasure.

[B]

Yeah. Or printing pleasure.

[A]

Yeah. Someone asked we use our own icing or do we use your guys'and? You use your own. I saw that. Yeah. But you're gonna make the consistency in the way that the machine needs it. It's going to be a 32nd. That's what it said.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So pretty interesting machine. Would love to see one. I think it's going to be at this expo or something that they mentioned. Oh, I'd be so curious. And I know that was at CookieCon.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I think cookie con is kind of coming up. I wonder if they'll be there again. I wonder.

[B]

I can't remember the day.

[A]

It's like March. Oh, it's very close.

[B]

Yeah. Wow. Last but not least, if you take the photography course in the college, you will notice that I love the Backers co Backers. What the Backers co is, is it's a. A square perfection. Like, if my kitchen's brown, I can make it look perfect in this square. 23 by 23 space.

[A]

I think people who don't understand it. Don't understand it. And. And the people who. And I love you. DIYers who are like getting the vinyl backdrops and kind of making it yourself. I don't think you know how easy it can really actually be.

[B]

Right.

[A]

It's even easier. It's. What is. They kind of sell for 73, 72. You can buy these backdrops. You can create a little scene because you can do their. What are they called? The brackets.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

A bottom and a Back wall. So a countertop and a back wall and you can interchange those out. Cory uses them. I can tell when she uses them for bread because she's going to go for those deep, rich browns. I do macaron. She's going to go for the pastel.

[B]

I love the color ones for that.

[A]

And then for her cookies, I had a lot of whites. A lot, A lot of white. Matte finishes.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So it really is very versatile. Now they have a discount code.

[B]

They have a discount code. It's code sugar cookie, not plural. That will save you 20%. So if you're like, oh, 77 now, take 20% off that and you can score your own. The backers code. Something definitely. I would suggest. If you're wondering, should I pay for Meta verified or buy this backdrop? I'm going to say the backdrop. It's going to help you. I use them exclusively. My house is dark. My kitchen is dark granite countertops are. Are made to look like they hide your crumbs so your house doesn't look crummy all the time.

[A]

Let me do this one. 1. If you had to buy one of the three sponsors, well, let's add stupid card trade. Because if they become a sponsor, which he said he would, I have everything. Okay, you had just like you did. Like this or Meta. Like, if you had to buy, you could only buy one. There's no financial gain. Like, you can't be like, I'll buy an idiot and sell it. No, no. It's like you can only buy one and that's all you have, but you won't have access to the others, so you'll never have Bakey Bake again. I'm just saying you'll never have Eddie again.

[B]

Sell my Eddie again. I do love my Sufi car, but.

[A]

If I needed to make more sales, I tell you. And it comes down to where those gaps are in marketing. Back to the original question at hand. I know. Do you have a twin twist? What a hard question, Jen. This is a hard hitting podcast. We only talk about the real news.

[B]

Since my sister doesn't. My older sister does not listen to this podcast ever.

[A]

I can guarantee she's never booted this thing up a day in her life.

[B]

So here's the thing. Her birthday's always been. You'll never guess in January. It's always the same day.

[A]

What is it the 15th or something? Rude. Yes. Is it? Yeah.

[B]

It's because I've been planning for it.

[A]

To be on Saturday. Yeah. Okay.

[B]

Her birthday is on January 15th. We're always bedraggled by the Christmas chaos. We spent all of our money in Christmas. December ran us ragged in January. She never gets that. Like me and Heather's birthday's in November.

[A]

And everyone's excited because it's the beginning of the holiday season. It's kicking off the holiday season, but she gets these lost lonely souls in January. Christmas. She was saying like, hey, you guys, don't lose that spirit. Don't lose the spirit.

[B]

Ashley is the number one gift giver of the family.

[A]

She number one. She gives the best gifts.

[B]

She gives the best gifts. They're always the best wrapped. She has you in mind when she's buying her stuff.

[A]

She does real high quality, really nice. She overpays every time she does. It's something you really mentioned you wanted and it's the best version of the thing.

[B]

And she'll remember something random you said in a conversation.

[A]

So it's unfortunate that the best gift giver has a worse birthday timing.

[B]

So I said last week she missed.

[A]

Our little Saturday gift.

[B]

I said, let's just go all out. Let's. She's a swifty buying self proclamation. I've never listened heard her listen to a song. But I'm sure she'll quote.

[A]

I should quote. She will.

[B]

So I said, let's make this 38 year old have a swift.

[A]

Can I do the cutest cookies? I hope you post them.

[B]

I will. After. After.

[A]

Yeah. And Cory is now doing gift bags and I gotta go get a cake and someone's gotta get balloons and mom's gotta get something.

[B]

You got these giant disco balls. Cute mirror balls. I thought we'd put them on the table next to the cake as. Oh, just like she doesn't have a hangy thing anymore. It's that wicker basket thing. So I got. If you wonder, Michael's has every Christmas thing discounted to 80%. And disco balls were the Christmas. It was for Christmas business.

[A]

Like really. They're popular this year.

[B]

So I got this garland for $4. It was 30 before, so I made these cookies. I was thinking about making disco ball macarons. You know, silver shells or something. We have a disco runner for the table.

[A]

Let me see if I can find on Amazon disco balls. Why don't they walk down on my Amazon?

[B]

She's got a sachet that says in my birthday era that's coming.

[A]

I just want to see if they have. What am I looking for? Disco candles. I'm on remember cake patrol. Yeah.

[B]

If you find that. So here's what I did get for the cake.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Taylor Swift is associated with butterflies, okay? They're appear in every one of everything. So I got butterfly candles.

[A]

What am I even doing?

[B]

I don't know. And a cake topper that said, I.

[A]

Think something on my birthday, you're going all out.

[B]

I said, oh, and we got Taylor Swift wrapping paper.

[A]

Oh, and new wrapping my gifts.

[B]

And we're wrapping the gifts and I'm.

[A]

Getting a bottle of champagne.

[B]

And then I task my little sister with balloon.

[A]

Cory's upset that the little sister is like, I don't have any money when she doesn't have any rent, bills, or costs.

[B]

She lives at home and she's always buying herself stuff. And I tasked you with one thing.

[A]

Get balloon. Did she pay for the mixer?

[B]

No.

[A]

Oh, yeah. She's not. Did Ashley?

[B]

No.

[A]

Really, it's me and you right now.

[B]

We're in it to win it.

[A]

Somebody wants to do the shopping footwork for me. I'll pay you. And then.

[B]

So I will never be doing this over the top birthday again for this 38 year old. But her husband is out of town. I thought it would be kind of fun.

[A]

That's very nice.

[B]

Very nice. Oh, and we got little disco drinks. And you're getting champagne.

[A]

That's great.

[B]

And then disco straws.

[A]

Very fun. Very fun.

[B]

It better come.

[A]

She'll be soaked.

[B]

I. And you know, if there's one person that would appreciate, Ash would be appreciative.

[A]

She would be appreciative. So we have to get there, what, 10:30, you said for setup.

[B]

10:30. Well, maybe if I have to wrap your gifts, come a little bit earlier.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

All right.

[A]

All right. That's your twin twist. Is your the best that I'm the birthday Basherinski. I'm gonna say my twin twist is Corey got me to buy that water bottle, right? Because peer pressure works so well on me. I bought it and it arrived on Saturday.

[B]

Listen, twin peer pressure is different than regular peer pressure.

[A]

Excuse me. I can't. My bottle's talking to me.

[B]

Twin peer pressure. If I drink more water and my skin looks youthful and supple and Heather doesn't drink the water and she looks like the old fogey of the twins, right?

[A]

It's like having a before photo walking around with you.

[B]

That's the worst.

[A]

The unfortunate part is when I look bedraggled and someone still knows we're twins, I'm like, that doesn't say a lot about you. So Cory's like, I've never drinking more water in my life.

[B]

Honestly, have not.

[A]

I bought the thing Cory set It up on my phone. It was having a little issue. But the thing, the phone shows me what the bottle sees. So this smart bottle, it's in the cap. The cap looks down at the water that's left in this 17 ounce bottle or something. And then every time I take a sip, it's like, hey, you're doing great. It'll flash when it's like, you're not doing great. Please, come on, drink some more. The cap's orange until I reach my goal and then it's green. But when I fall back and then at the end of the day, if I reach the goal, it has a little party dance party on the top.

[B]

You get all the colors right as you go. If you're like, yeah, I really like competitiveness, you can compete and it puts you through a 21 day hydration challenge. And if you meet it like I'm on day five, that I've actually reached the goal for five days.

[A]

What are you at? What are your 2 percentage of water intake today? Oh, today it even did the math. I told it my weight and height and gender.

[B]

So I did the math. It's basically eight cups of water. So the standard issue of what they want right Now I'm at 45% hydrated.

[A]

24%.

[B]

Yes. I've been gulping. Here's my thing. I learned that if you save it all for right before bed, you're gonna.

[A]

Have a bad time you in that toilet. Yeah.

[B]

So I really like to get out of the way in the morning and then whatever the last few sips is to get into the night.

[A]

How long have you been doing this for?

[B]

2 weeks. So it actually shows your hydration calendar. I've been at it for almost a full two weeks.

[A]

I've been at it for three days and I'm not well.

[B]

But you are hydrated.

[A]

Yeah, I'm hydrated, so. And it tells you how much you drank all day. It's pretty interesting app really. You're buying the app and the cap. You can't. You have to hand wash the cap. But you can wash the bottle and the wash.

[B]

But I mean, listen, I want to tell you the power of influencing Corey, right?

[A]

My mom bought one on Saturday because she saw us.

[B]

Here's what's wild. I influenced Heather by him and then I was going to stop my influencing journey of my water bottle. Heather has taken on. She did a full show and tell on Sunday at lunch of the water bottle.

[A]

They were like, why isn't it working? I was like, I don't know. I Feel like it just. It was like 50 bucks or something.

[B]

59.

[A]

But you can get a. Get a referral COD. A referral card from Corey. What is your referral code?

[B]

It's so long. Here's the thing. This company isn't US based. So I got the referral code.

[A]

The cup comes from Amazon warehouse. So it arrived. Yeah, it arrived super fast.

[B]

But I got the referral code, which was $20. I tried to use it on the website. You can only buy three things, right? The cup.

[A]

So I've been trying.

[B]

It will not work.

[A]

However, the referral code discount is cheaper than buying it on Amazon. That's why we did it. Yeah, right. So you may not get anything from it, but they would save money.

[B]

Yeah, you would save money if you bought it with a couple code. Let me say six characters limit.

[A]

Here's a website. If you guys want to be influenced for whatever reason, Water IO, go to the website. It is on Amazon if you wanted not to save money. But if you want a little cheaper water I.O. and then in the discount code, use this code.

[B]

RFR-3037888. That will save you 15% off.

[A]

Right. And it was cheaper than their current promotion. Corey gets 20 bucks. She can't spend anywhere. You get the cheaper price, you get to be hydrated at a discount. So I'm gonna say that's my twin twist because in the last three days, I've drunk more water than I did in 2024.

[B]

Do you feel better? Like I was reading because this water thing is new, gives you more focus.

[A]

Water, wow. Me and Heather said, why are we.

[B]

Trying to buy all the skincare products?

[A]

Corey said to run to Sephora and spend $50 on a cream to help with fine lines and, and plumping. And not to drink free water is a wild thought. So I was like, well, they're alone because our cousin Jenny is a nurse and our cousin Jason is a firefighter. And they were joking. They were joking with each other. Like the number. As soon as we wheel you into a hospital, they're going to say you're dehydrated. Here's more. And Jen's like, it solves a ton of problems. If you're throwing up too much, you're dehydrated. If you are at like. She was like, if you stubbed your toe, you dehydrated. Like, they were like, Dehydration is so prevalent in our area in the United States and people don't realize that a lot of their health issues are cultivated by the lack of water in their system.

[B]

So me and Heather couldn't even just drink the free water. We had to pay $59. And it's working to get money water.

[A]

Poured into our the. The cap. Having a little party when I reach my goal is helping.

[B]

I love a little celebration.

[A]

A little silly, a little more. I like that.

[B]

It tells me I'm doing well.

[A]

I like. So if you've heard the vibration throughout this podcast, it's saying like, girl, girl. Yeah. Back on it.

[B]

I want to tell you, if 2024, someone did a little cheer every time I had water, I'd drink it more.

[A]

Right? Absolutely. Ruthie Ann sees this water bottle and she's like, you have so many water bottles. And I was like, yeah. And the crazy thing is, I'll carry them around, but I will not lick them. I will not die. No, I know.

[B]

And they have a little community aspect where you can post your water bottle and people can like it. You don't know who these people are.

[A]

They're. Water bottle. It's interesting. The app's like, pretty good. I think it's pretty. I think it talks to the company.

[B]

It's pretty intuitive.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

If you. It needs a flat surface to register. So if you're drinking and holding it. Are you drinking? And it has to.

[A]

Yeah. You have to, like, you're gonna not love it.

[B]

Right.

[A]

So you have to always set it down in a flat spot. It registers on the phone. Oh, it's interesting. That's going to be my twin.

[B]

I see.

[A]

And that was my twin.

[B]

And you were twin fluenced.

[A]

I was twin fluent. And you got one even. Okay, let's say just for January, because I like to. Per last week's podcast on Baby Smart goals.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I said like Cory's like, well, what if you stop using this? If I got. If you got me in the habit of one more glass each month than I had last month or each week or each day. Yeah. I'm just drinking.

[B]

Right.

[A]

So it's really easy to beat the.

[B]

Right now I am heading drunk more water in 2025 than I did in all of 2025.

[A]

Yeah. So if it gets you in the habit, then it still was worth the investment, assuming that I had the $50 to spend if I maintain the habit.

[B]

Gosh, weird. Can you just.

[A]

I'm not sure if I said this on the podcast. I think life is a series of mundane, repetitive tasks that create the instances of happiness for which we so seek.

[B]

So if you're Bonda's little party.

[A]

No, I think happiness is Like I went on my Virgin cruise to the and I felt great.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I think the instances of and I drank water every day leading up to there is what creates the ability to have happiness on that cruise. Like, I go to the gym, going to the gym, miserable. But going to the gym every day and being able to walk when I'm 80, not miserable. Right.

[B]

So I think the problem is these easy tasks, ethan.

[A]

It's about 10 minutes. They're just so easy. And they're easy to not do because they're so easy to do.

[B]

You could say gym, just getting outside, taking a 10 minute walk. It's as free as a freezer.

[A]

Bird could be the wild one.

[B]

Too free.

[A]

Too free. The water needs to cost me something. I need to hurt before stretching. I can stretch and watch TV at the same time. It's right there. I could stretch for an hour. And I'm like, yeah, moving over to my side is too much work. So I'm thinking like. So I, you know, I like to download these task tracking apps. The bird one is more of a cute one, but the other one I have looks like it's, yeah, made in the Soviet war. But they're just foundational habit creators for a better life. Someone said happiness is not a destination. It's just a point at which you stop. Sometimes the rest of life is in the mundane. Going to work, doing your habits, going to bed, getting good, good sleep, drinking water. And I think that's what creates the ability to be out. Because if you're ever sick, if you ever have a chronic illness, I thought I just felt that I would drink if I could. And I don't want to live a life of if I. I wish I didn't take it for granted when I had it. So kind of the water symbolizes that. Only took us 36 years to get to hydration. Life is weird. You didn't ask to be here. That's what Ashley said. You don't ask to be here. You have to be here. You have to live your best life. And what describes best is not always the most fun. I know, I know. Yeah.

[B]

Yeah. Well, I'm feeling very focused and hydrated.

[A]

I have got to use the restroom. Hi, guys.