195. Baking it Down - The TikTok Ban

Summary

Baking it Down with Sugar Cookie Marketing 🍪
Episode 195: The TikTok Ban
Release Date: January 21, 2025

Hosts: Heather and Corrie Miracle
Podcast Description:
A resource-rich podcast dedicated to helping bakers effectively market online, generate more sales, and better manage their businesses through insightful discussions, free Facebook Live classes, and a supportive community of like-minded bakers.

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1. Introduction: Embracing New Formats

In Episode 195, Heather and Corrie Miracle mark a significant milestone by recording their podcast with both visual and audio elements for the first time. This episode delves into the pressing topic of the potential TikTok ban and its ramifications for bakers and marketers alike.

"We decided that we would do this this time and see if we could keep this doing. And then cross-post these to YouTube shorts like the good little marketers we are."
— Heather [01:03]

2. The TikTok Ban: Background and Implications

The primary focus of the episode is the ongoing discussion about TikTok's potential ban. Heather provides a concise history of TikTok's evolution from its origins as Musical.ly, acquired by ByteDance, to its dominance during the COVID-19 lockdowns.

"TikTok was called ByteDance long ago. It started off with a bunch of dance trends, and that's what it was known for."
— Corrie [03:34]

3. TikTok's Unique Marketing Strengths

Heather and Corrie highlight TikTok's unique algorithm and its emphasis on unpolished, authentic content, which differentiates it from more curated platforms like Instagram and Facebook Reels. This authenticity fosters a direct connection with the audience, making it an invaluable tool for bakers to share tutorials and engage followers.

"Here's the thing I love about TikTok is it's not polished... it's more like down and dirty. Here's the recipe you can have at home."
— Heather [04:22]

4. The Risks of Platform Dependency

A significant portion of the discussion revolves around the dangers of relying too heavily on a single platform for marketing. The sudden ban of TikTok serves as a cautionary tale about the vulnerability of businesses that place all their marketing eggs in one basket.

"The lesson here is the diversification of marketing, but the realization that none of it is truly owned."
— Corrie [08:26]

5. Diversifying Marketing Channels

To mitigate risks, Heather and Corrie advocate for a diversified marketing strategy. They emphasize the importance of not only maintaining a strong presence on multiple platforms but also developing owned channels like websites and email lists that offer greater control and reliability.

"If Facebook pulled this same stunt, what would we do? We need to get into the cookie college funds and then run the group."
— Corrie [09:40]

6. Email Marketing: Importance and Best Practices

Email marketing emerges as a cornerstone of their recommended strategy. Heather underscores its reliability and chronological nature, which remains largely unaffected by platform algorithms. Corrie highlights the challenges of building and nurturing an email list but reaffirms its value in sustained customer engagement.

"Emails still appear chronological. That's one of the few places where that still exists."
— Corrie [15:31]

7. Content Strategy: Cross-Posting and Hiring Help

The hosts discuss practical strategies for managing content across various platforms without overextending resources. Cross-posting content to YouTube Shorts, Instagram, and TikTok, while considering hiring assistance or utilizing automation tools like Zapier, are suggested to maintain a consistent online presence.

"One piece of content... can be used on both Instagram and TikTok."
— Heather [14:28]

8. Pre-Sales Strategies and FOMO

Heather and Corrie explore the nuances of pre-sales and the creation of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) as an effective marketing tactic. They discuss balancing the timing of pre-sales to maximize engagement without alienating potential customers who may forget their commitments over extended periods.

"If I say, here’s a drop, people are hiding in bushes. They truly missed out."
— Corrie [40:31]

9. The Cookie College: Educational Initiatives

Introducing their educational platform, Cookie College, Heather and Corrie explain how it serves as an extension of their podcast and Facebook group. The platform offers hands-on, "done with you" courses that guide bakers through various aspects of online marketing, emphasizing personalized support and practical application.

"If you say in 2025, I want to be a better business baker, then consider the college."
— Corrie [44:58]

10. Audience Engagement and Listener Q&A

The episode features an interactive segment where Heather and Corrie address listener questions. Topics range from managing pre-sales for DIY kits to optimizing marketing strategies amidst platform uncertainties. Their responses offer actionable advice tailored to the unique challenges faced by bakery business owners.

"Pre-sales are tough, but it's a work in progress. Consistency in some regard is better than not at all."
— Heather [36:35]

11. Conclusion: Moving Forward with Resilience

Wrapping up the episode, Heather and Corrie reinforce the importance of adaptability and proactive planning in marketing strategies. They encourage bakers to embrace multiple channels, remain consistent in their efforts, and leverage community support through initiatives like Cookie College to navigate the dynamic landscape of online marketing.

"You just have to power through. Add incentives, and keep going."
— Corrie [24:58]

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Notable Quotes:

• "TikTok rewards that type of content which perpetuates more of it."
  — Corrie [05:20]

• "The value of our content is not owned by us, but we are slaves to these constant uploads, these algorithms."
  — Corrie [08:04]

• "Consistency in some regard is better than... never doing it."
  — Heather [24:27]

• "Pre-sales are delectable because you know how much to bake before you even lift the finger."
  — Corrie [40:42]

• "Health is free. The water inside."
  — Corrie [52:46]

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Key Takeaways:

1. Diversification is Crucial: Relying solely on platforms like TikTok or Facebook can jeopardize your marketing efforts in the event of sudden bans or algorithm changes. Diversifying across multiple channels, including email and owned websites, provides stability.

2. Email Marketing Remains Reliable: Despite the fluctuating popularity of social media platforms, email marketing offers a consistent and chronological way to engage with your audience without being at the mercy of algorithms.

3. Leverage Educational Platforms: Initiatives like Cookie College can provide structured learning and support, enabling bakers to effectively navigate online marketing complexities.

4. Create and Utilize FOMO: Strategically timed pre-sales and limited-time offers can drive engagement and sales by instilling a sense of urgency and exclusivity.

5. Adapt Content Strategies: Cross-posting and employing automation tools can help maintain a presence across multiple platforms without overwhelming your resources.

6. Community Support: Engaging with supportive communities, whether through Facebook groups or educational platforms, can offer invaluable insights and assistance in navigating marketing challenges.

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Final Thoughts:

Episode 195 of Baking it Down with Sugar Cookie Marketing 🍪 serves as a comprehensive guide for bakers navigating the volatile landscape of online marketing. Heather and Corrie Miracle provide practical strategies, backed by personal experiences and listener interactions, to help bakers build resilient and diversified marketing strategies. By emphasizing the importance of email marketing, content diversification, and community engagement, they equip their audience with the tools needed to thrive despite platform uncertainties like the TikTok ban.

Stay tuned for more insightful episodes every Tuesday, and remember to join the Sugar Cookie Marketing Facebook group for additional resources and support!

Transcript

[A]

Okay, okay.

[B]

All right, all right, all right. This is. This is the first time we've ever.

[A]

Recorded the podcast, and no one's asked.

[B]

For this visual and audio. You're like, well, I hear you every week. You bet you do. This is so. And that's what today's topic is. The banning of TikTok. I'm sure you guys haven't heard enough about it. Why not have one more thing?

[A]

I've stayed abreast of the situation, but.

[B]

Cornea said, what marketers are we to not. Who are we what to not use what we have, the YouTube. So a lot of you guys have asked us to record the podcast, the audio, the visual. Why haven't we done it? What is your guess? I have my theory.

[A]

Because I didn't want to get super ready on Tuesdays.

[B]

Didn't want to get super ready. And we're also in a very small.

[A]

Room, very teeny, tiny room. It's an office.

[B]

Well, the tripods between Cory and I right now, why you guys can't see them is. It is. I'm looking. I'm talking to them all slip. But we. We decided that we would do this this time and see if. Keep this doing. And then. And then cross post these to YouTube shorts like the good little market we are. Yes.

[A]

If you're seeing us for the first time, what is the Baking it down podcast?

[B]

I would say it's an outtake of the group on Facebook where we can see pertinent marketing issues in regards to baking.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And talk about one particular issue.

[A]

Particular or topic?

[B]

Topic each week, which you've been doing since 2021.

[A]

I don't know. I'm out of words at this point.

[B]

We're almost at our 200th episode.

[A]

Oh, really? New music coming up.

[B]

No problem. But this would be our first recorded episode.

[A]

Yes, this is our first recorded. I just want to say, if you're thinking about. A lot of times people are, it has to be perfect before it can be done. Here's the thing. Me and her there are in a tiny room. We're looking through bars of plants.

[B]

Cory's in front of my snake. If it slithers around, you're gonna see it.

[A]

It doesn't need to be perfect to be done. A lot of times we learn along the way. I remember I held myself back from making a lot of video content for Instagram reels and for TikTok because I felt like my room didn't have enough light.

[B]

Well, yes, you have. The problem is we fall in love with this concept of What I want.

[A]

To do of what I want to be.

[B]

And then when we turn on the cameras, we're like this little grumpy. This is horrible. This is not what I want it. And then we're like, well, then I'll start doing it when I get it. Oftentimes, we'll never get it to that place unless we attempt it.

[A]

Attempt it. And work from the base.

[B]

Yes. The worst.

[A]

And you start my first few reels. And TikTok didn't have the. The audio was not a going. Yeah, but listen, I posted it. Someone's like, I don't hear anything. I was like, that's good because there's nothing.

[B]

So. So even as I was turning on these cameras, we have these two cameras, these two weird tripods. We have the audio equipment. It's all recorded externally and taken to premiere like I was at. This could not work. It likely won't.

[A]

You know, there's so many things that can go wrong.

[B]

There's gotta be so many can go wrong ones for the one to start going right. And I think a lot of times marketing in. In life, but in marketing, we're like, when it's perfect, then I'll push it out and it's never going to be perfect.

[A]

And with the way that marketing goes, with the ebbs and floats of trends and things, by the time you get it locked and loaded, like, the.

[B]

That trend is gone. So, anyways, we'll be launching on TikTok. Yeah. Okay. But that actually brings us to this topic. And I'm not sure how long these cameras will last. The TikTok ban. And Cory's like, let's make a list. But I really want to talk more cognitively about it. Like, lessons learned here, big takeaways, and, I guess, future predictions. Not that anyone consults us before they make. They don't.

[A]

I have enjoyed following it.

[B]

Cory has been my new source.

[A]

I don't know why it had me in a chokehold. I think because it's never happened before. So to see something that's never happened before, granted. Did it really happen? No.

[B]

Here's the interesting part. Okay. The backstory is TikTok. TikTok was called ByteDance long ago.

[A]

TikTok is owned by ByteDance. It started off, there was an app called Musical ly. Oh, musically, ByteDance bought Musical Ly and changed it to TikTok.

[B]

Now, this was around 2019. 2020. This is right before COVID Yeah, this is right before they said the biggest boon for this platform was the fact that we were all having to stay home. Yeah.

[A]

Locked in there. And it started off with a bunch of dance trends.

[B]

Yeah. And that's what it was known for and it was a weird part of it. But then because of lockdown. Yeah. That's literally the time I downloaded it as well. Everyone's like, that's actually more than that. So when you download the algorithm, I think it's. The algorithm is what we really like. I think we like the short form vertical scrolled video content.

[A]

Here's the thing I love about TikTok is it's not polished. So someone can be like, here's my royal icing recipe. And they're in their dark kitchen. It's not this gorgeous white backdrop. It's not curated content that you find on Facebook and Instagram Reels. But TikTok is more like down and dirty. Here's the recipe. I make this every day for my kids and they love it. So here's this recipe you can have have at home and you can just almost like ask the questions. And I feel like I'm talking to the person directly.

[B]

Here's my other theory. I feel like TikTok rewards that type of content which perpetuates more of it. So we see that more that curated content. If you can go viral on Instagram, more of that curated content is tended towards that versus Instagram's. Like you may or may not go viral and you have no idea which content may or may not go viral, but just keep pushing it out. And I think they're in lied. Lies. I guess because it didn't go anywhere. Laid the secret of what the sauce.

[A]

The secret sauce of TikTok was. Yeah. I want to say though, okay, TikTok was gone for 24 hours less than. But I wanted to make sourdough pancake mix. That is very specific. I tried searching it on. No, they named it after me.

[B]

Very thick.

[A]

I tried searching it on Facebook. I just. When I searched it on Facebook, all I got was people selling sourdough pancake mix. I want to know how to make it. I couldn't go to Instagram and search it.

[B]

Were you really using TikTok search to find that stuff?

[A]

TikTok search is the place that I go to find it.

[B]

Oh, interesting.

[A]

So it's so in tune because there's so many tutorial based. Whereas Facebook, I think, is this like, here's my storefront, I sell from here. Here's me selling this pancake mix. Whereas on TikTok I can get there and figure out how to make it.

[B]

Right. So we have not only the algorithm, we have the search, the, the search feature. So there's a lot of components that make these platforms what they are. Okay, so TikTok, owned by ByteDance, was musical LY owned by a Chinese based company and a cybersecurity risk.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Okay, now I know everyone here. I know all you guys biting at the bed to tell me you don't care about TikTok. It's not about whether or not you care about it. It's about the fact that it's a marketing platform that was here one day and gone the next. That's what the topic is. I've seen. I had to lock so many threads, I got so tired of it. I don't care. TikTok never downloaded it anyways. Yeah. You're on Instagram reels, you're seeing the same content two weeks later. Yeah. So the thing is, and that, and I'm going to call that type of virtue signaling like I don't care, like then don't then know the scroll. Yeah. Then it has nothing to do with.

[A]

You kind of thing.

[B]

But from a marketing aspect, imagine that. You know, Guardi's as good as great. When I always referenced her in regards to TikTok, because I think she was like an early adopter. She found her niche, niche DJ and then she leaned into it, I think you said. How many followers did she have?

[A]

She has over a million or a million followers.

[B]

She's a cookier that took TikTok and made it work. Then all eggs, single basket.

[A]

I know.

[B]

Then you see these major creators, you're like, hey, can you go follow me on Instagram?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And you know, that was like a weird departure granted. TikTok was banned for what, 0.25 seconds. And then it slowly came back. Unfortunately, in my disciplined era, I uninstalled it when it got banned and then it won't let me.

[A]

For us who never uninstalled it, it went dark at 10, 10 o'clock on Sunday night. He came back around 8, 9 o'clock Monday morning.

[B]

Right. So it's a crazy thing. And the lesson here is the diversification of marketing, but the realization that none of it is truly owned.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yes. I know a lot of people say you own your, you own your website and you own your email list. No, you're renting this, you own nothing of the Internet, you own your content. Yeah, I can agree with that one. But the minute you upload it, you don't own it anymore.

[A]

Right. Then it's down the road.

[B]

You can Own all the content in the world, but if it exists only in this room and it never gets uploaded, it's worthless. So our. The value of our content is not owned by us, but we are slaves to these constant uploads, these algorithms. Right? Yeah. So you could have uploaded, you had the greatest content strategy. You're growing, you're consistent, and then snap of a finger, lights off, gone. What are you left to do? Now I know everyone's like, well, I knew I wasn't using TikTok. Listen, stop saying that. If you only used Facebook. I said to Corey, this is a great example. Like, a lot of our funnel is based on Facebook.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

If Facebook pulled this same stunt, what would we do? And I don't think we have. So we spent the last week saying, what would we do? And Corey was like, well, probably a diversification of lead acquisition. Right. So a lot of times we get you into the sugar cookie marketing group. If you guys want to know the back end. You guys obviously know how this works. We need to get into the cookie college funds this, and then we can go run the group. But it's very Facebook centric. I'll say that we send out a newsletter a week, but it's very aligned with this podcast. The podcast is a differentiator. Right. So we're on Buzzsprout as the host, and it pushes out to Spotify. But Corey's like, you know, as far as, like, Legion source, we don't touch YouTube.

[A]

We don't, but it's. It's a treasure trove.

[B]

It's a treasure. It's a great discovery asset. So typically on Facebook, and Facebook's gotten better about recommending new stuff. I know a lot of people complain. All I'm seeing is recommendations for groups. Yeah, that's discoverability. Right. That's Facebook saying, hey, we think you join this group, so you might like this one. That's kind of a newer thing, these recommending groups. You know, it's kind of annoying. It's at the bottom of your comment section. Yeah, but that's discoverability. YouTube has only existed kind of in terms of discoverability.

[A]

And when I was saying the best part about TikTok is searching how to's.

[B]

That is what YouTube has always been how tos. Right. And. And because then when, you know, did Google buy YouTube, I don't think it initially owned it. Now when you Google search, you get snippets that include YouTube videos. Another great vers, Discoverability. So imagine, in terms of SEO, imagine this podcast is called how to Start selling sugar cookies. Well, a lot of people start their search on how to sell sugar cookies on Google. Yeah. Imagine this YouTube video shows up and you're like, well, this is exactly the content I needed. Let me subscribe. And in my content, again, we're building a funnel here in the content. The first video watch, it says, here's everything you need to sell cookies. And if you want to learn more, join us over in our Facebook group. It's free. When you get to our Facebook group, we say, hey, join us over in the Cookie College.com you can sign up and I'll teach you these classes. Right. So you see how the funnels exist?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

The problem is in the funnels are if they're a singular funnel and a giant piece of it gets taken out, like TikTok. Where do the people go? How do they find you? Do you have that backup? A lot of you guys could resonate better with this. If the TikTok thing isn't clicking. If your page was hacked, which happens, if your personal profile was hacked tomorrow, what would you do? Would your lead source stop there?

[A]

A few years ago, people who are just tuning in probably don't know this, but a few years ago I was on Facebook shortlist. Cause I misspelled a few words.

[B]

Posted. Who did you meet? Your.

[A]

So what happened was 30 days I was banned from using any of the meta platform.

[B]

And Corey got really frustrated because she was like, this is how. This is my job. Like creating content on Facebook.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And it was not just. It was not just Corey's personal profile. She could not post to pages. And that was actually our clients.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So Corey would be like, hey, can you post this for me? I know it was very frustrating. It was very frustrating.

[A]

But here's the thing. If all my leads came from Facebook, I put all my eggs in the Facebook B. And that was taken away for 30 days. I could not market where that means Valentine's Day out. Because that happens within the 30 days.

[B]

Just in the fact that you cannot post to social media saying that you're taking orders. Imagine that. That's so okay, then that's when you start clicking this. You start saying, okay, I need an email list, a metabase platform. I can't use YouTube. I can TikTok. I can. Yeah, let's say threads you invested in. You got one of those weird offshoots of the TikTok one. Nobody's going to use X. If you are using Twitter like these. These are the ones that you could kind of pivot to. And then Your website. A website's a great one. Google business listing. These are all avenues to gain these leads. A lot of us use Facebook exclusively and then we say well I have this thing but do you use it? No. If it's not a part of your lead sourcing, it's not being utilized. Yeah, the way you grow these platforms is investing in them.

[A]

Here's the biggest thing I saw creators who maybe had like a following of like you know, 50 or 60,000, nothing to sneeze at. Right. Were like go follow me on Instagram. On Instagram they only had 100 followers. Your impact on something that, well, you're social proof.

[B]

There's no social proof of ever.

[A]

So while you did have an account on Instagram, you've never given it the time of day and it sat there, it's deteriorated over these.

[B]

Right. Because now we just have this kind of like not in the algorithm account.

[A]

So now TikTok is being taken away and you're like go follow me over here. Where you've not posted, there's no social proof it the content doesn't align. Like now you're still growing from scratch. And how many people even went from TikTok to Instagram? Not very many.

[B]

Here's the complexity of it though. We only have so much time in the day. You do, you can see that these automations, you can see it through AI but an app like Zapier. Yeah, Zapier, Zapier. You can have say when I post this here, post it there, cross post it, cross post it, cross post it. But then we have that not originally designed content and therein lies the difficulty of diversification in marketing. Yeah, it's just so much time in the day.

[A]

What would be okay, me and you have done it specifically when the vending blendy came around trying to post everything, be there all of the places was a lot that was taking probably four hours of the day just to get that content out there. So if someone is a one man show when they have to bake the cookies, how could they get around and maybe show up on each platform but not necessarily five hours out of the day.

[B]

I hate this recommendation but I think it's the only solution. Instead of spending five hours a week marketing on Facebook, you spend three hours a week marketing on Facebook, one hour marketing on Instagram and one hour marketing on a platform not owned by Meta.

[A]

Well I will say with these videos that we're taking here, it's not just going to be on YouTube, there's YouTube shorts which is going to be A funnel to the YouTube video.

[B]

You should just call it the YouTube. YouTube.

[A]

But also, these clips can be used on both Instagram and TikTok.

[B]

Right. So one piece of content, that's kind of what we talked about. There's an ideal world where you create unique pieces of content for each platform in there. Not cross posted.

[A]

Could never be made.

[B]

It's just not enough time of the day. That's in the perfect world. We don't live in one. Okay. So you can hire your kid to do it. You can hire a third party.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Again, now we have additional cost because we spent our money to buy back our time options. Or I think what most of us will find ourselves in is like a little bit here, a little bit there, a little bit there. I'm gonna focus on the three. If two go, I'll still have the one. If one goes, I still have the two, and I'm gonna be consistent. So here's what. If I was a baker, if I was only speaking to bakers, not speaking to how we use it, I would say email list most definitely.

[A]

The. The best bang for the buck. Mostly because emails still appear chronological.

[B]

I love them. And they're very external to social media. Yeah. So Cor said algorithmically, Instagram used to be chronological, meaning when you post, the time you posted, it is when you showed up. Right.

[A]

So when someone logged in, I saw Heather posted 10 minutes ago. Corey posted 20 minutes ago, Sheila posted 30 minutes ago.

[B]

Right. Which was great because you didn't earn that spot on the feed you just posted. And chronologically got the spot. Right. It is like you pulled into a parking lot and that spot was open. Then it became you pulled into the parking lot, and only the coolest car got the best spot. And the ugliest car had a park actually across the street.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And that is where the algorithm kind of dictated where the content. Okay. But emails still show up chronologically. It's one of the few places where that still exists.

[A]

And I. My heart depends on it. Every school cancellation, I'm like, chronological dizzy. Up, no principal then.

[B]

Right, Right. So you can say, let me scroll back to yesterday. I've gotten no emails. Yeah. So I really like email. It takes a while to build. It's annoying to send out. Right. I mean, so we've been the group. We have a Facebook group, 50,000 people. Right. We have a Facebook page. There's 100,000 of that bloated follow button. And then Instagram's 30,000. TikTok's 15,000 email list has been around since the origin. Origin of all this. And it's only 8,000. So it tells you how hard it is to get people to opt in. It's hard because they're like, why don't really use my email. I like social media. And there's revision because the social media has an algorithm that's here to get you to stay. Yeah.

[A]

I can go and interact it if I want to, but it's not clogging them in.

[B]

Right, right, right. I don't know. Now when somebody asks for my email address like a company, I'm like, but.

[A]

They'Re all, they're saying, you want this fit?

[B]

No, I don't, I don't want 10% off. I'll pay full price. And then when you say, I don't want to do my email, it says you're okay with paying bills. Yes. So you're an idiot financially is what you're doing. Right, Right. So we have that email one and have a website. The website. Everyone's like, yeah, on your website, you only you don't own Google search. So you don't. You own your website.

[A]

If you own your website and it appears on page 52, what is the.

[B]

Good as a website? Right. But at least when you hand some to your business card, you cut out all the social media, all the search. Yeah. All these algorithms. So I like that. So we have email, we have website. And then I'm going to recommend two social platforms for Baker.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And do Facebook.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And Instagram. But if you want to separate Facebook page and Facebook group, not your own group, working for a group. I would drop Instagram now. People who are very Instagram centric, I'd switch those out. Right, Yeah. A lot of you guys focus on Facebook. I do think Facebook is designed very well for kind of this astroturfing bakeries. Yes. But also using your personal profile to grow your presence in a group where you can sell. Yeah, yeah. And that takes a lot of work. That one's a lot. It does.

[A]

And here's the thing. You, you like, you guys just talked about me on YouTube. YouTube isn't necessarily, you know, just look at, it's a tutorial based system. So it's better for passive income for bakers. So if I'm already going to make this royal icing recipe, if I film it, post it to YouTube, I can make some passive income by via views. My clients are going to find the value in how to make royal icing. They're paying me to do it.

[B]

Right. So discoverability. Why are people, somebody had asked me in the cookie college, they're like, hey, you're going to do a tutorial on YouTube shorts. And I was like, well, it kind of matches the TikTok and Instagram Reels concept. I said, but the con, the content, there is going to be other bakers. That's what it's going to appeal to. Because your client's not going to be like, how did she cut the icing on this cookie? Right. Yeah. So that's why we don't focus on teaching necessarily that type of content as much as the other ones where it's like, hey, you want to buy this? You don't want to learn how I did it. Right. Unless you want to take a cookie class, which I'm also selling. So those are the ones that I focus on. Do you agree or not?

[A]

I agree.

[B]

Also, I'm under the weather, if you guys couldn't tell my sultry voice.

[A]

Here's the thing. TikTok, and I've seen it happen to many bakers. The bakers will get on there and they're like. They're like, here's me in the set I just decorated. Okay. No views. Okay. Then they're like, here's how I made this royal icing recipe. Okay. They're getting more views. It's other bakers.

[B]

Then what I see them, it's clicking, like, ASMR things.

[A]

ASMR things. I see it clicking. They're like, you know what? My clients, my mom and pop having the birthday party aren't on here. So what I'm gonna do is start selling to bakers and recipes. Have a recipe, a little PDF file, something like that. So they have changed their audience, which.

[B]

Is fine if that's your goal. If you're like, hey, I want to passive income, I want to sell to makers.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Then I'm going to have a completely different recommendation for you. But if you're like, my goal is to create local leads that I'm going to go right back to that email list, that website, Google, my business. If you want to consider it, love it. That one, I would say, put it at the top. If you want to consider that social media, which it does have that component to it now, and Facebook. And Facebook working in a group as the end user.

[A]

Thoughts on next door?

[B]

Next door isn't. When I talk about it in the group, it's not as pervasive. So I don't see a ton of people. If you're. If your community isn't active, it's not active.

[A]

True.

[B]

You can Create one. But if you're talking to yourself again, there's no point. Yeah, right. So for some people, I'd say next to them. For some people, I'll say wouldn't. But those ones right there where we listed are the major ones. Yeah.

[A]

Where your user base already exists.

[B]

That's where the money's at.

[A]

Because you're not reinventing the wheel.

[B]

All these people say, TikTok gets a span. Everyone runs to what are the lemonade? Which got blue sky flip. Okay. The issue with that, early adopters are early adopters because they took the risk. They said, there's nobody here. I'm going to create content. They get to ride the wave of very freeing algorithms. Cause the algorithm's like, I have five users to push out. On the flip side, if the user base never comes to watch. Did you waste your time? So a friend of mine, Mikey, was like, hey, which one of these should I download? I was like, well, TikTok got a ban, so. None. Yeah. You know, because I don't think the user base is going to leave. Because we splintered.

[A]

Yes, we splintered. It was splintered too much. The problem is because TikTok was such a huge company. Meta is a huge company. They can back the creators by these reward programs, incentives, which always monetary. The problem is the chicken or the egg. So Neptune popped up out of this TikTok fan. It's not even launched till March.

[B]

Like, you missed the boat. The boat is like set sail. I mean, considering a user base that's already established and still how hard it is to launch a platform. Threads. Threads. It was integrated into Facebook and Instagram and it was still. It's their amount of users. That first day was reached 100 million. And then it's deteriorated over time.

[A]

Here's the great thing. Now Threads has a rewards program.

[B]

Genius. Yeah, so you have that. So the big concept here now. And now TikTok's back, and whether or not it gets sold to an American.

[A]

Company, it's been the most interesting.

[B]

Delayed. Yeah. Now I think, is it back or is there a stay on it? There's a stay.

[A]

And it's not 90 days anymore, it's 75.

[B]

So this could happen all again. Is it. Here's my take. And now we're just getting a little off topic. Was that a. Was it a marketing ploy? Okay. Outside of the Supreme Court and the judicial system, was this great marketing for TikTok?

[A]

I think this was great marketing, but I also think it was a chicken. Like, who's gonna play chicken first yeah, like we're gonna go dark. Are you gonna help us?

[B]

Do you think this. A lot more people were talking about TikTok this week than have ever seen. Talking about TikTok. Absolutely.

[A]

Here's what's crazy is the TikTok ban. The whole thing came about a year ago. This was just.

[B]

That's what I've seen. A lot of people panicking. Everyone's like, well, this was always going to happen.

[A]

This is always the thing. That's why a lot of people one year ago focused on other platforms.

[B]

In the meantime, Corey had a great example. Like, some of these creators will be like, hey, on TikTok for the last year, hey, I'm running a giveaway on my Instagram. Enter in over there and announce it here. And you can see that they're pulling that audience over, trying to differentiate their marketing leads, just in case.

[A]

Because if TikTok were to go, they were smart enough to bring people to the platform that was staying.

[B]

Yeah, very, very interesting from a marketing standpoint. Now you can say, well, I'll never get on TikTok, or I the cybersecurity risk, okay, it's not about TikTok. It's about the diversification of marketing. Facebook. Well, I'm not a Facebook. Instagram, I'm not. If whatever you use to gain your leads goes away. Yeah, well, now I do word of mouth. They all. That there is the thought that what you used to get leads could leave tomorrow, would you be okay? If you're not, you need to start making that plan. Right. Act as if you have one year. Like these TikTok creators. Act as if you have one year to start pulling that base, that user base over to this other platform. Because, okay, we have 50,000 people in the group, 8,000 people, and email us. They're all from the group. They all sign up. That's 8,000, but it's definitely not 50,000. But it's 8,000 if the 50,000 versus zero. Now here's the other thing. Okay, I got 8,000, but I never emailed. That's not the strategy either. I have to stay consistent with my emails to them. In the event that the 50,000 member group goes away, the 8,000 people are like, well, who are you? I'm unsubscribing. Yes, yes. You didn't cultivate a relationship with them.

[A]

You just used their information as hostage collateral.

[B]

I'm only going to talk to you when I need you, but if I don't need you, I'm going to be over here.

[A]

Yeah, but Being consistent whether. And your consistency can look different. Heather's sending out that email every Wednesday. But your consistency can look like once a month and that's okay.

[B]

Once a month. It's a lot. Once a quarter is better than zero.

[A]

Absolutely.

[B]

That's what we talked about in the smart baby goals. Yeah. Is like something's better than that. Consistency in some regard is better than. I'm going to send out an email every day and never do it. Right. And your email doesn't have to be perfect. This is going to be weird. I can already feel this YouTube edit. It's going to be weird. But we have to get through weird to get to.

[A]

If you heard podcast episode number number one.

[B]

It was weird. It was weird. It was odd. It was odd. But you have to get out the gate and then you just gotta keep going.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Sometimes the listenership on this is lower than it is at other times. And what if we quit every time it dropped?

[A]

Oh, we would have quit a long.

[B]

We'd be like all the other baking podcasts. You just gotta power through. Right. So and then we. You add incentives which is gonna take us to our next segment. We kind of call it the stupid texts.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Code sugar 15 off. And he says stackable.

[A]

Oh, nice.

[B]

So Phil said I've never had.

[A]

Let's explain what a stupid car tray is.

[B]

Anyway. During years ago courses and with this tray. I I. And if you're like a tray. No. Yeah. Exactly what you're picturing. I want you to picture you get a tray and you put it in your passenger seat.

[A]

It's a tray. It's two legs.

[B]

Just only the side of it. I guess I can talk to you guys. Only you have the tray, but only one side of it has legs. And it's only designed to go in your passenger seat. Right. Okay. So you put this tray with two legs and you're. If it didn't have legs it would slam. But these two legs make it even. And through the years they have like a V3 now Corey has a V1. I'm a V1. The V3 now has a non slide rubber.

[A]

Mine has a edge that's not.

[B]

Oh yeah. Now they have the whole thing. Then you have. Do you have the band? I do have the band. And then now. And I thought and this is why I bought the V3. It has these pockets where you can do add add ons. Like a steely. Does yours have this?

[A]

Because mine doesn't have this to keep it in the seat.

[B]

I also have that rope.

[A]

Yeah, a rope does it stuff in between the two? No, Mine is a wraparound rope. Yeah. That's why I was like, I should upgrade. I should upgrade.

[B]

Yeah. I don't think that car that I have in it would let me wrap around because it's so. I know. I'm going to be honest, I don't really use the rope. It's hard to get it. The seat has to be ergonomically designed to accept it. Like, my seat doesn't have the pass through. A pass through seat. That's going to be genius. Anyway, so, Phil, stupid card tray. I cold emailed. If you don't know what that means, that means you email somebody and they've never heard of you before. I cold emailed him and I said, hey, we have this thing. It's called the money. I said, you already think this is a scam? I said, but it gets weirder. It lasts for 20. So anyways, I said, do you guys want to sign up? Of course. He never emails back. And I said, feel, feel, feel. Listen. And then he's like, yeah, we'll give it a shot. He said, that was so fun. How else can we be involved with you guys? This was a blast. Thank you guys for making it a blast.

[A]

Since the text messaging was coming in level negative one, so I said, felt.

[B]

What if. I said, we have this podcast? What if we have you guys Stupid car tray? Their website, stupidtech.com. stupid cartridge. What if we had you guys sponsor a texting question? We'll call them stupid texts.

[A]

That's hilarious.

[B]

And he was like, let me do you one better, Heather. I said, and you just give a tray away a week. Okay. But they have to claim it within seven days. And if they don't, you're. You're on. Sorry. He's like, no, let's do that. And I'll give them 15% off. And I was like, okay. He's like, no. And the 15% can stack on any discount we're currently running.

[A]

Nice.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So these are made in America discounts throughout the year.

[B]

Specifically, the 15% will go on top of any discount they're running. And I don't know when they run their other discounts, but the code is sugar at checkout.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And that'll save you 15%. Now we have a bunch of texts.

[A]

Nice.

[B]

Okay, pick a number. One through count. Here's text for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 7. 1, 2, 3, 4th, 5, 6, 7. Boop. Oh, unfortunately, I had. It's me. It says Test. Can I do yours? Yeah. Okay. The reason why I texted it is I added their discount code to the automated I win. Okay.

[A]

That I will go with number 9, 7, 8, 9.

[B]

Okay. Phone number starts with 850-850. If you text in the rest of your number within seven days. I'm sorry. Email Heather at Sugar cookie Marketing the rest of your phone number, you get the tray. If I don't hear from you before the next podcast, you lose your. But you can keep doing this. You try it.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Okay. Hey, twins. Finishing up this week's podcast about meta and you all are chatting about the second text in what you would do and a cruise was mentioned. Excuse me. But if you all are together for. Oh. If you all put together sugar cookie marketing cruise, name, date, time. That is all. So that'd be hilarious. Could you imagine? I could not imagine you would see.

[A]

Me at my best in my class.

[B]

So that's hilarious. 8 5, 0. If you want to email heather sugarcookiemarketing.com the rest of your phone number, you get yourself a stupid card trip. Yes. The rest of you who did not win one this week, you can win one next week. You just send a text in. I'll start addressing some of these, but let's go through some of these.

[A]

Yeah, I like them. You guys are loving us. Some good ones.

[B]

Someone said I'm going to just keep texting and we. Nice. I hope you guys don't get tired of random, somewhat interesting questions. And this is a great. This is a great way to get entered away because you can see Cor just picking a ran. What are your favorite colors? I'm guessing I'm going to say what's your favorite color? Tell her what she guess for you. Okay. Blue. Yeah.

[A]

How does she know?

[B]

She guessed green for me. Green for money, I guess. But mine is pink. Unfortunately, I do like me coming. That's hilarious. Okay. Hi, twins. Question here. I snagged a year's worth of cookie class cutters from sweeping golf. Due to personal reasons, I plan to do these as DIY kits. I know you've recommended advertising all your cookie classes throughout the year. Does the same principle apply when only offering DIY kits? I fear having people sign up too early and then changing their minds closer to the pickup date arrives. Any help us appreciate it. By the way, my favorite twin is whoever is reading this jk or am I? Great question. So what's she saying? We have the cookie class kit subscription, which is everything you need to teach a cookie class. Not everyone wants to Teach a cookie class. But they like the ease of use. Yes. So they'll use these. And Core actually does this too. You'll use them as DIY kits?

[A]

I do.

[B]

And use all the marketing materials to instead of push a class, push a DIY kit and include the PowerPoint. So it's a great way. And somebody had asked this question, do you charge more for that? Yeah, if we're including that PowerPoint or the playlist, charge more for it. So when we market our cookie classes, which I gotta post our 20, 25 classes, like our personal in person, local classes, we post them at the beginning of the year because it allows us, every class we teach, to tell people, go sign up, go sign up, go sign up. It's easy to do when you have a guaranteed space, but if you have a space that's constantly moving, it's a little harder. She's saying, well, I'm not teaching the class. Do I do the same strategy with DIY kits? I'll let you answer my.

[A]

My suggestion would be not to do it the same. The reason why is a class kit is a whole event. There's three hours, you're making plans with people. It's a lot more invested than maybe, let's say a 25 to $30 DIY kit throughout the year. If the farther away the customer orders from their pickup date, the more apt they're going to forget and create that headache for you. Because you can say, and we all say it like, you know, if you don't show up, we're going to eat.

[B]

Your cookies or whatever.

[A]

But here's the thing, they don't remember that they ordered it. And then you feel guilty as a business owner, like, I emailed, I don't know what happened to them. Then they finally email you back three days later. It's better to get them while the pipes is hot.

[B]

Even worse. She's thinking, and I agree with her, that they'll say, well, I don't want it anymore. Can I get my money back?

[A]

And that's so frustrating. That's why when something is a lower buy in, we want to capture them close, as close to pick up as we can.

[B]

So if you're wondering if that happens when you post your in person cookie glasses video, yes. There's people constantly asking for refunds and if it's outside of the seven days, they get their refund. Right. And I process that through.

[A]

It's just so much less than if it were something like a low buy, cheaper diy.

[B]

So, okay, let's say, let's say you buy. She has 20, 23 class kit. She's using them as a DIY kit. A month. I'd probably post monthly here. Is the DIY kit placed kind of like a pre sale thing? Yes. You order now. And my pickup days will be this day and this day at this time, this time. So I would do that each month, especially in the beginning of these weird months where the holidays fall into halves.

[A]

The great thing about classes is when the classes end, there is no more class.

[B]

The class is over. Whereas the DIY kids are like, well, you, you. Your kitchen's in your house.

[A]

I'm picking up from your house. You could just make me another one.

[B]

Like the.

[A]

The logic doesn't share the same. So when a class passes, someone can't be like, well, I want to go to class. No, the class is over. So you can easily say, well, I'm sorry, the class has passed.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Whereas if the DIY kid, they assume you can just jump in the kitchen, make another one.

[B]

I mean, what else would you think? Is it still recording? Right? It is great. Cooking with fire. Here, kids. Podcast one. Podcast recorder one. Okay, next text. I'll read this one. And one more. This was just funny. Hey, twins. I'm sure you never had marketer on your radar as things to do when you grew up. So when you were a kid, what did you dream of doing? Here's the thing. You know, I was thinking about this. What did you dream of doing?

[A]

Did I have a dream? I oddly thought I would be a teacher. And that what? That what?

[B]

Floors me. You and children. What did I think I was gonna do? What did you think you were gonna do? Real estate agent. I mean, if she was talking when I was like a little kid, I want to go to space and go to a dark hole, but black hole. Then I don't know. I kind of felt like I would be a business owner. I never. I didn't like children. I didn't think you would say teacher.

[A]

I thought I was thinking, what did I think I was going to be in high school? Like, what was I working towards? Not much, but I think I thought I was going to be a teacher, maybe teacher, but obviously I went to college and did the business degree.

[B]

You just did what I did.

[A]

I did. I had no idea.

[B]

You should have been teacher then.

[A]

No. And then I don't think I can do it now. I think they're hard.

[B]

Technically, you're teaching, just not children.

[A]

I know, I know.

[B]

I do love.

[A]

I love me a good kid. I got one Myself, I'm so fond of them.

[B]

I have another one. Okay, last one. And these are Great. I love this. 571-556-5644. If you just want the code to the stupidtech.com, it'll text you there. Or might as well enter to win a free one. You can enter in every week. The person who was like, I'm just gonna just keep asking you questions. Hi, twins. This is Jade from Happy Place Cookery in Staten Island, New York. I have two questions. I'm guilty of the huge 30 option pre sales. I know. Analysis paralysis. How many is too many skull emoji? For Valentine's Day, I'm offering seven options. And for the Super Bowl, I'm looking at three different game day platters with a dozen for each platter. I think whatever you just said is super nice. Yeah, I could do that.

[A]

What I like to do is you have parents who like to buy for teachers, and they usually want to just buy a one cookie thing because they're buying for multiple teachers. A DIY kit is a nice option because now parents can buy for their kids.

[B]

Yeah, the Valentine's Day one's gonna exceed the Super Bowl. The Super One, you have platters, and that's a platter type thing. Nobody's buying like a single cookie for Super Bowl.

[A]

I will say a DIY kit for the super bowl isn't a bad.

[B]

Distract the kids.

[A]

Exactly.

[B]

That's not a bad idea. If you're on the cookie glass kids 20, 24, you'd have one. Okay, wait. She's not done with her question. For context, I'm strictly a sugar cookie baker and I'm super pushing Eddie for this holiday. Secondly, I need some advice. For pre sales, I usually open them a month in advance and I leave it open seven days before the event. I worry that people think about ordering and forget because it's so far out. This holiday, I plan to release my Valentine's Day and Super bowl pre sales on Friday, January 31st and close it on February 3rd. Hoping that people begin to think. Think about Valentine's Day as February creeps up and limit the amount of time open so I can create more fomo. We'd love to hear your take. Thanks for all you guys. Do all your Facebook groups are tremendously helpful. The cookie COD group included, as I am a new roomie.

[A]

Oh, hey, girl.

[B]

Hey, girl.

[A]

Hey. Here's the thing. You're right. FOMO is large. It's in charge. It's more pervasive now than it has ever been when it Comes to marketing. What is fomo? That means the fear of missing out. So if I say, heather, I have two Diet Cokes and I've drank in one, you best believe I'm gonna drink the other. We're fighting for the last one because I have told her there's only two.

[B]

But the problem is, okay, you sell it too. And now we're sold out. Right. So that too much FOMO and you maybe left cash on the table. Too little FOMO and you got people dragging their feet until they forget.

[A]

Yeah, but I like what you're doing.

[B]

Pre sales are tough.

[A]

Pre sales are tough. And it's a work in progress. I have figured out I started doing them with DIY kits. Now my DIY kits do sell out.

[B]

Right. So a lot of people hear this podcast and be like, I'm trying pre sale. And then I'll see you in group in about two weeks. Being like, pre sales don't work for me ever. I'll never do them again. I did them one time and they didn't work. Like, no, you have to keep doing it for a bit. Because one, the word pre sales are.

[A]

The word pre sale is weird.

[B]

Pre sale, like, it almost is like, buy something and don't get immediate gratification. Like, could you. That's why a lot of people use the word drops. Drops is good. Hot plate works off drops. I was like, what are these drops? And he was like. And I was like, is it a pre sale? Yeah, like a drop means that you get it when it drops. So a hot plate. Corey had the hot plate guy.

[A]

Yeah, Rishi.

[B]

Rishi. He did a hot plate live in the sourdough sellers group. It's a new group. If you haven't joined it. Yeah. Go check it out. And so I watched it and I was like, what? Because what is this hot plate? Why is it taking off in the sourdough world? And the. The cookie world is like, what?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And I think it's because they call pre sales drops. They do.

[A]

And it makes more sense in the bread world because you're making and baking and it's shelf like is so much smaller.

[B]

Hot take. It makes more sense in the real world.

[A]

It does.

[B]

Pre sale is something I've only ever heard in the cookie world. Yeah.

[A]

That's why you have limited release.

[B]

It's like, think of Target. Like when someone's always trying to buy something. Limited. Yeah, yeah. Exclusive. Yeah, yeah. Wait list those types of things, but we're calling them pre sales.

[A]

It's just not as common of a.

[B]

Word outside of this industry, neither here nor there. So the, the drop, do we. Do we hype it up a lot and leave the window wide open which decreases FOMO because there's so much opportunity to buy. Or do we say like you have one hour. That does help tremendously in creating fomo but it also limits like what if they're not there for the one hour, the two days.

[A]

But I like what she's doing. She shortened it by two weeks.

[B]

I like it.

[A]

That's still a wide open two weeks. We're not making anything quite yet.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So you still have your pre sale time, your drops time and you've created FOMO in the process. Two weeks is enough time. With the right marketing behind it, you can get just as many if not more sales than a month open. And then I'm like oh yeah, I need to do that. And then I forget about it.

[B]

What's interesting, Jade and hot plate kind of integrated. This is. It works off of text only. Like you sign up with your phone number. You do not sign up with an email, which is a very interesting thing. Your drops allow people to subscribe through text to learn when your drop is live. So they'll come to your website. It says this drop doesn't. This pre sale doesn't start until January 31st. Would you like to sign up for text notifications? We can manually do that if you don't use hot plate. I do think it would be confusing to have. And he was like, yeah, people use hot plate in conjunction with their website. It's a little confusing but I get why people do it. But you can do that with your email list. Yes.

[A]

How about this? Okay. Sometimes making a shorter window for your presale can create in FOMO and can happen where you miss out. Right. So missing out on something. Here's the thing. Got tried to get my kid into school last year. Almost didn't make it. He got in, the principal emailed and said the first day to PRE register is February 1st. I've added to my calendar. So what if you do do a limited drop? You sell out, people miss out. Now you have ripened, you have trained your eye.

[B]

So make the first few drops take the L of like I'm not going to sell as much but this is going to be my marketing. Yeah, no, I think that's a great thing to condition your audience to like these sell out Pixie dust confectioner. Yeah, she did a Facebook live I think she since deleted so you can't watch it. But she is really she was really good at creating this FOMO around these pre sales. And what she did, she turned Facebook lives and Facebook lives neither here nor there.

[A]

They.

[B]

She turned them into QVC channels and like, here's what you guys are gonna get if you come.

[A]

I have four of these.

[B]

Yes. Yeah. And it was a very interesting thing. I. My personal theory is that Facebook's depreciated live reach, but for a while, you could see a live and it would have hundreds, if not thousands of people watching it. So she hyped up that presale had these limited offerings. She said, people are hiding in bushes. Yeah.

[A]

And when you missed out, you missed out.

[B]

You truly missed out. And that that increased the next pre sale. The people were more hyped.

[A]

It's created more power behind your next. Just like I have it on my calendar to now get my kid to be number one in the class.

[B]

Pre sales are delectable because you know how much to bake before you even lift the finger. Right. So you have to bake the one that you shop around. But then you're like, okay, I've locked and loaded this many. I know exactly how many sell versus. Hey, I'm leaving my orders open.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

It's just a changing of order. Order hierarchy. Yeah. And pre sales are great for pre planners, but terrible for last minute. Yeah. And then you have that. So, you know, then I think you have these bakers are like, I'll still take the order. And I know. Which just destroys the perks of the presale. Interesting question. If you guys and I'll talk about what the cookie college is in a second. But if you guys want to text in to win a stupid car tray from stupid text, send your stupid text to 571-557-65644. Or if you're listening on a podcast player and you see text in my water bottle saying drink, you see text in. That counts as well. That's where Jade has texted in from.

[A]

Nice.

[B]

Tell us about the cookie college.

[A]

The cookie college. What is it? What does it mean? Do you get an actual degree when you graduate?

[B]

You do. We have a whole processional. You get a flip. Throw your ass. You throw your veterinary.

[A]

What the cookie college is. It's done with you marketing. So when we started sugar cookie marketing, we were just more dropping tips and tricks that we use for our clients daily. But people were like, yeah, I want a little bit more. I think I want your hand to hold mine and to draw me through these online marketing channels. So we have created how many courses.

[B]

Are in there now because the college gets everything. It's over a hundred, over a hundred courses.

[A]

But a lot of them are done with you. And that means we hold your hand. So Heather, if Heather said, kept saying google business profile, what is it? What does that mean? Heather takes you step by step through it. How to set yours up, how to utilize it, how to optimize it, what it means for you, what it means for your business. And that's what this done with you. I'm a visual learner. So when we first started talking about the cookie college, I said, it can't.

[B]

Just be a written post.

[A]

I cannot read and visualize what that means. So Heather has set up where she actually screen shares with you as she's going through each and every single step to show you how to set these things up. There's a course on email marketing which.

[B]

Is great for diversification of.

[A]

Yeah. Photography content. That's probably the most taken one. It's my baby child because I made it cruise biased.

[B]

She thinks it's most taken inbox. Zero.

[A]

Just like Heather saying, like your inbox is a big part of your business. It's a big part of your business and how more efficiently you can work within your business. So that's a huge one. Password management. If we're talking about losing your account, it's probably because you have it named I love my dog. One, two, three, four.

[B]

Okay. I want you to confess to the audience. I can see your face. Do you reuse a very, very hackable. Yeah.

[A]

If you want to steal my Netflix password.

[B]

Do you use that password for Netflix? For Instagram account.

[A]

I live in the dog.

[B]

Or you can take the password for.

[A]

When I go to set up an account. It's a heated moment.

[B]

I open my last pass on my phone. I say, can you generate a password?

[A]

That's really hard to do. Listen, it doesn't have to be perfect to start.

[B]

If you want to learn more about the cookie college, you can check it [e-mail] it is a fun group.

[A]

The great thing is you do get a private Facebook group and you do get a private podcast. The Facebook group is why most people are there, mostly because I'm in there and they're like, how can I get close?

[B]

It's a great strategy session.

[A]

It is a great Saturday. Mine was a joke, but you're like, it's a great.

[B]

Come on.

[A]

We have challenges and things like that. So there's so many things that you can get in the cookie college. Whether it feels like you have a community like actual co workers. People are.

[B]

I feel like it's. You got the water cooler. We have the morning which is an off topic.

[A]

Challenges. So we do challenges throughout the year to keep you in your business, to keep you invested.

[B]

In the next 10 days, I'm posting up my course on the Bamboo A1 Mini and then I'm giving into Cori. Yeah.

[A]

Nice. Can't wait to take the course. So there's constantly things that are being added to. If you say in 2025, I want to be a better business baker, then consider the college.

[B]

You join a month, you can join a year. You get a discount if you join the year. But if you join the month, you can come and go as you please. But in that month you can download everything we've got. Yes. Which is a boss.

[A]

What?

[B]

So check that out. Thecookiecollege.com Corey just dropped a Galentine's day class. Stupid. Cute as a Stanley in it. So cute. It's. What's the next class? Dwight. And that'll drop February 7th.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Yeah. We now designated a specific day. So because I was saying like the first. The first seven days. First it was like the first week of the month. People are like, it's. It's January 3rd and like Sunday was January 4th. They're like, is it dropped tomorrow? Like, no, no. The first seven days, they're like, it's day two. Is it drop like okay. Day seven.

[A]

I know.

[B]

Is the day.

[A]

I thought it was more fair to you guys to have just a dead designated day. Sometimes I can get it to Heather on time, sometimes I can't.

[B]

Most of the times I cannot. So that's a cookie college. We did our texting questions our sponsors and welcome to stupid car drive for being a sponsor. That's a code sugar.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

We have acor backers was backdrops. That's code sugar cookie.

[A]

But acorns changed their name to the backers code.

[B]

That's code sugar cookie.

[A]

Yes, singular.

[B]

Then we have bakety Bake Royal batch. That's code twins. Plural.

[A]

Twins.

[B]

And then we have Eddie. That's code pay in full because Eddie's a direct to food printer. So we have now four podcast sponsors, which is great. Span says thank you, guys. Without these, these would stop.

[A]

I know, I know. Bless you.

[B]

Bless you. Yeah. Perks to the podcast sponsors. And now you guys get a YouTube video.

[A]

Oh yeah, that's true.

[B]

Nice.

[A]

Now we have to keep consistent.

[B]

Yeah. This still is terrible. You guys would never see. I want to say the setup. You Guys aren't seeing is two weird desk kind of tripods. It's not bad. It's not bad. It's weird to talk to. Well, I think Cory posted a photo. Looks insane. Yes, it does. It's my snake out now.

[A]

It does.

[B]

Moving on. Do you. Oh, the mailbag. I actually look behind you. I'm so sorry. I didn't bring it that bin in. There are some postcards. I already cut them open. But I didn't open them.

[A]

Oh my throw in my body. Oh, my throw my body.

[B]

The rest of the stuff is from.

[A]

IRS if you guys want to pre opened. This is from the Brookshire. So thank you.

[B]

Read aloud.

[A]

2024 was quite the year. Our kitchen was remodeled. We traveled a lot. Hurricane Beryl took out the tower for nine days. And Heather won the golden ornament on the food Network. A secret we had to keep for months.

[B]

This is Heather Campbell Berkshire. Not me. I didn't win the golden ornament.

[A]

This win was the frosting on the cake. After two previous appearances, each show has brought new baking friends and amazing experiences she'll treasure forever. We wish you and yours a very happy holiday season and a wonderful new year.

[B]

Did I get to the mailbag? I did. So you got to the mailbag. They should already be open.

[A]

They are not open.

[B]

Yeah, they're cut on the edges.

[A]

They are. This is wild way to open things.

[B]

Well, I use a paper cutter. Why is this so funny? This is. Can you hold it up to your camera?

[A]

It's got to be in line with.

[B]

My face to be focused.

[A]

I'm so sorry. Maui Christmas, warm wishes the whole sin the Olsen. That's so cute. In our second married Christmas. Which means you're blessed with our annual Christmas card. Wishing everyone a fun filled Christmas and ready to see what the new year brings on for our family and yours. Enc.

[B]

Okay, little explanation here. These are Christmas cards because we didn't make it out to the mailbag. But we did now. And what a fun way to Christmas just never ends. Here in January 21st stay in, stay cozy cat card. Adorable. Adorable. It's.

[A]

It's so long. It's from Jaquette Gilbert. Oh, yeah. Her name's G. Yeah, G, I know where that in full transparency. This isn't the card I ordered. Mine was funny because I know Heather likes them funny. At any rate, I wanted to thank you both for helping me have an amazing year in business. I didn't know it was possible for me to earn what I did and sell what I sold in one year. I Pray God continues to bless you both. I hope you have a relaxing and safe Christmas. Tell Gran's hey for me.

[B]

That's so stinking adorable.

[A]

Wow, there's so many cards.

[B]

I know because we told them. We definitely check them. Happy birthday.

[A]

Happy birthday.

[B]

Oh, it's so cute.

[A]

There's some hand drawn artwork in here.

[B]

What is it? Someone says super Heather, and you're wearing a cape and your snake is wearing a cape. Someone says super Cory and they drew a bulldog. That's so cute. It says, I disrupt the sugar cookie industry. What's your superpower? That is so cute.

[A]

Hoping it's a. It's one to cherish. Happy birthday, Corey and Heather. Thanks for making me laugh. Every Tuesday, I laughed until I cried at the Home Baker typo store. Jenna, hope to meet you at cookie Con someday.

[B]

Ah, that was so sticking up. So what's the Home Bakery typo Horn Baker? Oh, yeah. That one I'll take to my grade.

[A]

This one has a nice fancy little.

[B]

Fancy. Yeah, you have to add more stampage.

[A]

This is Warmest Wishes. Like, seriously, like, it's really warm here. And this is from the Lloyds. 2024 has been a wild ride full of twists, turns, and honestly, a lot of heat. Through it all, though, we've been grateful for the warmth of friends and family. Like, the good kind of warmth. Here's to cooler, calmer, 2025 warmest wishes.

[B]

Seriously, it's been very warm.

[A]

I know. Okay, last but not least. Last but not least. That was a very cute card. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. This is from.

[B]

Why is.

[A]

You signed your name in a way, A before E. I know. It's a K and I and R maybe. And an L. L, Y.

[B]

Okay. Okay.

[A]

They're twins. I'm so sorry. It's. It's my fault. I can't. I received my wonderful Bosch today. Oh, good.

[B]

Nice.

[A]

Merry Christmas to me. Thank you for the time you guys invest in all of us every single day and for the wonderful 2020 for Vendy Blendy. I hope Santa is extra good to you both.

[B]

He was.

[A]

He was. And that is wrapping us up for the cards.

[B]

That was fun. That was fun. Guys said more of those.

[A]

Why did you not make them do that before?

[B]

Okay. Do you have a twin?

[A]

Do I have a twin?

[B]

Trist.

[A]

I have been more. Okay, I am bringing it back.

[B]

Cheers.

[A]

I've been more hydrated.

[B]

I've been hydrated.

[A]

I just hydrated one of these bottles to make it for. It's about 66 ounces. So you'll fill it up about three times 64 ounces.

[B]

Here's the funny part. Corey gave you that referral code to get the desk.

[A]

I was buying it.

[B]

But did you know mom bought it? Is that who you're saying? No, it was other people.

[A]

So basically, if you think 64 ounces is 8 glasses of water a day.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

And that's our daily goal from the app.

[B]

I just wanted. I just want to apologize. For the last 35 years we've been on the planet, I've been not drinking enough water. If this is what it's supposed to be, I'm just. I'm in it.

[A]

My thing is, though, if I don't start in the morning, like I started yesterday after we went to the morning.

[B]

You'Re gonna tinkle all night. I know.

[A]

I only got to 50%.

[B]

Oh, no. I didn't do well either. I have. Yeah, you have. So whether or not you buy this thing, whether it's pre. It's. It's more accurate than I thought it'd be. That's what I'm gonna say. Okay. You were kind of frustrated with him this weekend because you were like, he's not registering. He takes a little bit of time.

[A]

I know.

[B]

However, just the fact that the cap vibrates, which you guys have heard during this podcast, if you heard any sounds, the fact that the cap is that annoying, it makes me like you. It only stopped vibrating if you drink it. Yeah. So I know.

[A]

It has been the twin twist probably three times.

[B]

It's. It's. This thing is, like, glued to my left hip. If.

[A]

If. And we said it last week, health is free. The water inside. Why are we going among skincare products for a million dollars?

[B]

Corey had a good point when she was like, okay. They were like, what's some great ways to refresh your skin? And everyone's like, water. I'm like, not anything but that. What can I pay $50 for? So Cory was like, how wild is it to go to Sephora and be like, hold the water. Yeah, hold the one thing I know guaranteed work and makes my kidneys happy. And I mentioned this in the last podcast. The cousins that work in the medical field are like, everyone's dehydrated.

[A]

They're just.

[B]

They're diet. If you come in for car accident, they're gonna be like, you're just dehydrated.

[A]

I feel like water has made me less hungry because my belly is filled of water. You work better. Does my skin look supple? I don't know.

[B]

Tell him what he did fashion for this is gonna be my. This is my twin dress. Okay. These cameras. So Sony A7C. This is a Sony A7CII. I wanted the cameras to match because if you had a Canon and a Sony, you're gonna get two different color temperatures, you're gonna get two different production values and then you gotta match it up. I'm not that good. So I was like, let's just get the same camera twice. So these are our older sisters really into like point and shoot. Capturing the moment that Instagram y vibes. So these are Instagram vibe cameras. So Corey was like, hey, after the podcast, can I take it home?

[A]

And would take photos of life of my life.

[B]

Remember what I said is the photos you take from your phone, they're like I was here. The photos you strategize with like higher end cameras. That's like I live memory. Right? So Corey had the wild hair upper butt to celebrate our older sister's birthday. Did we talk about this in the podcast?

[A]

I think it was pre talk.

[B]

Yeah, it was to celebrate. So our older sister is 38. Yes. She's a swifty. And she's like it's bummer having a birthday 15 days after Christmas and New Year's and the holidays because everyone is spent out. This is like we're on our budget like so sorry I didn't buy you anything.

[A]

You're sad. The bills are rolling in.

[B]

So every year she's like, everyone has to by law has to require to.

[A]

Keep your attitude up, a better attitude. And I said, wow. Not only your birthday but.

[B]

And also unfortunately Ashley does give like the best gifts.

[A]

She does.

[B]

And I think cuz she's like giving a gift in that we would give it back to her in the same energy and for some reason we just suck it up. Yeah. So Cory's like, Cory, this is so funny. Corey makes me, my mom and my little sister. So the four of us, she's like, we all have to go in and make Ashley's birthday extra special. So Cory's like a signing task. Like you're on balloons and I was on gift bag duty and hike. And Cory going like, did a lot of the heavy lifting with like decor. And you made a custom cookie set in my 30s era or something for Taylor Swift. And you got her the Taylor Swift book or something.

[A]

I did.

[B]

And we got these like disco balls or I'm sorry, mirror balls.

[A]

We got mirror ball cups with mirror ball straws.

[B]

And then like Cory got streamers and stuff. And so Corey's been keep. So she starts a Snapchat group saying, it's called Ashes. One time I'll ever do this birthday group. And it was just the four of us in it. Ash. Ash. Not ash core, Mom. Some me.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And I wake up because I wake. Cory wakes up like super early and I wake up and I'm like looking at Cory. Here's everything that came in from Amazon that we're gonna decorate with. And then Summer, my little sister's like, cory, you posted this to your public Snapchat stories. Yeah. When I was. And I'm like, oh, my goodness, this is so funny. She was trying to keep this all.

[A]

Secret, but you accidentally filming it. I was like this. And then I had something in my eye and I did this. And when I looked, I was like.

[B]

And then you never check Summer's reply. Why? Because you had no.

[A]

Then I had to take our school. There was all that.

[B]

So, like, I texted Cora like, hey, did you. Did you mean to unsurprise the surprise party? We're like, oh, no, I'm squeezing. I'm sorry. So Ashley claims she never saw the scene. If she is, bless her soul for.

[A]

Keeping it to herself.

[B]

So it went really well. So I took these. This camera and it took some lifestyle. I did.

[A]

I love them.

[B]

Maybe I should post them to the group so people have to listen to the podcast. Oh, yeah.

[A]

So they would know just an ambiguous.

[B]

Yeah. So that's my twin twist. Our older sister Ashley likes this. Give her Sony A7C. Yeah.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And if I got the cheapest 50 millimeter lens, you could get cheapest 50 millimeter.

[A]

Okay. I did say we were going to have a little added topic.

[B]

Sourdough Sellers. It's a new group.

[A]

Honestly, I've been able to post like I used to an scm.

[B]

This is when we had a question. Question of yesterday. Cory and I met at the mall. It was kind of like we live in D.C. so the inauguration truly does shut down. We didn't need to excuse go to the mall. But I went in Realm. So we went to the mall. We said, as groups grow.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

They tend to lose the one on one. The closest. The campfire.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Aspect of the admin team. Creating the value that you needed to grow the group initially.

[A]

Right.

[B]

Then you become more of an air traffic controller. Like that's over there. Don't post that. You're a band. No selling. And you're not so much like, hey, here's what I learned today. Yeah. So Cory's like, yeah, well, how can we make that more back into sugar cookie marketing? And she was like, forget it's out of sellers. Just kidding. You're getting some questions.

[A]

What brought it to my mind was in sourdough sellers I can be like, and here's the latest with the TikTok band, blah blah, blah. And like we're having like these conversations like where should I go next? Which in a group of 50,000, it's harder to do that because people have a. I never used TikTok. Like that doesn't add to the value of the post.

[B]

Right.

[A]

But in sourdough sellers, it was only 2100 people. Right.

[B]

So is an interesting place. It's a lot of. It's a lot of sugar cookie bakers getting into sourdough or people that have been in it. But it's still a lot of marketing. So the. If you guys want to join over there, not all 50,000, but join over there if you're interested in adding sourdough to Cory And I said that sourdough works on economies of scale. So you have to sell a lot one because that discard is just mass producing. Right. So you have to move product versus sugar cookies. We can say we can sell for a lot more. So you want to. You know, there's a. There's a route, a ceiling for bread costs. You can't charge $30 for a loaf.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Unless maybe you decorate it with gold. But like it's a different animal. So we couldn't get them to line up perfectly enough that the sugar cookie marketing group, which is very niche, could also be like, and here's how to sell sourdough. So we just said, let's create this other group. It was an interesting theory if you didn't know.

[A]

My recipes are pinned in the files.

[B]

Yeah. It's a little Easter egg for you. And Corey's gonna be working on a how to get started in sourdough course. That'll be free over there.

[A]

Yeah. I thought it'd just be fun. I think my goal for 2025 is to teach a sourdough in person class.

[B]

Yeah. My parents got their kitchen remodeled and put in this just massively long island. Yeah. Perfect for it. The funny. And this is what Cor and I do. We took a cookie class and we started teaching cookie class and we took a sourdough class last year and she had this really long island. It must be in style for new build homes. And then my parents put it in and they said we were free to use their kitchen.

[A]

I think it would be the great.

[B]

And just.

[A]

It's going to be a Small class, little intimate. Four or five people.

[B]

Yeah, she had 10. She did.

[A]

And I feel like I need four or five. I don't think I want to have a thing.

[B]

I would say get your first class, shoot for four. That's great. Yes. You don't need to overwhelm yourself. There will be issues. First time doing anything, there's problems.

[A]

Absolutely.

[B]

Still recording, but yeah, it'll be interesting. So if you. If you're like, hey, girls, I would like to see what you look like, you can search sugar cookie marketing on YouTube.

[A]

YouTube. And if you're seeing this on the tubes of you find us in and Facebook.

[B]

Oh, yeah. I'm so sorry. If you've came from our new lead source, we like to invite you to the Facebook group of 50,000 people.

[A]

We don't really connect and if you want to jump the line, say when it says, how did you hear about us?

[B]

Just put YouTube. You liar.

[A]

I let them all jump.

[B]

Oh, you do? All the time.

[A]

If I see that you're in.

[B]

One time I searched somebody was like, I've been pending for a while. Like searched. Like you can type in. If you guys haven't moderated a group, you can go to pin sending users and type in like, let's say I type in Stacy. Yeah. So it pulls up all the Stacy's. Like, likely I was looking for the most recent Stacy, but there was a suspending from 2020. A 2020 Stacy.

[A]

I.

[B]

It's so new. Mass reject. People who didn't answer the questions.

[A]

You can all remind them to answer the question. That would be annoying.

[B]

How many pending members are there? 8,000. How many pending members are for Zara?

[A]

140.

[B]

What are you doing?

[A]

I don't know.

[B]

What are you doing? Cory's like, I'll handle group management and say, best of luck to you guys. You guys figured that's all I had for today. Okay, say goodbye to YouTube.