Baking It Down with Sugar Cookie Marketing 🍪

Episode 252: Piping Positioning

Date: March 17, 2026
Hosts: Heather & Corey Miracle

Episode Overview

In this week’s episode, Heather and Corey deep-dive into the marketing concept of positioning—how your cookie business (or any business) occupies "mental real estate" in your customers’ minds. Using examples from both the baking world and broader commerce, the twins explore strategies for shaping and understanding your market position. They also touch on handling branding mishaps, customer service challenges, and the power of shifting (or holding) perceptions—a must-listen for bakers looking to stand out.

Major Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Twin Dynamic and Podcast Origins

• The episode kicks off with Heather and Corey’s playful banter about being twins and how people perceive them as interchangeable, drawing a light parallel to how brands can be perceived as undifferentiated unless they carve out a unique position.

• Quote (Heather, 02:11): "Hot take. I think it was hard for my mom to be like, these are two individuals when she was drowning in kids. So it was like, Ashley, the twins, Summer."

• Podcast Origin: The sisters reminisce about starting the podcast as a spinoff of their Facebook group to help busy bakers learn about business and marketing on the go.

  • (Heather & Corey, 05:00): "So five years we’ve been doing it and we got some loyal listeners..."

2. Defining Positioning: What It Is (and Isn’t)

• Key Quote (Heather, 04:26): “Positioning is not what you do to a product. Positioning is what you do to the mind of the prospect.” — Jack Trout.
• Distinguishing Positioning from Branding & Value Propositions
  • Branding: Visual, design elements (logo, colors, fonts).
  • Value Proposition: The deal/offer—why a customer should care.
  • Positioning: The unique “slot” occupied in your customer’s mind, shaped by your actions, messaging, and reputation.

3. Positioning Examples—Learning from Big Brands

Heather illustrates positioning with several well-known companies:

• Quince: Positioning themselves as "luxury essentials at radically lower prices."
  • Heather shares a story about experiencing their customer service: "Now I’m like, not only is it luxury essentials at radically lower prices, but it’s with fantastic customer service in my head." (Heather, 11:29)
• Shein: The opposite: Positioned as "cheap, fast, worthless" in Heather and Corey’s estimation.
• Other Examples (Mental Real Estate Game at 12:18):
  • Safe Car: Volvo (Corey, 12:36)
  • Customer Service: Chick-fil-A (Corey, 12:50)
  • Everyday Low Prices: Walmart
  • Quick Oil Change: Jiffy Lube
  • Quick Hamburgers: McDonald’s
  • Streaming: Netflix
  • Quality Groceries: Wegmans/Whole Foods
  • Dating: Hinge (now) vs. Tinder (past)

Memorable Moment:

Heather and Corey play a rapid-fire game matching product categories to the brands that dominate their mental real estate (12:19–18:39)—a clear illustration of effective positioning (“Who is the ‘chicken’ in customer service?”).

4. How Positioning Works in the Baking World

The Challenge: It’s Not What YOU Say, It’s What THEY THINK

• Positioning is shaped primarily by the customer’s real-world experience—not your intentions or marketing.
  • Quote (Heather, 21:21): "What’s great about positioning... is you can advertise and market yourself in some way, but how your audience digests you is something you don’t have control over."

Gaining and Losing Position

• It’s hard to shift positioning once formed (23:47)—it can take “20 not lates” to erase being known as ‘the late one’ (Heather’s anecdote about being late to work meetings, 25:54).
• One bad experience can outweigh years of positive association.

Examples with Cookie Businesses

• A baker specializing in mini cookies: Position is “the mini cookie baker,” top-of-mind when customers want small, affordable treats. (Corey, 53:23)
• Price Positioning: If your only angle is “cheapest baker,” be prepared for burnout—price alone is a tough, unsustainable mental slot (Corey, 41:01).

Positioning is about Nuance

• Positioning can be multi-dimensional; for example, Heather and Corey’s cookie classes are “high quality, but $30 cheaper than the next place.” (Heather, 43:13)
• Their own business is positioned as approachable, witty, and consistent (audience feedback at 46:46).

5. Creating (& Diagnosing) Your Own Positioning

The Positioning Formula (43:32):

For [target audience], [Brand Name] is a [Category] that [Point of Differentiation] because [Reason to Believe].

• Corey: Moms 30–50, Mixing Bowl Cookie Co., cottage bakery, “really flexible” due to home operation and empathy (44:04).

Reverse Engineering:

• What do your customers REALLY think of you? Ask, look at feedback, or deduce from behaviors.
• If you’re consistent but not differentiated, work to highlight your unique “something.”
  • Quote (Heather, 47:02): “Three of them said, ‘You’re just so witty on your Facebook page. I appreciate that.’”
  • Being friendly, approachable, or fun CAN be a valid (and strong) position, especially in service industries.

Actionable Advice:

• If you wish to reposition (e.g., from “birthday baker” to “wedding baker”), you must overhaul your marketing, visuals, and partnerships to match.
  • Corey’s example about shifting her bakery to attract more wedding orders, requiring new messaging and visuals (51:31–52:08).

6. Practical Positioning Cases and Troubleshooting

Shipping and Customer Service Dilemmas (87:15)

• When events outside your control (e.g., FedEx shipping delays) impact your customer’s experience:
  • “Nobody was wrong. But it was wrong.” (Heather, 88:05)
  • Suggestion: If fully out of your hands & policies make expectations clear, a refund isn’t mandatory, but clear up-front communication is vital.

Cookie Class Management: Handling Slow Participants (98:39)

• If a student is holding up your decorating class, use gentle guidance, check in often, and offer visuals or cues to help them catch up. Having a co-instructor (like the Miracle twins) helps, but strategies can be solo-adapted (99:05–100:23).

Notable Quotes & Moments

• 02:11, Heather: “Ashley, the twins, Summer. Like, instead of saying Ashley, Heather, Corey, Summer, it was Ashley, the twins."
• 04:27, Heather: “Positioning is not what you do to a product. Positioning is what you do to the mind of the prospect.” — Jack Trout
• 10:24, Corey: “What the customer thinks about it is going to be the end all, be all. So they might have said... but the same quality. And maybe a few people have gotten it and said... now their new thing is their positioning is big fat liars.”
• 23:47, Heather: “I came late three times. It took 20 not lates for me to reposition in her head that I wasn’t a late person.”
• 41:53, Corey: “When you price your stuff cheaper, you get burnt out really fast because it’s a time end game... you can only be so much cheaper before everyone’s booking with you, and now you’re burnt out.”
• 46:46, Corey: "Three people said: 'you’re just so witty on your Facebook page. I appreciate that.' So maybe approachable... Is that a strong positioning?"
• 57:06, Corey: “...you’re always going to be able to come in, come out, and you’re going to always be like, ‘I can always go to SCM for either a quality answer or to learn where the market, the industry is going.’”

Important Timestamps

• 04:27 — Definition of Positioning (with Jack Trout quote)
• 12:18–18:39 — “Mental Real Estate” Brand Game (Rapid-fire associations)
• 43:32 — Positioning Formula for bakeries; practical application with Mixing Bowl Cookie Co.
• 51:31–52:08 — Shifting positioning from birthday to wedding baker (strategy overview)
• 57:06 — Consistent value in Sugar Cookie Marketing & the Facebook group’s positioning
• 87:15 — Dealing with customer service and shipping delays (reader question answer)
• 98:39–100:23 — Managing slow class participants in cookie classes

Action Items for Bakers

1. Audit How Clients See You:
   • Ask for feedback, read your reviews, check recurring descriptions.
2. Define and Sharpen Your Positioning:
   • Use the formula: For [audience], [Brand] is a [category] that [differentiator] because [reason].
3. Communicate Clearly:
   • Make your desired position obvious in visuals, messaging, and customer experience.
4. Embrace Consistency & Adapt When Needed:
   • Consistent experiences build trust in your position; missteps can require dozens of positive encounters to repair.
5. Be Ready to Change Your Position (With Work):
   • If you want to shift, overhaul your messaging and approach—don’t rely on old habits to win new customers.

Fun & Relatable Closing

The episode ends with classic twin banter, reflections on “biting off more than you can chew” as an entrepreneur, doppelganger stories, and a reminder that most people are too busy worrying about themselves to notice your “flaws.” The encouragement: become self-aware about your business and take action to ensure your clients think about you the way you want to be thought of.

For More

• Join the Facebook group: Sugar Cookie Marketing
• Check out their bootcamps & resources: TheCookieCollege.com

Next Week: New marketing topic and maybe, just maybe, some more sisterly shenanigans!

“If you appeal to everybody, you appeal to nobody.” (Heather, 49:21)