264. Baking it Down - Stay Trendy with Trends

Summary

Baking it Down with Sugar Cookie Marketing 🍪

Episode 264: Stay Trendy with Trends

Released: June 9, 2026 | Hosts: Heather and Corrie Miracle

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Overview

In this vibrant and conversational episode, Heather and Corrie bake down the ins and outs of “trends” for cottage bakers and small business owners. The twins dive into what’s trending in the baking world and on social media, how to spot trends early, how to ride the wave for profit (and when not to!), and the nuances of hyperlocal trends in community groups. Packed with real-world examples, practical marketing tips, and their signature humor, this episode is a fast-paced guide to staying trendy—without getting burned.

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Key Discussion Points

1. The Power—and Pitfalls—of Trends

• Trends as Free Marketing: Trends do the marketing for you—if you can jump on them quickly and with minimal investment. (09:05)
• Short Shelf Life: Trends are fleeting. Strike while the trend is hot, but don’t over-invest in supplies that may become obsolete once the trend fades.
• Examples from Baking: Viral Cake Dot cakes (sprinkle-topped sheet cakes), hot cocoa bombs, “bronuts” (brownie donuts), and hyperlocal cookie designs around local happenings. (06:45, 08:01, 12:41)
• Not Obligatory: You don’t have to chase every trend—focus on ones that are easy and profitable for your business. (08:47)

2. Spotting & Leveraging Trends

• Where to Find Trends: TikTok is the main breeding ground, with trends trickling to Instagram and Facebook later.
• Tools to Track Trends:
  • TikTok Creative Center for trending sounds, hashtags, and video styles (14:31)
  • Other resources: Talk Chart, Later, Hootsuite (24:25)
• Physical Product Trends vs. Social Media Trends: Product trends (like Labubu fidget toys turned cookies) and video trends (like popular audio memes) both offer opportunities, but demand quick execution.
• First to Market Advantage:

  "If you could be the first to that community group to post it, you get the most attention." (21:28)

3. Hyperlocal Gold: Community Group Trends

• Hyperlocal Virality: Being the first to create a cookie or meme tied to a hyperlocal event (e.g., a restaurant sign with a missing “F”) can yield big local engagement—even if it makes no sense outside your area. (19:02, 19:52)
• Time Sensitivity: Move fast—if you’re building a gag cookie about a current local event, your oven “needs to be on right now.” If you miss the moment, it swiftly loses relevance (see the “Steve the Crane” story). (23:21)
• Lasting Value: Even if you don’t sell a ton of on-trend cookies, you can grow your local audience for future sales. (36:21)

4. Risk Management: Trends & Brand Safety

• Be Selective: Not all trends suit every business—political, offensive, or profanity-laden trends risk alienating your audience. (27:33, 28:47)
• Know Your Audience: Avoid overly technical baker memes with your general audience; tailor your content so it resonates and doesn’t isolate your best customers. (33:37)

5. Trends & Content Creation

• Balance Polish and Impromptu: Overly produced videos can underperform on platforms like TikTok; find the sweet spot of quality audio/video but “off the cuff” authenticity. (48:01–49:33)
• Platform-Specific Best Practices: Use your phone’s back camera for higher video quality; keep things casual but intentional. (49:03–49:38)
• The Drama Bucket: Drama-based content can go viral, but attracts followers loyal to drama—not your brand. How you get attention is how you’ll have to keep it. (64:13)

6. Community Group Mastery

• Why Community Groups?: Consistently, Heather and Corrie find their #1 leads come from Facebook community groups—until that changes, this is a core strategy for bakers. (38:25)
• How to Win at Community Groups: Being an engaged, helpful, admin-favorite group member will pay off. (39:52)
• Bootcamp Plug: Upcoming bootcamp will cover how to get noticed—and ordered—from community groups, even in crowded fields. (41:58)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Jumping on Trends:

  “When we get the, the luck of trends kissing the baking industry, it's a fun thing to jump in on because the trend is doing the marketing—all you have to do is lob up the... you just have to make it."
  (08:01, Heather)

• First to Market:

  "Being the first to market means I capitalize on this trend first. I do not look like a copycat. I look like a genius."
  (21:42, Heather)

• On Hyperlocal Trends:

  “My goal was hyperlocal virality... I wasn’t going to go viral nationally. Nobody knows if the F’s gone from First Watch outside of Manassas.”
  (19:52, Corrie)

• On Drama Content:

  "When you attract people with drama, they're hungry and they need to be fed with more... How you get them is how you keep them."
  (64:13, Corrie)

• Trends and Risks:

  "If you could win more people over by not cursing, that would be the way to do it."
  (29:09, Corrie)

• Balancing Quality & Authenticity:

  "To have really bad audio on TikTok would make me want to scroll. So there is a blend... of what feels impromptu that creates a video worth watching."
  (49:03, Heather)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Community Groups as Lead Sources: 01:04
• What’s Trending in Baking: 06:45
• Why Trends Matter for Bakers: 09:05
• Limited Editions & Trend Strategy: 10:08
• Finding & Tracking Trends Online: 14:31
• Hyperlocal Trend Example: First Watch Cookie: 19:02
• Hyperlocal Trend Example: Steve the Crane: 23:02
• Platforms & Content Creation Best Practices: 48:01
• Risks: Political & Drama-Driven Trends: 27:33, 64:13
• Upcoming Bootcamps & Collabs: 38:25, 43:15
• Affiliate Marketing & Brand Disclosures: 66:31
• End-of-Episode Banter: 61:56–72:32

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Practical Takeaways

• Maximize Trends, Minimize Risk: Jump on easy, low-investment trends, but don’t feel obligated to do them all.
• Stay Chronically Online—Strategically: Monitor TikTok and use trend tools to find opportunities before they peak on Facebook.
• Seize Hyperlocal Moments: Local jokes, memes, and events are marketing gold if you can execute quickly and authentically.
• Maintain Brand Safety: Avoid contentious or alienating content; guard your reputation.
• Community = Customers: Prioritize involvement in local and niche Facebook groups—not just for trendspotting, but for direct lead generation.
• Blend Content Types: Use a mix of evergreen, trend-driven, and personality-driven content for robust engagement.

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Final Words (in the Twins’ Tone)

As always: keep it clean, keep it fun, and don’t be afraid to ride the trend wave—just don’t drown in it! Open those glorious ear canals and remember: the trend may be fleeting, but your brand is forever. And remember, when in doubt, “you’ve been seen, you’ve been heard, you’ve been understood.” (62:11)

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(For the full list of resources, group links, and upcoming bootcamps, check out sugarcookiemarketing.com.)

Transcript

[A]

Guys, it's me and Corey. I'm still in a tin can and we're still in the same shirts because we're actually. While you're listening to this, she and I are beachside. Poolside chips and salsa to the left, pina colada to the right, Diet Coke in my between. That's where we're at. So we pre recorded this as to not be inconsistent.

[B]

I don't want to let you down. We got some people who listen all the time. I don't want to let you down. So we're here in the future, in the past.

[A]

That's it. We just spent the last hour and a half recording another podcast. So this one's going to be an

[B]

abridged version mostly because the voices, we gotta keep them nice and lubricated.

[A]

You can get hired. The longer I talk, the higher it's

[B]

gonna get and it gets inaudible, let me tell you.

[A]

So if you're new here, this is a sugar cookie marketing baking it down podcast. All the information you can find our website sugarcookiemarketing.com upcoming stuff is the meet the baker collab. We've just wrapped up our bootcamps and now we're moving into community groups. Might seem like a weird topic, but Corey's number one lead source is community groups.

[B]

I mean I hate it, but it's true. In the world of marketing, what's the most natural for people to get on is something that's free and vast and that is the meta brand which is your Facebook and your Instagram and specifically Facebook groups are in their heyday. So until the hey is in in the day, you'll be finding me market myself in those groups.

[A]

Seems like Facebook is still pouring a lot of resources and groups and hasn't used it for advertising yet. So they know there's some value there. The minute Facebook groups go the way of the dodo. I think our.

[B]

Did you see. Did you see a couple updates? It says the group you're now in has a forum download the app really

[A]

placing chats and network. Look, I feel like on my. Oh when I. I feel like something changed with Facebook. Some. Some branding things are going.

[B]

It's updated like when I make a post now let me see if I

[A]

can my comments or. I'm sorry my little buttons are at the bottom now. See these are at the top before.

[B]

Oh mine's always been at the bottom. Baby girl.

[A]

That.

[B]

That's an Android gets it Last maneuver right there.

[A]

I put in the cookie boot camp. You mentioned the Android was Not nice. And then you said the moon. So I put my moon photo in the video.

[B]

Excellent.

[A]

I do have a question for you.

[B]

I was going through. I like I'm auditing everything. Right. You are up for an upgrade on your phone.

[A]

You know why? And spank to me. Spank to me. Thank. I need to delete all the photos out there. I have them backed up. I have no concept why I can't.

[B]

But you can take them over to your new phone if you need then.

[A]

And I don't want to but then you know just the thought of making sure all my apps and I you know I was thinking I do have a little bit of the obsessive compulsive. A little bit of that sprinkled into me at some time. And the thought of having to get my apps organized in the right way Day.

[B]

I know. And sign in, sign out. Been there. I do it every year because I like a new phone every year.

[A]

I've had this phone for four years and it's been. But the battery is getting knocked. Right.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I actually have the case for the new phone. I had a keep. I bought it on Black Friday.

[B]

It was just so funny when I was in there like you know making sure everything was up to date. My husband. The great thing about T mobile and this is why Heather is on my adult phone plan as a 34 Nate's child is if you are a first responder you get your T Mobile Plan 50 off. Unheard of. Ahead of.

[A]

So that's why is it it's firefighters, police, military.

[B]

I'm not sure. I I just know he's a cop and that but worth its weight in gold. I've had.

[A]

We have people fighting for sponsor.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah.

[A]

Maybe I'll man up and do it this week.

[B]

This week I ain't going with you. And you need my body there.

[A]

I thought you put me as an authorized view your mom.

[B]

Well it's so funny. The most authorized. So when I was doing the changes they're like we will need to hear Nathan's voice. And I said he's in the shower.

[A]

And she's like we'll need to hear his voice.

[B]

So I said say yes.

[A]

Thursday. Friday. I hate going to the phone.

[B]

I have it. Maybe when I get back. That's a midsummer.

[A]

Yeah. So this is a casual. The podcast wasn't casual before. It's casual. Quick question for you. I finished my first rug. If you guys been tracking the rug.

[B]

Yeah, rug tufting.

[A]

The rug tufting thing. I did the car Dodge viper logo. Yeah.

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

It feels so heavy. It's taken up so much yarn. I've learned a lot. So Corey said, why don't the next rug be her business logo? If you're on me, see a finer. I ordered the yarn. The. The yellowish color is a little delayed, but we'll be getting it. Yeah.

[B]

You have the three colors here. We have like a little orange.

[A]

I got the little orange guy. I got the bottom guy. The middle guy missing. He's kind of looks a little bit more yellowy to me. Yellow.

[B]

Brighter.

[A]

Yeah. So I was thinking instead of the whole logo, I could do it like a half moon shape so you can put them at the front door when people come to pick up stuff.

[B]

I love that. Like the bottom part of the cookie or where the bites.

[A]

I think I'll keep the bites because it's kind of the signature of it.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Yeah. My second record. Yeah, I got the. Here's a. The cloth is called something. One cloth or something. I got it all teed up and taunt.

[B]

I want to say there needs to be a study done. Why do business owners love to see their branding in every shape, form and fashion?

[A]

My hands literally start trembling when I see, see, Yeah, I have a cup.

[B]

A cup with my logo on it. Endless shirts with my logo on it. I got this wooden thing behind me.

[A]

YouTube, I guess it's like my blood, sweat and tears are represented by this tiny.

[B]

Yeah, I see the icon.

[A]

It represents all this work behind it.

[B]

Yeah. And it's the craziest thing. We're the. Our own biggest fans of it. So when people drop merch and no one buys it, they're like, what? But they're not crying over the logo like you are.

[A]

So then, sorry, just for my little planning, I'll make the diameter the widest part of this half. Yes. The width of your door. So you can just.

[B]

Yes, I will get that for you.

[A]

I mean, it's probably just a regular door.

[B]

It's a standard sized door.

[A]

I would like to know. So that's what I'll work on. So, coming into today's podcast, we have just wrapped up this video's boot camp. Granted, we're from the past talking into the future. So Corey and I haven't actually done it, but. But we will have done it by the time you heard this. And we wanted to talk about trends now.

[B]

Something that is trending right now is the viral cake dot trend in the hate that bakers love to give it, even though bakers ain't buying it.

[A]

Just to clarify, it's just a layer of sprinkles on something. Right.

[B]

It is a sheet cake. You take a jar, you put it in the center of the sheet cake. You put buttercream on it. You dip the buttercream in non pareils, and they stick to the top. So, like, they're crunchy sprinkles. And it's a very cute look. And that is what is a hot commodity. Right.

[A]

Bakers who don't like it. I want to be like, bakers, listen. We're begging for trends to swing in our direction. The burn cakes that helped us, these

[B]

guys acted like not all of us didn't jump head first into a cocoa bomb in 2050.

[A]

Cocoa bombs loved those things. So these trends, while they don't have a ton of staying power because the hot cocoa bomb, I think there were some lawsuits about the branding or whatever, and it got like everyone turned off too well.

[B]

Then big corporations started making for pennies on the dollar.

[A]

Yeah. Okay. So when these trends come, there's trends in every industry. But when we get the. The luck of it kisses the baking industry. It's a fun thing to jump in on because the trend is doing the marketing and all you have to do is lob up the.

[B]

You just have to make it. So I just want to cover a few trends. We have hot cocoa bombs were big. We had when the three sisters, the three witch sisters came back, the the movie type ones.

[A]

And Taylor, bless her soul, she's floated us for a couple years.

[B]

Hocus pocus had its like the anniversary, and then they had the remake movie that was huge. We had bro nuts. The brownie donuts were big.

[A]

I got the Bronies.

[B]

Yeah, the Bronies. So the viral caked out. There's been so many in between. Oh, Labu boos hated those. Love it trend there. But what's so funny is for bakers to be like, I don't like it because I don't like a crunchy. A crunchy.

[A]

You like crunchy. Do you like a crunchy dollar?

[B]

Do you like a crisp dollar bill? The thing is, the trends are you do not have to take part in every trend. And we have a podcast where we say, you know, you don't have to do every trend. If a trend is easy, though, my friends make money while the hay is hot. If that's the phrase.

[A]

The hay's hot and money's crunchy. It's a big takeaway. The thought of it, though, the trend. When trends, trends, they market for themselves and then people can just stick their hand in the pot. There was something where everyone was like co branding it and it was kind of. Everyone was like, oh, it's not like too much but. But when you have these noticeable things. So even on social media, right. The trending audio is what they call it or the trend or this.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

This new type of video style to jump in on that allows you to ride a wave you did not create. It's a proportion that you have the opportunity to grab it. Now here's the thing. Trends have a very short shelf life.

[B]

Oh, here's a trend that. That Starbucks cup. When they released the Starbucks beer cup.

[A]

Yes. Yeah. We have seen some baking trends come and go for sure. And the hesitation is, what if I buy all this stuff and the trend is gone? Yeah, you have to. It's a time constraint, short shelf life trend. However, it's a great way to grab some extra dollars where otherwise you would not have made the sales. Yeah, absolutely.

[B]

There is room for a trend in a business. What you don't want to do is start every trend and you're like, wow, I have the things to make bro nuts. I have the things to make cronuts. I have the things to make donuts and now no one's buying them.

[A]

I would, I would limit. I do a limited run. A limited amount of the stuff. Do a limited run and just cash out.

[B]

Right.

[A]

It's always like gambler's mentality, like maybe I'll win again. And then you're stuck with a bunch of labuku.

[B]

You see a lot of corporation businesses do that. They'll do a. A limited drop. We saw it with the Owala Diet Cokes cups that were big last year. Yeah. A limited one. We're never going to make these again. And what they did is they did never make them again. So they made a one run cashed in their mind. There you go. Diet Coke cup. Heather was one who cashed her money in on that.

[A]

Yeah. Six in the morning in the Maryland Target. So far away.

[B]

And then they never made them again. So they did they short run. They made a limited amount and instead of being like, oh, people really want them, let's try this again. And then to have crickets. They literally just cashed in on what a trend truly is.

[A]

You can see the magic of trends with these whatever nitos are from. To me they look like little fidget squares. It is.

[B]

Isn't that the little squishy thing?

[A]

Yeah, but isn't it just a fidget

[B]

with He's a dumpling. Yeah, it's just a Fidget but you don't know which one you're getting.

[A]

Yeah. So they kind of got that variable reward system going which is like another gambling brain. That stuff really works on lizard brains. Right. We love to get something, we love to win. We love the element of surprise. We love the acquisition and then the excitement of the trend. So someone had said it's interesting those needles have been around for years. Just something trended with them and now you can't. In the local community groups it's all these women and there's anonymous pineapples complaining that they can't find these needles. But I'd be like, you're part of the same person who got it before you did. It's frustrating for sure. But the trend 676767 was a trend.

[B]

Oh, 67 was a trend. No. And the trends are great. And you can make a cash cow on these trends. The thing is to find which one fits your business model and which one doesn't. I'm not a cake baker but I'm saying make your cash you cake baking people because it is the moment for

[A]

somebody applied to pretzel sticks.

[B]

Oh and they were so cute. And you can apply it to cookies. It might not have the same turnaround kind of thing but I to me, if you have the stuff to do it, by all means do it.

[A]

Yeah. That trending stuff. Okay. Another trend, I'm sorry was that Otherworld show came to an end.

[B]

Stranger Things.

[A]

A lot of bakers cashed in on that now.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Had to work quickly. They had to have established a lot of them using cutter flips or plaques to. To jump on the trend as quickly as possible because we had again, the trend has to come with a time constraint. And that Stranger things one is the time constraint is the deadline of the show.

[B]

Yeah. So that's. That's correct. When it, when you're working with trends to be the last one because you wanted to to make a custom cutter and you ordered it and now it's 12 weeks out before it's going to get to you. The trend will be gone by that point. So. So when you're looking at something that's trending, look at what you already have. Do you have jars? Maybe they're not circular. Maybe you have square jars and that could work for the cake dot trend. It's not exactly the same thing, but it could one clear you out of what you already have so you don't have to buy anything extra. You already have the non pros. Maybe you have like More of the Grinch color non pros. That still works. What we don't want you to do is buy so much stuff to jump on a trend and then to be left with that stuff after. And you're like shoot, this is gonna take up some major storage in my very limited stor storage area.

[A]

Then you get, you won. But at what cost? Like what did you, what did it cost you to get all that stuff? So trends, I'm always going to say try it. They're hard to find but if you lurk on social media enough, especially on websites like TikTok you can kind of find them. But there are their websites that curate the trends and try to. You can look them up to get to them before.

[B]

Yeah. What's crazy is I I asked on Facebook are you doing the viral cake dot trend? A lot of people are like I've never even heard of this. That's because the trend really got popular on T tok so being on the apps and just imbibing the information can get you a little bit sooner. To them Facebook seems like the last place like I'll see a video on TikTok and a week later it'll be on Facebook.

[A]

It takes a while. So here's some websites that find the trends before they're at their peak. Where you would find them, try to jump in on but it's always past the crest and now you're coming into the trough. So this TikTok Creative Center, TikTok itself has its own trend tracker and it says it's a built in trend tracker for trending sounds, hashtags, videos and creators. You can filter results by timeline and region necessary. And each sound includes a graph showing how much this sound is going to be used. So a lot of the times I know Corey's talking about the docket which is physical.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But there's also the trend of video style and that's indicative by the audio a lot trending audio. That's what you always hear Baker say like I find the trending audio. Finding the trending audio. You can see in a graphic form how many people are using it. That shows you on which side of the trend you're finding. This.

[B]

Yeah. And those just being on a trend of like, you know, what's the. There's one now and it's a car one. And I sent it to Heather now because I sent it to Heather it's always showing up in a feed but it's little toy car but they have the real car in real life so they actually are filming the tiny car, and then it turns into their real giant car.

[A]

The next. The next competitor is you or whatever it is. Yeah, the next.

[B]

Yeah, but that's a trend that's going on now. And I was like, oh, that's super fun to watch. It's really hot right now in the feeds. What you don't want to do is find this trend four months from now and be like, I kind of like that. You've missed. You've missed the whole point of it of jumping on it when it's super hot and super popular.

[A]

I find trends work because they have a level of letting the end user put the pieces together, which works when you have enough content telling you how this clip should work. But when you do it four months later, there's none of that content that's supporting this trend anymore. So your audience is a little confused. It's confused. And. And I see what you're saying there.

[B]

There's like this funny trend. It's like, I know I can operate fully off of three hours of sleep, and they like, headbutt a ball, but it turns out they pretend a rock.

[A]

Yeah. So they can't operate, obviously. They're so delirious by now.

[B]

People are doing it.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Some plumbers are doing it with plumbing pipe. Someone's doing it with a car thing. It's really hot right now. And they're showcasing like, look, I'm a plumber. I'm a mechanic. If you did that later on down the road, it's still funny.

[A]

Kind of confusing. Another one that's trending right now. Of course, if you're listening to this and it's been a month, it's no longer trending. That's how short it is. Posting a picture of you and your husband or you and your wife and saying something that the person did. And that's my.

[B]

Why.

[A]

It started off as very romantic, but now they're. The trend has morphed into the more humorous where the things that they're staying with their partner is. Is the most odd. Like, he bought me a big old car. That's my wife. Things you now. It's. If they use that humor piece down here, you look like a really shallow spouse. Like, it doesn't. It doesn't. So the trends to jump in on them. You want to be right on the top of the curve at the height or barely at the backside of it.

[B]

What's so funny with that Starbucks one? Heather had just recently set up my 3D printer when Liz Viz made a STL file that night when they were getting released and people could not find the bears in real life and they were making these videos. I can't find the bear so I download the stl. I woke up the morning made the bear was able to jump on that trend. It was a hot trend. So I put it in a community group. It went viral in the community group because it was so hot in that moment. If I would have waited for a custom cutter, I'd probably still be waiting to this moment. You know, because the shipping so long.

[A]

That's why having kind of these tools in your tool chest that you know you could get a hurt sheet if you can design your own stl, even better. But yeah, one you're able to print it with immediate turnaround. There are trends that are platform specific which we're talking about TikTok and Instagram. Those are kinds of. They're closer. But I find that TikTok is still kind of setting the pace and I

[B]

think it's because it's so video focused like Instagram still video and photos.

[A]

But TikTok's very heavy and discoverability versus Instagram is still. Who's following me, who I follow.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And Facebook is conglomerate. Like there's text post and there's too much on there.

[A]

Yeah. Facebook is like groups or whatever. So yeah, that is content creation trends. Now Corey saying dot trend, the dot trend, these physical trends, these product trends, the Genito Taylor Swift where you pre. But there's also hyperlocal trends. And this is an example of. And again timeline is. Is the one consistent thing.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Short shelf life of all these trends. Corey had the first watch as eggs and bacon. It's like an IHOP competitor brunch kind of place. Yeah. So they were building a first watch in Manassas and then everyone kept asking was open but suddenly the F fell off of the first watch which is

[B]

hanging off, hanging for dear life and

[A]

kept falling off like it didn't matter how many times you put it up, it kept falling off. So it became almost an inside joke for this one very specific local if they had any F's left to give. So he kind of had its own joke. So I told Corey, if you could make this a cookie, but you would have to have it done today.

[B]

Heather literally said to make it work, you've got to. The oven needs to be on right now.

[A]

So Corey's like, I think I've got it. I'm going to throw it together. I got this plaque. I'm going to do it. And Then we did it. And it went locally, locally viral. It did not go viral nationally. Nobody knows if the fsa.

[B]

My goal was hyperlocal virality.

[A]

Amy, Moderator Amy Admin Amy. She lives in a town that has one bridge in it. I guess the bridge needs massive work. So they've shut down the bridge dividing this town. So she. That night she runs home and she creates left bridge or right bridge, which teammates.

[B]

So yeah.

[A]

And it went locally viral. Again, that's only unique to her town. She had to be on the pulse. And you could find Facebook groups.

[B]

Yeah, I want to say trends. Whether they come like a video trend or something viral, like the, the dot cake trend or something viral locally, those are all ways to grow your business. And it's just being quick on the draw, fast at the turnaround time and first to market. So Heather, explain what first to market means. Technically.

[A]

When there's a new concept and there is a timeline end a shelf life. There is an order of events where the, where you enter the sequence benefits or doesn't benefit you.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

The first watch had another baker come up with the idea first and Corey replicated it. It would actually worked in the other direction. Yeah. Instead of being a funny. A funny positive, it would have been like a copycat duplicate.

[B]

Negative. Yeah, negative.

[A]

So when someone comes out with dot cakes like these documents which you can start seeing, but by the time Corey posted it, it's already been in the rumor mill for the last week.

[B]

These little.

[A]

I have no idea. I have to Google how they originated or what the appeal is.

[B]

It's going to come back to a

[A]

video I know somewhere. Sure, sure. When you could be the first to that community group to post it, you get the most attention.

[B]

Yeah. The person who cookified the Labubu, the first made. Made a butt ton of orders and

[A]

they were first to market. They got there first. So being the first to market means I capitalize on this trend first. I do not look like a copycat. I look like a genius.

[B]

A genius.

[A]

Not saying.

[B]

And everyone made Labubus after. Just because one person marketed it first doesn't mean you can't market it. But yeah, to market it means you're, you're. You're packing your wallet full of cash.

[A]

Yes. So these trends, they can be hyper local, but there is. And that's why I'm so. I'm. I know I keep saying there's a shelf life on these. Here's the example of the shelf life working against the person who had the great idea they. We have so many interstates in Virginia, they did a massive project. They took an interstate that's already too crowded and they split it in half and they moved it to the side and they put another road in the middle and called it a Dora. Yeah, 66. The project took years. I think 66 has been under construction for years. During this project, traffic was bombed down to the worst it's ever been. So these people are sitting for hours in this traffic. And to build the bridge for this toll road, they bring in this machine that when the sun is setting, kind of looks like a guy that's made

[B]

of squares, like a robot.

[A]

He looks. So people keep somebody posted it and it was like, my kids and I, my kids think this looks like a person. So we named him Steve. That was the original post.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

It got. Steve got legs and it started running. So it became a funny joke that in rush hour traffic, because you're not driving, you're stopped, people were posting pictures of Steve then Steve, because he was a crane, he'd move around and people would say, have you seen Steve? Where? Steve's sleeping, Steve's awake. So it became this inside joke for these commuters sitting in 66 for about three months.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

This genius lady comes and she said, I'm going to make the book about Steve. She hires an illustrator, she hires a printing company. The book came out after the road was open. Steve's been gone for a year and then she's got all these books and nobody wants them because it doesn't make sense.

[B]

Because while her idea was great, it was trending. Having Steve the crane read your kids a bedtime story, genius. But the turnaround time didn't make sense for it. Steve had left. The joke was over. It's almost like the person who says the one liner after, you know, the show's over and like, oh, nobody thought it was funny. No, it's dead, Buried, buried, gone.

[A]

So she's now stuck with a bunch of these books. And I saw in the past this all happened a couple years ago. I saw she was trying to donate them because she didn't know what to do, but people are like, what is this?

[B]

I know, I know.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So there is a time and a place to be on trend. And then there's ones where you're like, you're so far gone that you're like. But it worked for everyone else but you, you're two weeks, two weeks late to it.

[A]

Kind of staying on the pulse of trends is existing in a lot of those cookie groups and hoping somebody post about them first. Or the cutter shops kind of make an announcement. So it is being chronically online that helps you stay on these trends. Some other website. Talk talk chart later, hootsuite. These are all ways to kind of find things. It's kind of hard. By the time Corey and I are giggling at a trend, it's likely already on the way out.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, sure.

[A]

What's that movie? The Truman Show. Yeah. The trope of the Truman show is if you haven't seen the movie, it's a funny movie. It's this guy, and he's the only one who doesn't know his whole life is staged. So they have an entire team. But apparently Americans have watched him, from a small boy, grow up into this man, only he doesn't realize everyone's an actor but him. So behind the sky, the sun is actually the producer. And the producer is always trying to make his life a little difficult to make the concept more interesting. For some reason, this movie, over 10 years old, maybe even 20 years old, has come back resurgence. Ed Harris, the man Ed Harris is saying, hey, look, something's going good. Now purposefully make it bad. So I just even sent Corey one a minute ago, and it said, hey, he just graduated college. Have AI decimate the job market. Hilarious, right? It's something. So. But it's so niche. So Corey texted me the other day. She's saying, I want you to make this. I want you to make this version for the local community group. But you have to do it tonight because who knows how long Ed Harris will be in our feeds. I'm surprised it's still lasting. I know.

[B]

But I have to think, because Facebook's so late to the game, Facebook buys

[A]

it a couple more weeks. So I had Ed Harris. Okay. The popular road to get to this community group is called Old Bridge Road. It has a ridiculous amount of traffic lights. I think it's a human case study to see how many.

[B]

I think so. Yeah.

[A]

So it's Ed Harris saying she thinks she'll get to work on time, have every red light turn yellow as she approaches. Right. Hyper, local, niche, trending content. But the meme performed well because it's riding the wave. Now, whenever Coy and I do this, somebody always be like, I don't get what this is. Like, there's somebody who's so far from trends that they do not know what it is. But it wasn't made for them anyways.

[B]

It's made for people. And I say chronically online, and that means you're online. So you get the Ebbs and the flows, the new jokes, the old jokes, what's. What's trending, what's not trending. And if you're like I don't like this because blah blah, blah that you're. You're missing a part, a segment of your marketing that you could ride the wave. It's not always guaranteed. It's not necessarily a content bucket you can rely on. But when it's there, oh, it is ripe for the picking.

[A]

So in a. In a way like to get views on Instagram, we're talking about great content. Creative funnel have the same one of those. The parts of that funnel can be content that falls within that trending bucket. It. But not all trends apply to bakers. So it's important to know what works and what doesn't. For me in my house, I would never get involved in a political trend. You just. Yeah, you might have meant it as a joke. But that inference that like I told you, you leave a little nugget for the user to discover themselves. That political stuff leaves a nugget that may or may not be what you wanted to intend.

[B]

Yeah. Where, where someone takes it differently than you intended. I see that often when it comes to someone posting something left of center but like it could be taken okay, but it has the potential to be taken not okay. Those kind of trends.

[A]

There's this rough trend. It happened last year. It's a super catchy song. I charge this much because it takes me. And then they use an expletive hours. So the concept is you're showing your product, you're showing your high end product that people are like, why are you charging so much for food, for cookies? We just eat them. Because it took you so long to make them. That's a funny trend. A lot of people jumped on it. But that it was the expletive was the F word. That word is super polarizing to some of your audience. So why are like. But it's a funny trend. What I saw happen was bakers were posting. It was a funny trend. But the comment section is. I find this really inappropriate, which is fair. They didn't know that they were happening onto your content. That's real wholesome. And now it's got the F bomb in it. And they're like, well, this isn't really what I signed up for. So those are trends. I also wouldn't capitalize on anything that uses any kind of hulgarity.

[B]

I know when I hear a trending sound and I hear like a curse word and I'm like, well, shoot, can't use that one.

[A]

Right. My parents would be upset. So it's kind of thinking the broader thing. What's the risk here? The. The gain is the views possibly going viral, possibly not going anywhere. But what is the risk if this does nothing and I lose a client? We've worked in the wrong.

[B]

We've got. The trend has gone anti trend. Unless your business name is the Cussing Curve Cookier, or I make cuss words and cookies. Like, if you could win more people over by not cursing, that would be the way to do it.

[A]

And you'll.

[B]

You'll find like, I don't use curse words in my business. I've had people have me pipe it on cookies. I just don't post the photos.

[A]

There's a trend specifically, and this one exists mostly with bakers, where you pipe words onto a cookie and the words. What I typically see are memes that have been turned into a cookie. You know, I think Britta Bakes is one of them. That does that a lot. Yes, yes, yes, they're funny. But some of them are politically charged and it creates. It creates viral, which is probably what the content creator wants. But you create animosity between people. And a lot of us hyperlocal cottage makers are not focused on content views or clicks and stuff like that. So you'd want to say, is this something that if this went viral, I would be okay with?

[B]

Yeah. I can't afford to alienate half of Lakeridge. I need to be marketing to all of Lake Ridge. So my goal is to make sure that my content one is trendy, stays on trend, that I can get the marketing juice from a trend. But it also fits my business model of I'm hyper local. I can't ship my cookies. I don't rely on the creator rewards program. I rely on custom orders from local

[A]

people so that hyperlocal trends are really, really hard to come by. But they are so hard.

[B]

I think Steve the crane was a blessing. The effing first watch was a blessing. What? Is there any other local ones? That Old Bridge Road is always up for the grabs. Bernie Sanders sitting in that chair so

[A]

many years ago was a big one. I, you know, I had. That was what, six years ago?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

He was in inauguration. He's sitting in super cold and he's super bundled up. I made it into a meme and I had him looking through the oven screen at what my cookies. See, Right. That would make no sense if we posted it today. However, when I posted it and Corey said, do you think People will take this politically. And I said, you know, it's a risk, it's a risk. But it's trending so much right now that possibly they would take it as a joke.

[B]

And I think I'll gamble. I don't know if a six years removed from that would do the same type of thing. But back six years when we were Willa Nilly there's only 10 people here

[A]

so let's hope we don't lose. Why so yeah, finding trends. Finding hyperlocal trends. I think a good way. I always see some bakers kind of post about it and I'll be like oh good. It's like taking off. They're posting about in the groups or they're asking how does how are people recording this? And then to kind of have that as a content bucket the trends. It's not a content. It's not evergreen content because it has that shelf life and that expiration on it. But it's that one time one hit wonder. Let me ride the wave. Impossibly secure. A little bit more here than I would otherwise viral post you there's a guy in the local foodies group I did he he's viral just by his personality. So she turned him into a cookie. It did okay.

[B]

The post did fantastic. I couldn't get the man over to get the cookies.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Saved my life.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I ate them. They were delicious. Can confirm that's also another gamble is you can join in on something viral and have it not work in your favor and that is is it's a gamble. So I actually put him on a few cookies and I had some non hymns on a cookies. I took pictures of him those cookies out of the photo. So I had some more content to work with next year. His phrase was do you believe? And I said you know what that goes for Santa too. He might say that but Santa does

[A]

say that as well. Yeah. Trying to force it. Not everything will take off but it is a jet pack on content creation.

[B]

The one thing I do see that maybe you should rethink is consider who your audience is on your page. Us bakers find baker memes hilarious because we're bakers and we understand like you know that royal icing bleeds the word to say your icing bleeds to the average person off putting because they think of blood. You'll never guess. So when you share something that's funny for bakers to your audience that's just local people it doesn't always do a resounding funny like if we do a Client, like, you know, touching on client bashing. My client showing up five hours late. Then you post.

[A]

I always find it funny when you guys share that to your face because I'm like, wow, it's so brazen. Like, and they're like, yeah, I know I'm risking it, but I want my clients.

[B]

So know who your audience is. And we don't want to upset our audience to. To get us as bakers find baker things funny. Your audience doesn't understand it.

[A]

I promise you, Corey will see like a big Herbie. Like, you know what? I'm finally putting my foot down, and I, I hate big. I hate clients that are being mean and demanding. And Corey's like, every like on that is another baker. Like, yeah, you signal to the wrong crowd. You were off putting to your own audience because now they're like, well, is they talking about me? But you've signaled and got the bakers who commiserate with you. But you, you isolated your audience. So why. It felt like a win because you got probably more likes than you typically do. Sure, it's a lot net loss because you, You, I. You alienated the.

[B]

The algorithms are now, like, haywire. Like, they'll. They'll show your stuff to people who are interested in stuff. So when I see a client, when I see a baker saying, this is the last time. Clients who don't pay on time, you know, you're dead to me. And then I'll see the bakers in the comments be like, yeah, girl, my client didn't show up last day. I'm like, but your client could potentially

[A]

see this, especially if they click to your page and find you all the time. And when whatever you guys are doing in your private groups. Jonah, if you're my friend on Facebook and you're posting in a group, it's finding. For some reason, I stopped posting in public groups because it's so trying to interconnect. Like, my dad's calling me and asking why I posted this in a pr. Like, I wanted to post in the rug tapping group. They're all set to public. Yeah, I just want some privacy. I just my dumb questions in private. Just some privacy.

[B]

Police privacy. That's why I'm like, oh, I. I love me a closed group because I can ask a question. You know, maybe like, anyone having period cramps, like, and not have a man be like, period cramps? Who are you, man from Georgia?

[A]

It's funny, people who engage in. I had gone. I'd seen a political post and I had clicked on it. But I followed a page unrelated to the political post who had engaged with. The page was not affiliated with politics and I knew who the owner was, but they had engaged with this post signaling that it was a political preference. It was actually a pretty derogatory post and it changed my perspective on. Wow, you're really mixed. So even hiding the anonymity of your page and getting in involved in drama is just so risky. I would not do that. I wouldn't do that because people are crazy on the Internet and they'll find you and hunt you down. Yeah.

[B]

So you'll find trends where like something's politically funny and maybe you are more political than me and Heather who try to never have politics in our line of sight. And you'll find like, oh, I'll go engage with. With the algorithms these days and wants to make.

[A]

It wants to be messy. I always say it wants to be. It wants to break up marriages. It wants to messy. It wants to show you who liked. Oh, look, who liked your boyfriend post.

[B]

Like, yeah, it'll be some random person. And I'm like, who is this random? And I'll click and I'll be like, we're not even friends. They just happen to show up in my feed.

[A]

It is crazy. And then that, I'm sorry, because I think the algorithm is truly messy. Like people you may know, like, why are you pulling out my ex's ex's wife's girlfriend's dog? Yeah, like, you're just messing. You're just messy.

[B]

You're no messy girl. But that trending in your marketing, trending in your offerings, those are great ways to get your name out there. Even if the first watch. No one ever ordered first watch cookies. After that, you'll never believe. But my page grew with local people. That's my goal there. Yeah, that was my. My goal.

[A]

Nobody's going to follow Corey's page. Who doesn't live in Manassas and knows that the F is falling off of the first watch building from that post. Right. She wasn't going to go viral and get somebody from Washington, which we don't necessarily want. Again, the vanity metric is. Look how many people are following me. The metric we want to I weigh success against is how many people bought from me. Yes. Yes.

[B]

How many local people can I collect in my umbrella that I can market to later that might have a birthday next year?

[A]

So TikTok, if you don't have tick tock, bless your soul. You probably saved a lot of time in your life and were productive and actually did Something. But if you want to follow these trends, I probably recommend finding it on TikTok first.

[B]

Yeah, that seems to be where it is. And if you're like, oh, TikTok's owned by a foreign company. It's not anymore. It's stateside, so you're good to go to download it.

[A]

It Kiss your productivity goodbye.

[B]

Yeah, kiss the productivity.

[A]

I'll see you in the dating nightmare horror story algorithm.

[B]

That algorithm over there is unlike any algorithm I've ever experienced. If I click to one video, I.

[A]

I'll see 50 more like it.

[B]

Because it's like, you like this girl.

[A]

It's. What I find is the biggest signal is letting the video play all the way through. Is the signal that it's like, okay, that's what she wants to know about how pigs eat mess up dirt. I just let it play all the

[B]

way through and open the comment section. Oh, that's.

[A]

You're gonna see that profile to find part two, whatever that is. That's hypersensitive. So you kind of really get what you want. And we start watching those trending things like this video where it's a little toy car and then you zoom in, it's the guy's actual car. That's a ton of that because Corey keeps sending it to me for some reason.

[B]

Yeah. Now it's just in my feed. I'm like, wow, these are really trendy. I really like them.

[A]

So that takes us through this abridged version. Some upcoming things we have routine up for our community groups boot camp. You guys can see that Community groups, smooth product, move money. It is the number every time I've ever asked for the last five years. Which are number one lead sources. It's Facebook and specifically Facebook community groups. Until that is over, we need to capitalize on it. I fear the day that stops.

[B]

Just like you, though, when you say, I get a lot of business from community groups, your competition does too. So you taking this boot camp and learning how to make a community group work for you so that when everyone tags 50 million bakers, you're the one that gets the order. That's the goal here, my friends.

[A]

The community group strategy. Strategy is all encompassing, from how you show up to how you engage, tag and post, to how you comment. There's a lot of facets that make you either a valuable member to a group or a detractor from a group. And Corey and I have been running her community group and obviously sugar cookie marketing group. So we're going to tell you. And then when you run A group that's big enough or I'm not sure what the metric is. You get invited to Facebook's group for group managers.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You can kind of see the struggles that these group managers are sharing. They have a lot of struggles with people abusing the nicknames. Right. So things that we can teach that we can see over here and tell you, hey, this is what these admins want to see to be in favor with the admins. Always the goal.

[B]

That is always the goal. And as one who is admin now, this local community group for now almost four years, let me tell you a group member that gets it. They're my. They're my angel baby. I. There's one group member. Heather knows who I'm talking about and I don't even need to say her name. She does floor and bathroom remodeling. I've never bought from her, but she does good work. And if someone asks, I'm tagging her

[A]

when the admin recommends the business. Locked and loaded.

[B]

Locked in loaded.

[A]

Yeah. So Corio, actually I think when didn't you. Aren't you having this strategy, this you're currently in it where you've connected with bartering admin. A lady runs a local group and she created a group to barter. So it's business owners who are willing to barter.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And Corey is creating cookies for her because you want her to tag you because you're willing to barter.

[B]

I'm willing to barter with an admin who is making. Making the. Making the rules in a group. So she does social media audits. Granted, I'm auditing my social media every day and, and I, I'm pretty good at it. But I would love some external eyes. The, the value isn't necessarily in her audit. The value to me is getting on her good side.

[A]

So Corey's found this that he started the group Poryzag number three. And you think it has potential. So she's getting in early like we talked about getting in before the trend. And she's trying to cultivate a collaboration with the admin so that Corey's like this admin seems hungry for it which is great because that means they're going to be active possibly and Corey could get on the stuff the ground level of this group building up which potential because it's a fire drink group and

[B]

we'll see and you know, the group might not not. Might not do well but she is in other groups and that's how she grew her group by posting another group. So she's an active group member. That's another win in my book.

[A]

And that's she's auditing. She's a marketer with small business. So she has the connections.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

That Corey would want for corporate. And again it's all a timeline. It's all a play. It's all saying not all of them will handle hit. You could do the best viral video and it gets crickets. That happens so often. Just keep at it. Just keep.

[B]

Yeah. Consistency is key and but we got.

[A]

We got deviated from My upcoming boot camp is community groups. If you say I that community group is saturated. This probably is the bootcamp for you. It's a long term boots on the ground strategy but it's about the only way to cut through the clutter of what community groups that allow sales posts happen. Yes. Yes. We can tell you it's a great course because that's how Corey uses it and it works. So we're not telling you something that doesn't work. We're not telling you theories. It's things we have actually done. And in August we're doing a procreate designing appropriate. Not everyone designs sets in Procreate but if you want to give that little edge up. Procreate is a great platform. It's on iPad specifically and we use an Apple pencil. And you could design your sets there and add that as an additional fee to your highest tier as an option if they want to upgrade or maybe take on wedding clients where you can at Target. This would be something to include there. Yeah. If you want to check that out you can go to the cookiecollege.com bootcamp and if you want to buy this bootcamp directly you can go to the Cookie College.com Bootcamp 5 forward/buy. You can buy all our past boot camps. You can buy the Cookie Video basics boot camp we just covered and learn how to implement these trends because Corey tells you here's kind of like here's some type of And I don't think you go too trendy because it would

[B]

expire not too trendy. I talk about calf cutting the templates and the templates are trendy because it's attached to TikTok.

[A]

So what a great way to find what's trending without having to do too much footwork. Yeah. And their templates so you can just drag and drop your clips.

[B]

Amen girl.

[A]

Amen girl. So I'm just gonna run through this real quick. We have the Meet the Baker collabs in a week. That one's you just kind of Take a south beef. Corey, I sent you your photos already. Thank you.

[B]

Appreciate it.

[A]

And I'll be helping you guys with copy. Coffee. I'm at the beach. I'm not helping with coffee, but I'll be back.

[B]

And this one is a great one. I always say introduce yourself throughout the year. Every quarter is a great way to do that, to get your face in front of your van. Human eyes. Nothing beats a face in marketing. Let me tell you.

[A]

She brought them. She brought the cookies for you guys two weeks ago while we were recording the boot camp. And she's like, I've showered, I, I've shaved. I'm going to get more out of this than that. So she's like, I'm going to take my headshot photos for the collab, but take more photos. I want to use them throughout the year.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

So that's just a great way to create content. Like we're only doing this collab once a year. But Corey will introduce herself every quarter. Absolutely. Absolutely. Saying top of mind. People like faces, people like branding. Corey's obsessed with her logo. So she actually could go find her logo. It's not required this time, but it is a great piece of content to marry Corey to a cookie, to a branding.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. You'll never get to turn that cookie into a cookie decorating video.

[A]

Squeeze that content, girl.

[B]

I never saw a content I didn't want to squeeze.

[A]

Yeah. July. We're gonna limit the amount of signups for that. But I gotta still think of what maybe we talked about it maybe with the beats right now. Talking about with the July collab should be.

[B]

Yeah, we are, we are spitballing ideas.

[A]

Hand me a pina colada. And what do you think? The July. It sounds good. It's rolling off its tongue. It feels good.

[B]

Yes, yes, yes.

[A]

Cookie Con happy hour is in just two weeks. That's crazy. Heather Campbell Berkshire. Go to the events tab in Sugar Cookie Marketing Group. She's giving tips and tricks, has been doing it the past couple months on what to expect at CookieCon, how to make the most of your event. She's big into Disney and Disney Springs. Obviously she's a trip planner. So go there and connect with her. If you're going solo, you're going to want to attend this happy hour there. Very nice.

[B]

Yeah. Teaming up at Cookie Con with a few like minded bakers makes it. It's so much fun. It was a blast.

[A]

TR Blendy. 24 weeks. I already talk about it yet?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Major holidays, probably graduation, last day of school have ended for Most of us, I think Cory and I are beachside. So it's ended here. Yeah, June 15th, actually at my house that I'm sitting in right now watching my cats that are hopefully still alive.

[B]

And hopefully he is as well. June 15 is when schools get out here in this area. So they'll still be in thick throughout the end.

[A]

I pulled this from Fairfax county and theirs is June 17th.

[B]

Oh, interesting Pinteresting.

[A]

Father's Day is in two weeks. Corey says it's a decent seller. Probably should have locked in your orders at this point.

[B]

I need you to check my form. I just need extra eyes to look over it real quick before I.

[A]

Are you doing a Father's Day?

[B]

Just the popcorn ones to get rid of the packaging. Nice.

[A]

Thank you, dad. Summerween three weeks away. We're trying to force that one. It's Halloween in the summer. It's a tr. It's a trend. Trend. It's a trend. Yeah. It is a trend, this one. Hopefully it's a trend that has some legs or some staying power. However, who knows for chance it's gotten pop.

[B]

More popular every single year.

[A]

So it's. We remember we're on the upside of the trend. However, we're still early to market. So your audience might be like, why are you doing Halloween in the summer? And then you'd have to educate them. Yeah, yeah. But then all the other bakers are

[B]

like, oh, we didn't know that.

[A]

Let me do it too. Because she did. Are you doing summer?

[B]

I have to think about it.

[A]

Fourth of July. America's 250th birthday is in a month. Happy birthday America. Happy birthday to you. I live now in West Virginia next to an illegal fireworks.

[B]

Oh yeah.

[A]

Picking them up possibly.

[B]

Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Bring them over.

[A]

States tonight.

[B]

I know a police officer. I'm going to call on you.

[A]

In Virginia you can't have fireworks at see the height of a building. But in West Virginia, apparently you can just light the forest on fire and call it.

[B]

Let me tell you, Virginia does. Does not see that rule. Every. Every July 4th there the skyline is lit.

[A]

I'll say In West Virginia it could be on a random Tuesday and there's a firework going on. National Sugar Cookie day is in four weeks on July 9th. Not sure they could run a discount there. Promotion. At least get a post up.

[B]

Yeah, get. Get it a post up.

[A]

Since we're from the future, I don't have any text from the last week because no text.

[B]

Do you have a marketing question you

[A]

could just ask If I have a marketing question that I'd ask. Okay. Well, told you guys on last week's podcast that I. I am in. I am trying to get in front of a camera because frankly, it falls within line with the podcast. These trends. Yes. And Corey and I were debating this. If it's too polished, it doesn't perform. But there is a place where polished does perform and then swear off the cuff. Feels like you just had this great idea just how to get it out of your system. Performs better. So on TikTok, I guess I was trying to watch my own habits. If it's too polished, do I stay? No. I find myself scrolling. So when I say right now, my. My audio is not working. I have these. We have these expensive blue Yeti pro mics. Corey's using it. That's why she sounds better than me. Mine's not working. So I'm using an external audio that isn't 100% dedicated. Yeah, that's why it sounds so bad.

[B]

Heather doesn't sound necessarily so bad. It's just not crystal clear.

[A]

Yes. So we said. But. But to have really bad audio on TikTok would make me want to scroll. So there is a blend of po and what feels impromptu that creates a video worth watching. And I've really been trying to wrap my head around what that all looks like it.

[B]

And I think it's good audio. A cell phone video, but on your back camera. We talked about that.

[A]

Right, Right. So, yes, the whole thing is film from your phone, but don't film from the selfie side because that camera's so low quality film.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Other side. So it feels impromptu camera, but it's very intentional. Backside of camera.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. And then you want to film in a higher resolution on your phone, though. So we don't. Me and Heather have done videography in the past for clients where we've had drones flying in buildings getting overhead shots. That's great for a very bigger feel. It feels like this is a big company. They have drones flying over a house, you know, of the roof remodel, something like. With that. When it comes to a small brand where you are one person who does everything feeling smaller. There is a marketing edge in that where you aren't feeling like a giant corporation and no one can treat you like a giant corporation because you're two hands in 24 hours.

[A]

It's almost like your lack of red tape is the benefit. Yeah. Right. Because the corporate's got to review this and approve that and then you can post it, you guys. Because we're just one man. Bands can post something instantaneously. An idea can be executed and uploaded it within an hour.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. Which is a fantastic way. Especially because video is ever growing. It's now even more popular than it was last year. That they want you to make more videos because it keeps people on the platforms longer and in a lot of time.

[A]

Do you think. There's my texting question. I won the STL map at a time. Okay. Congratulations. And you'd probably want it since you're using their entire server. Yes, I am.

[B]

Yeah, I am.

[A]

In our lifetime. Do you think so when you think of the orientation of a wall tv, it is horizontal.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Do you think it'll ever be within the next 40 years vertically? It is.

[B]

Someone had a video of their vertical tv.

[A]

I think what we'll see is a TV that can morph between. I think that can turn and. But I wonder if there'll come a day where we don't watch movies in the theater. If the theater is even exactly this ver. Horizontally. We watch them vertically. Yeah.

[B]

I. I would say that if all the orientations. Isn't YouTube still this kind of angle?

[A]

YouTube shorts not. But recently in the last week or so, one YouTube Premium raised its rates. That was ridiculous. But YouTube thumbnails, the image, it became more square, more of the 4 to 5 aspect. The thumbnail. But when you click it, it goes back to the horizontal. 1920 by 1080.

[B]

So funny. But I think it's the last bastion of this kind of horizontal film.

[A]

Because I said you. Because you want to watch it. I can watch YouTube on my TV and the horizontal video takes up the whole screen.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Watch a tick tock on a horizontal screen is weird. So in the Boot Camp videos. Boot Camp, you give us a lot of phone recordings. But the Boot Camp is actually recorded in 1920 by 1080. So I've actually expanded the video behind the video and blurred it out so it's duplicated. Which is weird trying to make two different orientations.

[B]

I know the aspect. So yeah. I do think that it has the potential to just be a vertical realm where everything.

[A]

Somebody is talking and the video is really high quality. It makes me feel like they probably know their stuff. Don't ask me why. But sometimes when they're. When they're talking and it's a more conversational story like, hey, here's this crazy thing that happened. I do not want to be. Be professionally filmed. I wanted to. Yeah.

[B]

Because I feel like. What you've written this up. This is a Skit you rehearsed.

[A]

This is probably not real. This is just a storytelling type thing. Yeah, it's really interesting. So as I venture into my own content creation, it's just something I was thinking about.

[B]

Yeah, I. Content.

[A]

Here's something you don't do in terms of content creation. And I see you're kind of moving into this more like, let me do a product review, Let me do a business review. City, farmers market. What you don't do is do a tell all where the screen never moves. Like you're in your car talking to your phone and that's how it starts and stops. You always have B roll and outtakes and stuff.

[B]

I do, because that's how I imbibe the videos. Here's the thing. To do a get ready with me, you would have to have a good story to not have any breaks or cutouts or jump cuts to keep someone interested. My stories just aren't that interesting. And I'm not willing to like lambast a client, you know, for content and views. So I'm like, I. I don't think I could provide enough value for someone to stick around. If I could be like, guys, I'm prepping for my first pop up and I'm so nervous. That would be a great one to do. But I can't be like, I am doing my 4000th custom order and I'm scared. No, it don't work that way.

[A]

Yeah, I'd be curious if you tested out that like I could. Yes, one. But like you said, the story has to be interesting.

[B]

And I now live video is a still form of video marketing content. So doing a live video, live get ready with me and it vanishes after that might be, you know, the best spot for me.

[A]

That'll be interesting. Did you see Instagram's come out with this concept called instance and it's hor people.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So what I can see is. Do you remember a couple years ago during COVID that app that you would have to every 24 hours take a photo and would send it to.

[B]

What was it called? It wasn't parasail, it was Be.

[A]

Be real.

[B]

Be real.

[A]

Wow, that was a good poll.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Sorry, man, Rat. The brain ain't on the head to that one. So the Bereal thing in the world of very curated content at the time, four years ago, five years ago, Covid had us all sequestered at home. I think this was right when Covid happened. So the concept was the B reel would say trigger. On your phone. That notification, it says, you have to take a picture of what you're doing right now.

[B]

It was a twofold thing. It took photo outward and inward. So on the back camera and the front camera it had to be real as possible.

[A]

Yeah, be as real as possible. And it was an interesting way to really kind of connect with people because it forced them to be as authentic. Whatever you were doing, you had to

[B]

like if you're on the toilet and it's like it's counting down like you're doing a smiling face and then we see your feet on the ground, like we know you're in the squatting position.

[A]

It's quite funny. So isn't that what Instance is kind of like with less pressure?

[B]

They say Instance is like that because you can share it with a minute amount of people. So like be real. It people could request to follow you but you weren't sharing just willy nilly with anybody with a pulse like Instagram does. But Instagram has the close friends where you can just upload a story in the people you choose to see it. So Instance was supposed to be like that. This is their. Their take on Snapchat is what I've been hearing.

[A]

You see. Oh, it mentions be real and Snapchat here Instincts is a feature on Instagram that lets you share and polished in the moment. Photos that disappear after a single view. So.

[B]

So Snapchat is.

[A]

You don't have to add. It's anybody who follows you can see it.

[B]

I think you can do it Private or not private.

[A]

They can be only viewed once and the entire photo expires after 24 hours. No lurkers Friends can react and reply but you won't be able to see a list of people who have viewed the photo. Unlike stolen that.

[B]

So that's how it was different than Stories Stories. You can always see who saw it.

[A]

You watch a story.

[B]

Yeah. What's so funny is Instance has a paid upgrade. I've done some research on it. It has a paid upgrade and it says see who viewed your instance. But what it doesn't tell you it does. It's not. You can't see who viewed it. You can see how many views it got. So it was.

[A]

You can even see that otherwise it's truly anonymous. Promise to you. Yeah, but Kayla, you can share it instantly with either close friends or mutuals follows you follow or follow you back. Because close friends you have to set

[B]

close friends you choose.

[A]

But Mutuals is anybody who follows me and I follow them back, they can see this. That's not a preset thing that's just too so if somebody followed you overnight they no longer be able to see your instance.

[B]

So probably an influencer who's not following. A lot of people would choose maybe close friends like they don't want to throw off their follower count so they they never followed their friends but they want their friends to see it.

[A]

There is a standalone instance app outside of. There is. There is. Oh you can undo tap undo immediately after taking a picture to pull it back before friends see it. So I guess it has a an

[B]

like a quick like it's a combination of all of those things those other apps. It's like all in one.

[A]

Remember Parasail accidentally. What was that where you said a voice clip.

[B]

You did a voice clip a day and it was just words. People were just talking to the abyss. Your boyfriend Don did do it.

[A]

Remember I found try to block out that whole two years. Yeah I remember what happened.

[B]

He was on Parasol talking.

[A]

It said as a standalone app the undo button in archives you can share shared instance are saved to a private archive for a year and you can turn those into recaps on your stories. So I guess weird. I guess you can take a private thing and make it I didn't want

[B]

you to see it, but I wanted you to see it now.

[A]

I liked how I look there. So everyone gets acting. Have you sent an instant. No, I have not.

[B]

I don't have anything into. I don't have. Not instantly you're gonna see either a cookie being decorated or me washing a dish.

[A]

Interesting. Just another thing to get in front of people in a weird way.

[B]

I know. Interesting.

[A]

Like I said, if I said it on this one, this podcast and not the last one. Social media is messy. It is constantly cracking open the doors to cheat. There you go. I said it. I'm trying to get your ex into watching your instance and apply the thing nobody can see ever. It's the most messy stuff in the world.

[B]

That's what Snapchat is.

[A]

And then you have stories in these things and these ways and like I don't know.

[B]

I'm kind of glad we missed the realm where someone has never said to me in my adult life, add me on Snap app. I appreciate that not being said to me ever, but I think it's the

[A]

direction and when people say can I get your number? I'm going to say I'm not even going to give you my last name. This was fun because it was organic happenstance and it was easy because we'd never have to see each other again. So.

[B]

But the way the phones work, it's listening and it's. It's clocked your voice. And you'll be in the suggested friends tomorrow.

[A]

Can I tell this awkward story at the car thing now? Two weeks ago for you people listening, I had introduced myself to this guy or whatever and then he was interested in about what we do for work. He wanted to know more about this so he could not hear me because it was a raging river next to us in cars. So he says, can you type in the website into my phone? But when I go to Google, he had Googled me in the like my name was the most recent search thing.

[B]

That is creepy. That is creepy. Were you like, I'm pretty sure

[A]

he's too big. I was like, no, I got the wrong twin for that one. Hilarious.

[B]

You want to call you sweetie sweetie.

[A]

Hilarious though. But so yeah, back to the podcast kind of. Yes. Sticking around with these trends. My STM about it getting in front of the camera. It's been heavy on the topic for these two because we had the boot camp wrap up. Yes.

[B]

Yeah. And it's been just top of mind since I was creating the PowerPoint and making the videos for the PowerPoint and then making videos to show you how I'm incorporating it and you guys follow me on social media and you see the videos that I'm making. Someone was like, you inspired me to make more reels because of your videos.

[A]

Those what's working today won't work tomorrow, but what worked yesterday didn't work today. Today, the flavor of choice across every single app is video based content.

[B]

I know, I know.

[A]

It's so nice to have a graphic camera and take that still photo and you look like a harbinger of death because you haven't showered. However, that's not what the people want. So thus the platforms aren't going to favor it because the platform's goal is to keep people on the platform to serve them and hands. Yeah.

[B]

Yeah. So a combination the. The curated photo. I love it. Pry it from my cold dead hands. In addition to a day in the life you taking your son to his soccer game, what you do on your days off, your family vacation, highlighting things like that are going to create the relationships and that's part of the like no trust and people will buy from those they like and they know. You got to let them get to know and like.

[A]

Like, yeah, you've been seen, you've been heard and you've been understood. That was the exquisite referring to love to when I said, hey, I have this Massive problem. He would always say, you know what, Heather? You've been seen, you've been heard, you've been understood. And they would continue to do the thing I had.

[B]

I want to say, though, the first time you heard that probably was angelic.

[A]

Like, I've seen heard. Not just have I been heard, I've also been seen. And then the audacity to be understood.

[B]

Oh, my. Now it's my favorite. Like Cory will be whenever I say

[A]

something, Cory, like, you know what? You've been, you've been, you've been understood. You can run to it.

[B]

I can run to it as well.

[A]

See, but this type of content, let's say, okay, just in. Since this is the most, most casualist of podcasts ever, could you tell a story, story time, about Heather dating this guy who's been seeing her? Like, could that perform? That would be weird to your audience.

[B]

It could. I, I, I fear that it ends up in poor Donifer's newsfeed and I, like, hurt his feelings. I, I can't, I hated the guy, but I care for him a little bit. You don't know.

[A]

Here's what Corner is saying. Okay, So I had, I had to take the car to a shop a couple weeks ago, and I didn't have the best experience because they just were dragging their feet. And I told them, hey, I was, there's a rumor that you guys would do this to me and I would love to tell the people who were spending.

[B]

I would love to dispel that rumor if you're kept.

[A]

And I said, I'd love to tell them I had a different experience. Okay. So of course, when I get upset now they're getting any job done. The car was working great. Then they said, would you leave us a review? I was like, well, I don't, like, I want to be honest and be like, this was a five star experience, but he doesn't want a four star review.

[B]

Right?

[A]

So.

[B]

And that's why the drama buckets, they work, work. But let me tell you, when you attract people with drama, they're hungry and they need to be fed with more. And just because they sided with you on your first dramatic experience does not mean they are loyal to you for the long.

[A]

They're loyal to drama and they're loyal to drama. You are against you.

[B]

And if you are a little left of center on your next dramatic take that you do, they have no qualms.

[A]

The problem is drama is left of center. That's what makes it dramatic.

[B]

It's opinionated. Yeah, opinionated.

[A]

But when you detract, how you get them is how you keep them. That's what you're saying. You got to keep feeding them. So how you get them, if you got them through drama, is how you keep them. You have to produce more drama, but because the drama can swing for you or against you, it's scary out there. I see people. Did you see that? That this two women, one had a wedding and one was the boss of the. Their husbands were working together, one was the boss of the other. And so the girl gets in there and she's like, here's my dramatic story about this lady who fired my husband because she didn't like my wedding. Something dramatic, right. Sat and grabbed my popcorn. Sure. Then the lady's like, here's the actual truth. Then everyone went back to the judge during executioner of TikTok and turned on the original lady.

[B]

Yeah, that's what I want to say. If you use a content bucket for your marketing, as this client did this, you'll never guess you're going to get people sat, people listening and people watching. The problem is, is if the client that you're lambasting thing has the receipts of how you did not perform correctly and held up your end of the bargain, they have just as much opportunity to create videos about you.

[A]

And I see it.

[B]

I see it every time someone's video will pop off and they really like that, you know, their drama. Dramatic video got a lot of views. And then they're hit with the receipts from the other side. And then the whole crowd turns on them. They turn off their comments. They say, you guys are being mean to me, but, like, you can dish it, but you can't take it. And I know I can't take it, so I. I'm not gonna dish.

[A]

Yeah. Coronary little panties. We wither. I mean, we weather. Yeah. What is the subject of this dramatizing? Why are you saying this?

[B]

You're saying we're talking about video and getting into video edit.

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[B]

Tangent central.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Been on mine, guys. Been on the mind. So by now I would have gotten my. My camera.

[B]

I wonder by now, how many videos have you created by now?

[A]

What are you. You've been. You're a week into the future, girl. What have you created with this?

[B]

Have you created. We're holding your feet to the fire.

[A]

You're speaking to a version of me that doesn't sit before you today. Future me. We wonder what she's up to.

[B]

We wonder, is she seen, heard and understood or she's still dreaming of the perfect setup for the perfect video.

[A]

Ben Sheen heard and understood.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Moving on to our sponsors. Without the sponsors, there is no podcast, even a casual one. One cookie design lab code code twin saves 15%. Bakey bake. Code twin saves you 10%. Daisy makes code twins 10 saves you 10%. Primari and Eddie Code Full price allows you to pay full price because they don't have sales, but it is pretty cool machine. And Bosch and Nutrimil. The Code Sugar Cookies is an affiliate link and it saves you 20 bucks and gives us 20 bucks back.

[B]

20 dwellers, 24 dwellers.

[A]

Just a little thing from future me, from past me. If you use an affiliate link, you must disclose it.

[B]

It is by law.

[A]

By law.

[B]

I don't know why I get so frustrated.

[A]

You do catch in the wild. Somebody's like, this is such a great product. It's the best thing I've ever had. And then I see, here's the thing. Amazon doesn't call them affiliates. They call them associates. They do so in the hyperlink, the A S S o C equals refld and then some variation of the name because it's okay. People typically use that is an affiliate link. And if you do not write also heads up, I make commissions off this. You are breaking the law and it can actually be reported to Amazon.

[B]

The problem is why that is an issue is because you are biased. You are making a cut off of everything you sell. And when you do not reveal that to your end audience and they buy it thinking it was an authentic push of whatever it is, you have lied to them because you are getting paid in the background.

[A]

I think. I think the mental gymnastics to make it seem okay is, well, I'm only recommending the products I would love anyways. But the bias cannot be disassociated. When you make something from the sale, you are no longer an independent third unbiased party. You are financially. There's some gainful bias in your pitch.

[B]

Yeah. So when I did the video of the smoothie guy, he said, let me give you this for free. And I said, no, you or don't want to be biased. Let me buy it.

[A]

When the one time an XX not heard, seen, understood X, the guy before that, he never heard, saw or understood me at all. He wanted to work with a friend. The friend was running a car event and he wanted us to promote it. And he said, listen, the minute money exchanges hands between us, this relationship will never be the same. And he was right. They had a falling out within a year. So tells you more about the accent, anything. But the exchange of money changes the format forever. It does, it does, it does.

[B]

If you get kickbacks, if someone pays you in cookie cutters, you're still getting compensated. That's.

[A]

That's the deal.

[B]

I don't know why we're talking about

[A]

affiliation here, because I had to say the Bosch Nutrimil is an affiliate link. The other ones are not. If you buy that stuff, we get nothing from it. They are podcast sponsors, which I have to tell you. But that last one is not a podcast sponsor. It's an affiliate link. You get 20 bucks, we get 20. Timex goes back to.

[B]

But don't post your affiliates in trigger cookie marketing. We'll sniff it out.

[A]

Amy. Her favorite pastime is figuring out if that link you posted gives you a kickback.

[B]

Here's the thing. You're like, it works in marketing to have an affiliate program.

[A]

Square Affiliate.

[B]

Yeah. An affiliate program allows you to have many marketers marketing for you because they get a kickback and so they could get X amount of so many products that they. They sell. And I know TikTok is always sending me, do you want to do a paid barter? J. You get X amount of how many things you have. You become a worker, a marketer, a team member of that company though. And when you are running your bakery business but you've teamed up with like a brand to do that, you've muddled your audience just a little bit. Just there's a whole marketing.

[A]

Well, the brands know it. They know that you muddling your audience makes them more money.

[B]

Oh, they don't care if you muddle. Muddle mud away.

[A]

Take your commissions, do it, whatever. We. There's a. She's not related to us. She's related to like five different things. But she does an a Tik Tok affiliate. And it's interesting. I didn't realize how some of this affiliate stuff works on TikTok specifically. They'll send you the product and you have to make the video and if you don't, they charge you for the product.

[B]

That it wasn't always like that. You used to just get free product in a hopes for it. Now there is like this withheld and they're like the days are running out because there's a countdown when you get a free product.

[A]

It's so funny.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And that girl model clothes and you could see that she had to make the clothes modeling videos otherwise she'd have to pay for them. But what's crazy, she was able to say she didn't like the outfit. But she had to make the video the way she'd be charged.

[B]

She had gotten. I know Heather's talking about. She had gotten a bird feeder. Like a bird feeder stand. And the time was running out and she had to make the video. So she's like, this is a bird feeder. I haven't put it together, but it's coming down, so it's so funny. Affiliate. Affiliate marketing. We should do a podcast on it. It's not necessarily something you could use as your, you know, bakery business, per se.

[A]

You could Bosch Nutra Mill. They allow you to sign up for the affiliate. A lot of these STL shops allow you to sign up for affiliate, but do you see it at the target audience of other bakers?

[B]

Yeah. Yeah.

[A]

So possibly you could use the affiliate in your cookie class. But then you have that thing. It's like, I paid to be here. Now you're making money off of me again. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Keep my mind interesting.

[B]

Guys, I'm gonna go back to roasting on the beach.

[A]

Do you have a to dress? No, my. My.

[B]

Mine was the dandelion growing up last week that we also just filmed him.

[A]

Pretty positive. Your son's not mowing my lawn, so I can't wait to see the giant.

[B]

Oh, you're gonna have some care to do. But guys, thanks for tuning in. Without you, there is no podcast. Without you supporting the sponsors, there also is no podcast, so if you could do both, that'd be great.

[A]

The grant sponsors, and we are biased. You should buy from them.

[B]

But I love our sponsor. I tried them out before we ever did anything with them.

[A]

That's why I'm a believer has fired sponsors that she does not like their work. Okay, I'll see you at the beach. Maybe if we grab one.

[B]

See you there. Actually, just hand me the Diet Coke

[A]

next to you because I'm sure too busy shoving a shrimp in my mouth.

[B]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'll see you there.

[A]

Okay, bye.