Podcast
Baking it Down with Sugar Cookie Marketing 🍪
Hosted by Heather and Corrie Miracle · EN
👋 Hey - Heather and Corrie here with the Baking it Down Podcast with Sugar Cookie Marketing (a group on Facebook full of sugar cookiers turned business owners).
🍪 We're here to help you rise with your reach, flood with new followers, bake up new ideas, and make that all-important dough (while makin' that dough - see the pun there?)
🤑. What’s it about? We’re a Facebook Group turned Podcast, Membership, Book Club, and Baking 101 that’s dedicated to assisting bakers in effectively marketing online to generate more sales and better manage their businesses.
🧠 With free Facebook Live classes, hundreds of resources, and thousands of like-minded bakers, there’s a lot to learn in "SCM" (aka Sugar Cookie Marketing). ️🎧 As an extension of our Facebook group, this podcast is here to let you learn by listening. 📈 We'll cover group topics, marketing trends, and more (leaving this wide open in case Corrie wants to start singing).
💸 We take the sweet art of selling online to the cottage bakery world with marketing methods that move products (and pastries).👂 So open up those glorious ear canals because we have a podcast! Just when you’ve thought you’ve “heard” it all with those marketing "miracle" twins (that's our last name - not a proclamation), we’ve got something just for you each week!
🥣 As a baker, you don't always have the luxury of two hands needed to scroll in Sugar Cookie Marketing Group or crack open a book in Sugar Cookie Bookies, but what you can do is listen (unless you're my kid asking “what’s for dinner” for the millionth time).
👐 Hands full of flour? No problem! 👍 18 dozen iced cookies due tomorrow? Let’s do this. The Baking it Down Podcast by Sugar Cookie Marketing is a weekly podcast geared toward helping you grow your bakery business - dropping (almost) every Tuesday.
📅 We choose a topic each week that's either something new and emerging in the world of social media or something that we saw in "The Group" that was a hot topic and we bake it down... I mean, "break" it down for you. 🗯️ What you can expect in the podcast is about an hour of chit-chat with the meat and potatoes right at the beginning of the episode.
🥔 That’s when we dive into the marketing topic of the week! 📞 Oh yeah, folks can call / text / email in with their questions too - a fun way to hear from other bakers out there.
Our promises to you:
1️⃣ We always make it clean = no cursing. We understand that you are busy and could be around little ones while also trying to get your weekly dose of business growth so we make sure that each episode would make our grandma proud and keep it clean so you can listen while also living your life.
2️⃣ We always make it fun. There’s a lot of negativity in the world so we try and make the podcast an upbeat and fun learning experience for you. I mean, we try to make the Instagram updates and c...
95episodes
Episodes
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214. Baking it Down - Pivot Pivot Pivot
Jun 3, 202501:08:43Summary readySend us a text🔄 Pivot Pivot Pivot - What to change when nothing's working.In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 214 - Pivot Pivot Pivot, 😖 we talk about what to do when you're doin' it all and all of it doesn't seem to be working. 🛞💨 Nothing is more frustrating than spinning your wheels and making no traction. So what do you do when it's just not working? Here are some things to attempt before you start screaming into the void. See - sometimes we might be doing "all the things," but we're not doing them all right. So touching base with the basics may help you reveal some ways you can pivot and get some fruit from all that labor. 🍎🍊🍋🍌🍉🍑🍓🍒 So - to summarize, yes - you can do everything on the list and still miss the marketing mark. So let's reassess.🔄 1. Try shifting posting timesAn easy one, but it may make a difference. If you use Facebook Planner defaults (10:00 AM), you'll find that your content goes up at the same time every time you post. While I love me consistency, sometimes it may be the very thing throwing off your marketing. Corrie has me helping her run her local community group, where the 'most active times' metric is still available. And guess what - the most active time in her area? 8:00 PM on a weekend - definitely not 10:00 AM on a weekday. 🕒🕓🕔 So, try switching it up - see if posting on a weekend late gets more engagement. You'll also need to recognize other players here - content type, copy, time of year, etc. But playing around with posting times can give a lil' boost when nothing else is hittin' home.🔄 2. Test different copy formulasIf you're posting the same caption over and over and over and over - it may be worthwhile to incorporate another format and see if that small adjustment makes a big difference when it comes to your audience. 🧪 We like formulas because they act as guides for your copy - P-A-S, A-I-D-A, before-after-bridge, 4 C's - all examples of formulas designed to help you make copy work for you, not against you.Remember - truncation reigns supreme. 🪝 It may be worth plantin' a hook in your first few words to get people to click... See more.🔄 3. Switch out photos for ReelsIt's a Reel's world and we're just livin' in it. Most folks hate the idea of recording video, 🎥 especially when it took us so long to master photos. But if there's one consistent thing about social media = it's that it never stays consistent. To take on the addictive TikTok, 📲 Meta has moved to favor the vertical video both on Instagram and kinda on Facebook? Either way, if your photos aren't resonating, clear them pipes and get to talkin' or, uh, voice-over-in'? Vertical video is in whether or not we like it. 🤮 *opens mouth and takes a big spoonful of phone mount shadows* 🔄 4. Mix in some new content buckets🪣 Sometimes our consistent content is also stale content, and our audience will let us know by checkin' out. It may be time to mix in some more exciting content buckets. You know the drill = feature local restaurants or markets, share a recommendation for a local business, talk about a charity your clients are involved in, add in some person posts so people can connect. The age-old strategy of just posting 🖼️ baked set after 🖼️ baked set can bore even the most die-hard supporters (thanks, mom), so add in some interest that they can re-engage with.👂 Snag this podcast on any major podcast player (Spotify, Apple Music, Audible, Amazon Music, or watch it on YouTube) by searching for Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 214 - Pivot Pivot Pivot.
Summary213. Baking it Down - Hit the Breaks
May 27, 202501:13:43Summary readySend us a text🛑 Hit the Breaks - How to take big bakery breaks.In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 213 - Hit the Breaks, we cover the fact of life that just sometimes, along your business journey, you need to take a big break. If you've listened to past podcasts, you know we're anti-"big break" when it comes to marketing because it's really hard to stop and start marketing when funnels are long and competition is well, competitive. However, the beauty of being your own boss is that when life requires significant breaks, you're able to take them - with the correctly set expectations that it will impact your marketing and lead generation. With the right setup, that negative effect can be mitigated. And that's what today's podcast is on - the strategy behind big breaks.Note - if you're taking a small break, like something under 2 weeks, disregard this strategy. You likely don't even need to alter your current marketing much, if at all, for a small break. We are talking big breaks, as in 2 months. ⛔ 1. Make an announcement When it comes to big breaks, we need to c-o-m-m-u-n-i-c-a-t-e effectively because nothing is more frustrating than to go place an order with your favorite baker for an event that just happens to fall during that baker's big break. So we need our audience to fully comprehend our break and what it entails.⛔ Add a defined start and stop date for your big break. I'm talking "July 1, 2025 - August 15, 2025" type specificity. This can help your audience plan around your break without being ambiguous. ⛔ Unpin ALL pinned posts and JUST leave this announcement post pinned. We want to make sure all the attention is brought to a singular point - our break announcement. ⛔ Do NOT put the dates you're out of town. Thieves can use this information to figure out that your house is homeowner-free and rob ya. Again, this podcast is for "taking a break from my bakery" breaks, not "at the beach for the week" breaks.⛔ 2. Schedule out posting and newslettersContrary to "taking a break," we don't want to fully ghost our socials and newsletters. We live in an algorithmic world, so fully ghosting can make it really hard to reach our audience when we return. So we make maintenance posts just so Zuck doesn't think we've fully abandoned our baking ship. ⛔ Schedule fewer posts during this absence. While we're not working, we don't want to post at the same frequency as when we were working - it's confusing. Bring your scheduled posts down to once a week - if you're taking off 2 months, that's only 8 posts.⛔ In each of these posts, you're going to reiterate your break start and end dates. This way, your posts are sending a confusing message of "Wait, I thought she was on break? But she just posted about baking a fun set??"⛔ The copy should not drive sales. We don't want to have any CTAs in our maintenance posts, because we don't want people to take an action at all. We're on break. So don't ask people to click to your website, place an order, or contact you.With your newsletter - constantly drive folks who caught ya "on your big break," to sign up for your newsletter so they can get the inbox exclusive on your 'big break return." It's a decent way to grow your email list while still staying in touch about your break schedule. You may want to send an email giving folks a heads up about the break (1 month out), the official break announcement, 1 newsletter during your break with a reminder about the return, then a return-day announcement. ⛔ 3. Update all auto-responsesYour business has a lot of auto-responders designs for big
Summary212. Baking it Down - Admin Hours
May 20, 202501:23:58Summary readySend us a text⏰ 1-Hr Admin Tasks - Setting up time blocks for tasks.In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 212 - Admin Hour, we break down four different "admin hour" frameworks you could spend each week pluggin' away at to be a better baking business."Admin Hours" are groupings of tasks that take up an hour spent on one specific aspect of your business - social media, bake prep, customer management, and inbox management - the four frameworks we cover this week. By spending a dedicated few hours a week on these "admin hour" tasks, you'll save yourself a future headache, streamline your workflow, and become a competitive baker in your space (as well as stress less as you forget fewer orders and run out of fewer cookie tags ya already sold).🕰️ 1. Social HourStaying consistent on social media will be a great foundational strategy. But to be consistent, we must make time to create content. Here's a social media "admin hour" framework you can build from:⏰ 20 Mins - Schedule this week's posts (3x/wk minimum)⏰ 10 Mins - Reply to comments⏰ 10 Mins - Comment on posts in a few local groups⏰ 30 Mins - Make a Reel (film / edit / voiceover / post)You can add multiple "social hours" to your week depending on how aggressive your social media marketing focus is. And these hours can ebb and flow throughout your cookier calendar year as needed (for example, when you're fully booked, drop down to 1 hour, when the upcoming month looks light for orders, add in a few more social hours).🕰️ 2. Inbox HourIf you've not tasted of the sweet nectar that is inbox zero, you're missing out. Walking up to an inbox only full of actionable emails you got in the last few days is a breath of email-fresh air. Once you reach the coveted "Inbox Zero," your inbox-power-hour will look something like this:⏰ 20 Mins - Reply to all emails / Ping follow-up emails⏰ 10 Mins - File emails away to reach Inbox Zero again⏰ 10 Mins - Transpose orders / tasks to Google Calendar⏰ 10 Mins - CRM - Follow up with orders placed this time last yearGetting an inbox hour on your weekly task list puts you in control of your calendar (rather than the stress of being a slave to a calendar missing your dentist appointments and that one order you forgot to write down).🕰️ 3. Admin tasksLikely the one you don't wanna do but are forced to do, running a business requires admin tasks. Here's how we'd break up that hour spent "behind the scenes" of your bakery biz:⏰ 10 Mins - QuickBooks Bookkeeping Update⏰ 10 Mins - Adding new leads to CRM⏰ 10 Mins - Inbox Zero⏰ 10 Mins - Inventory Check⏰ 10 Mins - Weekly Meeting (Asana)⏰ 10 Mins - Plan Out WeekSo again - your admin tasks may take longer than this - and that's absolutely fine. The goal is to consistently show up for at least an hour for these recurring tasks, turning you into a consistent working powerhouse.🕰️ 4. Baking PrepBaking preparations for the week can streamline your baking workflow because you're not stuck running to the cutter corner for every order. I prefer to do this stuff on Mondays and capitalize on the time saving all week. Whichever days you choose for your admin hours is up to you, but sprinkling in a baking power hour is a must for a ballin' baker.⏰ 10 Mins - Wash Baking Mat and other supplies⏰ 10 Mins - Wipe down Surfaces / Disinfect ⏰ 20 Mins - Collect Cutters for the Week⏰ 10 Mins - Dough Ready / Dough Day Planned⏰ 10
Summary211. Baking it Down - Luxury Refunds
May 13, 202501:26:13Summary readySend us a text↩️ Luxury Refunds - Refunds are a business strategy.In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 211 - Luxury Refunds, Corrie wanted to recap yet another reminder on why luxury bakers should consider luxury refunds. 🤔 What's a luxury refund? It's the baked-into-the-price guarantee that if something goes left, the baker will make it right - and typically that will be through a refund.Per the twin, we can't claim 💰 "luxury brand and thus luxury pricing," but claim 😭 "I'm just a small business, give me a break" when things go wrong. Luxury price needs to be threaded throughout your entire sales process. Yes, refunds included. 💰 1. Be Refund-CentricWhen you think about luxury brands, you're likely not picturing a front-desk person telling unhappy clients that that sounds like a them-problem when the client has an issue. Noooo - you picture luxury brands like hotels handling all the gross parts of staying in a hotel = managing luggage, door hops, taxi cab and uber calls, clean rooms and room service - you get the point. Luxury pricing includes making things right for our luxury clients. A refund-centric company will have its happiness guarantee baked into its policies before the client even orders. If there were two bakers equal in every way but only one offered a 100% money-back guarantee, which do you think clients would choose? Be that baker.💰 2. Take refund culpability Most of the time, it's not a 100/0 split on who is at fault when it comes to client issues. ⚖️ Likely, there's shared culpability. But a luxury brand would still take culpability from the client. 🤨 "But twins! I wasn't wrong, they were!" We know - but you're the business owner, and a luxury business owner at that. Don't be afraid to say, "I'm so sorry - I misunderstood when you wrote XYZ! My apologies - I'd love to make you whole regarding this issue." 🔑 The words "I'm sorry" will unlock more doors than they shut - believe ye we.💰 3. Offer refunds oftenHere's the thing - you won't have to refund often if you're willing to refund. Why? You'll find that clients actually aren't trying to get free stuff - they just want their cookies. 🛑 Being gracious to your clients by offering refunds will allow your clients to actually ask you not to. People are more understanding than we give them credit for. We just have to allow them to have the elbow room to exercise that grace - 🥊and they can't when you're threatening them by blaming them for the order issue.💰 4. Refund swiftly Be quick to refund, as in don't make your clients fight you for it. With every message rejecting the client's issue, you're one step closer to the dreaded, "Well, I also found a hair in the cookie." Pluuuus, when you address the first issue rather than forcing customers to rattle off 10 reasons why they think you should offer them recourse, you get the brownie points of being "that baker" that puts customer service first and foremost.💰 5. Refund and be generousWhen it comes to refunding, don't nickel and dime your clients and expect them to appreciate it. 🤕 If you made a booboo, grab the biggest band-aid. 🩹 Rather refund too much than too little and leave the clients hurt (and in your review profiles, finding their written vindication). "But I only messed up a few cookies!" We get it, and we're not necessarily saying a full refund, but a "barely there" refund won't cut it. As an example, maybe a rebake and a partial refund may be the answer to satisfy the client's upsetting experience.
Summary210. Baking it Down - How to Sell in Community Groups
May 8, 202501:55:42Summary readySend us a text
Summary209. Baking it Down - Half It then Half It
Apr 29, 202500:54:18Summary readySend us a text🤏 Half It then Half It - Make goals small and then smaller.In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 209 - Half It Then Half It, we cover a topic Heather saw on the Diary of a CEO podcast with Dr. Alok Kanojia on goal setting. The concept is pretty basic - set a goal. Then take that goal and half it. Then take that half and half it again. You're now left with only 25% of that goal. And guess what? That 25% is much more doable than the big, massive, overly sized goal you couldn't eat whole. Breaking (baking?) goals into edible chunks makes for small bites that we can accomplish to get us to our bigger goal. 25% Goals aren't as fun to tell people about - they get the vibe of, "Okay... and?" And that's what makes them so valuable - because they're not big, they allow us to take small movements forward. Sure - we won't get the accolades for announcing some giant goal like, "THIS YEAR, I PLAN TO OPEN STORE FRONT," but the path to opening a store front is long and lonely - I'd rather claim this year to do the thankless foundation work required to get into a brick and mortar rather than make a big announcement with no execution (remember the "No One Likes a Party Planner" podcast episode).🤏 1. Example - Facebook Lead GenTurning Facebook into a lead gen powerhouse is a BIG goal - and one we really like. Facebook can really make some sales for bakers. But let's half that goal:📏 I want to turn community groups into a referral source.Even better! We narrowed it from "ALL of Facebook," which is a massive task to tackle down to an aspect of Facebook. But per the doc, we can go smaller! Let's half that half.📏 I want to make this one specific group a resource for my bakery business.There we go - in fact, this will be next week's Podcast topic (turning Local Community Groups into Referral Powerhouses after we teach it at What's Popping Con 2025 on Tuesday).🤏 2. Example - Brick and MortarMost bakers dream of seeing their business logo in bright lights on a building they leased. And who wouldn't?! Talk about a HUGE goal that feels all warm and fuzzy! But brick and mortar dreams aren't built overnight, but rather on consistent "half of a half" goals over time. Let's half that B&M goal:📏 I want to contact a commercial leasing agent to learn more about taking on a B&M lease.Love it - so much more actionable than "I will open a brick and mortar bakery," but can we half it again? 📏 I'm going to reach out to the Sugar Cookie Marketing group and see if any B&M bakers would take a 15-minute call from me to talk about the "first 6 months" of prep needed to get started on potentially opening a bakery in the future.Loooove that so much more. That's a "half of a half" goal that will actually teach you something - whether a brick and mortar bakery business is meant for you.🤏 3. Example - I want to be a social media expert.As a marketer myself, love this goal - but it's a chunky one. Taking on all of social media is admirable, but that's not going to move a needle because it's too broad. Let's see if we can half it.📏 I want to focus on making my Facebook page a valuable resource for my business. Just like the community group goal, LOVE this - it'll be a huge boon to your business goals. But can we go smaller on this halved goal? I bet we can.📏 I will post to my business Facebook page 2x a week to establish a baseline for a posting schedule.There we go!
Summary208. Baking it Down - Multi-Holiday Showdown
Apr 22, 202501:12:33Summary readySend us a text🥊 Multi-Holiday Showdown - How to tackle multiple holidays.In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 208 - Multi-Holiday Showdown, we wanted to talk about the scourge of Q2 holiday line-ups. With these non-heavy-hitting baker holidays falling mid-month and/or on top of each other, it makes for a confusing marketing strategy. Do you tackle all of them to maximize sales? Or will that dilute your offerings too much and you'll sell out of nothing but be stuck with materials for a whole 'nother year? Here's our take on a multi-holiday marketing showdown in mid-spring. 🤧 Heads up - I'm slightly under the weather, so forgive any typos (and forgive typos when I'm not sick too lol).🥊 1. Don't choose every holidayFind a few holidays and focus on them - heck, even focusing on one is probably a better approach than trying to sell out for every holiday in Q2. Mother's Day is a hit or miss with some bakers, Teacher Appreciation seems like a good bet, and Cinco De Mayo seems more like a location-based seller rather than a guaranteed sell-out. Consider that Teacher Appreciation cutters and packaging can also double for graduation sets and the "last day of the school year" teacher gifts.🥊 2. Past performance = future performanceWe'd recommend choosing holidays that have been consistent for you in the past. If they sold well then, they'll likely sell well now. Trying out a "new" holiday in the slower part of the cookier's calendar year may cost you more than it brings in, so we'd stick with the consistent seller.🥊 3. Treat them as separate content bucketsContent buckets are a strategy you can use to plan out your social media content (see Episode 182). As such, these competing holidays shouldn't share a bucket, but rather get their own separate content pillars that you'll pull from for the duration of the promotion of each holiday. Tap these buckets frequently until you feel like you've sold enough. Content buckets don't have to be systematically drawn from - you can use more content from a specific bucket as it supports your sales goals. 🥊 4. Increase marketing runtimeIf you have two holidays fighting for the marketing limelight, you'll want to increase your marketing runtime. Corrie and I always prefer around 6 weeks to include planning + cutter securing + photography + marketing. It's enough time to account for any wild cards like weird weather or slow sales.🥊 5. Sold out? shut upOnce one holiday sells out or you're happy with the sales numbers, drop that content bucket out of your marketing strategy completely and refocus your efforts on the underperforming holiday target. Once "Mother's Day" is sold out, there's no real marketing purpose to keep posting about it when there's another product we need to move more of.👂 Snag this podcast on any major podcast player (Spotify, Apple Music, Audible, Amazon Music, or watch it on YouTube) by searching for Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 208 - Multi-Holiday Showdown
Summary207. Baking it Down - Nobody Likes a Party Planner
Apr 15, 202501:01:25Summary readySend us a text
Summary206. Baking it Down - Expound then Expand
Apr 8, 202501:34:39Summary readySend us a text💳 Expound then Expand - Plan before your purchase.In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 206 - Expound then Expand, Corrie wanted to come to the altar with her confession of packaging purchases. Yeah - we're talkin' to the "overconsumption cookier" this week, 👣💥 and it'll step on some toesies (starting with Twin2's... er... TwinToes?).It's easy to get ✨shiny object✨ syndrome when you check out the Best Bakes threads in the Sugar Cookie Marketing Group thinking, "Well, if that sold well for them, it might sell well for me! Let me buy these supplies." Here's the thing - that's not a guarantee, and it can actually be a distraction, not a sound business decision. And guaranteed it's going to impact your financials. Even worse is if you do get the supplies and never get around to selling that adorable Easter Egg PYO carton - 🥚🥚🥚🥚 you're now stuck with colorful cartons for an entire year - and that's bad for business and your bottom line. 💰 1. Start with 1 versatile backdropWhite matte finish (use code SUGARCOOKIE on thebackersco.com to save 25% - they're one of the podcast sponsors that keeps this content f-r-e-e for y'all) is the most used backdrop Corrie has, citing that it's the one she reaches for 85% of the time. 📸 Know what that means? That's likely the only backer you'll need to get started. Yes, in time, snag a few more options, but when you're just getting started, "one and done" it until you've maxed out your photography skills on that backdrop. Then expand.💰 2. Learn from the Target traysIf you were in the SCM groups around 2021 - 2022, you lived through the fun (funky) Target trays - 🪵 a wooden tray Target sold in its dollar spot that took the craft world by storm. Specifically, cookiers gravitated to this tray since it made for a high-quality package for about 20 cookies for Christmas - 🎄 talk about a best seller! But such is panic buying, some stocked up on these trays and were left with an unfoldable storage nightmare when they didn't sell out. The lesson? Find out if your audience wants the product first - then purchase. ️🎯 Overbuying for your clients who never wanted the product in the first place is a bad investment. What's the value of 50 wooden trays if no one will buy them? Hint: it's a negative number. 💰 3. Purchase plain packaging to start🎀 Cute packaging is a great way to up your customer benefits packaging and set you apart from the competition, but not if it sets you apart from your profitability. There's a sweet spot between really high-end custom packaging unique for every holiday and packaging that's on the plain side but works for any occasion. 🏳️ I'm not saying "cheap white Amazon boxes or bust," but I am saying if you're getting started or you're in "packaging purchasing purgatory" rehab, go back to the basics. Add in fancy when necessary (and buy an appropriate amount - so like, not 50 units when you likely only have time to bake 10), but have the cheaper fallback as your go-to.💰 4. Cut out overbuying cuttersHave your steel-toe boots ready, but here it comes. Overbuying cutters can cut your profit margins down to nothing. 🔲⚫ Plaques to get started and basic shapes are likely fine in a lot of cases. Client wants something super custom? Offer to bill them that cost or source a cutter you already have in your stash that's super close to their design and can save them a few bucks. Likely, your clients won't care, and you'll be able to stay away from cutter overconsumption. (🖨 And you 3D printer folks can learn a lesson here too - cutter takes up storage, and just because it was cheaper to print doesn't mean it doesn't have
Summary205. Baking it Down - Top User Submitted Marketing Tips
Apr 1, 202501:32:25Summary readySend us a text🪄 Top Marketing Tips - Submitted by group members in March.In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 205 - Top User Submitted Marketing Tips, we challenged the Sugar Cookie Marketing Group in March to make more posts - and 4 winners would be chosen to join The Cookie College on our tab (I'll announce those soon). But the marketing tips were so good, we thought we'd feature a few on this week's podcast! The layout of this newsletter will look a little different since I'll include the 📸 screenshots from the authors (gotta give credit where credit's due). I read them in no particular order, but they're all great tips. If you want to see the screenshots, snag our blog at www.sugarcookiemarketing.com/blog this week once I've updated it.🎧 The rest of this post will be those marketing tips - but snag this week's podcast episode to hear our take on 'em.✨ 1. Reach back out to corporate clients"My marketing tip is don't be afraid to reach out to past corporate clients about ordering again. I just received two orders (one for 300 and one for 1000 cookies) just by reaching out and basically saying, "Hey, you ordered this time last year, would you like to order again?" Sometimes they just need a reminder that they want your cookies." - Tammy✨ 2. Use “for sale” homes for headshots"Want to do a branding photoshoot, but thinking your kitchen ain't fancy enough? Why not use a nearby model home? I haven't met the homebuilder yet or the sales person for them, who didn't appreciate the shout-out when you post your pics. Guess what? It's free. I called to ask when their slowest times were & I made plans for an hour. I left them all the baked cookies I had for the shoot." - Sharon✨ 3. Incentives through discounts"Every cookie class I've hosted, each attendee gets a little take home gift. I'd love to see what ever one else does! Here’s a sample of mine: I make a mini 3D printed cookie cutter and provide a coupon for either custom orders, or it may sometimes be $5-$10 dollars off the next upcoming cookie class. I find it’s been working very well to get those to return to classes or place orders for customs." - Jennifer✨ 4. Seek out strategic local businesses"Local. Businesses. My husband and I have made a list of local businesses in our area, from mom and pop shops to large warehouses, and we've been strategically picking some to take boxes of samples and business cards to.Would this business employ my target clientele?Would bringing samples to this business get my business name in places it isn't currently known?Does this business openly support other small businesses?...are a few of the questions we've been considering.We've gone to car dealerships, furniture stores, medical offices, boutiques, salons, coffee shops, YMCAs, and we have more on the list.Doing this has greatly increased my following; and shortly after beginning this, the owner of the local Harley Davidson reached out!" - Alayna✨ 5. Be your #1 fan and believe it"Start actually thinking of yourself as a business owner! I'm a stay-at-home mom, so when people ask me what I do, that’s what I reply with. I've been listening to the podcast and it's empowered me - and at the dentist the other day the hygienist asked what I did and I said 'I own a custom sugar cookie business' By the time I'd left the office I handed out 5 business cards and have already gotten an order from them." - Tara✨ 6. Save for samples"Marketing tip - Have extra cookies left over? Great, cut them in quarters and freeze them. Save them as samples to give out at the next market or event. Always only offer one flavor of a sample otherwise, people will want to try
Summary