Baking it Down with Sugar Cookie Marketing 🍪
👋 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 changes as happy as we can, but come on Instagram! Give it a rest! No more changes!
3️⃣ Other than that, we take a positive approach to marketing We are also *not* professional podcasters. I feel like we need to say this because, hey, sometimes we get giggles! We do our best to extend our marketing knowledge to you all free of charge each week at the cost of listening to our higher-than-normal pitched voices and the occasional giggle spree.
4️⃣ You can find the podcast on all the major platforms and you can typically expect a new episode each Tuesday afternoon (unless life happens). We invite everyone to listen.
Either start from the beginning or work backward! The episodes don’t build off themselves so you won’t be confused hearing one before the other. You just might miss new Lives we mention but you can always catch the replay in the Sugar Cookie Marketing Group on Facebook!
Baking it Down with Sugar Cookie Marketing 🍪
64. Baking it Down - On the Move
🏡 Movin' and a Shakin'.
🏡 Tips we suggest implementing when you plan to move your bakery (and your home).
Okay - yeah. We're mostly home-based bakeries. But what happens when the "home" part of a home-based bakery needs to move? Whether a military family, cashin' in on the housing market's cash cowness (interest rates, say whaaaaa?!), or simply relating just because - it can wreak havoc on the marketing you've worked so hard for.
🤔 So what do then? 😶 Start over? 😯 Delete everything? 🤐 Don't Tell Anyone? 😬 Tell Everyone? 😭 Cry?
Well - yes, always cry first. But then - strategize. Here are 5 tips Corrie suggests when moving - something she's experienced up close and personal over the last 2 weeks.
- Right now - Join the local groups where you're relocating to. There are many awesome reasons to get involved in local groups - from actually using them as a resource when you're trying to get the lay of the land to assisting you in finding new clients on weekly and monthly sales threads. Warm up your audience - you'll get a nifty "I'm new here" waving hand next to your name for 2 weeks after your joining date. Ask questions! Add value to the group, make a spreadsheet with links to sales dates and posts, and help the mods by adding more value to their group.
- After you find your new home, stalk the neighbors. Okay - not stalk, but get to know the lay of the land. Minivans? Kids. More than three cars? Possibly high school kids. Work van? Commercial cookie orders. New kids? Birthdays. And when your new "neighbs" do somethin' nice for you - thank them in cookie currency. People love having a cookie dealer nearby.
- As soon as you move in, join Nextdoor.com. This one will require you to be able to receive mail under your name to your new location, so this is a post-move-in-date marketing task. Nextdoor is a networking app based on your zip code. You can only join your Nextdoor neighborhood if you live nearby. You can also create a business profile that allows 2 free posts each month within a 2-mile radius of our business's location - which just so happens to be your new crib.
- Dress the part in a branded / funny cookie shirt. Corrie has a shirt that says "COOKIE DEALER" and always gets someone to ask "what the heck is that?!" Take that logic to the streets - well, the walking path. Whenever you walk the doggo, snag a funny, well-branded cookie tee (Bakery Tee Co has an awesome selection) and start marketing. Nosey Nancy (like me) will eventually just have to ask you - and guess what? You've got a new potential client who just loves to talk.
- If you can stomach it, join your HOA. Being involved in your community puts you as a natural POC for other community members. Plus - hey, maybe you can help make the neighborhood a more enjoyable place for everyone. And guess what the HOA board will think of come holiday gifting time? Chet-you-betcha.
- Curb and Cookie-a-peal. Get your curb appeal dialed in as a cookie baker. Cute, clean, and inviting. Nice signage - heck, even a flag or yard flag that subtly suggests you're the place to get great goodies.
Hope this helps. Would Corrie delete her page and start over with each move? 🤔 No, she says. She'd let current fans know their support really helps her and ask that they continue engaging with her cookie posts. Offering a "hard end date" for pre-move orders will keep people in the loop and may snag a few of those FOMO sales. And always, before you depart - thank those who have supported you in your old stomping grounds.
Got any more ideas to help with relocation hesitation? Feel free to start a thread in the Sugar Cookie Marketing (Group
