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 thousa...
241. Baking it Down - Stay on Track Track Track
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240. Baking it Down - Burke Lake vs Everest
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⛰️ Burke Lake vs Everest - Accomplishing small goals in 2026.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 240 - Burke Lake versus Everest, we're winding down 2025 and taking a look at 2026 through the lens of goals.
🥾 Yeah, yeah - you look back on this past year and realize you can't even remember what your new year's resolutions were, let alone whether you met them or not - and for good reason. Sometimes our "bright and flashy" goals are more claimed to summit Mt. Everest rather...
239. Baking it Down - 2025 Best Baker Gift List
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🎁 Baker Holiday Gift Guide - 2025 list of gifts for bakers.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 239 - 2025 Best Bakers Gift List, it's the most wonderful tiiiime of the yeeear. It's the Top Baker Gift Ideas podcast you're supposed to intentionally accidentally leave playing for the gift buyer in your life.
This is twin2's favorite yearly podcast tradition, and she states, "If I got just about anything on this list, I'd be stoked," and now you can window shop her wishlist wit...
Baking it Down - The Cookie College HARDSELL60
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https://www.thecookiecollege.com/vb-the-cookie-college-2025?coupon=HARDSELL60
238. Baking it Down - Vendy Blendy Insider Info
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🎓 Vendy Blendy - Insider info.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 238 - Vendy Blendy Inside Info, we're in the final stretch of the Vendy Blendy - and we're spillin' all the secrets in this final-prep podcast for Friday's BIG Baker Sale.
Are we hype? Yes. Are we delirious? Also yes. Are we tired of saying the word Vendy Blendy? Getting close. But it's the f-i-n-a-l c-o-u-n-t-d-o-wn-.
🟠 The Most Important Stuff
If you read nothing more than this - here...
237. Baking it Down - Once a Year Cookie College Stealios
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🎓 Cookie College - Vendy Blendy Deals Breakdown.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 237 - The Cookie College Stealios, Corrie and I go through our Vendy Blendy 2025 Cookie College offerings, and... ️🥁️🥁️🥁 drumroll please... they're once-a-year good.
🎓 The Cookie College - $64/mo or $576/yr
The best product we offer is The Cookie College (typically $76/mo, but on sale on Black Friday for $64/mo or $576/yr, which takes it down to $48/mo). It's the best because it gets everything we...
236. Baking it Down - The Most BORING Podcast Ever Recorded
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☝️ Private Class Pt 2 - A BORING podcast.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 236 - The Most BORING Podcast Ever Recorded, I paid my nephew (Corrie's son, Archer) $10 to do the podcast intro (and just when you thought no one could talk faster than Heather), and we recapped the private in-home cookie class we taught last week.
Also, (hilariously and probably not totally wrong), someone texted into the podcast that it was boring - ergo the name of this week's episode.
235. Baking it Down - Private Class + Vendy Blendy pt. 1
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☝️ Private Class + VB - Part one of a two-part series.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 235 - Private Class + The Vendy Blendy Pt 1, we're doing a two-part two-part series (not a typo) so I can check the box that we effectively spammed you with the Vendy Blendy this week while also providing some marketing value.
We're teaching an in-home private class. Now, typically, you've heard me state (vehemently) that we don't teach private in-home classes anymore after a wild adventure with a cla...
234. Baking it Down - Food-tography
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📸 Food-tography - Staging, props, gear, software.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 234 - Food-Tography, we're concluding our "📅 Content Theme" for the month of October, which focused on... well, focusing that camera lens. 💡 Check out #OctoberPhotographyMonth in the Sugar Cookie Marketing (Group) to see more content on staging and gear.
📸 Food photography is a must when it comes to slingin' sugar cookies. Our customers "buy with their eyes," meaning that the photos have a big part in sell...
233. Baking it Down - Podcast Guest Christina from Boujee Baker Boutique
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🎙️ Podcast Guest - Christina with Boujee Baker Boutique.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 233 - Podcast Guest Christina with Boujee Baker Boutique, we hosted our first-ever remote podcast guest! You all wanted fresh blood (er... dough?), and the people get what they want!
Meet Christina Cenera with Boujee Baker Boutique and Stormy Acre Cookies based in Warranton, Virginia. Yep, she juggles both a brick-and-mortar supply shop and a bakery business, all while raising 5 dogs (with alpaca manifestation incoming).
️🛒 Shop Link: https...232. Baking it Down - Jury Duty
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⚖️ Jury Duty - Hung up on client issues.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 232 - Jury Duty, Corrie gives the people what they wanted! A tell-all on her jury duty trial (that she missed last week's podcast for).
Since it's definitely worth the listen to get the full energy, I'll keep this week's newsletter short (and yes, still on Wednesday, even if I'm barely making it before the buzzer goes off).
🏛️ Communication Matters
Corrie's t...
231. Baking it Down - Intro to the 2025 Vendy Blendy
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🛒 2025 Vendy Blendy - The who, what, where, when, why.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 231 - The 2025 Vendy Blendy, we have VENDY BLENDY on the brain!
Each year, 🦃 at the end of November, deals roll around in stores and across your screens, prepping everyone for the Christmas season. From malls to boutiques- the steals are endless! So, what about a day of deals just for bakers?
🫡 The Vendy Blendy answers the call. A deal-lovers' day specifically for the bakers...
230. Baking it Down - Nothing Old, Nothing New
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🥲 Nothing Old, Nothing New - Why your clients aren't coming back.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 230 - Nothing Old, Nothing New, Corrie wanted to cover returning customers - clients that have ordered from you in the past and then reorder.
They're massively valuable to your bottom line because returning leads cost less to acquire. That means you have to spend less time and marketing dollars getting someone to order from you a second time than getting someone to order from you...
229. Baking it Down - Why You Should Do the Reels Collab
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🎥 Do the Reels Collab - And here’s the reasons why you should.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 229 - Do the Reels Collab, we're hypin' up the marketing behind the Blind Baker Reels Collab on September 26.
✅ Register here:
https://form.jotform.com/SugarCookieMarketing/blind-baker-collab🎥 This cookie collab is different from the others we've run this year for 1 simple reason: it's video-based.
Instead of posting an image of a logo-turned...
228. Baking it Down - Getting Unstuck from the Web...Sites
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🕸️ Stuck in the Websites - What to look for in a website builder.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 228 - Stuck in the Web...Sites, we (remotely - forgive the sound quality this week, kids - it was a learning experience) talk about the sunsetting of the baker-centric website host and builder, Castiron.
📩 Castiron sent this email to current users on Monday night with very little warning that there were problems in "paradise":
Consider the implications of losing...
227. Baking it Down - Do NOT Teach a Cookie Class (this way)
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🛑 Do Not Teach a Cookie Class! - (If you plan on making these mistakes)
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 227 - Do NOT Teach a Cookie Class (this way), Corrie and I list out the things we wouldn't do if we were getting into cookie classes (yeah, yeah - the title is a bit of a clickbait, but hey, we're marketers, right?).
September in the Sugar Cookie Marketing group is all about Cookie Classes as we try out having a "...
226. Baking it Down - Podcast Guests Heather Brookshire and Kim Sims!
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👭 Podcast Guests! - Meet Heather Brookshire and Kim Sims.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 226 - Podcast Guests Heather and Kim, you asked for less Heather and Corrie, and now you get Heather and Kim! Close enough, right?!
Heather and Kim are self-titled "ESBs" - emotional support bakers - and really break down the value of having a baking buddy to partner with, vent to, talk shop with, and have in your corner when Uber steals your order.
<...
225. Baking it Down - Diamond Demand
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💎 Diamond Demand - Sifting through the competition.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 225 - Diamond Demand, we're telling EVERYONE they need DIAMONDS right NOW. 💎💎💎💎
Just kidding - this is just an analogy, so before you make this into something it's not - we're not talkin' about the diamond industry or bl🩸ood diamonds - we're just comparing a not-necessary-for-life luxury good with not-necessary-for-life luxury bakes. And there's somethin' we can all learn from the "very very slightly" interesting podcast comparison.
Diamonds are a l...
224. Baking it Down - Main Street Money
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💼 Main Street Money - Maximizing the main street cookie collab.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 224 - Main Street Money, the Main Street Cookie Collab is BACK and it's in two weeks on August 28th at 11:00 AM est. This is a fun collab because it incorporates so much "local" than our other collabs do. ⚠️ Keep in mind, this collab is on a Thursday, not our typical Friday - much thanks to my inability to read a calendar.
⚠️...
223. Baking it Down - Business Victim Mindset
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💀 Business Victim Mindset - Be what happens to your business.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 223 - Business Victim Mindset, we are in the slowest baking month of the YEAR. Yep - last week of July / first week of August = the Google trends report where "sugar cookie" is least searched.
Conversely, 📊 the end of the slowest month begins the uptick of our busy season - but that's not the point of today's podcast. We're focusing on the "hanging up of the apron"...
222. Baking it Down - Return of the Twith
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👀 Reach Ain’t Errythang - Focus on metrics that make money.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 222 - Return of the Twith, the twin is BACK in business, and she means business with this week's topic: reach isn't everything.
We played a clip from marketer David Glu, who lists how your audience's interactions might signal what your content isn't doing for them.
📈 Low Likes = Your content isn't relatable📉 Low Comments = Your content isn't thought-provoking 📈 Low Save...221. Baking it Down - Money Talks with the Miracles
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💵 Money Talks With the (older) Miracles.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 221 - Money Talk with the Miracles, Corrie's still outta commission, so we've got another Miracle sister as a stunt double - meet Ashley with YNAB.com.
Ash is the older (and wiser) sister and also an employee of an app that helps folks manage their money. Now, this is not a sales pitch; that said, I do use the app (and pay full price - what happened to s...
220. Baking it Down - Ope, It's Amy!
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👋 Ope, It's Amy! The mod team meets the mod team.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 220 - Ope, It's Amy!, we continue on our "regular scheduled programming" departure to introduce our first ever podcast guest - 🎂 Amy Russell of CookiesTakeTheCake (https://www.instagram.com/cookiestakethecake)!
💥 Now here's the funny part: Amy has been a part of the Sugar Cookie Marketing moderation team for like almost 5 years, and yet we've never met her before. Attempted to? Yes, many times. But...
219. Baking it Down - C is for Cancer
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🤒 C is for Cancer - A health update.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 219 - C is for Cancer, we pause our typical marketing podcast to talk about health - specifically as it relates to Corrie's cancer diagnosis and her upcoming surgery that'll have her outta commission for a few weeks (yes, you're still stuck with me, Heather).
Today's podcast was a departure from our typical marketing content. It's a way to raise awareness that cancer doesn't judge, it doesn't choose fav...
218. Baking it Down - The First Ever Mid-Summer Membership Sale
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🤑 Mid-Summer Membership Sale - The first-ever mid-year Cookie College sale.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 218 - Mid-Summer Membership Sale, we cover this month's Mid-Summer Membership sale starting July 27 - August 2, 2025. This 7-day sale is the only one we've ever run before the Vendy Blendy (I cried just typing that - 🥲 how is this year goin' by so fast).
🤑 1. The Details
This is our first-ever Mid-Summer Membership Sale - typically, we run a Black Frida...
217. Baking it Down - Video Marketing for Local Small Bakeries
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📹 Video Marketing - For local, small cottage bakeries.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 217 - Video Marketing for Local Small Bakeries, Corrie wanted to talk about the wild world of Reels. Well, Reels, TikToks, YouTube Shorts - you know, vertical video. A topic made all the more important by Meta's announcement last week that all videos uploaded to the Facebook platform would now be categorized as Reels, thus shutting the door on horizontal videos (* Lives are still Lives, though).
It's what's in...
216. Baking it Down - Take a Stab at a Cookie Collab
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🖼️ Take a Stab - At a cookie collab.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 216 - Taking a Stab at a Cookie Collab, and Sugar Cookie Marketing Cookie Collabs are BACK IN BUSINESS. You can check out the details in the event listing for the SCM Cookie Collab: Meet the Baker 2025! here.
But allow us to spend this week's podcast and newsletter walking you through the Collab 101 basics so you can get the most from the easy-to-join Instagram cookie collab.
L...
215. Baking it Down - AI-AI-Oh Yes
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🤖 AI-AI-Oh Yes - Ways bakers are incorporating AI.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 215 - AI-AI-Oh Yes, we read a thread asking bakers how they're using AI in their bakery business. The answers should inspire you - from streamlining workflow to helping write compelling copy on social media, AI has entered stage left, and it won't be leaving anytime soon.
If you're a late adopter to this new tech, you're not totally alone, but we predict (hot take) that the bakers who do incorporate AI...
214. Baking it Down - Pivot Pivot Pivot
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🔄 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 m...
213. Baking it Down - Hit the Breaks
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🛑 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...
212. Baking it Down - Admin Hours
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⏰ 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 spe...
211. Baking it Down - Luxury Refunds
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↩️ 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 b...
210. Baking it Down - How to Sell in Community Groups
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💸 Selling in Community Groups - Turn groups into lead gen powerhouses.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 210 - Selling in Community Groups, we are talking about the same topic we presented this past Tuesday at What's Popping Con (a convention for Cake Poppers). This content is all available on our website by clicking this button - it's a lot of info and free templates, so click here to snag that stuff while it's still posted.
If you're already thinking, "There are...
209. Baking it Down - Half It then Half It
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🤏 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 doab...
208. Baking it Down - Multi-Holiday Showdown
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🥊 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?
He...
207. Baking it Down - Nobody Likes a Party Planner
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💡 No One Likes a - Party planner (ideas without execution).
💩 A forced a play on words from "no one likes a party pooper" - but in this case, we're focusing on 🧠 "ideas guy" who love to plan and fail to launch. These folks talk up "the next great thing," and yet the idea never exits the ol' cranium to make it to market.
🗺️ Having a plan is good - but too much of a good thing, and you've got either a perfectionist...
206. Baking it Down - Expound then Expand
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💳 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 migh...
205. Baking it Down - Top User Submitted Marketing Tips
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🪄 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...
204. Baking it Down - In the Market for Farmers Markets
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🥦 In the Market for Markets - How to scope out the ideal vendor setup.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 204 - In the Market for Markets, Corrie wanted to talk about the 5 tips to help you source a strategic farmer's market (or recurring vendor event) relationship that bolsters that bottom line.
🥕 1. Is the market marketing itself?
Markets are businesses too - and as a marketing podcast, what would we be if we didn't say the ideal market is wel...
203. Baking it Down - Reasons to Start a Blog
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✍️ Reasons 2 Start a Blog - The SEO, content, and reach benefits.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 203 - Reasons to Start a Blog, continuing on with our "lessons in websites," I wanted to talk about blogs. I know - we're all about websites when it comes to online sales - but does your website have a blog?
😅 "Uh, twins - what could I possibly blog about? Reasons people should give me their money in exchange for cookies??"
Well - k...
