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...
278. Baking it Down - Cost Creepers
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277. Baking it Down - First Timer Follies
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🤡 First Timer Follies - When you’re new and need orders.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 277 - First Timer Follies, we're wrapping up our New Baker's series, talking about first-timer mistakes you don't have to repeat if you snag yesterday's episode.
When you're new to any industry, it's easy not to know what ya don't know - and that's what this beginner podcast series is for: to help new bakers miss the missteps when just getting started, saving them time (and t...
276. Baking it Down - How To Turn Down Orders When You Need Orders
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🛑 How 2 Turn Down Orders - When you’re new and need orders.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 276 - How To Turn Down Orders When You Need Orders, the beginner baker needs to turn down orders - yes, even when they need orders. Sometimes the client isn't the right match, the client has expectations that exceed current skill set, or the baker just doesn't have the time to handle as much back-and-forth as a specific client needs to feel comfortable.
So how do...
275. Baking it Down - Big Shoes Battle
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👟 Big Shoes Battle - How to compete with the big bakers.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 275 - Big Shoes Battle, we're back on our beginner baker series, and good news - even if you're new and it feels like you're takin' on the Big Dog Bakers who have been in the space for 5+ years, you can still play ball.
Here are five ways that being the underdog actually gives you the home-field advantage over more established bakers regarding you...
274. Baking it Down - Allow Us to be Your Personal Yodas
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🧙♂️ Your Yodas - allow us to be...
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 274 - Your Yodas Allow us to Be, we're back on our beginner baker series, and what better time than to reintroduce ourselves, tell you a bit about our background in marketing and sales, and how we got into the wild world of Sugar Cookie Marketing and The Cookie College.
🧙♂️ Hi, I'm Heather
Born and raised in Northern Virginia right outside DC, I recently moved to West Virginia - as...
273. Baking it Down - Content Cookies for Beginner Bakers
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📹 Content Cookies - For the beginner cookier.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 273 - Content Cookies for the Beginner Baker, we acknowledge there's an issue between when a baker gets started selling and the amount of content they have... or, well, don't have.
A lot of the content that bakers post comes from the orders they take, and they get orders from the content they post. So when you're new to selling, you've got a bit of the 'chicken or...
272. Baking it Down - S-Tier Lead Gen for Cottage Bakers in 2026
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👩🏻💻 S Tier Lead Gen - For cottage bakers in 2026.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 272 - S-Tier Lead Gen Sources for Bakers in 2026, there's a new trend where people rank things they like and hate by tiers - 🟨 S-tier being the elite. For the oldie goldies like me, "S" apparently stands for superior.
Following down the rankings, 🟩 A-tier means really good, 🟦 B-tier represents what's probably good to have around, 🟪 C-tier is a take-it-or-leave-it, 🟧 D-tier is more of a leave-it, and 🟥 F...
271. Baking it Down - Cookier Interview - Taylor Gandolfi
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🎤 Cookier Interview - Taylor Gandolfi with Taylor'd Cookies.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 271 - Cookier Interview - Taylor Gandolfi, continuing on with our cookier interview series, we snagged Taylor Gandolfi this week. She's been baking as a side hustle (more on her Italy trip below) since November, and comes from a UX degree, working a day job in public sector user experience design. When asked what she could bring to a podcast interview, her write-up explains this episode perfectly:
"My jou...
270. Baking it Down - The Right Foot when Getting Started
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🦶 The Right Foot - When getting started.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 270 - Getting Started on the Right Marketing Foot, we're continuing with our "back to baking" basics - this time getting started on the right marketing foot.
What used to work - even just 3 years ago - doesn't work today, or at least not as effectively as it once did. As marketing pivots with algorithm updates, platform feature changes, and the introduction of AI, so must marketing.
And this is great news for...
269. Baking it Down - Sugar Cookies as a Side Hustle
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🍪 Sugar Cookies as a profitable side hustle.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 269 - Sugar Cookie Side Hustle, we wanted to take it back to the beginning - specifically to those folks who know they want to take on a new hobby that not only covers itself, but also pads the pockets for some decent fun money.
🚗💨 Sugar cookies as a side hustle is an awesome concept because it doesn't require cars, insurance, fuel, or oil changes. You're also in contro...
268. Baking it Down - Biting at the Bit for Bartering
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🔄 Biting @ the Bit 2 Barter - How to barter as a baker.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 268 - Biting at the Bit for Bartering, Corrie has been running some 'bartering' case studies for podcast land. In these test runs, she's joined a local bartering group and exchanged cookies for a social audit with the group admin.
In another case, she exchanged her cookies for 👩🏻💻🎨 some graphic design work her twin apparently refused to execute in a timely manner (my bad, my bad). Her motive...
267. Baking it Down - There's Such a Thing as Bad Publicity
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🗣️ There’s Such a Thing - As bad publicity.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 267 - There's Such a Thing as Bad Publicity, if you've not lived under a rock, TikTok is buzzing with some cake pop drama between two bakers. If you have no idea what we're talking about - congrats, you likely have a life and aren't chronically online. The drama is easy to find, but it's lesson-worthy in terms of how your hyper-local small bakery can take some nuggets...
266. Baking it Down - AI Inspo Photo 101
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🤖 AI Inspo Photo 101 - How to handle client ai inspo images.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 266 - AI Inspo Photo 101, one of the top hot button topics we're seeing in not just the Sugar Cookie Marketing group, but all baking-related groups is AI.
Specifically, this podcast covers AI-generated inspo photos sent to the baker by their clients - a niche aspect of the ever-popular AI debate. So, whether you're pro or anti-AI, your customers sending you AI is quickly becoming a part of the...
265. Baking it Down - Cookier Interview: Sharon with Fabuela Q Cookies
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🎤 Cookier Interview - Sharon with Fabuela Q Cookies
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 265 - Cookier Interview: Sharon, y'all asked for some fresh blood... I mean, new perspectives... on the podcast, and Sharon listened!
Sharon with Fabuela Q Cookies recently found the Baking it Down Podcast - and at the perfect time, too. When her digital database of 3,000+ cookies glitched and deleted half her inventory, she caught the Nextcuses episode and approached the task of redoing this monumental undertaking agai...
264. Baking it Down - Stay Trendy with Trends
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263. Baking it Down - Summer Slowdown
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☀️ Summer Slowdown - Keep your marketing piping hot all summer
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 263 - Summer Slowdown, it's that tiiime of year - where both bakers and clients take a step back from the onslaught of End of School and grad orders.
We say it every year - the dreaded "J" months are the slowest months for bakers because it's the convergence of our clients being out of town or busy entertaining the rug rats, along with a hiatus of an...
262. Baking it Down - Using Video in Marketing
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🎥 Video Marketing - Using video in marketing.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 262 - Using Video in Marketing, we spent today recording the sessions for the upcoming 2-day Cookie Videos Bootcamp that drops June 4 -5 (and there's still time to register, hint hint).
Videos are here, and whether we like it or not, we need to jump on the bandwagon. Because not having videos in your marketing umbrella leaves you wide open to the competition snagging those precious impressions.
...
261. Baking it Down - Lawn Funnel
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🌾 Lawn Funnel - Understanding the marketing landscape.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 261 - Lawn Funnel, Corrie really wanted to stick with the 🌱 landscaping analogy - so baby gets what she wants. The topic = funnels. The analogy = a lawn.
We use the buzzy word "funnels" a lot when we talk - acquisition funnel, conversion funnel, reengagement funnel, funnel cakes (wait... no) - lot'sa funnels. But what does "funnel" mean in marketing?
🔽 Think of a legit funnel - note how i...
260. Baking it Down - Business Weeding
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🌱 Business Weeding - Stop bad behavior before it starts.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 260 - Business Weeding, we wanted to talk about small behavioral problems that, when left to grow and get deeper roots, become big problems. Yes, Heather was weeding, and this is all she could think about.
What happens is ya get started selling cookies, likely because it was a hobby, and randomly someone says, "Oh, can I place an order?!" Right here - it's right here when you...
259. Baking it Down - Posting Every Day
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📅 Posting Every Day - To cut through & connect.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 259 - Posting Every Day, Corrie has been testing out a 30-day strategy to cut through the noise of crowded AI-spun feeds to see if she can get the algo to swing in her direction and show more of her business page posts to her target demographic.
In a world where anyone can get ChatGPT or Gemini or Claude to whip up copy that conforms to cop...
258. Baking it Down - Speaking For Clients, Not As
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🗣️ Speaking For Your Clients - And not speaking as your clients.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 258 - Speaking For Your Clients, Not As, we focus on bakers' tendency to hyper-focus on their own experience and apply it to their clients.
Except... we're not our clients.
🥣 We're not our clients so much so that we don't buy sugar cookies. We're so cheap, we figured out how to make them instead! 🧠 So it doesn't make a ton of sense to ap...
257. Baking it Down - What Popped at What's Popping Con
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🟣 What Popped Off - at What’s Popping Con.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 257 - What Popped Off at What's Popping Con, Corrie and I just got back from this week's second-ever 🔴🟠🟡🟢🔵🟣 What's Popping Con - a cake pop convention by Daisy Makes (also a beloved Baking it Down podcast sponsor).
Last year, 👥 we'd talked about marketing in community groups, so this year, "the twins" wanted to level up that concept to build a social media strategy brick by brick fr...
256. Baking it Down - Nextcuses
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🤷 Nextcuses - How to get around your own excuses.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 256 - Nextcuses, we wanted to talk about somethin' that crops up every month there's a Cookie Collab (Pipe a Park Collab is this Friday btw - oh, you won't be able to participate? Hold onto that thought.).
We get it - 🥺 life is lifing, the kids are screaming, the clients are screaming louder than the kids, the spouse is upset, the in-laws are coming over...
255. Baking it Down - Pre-Sales Bootcamp Recap
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💲 Pre-Sales Recap - What we learned in the bootcamp.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 255 - Bootcamp Recap, we recapped the Bootcamp on Pre-Sales. No, this isn't a sales pitch, but the cool part about the bootcamps is the private Bootcamp Facebook group dedicated to that month's focus topic.
Since the Bootcamp group, well, boots everyone when the Bootcamp finishes, the people who join are 100% there to get their learnin' on. So the answers to the group polls and pro...
254. Baking it Down - Good Better Best
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✅✅✅ Good - Better - Best - A tiered pricing strategy.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 254 - Good Better Best, we explore the Good, Better, Best (GBB) strategy for pricing tiers - the magic being "good" is where it's at.
Forgive the lateness of today's Onesday Wednesday... however *checks the clock* - it would seem we've still made the deadline (sorry, had to get today's Bootcamp on Pre-Sales launched).
Not all strategies are created equal, and not all strategies will fit your sales approach. I like...
253. Baking it Down - SWOT Your Way to Success
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💪 SWOT 2 Success - Analyzing your way to success.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 253 - SWOT Your Way to Success, I asked on the Sugar Cookie Marketing Facebook Page how Easter sales were so far (🐰 Easter falls almost two weeks earlier this year than it did in 2025).
And the answers were all over the place - from being completely sold out to selling out of nothing. So what gives? 📍 Is location that big of a factor between selling out and sellin...
252. Baking it Down - Piping Positioning
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🧠 Piping Positioning - What your clients think about you.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 252 - Piping Positioning, we wanted to talk about a buzzy marketing concept called "product positioning." Think of positioning as the mental real estate your bakery is renting in the heads of your customers.
Here's the catch - 🫵 you don't control what they think about you, but rather all the pieces of marketing create an experience they recall when they hear your name. Let me explai...
251. Baking it Down - Posting Do and Donuts
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🍩 Posting Do’s & Do-nots - Coming up with a social strategy.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 251 - Posting Dos and Donuts, the twin2 (sorry for the audio issues on this episode, still figuring out remote podcasts 😭) wanted to talk about posting strategy. If it were as easy as "post every day and you'll be a billionaire," well, you wouldn't be hearing from me right now; I'd be too busy posting once a day (as I'm sure you would, too).
But alas - posting and gett...
250. Baking it Down - 1,000 Word Photography
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📸 1,000 Word Pictures - Why photography really *really* matters.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 250 - 1,000 Word Pictures, in preparation for this week's Cookie Photography Bootcamp, photography is on the brain of the twins, and that's because a huge part of food sales comes from great photos.
Consider yourself - do you tend to order things off the menu that have pictures? A study shows that restaurants saw a 30% increase in sales when pictures were included on their menu...
249. Baking it Down - Podcast Guest Eugene Kim, Finance Representative
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248. Baking it Down - Bootcamp Recap - Teaching Cookie Classes
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🥾 Bootcamp Recap - Teaching in-person cookie classes.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 248 - Bootcamp Recap, we wrapped up our first pilot for the Cookie College 2026 Bootcamp configuration - and it went pretty well! Thanks to all who put up with some bumps and bruises for round one.
🥾 What's a Cookie College Bootcamp?
In 2026, we're taking a different approach to adding new content to our top membership - The Cookie College. Instead of adding new classe...
247. Baking it Down - The Alternates (bless their souls)
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246. Baking it Down - The Reviews Collab this Friday
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❤️ The Reviews Collab - Friday, February 6th @ 11 est.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 246 - The Reviews Collab, we're talkin' reviews as we see 2026 really start to rev up - and perfect timing too - the first ever Reviews Collab is this Friday at 11:00 AM (est... edt??).
💕 About Friday’s Reviews Collab!
The Friday collab is pretty simple, but it's a marketing power play. You'll take a selfie holding a red heart cookie - that's i...
245. Baking it Down - Gimme Gimme Strategic Giving
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🎁 Gimme Gimme Strategic Giving - The strategy behind strategic giving.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 245 - Gimme Gimme Strategic Giving, it's the season of requests to donate, sponsor, and give to local causes, PTAs, and networking events.
It's all about strategic giving in January - and we're here to tell you - it ain't all bottom line blues when it comes to this form of marketing (you see that right there? We didn't categorize it as "selling").
...
244. Baking it Down - Good Cop, Bad Cop, AI Slop
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🤖 Good Cop, Bad Cop, AI Slop - The good and the b-ai-d.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 244 - Good Cop, Bad Cop, AI Slop, we're takin' on the touchy subject of 👾 AI, aka artificial intelligence.
👮 Bakers are quick to police other bakers in the comment sections on posts that ask how bakers are incorporating AI.
🤬 "It's cheating!"
😠 "It's lazy!"
😤 "It's the easy way out!"
😡 "It's lying to your audience!"
🤬 "I'll NEVER use AI! It...
243. Baking it Down - January Task List
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📋 January Task list - A list of things to-do.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 243 - January Task List, we're tryin' out a new(ish?) format + coming up with a list of ideas you can use to get your sugar cookie bakery headin' in the right direction this year.
Could you do all of these tasks? 🦸♂ Only after you finish saving Louis Lane from the high-rise fire. ⚡ But since we're not Superman (or woman), tackling just a few of these each month could...
242. Baking it Down - Losing the Loser - Reframing 2026
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💡 Losing the Loser - Reframing in 2026.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 242 - Losing the Loser, it's the LAST day of 2025, and it will be the first day we start talkin' to ourselves with respect and support. Because we're gonna lose our internal loser - that baker bully that beats us up every time we get into our own heads.
This year, we're professional framers - re-framers - and we're takin' a new, fresh look at our 2026 goals. By adju...
241. Baking it Down - Stay on Track Track Track
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🧮 Stay on Track Track Track - Metrics to guide your marketing.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 241 - Stay on Track Track Track, the twins have spreadsheets on the brain just in time for the new year.
While yes, you can start a spreadsheet any time on any day in any month of the year, it does help to have it ready to go on January 1 - that way, you can look at your bakery's entire fiscal year, start to finish.
The key...
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...
