135. Baking it Down - Audit of a Cake Class

🍰 Audit of a Cake Classand the lessons we're implementing.Corrie and my mom and sisters all met up on Sunday for a cake class - they had a blast, but they also got to be on the "student" side of a class for once (Corrie specifically). So she made some notes she could take back to our own class drawing board. Here's her "bake down" of her mental notes post-caker crash course.🎂 1. Remind - Remind - Remind!"Eventbrite reminds attendees of the basics of their event, but go out of your way to email a personal reminder. Nail down some extraneous details - like to confirm the class has met the minimum attendee requirement. It'll go a long way in establishing a relationship with your students before they get there too. Plus it's nice to cover your butt by emailing your "no show" policies before class start time." 🎂 2. Start on Time."We were in a second class following a prior class that had run over a bit. Since the first class ran over, it put the teacher in "rush mode" and didn't give her or her assistants much time to breathe. A great tip we'll be taking back to our classes is letting the first class know that they have to be out by X time. Also - I'd like Heather to build in a little extra time in between our first and second classes - 30 minutes just isn't enough time if we have students leaving 10 minutes late and new students arriving 15 minutes early." 🎂 3. Bright Eyed / Bushy Tailed."We gotta keep our energy up for all classes - even if our stomachs are growling louder than our Spotify playlist. Folks paid for "bright-eyed" twins, folks better get what they paid for. I think we should bring a snack in between classes - and throw in a few diet cokes to keep us awake and engaged."🎂 4. Imperfection is Perfect."I feel like I'm trying too hard to impress attendees with my skills that I forget that they're trying to learn, not be wow-ed. I gotta introduce more "Here's a common issue and how to address it" rather than "Look, I've been doing this for years and you haven't - be amazed as you try to keep up." I think it'll make the class more relatable if I come down to their level versus them coming up to mine." 🎂 5. Reference Materials."During the cake class, I never really knew what the "end goal" design was, so I felt like we were flying blind a bit. I know that in our cookie classes, we have the PowerPoint but at no point do they really get to see the "end result." I'd like to print out and laminate some pictures of the final product and have them in front of each attendee to look at during the decorating process." 🎂 6. Drop Zones."Mom put her purse so close to the buttercream, she almost had a tasty tote - and I think we don't tell people when they show up where they're allowed to drop their stuff. Moving forward, we should tell them where they can hang their jackets, drop their bags, and let them know more about what to expect. That way they don't feel like they are fumbling with their belongings and can just enjoy the learning process." 🎂 7. Supplies on Supplies on Supplies."I know we learned from this during a few Christmas classes a couple of years ago, but having fresh supplies for each class really cuts down on wait times. We had to wait for clean bowls from the class before us which really slowed the progression of the class. I think having supplies dedicated to each class would really move things along. It may take a cut out of the bottom line initially, but in the long run, it'll really shorten class times and make for an overall more enjoyable experience I think." 🎂 8. Say Cheese."Take pictures and when you think you've taken enough, take more. The more photos you take, the more options people ha

Om Podcasten

👋 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!