76. Baking it Down - Strong Foundations

🏠  It All Starts at the FoundationEver built a house? Well - probably most of us would say no, but we've all probably lived in a house - and what's under your feet? A foundation. Now - how good that foundation depends on who laid it. A sandy foundation is going to lead to future cracks and a headache in repairs. A strong foundation could have that house standing for a century. It depends on the foundation. The foundation is everything when it comes to building a strong house that'll stand the test of time and weather.Your marketing? No different. I can nearly guarantee that when someone runs to the group and says "Marketing on Instagram doesn't work!" that it actually does, but this person is missing some of their foundation. You may have tried something, but you didn't try everything. How do I speak so confidently? Because I'm able to monitor a group of 36,000 bakers makin' what you just said doesn't work, work. And that is awesome news. Why? Because that means you can make it work - you just need to spend a little time repairing your foundation.  1️⃣ Get on Facebook and Instagram.😭 "Yeah, Heather, but I don't use Instagram." Okay cool - then acknowledge you're leaving leads on the table over on Instagram. Why? Because a lot of people are making sales on Instagram. So it works. And whether you choose to use it or not is up to you - but as such, not using it means you don't want Instagram leads. There's your leads. 2️⃣ Join Local Community Groups or NextDoor Neighborhoods.😭 "But my local groups don't allow sales posts." Cool. Then figure out how to sell without selling. Add enough value to this group that people stalk your group profile and see that, guess what, you sell baked goods. And if you sell baked goods that are half as good as that play-by-play you gave of that over-crowded pumpkin patch, people will order from you.There's your leads. 3️⃣ Create an Email List.😭 "But I don't have an email list." Yeah, you do - everyone you've ever sold anything to. Gather their emails. Put them in a list, and make a free Mailchimp account. Then get to sendin' because goodness knows emails convert, and even more, goodness knows a warm lead is a great lead. There's your leads. 4️⃣ Utilize a GMB / GBP Listing.😭 "But I don't know how."Join the Cookie College for a month. I'll teach you how. And then you'll start seeing more cold audience leads (people who haven't ordered from you before). Can't join the College yet? Just Google "how to create a GBP" and get to gettin'.There's your leads.5️⃣ Get a Website.Websites convert more leads. 😭  "But I don't have a website, and I get leads." Yeah - but could you imagine how many more leads you could get? Websites provide buyer confidence. Nothing screams "you're safe here" like amazing product photography, a return policy easy to find, product descriptions that answer questions, and a beautiful baker bio that makes you seem like a bestie to each client who reads it. Get a website. Get a website optimized. Get a website with great photography. Get a website with e-comm integration. Get a website that sells why you sleep. There's your leads. Getting the foundations dialed in will result in more leads, better leads, and higher margins = which all added up together means a better business. Stop falling into marketing fad traps until you get that foundation built and those cracks filled. With the right foundation, your bakery buildin' will stand for years to come.

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!