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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-cookie for the Main Street Collab or posting a selfie like we did for the Meet the Baker Collab, this Blind Baker Collab has bakers recording themselves.

✍️ Here's the breakdown - participants in this cookie collab with blindfold themselves and hit RECORD as they pipe a jack-o'-lantern onto a white iced circular sugar cookie (I’ll provide an inspo pic).

Then, on September 26th at 11:00 AM EST, bakers will post that video to their Instagram using the hashtag #SCMCollabCircle (note the 2 L’s in collab) and spend the next hour engaging with other Reels. 📼 Instagram converts all videos to Reels, so all ya gotta do is upload the video, add the caption, and post.

📉 But this Blind Baker Collab will be the lowest attended cookie collab we host this year. Why? Because folks hate recording themselves on video. But in a video-first social media sphere, this is the piece of content that will push the needle for your post reach.

🤳 It's a Reels world, and we're just livin' in it.

Vertical videos are the marketing flavor of the month, and based on TikTok's extreme popularity over the last Covid-confined 5 years, it's not looking like it's going to let go of the limelight anytime soon.

Video (all video, not just vertical video) should be a part of your marketing content creation schedule each week because...

• 📹 Watchability - Our audience prefers to digest content via video versus text on a web page.
• 📹 Conversions - Adding a marketing video to a landing page can increase conversions by over 80%.
• 📹 User Generated Content - 84% of consumers have been convinced to buy a product or service after watching a brand's video.
• 📹 Search Engine Optimization - Videos can rank separately from web pages and also can help web pages rank higher in search engines.

TikTok is growing, and Facebook knows it. Meta (parent company of Facebook and Instagram) has slowed the reach of image-based content to favor video-based Reels instead (Reels = Meta's branding of TikToks).

What used to be an image-based platform, Reels paved the way for vertical video content to compete with the ever-popular TikTok. As a result, image content has been pushed aside to favor the reach of videos on Instagram.

Statistics aside, your audience wants to connect with you - which is why this Reels collab focuses on you, the baker, rather than your skill set (we don't expect anyone to pipe a perfect pumpkin whilst blind folded).

The goal of this collab is to put a face to a name a

Anecdotal evidence also supports the "Reel reach" theory. Corrie recently completed a 25-day series on Instagram using Reels to run a "freshness test" on her heat-sealed cookies. Each day, she recorded a minute-long video snackin' on a cookie. As dumb as that sounds, the con

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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 your website:

• 🖱️ Loss of URL (meaning all your business cards need to be reprinted)
• 🖱️ Loss of outstanding order details
• 🖱️ Loss of unpaid invoices
• 🖱️ Loss of all product listings / copy / images
• 🖱️ Loss of all rankings in search engines (lead gen)
• 🖱️ Loss of business metrics (web traffic / sales yoy / customer data)
• 🖱️ Loss of time building a new website from scratch

See - it can have a massive impact on a small business. So making sure you're not stuck in this predicament is just good business.

💻 1. Is the website host well-established?

"Shiny new object" syndrome isn't the best when it comes to websites. Providers that have decades under their belt hosting websites is a good sign that they're here for a long time, not just a good time.

When a new company enters the website space, they're trying to gain enough market share to generate the cash flow to stay operational. While they often offer more competitive pricing, there's a reason for that = to build up their user base. While they may offer more perks for less, you also run the risk that they may not remain sustainable for long.

💻 2. Is the host cost-competitive?

There's cheap, fast, and good = choose two. But in all seriousness, consider the pricing implications of your hosting platform of choice. If the monthly fee seems low, they may be taking % of sales. Some web hosts provide the basics, but you get nickel-and-dimed with plugins (Shopify and WordPress, for example).

Here's the takeaway - cheaper doesn't always mean bad, and expensive doesn't always mean good. What you need to vet is how that specific platform meets your bakery's unique needs. If you're new to market, a platform that takes % of sales may actually be more cost advantageous than a flat fee host. It's dependent on your needs + the math problem. Find what works for you.

💻 3. Are they reaching promised milestones?

When a company shows its roadmap, it's a decent metric to see how the company is progressing. If most milestones are missed, it may be an indicator that not all is sunshine and roses. Stay on top of promises and deadlines to better understand how the host is maintaining its tech and thus your website.

💻 4. Does it match your level of "tech savvy"?

It could be the best website builder in the world, but if you don't know how to use it, it's worthless. Finding a platform that works with how you work is the winning strategy here, and sometimes that's not always a full website but rather an intake form (like Bakesy, Jotform, or Google Forms). If you're willing to sit with a problem until it's solved, more complex builders will give you more functionality. It's all about finding what works well for you and your current needs.