If you haven’t heard about Digital Cookie yet, you’re in for a treat! In a world that is increasingly virtual, the Digital Cookie platform helps Girl Scouts take their business skills beyond the booth with mobile and online channels.
Our troop used one of our meetings for our very own Digital Cookie Day, helping each other get set up and focused on incorporating these new channels into their already successful Cookie businesses. Our troop saw a huge increase in sales by following these steps for Digital Cookie success. In order to host your own successful Digital Cookie Day, here are some tips to help get all your girls into online entrepreneurship!
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Teach your Leaders and Girls about the Power of Digital Sales
They say the average person has 155 friends on Facebook. Multiply that by a troop of 12 and you have 1860 possible cookie customers! When I’m not leading a troop, I’m a Social Media Manager, so I know the power of online sales. One of the best ways to help parents and girls visualize the possibilities is to show them the math. By showing them how many sales they may be missing out on, and then showing how easy the Digital Cookie platform is to use, you can increase their sales with very little work!
Register and Know the Site
With the Digital Cookie program, customers will be able to buy Girl Scout Cookies on their phones and computers. It’s important to walk parents, leaders, and Girl Scouts through how to use their digitally based connections to make sales. First, they need to know how to use the app. At your meeting, invite parents and leaders to take out their phones and set up the app. Walk them through the easy to follow set up steps and allow them to ask questions as they explore all the features. This is a great tool for parents to further support the girls’ cookie business (and a chance to make sure everyone has the right email linked and the right info added before the sales start!)
Connect with your Customers: Create a Troop Media Packet
One way to maximize sales is to create a troop media packet. Create some standard text or text and photo combinations that can be used to market through social media. This allows parents to easily cut and paste the important info they need and can direct sales to each girl’s Digital Cookie site. Here’s an example of a great sample Facebook post:
<My Girl Scout’s Name> is part of the most awesome girl-run business in the world! Help make her CEO dreams come true by purchasing cookies from her now! Just click here now: <Insert Link>
Send these posts to parents via their emails, with some encouragement about helping their friends to support their daughter and making cookies easy to access!
Pro Tip: Remember to keep the posts short, sweet, and to the point—and always include a picture!
It’s also a great idea to send along a cute picture of your Cookie CEO for easy upload! At your meeting, you can even set up a cookie themed photo booth with cookie props to get awesome photos to use on flyers, posters, and online! When customers can see the girls’ smiling faces and know what troop they are supporting beyond just your troop number, online and offline sales become a lot easier. Make sure your girls are wearing their vest and a smile!
Pro Tip: Always remember to respect the girls’ privacy. Make sure each parent has signed a photo release before you use photos of the whole troop online or in printed materials, and don’t include any personal information about the individual girls. This keeps everyone safe and having fun while they hone their business skills.
Include Digital Cookie Stats in Every Update
As leaders and Cookie Managers, we all regularly communicate how many cookies we’ve sold at booths and through the door-to-door sales, but do you include online sales? If not you should! Last year we added this stat to every update and ended up driving more sales than ever before to Digital Cookie!
Creating a Digital Cookie Day is a great way for girls to easily step up their Cookie Program game, and help Girl Scouts learn a useful new skill and try new ways to connect with customers. Hosting a Digital Cookie set up meeting makes sure everyone is on board with these new tools.
Setting it up for your troop (or even your whole Service Unit) is easy—use this printable Digital Cookie station set up list with reminders of each of the key areas to explore!
We can’t wait to see your photos and hear about your Digital Cookie victories!
What’s Next:
- Cookie season is almost here! While you’re prepping for your Digital Cookie Day, read up on some other ways you can prepare. An online presence will increase sales, so find out how to help your girls set the right goals!
- Help your girls stay safe online with the Girl Scout’s Guide to Social Media.
- Visit GSNorCal’s Digital Cookie page for more tips and resources!
- Ready to have the best cookie season ever? Learn from top sellers Allura and Leah!
Richel Newborg—Richel is a troop leader to Troop 2740 located in Fort Worth, Texas (although she was born and raised in California). Her mom and grandmother were also Girl Scout Leaders. Her favorite memory so far as a troop leader was packing friends, family, and excited girls into her living room (almost 50 people) when their bridging/rededication ceremony was rained out. It was crowded but an awesome celebration of Girl Scouting and they even managed to have a real bridge!
