Key Program Resources

Entrepreneurship Badges & Pins

When you sell Girl Scout Cookies, you practice-goal setting, decision making, money management, people skills, and business ethics—as you learn to think like an entrepreneur. You can earn badges and pins each year you run your own Girl Scout Cookie business. Then explore your own business idea by earning an Entrepreneur badge.

Daisy

Brownie

Junior Cookie Business Financial Literacy Cookie Entrepreneur Family Entrepreneur

Cadette

Senior

Ambassador

Senior Pins

Check off the boxes as you complete each activity with your family— you can earn a different pin each year!

1. Take note! First set your sales goal on the next page and share it with your family. At the end of your season, reflect on your goal. Did you reach it? Was it too easy or too hard? Think of how you can use what you’ve learned to inform your future goals. Jot down your thoughts and email them to yourself so you can revisit them next year.

2. Shout out your strategy. Write down your plan for the season, including how you’ll maintain and grow your Girl Scout Cookie business. Document your plan using the prompts on page two. Then share it with your family, ask for help, and assign roles. Although you should always do the selling, your energy will go a lot further when your network can help you spread the word!

Tips for Family

3. Look to the future. The

Girl Scout Cookie Program has helped you build skills like managing a budget and setting and meeting goals. Now consider your future. Ask your family for support as you earn one of the Financial Literacy badges for Girl Scout Seniors—Buying Power or Financing My Future. Even if you’re earning the badge with your troop, your family will play a key role in supporting you.

4. Segment your customers. Customers can be motivated by different things. Separate them into different categories. For example, you might put your friends, family, neighbors, and broader community into four different categories. Or think of different motivations for customers; who might want to support girl empowerment? Who might want to participate in a cookie donation program? Create marketing messages that speak to the lives and motivations of each segment. Test your approach with your family, then adjust it based on their feedback.

5. Show your appreciation. Whether this is your first or tenth cookie season, you have a support network around you to help along the way. Ask your family to think of everyone who helped cheer you on, spread the word, and manage logistics. Come up with a way to say thank you to your family, troop leaders, most loyal customers, and Girl Scout sisters.

Your Girl Scout can run her own cookie business independently at this point—and that should make you proud. Her leadership skills will grow as she documents her plan, expresses gratitude, and reflects on her goals. Look for ways to encourage her to:

n Take initiative to research how start-ups or new businesses document their sales strategies.

There are plenty of resources online, including videos, articles, and templates for such strategies.

Then cooperate as she tries her hand at delegating tasks to you and other family members while she continues to be the one doing the selling.

n See failing as a learning opportunity when she encounters setbacks to her plan.

Weather and busy schedules can get in the way. Instead of solving problems for her, ask questions that lead her to make her own solutions. What would she do differently next time?

How can she predict future risks in her plan?

My Cookie Business Plan

BUSINESS GOALS—how is your troop using its proceeds? How does that translate to your personal goal?

MISSION STATEMENT—define your business’s purpose with a specific, inspirational, and brief statement.

CUSTOMER TARGETING (see step 4)—think of all the people who might not get asked to buy Girl Scout Cookies. How will you reach them to expand your customer base?

MARKETING AND SALES PLAN—how will you market your business, and what are your selling methods? Think about the different sales channels, like door-to-door, booths, Digital Cookie or Smart Cookie, group pitches, etc. What has worked best in the past? Which selling method will help you reach your target customers?

OPERATIONS PLAN—how will you manage inventory and collect supplies, and who you will ask for help?

TIMELINE—what are the key dates for your business? __________________ packages

Check with your troop leader about how your girl can get each pin, or head to girlscoutshop.com to purchase it.

Digital Marketing Tips for Cookie Entrepreneurs and Families

The Girl Scout Cookie Program® offers girls unique opportunities to engage in online marketing and sales as they learn about ecommerce and how to think like entrepreneurs.

Follow these four steps as you run your cookie business, and take your marketing efforts to the next level by going online using your Digital Cookie® or Smart Cookie website and social media platforms.

Safety tip: Girls of all ages should partner with their parents or guardians to develop a plan to safely market their business online. Although your parent/guardian should do the posting for you if you’re under age 13, all girls should have a hands-on role in marketing their cookie business.

Safety tip: Make sure your marketing materials don’t reveal your personal contact information (like your address, school, or last name) or your cookie booth location.

1.As you set goals for your cookie business, think about how digital marketing can help you meet them. Imagine customers in your community who may not know a Girl Scout. Expand your reach by sharing your secure Digital Cookie or Smart Cookie link to reach them. Be sure to:

• Be honest. Yes, the Girl Scout Law also applies to your sales technique! From your Digital Cookie or Smart Cookie site to your digital marketing campaigns, be honest, straightforward, and approachable as you write about your cookie business. • Create a sense of urgency. After all, Girl Scout Cookie season only comes around once a year! Countdowns to the last dates to order are a great motivator for driving sales. Use language that will encourage potential customers to buy from you right now. • Make an impression. Use clear, eye-catching photos in your marketing materials. This may include pictures of the different cookies you’re selling, yourself in your Girl Scout uniform, or something tied to your goal. If you plan to use your cookie earnings to go camping, tell your customers about it to show that the cookie program powers amazing girl-led adventures! • Highlight special features or products. Share the top-selling cookies in your lineup or any special varieties. Do you have a new flavor available for purchase?

How about a gluten-free option? Do your customers know that Thin Mints are made with vegan ingredients? • Use a clear and prominent call to action. Share your goal and exactly what your customer can do to help you achieve it.

Earn one of the Cookie Business badges to help you discover new skills. Each badge has digital marketing skills built right in.

My First Cookie Business Cookie Goal Setter My Cookie Customers Cookie Decision Maker My Cookie Team Cookie Collaborator

My Cookie Venture Cookie Market Researcher Cookie Innovator My Cookie Network Cookie Boss My Cookie Business Resume Cookie Influencer

3.Use digital marketing to expand your network and grow your people skills. Try some of the following strategies:

• Think of your favorite brands, and then check out their websites and social media accounts. What do they do to create a relationship with their customers on Facebook or Instagram? What can you do to safely build a relationship with your online customers? • Use platforms that potential customers could be on. Think about your target customers and where they’re most active online. • Engage your customers through email marketing. Send an email through

Digital Cookie or Smart Cookie to inspire potential customers to buy Girl Scout

Cookies and help you achieve your goals. • Turn loyal customers into brand advocates. Existing customers can be your • secret sales weapon, especially with word-of-mouth marketing in digital spaces. Avoid spam emails. Spam is an email that has been sent to someone without Safety tip: To protect your personal identity, never • their permission. Always get permission to add someone to your email list. Use marketing to inspire, educate, entertain, and entice your prospective customers. Share how you’ll use your cookie proceeds, let people know about all directly message people you don’t know online or through social platforms. Andthe skills you’re learning through the cookie program, and have fun while you’re at remember to always use yourit! Get creative in your communications—consider writing a poem or recording a secure sales link for orders. video to educate and convince potential customers to buy from you. • Show off customer testimonials. Collect and share testimonials from your customers through social media. This shows potential customers that buying cookies from you is a great investment.

Make sure to ask if you can share their words! • Say thank you! Impress customers with a custom thank-you message via email or social media. As your customer base expands beyond friends and family, find ways to maintain personalization while following Girl Scouts’

Safety Activity Checkpoints for Computer and Internet Use. Safety tip: To protect your personal identity, never directly message people you don’t know online or through social platforms. And remember to always use your secure sales link for orders.

4.Practice business ethics by safely marketing online. Before you get started, review the below safety standards. When in doubt, revisit these resources.

• You and your supervising parent/guardian must read, agree to, and abide by the Girl Scout Internet Safety Pledge, the

Digital Cookie Pledge, and the Supplemental Safety Tips for Online Marketing before engaging in online marketing and sales efforts through the cookie program. • Review Girl Scouts’ Safety Activity Checkpoints for Computer and Internet Use and Cookie and Product Sales on your council’s website.