As two moms, Sarah and Stephanie wanted memory books to document the major milestones and favorite moments with their kids, but they found that products on the market were either too cheesy or too time intensive. In 2019, they sat down and brainstormed what kind of books they, as moms, would want to buy, and then got to work creating Duncan & Stone Paper Company.
“After opening, we realized that this gap in the market extends much wider than just children’s keepsake books, which is why we have continued to broaden our line and create classic, easy-to-use keepsake journals for every stage of life,” says Sarah. They now offer a wide range of products, from pregnancy prayer cards to family recipe books.
Some of the challenges they’ve been working on are building a sustainable brand, growing an online social media presence, and figuring out how to scale up with minimal outsourcing. They’re working hard to grow the business because delivering to people all over the country and giving customers products to document major life seasons is incredibly rewarding. Since 2019, they’ve built everything from scratch and have this to say about what they’ve learned: “There isn’t enough room to share all the things we have learned in the last 1.5 years, but here are a few:
- We have learned how to create, source, and sell products online. As a company that started entirely online, this has been huge.
- Ads are a big deal. Having an all-encompassing digital marketing plan is key. Targeted ads are a big part of that!
- E-mail marketing is a huge opportunity for us and creating a strategy is an opportunity to improve.”
As a client of ASBTDC, Duncan & Stone has been through the works. We’ve been able to help them with a website audit, financial review, email marketing, wholesale coaching, influencer marketing, and most recently, branding. “Between the webinar resources and the coaching and development offered by Jay and Lindsay, ASBTDC has been an incredible resource already!” – Stephanie. “We are so grateful to be growing this small business as best friends and to have ASBTDC’s support through it all.”