We were lucky to catch up with Beth Wood recently and have shared our conversation below.

Beth , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard.

One of the main things we do a little differently than most gifting companies is offer personalization as well as branding on most of our gifting sites. We believe that customers will use products more if their name is featured on the product. We also believe that people love seeing their own names on things and that extra added touch to a gift makes it seem that much more special and unique. When a recipient opens a gift from one of our customers, we want them to feel valued and appreciated more than anything else. Adding the recipients first name and including a custom written note from our client is just one of the ways that help us do just that.

Beth , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Hi, I’m Beth – the gift giving pro behind Wood + Co Studio

I’ve always loved finding and giving the perfect gift, so it’s no surprise that I found myself using my marketing degree in the promotional products industry, working with major clients like PepsiCo, Corona, Australian Gold, and Eli Lilly.

It was through my corporate experience that I realized I had both a talent and a passion for intentional client gifts!

After a few twists and turns, including some precious years at home with my kids, I realized I could use my experience and love for great gifts to support other women business owners… and Wood + Co Studio was born!

Now I get to create a stress-free gift giving experience that helps business owners celebrate their amazing clients without adding more stress or tasks to your own plate. Helping other small business owners support and elevate their customer experience through gifting is one of my biggest passions. Providing a service that is affordable and doesn’t require my customers to take on additional inventory is one of Wood and Co Studio’s main goals.

We know how hard our customers have worked to create their brand and we do everything we can to provide gifts that align with their branding and marketing efforts .Wood & Co also offers personalization services that add that little extra touch to each gift to make each recipient know how valued they are.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

Wood & Co’s best source of new clients has been through client referrals and building a community of ideal followers on Instagram. Making connections early on in the small business arena was key to getting our company’s name out. I was lucky enough to meet Emily Schwalbach, one of the founders of the Social Squad Society, in the infancy stage of Wood & Co. Connecting with Emily and then joining the Social Squad Society was an absolute game changer for my business. Both Emily and Shannon McKinstrie (SSS co-founder) started using Wood & Co for their client gifts. They generously started sharing those gifts and my services on their social media platforms. This all led to an increase in viable leads which then turned into ongoing customers for Wood & Co.

As business picked up and more gifts went out, I realized that most of our new clients were also coming from actual gift recipients. People we’d sent gifts to on our customer’s behalf loved what they’d received themselves and decided they wanted to start sending out gifts to their customers through Wood & Co.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I spent the majority of my career in the Promotional Products industry as an account manager working with brands like Australian Gold, Eli Lilly, Corona, Pepsi and the Indiana Pacers. I absolutely loved what I did and the industry as a whole. Shortly after having my second child, I made the decision to stay home and raise my children for a couple of years. I filled that time volunteering at their school, freelance marketing and writing work and other passion projects of mine. In the blink of an eye, a couple of years turned into ten.

I had never given owning my own business a thought. But the older the kids got and the more independent they became, the more I started thinking about what I wanted to do with my time.
I knew I wanted to get back to work. I knew I didn’t necessarily want to head back into the corporate world. I’d been out of the promotional products game for 10 years and things had changed. It was scary to think about starting over in a career I used to love.

I wanted to maintain the flexible schedule my family and I’d become used to. I still wanted to be there when my kids got home from school. And I definitely wanted to do something that allowed me to be creative.
I started dreaming. I came up with dozens of ideas. But none of them felt quite right. After a few months of creating personalized gifts for different occasions, I realized I helping small business owners was what I loved doing most.

Creating and sending client gifts that not only show how much you appreciate your customers, but also help you elevate your own branding efforts became my passion. I am able to take what I had learned from all of those years in the promotional product industry and apply it on a smaller scale to the products I offer as client gifts.

Each day, I wake up excited knowing I’m helping other small business owners elevate their marketing and branding efforts through their client gifting experience. It brings me such joy and is a huge creative outlet for me.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.woodandcostudioshop.com (under construction – launching August/September of 2023)
• Instagram: @woodandcostudioshop
• Facebook: Woodandcostudioshop
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/woodandcostudioshop/

Image Credits
Brey Shirley – brand photos