We were lucky to catch up with Cirea Strode recently and have shared our conversation below.

Cirea, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

My name is Cirea owner of Strode Creations “Making Memories Pop”. We offer a variety of custom items capturing memories from photos and turning them into real life. We are most known for our “Strode Boxes of Love”. (Customized photo explosion boxes) As the 4 layer box is opened each layer shows your beautiful memories customized for your special someone.

Strode Creations is known by our tag line “Restoring the gift of giving” as I started this company by giving a photo explosion box to a family member and in all the joy I got in seeing her enjoy the box, I wanted to give that feeling back to others.

After posting the gift to the family member, I began to receive multiple request of wanting to purchase the box. Everything happened so organically. That next day I completed all the steps to legalize my business. It just so happened to be Fathers Day within the next two weeks. I opened up a pre-order sale for Fathers Day and became completely booked within two days. That’s when I knew this product was meeting a need of being such a cherished gift. As our items are uniquely customized made with true hands for bringing real people, real experiences and real families together to make lasting memories. No two products are the same as it’s completely customized.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Cirea Strode the founder of Strode Creations; I started this company by completing a box for a Family member. Family has always been a very important core value in my life. Over the years I have watched my father battle with stage four cancer. I wanted to create something special holding special memories for times of reflection. In capturing all of the joy from the person receiving the box, it inspired me to share that same joy with people like you! Real moments, real love and real families. I am a true pillar of love and place my heart at the center of each item created.

We are most known for our “Strode Boxes of Love”. (Customized photo explosion boxes) As the 4 layer box is opened each layer shows your beautiful memories customized for your special someone. You upload and we create. We capture all your most cherished memories with items that can be made for any event, life moment or celebration! We have at 70% return customer rate and have increased revenue by 5% each year since opening.

Our customers are happy to “gift give” and spread love to special individuals in their lives. We also serve business owners including those in real estate, party planners and non-profits organizations. We have been able in the past to obtain contracts with businesses to meet the need of staff/client retention, office climate change and marketing. We have the ability to provide corporate gifts including company logos to provide to their stakeholders to meet their needs.

I am most proud of myself for keeping my business running throughout Covid and even challenging myself to excel in my business.

How did you build your audience on social media?

In starting my business I was able to build a social media audience from starting with my close network within my personal circles. Strode Creations items are uniquely customized and perfect for gifts. In our current society most people record and post things that they love or enjoy. In building our social media presence it was established mostly by our customers. As most of our customers would post “reaction videos” of the person receiving the product. As a result the person posting the content would tag our business as well as the person who received the gift. In those videos it was very reactionary with emotions and true excitement. This then brought more customers and followers.

We would maximize upcoming holidays for promotions by providing free merchandise. An example would be free merchandise with each purchase during the holiday and entered in a drawing for winning a gift after tagging five friends in the post. We created ambassador programs for current and past customers. This would include product reviews and customer generated leads and retention. The ambassador would receive free items for contributions. Lastly we try to connect to our community and partner in local vendor events by becoming a sponsor to promote our brand.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

The most effective strategy for growing my clients has been consistently producing great products. I rely heavily on my social media and google reviews. I attempt to walk all of my customers through the purchasing process even after order completion. I value my clients and their opinions. I give them a voice in ensuring I meet every need they have in the vision of how they want their custom product to be.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.strodecreations.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/strodecreations/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/strodecreationsmmp/
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@strodecreations5177

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