I have been designing, making, marketing and selling my own product for a few years now. At Quantock Inspiration, there are now over two hundred items in the store.
But what actually goes into the whole process? Because it doesn’t take five minutes – it’s a darn sight longer than that!!
Most of you will know that I specialise in bottle crafts and decoupage is the main theme (to use paper napkins to decorate items using a glue or similar medium) So I will talk about a new bottle lamp design here.
Now, no one wants to tread on anyone’s toes – or at least, I don’t (there are plenty of copycats out there!)
If I see a napkin that I like the look of – be it a floral design or animal for example, I do try to make sure that I can’t find it anywhere else in the form that I am looking to produce. That takes a bit of time having a bit of a google (and a sip of Gin while I’m at it)
The next thought process, is what kind of bottle or glass colour would this napkin look good on?
It would be easy to just whack it onto a bottle, but it is not that simple. Some designs just don’t work on certain shapes or coloured glass.
I use mainly standard wine bottles with clear glass but I do have different shaped bottles with other designs on them, just because it didn’t look quite right on a standard bottle.
So, I’ve chosen my napkin and my bottle shape (or two) and I set about tearing the napkins main areas up and arrange it in a fashion that looks pleasing to me. Then I apply to the bottle, which can take a good hour, and leave it to dry.
Sometimes after it has dried, it doesn’t look so appealing – the colours I were expecting haven’t come out the way I’d hoped, or the napkin may have been too thick even though I only use the top layer and doesn’t look clear enough. In which case, it’s back to the drawing board – and the new creation is soaked and washed off ready to start again.
Let’s say it has come out as I have hoped. I can start thinking about what colour lights to put inside – some designs look good with warm lights – other’s look more dramatic with cold white lights. There are the multi-coloured lights to consider too.
Once the lights have been decided, the last thing to choose is the ribbon embellishment. I have a silly amount of ribbon in various colours and will try a selection until I have found the perfect one to match.
Now the product is finished, now it is time to list that item for sale. Selling online is much more challenging than say someone walking into a shop and being able to physically see and touch that product so really great photos are EVERYTHING!! And a good short video to match.
Now, I’m no David Bailey so learning how to showcase my product took a bit of trial and error and they were pretty rubbish to begin with!!!
Making sure my item has an appropriate background, making a styled scene and taking about twenty photos to show every aspect of that item takes up time. I would say that it takes about 20-30 minutes to take about fifteen photos. I will then take a short video of about fifteen seconds of the item too. For this, I use a rotating stand so customers can see all the way round the item.
Next it is time to choose which photos I want to use and edit them. To use them online, they need to be resized to the platform’s requirements or they simply won’t load on. I resize them all to 1244 pixels and then crop them as I see fit. I usually have to use a filter to lighten or darken the background so the product really stands out. Editing the phiotos can take anywhere up to an hour. I have good software on my phone and so I can achieve what I want quite easily.
Hold up! We are not finished. There’s the video to edit too and find some music to match. I use a free music site so I don’t get into any copyright trouble. On the video, I usually put some text on, explaining what the item is and the web address.
Now my product is ready to list for sale. On both my platforms, I use ten photos and one video. Writing an engaging description is very challenging. I try to be a bit witty about it and at the same time, create an image in the customer’s mind about where and how they can use this item.
I also describe the item thoroughly so there is no comeback on me if the customer cannot be bothered to go through the description. I write it out on word first and save it until I’m ready to go onto the platform and upload it.
Writing a good description can take up to an hour – yep – I bet you thought all this online selling was a doddle!! We are now well into our fourth hour of creating a new product for sale.
Now it’s time to get the item listed for sale. I list on two sites and each is done separately. Listing the item takes about 10-15 minutes. I upload the photos and video, give my item a title, copy and paste in my description, set a price and quantity and bingo! Well not quite. I have to create a shipping profile to go with my item and then think of some tags to assign to that item. Tags are basically keywords that a customer may use to try and find a product that they want. I usually come up with about twenty or so, which can be a bit thought provoking – you need to put your self in the shoes of your customer.
So, I have listed my item for sale and hit the submit button – now my item is live and ready for someone to buy. The process so far has taken about five and a half hours.
Only there’s just a bit more to do, It’s not done yet! Marketing!! My favourite part – not. But it is a necessary evil.
To market an item can take a silly amount of time – there are so many platforms I use to do it on – I have seven social media platforms and also a YouTube channel. There are apps that I can use to help me generate posts daily if I set them up. However, Initially I have to introduce them to each platform, using the photos and video and a load of hashtags to match. I can usually do Instagram and Facebook together, but the others have to get done separately. I keep it short and concise – I let the photos and video do the talking, leave a link for the customer and post away. This can take me another hour to do once I have gone through all of the platforms.
So there you have it – it takes quite a while to create a new item from scratch to marketing point – almost a whole day’s work just for one item. The same process counts for most of my other items – the knitwear, Mugs, jewellery for example.
I do struggle to find the time to actually get the items listed – I have lots that I have made and are ready to go. I fit it in and around processing the orders.
Wouldn’t it be fab if I had an army of people to assist!! But it’s just little old me – but I love it. There’s no greater satisfaction than to create something that someone will fall in love with, purchase it for themselves, their home or for a gift and for them to love it when they receive it!
And if they leave me a banging review – my job is done!!!