Distinguish Yourself from your Competitors with Product Presentation
Once you’ve gotten your products and product lines developed, it’s time to start selling. So how can you present your products to distinguish yourself from others? Product presentation is an important factor and allows you to control the image you are presenting. If your approach is inconsistent or you use shoddy looking printed materials, a buyer may question the quality of your product. You need to develop the whole package that shares the vision of your work with high quality printed materials and a consistent image that tells a story.
The presentation of your products is an art in itself and is critical to success. Taking the time and effort to develop your product presentation will be well worth it. You should always present your work and yourself as a professional business person and having a consistent presentation package is a key factor.
When considering how to present your work there are several factors you should consider. Does your product need further packaging? How will you display your work to the best advantage? Do you have hang tags and what information should be included with a hang tag? Do you have a logo and a tag line? Do you use this logo consistently? Do you have business stationary and business cards? Do you have a care label and what information should that include? What kind of photos do you have of your products? Are the photos of professional quality?
Over the next several posts, I will be discussing each of these factors in more depth. I’d love to hear what you’re doing with product presentation. If you have worked out all the answers to the questions above, I’d love to have you share with us your presentation package. I’d love to highlight what you’ve been doing, so just leave a comment so I can get back with you so you can be featured in one of these articles.
13 thoughts on “Distinguish Yourself from your Competitors with Product Presentation”
I’m new to felting…and have an etsy store that’s new. I’m still struggling with “branding” myself. I look forward to more of this discussion 🙂
good questions Ruth. I look forward to your insights. I just had good photos taken and now am struggling with getting the web site selling descriptions done. It’s easier when people are standing in your booth and they can see and feel the product.
Michelle – good luck with your store and I hope I have something that will be of benefit to your selling more of your work.
Ann – Descriptions about your product and about you are always hard, aren’t they? What you need to do is think about the things that you say to people while they are in your booth. Write down all that information that you say naturally. Then you can use that as a resource when you need to write descriptions.
For the past 3 years my focus has been to learn and observe how I could fit on the web. I am still not sure how to proceed, however, I am definitely getting closer to creating a web site, or at least a page of my own. All my display experience with shows and retail space is finally working out for taking pictures of my work… Needless to say, I don’t approach the web in the same way as I approach my work! 🙂
What a wonderful forum for these “nuts and bolts” questions we all have. Thank you! I look forward to reading the conversation, and sharing about it with fellow fiber artists! Presentation is so important — it conveys that you value and cherish your work. I create felted corsage pins, and it took me a while to realize that a good way to present them is in a large, plain brown cardboard jewelry box with cotton insert; I attach descriptive info to the underside of the box lid and attach a business card on top of the box. When I sell them I tie some of my hand-spun yarn around the box. This way, it feels like a gift for the customer; and it’s all ready for gift-giving; and the box is such an appropriate frame for the pins. It helps to get an outside opinion about these things: we are so very close to our creations that it can be difficult to see them with objectivity. Ask for feedback from those you trust to have good business sense as well as to be honest and kind. An idea for a future forum, perhaps: being involved in your community as an artist, e.g. donating work to non-profit silent auctions, as a way to give back as well as help your work get noticed.
Mireille, I’d love to see your website when you get it completed. Keeping up with the web is a never ending process and it just keeps getting more complex, doesn’t it?
woolybliss – That sounds like a wonderful way to sell your corsage pins. I bet your customers really appreciate it. You are so right about getting outside feedback, that helps immensely. I will certainly include information about donating work when we get to ways to promote your work. Thanks!
BTW, I love your corsage pin on your blog.
Thank you! The business of art is not so different from any other business, except that… in some sense it’s elements of our own selves that we’re offering. And so the intention and our ethics and all of the details can be part of this authentic way of expressing our selves. Every thing in life presents some sort of trade off. As artists, we may gain some measure of control. (I can work in my pj’s with my dog at my feet, while listening to music really loud or soft, and sip tea with candles all around as I work; however, there’s no regular, predictable income connected with how many hours I work or how much I spend on materials, etc..) To be mindful of the trade-offs and to have some measure of appropriate control (which is part of what your current forum addresses) can make a big different in attitude. And attitude is everything, isn’t it?! Your site is so helpful!
Interesting subject and one that is a challenge to us all. I recently attended a series of workshops titled, ‘Make and Market’ all about this subject and it is only limited by your available time and how determined you are to succeed. For some, their work takes off in the market place quickly, whilst others have to work at being noticed. For others, that is not an area that is important.
I suspect most of us want recognition in some form, and, marketing our work for maximum appeal, helps achieve that end. The trade-off (referring to woolybiss’s comment above) can often be time spend away from creating art in order to satisfy the demands of the modern world – blogging, for instance, facebook, twitter, etsy, the whole time-consuming desire (demand?) to be known. The good part is this – the meeting of new people, the sharing of ideas and the encouragement of strangers. Trade-offs!!
My instinct is to work madly, on my own, forget about the world at large and enjoy the isolation of living on an island. This, however, makes me stagnant and maudlin, so I join the throng and connect with people and treasure blog sites like this that make me push myself.
Phew!! sorry about the spleen-venting. Have never had such a long chat with the world before 🙂
I sell most of my work at craft fairs and feel that ‘table’ presentation and also the way you package your sold product for the customer can make a big difference. I see people stuff their art work into a brown paper bag and hand it over to the customer as though it is part of the grocery shopping. Often people are buying things as gifts and really appreciate professional packaging. I use cellophane bags with a small printed label on the bottom with my name and website on it. A small business card from Moo ( own pictures on them) goes in the bag and it is closed with a sticker(again from Moo with my own pictures on) or paper string/ ribbon if appropriate. I also like to name things, for example the aliens all have names and a small card with their name printed on it goes home with them – it sounds a bit daft I know but it is a bit different and people remember it! I think it is quite important to do something a little different from your competitors – the trick is finding that something that gives you the edge!
Thanks Liz and Amanda. It is an interesting subject and I appreciate hearing your side of the story.
Very Interesting subject Ruth, i’ve enjoyed reading what the other girls are doing and look forward to more discussions 🙂
I really enjoy reading the posts and the comments too, it’s interesting learning about others’ experiences