Business Wednesday - Product Photography

image from Etsy

Over the past few months I have looked at many photographs on Etsy, Folksy, NOTHS and peoples websites to use in various blog posts.  Good images make the difference between me featuring a product or not, which sometimes is a real shame as the product is great but the image is poor.  Whilst many of us know that poor lighting can effect the quality of our photos there are other things to consider too.  Props are great for creating an atmosphere or idea, when I made my clutch bags I wanted to evoke thoughts of old fashioned glamour so took shots of the bags with Martini glasses and leather gloves. Another example is if you are selling bunting make sure you take photos of the bunting in situ, whether this is outside on a tree or inside on a wall. Yet it is easy to over do it! Too many props and the potential customer will not be sure exactly what is for sale. Another important thing to consider is the surroundings, I am sure you don't really want people to see your washing drying on the airer! 

Etsy has some great tutorials and advice about taking good photographs, in their Guide to Photography.  To ensure your photos are at the correct size you can always resize them on Webresizer or Picnik.  I use Picnik alot and have now paid to use their premium services as I put together alot of photo collages, however you can use a good selection of their services for free.

Another option you may consider is having your products photographed by a professional photographer.  Whilst some of us are lucky enough to know a photographer, there are many of us that need to find a photgrapher to take professional images of our products.  Shot By Lucy is a great photography agency that will provide you with a product photo shoot without the expensive fees often associated with using an agency.  I have seen the results of their work and they are now the recommended photographers for Gift Wrapped & Gorgeous partners. 

So if you were thinking of giving your shops or websites a spring clean be sure to read Etsy's Guide to Photography or even consider professional images from Shot By Lucy or another photographer.

Business Wednesday - Noisette Marketing

Noisette Marketing launched their new website yesterday and are here to help independant creative businesses.  They are the only marketing agency in the UK to specialise in marketing and PR for handmade buinsesses.  Having worked with clients around the globe since launching in 2009, Noisette Marketing loves to work one-to-one with creative entrepreneurs to develop a winning marketing strategy and visual branding that will make your business stand out from the crowd. 

Isa Maria is at the helm of Noisette Marketing and is already known to many through her work with UK Handmade and the British Sellers On Etsy Team.  With over 10 years experience in marketing and a first class honours degree in Design Management aswell as designing for her online shop, Noisette Kids, she is perfect to head up the team to help independant creative businesses. And her talents have been spotted furhter afield too as she posted an article yesterday with one of my favourite blogs, Design Sponge, who's reader subscrition is phenomenal.

The Noisette Marketing team is growing so ensure the agency can offer you complete marketing, PR and design packages to ensure your creative business grows in 2011 and many years to come.  I am very excited to announce that I have joined the team as a Wedding Consultant, helping creative businesses in the wedding industry develop their marketing and PR plans. Full details of my services will be available from Noisette Marketing in the next few days.

This really is a very exciting time and I hope one of the team can help you with marketing your creative business.