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Student Examples: Customer Focused Product Description

Lesson 21 from: Art School Rehab: Finding Success Without Selling Out

Megan Auman

Student Examples: Customer Focused Product Description

Lesson 21 from: Art School Rehab: Finding Success Without Selling Out

Megan Auman

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Lesson Info

21. Student Examples: Customer Focused Product Description

Lessons

Class Trailer
1

Class Introduction

02:48
2

Reprogram The Art School Mentality

05:35
3

Roadblock 1: Art School Makes You Feel Guily about Making Money

09:22
4

Exercise: Get Comfortable Charging More

18:41
5

Q&A: Pricing

13:42
6

Student Examples: Pricing

23:33
7

Roadblock 2: Art School Gives You the Luxury of Working Slowly

12:34
8

Exercise: Develop a Process for Getting Past Decision Paralysis

15:08

Lesson Info

Student Examples: Customer Focused Product Description

So now what I want to Dio is actually sit down and do a little bit of product description for you guys. So we're gonna do a hot seat. It's gonna bring up our flip chart. So who wants to volunteer to do a little product description? Rewrite. I know we don't have kind of what you've been using his reprise description, but we can talk about them and work from there. This feeling brave you guys are all, like, avoiding my eye. Ha, Bobby. All right, so you have not been You're not selling them online, right? Okay, You haven't at all no. All right. So we can start from scratch with you, which is awesome. So before we've been doing investors, how would you have talked about the work? If you were writing a product description online, I would probably mention, like, using in Children's room. I would probably say that it's, you know, bright, engaging colors or something along that line. Probably pretty much all I would say. OK, so I think there are your case. A couple of really key points that wh...

at I know you're probably not selling that dresser tours, but let's pretend you are Andi. So I think there are a couple of key points that you would want to call attention to. And the 1st 1 that you may you may not notice right away from a photograph. Is this idea that, like everything, every square inch is covered, Right? Right. So what we want to do when we're, like, thinking about this is so we just we're gonna start with, like, the cool things, like the main point. So every every square inch is covered, decorated? What else were kind of the key things? So where you would put it, Right. So, Children's room, um, Children's room. And I think, you know, or, like, carve out a corner of your living room for, like, a brightly colored kids space. So I think, and you can literally use that called actions, like carved out a corner for corner for, like what I just say brightly, bright kids space. Something like that. I've already for gotten why this is another exercise that's really good to do with a recorder or a camera crew. Uh, what else? Um, the colors. Okay. I would talk about, you know, the fact that they were brightly colored and you know which I think appeals to Children probably are so than adults. Um, what about the actual imagery? You're gonna talk about that? Well, you mean because it's animals and, well, I just seems like you were like, I was so interesting that they talked about animal, right? That's even like an important thing to talk about, right? So I dio they all have almost everything I've done. I don't think I have a single piece I've ever painted that it doesn't have some kind of collection of animals. So is there a thematic element to the collection of animals? Or is it like totally random in that particular piece? And that one? Um, I think it's random because I have insects and I have zoo creatures and I have dogs, so I think it's more random. Is there a way to kind of, like call that together? Like I feel like these The edging and, well, I don't mean German aesthetics from a descriptive standpoint. So, like, it's not like you wouldn't be like a parade of zoo animals like you don't like something along those lines, that kind of quick, descriptive thing that, like calls up imagery like kids favorites or something like that. So yeah, so it could be like I use the word parade again. I don't know, I so you could say, like a parade of your childs favorite animals. Right? So the idea when you're doing this is like, you wanna call like you want to call together, like, really concrete things that people can visualize. So I haven't seen this thing, but I hear, like a parade of all your child's favorite animals. My, my, I think of, like, a draft or an elephant or a ladybug or whatever. You know, you start to think about those things. What else you think is important to say? Um, I always say that it almost becomes a family heirloom because my daughter, who is 18 just value teams, still has pieces in her room that I painted for her that she's not willing to get rid. Um, so probably more of a girl thing than a boy, actually. So here's the thing. So a family heirloom is one way you could describe it, but I actually like what you just said. Better where you said, like, my daughter doesn't want to get rid of it, even though she's right? So, like this is a piece that your child is going to hold on to long after they've outgrown it. That's how special it is. And so that's, I think, a much more concrete way. And I also think Teoh it family heirloom we think of it may be a different aesthetic than what your aesthetic is. So I think it's like so really, is this idea of like a piece your child will want to hold on to, Um, And if you were so like in a product description, you probably say it something like this. But if you were to say, doing a social media post, a great social media post would be a picture of whatever peace in your daughter's room, what would be amazing? As if you don't a little subtle styling with like things, but also call to mind the fact that she is 18 years old and say, Like my daughters had this piece in her room since she was a baby. She doesn't want to give it up. So that super powerful that's what on social media that go out an email so it shows people just, you know not only how it's used but how it will continue to evolve, which is really important when you're selling at the price point that you're selling out. All right, so that's really key as well. So then you can kind of start to weave all of these elements together. And when you're building that page, you want to focus first on, like the things that are really gonna call to mind what your customer needs. So I probably wouldn't start with, like, the descriptor, like bright colors things because that's kind of obvious to from the photo. But, you know, you could talk about, like, filling your child's room with a parade of their favorite animals. And and, you know, this is a piece that they are gonna wanna hold onto so playing around in the language of that a little bit, but keeping it really super customer focused. And then at the end, you can throw in the details. This is X big. You know, this is, you know, literally all the specifics, all the dimensions and things, But you want to start with this really strong emotional language because that's what's going to draw people in. And then here's the other thing. I think with furniture that's really important is we think, like, oh, well, they need to know if it's gonna fit in their room, right? If they love it, they're gonna figure out how to fit it in the room. I think that's really and I think that's true for most things. So if you can build this emotional connection first so that they love it, then you can go ahead and now say, Okay, this is how big it is. Here's what Here's you know, it's a changing table, and but it does this and that. So then you could talk about some of those more technical details. What, You really want to start with this kind of emotional appeal? Okay, All right. Makes it awesome. This is perfect, cause we can actually make you be your own biggest fan for this one. This is a perfect example of when you don't have that. So do you want to talk about one of your clutch? Is serving your most actually tell us about what makes them great. Sure, So it's its compact. And so when you're out and about and you want something that's not your big, bulky person. You're going out for an evening or a special event, and it can fit your phone, your keys, a few credit cards or, if you have, like, a little little wallet thing. What's really special about it is when you open up the flap on the inside, there's kind of these origami style pockets that they're just kind of a neat design aesthetic. And but it's functional because it can keep your items separated in your in your person because its fabric, it really protects. Um, say your phone from getting scratched by your keys. Um, I lost my train of thought. What you talked about so far is super benefit heavy. Been functional, right, which is important at some point. But you're also not trying to sell a chief purse, right? So we want to get you to thinking about that emotional pull. So what is it like, that you really? I love about it beyond the function, because you're sourcing special materials that there are other things happening besides the function of because everything that you just described could actually happen with, like, plain black fabric, right? Right, But you're not using plain black fabric. You're doing something that feels so what? What are seem like strong emotional things or some stories about where you're really using it. I think one of the reasons why I like to work in fabric is because of because everything is so tactile. And so it's actually really nice. It feels nice in your hand. And, um, and while the some of the fabrics might look really textured, they're not scratchy there. They're really soft, and there's a little bit of padding in there, so it feels a little cushioned and plush. Um, flush. That's thank you. You know, it's it's the fabrics are unique, but they're special enough so you can wear it out to an evening. An evening out. I have a friend who purchased one, and she said, I'm wearing it on New Year's Eve and, oh, by the way, I'm wearing it to Christmas Dinner also. And and she had, like, three outfits that she wore with it, and she sent me a photo of her herself in sweater and jeans. And then she said on New Year's Eve, I wore black dress tonight and I wore the same bag. Okay, so yeah, so that's great, cause it's like you're using in all these different scenarios. So, like sweater jeans, um, and then like a little black dress. And this is also something to where you know you can, like, use the language that people use. Like, say, it's a little black dress, even if it wasn't a little black dress, because that's something people immediately calls to mind a visual. And I weren't I wore one of mine out Teoh um, charity luncheon, and I was wearing Indian clothes, which were, you know, they're almost Indian closer, pretty Brighton lively. But I had a bag that was in a complementary pattern. So the the pattern, like the pattern that I was wearing, was a very fine pattern in the bag that I had was kind of a boulder pattern, and it worked together, and I put it on the table next to my dinner plate and two of the women at the table. As soon as I put it down, they said, I love your bag, and I should have asked them what we owe you that I made Thank you made it, but I but I feel like I could have that the any of your extradites, your friends and string, right? Right. But I think what they liked about it was that it was head of this unique fabric. And it wasn't something typical that you would pair with an Indian outfit. Because oftentimes you look for something in that same aesthetic, and it was kind of a complimentary aesthetic. Um, but I don't know how to translate that into So you're also you're using one fabric on the inside one. Are they both patterned? Yes. Okay. So I think in your case, there's a tiny little bit of talking about not so much the process, but this idea of, like, my source, you know, one of a kind fabrics. And I think the in this case, maybe the wares important Where? So you're sourcing reclaimed. You're getting them from just companies who are getting cast offs. Right? Is there a way to make that story slightly more romantic? Like I'm guessing you like dr to warehouse and you got them right or yeah, I go to, you know, they'll say, Oh, you know, Philip a bag, it's 20 bucks. OK, but But I think what? Some of the fabric is that I use this fabric that's been inherited from a relative who passed. I don't know if that's really a cheery way to sell something, but what I What I do like about two different types of fabrics is that there's usually when you're wearing a bag, people see what's on the outside, and it's catching in, its complementary and its unique Um, it's kind of got this envelope shape, but the but the inside is more for you, right? It's kind of this personal, and it's kind of whimsical. So you know, I might have something that's kind of a geometric design on the outside, but you open it up and on the inside there's like, Ah, bold floral pattern or a really soft pattern with teeny tiny birds on it, or something like that, and they think that that's kind of this. It's a little bit whimsical, but it's a little bit kind of just for you because, you know, it's a little special. Yeah, so I think there's only something there for talking about that, both in terms of the the other pattern. And then in terms of like the kind of origami fold protector thing. So, like you would even call the mind, like, how much time a day do you spend, like staring in your handbag, looking at something right like that. Something that I lose everything. So I'm always in my bag all the time trying to figure, or my phone one or my keys or my chapstick or whatever it is. So talking about how you get this kind of special surprise you every time you open it unexpected fabric and there's a place for everything that you can still kind of talked about him a benefit. But, you know, highlighted in this way where you're talking about that, you know, like, this is a beautiful like plush handbag with no one of a kind sourced fabric, things like that. So it also kind of just talking about that special thing. And you can call that language back to your customer to. So, like, you know, you could have this one of a kind bag. You're the only person who can have it really sort of selling them on that thing to on you. Do you want to decide? I think in the case of your customer, we talked about like what's important to your audience, right? So is it this language of its reclaimed? Or is that this language of, like, special, one of a kind and kind of work town like you're leaning is toward that special one of a kind. I think I'm leaning. Yes. So I think that's the way to focus. Is this really highlighting like you will never find another bag like this? You are like a one in a 1,000,000 kind of bags, really highlighting that language too, and doing in a way that makes your customer feel like I am special. I'm worth it. So I think there's also in this kind of thing here. There's also, like this almost element of like treat yourself right. Like treat yourself to the special A bag. Yeah, like I think that's really so, like, treat yourself to the special bag and you can highlight then how, like you can use it for every day. And so then you get this special. You know, you have the special moments every time you dive into your handbag. Please. I think that's something that can really appeal to people. All right, all right. I feel better about that ideo Perfect. Okay, so I know we have a few questions from our online audience. Do any of you guys have any questions before we turn to those? All right, so let's go ahead and look and see what we got from our online audience. Uh, so what if what we love about our work is not what our customers love about it. Customer first. So this is a great question, but it's always customer first. And that might mean that you don't get to talk about some of your favorite things, and that's that's okay. It is what it is. So because at the end of the day, if you're hearing things consistently from your customer, those are the things that you should be talking about first. That said, you can still think about what you love about it, because it's gonna make you a more confident sales person. So embrace the things that you love. But start with the language of what your customer loves. All right, next question. Okay, so this is a question going back to our last segment, but I think this is an apartment talk about how long did it take you to figure out your bread and butter line, and this is from Erica. So in the last segment we were talking about this idea of the bread and butter line being something that is evolved from their other line. But it's a lower price point. Higher profit margin usually requires less labour. So I would say for me the line that I would consider my bread and butter line now probably took me a couple of years of evolution from when I started playing with that jewelry line. So and that's again making something, putting in the marketplace, testing it out. So I think it took me, You know, me a year or two and I had played with some production jewelry while I was in grad school. So I think, you know, a year or two. So it's kind of those were like, You keep trying and you keep trying things. But I want to emphasize that in that time I was not sitting in my studio staring at the wall, right. I was continuing to make things and iterating put them in the market place and go to shows and look at them and really, that's how the line developed. This is genius. So for angels furniture I see. For a bread and butter line, the artwork on the dresser can be made into decals so the customer can add it to their own furniture or even our own walls s. So that would be really cute. So that's a really interesting idea. So thank you for that. Fine. When you guys get all this feedback from anyone else, Okay. So I want to make sure that everyone inerrancy audience is clear about sort of how you're going to start talking about your work going forward, right? I've run. Feels like they can now put that more customer focused, spin on it and go from there. Okay. So All right. So now we've got some sales confidence, right? How? I want to check in. We're through five of the six roadblocks. How are you guys feeling? Compared to where we were at the start. I see some. Like I wanna make sure everyone's okay. Killing you look a little bit like you. Better I still worry about. Well, it's so I've been set, you know, testing my products at craft fairs. I'm concerned that with my new price point that, uh, it would not be impulse buy any longer. And so it would be more difficult, um, to make sales. So one of the things that I think is really important to keep in mind is that there are a lot of people whose impulse buy threshold is higher than potentially even yours, right? So and even at a craft show. So I found doing craft shows that, like where I was selling a lot was definitely in the like, 62 1 50 range. So I think, and there are some there more. So I think this new price when you're talking about going up to 1 50 is still doable. Now you're going to sell less pieces. I think that's important to acknowledge. You're not gonna sell as many. And if you dio awesome, you make more money off, right? But the only way to know that is to put the work out there and try it. So one of the things that's really important with keeping all of this in mind is that everything is an experiment, right? Send out the different emails and see what happens. I'm gonna try different price points. I'm still doing it as well like Okay, this is where I'd like to sell these necklaces. Abbott. Let's try them at this price point. Let's try them at that price point, really experimenting and just playing around. And so the only way to know is to get out in the marketplace. What's that same idea of, you know, like the analysis paralysis that happens when you're making the work also happens in your business, right? I can analyze the price of this to death. Okay, here's this comp. But here's a reason why it should be over there and now I don't know. And now I'm panicked. Go to the show and raise the prices. And this is again where it helps if you've got multiple things happening, right, so you raise the prices that one, you lower them at the other. Maybe it's not crashes, but you start then, looking into picking up more stores where customers might think about a higher price point or you build your online falling. Or you could start to nurture relationship shifts a little bit more so all of those things can help kind of overcome that. But at the end of the day, part of it is just putting it out there and having the confidence to talk about it. Has it really feeling, Yeah, uh, I will say I feel more distance in a good way way, because your art is like yourself or your child or something. So now thinking about it and talking about it, like like a product you're going to sell its so easier. Yeah, I think the more you can divorce yourself from, like, I'm the person who made it to just I'm the person who loves it. It does make it easier to sell on, and it also makes it there's, like, less of that hang up of, um like, Oh, do they do they like me? Do they like my work? It's like OK, like, here's this thing and right, I'm gonna step back from a little bit to sell. And you do have to do that for sure. Uh huh. Anyone else have anything that they're thinking about? I just have a common. Yeah, you actually know it's about this necklace. When I saw it, I was like, I want that. And how much would how much would I pay for like $40? I would think. Okay, I can live without it. I don't need it, e want to spend my $ in something else? But as soon as we started talking about it, like maybe 450 or more 250 even I would think about it at the piece of art. Okay. Really? Honestly, Yeah. So for I mean, I wouldn't buy it for 50 bucks. Okay, that's interesting. Yeah, I think that right. And that really is. There's a price and perceived value thing that I really haven't there, so

Class Materials

Bonus Materials with Purchase

Art School Rehab Class Workbook

Ratings and Reviews

Usha
 

This class was so good - it's not just for people who went to art school, but anyone who has (or wants to have) a creative-based business. Megan's lessons break down the overwhelmingness of roadblocks and gives you tangible tools to get past them, shift your mindset, and shows you how to focus. There were so many elements to this class that were helpful, but overall I think if you feel like you're stuck, you overanalyze every decision, and feel like you want to move forward but don't know how, this class is for you. Thanks Megan, for helping me work on a plan to move me past my hurdles.

Kim S. Joy
 

I have owned this class for awhile and just decided to start it.... well I should have watched/taken this class years ago! I did not go to art school but follow that mindset. This was amazing. So much to learn and unlearn. The pricing and raising your prices what just what I needed. Thank you Megan for another wonderful class.

Kiki B
 

What a great class! Megan has helped me to really understand what my business goals are and how to achieve them, and has given me heaps of confidence to boot. This is going to be a great year for my creative business!

Student Work

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