As part of the “Digital Marketing Lab” module, four students in the M.A. Public Relations and Digital Marketing program in Cologne created their own online shop in the last few semesters. The shop soon offers foto filters for creatives: presets for photos as well as story elements for Instagram and Facebook. We talked to the students about the “Filter Factory” and learned more about the project and the team’s future plans.
“Digital Marketing Lab”, developing an online shop
What is your project about? Could you please briefly introduce it to us in a few sentences?
We created an online shop for digital products using the website builder tool Wix in the Digital Marketing Lab module. Because our hero product is Lightroom Presets, we decided on the name Filter Factory. Lightroom presets are color filters that can be applied to multiple images at once to quickly and easily achieve a consistent look. Presets for Instagram are particularly popular because they make it easy to create a harmonious Instagram feed. We chose Story Elements as our second product because they are an inexpensive addition to the presets. Story Elements visually enhance Instagram or Facebook Stories. They are added like a sticker to photos or information and make the stories more appealing.
With the presets and filters, we can reach a target group that uses Instagram privately. However, we also address agencies and self-employed people in photography or marketing with our products. For the second target group, we have also included a consulting function.
What was the work process like from the initial idea to the implementation?
We implemented the project purely digitally using regular Zoom sessions. The starting point for the project was a brainstorming session for the product idea. We wanted to implement a shop that could really go live. Therefore, we needed a product that we could create. The presets were the ideal choice because we already had the know-how to create these filters in the team. After we had incorporated the idea into a concept, we distributed all the tasks and worked independently over the months. Each team member had their own area and was able to manage their time freely. In addition to designing our shop, these included creating the presets and the story elements. We also did a detailed competitor analysis. An important topic was search engine optimization and setting up a corporate blog.
Every two weeks, we discussed our progress and brainstormed what could still be improved. This way, we always stayed in touch despite Zoom. The last step in creating the store was to create all the elements that are necessary from a legal point of view.
What was the biggest challenge you faced while working on your online store project? And what did you enjoy the most?
We see the digital agreement and the lack of personal contact as the biggest challenge. The communication channels are longer and more complicated. It would have been nice to have the opportunity to work creatively on the presets together.
But we still enjoyed the creative freedom that our lecturer Prof. Dr. Klaus Kuenen gave us. When we first heard about the task of creating an online store, we never would have thought that at the end of the semester we would have a store ready to be published.
Is the online store already live? At what address can it be found?
Filter Factory is live, but it is not yet listed in Google. We are currently taking time to improve our products and the website, so that we can launch with full force.
Thank you for the interview and good luck for the future!
