Week 9/10

We're already on week 10, wow! Last week, week 9, was actually spring break so nothing eventful pertaining to class really happened. Week 8 seemed to have gotten away from me as I forgot to write a post for it. So, here we are at week 10 getting so close to finishing the semester already.

Smart Project

Week 10 was high focus on our smart projects. Tuesday was a particular emphasis because we were to meet with our professor to talk about how the team is working and where we will be heading in the future with the product. Specifically we got to talk about the survey questions we had made ahead of time and got to refine them before putting them out there.

Our target market for our smart project product, the Key Keeper, is college students. We decided to go with college students because they would benefit the most from a product that would allow them to stop forgetting their keys in the dorm rooms.

While some would prefer to do as Zoey Brooks did and remember their key by wearing it as a neckless, our product would make it easier for students to keep their keys how they already are. They would just have to hang their keys on our device and the device would help to alert them whether they forgotten their key their or not.

Our survey that we put together would help us to see if others believe our product would benefit them and would also help us to work out some kinks with the product as well. Seen below are the final questions that we've decided upon:

1.           Describe what you do when you enter your dorm room.

2.           Describe what you do when you leave your dorm room.

3.           Do you consider yourself an organized person?

4.           Do you have a special place for your keys?

5.           Do you lose your keys? How often?

6.           How do you get yourself to remember your keys?

7.           What do you usually do when you get locked out of your room?

8.           Would a product that alerts you if you forgot your keys be of interest to you?

9.           Listen as we briefly describe our product to you. 

10.        How much would you be willing to pay for this type of product?

By asking these questions to various college students it will help us to refine our product more to target our consumers better and make the product the best it can be. We also have created a few more questions to be able to ask public safety officers to find out about protocol when students lock themselves out. Also we would be speaking to the head of facilities as well to find out his input about our product.

Pricing 

Thursday's class was all about pricing. We were required to read chapter 19 before the start of class to be ready for what we would be talking about that day.

During the class we were divided into our smart project groups and paired with another group so that we could compare answers to the questions we were about to be asked. We were to pull a piece of paper from a hat and on it would be a question in which we had 3 minutes to think of an answer that pertained specifically to our smart project.

One of my personal favorite questions asked about various discounts, allowances, and rebates that could be given with our product. As we talked we realized a rebate would not bode well with our product and that a discount of some sort would be better off.

Specifically we believed a seasonal discount would be the best where in the winter we could sell for less because students will already be at school and school supplies will not be on high demand. Then when the summer comes in and back to school shopping is very prominent we would keep the product at regular price so as to profit more.

Many other questions were asked as well including things like the best way to price the product, factors that would effect pricing, and which cost determinate applies most to our product. All these questions got us thinking more and more about what the cost should be for our Key Keeper product and that we will have to somehow figure it out in the next few weeks before we present our final ideas.

Week 7

Marketing Concepts

Two concepts that we focused on this week was Positioning and the Value Proposition Canvas. These were two concepts that really stood out to me when looking over the products and brands. Positioning focuses on developing a marketing mix to draw customers to a certain brand or product. An example would be Walmart; They would use Price/Quality Positioning to draw their customers in. They focus on being the cheapest option out there which is why many people continue to return to Walmart. Other options of positioning bases are:

• Attribution: focuses on features or customer benefit of the product
• Use/Application: stresses the applications and different uses of a product
• Product User: focuses on a certain type or classification of shopper
• Product Class: tries to tie the product with a particular category of products.
• Competitor: pits product against competitors
• Emotion: uses emotion to draw in customer due to their feelings

Positioning is something companies focus on to be able to sell their product and be able to draw in the consumers. On the other hand the Value Proposition Canvas is used to evaluate the product to see if customers will want it or not.

The Proposition Canvas tracks the benefits, features, and experiences of the product to make sure that everything is reviewed about the product. Then looking at all these they are assessed based on whether it is a want or a need for the customer. The fears of some aspects of the product are also analyzed and then substitutes of the product are written down as well to see if it is a niche product or not. 

By doing both the Value Proposition Canvas and choosing a Positioning base to go with a product it will make it easier to market to the consumers and be a successful business.

Gatto Cafe

We applied the two above concepts to a Shark Tank product called the Gatto Cafe. The Cafe was supposed to be a cat cafe where they would sell small treats such as baked goods and coffee and people could enjoy these along with the company of many cats. The cats would roam around the cafe and would also be available to be adopted by people visiting the cafe.

When selecting a positioning base it was said that emotion would be the primary base used. They would tie in the fact that the cats were rescues to make people want to come visit and enjoy the cats company.

The Proposition Canvas helped to find many fears of the customer such as cleanliness, the costly entry fee, the mixing of animals and food, and more. It also showed that it was hard to find many benefits and features of the product which made assessing the customers wants and needs hard as well. By doing this it seems that the product was not a very needed product and provided lots of potential problems.

Smart Project

The progress on our smart project has been going well. We were able to meet with our senior marketing consultant. She enjoyed our idea and designs but told us to really be able to refine them to make sure we are able to accurately describe it in depth to others. She also said we could refer back to her for anymore things needed for the project.

Relating the project back to the concepts learned this week I feel that our product would be positioned on the basis of attribute. We would have to focus really on what the product does and how it would benefit the consumer if they had it. With the Key Keeper product they would never forget their keys or lock themselves out and that is what we really would have to shove down their throats for them to buy the product.