I am a marketing major who has years of experience promoting and advertising companies and products and could bring that experience to my own company. I have also done a lot of management work so I would be able to manage all parts of production and delivery for my product. I have also been told I am very empathetic which will help me to put myself in the minds of my consumers to adapt my product in the best ways that my consumers desire in the future. My aspiration for this product would be to have 50% of consumers switch from using an electrically powered noise machine to using my product after two years. My own family uses white noise machines while they sleep and I love the sound of rain so my product would give my own family and myself a chance to have these noises without having the high electricity bill.
I would be offering a solar powered fan that has hollow beads in the fan blades that would produce the sounds of wind and rain as the fan spins. Both a standing floor fan and a ceiling fan that could come with installation will be offered to consumers. The fans will also come in many different colors and sizes in order to match the aesthetic of any room. The fan would also come with a pack of beads and a way to manually fill the fan with the amount of beads the consumer desires so that each consumer can personally adjust the fan to their desired volume level.
Individuals who need a sleep aid and find that white noise/rain noise helps them sleep better would be my market. My product would help these individuals avoid the high electricity cost of using electrically powered noise machines at night. My product would also have no specified age limit, from newborns to ninety year olds, anyone can use the product, it is just targeted at those who need white noise to sleep. Being an environmentalist would also help and make my product easier to market to that individual, but you do not need to be an environmentalist to have a desire to save on your electricity bill.
Currently, the ways to produce noise at night are both costly to buy the actual machine, but also expensive to pay the electricity that is used in playing these noises for an extended period of time. My product would pay for itself by saving individuals so much money on electricity and on the machine itself since consumers would not have to buy an iPod and speaker system.
My product would be very different from everything else on the market. The other noise machines are expensive and electronically powered. Mine would be the first to be solar powered, good for the environment, and give realistic wind effects while also hearing the noise that helps with sleep to give that 4D effect. The cooling effect is also known to help individuals fall asleep so it will pair well with the noise. Consumers could also customize the product by picking the color of the beads as well as the pattern on the body of the fan so that it blends well with their room decor.
I think that all of these elements blend together really nicely to provide for a strong product offering that provides the business with many revenue streams. The product should really sell itself given how much consumers would save over the life of the product compared to the competitors on the market. One of the biggest concerns would be how easily replicated the product could be as well as the level of promotion and marketing that would be needed in order to have consumers aware that my product even exists compared to some of the much better known and popular noise machine options available. However, given my marketing background and experience I believe that part will be handled well and the product would be a success.
Feedback Memo: Two points I took away from the feedback given to me were that what I thought I brought to the table was more than I originally considered. After evaluating my human capital, I found many people considered me to be empathetic which I could really use as a major advantage in evaluating the thoughts and feelings of my consumers and putting my product ahead of others on the market.
Also, I received a comment suggesting to let the bead level be adjusted by the consumer and not offer different bead levels through my selling methods. It would make production easier and help the consumer to feel like he/she is in more control, and can change these levels as he/she sees fit. I really liked this idea so I changed what product options I would be offering to consumers.
Hi Katia.
ReplyDeleteThe good- you have an interesting product idea that is unlike anything else out there. That might be enough to evoke some interest in your product. You gave great and rich detail about your product. Your product is very environmentally friendly. You took the feedback as intended and used it to refine and improve your product idea.
The maybe needs work- back up your claims. If you have all this marketing and management experience, tell us from where? Because employers are going to see that and say, “You just graduated college. Tell us where you have all this experience.” (Then, once you explain it to them, they hopefully will be very favorably impressed with your experience.) Also, although white noise machines can be costly to buy, they aren’t all costly, nor are they expensive to run. In fact, there are many white noise and pink noise apps that can be downloaded to one’s smartphone that don’t cost much to buy or run. How do you compete with those? (A good start- smart phones don’t have cooling the room capabilities.)
The only other point of criticism- I would have loved to see a picture of an actual idea napkin drawn out.
Hey Katia,
ReplyDeleteI really liked how well you acknowledged all of the feedback that you received on your post. It looks like you really took into consideration all of the comments that you received, and I think that is great! It is good to take your criticism and look at it from a different perspective so you can adjust your idea accordingly! I think that you definitely have an advantage getting to see your siblings grow up because you do have an idea of what it is like raising a child. I personally have never even held a baby, so I have no idea about any of it. All in all, good job.
-Dakota Horlocker