What's Next?
I think what's next for my product is expanding it from just fans that cool to heating lamps that warm students in the cold weather. I want to expand to a national brand that reaches every university in the US.
My first interview was with Sierra. She thought that I could expand to more universities, which is similar to what my idea was with the heating lamps. She also said maybe adding mist to the fans, but that could cause issues because people don't always want to get wet.
My next interview was with Alex. He said to reach the students we could invest in brand ambassadors. That would connect us directly to the student body and it would encourage our brand ambassadors to get their friends involved and thus reaching more students than simply our marketing campaigns could.
My third interview was with Jordan. She said that the fans going all the time is a lot of unnecessary energy, even if they are solar powered. If there's no one walking by them but they're running that's wear and tear on the device. Instead they should have motion detectors so they only start blowing when people are walking past.
I think starting to gain brand ambassadors in new universities across the south would be a good place to start growing my market. By keeping it in the south and strictly with fans I wont be venturing too far out of my original idea too fast but it will still give me opportunities to expand to a larger market. I think looking into motion sensors would be a good idea, however, they may end up increasing the cost of each fan too much. I think I would start with my original business pitch and then add the heating lamps and motion detectors later after the business has been established.
I think the brand ambassadors is the best way to grow my market. If we can get students across more universities to be interested we can sway those universities to purchase our product. I want this business to grow a lot and I think if we market it right it would grow very quickly. As I discussed in my business venture post, I don't see this business becoming a full time job for me. I would like to grow it into a successful business and sell it once it becomes too big of a job for me to handle on my own.
My new market would be to expand to local governments instead of just universities. If we could convince them to put the fans around cities and large areas that get highly congested with traffic, we could encourage more citizens to walk or bike to work. This would exponentially increase my market potential.
In major cities that have lots of people commuting to work every day there is a huge need for devices that keep them cool. In most places, people who are walking to work are wearing suits and business attire. This type of clothing isn't great for walking as it holds in a lot of heat. Additionally, it's not very acceptable to show up to business events sweaty. This causes many people to choose cars which causes traffic. By adding these fans, it solves this problem for many people.
My first interviewee is named James. He doesn't have his own car so he takes the shuttle bus or subway to work everyday. He wonders if the solar panels have battery packs or if they will only work when it's sunny out. Since he works in an area that is rainy and grey a lot, the fans would have to work when the sun isn't out in order to be efficient.
My next interview was with Rhonda. She drives to work everyday. It's only a 5 minute drive so she would like to bike. She bikes on the side of the road, and wonders if the breeze will reach. Since they're aimed toward the sidewalk she doesn't think this would be good for bikers. She thinks if some face the road and some face the sidewalk it would be able to cool off everyone.
This new market brought up new potential issues with the product that I had never thought of. The battery packs is a good addition that would definitely increase the value of this product. I think this would be a harder market to break into since the users are not as defined and easily reachable as college students. If the city wants to pay for them, they have to use tax payer money which means that they need to approve the purchase with their voters. This process is much longer and more complex than university purchasing. This market is not as attractive as my current market since it is so much more difficult to encourage the governments to purchase the fans. They would also need to buy much more which could strain our production capacity.
My first interview was with Sierra. She thought that I could expand to more universities, which is similar to what my idea was with the heating lamps. She also said maybe adding mist to the fans, but that could cause issues because people don't always want to get wet.
My next interview was with Alex. He said to reach the students we could invest in brand ambassadors. That would connect us directly to the student body and it would encourage our brand ambassadors to get their friends involved and thus reaching more students than simply our marketing campaigns could.
My third interview was with Jordan. She said that the fans going all the time is a lot of unnecessary energy, even if they are solar powered. If there's no one walking by them but they're running that's wear and tear on the device. Instead they should have motion detectors so they only start blowing when people are walking past.
I think starting to gain brand ambassadors in new universities across the south would be a good place to start growing my market. By keeping it in the south and strictly with fans I wont be venturing too far out of my original idea too fast but it will still give me opportunities to expand to a larger market. I think looking into motion sensors would be a good idea, however, they may end up increasing the cost of each fan too much. I think I would start with my original business pitch and then add the heating lamps and motion detectors later after the business has been established.
I think the brand ambassadors is the best way to grow my market. If we can get students across more universities to be interested we can sway those universities to purchase our product. I want this business to grow a lot and I think if we market it right it would grow very quickly. As I discussed in my business venture post, I don't see this business becoming a full time job for me. I would like to grow it into a successful business and sell it once it becomes too big of a job for me to handle on my own.
My new market would be to expand to local governments instead of just universities. If we could convince them to put the fans around cities and large areas that get highly congested with traffic, we could encourage more citizens to walk or bike to work. This would exponentially increase my market potential.
In major cities that have lots of people commuting to work every day there is a huge need for devices that keep them cool. In most places, people who are walking to work are wearing suits and business attire. This type of clothing isn't great for walking as it holds in a lot of heat. Additionally, it's not very acceptable to show up to business events sweaty. This causes many people to choose cars which causes traffic. By adding these fans, it solves this problem for many people.
My first interviewee is named James. He doesn't have his own car so he takes the shuttle bus or subway to work everyday. He wonders if the solar panels have battery packs or if they will only work when it's sunny out. Since he works in an area that is rainy and grey a lot, the fans would have to work when the sun isn't out in order to be efficient.
My next interview was with Rhonda. She drives to work everyday. It's only a 5 minute drive so she would like to bike. She bikes on the side of the road, and wonders if the breeze will reach. Since they're aimed toward the sidewalk she doesn't think this would be good for bikers. She thinks if some face the road and some face the sidewalk it would be able to cool off everyone.
This new market brought up new potential issues with the product that I had never thought of. The battery packs is a good addition that would definitely increase the value of this product. I think this would be a harder market to break into since the users are not as defined and easily reachable as college students. If the city wants to pay for them, they have to use tax payer money which means that they need to approve the purchase with their voters. This process is much longer and more complex than university purchasing. This market is not as attractive as my current market since it is so much more difficult to encourage the governments to purchase the fans. They would also need to buy much more which could strain our production capacity.
Great job on your blog post. Although I agree with you that brand ambassadors would be very helpful for promoting a product on college campus, I do not think that brand ambassadors would necessarily help your marketing campaign. It seems like the fastest and most efficient way to sell your product and expand your business would be to set up contracts with different universities in the south, having them install fans all throughout campus. I believed that the battery pack idea was interesting and would like to hear more about it.
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