Question

1. you are to pretend that you are part of a marketing team. As part of that team, your task is to lay out a plan of action and begin to evaluate a new product idea.

How would you present your ideas for a new product offering that you believe might fulfill an unmet or under-met need or offer a superior solution (‘better, cheaper, or faster’) compared to existing products available. use the following steps

Section 1: Your Product

Section 2: Your Competitors

Section 3: The External Environment as It Relates to Your Product-Market

Section 4: Your Customers

Conclusion

Answer 1

Product – The name of the product will be E-Diary (electronic diary). This diary will be equivalent to a regular paper diary minus the papers. The look and feel will be exactly the same and there will be a set of three pens provided for the consumer. These pens will be different in shape and will be designed keeping in mind the usage of each one of them. For e.g. one can be used for regular writing another can used for drawings and/or for making diagrams and the last one can be used by children struggling to make their handwriting better.

The diary will have an internal memory for saving the written documents and will also support Wi-Fi connectivity for cloud storage. There will be an added feature of attaching the documents to one registered email account so that the written documents can be mailed.

The UI will be designed in a way that every feature of the diary is close to a paper diary and a user using E-Diary should never feel that she/he is a carrying a device capable of doing anything and everything rather the ultimate aim will be to urge every single buyer of this E-Diary to use it as a normal diary.

Since the make of the diary will be close to a normal looking diary, it will deduct cost of making as there will be no lack of space for placing the hardware and electronics under the white screen. The battery backup will also be good as a bigger battery can be placed if the dimensions of the E-Diary is equivalent to a 200 page normal diary with screen size ranging from 7 inches to 10 inches or even greater as per demand. The screen will provide 3 colors of paper initially (white, cream and beige) with more color options after rolling the first update. Additionally the E-Diary will be provided with a feature of security lock so that the owner can only access it. The main aim will not be to make a feature rich E-Diary but to provide a normal looking diary electronic in nature. Focus will be given to make the diary waterproof and the users name will be displayed immediately on opening the diary’s hardcover asking to enter the password. Pens will be given separately and a user can attach only one pen with the diary at the side in the pen holder.

Competitors – Competitors in this field will be mobile devices with smart pen, tablets and devices made for artists for drawing (graphic drawing tablet).

But all the above competitors are not directly related to my product segment as all of the above are smart devices and are very expensive, feature rich and require some expertise to master it completely.

The E-Diary will be pocket friendly and will be designed with the sole purpose for taking notes, saving them with bookmarks for easy access, keeping them password protected and easily transfer them through email and that’s it.

The External Environment – It will be a device that will have a great Marketing motto of saving paper-saving trees. The good cause itself is huge to gain support from Government and NGOs.

It will hopefully rise in the market quickly as we pace more and more towards using things that run electronically to save natural resources from getting depleted.

Customers – Schools, colleges, universities, companies, and every such place that uses a pen and paper to write things will be my customer.

There will be option to customize the hardcover with the name of the institute or company on orders above 300.

Books stores and stationery shops of various areas along with online shopping portals can be a great way to increase sales.

Before selling it online to renowned e commerce sites and official website of the product will be a good idea to maximize profit without any commission. Unique offers will be given on the official website like customizing 3 E-Diaries at the cost of 2 and special gifting offers will also be given with names engraved on the pens.

The customers can be of any age group and everyone who loves to write will definitely think of trying the E-Diary at least once that too something so secure, easy to use, environment friendly and innovative.