Assignment 25: What’s Next?

Existing Market. 

Step 1: Talk about what you think is what's next in terms of products and services for your venture. I think the next step for for Rad Veg is to fine tune the actual app. I need to see possible interface designs, make a logo, and brainstorm marketing ideas. In terms of future renditions of the app concept, I'd love to see a community section included that allowed for users to share recipe ideas or vote on products. These two features could create a stronger, more dedicated user-base.

Step 2: Interview three customers who are already part of the market you have identified, and ask them what they believe is next for a venture like yours. Describe to them your business, and simply ask "What should we be doing that we aren't planning to do?" Next, ask them about your ideas of what customers might want next. 

The first person I interviewed was a 32 year old woman, named Kandice. After describing to her my business, she said that I should be focusing on adding a social element to the app for users to correspond with each other. She said that customers might want to be able to add comments to the listacles and be able to express their opinions on blog posts regarding vegan news.

The second person I interviewed was a 27 year old man, named Ryland. After explaining to him what Rad Veg will offer, he suggested I should explore using social media to build a community of like-minded people that would be interested in the app. He said that customers might want to be able to suggest listacle topics, so a place to include that would be nice. 

The third person I interviewed was a 20 year old woman, named Melody. After showing her what Rad Veg would include, she suggested that I should also be planning for a bigger brand outside of a useful app, like a website or even a product line for down the road. She said that customers might want to see user avatars that they can personalize and see alongside their comments left on listacles or blog posts. 

Step 3: Based on your own expectations and the feedback you received from customers, set a path for the future. In two to three paragraphs, describe what makes the most sense for your venture in terms of growing in your existing market.

I need to focus on the long term goals, as well as getting the app running. From the feedback, I realize the importance of building a community aspect to the app if I want users to keep coming back. This sense of community could also give me the edge over my competition because I have not found a similar app that has integrated their suggestions yet. By giving the users a voice and a place to share their thoughts with like-minded people, the potential to further the brand outside the app is much bigger.

Focusing our marketing efforts on social media and linking up with already establish vegan brands could really help get a community to form on a lower budget. As I personally follow a lot of different vegan news accounts on Instagram, maybe I could reach out to them with my venture concept for suggestions or collaborations. I'd love to see Rad Veg expand outside the app to be a successful Instagram and Twitter account, as well as have a website where more in-depth articles or recipes could be shared. Incorporating video content would also help solidify the brand and allow for further expansion into the food world by hosting a vegan cooking show. 

New Market.

Step 1: Identify a radically different market from what you're currently planning to target. If you're currently targeting B2B, think about going after a B2C market. If you're currently targeting an affluent part of society, think about targeting a very poor part of society.

Targeting a market that doesn't follow a vegan or vegetarian diet, but is interested in health.

Step 2: Once you have identified a radically different market, describe how you think your venture concept might be able to create value for people in that market. You may have to get creative with this -- that's OK -- and perfectly welcome!

I could target people that are interested in improving their health, either because they want to prevent diseases, they are currently suffering from some disease, or they are becoming environmentally conscious. Maybe they don't want to give up meat or dairy completely, but they are interested in cutting back on their consumption of these products. This app could offer them a way to explore different products and recipes with the help of the listacles and product promotions. 

Step 3: Interview two people from this new market. Again, describe to each interviewee what your concept is. Then, ask them how they think your business might be help to meet customers like them. What kinds of adaptations to the product/service mix do they think you should make to be successful in this new market? 

The first person I interviewed was a 24 year old man, named Juan. After explaining to him what this app will offer, he suggested including listacles that are specifically targeted to people that typically eat meat or dairy, but are looking to cut back. He thought that by writing articles that are coming from a similar viewpoint, that it may be able to capture the interest of this market. If I want to expand into an audience that isn't vegan, I need to show them why meat-free dishes are awesome without sounding like I'm giving a lecture.

The second person I interviewed was a 45 year old woman, named Monica. After I showed her my business idea and what the app would offer, she seemed genuinely interested in the idea of it being able to help those that suffer from various illnesses. She recommended consulting with a doctor for articles or having a doctor answer user-submitted questions regarding diet could be a great feature. 

Step 4:  Reflect, in two to three paragraphs, on what you learned about this new market. What surprised you the most? Were any of your expectations/assumptions correct? Does this new market, on second thought, appear to be as attractive as your existing market? And so on. 

Just from these two conversations, I've learned so much! I feel like my creativity has been sparked and the idea of expanding outside an exclusively vegan or vegetarian market could hold a lot of opportunities. What surprised me the most was how receptive they were to the idea of using this app to better their health and how much they liked the listacle feature. I went into these interviews thinking they might be somewhat interested, but would find the app to not be very useful to their daily lives. I didn't even think about how valuable the listacles could be if they were expanded outside of covering just vegan related news. This market does seem to be attractive, but I'm not sure how they would mesh well in the community aspect. I feel like the branding should still focus on targeting vegan and vegetarians, but this has made me think of ideas for a health app!