Choosing a segment:
The segment
that I chose was a marketing/advertising oriented minds. All 3 are marketing
majors here at UF. All of the people I interviewed are seniors and have
completed internships in the marketing field. One of them, John, has already
accepted a full-time job offer that he will begin as soon as he graduates. Another,
Lauren, is double majoring in Information’s Systems and Marketing. The last
person I interviewed is Rick, his parents own a marketing firm in Tampa.
What I learned from the interviews:
Because the
target market for this product are large corporations, I was unable to talk to
potential customers. However, the people that I interviewed had a fair amount
of knowledge in the field. They all believe that a demand for such a product
could be very high. One of the interviewee’s told me that he just read about
how much money companies waste while advertising to people that have no want or
need for their product. He said a product such as this that could significantly
decrease a company’s marketing costs would likely be in high demand. Another,
Lauren, said that her biggest issue with the idea is that it may cross an
ethical boundary by collecting users search history. Rick also mentioned
something similar about the ethical issues but he added that if websites like Facebook
can do it, why can’t TV commercials?
Conclusions:
After these
interviews, I have realized that there is an ethical dilemma with my product. Perhaps,
before my program is activated on a user’s DVR, they would have to sign a
consent form stating that they are okay with their data being collected. The
next biggest obstacle is getting companies and cable organizations to form a
deal.
I definitely understand your challenge in finding legitimate potential customers to interview due to them being large corporations. I get that this may seem discouraging, however I hope you look at that problem from a positive viewpoint. If you did get the attention of some potential customers, your chances at success would be much more in your grasp because one customer could make your service. It isn't like you need a hundred thousand customers to turn a profit. One big fish is just is good as a few small fish! Great work in the blog post, as usual.
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