The End

This week we had scheduled to finish all the project till the steps 7 and 8 so we could send what we had done to the teacher and get some feedback. In order to do so we split randomly steps 2, 3, 4 and 5 of the project among the 5 components. Our task was to reviewing the step making sure that everything is was properly written, that it was completed and if it wasn't what was lacking. 

I had to do step 5. The main part of this step is the Marketing Mix, which was previously made among the five of us because we considered this part a very important phase in the marketing planning, so we thought that if we collaborated all together the flow of ideas would be bigger and more accurate.

Previous to the marketing mix I considered that the product is in its introductory phase of the lifecycle, what means that it is necessary to create awareness of it among potential consumers. Apart from that, in this stage I analyzed how we are going to create a brand position and which it is going to be. Our branding strategy is going to be related with the life philosophy that is behind this project.

Moreover, this part also divides the product into core, actual and augmented product, thus, examining the product we are creating in different ways, getting to know which is the deeper aim, how it is and which additional intangible features we want it to have.

Once we have all this done, we joined all together and got our feedback, which mainly was that we have to add more images and pictures about how the app will look like, thus, we gathered again to finish the step 7 and 8 and that’s what we did. We created a provisional model of the app and from there we took the screenshots of how it will be like. 

Third Edition

Since from the last meeting we finished the Step 1 and collected information about the next step, during these two weeks we have met and finished step 2. We only had to write the ideas we had so it was an easy task to complete. This step consists on understanding which is our market, and more specially how it reacts to some changes and factors such as culture, personal factors o lifecycles among others.

After finishing this step we looked at the step 3. This part of the project is dedicated to examine our product and how it can be developed in the market environement, and then determine which is its most suitable position on it. For doing so, we firstly segmented our market. Once the segmentation stage was finished, we specify which part of this segment we are going to target and which targeting strategy we are going to follow in order to do so.
To more efficiently reach our target market we created several personas with different characteristics. For example, one of the personas was a young student without or with a part-time job, very interested in techonology, wherease another profile was from a over-50 years-old business man with little technological knowledge. Onces the personas were created we punctuated them and the one that received the higher score will form our target segment.

About the tagline of the app, as we think this part needs lot of creativity and inspiration we agreeded that whenever we come up with one, we will put it, but we are not going to force it to come.

Finally, we agreeded that we are going to meet again after the review week and all the components of the group must have had a look to the next step before the meeting.

From talking to writing

In order to go real, we started typing all the ideas that we have been collecting during these weeks about step 1, thus, we agreed that the best way of doing it was with a meeting all together, in contrast of our first idea of splitting the SWOT, PEST and Porter's five forces among the 4 members. That way, we can enjoy a bigger flow of ideas and, as we are all Erasmus students, it is good to have more than one person when writing up the project so the fact that English is not our first language is not such a big problem. 

Although during classes and in extra hours we took notes of some of the possible ideas we could put for this stage of the Marketing Planning, when we were actually writing down them we came out with new ideas and we correct some of the ones that we already had (i.e. we thought about one weakness of the app while doing the SWOT analysis, but after we realized that it is more a thread because it is not under our control, but under society and environmental control). 

As the classes pass by, we have also gathered enough material at this point for doing the step 2 of the plan, therefore from the meeting we decided that we were going to meet again on Monday 10^th of March in DIT.

From this meeting we expect to have finish the step two of the planning and also add the mission statement to the step one. 

First Steps

The aim of the first session in class for this project was that we had to think about innovative app ideas and surprisingly we were able to come up with more than we expected. 

After having all the ideas we decided to have a look individually to each one and find out more about possible competitors or already-made apps before the next meeting. 

We find out that all our ideas have already been developed by someone at least once. However, the one that we finally chose only has one competitor and it has lot of features that can be improved (accessibility, design, adding further sections...). 

After deciding what our app was going to be about, we started developing it. All of us put a lot of effort in trying to imagine how to make a useful and, over everything, handy app. 

I started suggesting that we have to picture in our minds how we would like it to work, from the moment you would open the app on, and to put all these thought is common. Once we had that, we had a more clear image of the app, what facilitates the development of the analysis of the market and of the product. 

I came up with a name for the app that is catchy and is quite related with the purpose of the app, but much more with the feeling it creates in the user. 

During the last week each one had a different duty. We wanted to start writing the analysis of the market for the app, for that we had to think individually of the strenghts, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that can be linked with the app. In the last meeting we started with the mission statement and the SWOT, but we did not have time to finish it, that is why we divided the SWOT, PEST and the Porter's five forces. As I was not able for the next meeting due to personal problems, I finished the SWOT analysis, developing my personal ideas and the ideas that we had come up during the former meeting. 

I feel very satisfied with the mission statement and the description of the app because we have been able to express all the main points and characteristics of our product been clear and direct, which is a key point in the app market (the huge number of apps that are currently in the market make the future user choose the one that directly stresses what he/she is looking for, avoiding loosing time during the search).