Advertising plays a huge role in making a business shine. The root of a business is no doubt the product and service. But what makes these roots grow is a great marketing strategy.
The big brands in the market were not born big. They had their share of struggles. It is difficult for everyone to enter the markets and stay relevant. So, it is important for brands to keep up with the trends.
There are many ways to advertise something. Everyone has their own take on it. One of the effective ways is to indulge in campaigns.
A great and successful ad campaign is that which creates a bigger and more effective impact. But at the same time, does not cost much.
It is a collection of different commercials with the same message. The base of these commercials possesses a single belief and theme. It helps businesses to meet a specific goal.
When a business wants to make an impactful difference in terms of size and success, they have to focus on customer demographics. A campaign gives the business a focused edge.
A campaign consists of many layers. These include design elements, sales focuses, and other strategies. When all these works together for a single idea, it makes for a successful campaign.
Thus, an ad campaign is a strategy that enables a business to target the right people. It can be used for many reasons. For example- to increase brand awareness, to drive sales of a particular product or service, and more.
What are the Benefits of an Ad Campaign?
Creating a campaign comes with many benefits. The following are some of its benefits:
The foremost benefit is that helps to build awareness. Awareness of a particular product or service or brand as a whole.
A creative campaign has the capability to make a business stand out from the rest.
When a campaign is made with a relatable and appealing theme, it helps to attract more potential customers.
It helps to deliver a strong message along with the promotions.
This helps a business to build a strong image.
The most important benefit is that it helps in increasing sales.
Campaigns have always been a great choice when it comes to marketing. It not only helps a brand to advertise but also creates a bigger impact on people.
Dove- the brand has been with us since long back. In 2004, they launched a campaign, ‘ Real Beauty ’. This campaign’s target audience was women and young girls. It aimed to deepen self-love, acceptance, and confidence in them.
One of the most popular ads they made was in 2013. In this, a sketch artist draws two sketches of a person. One from the person’s own description and the other from someone else’s description.
The final result showed that so many women don’t see beauty in themselves. Thus, the main idea of Dove’s marketing was to encourage women to accept and embrace their originality.
This real beauty campaign was innovative, impactful, and cost-effective.
Dove Real beauty ad
Coca-Cola’s Ad Campaign
Coca cola Ad Campaign
Coca Cola is super popular among people around the world. In 2011, they introduced a campaign named, ‘Share a Coke’. This started in Australia and in no time was spread in other countries too.
For this campaign, the Coca Cola replaced their original logo with ‘share a coke with’ and a name on it. They made this personalized product to develop a strong connection with the consumers.
This campaign was creative and encouraged people to share their happiness with a coke. It had a low price point, so it was quite easy to convince consumers to make a buy.
It was the simple yet innovative idea that made this campaign a huge success for the company.
Coca cola- Share a Coke Campaign
Apple’s Ad Campaign
Apples’s Ad Campaign
Another creative and effective campaign is by Apple. They created an ad campaign in 1997, ‘ Think Different ’. The main idea was to show the differentiation and supremacy of the apple products.
The brand made an ad that showcased old videos of certain idols. These were the idols who were considered different and insane in their time. But they brought massive changes with their work like Edison, Martin Luther, etc.
Apple made their individuality stand out by relating the brand with the crazy yet the most idol figures. This showed that the brand is different and is bound to bring change to the world.
This was a simple campaign with black and white photographs. But the innovativeness in the theme proved to be of great success.
Apple Think Different Ad
Always Ad Campaign
Always’ Ad Campaign
This menstrual hygiene brand made an ad campaign and addressed the most relevant yet ignored stigma. In 2014, the brand started a campaign, ‘Like A Girl.’ The main idea was to encourage young girls to feel confident.
The campaign did not use any fancy environment or people. But they involved regular people for it. In the ad, people are asked to do things like run, fight like a girl. Everyone does it in a mocking way.
After that, young girls are asked to do the same. They do it in the most regular and appropriate way. By the end, a clear message gets delivered that girls are as fit as the boys, and ‘ like a girl ’ is not an insult.
The campaign imparted a sense of empowerment among the girls during puberty. It was a great success and its hashtag continues to be trending.
Always Like a girl Ad
Volkswagen Ad Campaign
Volkswagen’s Ad Campaign
Volkwagen created an effective ad campaign, in an early era that made the brand so popular. In 1960, they launched a campaign, ‘Think Small’. The idea was to grab the people’s attention towards their car.
It was a super simple idea but it was full of innovation. They made prints of their car. In the print, there was this car in the smallest size in the entire white blank paper.
Volkswagen presented its product, the way it was, small. This idea of representing oneself with the utmost individuality gained people’s attention and trust.
Their idea was simple, innovative, and cost-effective. It was one of the most popular and effective ad campaigns that won many awards too.
Volkswagen’s think small ad
Conclusion
An advertisement campaign holds a great place in the marketing strategy. It not only attracts customers and sales but also tries to deliver an innovative message along. These messages are impactful and related to the brand. Thus, helps them to connect with a bigger audience.
Over time, many ads have come that occupied a big place in the people’s hearts. Apart from the above-mentioned campaigns, there are more that gained great popularity. For example- Nike- Just do it, Pepsi- Is Pepsi Ok? and many more.
FAQs
Which media is most economical?
Social media is the most cost-effective and efficient channel.
What are the types of advertising campaign?
Different types of marketing campaigns are:
Brand awareness campaign
Social media marketing campaign
User-Generated Content (UGC) marketing campaign
Email marketing campaign
Public relations campaign
What are some examples of innovative ad campaigns?
Some innovative ad campaigns are:
Dove’s Ad Campaign – You are more beautiful than you Think
Tinder is a dating app available on both iOS and Android. It was founded by Sean Rad, Justin Mateen, Whitney Wolfe and Jonathan Badeen in 2012. It works on a simple mechanism which is if a user likes someone they swipe right to like or swipe left to dislike.
Tinder users must be over 18 years of age and should have a Facebook account. The app now allows Instagram and Spotify integrations; you can use the audio and pictures from your profile on these social media platforms within Tinder.
Research has shown that there are 50 million active users on this dating app who check their accounts 11 times per day while spending an average of 90 minutes daily. The app is now available in 196 countries around the world and is estimated to match hundreds every second.
Tinder is a dating app that allows users to view potential visitors within a pre-defined radius and who are above 18 years old. Daters can swipe right to “like” a profile and left to reject it. Two people who “like” each other’s profiles are considered a match, and they can then start sending messages via the app. The application provides a facility to report people who may be aggressive in any manner.
How to Use Tinder?
Setup your Profile
Tinder Signup Page
When signing up on Tinder, you provide personal information like your name and age. This is the bare minimum. You then need to set up a profile pic.
Add a Bio
Tinder Bio
You have to write a little about yourself or leave it blank. Remember, this is the section where people get creative. After choosing what interests you in your age and distance range, you’re ready to swipe.
Swipe Left or Right to Like or Dislike
Tinder Swipe Page
Clicking on someone’s picture will bring up their entire profile, and Tinder has added new features like ‘Super Likes’. The number of freebies (such as swipes) is limited per day.
Wait for the Match
Tinder Match
If someone likes you, you’ll get a notification, even if you’ve never seen their profile. You can then choose whether to reply or not. You get a match if you like the other person and they are interested to connect with you. Both of you will be informed and then it is up to one of you to make the first move.
Tips For Tinder Users
Tinder Business Model – How Tinder Works?
Tinder has to make a profit to keep it running, so how does it generate revenue?. From Tinder’s statistics, we know that Tinder attracts a lot of users but What is Tinder’s business model?. Tinder follows a premium-based model to earn revenue. There are 2 versions of the Tinder business model:
Tinder Free Version
The free version provides almost every feature of the dating app, and most users use the free model. The free version comes with in-app ads, thus relying on advertising. If you want to get rid of annoying advertisements, you have to buy the premium version of Tinder. If you want to use Tinder without paying, bear with those ads!
Tinder Premium Version
The premium version of Tinder has 2 plans. The first is Tinder Plus, and the other is Tinder Gold.
By purchasing either of the two plans, you get rid of the in-app advertisements. No more annoying advertising, yay! In the paid version of Tinder, you can choose between the Plus and Gold subscriptions.
You can make monthly, half-yearly, or annual payments. Tinder Plus costs $9.99 for users under 30 and $19.99 for users above 30 years. Yes, Tinder will charge you more if you are 30 or above!
Tinder Sponsored Profile
Tinder Sponsored Profile
Various events and corporate entities are now partnering with Tinder to show their sponsored content as profiles. It starts at $9 and may vary depending on the location and user requirements.
Tinder Boost Profile
Tinder Boost
Promoting your profile increases tends to increase views by 10 times as well as 3 times more matches. The price range is $1.99 to $3.99 per promotion.
Annual Revenue of Tinder
Tinder Marketing Campaigns
With more than 5.9 Million subscribers spread over 190 countries, Tinder is the second most used app of these times. Even after the release of so many new dating apps Tinder stands tall holding 50 percent business of Match Group. With all these users spending an average of 90 minutes daily Tinder is a potential marketplace.
Ex Machina Campaign
Tinder Ex-Machina Campaign
Digital marketers uploaded profiles of 25-year-old AVA on Tinder just before SWSX 2015. They later revealed at the festival that she is a character from the movie. Many people swiped right for AVA and had a great conversation just to know that she is a robot, character from the movie Ex-Machina. This campaign was a huge success.
Domino’s
Tinder Dominos Valentine’s Day Campaign
Domino’s launched a campaign for their customers on Valentine’ day. The campaign displayed heart-shaped photos of Pizza to both male and female profiles. If a user swipe right, they’d be matched with Domino’s and would get an opportunity to win Valentine freebie and offers.
Atlanta Hawks
Tinder Atlanta Hawks Campaign
Atlanta Hawks the American professional football team created once in a lifetime experience for football. They hosted the ‘Swipe Right Night’ campaign, where users who right swipe would get a chance to win ‘Love Lounges’ filled with tinder users interested to meet other Singles.
Bud Light
Bud Light is the first brand to experiment with video advertising on tinder. The campaign encouraged users to swipe right for the chance to win free event passes where they can meet the love of their lives.
Amnesty International
Amnesty International Campaign on Tinder
Not only this but Tinder has been used to conduct campaigns for the social cause. Promoting women empowerment by launching a campaign on Woman’s day is one great example. Amnesty International used the platform to increase awareness against forced marriages. They posted images that lead to the Make a Choice website, where users were asked questions like marry for money or marry for love. The one answering marries for money was led to another site explaining why it is wrong and how kids are sold and forced to marry for the sake of money in some countries.
Tinder holds a huge potential to become the best marketplace if you get creative with your campaign. While doing so you get access to an active millennial audience.
The dating app advises never to give personal information such as social security numbers, credit card numbers, bank information, or work or home addresses.
Likewise, users are advised never to respond to any request to send money, especially through foreign or wire transfers.
Maintaining conversations on the platform is encouraged as ‘bad actors’ will try to move the conversation to text, personal email, or phone conversations.
Before meeting anyone in person, it is advised to let users know online when using Tinder.
While meeting, always meets the person in a populated, public place. However, it’s okay to have some meetings in a private or remote place, and sometimes in your home or apartment.
It is important to let friends and family members know when and where you are going.
Organize your transport.
Stay calm during the date as consumption of alcohol and/or other drugs can spoil your decision and possibly put you at risk.
It is important to keep a clear mind and avoid anything that may put you at risk. Keep an eye on beverages that can be mixed with synthetic substances.
If you feel you are in an unsafe area, turn off the “Show on Tinder” function found at the bottom of the settings page.
SWOT Analysis of Tinder
Strengths Of Tinder
Tinder is counted amongst the leading mobile app providers for dating services and communication opportunities for users. The company has developed applications that have become extremely popular among customers, courtesy of the high demand for dating services today.
Tinder strives to diversify its products and services. And this strategy has enhanced the company’s brand value. Diversification helps Tinder to reach a wider customer base and penetrate new areas in the market.
Tinder can track information about social network users to gather information and create the right mails for its users. The information collected by the company is important as it helps to maximize customer satisfaction and enrich the company’s database.
Tinder is inexpensive and easy to use. This user-friendliness is a USP for Tinder.
Weaknesses Of Tinder
The vulnerability of information pertaining to Tinder’s customers is one of its major weaknesses. Even though Tinder attempts to maintain the anonymity of users, the problem of the potential revelation of information still exists.
The problem of users’ prediction and aggressive behaviour is another weak link. Some users tend to go over-board (lewd comments, etc.) and this can harm Tinder’s status and reputation. The consequence is potential lawsuits filed by customers who feel offended while using Tinder.
Users on different social networking sites like Facebook tend to protect their information from access by third parties such as Tinder. This hampers the dating app’s ability to create the right “match” between its users.
Opportunities For Tinder
Tinder can maintain its stronghold in the dating segment by bringing in new features to its app.
The company should increase its position and stand in other services and markets. And it’s leaving no stone unturned for diversification.
Tinder has the opportunity to facilitate communication and interaction between people and help them improve their personal lives. This achievement will improve Tinder’s public image and increase its brand equity.
Threat For Tinder
The main threat to Tinder is the increasing competition in the online dating and match-making segment. The audience is now exploring new apps that challenge Tinder’s market standing.
The rapid advancement in technology increases the emergence of new rivals and alternatives that can potentially remove Tinder from the picture.
Finally, the company is continually exposed to legislative changes that may interfere with its operation. Such amendments can make tracking users’ information difficult and derail Tinder’s strategy, structure, and functioning.
FAQ
What is Tinder’s strategy?
Tinder has created a freemium strategy where the swipes are limited and if you want to swipe more you have to pay for the subscription.
Who is Tinder’s target audience?
Millennials are the target audience of Tinder.
What are the weaknesses of Tinder?
Users are not completely anonymous on the platform, many users go overboard (lewd comments, etc.) and this leads to lawsuits filed by customers who feel offended while using Tinder.
Every Business has faced this situation, where there’s depletion in the company’s sales turnover as a new product has been introduced, repercussions affecting the sale of old products in the similar product line.
In other simple words, generally, Cannibalization refers to eating one species, where the devourer belongs to the same species. Just like that, in the business field, the instigation of modern products is coupling the demand and supply of former products.
Obviously, people purchase the new launch and totally overlook the old product considering it a banal version of a similar product line, moreover this is prevalent in business.
For instance, Apple constantly releases a series of iOS to its customers, when the company introduced iPhone 12 Pro, people were enthralled to acquire it and ultimately shut one’s eyes to its previous version-iPhone 12. Thus; Cannibalization engenders no vicissitudes in the company’s sales turnover regarding existing products but gradually accelerates sales growth for the new product.
Numerous corporations practice Cannibalism in Brands, by discounting existing products to compete with their recent products in the market. As a result, this will bring an augment profit on both existing and new products of the company. Besides, Cannibalization is nothing but a competition between exciting and fresh products of the same brand within the company.
Effects of Cannibalization
Just like Newton’s third law: for every action, there is always an equal and opposite reaction. So, when the incorporation did anything, then it would definitely influence the incorporation in terms of sales or production.
If the company inaugurates a fresh product, say McDonald’s comes up with BTS meals, no wonder the BTS armies are everywhere and BTS meal is hyping up in recent times, albeit the existing food products like Big Mac or McMuffin are receiving derivative fond as customers prefer BTS meal to any other foods in McDonald.
Therefore; no one holds any reprehensible for the loss of the company’s market share, but itself the company by inaugurating new products as one of the newest versions of its old products.
Why is there a need for Cannibalization in Brands? How they overcome Cannibalization?
Cannibalization plays a crucial part in brands; where existing products are overlooked because of the newest product introduction. This will accelerate the demand for new products and decrease the sales of former products of its similar product line.
Businesses cannibalise their existing or outdated products by employing two ways to meet the same demand of their new product:
Discount
Company plans to touts existing products due to cannibalization, by providing discounts on such products in order to compete with the same demand for fresh products.
For instance; Samsung has launched its new version Samsung Galaxy F22 in July 2021, which overruled its preceding product Samsung Galaxy F12 which came to the market in April 2021.
What is the company planning to do, provided the former Samsung Galaxy F12 sales slump due to the demand for Samsung Galaxy F22 inflates?.
Factually, it is apparently evident that people would buy stuff when it is provided at a discount rate. So, the company vents former products at a discount price, where people fall for Samsung Galaxy F12 rather than paying a higher price for its newer version.
E-commerce
This pandemic became a beneficiary to e-commerce, where everything is supplied through Amazon, Flipkart or Myntra etc. E-commerce is the best way to captivate customers by generating many offers such as festival offers, Today’s Deals or deal of the day etc. For instance, Amazon recently applied for 26th-27th July Amazon prime Day India by selling products at low prices.
Five examples to state that Cannibalization works for existing products
Cannibalization for existing products can be seen in every company when a new product is launched ranging from low-cost products like school supplies to high-end products like vehicles. The cannibalization of existing products can be proved through these examples.
iPhones
Apple introduced iPhones which cannibalized iPods
Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple in his biography has quoted saying that ”If you don’t cannibalize yourself, someone else will”. And likewise, Apple itself cannibalizes its products.
The iPhone first model was launched in June 2007. During this period Apple was coveted for its iPods and sales were at a high rate but Apple came out with iPhones that practically had the music feature along with phone services with internet connectivity and media support.
This led to consumers straying towards iPhones as they were a better substitute for iPods. This product like in the case of iPhones is an example of Self Cannibalization.
Coke-Zero
Coke Zero Cannibalized Coke
Coca-Cola, famous for its product Coke and Diet Coke, chipped away at its sales by introducing Coke-Zero targeting the male population that worried about their sugar intake in 2006 in the UK while compensating their total revenue.
Coca-Cola has also cannibalized itself by introducing Minute Maid, Fanta, etc. and removing coke and its variants as the essential face of the company.
P&G’s Tide Detergent
Tide Detergent was introduced to cannibalize P&G’s Ivory Soap
Procter & Gamble was mainly known as a manufacturer of soap and was known for its Ivory Soap which had drawbacks of its own like dirt wasn’t removed when used with hard water.
So even with risking cannibalization of their Ivory Soap, the company went ahead and introduced Tide Detergent in 1946 which was the first synthetic detergent that could deep-clean clothing as P&G didn’t want to be cannibalized out of the soap producer industry.
Maruti Suzuki Alto
Maruti launched Alto which cannibalized Maruti 800
Maruti Suzuki Alto manufactured by Maruti Suzuki was introduced in 2000. It was the Indian built version of the fifth-generation Suzuki Alto. In 2006, it was India’s largest selling car and by 2008 it had crossed 1 million in terms of production. But this increase in sales was only achieved by eating away the sales of the famous Maruti Suzuki 800. This was done with the help of price cuts and an ad campaign that lured many.
WeChat
WeChat was introduced to cannibalize QQ
China’s Tencent famously known as the world’s largest gaming company and the most-used internet portal used QQ an online instant message service during the period when desktop computers were the hype.
QQ failed to meet the standards with the development of smartphones and electronic devices. Therefore Tencent ordered a group of engineers to develop a messaging platform that would cannibalize QQ. Thus, WeChat was developed and released in January 2011.
When human beings, in general, see something better, they essentially want it and feel inadequate with the thing they already possess and an urge to be updated with the upgraded version begins to fester. This is exactly what leads to the cannibalization of products.
The overlooking of existing products for a new one. If this phenomenon doesn’t work, there wouldn’t be customers for a newly launched product be it smartphones or vehicles.
Also known as corporate cannibalization of market cannibalization, this phenomenon is also the doom for a company as this nips away the sale of the previously introduced product. Thus proving this phenomenon to be double-edged.
FAQ
What is the example of brand cannibalization?
Coke Zero was introduced by Coca-Cola which chipped away the sales of Coke is one of the famous example of brand cannibalization.
What is Cannibalization?
Cannibalization is nothing but a competition between exciting and fresh products of the same brand within the company.
Why do brands cannibalize their existing products?
Brands usually cannibalize their existing products to accelerate the demand for new products and decrease the sales of former products of its similar product line.
Reddit is a social media website, something similar to Quora, but a different one. This American social media and “the front page of the internet” has grown too big. Initially, people never thought that Reddit can have more than 222 million active users per month. This number is even more than Quora, which has only 190 million active users per month.
If there are so many people that have joined Reddit over the years, then there must be some business opportunities for you. Even if you are a content creator or a marketer then Reddit will be a useful tool for you. Using Reddit you will be aware of the latest trends in your industry. Therefore, let’s uncover some ways you can use Reddit for your business.
You can provide services and solve the problems of your customers on Reddit. You can create a subreddit, which will work as a forum and will be dedicated to your product only. It will be a great tool if you are still in the initial days of your startup. You will not have to spend any money on creating a dedicated website for your forum. Also, many people will discuss it together so some problems will be solved among the users only. You might not have to do any effort and spend time-solving it.
Market Research
Reddit is a great source of content. You can research the market need. With the data collected, you can then design your product accordingly. If you are a content creator, then no doubt you will get so many new ideas and inspiration on Reddit. You can also ask people whether they would like a new feature in your product or not.
Run Ads
No doubt the most important factor of Reddit for your business is its ad feature. You can pay for showing ads on Reddit’s website and app. It is just like Instagram and Facebook except it has been proved better for some particular kind of businesses. Reddit’s ads focus on subreddits. Subreddits distinguish a particular group of people. So, there is a strong possibility of buzz generation and then a discussion about your product in a subreddit. Whereas, on Facebook or Instagram, you are not shown ads in groups or chats.
Reddit Advertisement for Small Businesses
Promoting in Subreddits
You may not afford to pay for the sponsored ads on Reddit, but you can promote your products in subreddits. However, read about all the “reddiquates” first which are a set of rules you have to follow. Don’t openly promote your product or your website. Start a discussion related to your website or product, then silently promote your product. Silently promoting means to not capture too much attention but still promoting it. It should not look like you are promoting your product officially. Just keep it casual and play it safe. Because you can be banned on Reddit for this if you don’t do it correctly.
Share News
Everyone wants to know new things happening in their interested field. It could be any topic from hacking to political. Therefore, share news related to the business field you are in. If you have a blog on technology, then share the news about the latest gadget in the market. If you deal with online show tickets, then share the schedules of the shows in cities. Sharing news will grab people’s attention and will eventually generate leads for you.
AMA
Do AMAs, which stands for “Ask me anything”. If you have an audience, then your people will ask you questions about you and your products. It doesn’t matter if you are a very small startup or a giant company. People will always have something to ask. AMA connects you directly with your audience and you have a chance to influence people to buy your product. So host an AMA on Reddit.
Creating your community is the best idea. You will have full control. It is very easy to create a community on Reddit. However, it is not easy to get the audience in your community. So, to promote your subreddit, go to other’s subreddit and let people know about your community. Or promote it on your website. Once you have a good audience, you can promote your new product, take feedback and solve customer’s problems in just one place.
Add Links & Bring Traffic To The Website
Reddit offers you to share your content in front of your industry or target audience. Hence put the relevant links of your website. Unlike other social media, people on Reddit like to find new websites for valuable information. Thus, if you are providing value on your website or blog, then put the links on Reddit and drive quality traffic to your website or blog.
Conclusion
Start taking advantage of this new era. Bill Gates once said “If your business is not online, then your business does not exist.” This is the golden opportunity to take your business to the sky. It doesn’t matter if you own a tea shop on a street or an online shopping store. Online marketing is the key to success. Reddit is just one platform, there are many others like Instagram, Facebook, Quora, etc. You just have to analyze your audience. If you do it right, you can target the right people which will result in lead generation. Comment some more tips about Reddit. Do you use Reddit for business or just as a casual user? Share this post with all your friends.
Indian Oil Corporation Limited or Indian Oil is one of the largest Indian government-owned Oil and Gas Companies. The company was founded in 1959 and is currently the largest commercial oil and petroleum enterprise in India. IOCL ranks 151st position in Fortune Global 500 list and 2nd in Fortune India 500 list for the year 2020.
IOCL has so far been successful in meeting the fuel demands put up by the world’s second most populated country. Let’s see what they’re doing differently from their competitors to improve their brand image. In this article, we will try to shift the focus towards the marketing strategy of Indian Oil Corporation Limited.
Indian Oil Corporation Limited was founded in 1959 and since then handled the responsibility of meeting the fuel demands of India. The company is under the control of the Government of India & the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. As of 2020, the oil and gas company earned a net profit of ₹43,242 crores (US$6.1 billion) in sales turnover among India’s most profitable state-owned companies.
The company is an expert in the production of crude oil, natural gas, petrochemicals, refining, pipeline transportation and marketing of these products. The IOCL holds nearly 35% of national refining capacity together with its subsidiary Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited (CPCL) and 65% downstream sector pipelines through capacity.
All About Indian Oil Corporation Limited
The Indian Oil Corporation is known to have over 33,500 employees along with its subsidiaries in countries like Sri Lanka, Mauritius, the UAE, Singapore, Sweden, the USA and the Netherlands. The company is currently setting up over 20 joint ventures with reputed business partners from India and abroad to explore global opportunities. Some of the International Indian oil corporation subsidiaries are Lanka IOC in Sri Lanka, IndianOil Mauritius, and the IOC Middle East FZE.
In January 2021, IOCL overall sales were at an all-time high of 4,10,000 barrels of oil. Some of the main competitors of Indian Oil Corporation Limited are:
So how does a company like Indian Oil Corporation Limited markets its product effectively and efficiently that it beats all its competitors to scale up in the oil and gas sector? Let’s see their unique marketing strategies.
The marketing mix usually refers to the set of actions, or tactics, that a company uses to promote its brand or product in a particular market. The marketing mix is the best business strategy of Indian Oil Corporation as it is centered around the product, price, place, promotion and nowadays also includes Packaging, Positioning, People and even Politics.
The IOCL’s business model is based on the Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL) marketing mix that helps the brand to succeed. The marketing mix of Indian Oil Corporation also analyses and explains the marketing strategy for petroleum products. There are different types of marketing strategies such as product innovation, pricing approach, promotion planning, etc.
The company’s marketing mix explains the importance of the product, pricing, advertising and distribution strategies used by the Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL). Indian Oil Corporation’s marketing strategy has so far successfully helped the company to position itself competitively in the market, and achieve its business goals and objectives effectively and efficiently. Let us start the Indian Oil Corporation’s (IOCL) Marketing Strategy & Mix to understand its product, pricing, advertising and distribution strategies.
IOCL Product Strategy
Indian Oil Corporation is one of the leading oil and gas companies not only in India but worldwide. Indian Oil Corporation is present across the hydrocarbon value chain and accounts for over half of the country’s petroleum products market. IOCL also has over 35% share in refining and 65% share in the downstream sector pipelines. Out of the total 23 Indian refineries, the company owns and operates 11 of them.
Indian Oil Corporation’s product portfolio in its marketing mix includes Indane gas, Autogas, Natural gas, petrol, diesel, jet fuel, lubricants & greases, kerosene, industrial fuels, Bitumen, petrochemicals, crude oil and some other special products. While its other businesses include refineries, pipeline transportation, distribution & marketing and Research & Development.
The company is also known for the popular brands under it, which are Indane LPG, SERVO Lubricants, Autogas LPG, XtraPremium Petrol, XtraMile Diesel and PROPEL petrochemicals. These brands have the added advantage of established customer awareness. The marketing strategy for petroleum products has made it possible for the company to become a leader in various sectors.
The IOCL pricing strategy runs on the idea of profit-making. In 2020, the profit of IOCL was estimated to be $6.1 billion. Since the Indian Oil Corporation is a government-owned company, some of the pricing decisions are made by the Central Government of India after considering the taxes and subsidies. The IOCL prices are different in different states and cities as geographical pricing mechanism is followed in its marketing mix.
The prices are commonly divided on the basis of metro cities, state capitals and National Capital Region (NCR). The prices in each product category (2021) are:
Petrol prices vary between Rs.101.84 to Rs.130.23 per liter depending on location.
Diesel prices have crossed Rs.90 per liter in most major cities.
Autogas price ranges from Rs.55 to Rs.57.
ATF price ranges from Rs.59400 to Rs.74000 per KL for domestic airlines and $602-800 per KL for international airlines.
Indane Gas’s price range is between Rs.834-944 per 14.2 Kg Cylinder.
The IOCL’s marketing mix is based on its wide geographic presence, as it holds and controls 10 refineries (Paradip, Panipat, Mathura, Haldia, Gujarat, Barauni, Bongaigaon, Guwahati, etc) across the country. Besides that, the company also controls over 10,900 km of pipeline connecting to high-demand places, 132 Km of gas pipeline and 37,000+ customer touchpoints. The company also has its subsidiaries in countries like Sri Lanka, Mauritius and UAE.
It also has 20 joint ventures with reputed firms in India and abroad; 25,000 diesel and petrol stations and also one outlet in the world highest point. IOCL also has 6000 LPG distribution stations, 6,218 bulk consumer pumps and 100 aviation fuel stations. Another interesting fact about IOCL is that it has more than 9,400 fully automated fuel stations situated in nearly 55 cities providing products and services to its customers.
Promotion is the most important part of Indian oil corporation limited as it led the company to become one of the most valued and trusted brands in India. IOCL realizes the impact of a good promotional plan, offers and periodic incentives to maintain its customer base. The promotion in IOCL includes advertising tools like hoardings, print advertisements and commercials on television in order to increase its brand visibility.
Indian Oil Corporation limited marketing also includes loyalty programs like fleet cards where customers can earn points and during festive seasons some gifts would be given to consumers through a lucky draw.
Since we have covered the 4Ps of the marketing mix, here are the other 3Ps to make it the 7Ps of the marketing mix of Indian Oil Corporation.
People
People play a vital role in the marketing mix of Indian oil marketing, as the company has around 33,000 employees that work in various business processes. The company recruits mainly through advertisements in newspapers and the company’s website. IOCL also spends a lot in training and development of its employees to develop their capabilities. The employees also hold equity of nearly 65 lakh shares in the company.
Indian Oil Workplace Experiences
Process
The company deals in many business, distribution and people processes to serve customers and corporate clients. To remain profitable in a business, the processes used to run should be working at an optimal rate. IOCL has taken every measure to improve operational efficiency, as it maximizes the LPG extracts for a refinery that uses the INDMAX technology.
Physical Evidence
Indian Oil Corporation has its physical presence because of petrol pumps and gas stations not only in India but worldwide. The Indian oil logo is a saffron circle with the blue color outer ring and a blue color band in the middle of the circle with ‘Indian Oil’ written in the Devanagari script. It also has an iconic tagline known as ‘The Energy of India’ which is a rightful representation of the Company.
With over 10 refineries and pipelines network span of over 9,300 km, IOCL is the leader in the Indian market. IOCL is the 20th largest petroleum company in the world and also has a foothold in the international markets. With an excellent marketing mix, the company’s future looks bright.
IOCL – FAQs
What is Indian Oil Corporation Limited?
Indian Oil Corporation Limited or Indian Oil is one of the largest Indian government-owned Oil and Gas Companies that cater to the fuel need of people across the world.
Where is the headquarters of Indian Oil Corporation Limited?
The headquarters of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd is New Delhi whereas its registered office is located in Mumbai, Maharashtra.
What is the distribution channel of the Indian Oil Corporation?
There are 20,575 retail outlets. IOCL has an outlet in the world’s highest point. The company also has 6000 LPG distribution stations, 6,218 bulk consumer pumps and nearly 100 aviation fuel stations.
Who is the owner of the Indian Oil Corporation?
Indian Oil Corporation is a government-owned company having its ownership under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.
Where is Indian Oil Corporation’s biggest refinery located?
The Indian Oil Corporation’s biggest refinery is located in Jamnagar, Gujarat.
What is the salary of Indian Oil Corporation employees?
The gross salary of IOCL employees is between Rs.60,000 to Rs.1,80,000 depending on the post of the employee.
Hashtags are a kind of metadata tags used on Social media platforms, which let users apply a user-generated tag to the content. When it comes to social media marketing, brands heavily rely on Hashtag marketing. To increase their reach among an increasingly global market, more brands use social media analytics tools to use Hashtag marketing strategy. Here we have listed a few effective Hashtag strategies.
From the social media trends to reality TVs, hashtags are everywhere these days. The main purpose of a hashtag is to make it easier for others to find the content on a particular topic on social networks. People always use them on their Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, etc. Some people even use it on WhatsApp too, where it has zero value. But why startuphashtags are important? Let’s see what they are, why hashtags for business growth are important for your business and some strategies to use them.
So, here is a complete guide on hashtag marketing and how trending hashtags can be used for marketing purposes.
Very popular on almost all the social media nowadays, hashtags are used to provide the keyword of interest and facilitate to search for it easily. You can directly search for any hashtag just by clicking on it on almost all the social media platforms. The pound sign (#) creates any keyword into a searchable link. Technically, the hashtag is a type of metadata used on social media networks that convert any keyword into a searchable link making it easy for others to search other data or post having the same tag. It also makes it easy for others to find your post.
Importance of Hashtags
Using hashtags improve your social media presence as when you use a trending hashtag, people will see your post too. Moreover, it increases your online viewability as social media marketing hashtags make it easy for the bots to categorize you.
Promotion
Hashtags promote your content for free. If you use a good hashtag, people will find you with no efforts. Instagram’s algorithm even shows new content to the users in their explorers’ feed. However, it is not necessary that they do it just based on hashtags only, but using a good and relevant hashtag might increase your chances.
Searchable
As already mentioned, hashtags make it easier for the algorithm to categorize your post. So, when people search for a particular hashtag, they will see your content too.
Run Campaign
With hashtags, you can start some campaign related to your product. Not just promotional campaigns, they are helpful in starting nonprofit campaigns too. For instance, #DoUsAFlavor (Lays’) and #ShareACoke (Coca-Cola) were promotional campaigns whereas #MeToo and #IceBucketChallenge are great examples of nonprofit campaigns.
Bill doing the #icebucketchallenge
Target Potential User
When you use hashtags, only the interested people will come searching for your post. It will help you in identifying and connecting with your potential customers.
How To Do Effective Hashtag Marketing
Find or Create Attractive Hashtags
Online tools You can use free tools like Hashtagify.me or Hashatit.com to analyze the performance of any hashtag keyword. It will help you find the best hashtag keyword for your post. You can also use tools like Instagram hashtags generator to generate hashtags that save the time you will have to spend thinking about them.
Analyze the hashtags of the competitors Analyze the hashtag your competitors use. However, just by seeing them having great results because of their hashtag, you should not copy them. Get inspiration and create one that’s your own.
b. Use Seasonal Hashtags:
You can create and use seasonal hashtags like #monsoonsales, #summertech etc. Not just seasons, try using festival hashtags too. In fact, hashtags related to festivals are much more important as everyone becomes excited about every upcoming festival.
Seasonal Hashtags
c. Keep Looking For Latest Trends:
Keep a close look at the trending topics and news. Try creating the related posts and using the trending hashtags on social media. For example, if you want to promote something on Facebook you will have to know that what are the trending hashtags on Facebook so that you can choose the best hashtags.
d. Make Your Own Branded Hashtags:
Create a hashtag of your brand. Use it in your posts and tweets. People will start using your hashtag when they will use your product.
Branded Hashtags
e. Promote
After creating your own hashtag and using them in your post, you need to know how to promote them, you can ask influencers to promote them. If you cannot afford them, go for micro-influencers instead. Hashtags can be used for promotions on various social media.
Using Hashtags on Facebook On Facebook you can promote your posts by adding relevant, trendy and attractive hashtags at the end of your post.
Using Hashtags on Instagram The hashtags have great importance on Instagram. Instagram gives you an option to follow hashtags, so if you do research then you can find the best hashtag that is relevant to your post and is popular too. Using proper hashtags you can reach to any number of people on Instagram. Don’t forget, the quality of the content is the first priority.
Hashtag Chats on Twitter Hashtag chat is a feature of Twitter that lets you use hashtags in conversations and let anyone join it. You can start some conversation and let everyone join the discussion. It increases the reach of your brand. Twitter is the best platform for hashtags, all the trends that are created on twitter are just because of hashtags. On Twitter good hashtags spread like fire, Twitter hashtag analytics will teach you how to create and promote good and creative hashtags.
f. Content Hashtags
Last and most obvious, do not forget the hashtags related to the content of your post. However, you should use unique hashtags, but using the normal and ordinary hashtag let others easily find you if you are not a big entity.
If someone uses a hashtag that is very popular but not relevant to the content it may increase the reach but at first but after a time because of google algorithm’s new updates the ranking and the reach or ranking of your website or specifically that page will decrease for not using genuine keywords.
Relevant Hashtags
These were some strategies you can use to find the best hashtag for your post. Furthermore, you can also take the help of some websites and apps to find the best hashtag for your post.
Hashtags Strategies to Improve Visibility
Some strategies which you should use to see good results by using hashtags in your post are:
Hashtag Keyword Analysis
You can use free tools like Hashtagify.me or Hashatit.com to analyze the performance of any hashtag keyword. It will help you find the best hashtag keyword for your post.
Analyze the Competitors
Analyze the hashtags your competitor uses. Check the performance of the content on that hashtag if they are relevant. You can use those hashtags unless it’s their own brand hashtag.
Brand Hashtags
Create a hashtag of your brand. Use it in your posts and tweets. People will start using your hashtag when they will use your product.
Promote Brand Hashtags
After creating your own hashtag and using them in your post, you can ask influencers to promote them. If you cannot afford them, go for micro-influencers instead.
Use Seasonal Hashtags
You can create and use seasonal hashtags like #monsoon sales, #summertech, etc. Not just seasons, try using festival hashtags too. In fact, hashtags related to festivals provide much more visibility as everyone becomes excited about every upcoming festival.
Trends
Keep a close look at the trending topics and news. Try creating some related posts and using the trending hashtags on it.
Hashtag Chats on Twitter
Hashtag chat is a great feature of Twitter that lets you use hashtags in conversations and let anyone join it. You can start some conversation and let everyone join the discussion. It increases the reach of your brand.
Content Hashtags
Last and most obvious, do not forget the hashtags related to the content of your post. Using normal and ordinary hashtag let others easily find you if you are not a big entity.
These were some strategies you can use to find the best hashtag for your post. Furthermore, you can also take the help of some websites and apps to find the best hashtag for your post.
For SEO title we go search keywords to make our article on top likewise do the same research in terms of hashtags, before using the hashtags in the campaign. This will let you know which words are trending and help you create hashtags based on it.
Holidays are everyone’s favourite and social media celebrate it more uniquely using hashtags. Hence, create such hashtags for holidays and special days. This will be very effective during the holiday season.
Promotion of hashtags using giveaways:- Giveaways are chances to win free gifts for people and they follow and post for such giveaways. Hence, use it to promote the specialized hashtags which you have solely created for your brand.
Ask people to use the hashtags with their pictures or tweets or posts. This engages people and your hashtags are actually being promoted.
Partner with influencers of which are related to your industry. Influencers actually rule social media and getting to promote their brand by such influencers surely will generate some buzz.
People don’t even know the real power of hashtags. They use it in their normal post. However, as an entrepreneur, after reading this post, you know the value of entrepreneur hashtags or entrepreneurship hashtags. Try using the same hashtags when you post something on multiple platforms. However, do not just copy and paste your old posts’ hashtag in your new post. The algorithm of that platform will block you from doing it, anyway. Make it look original. It will take a lot of efforts to do it but it will definitely pay off. Try using #StartupTalky in your Facebook post and join our group too.
p.s. If you are new to social media, and want to learn how to monetize your social media accounts, watch Hashtag Mastery Summit.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a hashtag and how does it work?
A hashtag is written with a # symbol. It is used to index keywords or topics on Twitter. This function was created on Twitter and allows people to easily follow topics they are interested in.
What is the purpose of a hashtag?
A hashtag is the way of tagging brands, people and businesses in online social communities. Hashtags work in a great way with Social Media sites like Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and Instagram.
How do hashtags help businesses?
Businesses use hashtags to attract new customers and grow their online presence. Hashtags help facilitate filtering and discovery of related content. Users searching a hashtag you’ve used can come across your account and engage, becoming new followers and potential customers.
How do you market hashtags?
Ways for social mediamarketing hashtags:
Keep it simple and relevant
Utilize trending hashtags
Use the hashtag on multiple social media marketing channels
An evident sign of changing times is the increasing number of social media users. These users are also customers that engage with your brand and your customers. Hence, it becomes crucial to garnering your customer’s support in order for your business to thrive.
In an era where users are more aware and demanding than ever before, brands and businesses require something to improve their customer service and engagement.
Helppier is a customer experience tool that will help you create interactive guides and on-page support content for your customers. Not only will you be able to create step-by-step tutorials on your website but also be able to monitor your users’ behavior, create on-product messages, and receive feedback.
All this without ever learning to code!
Generating leads and converting them into customers is a process that takes time. You need to be able to address their queries as well as focus on acquiring more users. But, instead, Helppier makes customer engagement a piece of cake by automating the onboarding process.
First impressions are always crucial, so make yours count. With Helppier, you can engage with users as soon as they log in to your app. You can send them personalized messages and videos to increase your engagement rate from day 1.
Automate customer support
Create mini-tutorials, contextual tips, and walkthrough videos to show new users how to navigate your website and your products.
Increase retention rate
Keep your users engaged with a variety of notifications like banners, pop-ups, and product announcements to increase retention and improve conversion rates.
Canva integration
Create stunning images on Canva quickly and pull them into your guides built with Helppier.
Tours & Triggers
Helppier lets users create multi-page tours to guide your visitors through your website and products. You can also set up triggers and timers to show the guide after a visitor performs a necessary action.
Comprehensive analytics
You can easily keep track of in-app message views and see the best-performing ones. Use these reports to improve communication with your customers.
Helppier – Analytics Dashboard
Multi-language support
You get user guides and in-app messages in 65 different languages that you can translate, with Helppier.
Team collaboration
You can invite your team to work with you and understand your customers better. You can define your members’ permission to view, read and edit content as required.
Does this work with the WordPress admin dashboard?
Helppier can be installed on your WordPress website but it cannot be installed from the admin dashboard.
What is segmentation?
This features requires a bit of technical know-how to use. With segmentation, you can target specific types of users based on different categories like male/female, or new/old customers etc.
I’m looking in my account after getting 3 codes, I see that I have an “X” next to tutorial videos, how come?
At least 5 codes are required to access the tutorial videos feature.
Conclusion
Helppier makes your job of engaging with your customers easier especially help them navigate complex websites or web-applications. It lets you create a variety of tutorials that will help you guide your customer.
This will undoubtedly lead to favorable customer reviews for your brand, and the best part is you don’t need to learn how to code.
So help yourself by using Helppier! Sign up today.
An email drip campaign is a series of messages that are sent, or “dripped,” in a predefined order at a predefined interval. Drip campaigns are commonly used to communicate to new subscribers or someone who made a purchase but didn’t join your email list yet, but you can use them at any time. Email drip campaigns are intimidating. They’re complicated, requiring you to create a bunch of content, write a bunch of emails, and then stitch it all together somehow.
Drip Email Campaign
Now that we know what is drip email campaign, how do you actually map out a successful automated drip campaign? Turns out, it’s not as hard as it seems.
Here are eight steps to keep in mind to create your first drip campaign — plus examples of how to target your audience, write your emails, tweak for best results and so on.
Set up your objectives.
You need to define your objectives to achieve your expected results. These objectives must be SMART, which is an abbreviation for the words — specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely. Let’s break them down below:
SMART objectives
Specific: Be clear about what you want. Do you want to promote your products? Or, do you want to educate consumers with actionable advice? It’s time to plan and decide.
Measurable: Create success metrics for your drip campaign. What is the click-through rate you want to achieve? How will you measure your conversions? By introducing target numbers in your objective, you can clearly define the level of success you want.
Attainable: Are these objectives achievable for everyone in the team?
Realistic: Nothing is impossible, but you have to be a bit realistic when it comes to your time and your resources. Are your objectives attainable based on the number of your subscribers, and the amount of time in your hands? Is the amount of work required for the campaign reasonable based on the number of marketers and designers in your team? While it’s great to be ambitious, you also need to be a bit realistic about your objectives.
Timely: Set a time frame and schedule to make sure that your drip campaigns will stay on track.
Your objectives should be based on your end goals. Do you feel that your leads only try the free trial and none of them end up buying a subscription? Try an email sequence that contains product tutorials to highlights its value and show users how they can benefit from it. Don’t forget to create SMART objectives. A lot of people set big goals only to fall short, because they don’t have a concrete plan to achieve what they want. So, it’s important to clearly define your goals from the start.
Identify Your Target Audience
Drip campaigns are all about breaking your subscriber list into subsections, and targeting information to niches of customers. So, the most important piece here is determining which triggers and groups you’re going to use for your drip campaign strategy. But how do you segment your customers? Here are some ways you can get started.
Segmentation of audience
Demographics Demographics contain basic information like age, gender, location and job. It’s pretty obvious, but failure to use this data may lead to disastrous emails. For instance, let’s say you’re in the business of selling shoes. Without segmenting your emails based on genders, you may send emails promoting high heels to males. This is a disaster and a complete turn-off to customers. No one wants to receive a message that’s obviously not meant for them. The good news is that by segmenting customers based on demographics, you never have to face this dilemma. In addition, you also send messages that are tailored to the needs of each customer.
Actions You can also segment customers based on their behavior such as purchase, visit frequency, length of subscription and content. With the use of triggers, marketers can send emails based on products bought or the content users interacted with. For example:
A user subscribes to your company newsletter, and you send them a welcome email via your drip campaign
A user makes a purchase, and you automatically send them a receipt with shipping information (plus a few up-sells)
A user downloads the trial version of your app, and you send them a series of six instructional emails over the course of the trial, which offer helpful tips on making the most of your app.
Visualize your end goal
Step back and think about what action you want qualified leads to take. Ultimately, we want to get on the phone with these top-tier leads to not only try to make a sale, but to also explore possible partnerships and discuss their current challenges. Your action might be a purchase, a download, or a demo; regardless, make sure the desired action is clear. By the time users reach the end of the drip campaign, they should have a clear picture of their unique problems, how you can help them solve them, and how exactly you can work together. Ideally, when our customers are ready to buy, they have a good understanding of content marketing and its long-term commitment. Eliminate as many surprises beforehand by working backward from your end goal.
Determine Frequency of Your Drip Campaign
Next, think about the frequency of your emails. Let’s say, your drip campaigns is about a course on a specific skill. You can space these emails out for two to three days each — rather than 7 or 14 days apart. This way, your viewers will easily recall what the email is about. The rules of how often you should send an email isn’t set in stone. So, if you’re in doubt, test your results or ask your customers. Let’s say, you have an educational drip campaign about your product tutorials. Try to find out your open rates if you send tutorials every two days, five days and so on. Are customers more likely to open your email, if the previous one is still fresh from their minds? Check your analytics to find out.
Determine Your Email Sequence
Next, it’s time to determine your email sequence. The sequence of your email campaign should be in sync with your objectives. What do you want your users to achieve by the end of the drip campaign? Will these emails help them achieve it? The emails you send should serve as a customer’s path to achieving your objective. As for how many emails you’ll send, you can go with as low as five emails and a maximum of ten emails, but there’s really no limit. Just don’t go overboard! Simply send enough emails to get your message across.
Create Irresistible Subject Lines
How do you write an email that gets read? It all begins with an irresistible subject line. Here are some tips:
Keep It Short
Add a Personal Touch
Be witty
Use a Call-to-Action
Select your content and create the campaigns.
Now that you know whom you’re targeting, you need to generate a message that’s helpful and grabs their attention. What do you want the user to do? Or, what do you want the user to learn? When it comes to selecting content, it all goes back to where your lead’s focus currently resides and how close he/she is to making a decision. For those who aren’t purchase-ready, include blog posts and other content covering a variety of questions and concerns. These readers aren’t ready to jump on a call about budgeting, targeting, and possible solutions — they’re just testing the water, and it might be too cold. Based on your answer, write copy that’s clear, actionable, and attractive. Maintain the voice that you’ve built for you brand, but make sure that your message is clear. To move qualified leads closer to a buying decision, focus on content that digs deep. Think whitepapers, case studies, and demos that clearly highlight your understanding of their problems — and how you can be the solution.
Here are some phrases you can use to create an actionable email:
Shop now, Share, Get social, Spread the word
Combine this with phrases related with time to create a sense of urgency:
Only [number] days left, today only, Limited-time, offer ends at [time], Sale ends at [time]
Automate your emails.
Once you’ve decided on a strategy, start sending. To do this, you can either implement your own custom drip software or buy an off-the-shelf product that’ll have you up and running in minutes. Once your content is ready, it’s time to let your marketing automation solution take care of the heavy lifting. The content you’ve selected — blog posts, external articles, whitepapers, case studies, etc. — that covers the basics should be delivered at a routine pace.
Drip Email Tools
For those leads at the bottom of the funnel, we utilize content to address questions and objections that might slow down a potential sale. These emails are best delivered via triggers, like link clicks, open rates, or lead qualification. As leads approach the decision-making part of the process, they’ll need answers quicker; match that pace, or you’ll lose their interest. Ultimately, developing a drip campaign isn’t a plug-and-play method to maximize sales. Rather, it’s a powerful tool to create prepared customers. Put in the work, and your drip campaign will result in a flood of new business.
Evaluate and Adjust
Just because your drip campaign is automated doesn’t mean you can let it run unsupervised. You spent a bunch of time researching user segments, and it’s important to readjust those segments and your strategy based on the results.
Evaluate, adjust and repeat
If you aren’t getting as many clickthroughs as you want, try rewriting your calls to action; if you aren’t meeting your conversion rate goals with your sale-closing email, try more educational communications before asking any user to pull the trigger. Evaluate, adjust, repeat.
Conclusion
Drip email campaigns are of great help when it comes to getting users and popularizing your idea/product. Though, different strategies may work for different companies and products, we have given some basic steps that anyone can follow to create a successful drip campaign. Just follow the steps and tweak the details according to your needs. If you have some other tips, please let us know in the comments section.
Whether you’ve been using email marketing automation for years, or have just started to dip your toes in, you’ve probably come across the concept of “drip campaigns”. Email drip campaigns are intimidating. They’re complicated, requiring you to create a bunch of content, write a bunch of emails, and then stitch it all together somehow.
What is an Email Drip Campaign?
An email drip campaign is a series of messages that are sent, or “dripped,” in a predefined order at a predefined interval. So, for example, if someone joins your email list, they receive Email #1 upon signup, Email #2 three days later, Email #3 five days after they join, and so on.
The primary goal of an email drip marketing campaign is to attract the right subscribers. And send subscribers highly relevant emails that encourage them to commit to your call to action. Even though these are automated emails, they can be personalized with your contacts’ name, company info, customer behavior, and more. Automated email drip campaigns have been proven to perform better toward reaching your business objectives, for example:
Drip campaigns are commonly used to communicate to new subscribers or someone who made a purchase but didn’t join your email list yet, but you can use them at any time.
What makes a drip campaign successful?
To create an effective email drip campaign, first, you need to pinpoint your pain:
Do you need more checkouts?
Drive back to your website your one-off website visitors?
Do you need to increase engagement among your existing subscribers?
Or onboard users smoothly so that they set up their accounts and start using your service?
All of these can be automated via the right drip campaign! The secret to creating the perfect drip is to revisit it along the way; feed your insights and results into your existing drips and customize them accordingly.
A drip email campaign is a primary nurturing/communication channel with your prospects and customers. Let’s look into how most common drip email campaigns are structured.
Welcoming
You did a great job at marketing your product, and you’ve gotten a lot of users to subscribe to your newsletters or sign-up to learn more about it. But how do you turn these new users into actual customers? How do you get them to try your product? Why should they be interested on what you have to offer? That’s where welcome emails shine — they introduce users to your products and highlight what you have to offer.
Welcome campaign
Since the goal of a welcome email campaign is to deliver the first unit of value (aka the ‘Aha’ moment), you can stop this series of emails at any time when user becomes an ‘active user’. At this point, prospects understand your product value proposition and the next step is to teach them how to get maximum value from your product
GETU’s Welcome Email
GE Learning Technology (GETU)’s welcome email begins with a clear introduction of its business and benefits outlined in bold, followed by a video that provides a more in-depth explanation of its services.
User Onboarding
If welcome drip campaigns introduce your customers to your business, then onboarding campaigns are here to make them stay. They’re useful to software companies who encourage users to try their free trial first.
User Onboarding
For example, if a user submits a registration form to create an account on LinkedIn, he/she will receive a welcome email. If the user never comes back, he/she will receive a series of welcome emails to encourage them to come back. On the other hand, if a prospect has registered to LinkedIn and started using it but hasn’t completed their profile details, then LinkedIn’s user onboarding emails will be sent. These explain why and how providing more profile information can enrich a user’s LinkedIn experience.
box’s user onboarding email
Cloud storage app Box employs drip campaigns to teach people how to use their product.
Some users need a little push, or nurturing — engaging promotions until they’re ready to buy your product. As a result, most businesses nurture their leads by offering emails with links to relevant content such as newsletters and webinars.
Nurturing Leads
Prospects don’t always come through your free trial gate. Downloading a marketing asset, such as a whitepaper, industry research, case study or signing up to a webinar is another way to start a communication process with a prospect.
Zapier’s email
Zapier sends new users a nurturing drip email to help them brainstorm automation ideas.
Product Engagement
Product engagement campaigns are essential to a SaaS company with a freemium business model. Companies that use freemium models need to ensure that customers who aren’t paying for the product right now are engaged and increasingly use the product.
Product Engagement
The math here is pretty simple: the more often someone engages with your site, the more likely they are to convert into a paying customer. Engagement emails are a type of drip campaign that invite the recipient to return to your site and look around, triggered either by some on-site activity or a general lack of activity. Social sites are a great example of how to use activity-based triggers. If someone on Twitter mentions you in a tweet, Twitter can send you an alert-style email, encouraging you to visit Twitter and respond. But it doesn’t have to be just happy feelings; guilt can work as well. If you don’t log an activity in fitness app RunKeeper for a while, they’ll send an automated “We miss you!” email. It’s a subtle way to remind you that you should work out, combined with a touch of nostalgia for the app they hope you’ll use while exercising.
RunKeeper’s email
RunKeeper sends users who have not logged a workout in a while a re-engagement drip email.
Promotional Drip Campaigns
Promotional emails are used to upsell, promote and inform customers about limited-time promotions, special offers, new products and discounts. “You might also like” isn’t just for Netflix bingeing—recommendation engines are a cornerstone of nearly every giant online retailer. The more a company knows about you and your buying habits, the better they can predict what you will and won’t like. With that info, they can send you targeted drip emails that contain products or coupons specific to your purchasing tendencies.
Jaybird’s Promotional Email
Jaybird’s email which introduces its wireless headphones is one good example.
You’ve closed the sale, or better yet, convinced a user to stick with your product for another year with a renewed subscription. But your drip email work isn’t done. You can also use a drip campaign to confirm your user’s purchase renewal—just set up a “thank you” auto-responder that goes out right after they hit the “purchase” button. In that confirmation drip, you could include some links to your product’s newest features to re-engage them with your brand.
Confirmation email
Fairfield uses drip campaigns to confirm user reservations, and show off some of the hotel amenities.
It should be a no-brainer to send your users an email receipt after they make a purchase, but you can also leverage that communication with related products and upsells. And with confirmations for things like plane tickets and hotel rooms, send a quick email a day before the event to put any important confirmation codes at the top of the user’s inbox. Then, perhaps, that same drip can send another email a few days later, asking them to review your product or service and offer a coupon for future purchases.
Conclusion
In this article, we have seen what is drip email campaign and learnt about different types of drip email campaigns. If used correctly, drip email campaign strategy can be of great value to the marketing and growth of your company. With drip email campaigns, you will be able to get the right subscribers, nurture your leads, increase sales and/or re-engage lost customers. So, apply the suitable drip email campaign strategy right now, and get started. Let us know your views in the comment section.
Marketing on Quora brings a lot of traffic which converts like crazy. The Internet is a great place for brands and businesses to connect with their audience. Social networks. Bookmarking site and discussion forums have greatly helped us to keep building our brand visibility regular promote goodwill in the crowded market where our audiences live.
One site that we surely need to consider is Quora, Founded in 2010 Quora is a social question or answer community. The users can vote which answers are most helpful. Beyond ask and answer you can target your question to specific Quora users, asking them specifically to weigh in with an answer along with others in the community.
You can search for specific questions or topics related to your business and follow these to receive notifications of new questions. Overall it’s a great platform to know about your industry and connects with relevant people.
If you have been neglecting Quora for a while, go and create a profile on Quora to get the exposure to the potential audience. If you have already signed up start engaging. Quora has great untapped potential for B2B marketers. So, Let’s get started on how you can use Quora for business or Quora for marketing?
Quora is a nice place for marketing, people generally concentrate on queries only, and they search for specific solutions for their problems. If they find your link in the solutions section, That traffic is absolute and there is a high probability of conversion. Quora is a goldmine for content creation and promotion. Quora is a vibrant question-and-answer website where a community of users can pose questions and answer those they have the knowledge and expertise to answer. You can easily do Quora marketing and get traffic to your website
What makes Quora so useful is that you can ask a question (an “A2A”) on any topic imaginable and someone will surely have an answer for you. The community is stellar—you’ll find pretty much every CEO and VIP on Quora, all helping the community get the answers it needs.
Quora is probably the best source of free expert and professional opinions other than Wikipedia. You’ll be surprised to know-how more than 3 million users share their expertise and insights every month on all sorts of topics. You name it Quora has it. The best thing is all are accessible for free of cost. This is a significant audience of well-intentioned curious knowledge-seekers.
Next, you can build your expertise and authority in any particular or any topic you choose. You can also get insights and learn from users, customers, industry experts and influencers on the topic you asked or follow. You can find out the question to give a direct answer to anyone asking about your product or service. Lastly, Quora is a great platform to do market research and for competitive analysis and know what’s hot in the industry currently. Quora marketing can help your business to grow at faster rate.
The links on quora are a no-follow once there may not be many benefits in SEO however you can get very nice traffic from there.
How To Use Quora For Business?
Create The Optimal Quora Marketing Profile
Quora is a community of professionals and thinkers. Once someone liked your answer, they tend to know more about you then connect and follow you. Having a profile without much information can lead to losing that followers or the potential customer.
Try to give your profile a professional look with images, website, writing about me section, adding interest and area of expertise, location, previous companies, and others. You can also add a tagline, website URL, connect all other social media sites which will help people to connect with you in a better way.
Quora also gives you a great exposure by showing your bio (name +Tagline) on the top of your answers. However, these are restricted for 50 characters only. You can use this opportunity to get a great exposure for your brand. Just put up your brand name at the beginning of the tagline.
You can also create an appropriate tagline for each different topic. To set up a topic-specific bio, click on your profile page. In the right column, you’ll see a list of “Knows About” topics. Next to each topic is a link to “Describe your experience.” Clicking here will let you set the topic-specific bio.
One more thing: Quora has an account verification option, but similar to Twitter, the verification is passive. You cannot request it. You must wait for Quora to approach you and make the offer to get a “Verified” label.
Quora Profile
Be Active And Build Your Followings
All this helps you get found for Quora marketing and may make it easier for people to seek you out when they’re looking for Quora users to answer their questions. After you have completed your profile, search for different topics you are interested in and follow them.
You will get the latest discussion and updates on that topic in the home feed. It will also send you notifications so that you don’t miss any questions. You can read them, upvote or take part in the discussion by commenting on your views. Upvotes appear on your public profile straight away and can be a good sign that you’re active on the site. More upvotes you get means more people follow you and you can easily guide them to your business website through this Quora marketing.
Finding The Best Questions To Answer
You can answer any question and build your expertise around that. However if If you’re looking for a great way to solidify your brand answer questions strategically. It’s a great opportunity to let everyone know that your brand is knowledgeable of certain industries, making your trustworthiness “points” go up. Search for your chosen topic. This will narrow down the questions significantly.
Choose a topic that fits your business, that you’ve written about recently, or that you have meaningful stats for. Find threads with lots of upvotes. The upvotes signal that the questions are viewed a lot. A popular answer here could potentially lead to thousands of views per day (and dozens or hundreds of clicks back to your site). Find new questions. You stand a greater chance of bubbling up to the top of the answers list if your answer comes early. It gives you a great chance to scatter your links—just try not to be spammy
Build A Quora Page For Business
Much like Wikipedia, anyone can create a page on Quora about anything. This makes for a great chance to build a company page for your business. To do so, start by searching for your business’s name in Quora. From the results page, if you don’t see the name listed as a topic, you can look in the right sidebar underneath the “Add Question” box and click the link to “Create Topic”.
This gives you the option to name the topic and add a brief description. Once your topic is live, you can request for the Quora community to review the topic. This is particularly helpful for people wondering if they should invest in a subscription to a service or otherwise get involved with a company. For you, it’s a great way to add a bit of social proof and testimonials to your brand’s presence on Quora.
Perform Research On A Topic
What are people asking on Quora? These questions can lead to great blog posts. There are a couple of ways to do this. Flip through the questions-and-answers from the topic that your blog covers. Check to see the popularity of the threads. Are there lots of upvotes? Lots of conversation? These might make great blog posts. Validate your idea with Quora. If you’ve already got a seed of an idea, search for it on Quora to see what people are asking about it. You might find a particular direction to take or a new angle—or even just the validation you were looking for.
Get Quick & Easy Crowd Sourced Content
Not only can Quora help you come up with story ideas, but it can also help you come up with entire blog posts. This idea of crowd sourced content follows a bit in the mold of a roundup post. Ask people their opinion on a topic and collect all their answers into an article.
With Quora, you can ask for stories or experiences that people have had (rather than a specific, closed question with a single right answer). Some great examples of questions like these include: If it’s a general question where the value comes from any and all answers, you can leave things here. If you’ve got a question that’s quite specific to those who know their stuff in your industry, then you can go through a couple of extra steps.
First, make sure your question is unique and categorized correctly. This will help the right people find it.
Second, invite certain Quora users to answer the question. You’ll see this option after you’ve posted your question to Quora (see below).
Have many responses in the category your question resides in Good response rate
Cost – are they free to ask or will it cost you credits
If you know who the experts in your field are, you can look them up by name and ask them to answer.
Once the answers come in, you’ll have the basis for an excellent roundup post with a good variety of sources and input.
Discover New Headline Ideas
Much like you might do a bit of headline research by typing your keywords into a Google search (autocomplete is a great way to learn how people ask things), you can do the same with Quora.
Type in your keyword into a Quora search.
Filter the results to only show questions.
What you’ll see on the results page is how people ask their questions about your chosen keyword and, therefore, how you can frame your content.
The most popular questions in terms of answers and up votes can be a signal about the value of the way things are worded. And it can all help with writing headlines for your next blog post.
Help With Customer Support And Influence
One of the biggest benefits for Quora is building authority. And right behind that is this,
Use Quora to provide customer support to your users and to provide a positive influence to discussions about your product. Like all other social media channels, Quora lets you communicate directly with customers. On Quora, they may be asking questions about your product specifically, and what better feeling than to have those questions answered by an employee of that company—or even the CEO.
Analyze Your Quora Stats
Quora provides free analytics for all users, showing you a detailed breakdown of the following:
Views
Up votes
Shares
Quora Analytics
Quora has inbuilt analytics tools that let you analyze how your answers are performing. It will tell you views up votes and share your answers for a different time like last 7 days, last 30 days, last 3 months and all-time.
Displaying these stats for each of the following categories
The questions you ask
The answers you give
The blog posts you write
All the content you contribute
Crazy Egg has some helpful ways to analyze these stats to best help with your Quora marketing:
Each answer provides stats for the number of times it’s been viewed, and by which users. If you click on “# views,” you can see how readers are being led to your answers. Are they finding your content through your profile, through tagged topics, or through random browsing?
By visiting your personal views page, you can also obtain an overall assessment of who’s seen your answers. A quick glance through these stats will tell you which avenues can give you the most coverage.
Start A Quora Blog To Re-purpose Your Content
One neat way to get involved on Quora besides the standard question-and-answer format is to start blogging. At Quora, you can create a blog and publish stories. To get started, click on your profile and navigate to Blogs. You’ll be able to create a blog and customize its name, URL, and description. Then, add whatever content you choose.
Just like LinkedIn content, these posts get circulated around the Quora network, and you can share your posts on social media to attract readers and followers. We’ve recommended Quora as a possible option for repurposing your existing blog content. Bloggers like James Clear do this to great results.
Quora Hacks
Format Your Answers In An Eye-catching Way
Quora may not be known much as a visual network, which means there could be a big opportunity if you’re able to include some visuals in your Quora content.
Many of the top Quora users add images to their answers to help support their point. And these images, while first of all helpful, are also great attention-getters. See how they’re included in the Quora answer stream here.
The first photo in an answer will appear as a thumbnail beside the answer when viewed in the question stream. Beyond photos, you can also add some custom formatting to your answer, helping it be more readable and hopefully gain a few more up votes. Make your headlines Bold or italic.
Do Competitive Research
Just as you can search for your own brand, you can also search for your competitors and see what they’re doing to market themselves, as well as learn how customers are talking about them. Investigate. Listen. Learn.
You may find a common theme or reason customers choose your competitor over you, and utilize that knowledge to improve your product or service. There may also be opportunities to reiterate your unique value propositions when a user is at the critical decision-making stage of the sales funnel, and ultimately convince them to choose you. What’s more, even if you think you know your industry through and through, you may discover emerging industry trends or opportunities before your competition does by listening to your customers.
Competitor Research on Quora
Hiring
Yes, that’s true! People really do hiring on Quora. Once, someone answered a question about some bugs in a very popular online education website. The answerer was anonymous, however, the CEO of that online education website commented to send him his resume as he wants to hire him. This is just one case, there are hundreds of people who are hired on or because of Quora. Quora is a place where only those people come who want to learn something. So, one filter automatically gets applied. You don’t have to worry much about their curiosity. Hence, you can find and hire someone on Quora. And as a matter of fact, those people who want their dream job can start answering questions on your favorite topic and be consistent. However, there is a very low chance but there is still some hope.
Run Quora Ads
If your potential customers are available and engage on Quora, then you should try Quora Ads as well. Quora Ads Manager will offer you to target your audience by topic, geography and platform.
Affiliate Marketing On Quora
You knew it was coming! Affiliate marketing is the best way you can earn from Quora. All you have to do is to get some affiliate links and use them in your answers. However, Quora is very strict for their content. If you are using your affiliate link without making any sense of it in the answer, then your answer will be collapsed. So, write carefully. It should not look like all you want from viewers is to click your links.
Redirect Traffic
You can redirect the traffic to your own website. If you answer a question very efficiently and without any greed, people will go to your website. You can write your answer and at the end of the answer, put the link and ask people to visit it in order to get more deep information. However, I would suggest you to not to cheat your viewer. If you really have a good content and the topic is deeply described there, only then redirect them to your website. If people found you cheating, they will report your answer, which might result in getting your account banned. So, play it carefully and according to the terms of Quora.
Add links to bring referral traffic from Quora
Conclusion
According to the Huffington Post, most of the top brands are being discussed on Quora. In 2013, 84% of the top 100 brands had at least one discussion thread dedicated to them. Nowadays, it’s hard to find a brand with no Quora mentions.
To get the most out of Quora, make sure your account is complete and professional, read through the discussions to get a feel for popular topics in your industry, communicate with others and share your answers on other social media sites. These tricks are not only for Quora marketing but for all the similar platforms like Reddit, Medium, Stack Overflow, etc. You have to choose the best platform. Choose the best platform for your life too, do not go for fame and money only, life is much more vast than that.
Hence, in this way you can use Quora for marketing and for your business. Comment some more ways we can earn from Quora. Have you ever earned some bucks from unusual online ways? Share this post with all your friends.
Seema Banerjee
