Condensing news articles into sixty-worded shorts of crisp information, Inshorts has become popular among people in the digital world in a very short span of time. This company was founded in 2013 by Azhar Iqubal, Deepit Purkayastha, and Anunay Arunav.
Inshorts summarise news and blogs that can be swiped up one after the other, like stories. This article will discuss the marketing strategy that made Inshorts shoot up in popularity.
Their strategies become all the more noteworthy because of their success despite the evident oversupply of news channels and blogs in the digital era. It takes careful planning and execution to stand out in such a hyper-competitive market world.
Finding the Right Niche
Using the Right Criteria
Being User Friendly
Allowing Customisation
Analyzing the Data Right
Consumer Based Service
Using the Right Tools
Knowing When to Stop
Finding the Right Niche
The founders of Inshorts did thorough research on the contemporary market condition before they organized the ways in which their app should function. During that time, people were heavily dependent on blogs and Facebook posts to keep themselves updated with news in the fast-paced world where they could not follow TV channels. However, these sources bombarded them with many links, images, information, and unnecessary notifications.
The need for a crisp news provider that gives the right information in a short span of time was very important. The master brains behind Inshorts were able to identify this gap and came up with the idea of 60-word stories that users can easily read based on their preferences.
The company was able to raise revenue from $13 million in 2021 to $18.9 million in 2022. The revenue growth rate of 44.9% demonstrates how successfully the app effectively serves its target users.
Harshit Verma
Using the Right Criteria
What determines the success and loss of any venture, for that matter, are the criteria that we look at. As far as Inshorts is concerned, they were not bothered about their content going viral or the amount of time spent on it. They focused on the number of screens that each user goes through. As of now, an average user will go through over 80 screens every day and spend 6 hours and 58 minutes per day on screens connected to the internet. Engaging the user became the priority over making the content viral.
Being User Friendly
Inshorts made sure that their user experience was extremely comfortable within their app. Each story is short and without any additional links. There are no prompts to go further into the story or to the next story. It is completely up to the user.
They have also not focused much on the sharing aspect of it, which has helped the user immerse into their own little world while going through this news. Their primary intention was to get more people to come back to the app rather than getting the news shared.
Allowing Customisation
In this small world, everything is news. In that context, it is important to give the user exactly what they want. Most of the users come to Inshorts to not be bombarded with unnecessary news and information like other similar apps and websites. To not give a similar experience, they have developed filters to ensure the kind of news or blogs that they would like to see on their feeds. In this way, the user does not feel overwhelmed with the flooding of information.
Analyzing the Data Right
Today, accessing information is no longer a difficult task. What makes all the difference is the way in which the available data is used for the company’s development. Inshorts is a company that gives a lot of importance to such inferred data. They decide on their strength and weaknesses based on their inferences. For example, being a news discovery app, they had to choose whether to prioritize their editorial team or should they focus on the products they launched. They were successfully able to narrow down their primary focus to strengthening their editorial team based on the data that they received from the time that each user spends on a screen.
Consumer Based Service
Information is consumed by all people irrespective of where they come from and what their qualifications are. However, how they consume this information will vary. The same product that is used in tier 1 cities cannot be pushed into tier 2 and tier 3 cities. The way they engage with the internet, the kind of news they like, and how they use the app will all differ. Inshorts earns revenue primarily through advertising on its mobile app.
Inshorts has ensured that they deliver differently in different areas, respecting their consumer’s requirements. They have recently launched a different app that focuses on video content more than written ones. Through a separate app, people can watch more videos, while those who prefer the regular summaries are not disturbed.
Kanimozhi Sivakumar
Using the Right Tools
Depending on what your USP is, it is of prime importance to use the right tools to enhance better engagement with the content. Inshorts did not go wrong there as well. They, after various tests and surveys, realized the importance of the right image in every news.
The content, being only 60 words, demands so much from the accompanying picture. The founders of Inshorts have confirmed the difference that a good picture will make in the way in which each user engages with the stories.
Knowing When to Stop
It is only a thin line between when information can be informed and menace. One of the biggest problems that people using mobile phones face is the deluge of notifications. It can be very distracting. However, Inshorts has saved itself from this bad reputation by ensuring that the users will only get a fixed number of notifications every day.
By using the data of engagement and their preferences, they choose which possible stories are most relevant to the user and will only notify the details of those stories. In that way, the app maintains a safe distance and also stays connected with the user at the same time.
Stuti Shree
Conclusion
It takes constant planning and persistence to be a successful app in such a competitive market. They have proved that you don’t have to do different things to be successful, but what matters is doing things differently.
Today, Inshorts has become a name in itself for short news rather than being known as an app. They have identified the gaps and bridged them like no other. Their success lies in focusing on and optimizing the right variables instead of going on the regular ideas of popularity and virulence. The company’s marketing strategy has been extremely effective. The app has developed dramatically in recent years, and it is currently one of India’s most popular news apps. Inshorts’ emphasis on information, customization, accessibility, and affordability has made it a vital resource for people searching for a convenient method to remain up to date on the latest news.
FAQs
What are the marketing strategies employed by Inshorts?
Inshorts ensures it doesn’t deliver the same information that it delivers to tier 1 cities to tier 2 and tier 3 cities. The founders of the app focused on keeping the users informed and engaged rather than delivering viral content.
What is the current revenue and valuation of Inshorts?
The revenue of Inshorts stands at $18.9 Million, and its valuation is $550 Million (as of July 2021).
Why is Inshorts successful?
Inshorts provides news in less than 60 seconds without bombarding users with unnecessary news and viral content, which is why its users prefer coming back to the app.
