Since last week, one can’t miss the advertisement of Eon
tutorials in Malleshwaram area (in Bangalore city). It’s on every gate of houses/offices along with
No Parking sign. In spite of several such signages which use No Parking boards
to advertise, one cannot help taking note of Eon. Not for its colorful
board design, but for the sheer number of boards they have managed to display.
They are on EVERY gate. As you happen to walk or jog or drive by
any road, you will take note of it. all this despite several other signage
boards on the gates. Sub conscious registers it well. Ask anybody about Eon
tutorials in Malleshwaram area. They might not remember where they saw it, but
surely will tell you they heard about it before. From Eon tutorials business point
of view, this is a tremendous marketing achievement. Their claim is simple –
tutorials for any class all over Bangalore! I would imagine these sign boards are
put up in other areas of Bangalore as well (unless they don’t have cash to
spend on it). Now the decision for parents is made easy. Eon has produced top
of mind recall. Either curious parents will call to inquire from them or hear
about them from other parents. In any case, number of students inquiring for
admission or even getting themselves admission should increase. (I am not
invested in them J
and do not know actual conversion rate).
This got the marketer inside me thinking. For a
moment, assume they were a pan-India company and they set aside budget for
their marketing team. What would marketing team do? Open a website, with parents
and students as target market, get bloggers to write about them, get Google to
show them in search results for related keywords, advertise near schools, on
facebook etc. This is perhaps what they will do considering most consumer
startups in India are already doing similar stuff. The bigger idea would have
been to spray in all cities and hope to get required buzz. If a marketer were
to think of what Eon has done, maybe it has an important lesson. What if all marketing
effort is focused in one region or city? Spend (the always constrained) marketing
budget in hyper-focused manner. Ensure it gets buzz within that region. This is
possible and well demonstrated by Eon. Note: signage board as a medium of
advertisement is not important, setting up the hyper-local buzz is important.
Ensure your target audience (parents/students/…) as case maybe don’t miss it.
This is sure shot way to create a buzz with a section of target audience (and can
be executed with less budget). If the product/service doesn't get inquiries/sales from that region in a reasonable period of time, it validates
viability of that offering. If it does convert into sales, it’s a good indicator
of offering’s acceptance in a wider market as well. In any case, the result of
product-market fit will be known. If product/service does convert into sales, the
marketing team will have a happy problem to solve – to satisfy those initial customers
and create the all-important word-of-mouth social buzz. Hey, Isn't this the lean-marketing
way anyway? J
Not surprised to hear stories about how Yelp first
proved their product in San-Francisco first or how FourSquare got their numbers
initially with hyper-focus on one city. Perhaps these companies planned that
way or executed it that way for lack of initial marketing/operation budget. Reason
could be anything; hyper-local marketing is a great way to start marketing in a consumer startup.
I don’t see many Indian startups adopting this thinking. Any
thoughts why?
