One of the primary goals of the Government is Healthy India. A healthy citizen not only increases the productivity of the country but also helps reduce the load on the government sponsored health schemes. However, there is still a long way to go.
Sensing this opportunity many Health Tech startups entered the Health Care market with their unique offerings. It is true that most of the offline healthcare systems are not using digital technologies for patient care.
It is also true that correct use of tech can change not only patient experience but we can also move to a healthier India. But as major chunk of startups face many challenges, Health Care Tech startups are no exception.
The goal of every health tech startup is to provide better and affordable healthcare to those who need it. According to the reports, majority of Indian healthcare tech startups are focused on preventive cure, convenient services & health management among many others. But there are certain health tech startup challenges that are stopping them from achieving their goals easily, namely
Slow Growth
For any startup, it is important to have patience and capability to tackle the ups and down. Slow growth is one of the major factors that healthcare system needs to understand.
An age-old system which works by giving the medical practitioners demi God status, would take time to change. There is a need to do a lot of hard work to keep oneself motivated and to grow.
There is this example of Practo, who received their first funding after three years, and about 7 years to reach today’s position.It is tech and we usually do not associate tech with such long gestation periods.
It clearly means one should have patience to stay on & believe in the idea fully well. Just like the environment, the competition too will never be easy, but the only thing which one needs to do is maintain a regular focus on value proposition for the user,and keep doing it regularly. Alas, only few of the startups are able to do this.
Most of the policies are unclear that create confusion in the workplace. A few specialists might think that it is risky to participate in the industry because of the similar reasons.
The bureaucracy moves slowly as many lives depend on even a small policy change. The sector is governed by stringent laws and it should be as it deals with the human life. The sector is infested with quacks and alternative unregistered treatments but lack of access to good yet affordable medical care means that there is enough local market for such people as well.
However, a health tech startup would need to follow all compliance’s from day 1 even though the cost of such compliance could be killing enough.
Doctors are tough
According to the study, it is calculated that the doctor-patient ratio in India is as bad as 1:1700, and in rural areas the ratio goes down to 1: 160,000. The number of doctors is inadequate in our country and hard to acquire.
Even they do not have time to look up to the digital technologies through which they can do better. Getting hold of the doctors today is very tough.
They are overburdened, treated with a lot of respect and this creates a huge entry barrier in making them adopt new technology that can change their and their patients’ lives in the long term.
Monetization
The development of the sector is moderate which makes it difficult to adapt. With few startups in this in healthcare space, there are not many plans of action to draw reference from. Thus the monetisation plan would be a trial.
Well being tech new businesses, regardless of whether as doctor-patient platforms, specialist, lab aggregates, have discovered it extremely difficult to earn back the original investment or even find an effective model.
As the industry manages the lives of the people, individuals – most take it for granted that it is the duty of the health care professionals, Government, and hospitals to treat them even if they are not able to recover their costs.
The social point related to the business is one of the significant root causes that it’s tough to monetize in education, healthcare, and in other sectors.
Lack of healthcare mentors in India
Right mentors, partners, and experts are essential for any startup because right mentors guides you regarding the plans of new businesses, positive and negative points of any startup, way of doing business, and how to use a strategy so that you can analyze each and everything very clearly.
Well-trained medical professionals are essential in healthcare organizations but are in limited supply given the vastness & sheer numbers of our country.
The number of investors and mentors is very less which is another challenge for health tech startup. As most of the startups fail in this sector, investors are naturally apprehensive about investing.
Need to connect with technology
From last many years, we are using internet and now we cannot imagine our life without it. In recent times, Internet of things have been added so many opportunities to consumers and business.
IOT simply means making decisions on the basis of analytics which includes extracting data, processing data, and storing data. This helps in predicting the outcomes and also helps in taking the best preventive actions.
Healthcare sector is the fast adopting, as IOT helps boost productivity, reduce cost, and improve the quality. This is the way through which one can also boost patient engagement.
Just think of a BP/ECG monitor connected to a central system. Precious seconds can be saved that can save many lives.
Add to it advanced robotics, then you are talking about solutions at the supply end.
Health Tech startups are working on supply side, demand side and also on preventive care side. They need right mentoring, timely fund infusions & policy support to bring a visible change in the Health Care Industry.
We await the change with a lot of hope, are you the one bringing it?
India has not seen very many women entrepreneurs. Society is quick to judge a woman in a completely biased manner, not based on her working capacity but everything else related to her.
Have you been thinking to break away from the stigmas of the society for being a woman and start up your own business? Do you passionately think about creating some value to the society? Has it been your dream to make a sufficient amount of money for your needs and greeds without being dependent on anybody else financially?
But to do all this, do you feel like you need some immediate mentoring and also some expert pieces of advice from people who have been in your field of interest because you are not getting the self-confidence to start? Evolvers can help you solve all of these problems. It is not easy for a woman to be an entrepreneur, a leader or a successful business person without having that additional pressure to do well, come what may.
It is but natural to get balked down easily in a misogynist work environment. Unless, they could consult someone, ask the advice of an expert before taking every important, necessary step. Now you may be wondering how to get hold of these bunch of expert people. Evolvers is one such initiative which works by a seeker and giver concept. It brings together people who are looking for counsel and the counsellor on a digital platform so that ideas can be shared either openly or in private. The company has a healthy list of meritorious, professional specialists in almost all domains of the industry with many years of experience. These people address the needs, especially the long-standing ones, of the start-ups and connect them to the appropriate experts. Thus, mutual interest is promoted, and the issues are resolved in a more uncomplicated manner.
The main idea of evolvers is to facilitate and provide interaction, which would be beneficial for start-ups, potential business partners like the investors, technological support and the experts. This facilitation is done by bringing them together on an embedded digital platform so that the necessary guidance and support can be provided. They ensure healthy communication between the parties and create an intermingling network between communities of similar aspects. What this does is that it leads to the sharing and exchange of ideas and knowledge.
Once you become a part of evolvers, they also take up the responsibility of promoting your business and making you more visible in a particular field. This can be done through many social media platforms. Last but not the least, Evolvers also provide a legitimate platform for you to share your resources with others and also gives you the option to procure resources from the correct people.
Why should you join Evolvers?
By now, the goal that Evolvers is trying to achieve must have become pretty clear. If you are unsure about how to go ahead with your ideas, follow the below given tips to overcome this obstacle.
Improved networking
Networking forms a significant part if you are trying to open or expand your venture. If you ask any successful entrepreneur or businessmen, they will tell you that the credit for wherever they have reached today goes to a lot of contacts and networking.Networking for business is essential. It might not be possible to do everything on your own, and you are going to need some help with problems that seem impossible to you but maybe an easy solution for someone who is in this trade for a long time. This also helps to forge a professional relationship and creates an environment for learning. Through Evolvers, if you are planning to open a new business, you can check out people who can provide you the services you need and also vice versa, you can look for clients for whom you can do the job. This makes networking the number one priority for Evolvers.
Finding the correct partner
Having a partner who has the same vision and passion as you with respect to your business can become a little tricky. It is important enough to make or break the initiative. Like-mindedness is very important, and this will lead you to be more focused on your job, and there will be an extra set of hands and brain to expand and spread your business. Partners do not necessarily mean only financial ones, other types of service providers like Advocates, and Technology Expert etc. are also equally important. Through Evolvers you can easily look for people and take your decision on whom to coordinate with.
Be an advisor or find one
A lot is being written about needing help and advice while opening a new business. Well, who provides the help? It is you, yourself. Therefore, joining Evolvers doesn’t mean that you are only looking for solutions, you can be a solution giver yourself. It will act as a platform and make you visible to people looking for someone with similar requirements. Start-ups need a lot of mentoring and counsel, and you may be an expert in the field that they are trying to venture. Your valuable input will be of utmost importance and use. So, if you are interested in offering your specialized services, Evolvers is a way of putting yourself out.
Mentor somebody
Some people say that learning becomes more enhanced and productive when mentored in the right way. If you look at a lot of successful people around the world, the one thing they had in common was that they had a mentor who had their back and would show them the flaws and holes in the plan. Thus, mentoring becomes a very important job, and it is not easy as well. A mentor need not be qualified at a specified field, and they must be flexible enough to deal with new and unique challenges and be ready to ride the tide at both the good and bad times. If you feel you have the capability and qualification to be a good mentor and have the necessary leadership qualities, enlist yourself in Evolver now.
Spread knowledge
One of the best feelings in the world is when you impart your specializations and expertise to someone in need, and they stand to benefit from it, the financial aspect of it comes much later. To have a thorough understanding of your work environment, the social structure, how to handle people etc., you need to observe and keep learning continuously. Once you are in the company of people who have achieved a lot in their respective fields, their presence and aura will rub off on you and give you the much-needed confidence. It will also be a mean for you to share your thoughts and views about various matters.
Raise funds
One big headache about starting a new start-up or a business is the funding. You may be a little under capitalized or might be looking at investors to fund your business initially so that you can give them dividends later. How you present your ideas become very critical here. Evolvers helps you with pitching in your idea in the best possible manner so that it peaks the interest of multiple investors and will also accelerate the process. Similarly, if you are looking to invest in a business and be a part of its growth, Evolvers will give you a list of potential prospects, and you can look into it in details. Thus, Evolvers maintain that two-way parity here as well.
Screening your venture
When it is your idea or start-up, there is a lot of emotional baggage attached to it which sometimes may lead to overdoing. Efforts might not be going to the right places. The concept might not be very well-structured. This is where the idea of screening the venture comes in. It narrows down the ideas in such a way that most of the resources are directed towards something that requires the utmost expertise and financial backing. Moreover, investors will only show interests in ventures that have been screened by a reputable agency to avoid a lot of junk that may be present. Thus, screening is a way of better presentation as well. Any venture that is present in Evolvers is automatically screened by experts to make them more approachable.
Global approach
Though included as the last point here, the importance of global approach for businesscannot be overlooked. The era that we live in, distance is just a number. The digitalized approach is one convenient method of communication. Evolvers launch your venture on a very global scale. Therefore, you may be sitting and working on your start-up in an office in Mumbai, but you can rely on expert opinion from qualified persons from the United States. The idea of financing also works on a similar ground. Investors from all over the world can look into your start-up ideas, and if they feel that it holds a lot of promise, they will show interests in sponsoring. As is the general trend, investments from western countries are more wide fold than in the East. Thus, it is very crucial from the business point of view as well and plays a significant part in the way your venture evolves.
Strategies women Entrepreneurs can adopt
Now that a medium of supporting your start-up has been established let’s talk about the social aspect of it. One problem that almost every woman faces in a workforce is the sense of prejudice and bias based on their gender. Women have to go that extra mile to assert their authority on their peers. Having a sound leadership quality is going to be useful here. In fact, there are a few strategies that women can adapt to be able to be more successful and not come up as being overly aggressive or pushy.
Set a deadline
When a deadline needs to be set, you can refer to it as what you think should be an appropriate time by which the work should be done instead of simply telling them to do it. This will make your co-worker feel that you are expressing your opinion regarding the matter and value their opinions as well. If you are the CEO of a company, this will automatically make you a favorite.
Take it in your stride
While business ideas are being shared overconfidence can become repressive here. Don’t give the notion to your male partner, if any, that you are all authoritative and particular about your ideas being implemented. In fact, dumbing down the expression would help like saying like something that you were thinking loud or that just came to your head.
While sending emails
If you want to make some request using an email, fill it with a few emojis and exclamations. This will avoid looking like being too direct and will make you more approachable, which everyone will appreciate.
If you smell sexism
This is unfortunately very common in an office space, but the key is to avoid any unnecessary confrontation. The awkward laugh is your best weapon here, use it appropriately. Practice it, if needed, within the confines of your home to perfect it.
When something you already know is being repeated
Men like to explain everything. If it has already been said before, there is no point in telling him that. Instead, listen to him again. It gives them a sense of usefulness and gives you the time to think about something else.
When you notice a mistake
You don’t have to point it out blatantly. Subtly hinting at it while making sure that your point is also made is an art and needs mastering. If you make a mistake, apologize and make things better quickly.
If nothing of this works out after trying and testing, you can leave all of them behind and be a little more assertive to get your work done.
Being a woman, as it is, is not easy at all and the problems become more hyper-sized in a corporate environment. This should not in any way hinder with executing your plans and strategies and with the help of Evolvers, the work is going to be simpler.
A mentor is like an experienced friend who will teach us and guide us along. A mentor will build the trust and will model the positive behaviors. The best mentor will understand that the role will be knowledgeable, effective, dependable and engaging.
Anyone can be a mentor but they have to be successful in whichever field and will have to use their strength to their advantage. So yes it is true that if you have the right mentor then your career will surely go up.
How would you meet the right mentor? The answer is, through Evolvers. Read out to know how you can choose the best mentor for yourself.
Gather up all that you need while choosing the right mentor in the growth path.
Write down the questions you need to ask:
Do I require help with my present part or with how to push forward to another part?
Do I require bolster from my guide for a specific test or for my whole vocation?
Improve abilities from my tutor or should my guide disclose to me what aptitudes I have to create?
What is your mentor’s way to deal with helping you?
What is the idea of your association with your mentor is it formal or casual?
Is your mentor helping you with nothing or would you say you will pay him/her?
How regularly might you want to communicate with your mentor?
Now you will have to find the mentor keeping all these questions in mind. You might have someone in mind, if not, and then this might help you.
Join Evolvers and you’ll quickly be acquainted with more individuals with differed encounters.
Contact senior administrators who have exceeded expectations at their employment.
Are there renowned industry pioneers who motivate you?
There is no point to lie on the lower side and not ask for any help from your mentor. There should be a need to build a strong relationship with your mentor and it is important that you and your mentor should share the same values and leadership style.
This is important because if you don’t match with your mentor quality-wise then you and your mentor will have conflicts. It takes time to build a relationship with your mentor, so it is advisable that one should not give up so easily.
Now that you have got a mentor, you should be clear about your expectations and the relationship you will have with them. Just like you give an interview, your initial interactions should be done in the same way.
They should be able to give you enough time and sufficient contribution and should expect the same from you. The mentor should know about the strengths and weaknesses of yours. Remember that you should not hold anything back as this relationship will make your career.
The mentor you chose would be the best and will guide you well but there might be a chance that you might need more than one mentor. All you have to do is try.
In the previous blog, we discussed the SEO point of view which Muruga followed to rank his website. How Muruga took the ascended content marketing and why was the need to create the HappyMarriage.com. While creating HappyMarriage.com, Muruga faced some challenges and the thought behind the strategy was important too. Muruga executed the plan based on the communications, referrals and that was how the outcome was shown. They created offline marketing channels in which the hosted events like Mega Swayamvaram, speed dating, special meetings, retailing and finally the results were shown.
Muruga saw the accompanying focal points of utilizing a multi-mark procedure –
It was anything but difficult to duplicate these commercial centers utilizing the same back-end innovation
Scalability wasn’t an issue
Also, marital clients aren’t deep rooted clients. The lifetime estimation of a client is typically 3 a year. They just remained on the stage until they got hitched. Once the pursuit is finished, there is no purpose behind them to return to the site. This made it basic to differentiate.
Keeping the structure of innovation set up, Muruga took an official choice and chose to dispatch the accompanying commercial centers successively from 2006 to 2008 i.e. 8 benefits in a traverse of two years. The enhancement helped pick up the piece of the overall industry and these stages were beginning to see development –
com: The No.1 Property Portal.
com: Help individuals with individual, property and vehicle credits.
com: The Online Automobile Supermarket.
Mobile 5050: Latest news on telephones, contraptions
com: The Online Classifieds.
Clickjobs: An occupations entrance
Indiapages: The Online Yellow Pages
BharatBloodBank – a non-benefit, non-business interface
The focus shifted completely towards the matrimony space in 2008. This was the time when the credit crisis led to a global recession. The entities like Bharatbloodbank.com, clickjobs.com, indiapages.com, indiaautomobile.com, indiaproperty.com and loanwala.com were shut down due to the recession.
Distinctive pricing strategies – Geographies and Net Worth
It was in 2001 when Muruga offered the paid version along with the free version of the BharatMatrimony to keep the revenue alive; this was done after the dot-com crash.
Rs 200 per year, was the cost of the paid version and when Muruga felt that this has picked up so he decided to scale the revised version that took the geographies and the net worth of the users into account.
BharatMatrimony was gratifying to the Indian audience, globally with different spending powers. This was considered the best move by Muruga as distinctive pricing based on geographies is not that common when it gets down to a subscription business.
This type of strategy is used by some companies today also. For example, Byju’s is a learning app and it charges differently on the basis of class. Also, for the age group of 18+, the charges would be different which will depend upon the courses. They provide a trial or free sample initially but to get access to the full course, the student has to purchase the course.
Experimenting
Generally what happens is that people are afraid to experiment, especially when they are starting new, but Muruga had some different stuff in mind. The only reason which made BharatMatrimony standing solidly for almost 20 years was the experimental ability like launching new products, hosting events, and launching new properties.
Muruga focused on matrimony on the basis of audience preferences but the initial idea was launched with 15 regional domains under BharatMatrimony.
Not just matrimony but he also launched properties which were not related to matrimony services like com, Indiaautomobile.com etc.
The main focus was Matrimony and this was the reason that it was launched over more than 300 websites which were related to matrimony and the niche categories and also which organized different event either they were 100 meets in 30 days or huge offline events.
It’s not easy to start a new business and run it in a simple way. Muruga solidified his feet with the changes he made on a regular basis. While some of the features fell flat on the face but some won and Muruga learned something from each of them.
HIGHLY DATA DRIVEN
It was only the data that helped Muruga to make right decisions during the time of the expansion of the site. For the Day 1, the information was collected but the company was not able to draw any insights. Then in 2006, Muruga decided to process the information and use it accordingly. He made a data collection team which would ensure that the data was collected and it was being used efficiently and it was searched relevant. The analytical tools were set up and data scientists were hired, these would make sure that the reports were made on regular basis.
ACTUAL PRODUCT UPDATES
New communities – BharatMatrimony expansion was assumed on the basis that the matrimony requirement for the different communities will be same as that of the Tamil and Telegu communities as the common part is the language part of all the communities. On this basis, Muruga created the matrimonial services to Kannada, Gujrati, Kerala, Hindi, Sindhi, Marathi, and Bengali. Later, he expanded it to the communities like Parsi, Marwadi, Assamese, Marathi, Oriya and local languages of India. If we look at the success stories, we can clearly see that the idea worked.
New devices – Initially, BharatMatrimony was available on the desktop only; later Muruga saw that the people living in the remote areas were not having a way to access the site as they did not have any desktop. But they did have a phone and this is why Muruga created a mobile-friendly version of the site for those people so that they would get alerts on their phone as well.
This is to be noted that it is important to keep an eye on the demographics of your target audience, the limit of the device usage, and the online payments habits determine which platform a business should go for to ease up the navigation and the use of online user interface.
Always look for the soft qualitative data i.e. reviews, customer feedback, conversation over the calls, and their expressive views about their product. Look for the hard quantitative data too i.e. the number of customers, ratings, time spent on the site, mostly the things which are measured as a quantity. It is important to look at these types of data to make better decisions.
Keen eye on the optimization process
The optimization was done after the processes and tools were placed well in the company, well mainly around the product and marketing related development. The question raised was that how we can get more customers by spending less on keeping the existed ones. The traffic was calculated based on the ads, channels, keywords, creativity, and how that translated into revenue. The whole array of communications from the principal touch point to a held client was nearly inspected in all cases. Properties and campaigns that weren’t contributing as much were discarded and the concentration was moved to ones that were flourishing. There was a need to enhance which prompted the company’s size being definitely decreased, making it a great deal more slender and focused.
Ideas are a way to innovation and openness. We came across so many ideas from the customer representatives and the tech teams that led to the creation of new products for the BharatMatrimony. If someone came up with an interesting idea then we gave the liberty to them to design the strategy and to build up the team to execute the plan.
Work towards progress
At BharatMatrimony, we follow a genuinely vigorous deft process. The daily meetings were held for 15 minutes where we would discuss about the things that were done yesterday and if there were any encumbrances then those were considered and the things that were to happen on the next day was planned according to that. Key metrics were mostly the part of these discussions.
Motivating people
Our employees are with BharatMatrimony for more than 10 years and our first three employees are still with us. We boost the morale of our employees and motivate them by keeping them enclosed with the company’s growth and the direction in which the company was heading.
Understanding the value system
The value of the company and a marriage go hand in hand with an organization and this makes our mission bigger than all of us. We inculcate these values from the beginning among the people of BharatMatrimony.
In 2017 BharatMatrimony decided to go public and the IPO was launched in September 2017 and was oversubscribed 4.41 times. The company raised Rs 500 crore through the issue that contained new issue of up to Rs 130 crore and an offer available to be purchased of up to 37.67 lakh value shares.
We have seen that how Muruga stood tall above despite all odds, he took chances and risks, some of them played well but some of them backfired, but he never gave up. Still, this question arises that why most of the startups fail and do not recover from their failures? Is it because of the lack of disruption or the inability to access the product or they are not able to fit into the competitive market. This time they would switch the idea while seeing that the previous one will not be working anymore now.
If we take the above points into consideration, then Evolvers show the entrepreneurs the right direction. Be it a mentor or an investor, Evolvers will facilitate all your business needs and all of this you will get on the Evolvers Platform.
In the previous blog, we discussed the challenges that were faced by Murugavel Janakiraman when he started BharatMatrimony. We explained the idea and how it was launched, what hardships came in the way. We discussed the way on how he got his first customers and what techniques he used. They took one step at a time and how did they develop their business.
In this blog, we will discuss that what steps he took after the initial steps. We will start with the SEO part.
SEO
From an SEO point of view, it is invaluable to have one parent area – matrimony.com with committed pages for every community that comes under the parent site. For e.g.: www.bharatmatrimony.com/tamilmatrimony gave greater expert to the site and furthermore demonstrated ideal in the internet searcher rankings.
Ascended Content Marketing
“Desi Match” magazine was launched for South Asian residents living in the US. It was the first and only matrimony magazine.
“Matrimony Express” – India’s first relationship blog.
Happymarriages.com website gave advice and tips on how people can stay happy in a married life, whereas, BharatMatrimony had made its presence viral in the matrimony sector. With diverse religions and languages, and economic segments, BharatMatrimony was helping people to stay happy after getting married.
“The future of a country depends on its citizens. Good citizens emerge out of good parenting; good parenting can happen only in a good marriage and we are the gateway to happy marriages.”
To lead a happy and enrich married life Happymarriage.com is the initiative of BharatMatrimony.com.
What was the challenge?
It was seen by the Matrimony.com team that people were having problems in the relationship after marriage. Some of them were having problems on the first day of the marriage which were lasting for almost 4 years. There were misunderstandings like relationship problems with the In-laws, personal fights, time management, not giving each other the required space and problems with the choice of work. It was because of many reasons that even the guidance from elders and the time was leaving the couples confused. It was obvious that there was no way that these problems were mentioned anywhere.
Thought behind the strategy
Happymarriage.com is a simplified matrimony site which comes with a monthly newsletter with related content and this helps the newlywed couples. The content was quality wise on a higher side which was very helpful for the readers.
“Happy families are the building blocks of the nation. As a leader in the online matchmaking space, we have the responsibility to guide married couples to lead a happy life post marriage. HappyMarriages.com is an initiative to enrich marital relationships and make them meaningful. It’s BharatMatrimony’s guide to a happy marriage.”
It took almost three months for the marketing team to complete the research on the various challenges faced by the newlywed couples. After extensive research, and with the data given by the couples and also from the inputs from the social circle, the team was able to frame the content and publish it.
The outcome
The goal was to offer valuable content around the early conjugal difficulties and help manage youthful couples to an important relationship and a cheerful marriage. This was accomplished with the site and a month to month pamphlet which has more than 24,000 endorsers and more than 1 lakh wedded individuals get the bulletin each month.
Spoken communications and referrals were the main reason for the traffic received. The parents created the profile on the reviews of other parents. BharatMatrimony had the first mover advantage and this was the reason for a strong brand recall.
BharatMatrimony.tv
This online channel features TVCs made by BharatMatrimony.tv crosswise over classes that incorporate International TVCs, Assisted Matrimony, Elite Matrimony, and Tambulya in numerous dialects that take into account assorted clients on the web.
Website traffic
The order in which the traffic was directed towards the website was
A strong brand recall is achieved by maximum direct traffic and this was actually seen. People would open their browser and directly came to BharatMatrimony website rather than coming from a referral or ads.
The traffic was not coming on the website through emails or organic search or social recall, rather than the traffic came from branding and engagement channels.
WHAT WERE THE OFFLINE MARKETING CHANNELS
Mega Swayamvaram
Over 10,000 participants from 9 major communities came to the world’s largest Matrimony Meet, which was conducted in Chennai in the year 2007.
Why was such an event organized?
This event was conducted so that the match-making would become quick and a platform was given to the people with similar thoughts who were seeking a better half.
Were they able to pull it off? Yes? Then, How?
The characteristics of the brides partaking in the Swayamvaram were given in a position astute ordered booklet containing the subtle elements of the lucky men and the other way around.
This booklet included points of interest like rank, stature, weight, and horoscope and so on and sent to the members well ahead of time.
Rundown of probable was shortlisted for a gathering to be started.
Contact subtle elements of all members from particular ranks would be given at the setting for them to make contacts autonomously after the occasion.
Result:
The outcome was huge. People were strolling around with similar thoughts in their minds and they were actually networking and were interacting with each other for the betterment of their future. This gave a big kick to BharatMatrimonybrand wise.
Families opting for speed dating
Creating strong offline communities was an integral part for BharatMatrimony to build the trust.
The first ever Matrimony Meet was organized in 2002 with a thought of meeting the bride and groom face to face where they can discuss all the perspectives.
This gave an opportunity for one-on-one discussion.
Special Meet Up
Muruga knows that it is important to know someone whom we want to marry and everyone deserves to choose the best life partner. Keeping this in mind, BharatMatrimony hosted it’s first-ever Matrimony Meet for the physically challenged.
Retailing
The thought was to grow under the lead mark BharatMatrimony.com, giving guardians and the more seasoned age that isn’t excessively educated a disconnected channel, making it impossible to convey face to face.
BharatMatrimony’s methodology for online development has dependably been to help it with disconnected retail outlets that clients can visit, converse with delegates. This refines a brand.
Approximately 100 retail outlets of BharatMatrimony were opened in the metro cities and the surrounding cities of Delhi in the year 2007-2008. Some of the outlets were company-owned and some of them were under the franchise of BharatMatrimony. The main reason was branding, although some of them were not able to do well, but, they were becoming a known brand. Some of the Tamilians picked up TamilMatrimony instead of BharatMatrimony, so it was like one of them was getting known. The plan didn’t work as the brand strategy was not coming in line with thelocal brand strategy. Expanding quickly without customization and losing money to the retail outlets led to the shutdown. The Recession also played a part in the shutdown.
Muruga did not give up on the shutdown but he decided to re-launch it in a different manner. This time he started the outlets locally and later on planned to expand it nationally. 20 company-owned retail outlets were launched by the name of tamilmatrimony.com in Tamil Nadu. This is the way Muruga customized the branding.
The Benefits
People took an interest while speaking to the representative in their local language.
People took printouts of the selected and shortlisted grooms and brides.
It likewise encouraged perceivability locally and accumulation of payments.
The Results
Within a half year, it was clear that the outlets were a colossal achievement and over a time of year and a half, BharatMatrimony propelled more than 100 organization claimed outlets skillet India with a comparable restricted procedure. As of now, it has 140 retail outlets.
The only purpose of the partnership with the government was to reach the people living in the surrounding area of the cities. Through this, they could reach too many more brides and groom irrespective of the place.
Worked together with the Department of Post, Government of India, to offer BharatMatrimony Membership Cards through post workplaces the nation over.
Banded together with the Andhra Pradesh government to give marital administrations through e-Seva, an administration started by the legislature to guarantee innovation achieves everyone – urban and rustic, rich and poor, proficient and unskilled.
Tied up with the Government of Kerala to give Matrimony benefits through the Akshaya activity. This is an inventive task went for connecting the computerized partition between the urban and the country to make monstrous financial development.
Offline Brand Campaigns
April 14th, Matrimony Day
People celebrated the happiness of the wedding bliss on Matrimony Day, 14th April. BharatMatrimony gave away discounts and offers from many leading brands keeping the spirit of Matrimony Day alive. Even The Hindu published a 4-page supplement titled “Perfect Match” on Matrimony Day and with everyone celebrating it; the day is officially celebrated as Matrimony Day.
BharatMatrimony is the reason behind the celebration of marriage.
Guinness Book of World records
To praise their fifteenth commemoration, BharatMatrimony made the world’s biggest photograph collection on Matrimony Day. What was remarkable about this collection was that BharatMatrimony highlighted each couple (who met on their entryway) with their unique wedding photographs.
Outcome: Their message, ‘Marriage is fundamental to anchor a cheerful and sound society’ was generally welcomed.
With cash in and a solid a dependable balance inside the marriage space, BharatMatrimony had two choices through which they could extend –
A solitary brand system where they could take off more administrations around marriage and a multi-mark technique wherein they could make different commercial centers utilizing a similar innovation and move on a level plane. They settled on both. This is the manner by which they did it–
SINGLE-BRAND STRATEGY
To build the BharatMatrimony brand and speed up the growth, the company introduced services related to Matrimony for a $56 Billion market in India.
Photography (launched in 2015)
Offering professional services in photo shoots and videography
MatrimonyBazaar (launched in 2016)
Wedding services for those who wanted to save time and money while getting married
MatrimonyMandap (launched in 2017)
Helped by checking the availability of the wedding venue and were allowed to book at best prices.
To keep the correspondence and commitment unblemished even post the wedding, BharatMatrimony built up the attached gateways which shared updates and data for and by couples post marriage.
Success Stories
It’s a page where the newly wedded couples used to share their experience of a successful marriage. It has a section called Tiniesand in this section, couples used to share pictures and stories with their relatives and families.
com
On this platform, people used to share all the ideas and experiences post-marriage and this would help the users with the things which they could use.
MULTI-BRAND STRATEGY – DIVERSE MARKETPLACES
Muruga saw the accompanying focal points of utilizing a multi-mark procedure –
It was anything but difficult to duplicate these commercial centers utilizing the same back-end innovation
Scalability wasn’t an issue
Also, marital clients aren’t deep rooted clients. The lifetime estimation of a client is typically 3 a year. They just remained on the stage until they got hitched. Once the pursuit is finished, there is no purpose behind them to return to the site. This made it basic to differentiate.
Keeping the structure of innovation set up, Muruga took an official choice and chose to dispatch the accompanying commercial centers successively from 2006 to 2008 i.e. 8 benefits in a traverse of two years. The enhancement helped pick up the piece of the overall industry and these stages were beginning to see development –
com: The No.1 Property Portal.
com: Help individuals with individual, property and vehicle credits.
com: The Online Automobile Supermarket.
Mobile 5050: Latest news on telephones, contraptions
com: The Online Classifieds.
Clickjobs: An occupations entrance
Indiapages: The Online Yellow Pages
BharatBloodBank – a non-benefit, non-business interface
To be continued…..
In the next blog, we will tell you that how the pricing was decided and what experiments did Muruga conducted along with the data-driven strategy and product updates.
