Wednesday 21 October 2020

 Today, Flipkart reported that 53% of their Big Billion sales came from Tier 3 and 4 cities of India. So, what does it take to reach that last mile, which has the money, but nowhere to spend it?

 

Parowal, Nagothane, Una, Ulwe, Udupi,  Nanded, Dhanau, Kudal, Vardha, Solapur, Solan, Vishakhapatnam, Boregaon, Kolhapur, Ubarni, Nadurbar, Hinjilicut, Keonjhar, Sangnai, Madhopur, Bhimavaram, Ajmer, Avinashi, Arakkonam, Barnala, Jaitaran, Gangtok, Jaipur… these are just some of the places from where we get contributions and emails.

 

The journey of The Children’s Post has been truly phenomenal during the pandemic.

We have been able to establish connect with the last mile of India’s children. We now reach about 20 lakh children in Tier 2,3, and 4 cities of India.

Not surprisingly, The Children’s Post has emerged as a great medium for advertisers to reach parents and children in Tier 2, 3, and 4 cities of India.

 

In this post, I am going to share 6 secrets that we, as a medium have learnt.

 

  1. Whether it is Sunfeast biscuits or Whitehat Jr., a consumer needs to have at least 5-6 interactions with a brand before they even recognise the brand.

Learning: 4 half page ads work better than 2 full page ads. Your brand may make a splash one day, but public memory is short and needs to be frequently jogged.

 

  1. Cutting the clutter is a part of gathering the audience. The first part of gathering the audience is the right target group. One of the greatest mistakes advertisers make (and we made) is not doing the second part – removing the clutter. They get very besotted by the numbers mediums show them. For The Children’s Post, the TG is parents of children 8 and above. But once we get to that vast number, the next step is to find parents who want to give their children a newspaper. THAT is the tricky part.

 

As a product, we have advertised on digital media (Google and FB ads), and facebook groups. With no success. Our Facebook group has just 2700 members, but most advertisers who have promoted there have got enquiries and sign ups.

Learning: It is not just about the numbers. Removing the clutter from the numbers is as important. 2700 engaged and interested parents are better than 270000 members who fit the general SEC profile.

 

  1. ONE interesting visual is enough.

One of the best ads we ran had just one image – but that image was very unique and it dominated the ad. That eye-catching image was enough to bring the reader to the ad. The rest of the ad was just plain text. We learnt a lot from that campaign. The ad did very well. The advertiser also got optimal returns because the size of the ads was reduced, and frequency increased. Think Amul girl or Parle G baby.

 

  1. An exclusive offer ALWAYS works

Even if it is a simple 10% discount, every single advertiser who has used an offer “For The Children’s Post Readers Only” has got a good response. One of our best ads offered a lovely discount to our readers, for just one weekend. That exclusive offer, call to action, and a deadline by which to get the offer, ensured that people actually acted on the ad. Yes, they did have a lovely product -audience fit too.

 

  1. Giving comes before getting

It is the oldest tip in the book, and it is always true. Take your ad space, but use it to give the reader something that helps them. This tip is especially useful for ed techs. They forget the importance of user education in customer acquisition. The TCP website is one of the few places where we give our advertisers an opportunity to create user education articles with their branding. The beauty of this placement is that it boosts the brand’s SEO for all time to come. If you teach Vedic Maths through games, create a few puzzles in your ad OR write an article on the website about Vedic Maths and how to get started.

 

  1. Be sincere

Our early advertisers were teachers who moved to online classes. Their ads were simple and sincere. We found that in a world full of clutter, this sincerity and directness of communication really made the ads stand out. Every single one of them got enquiries and signups.

Enthusiastic person indicating the right direction
 

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