1st Priority: Captive conversion

Step 1: Identify target cohorts - find the people that are most likely to convert first

 

Step 2: Define user motivations - figure out what will attract these people to pay

 

Step 3: Hit them with compelling communication - shoot mailers, notifications, social ads with personalised messaging

 

Step 4: Automate all marketing - make sure they keep hearing from us with minimal effort from our side

Scroll down to know the how and who of these steps

Get non-paying users to start paying

Step 1: Identify target cohorts

How will we do this?

By studying current data to find fringe users who exhibit value, e.g. users who came to the subscription page but bounced, registered viewers with max free content watched, registered users with the most amount of return visits.

 

We match their behaviour to the patterns exhibited by previous converts, and gauge how likely they are to pay. We then categorise them by likelihood to pay, e.g. most likely to pay, least likely to pay.

 

Who can do this and what will they need?

Internal teams: Data science + Growth + Marketing

Tools: Analytics tools (e.g. R studio + Tableau)

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Find the people that are most likely to convert first

Captive Conversion

Step 2: Define user motivations

How will we do this?

The first step is to conduct some user research to see why people subscribe when they do. A second approach is to reach out to the “likely to pay” cohort for feedback. A third, but limited approach, is to rely solely on secondary data collected from the internet.

 

The key is to glean insights on when (in the user’s journey) we can find the user in the mood to pay, so we may hit them with communication at those precise moments.

 

Who can do this and what will they need?

Internal teams: Research(?) + Growth + Marketing + Product

External team: Research

Tools: Survey tools (e.g. Typeform) + Mailer tool (e.g. Adobe Campaign)

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Figure out what will attract these people to pay

Captive Conversion

Step 3: Hit them with compelling communication

How will we do this?

Build a creative strategy to appeal to identified user motivations and personalised collaterals to persuade users to subscribe. It is important to create variations of the communication collaterals to see what works best.

 

Then, we start targeting distinct chunks of the “likely to pay” cohorts with different messages, and measure effectiveness. Depending on the outcome, we repeat the process.

 

Who can do this and what will they need?

Internal teams: Marketing + Growth + Data Science

External team: Research

Tools: Mailer/notification Campaign tool (e.g. Adobe Campaign)

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Shoot mailers, notifications, social ads with personalised messaging

Captive Conversion

Step 4: Automate all marketing

How will we do this?

By configuring a marketing automation tool that will allow us to connect our data store to our mailer/notification tools, such that dynamic data about the “likely” cohort is automatically shared between these platforms. This will drive the desired communication to the target cohort without human intervention until we decide to change the communication.

 

Who can do this and what will they need?

Internal teams: Marketing + Growth + Data Science + Tech

External team: Automation vendor

Tools: Marketing automation tool (e.g. Adobe Target)

Swipe left to see the 2nd priority

Make sure they keep hearing from us with minimal effort from our side

Captive Conversion

2nd Priority: Churn Prevention

Step 1: Refine the user experience - reduce streaming/payment/download problems through iterative UI design

 

Step 2: Streamline CRM - Address consumer issues with greater efficiency

 

Step 3: Define affinity tribes - figure out what kind of people like what kind of content

 

Step 4: Find cross-content affinity - figure out what other kind of content certain affinity tribes will like

 

Step 5: Recommend more stuff to watch - show more relevant content to keep them binging

 

Step 6: Gamify viewership - give them rewards for watching more content

 

Step 7: Incentivise renewals - if they go missing, make them an offer they cannot refuse

Prevent paying subs from leaving

Scroll down to know the how and who of these steps

Step 1: Refine the user experience

How will we do this?

First, we find the most pressing user issues through social listening and review the journey a user takes on our apps - from entry to churn. Then we benchmark our UI against industry leaders and redesigning elements that are still following older design patterns and test our new interfaces out with small audience segments to measure effectiveness.

 

Who can do this and what will they need?

Internal teams: ORM + Design + Product + Marketing + Growth + Data Science

External team: ORM agency + UXD agency (if required)

Tools: Design + Prototyping tools (Adobe Suite)

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Reduce streaming/payment/download problems through iterative UI design

Churn Prevention

Step 2: Streamline CRM

How will we do this?

Reduce dependence on email redressal by leveraging chatbots and Whatsapp communication with consumers that are facing problems. Cull out common problems (e.g. connectivity issues) to facilitate the CRM team to resolve more complex issues.

 

Who can do this and what will they need?

Internal teams: CRM + Growth + Marketing

External team: CRM vendor (if required)

Tools: Chatbot platform (e.g. Landbot) + Whatsapp business tool (Smooch)

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Address consumer issues with greater efficiency

Churn Prevention

Step 3: Define affinity tribes

How will we do this?

Study viewership data by content buckets and club viewers by their liking of specific content types. Identify shared characteristics among viewers, such as demographics, and club them into tribes that share a ‘bond’ of sorts.

 

Who can do this and what will they need?

Internal teams: Data science + Growth + Marketing

External team: Research vendor (if required)

Tools: Analytics tools (e.g. R studio + Tableau)

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Figure out what kind of people like what kind of content

Churn Prevention

Step 4: Find cross-content affinity

How will we do this?

Study tribe behaviour on our apps (browsing & sampling patterns) to find the other types of content is being considered for viewership by defined affinity tribes, e.g. those who like action movies might be checking out thriller or mystery content, but haven’t watched any yet.

 

Who can do this and what will they need?

Internal teams: Data Science + Growth + Marketing

Tools: Analytics tools (e.g. R studio + Tableau)

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Figure out what other kinds of content certain tribes will like

Churn Prevention

Step 5: Recommend more stuff to watch

How will we do this?

Once we know what else certain user groups would like to watch, we recommend that content to these tribes to reinforce their desire to watch more. This needs to be done through our apps (while browsing) as well as through marketing communication (emailers+notifications+social ads). Finally, we measure the results of our actions and reconfigure our strategy as required.

 

Who can do this and what will they need?

Internal teams: Data science + Growth + Product + Marketing

External team: Rec engine vendor (if required - e.g. RecoSense)

Tools: Analytics tools (e.g. R studio + Tableau) + Campaign tools (Adobe Campaign)

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Show more relevant content to keep them binging

Churn Prevention

Step 6: Gamify viewership

How will we do this?

This is a space that requires specialised technical know-how, and we shall need to engage with a blockchain based gamification vendor to create a system where users are rewarded for watching our content. Rewards can be in the form of currency, but ideally, we should cross-promote our films by rewarding users with movie tickets, film merchandise, and actor meet-n-greets.

 

Who can do this and what will they need?

Internal teams: Tech + Product + Growth + Marketing

External team: Gamification engine vendor (e.g. Trifinity)

Tools: To be explored

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Give them rewards for watching more content

Churn Prevention

Step 7: Incentivise renewals

How will we do this?

Identify users who are consuming little content or are not returning to our platform, and offer them discounts or cross-sell promotions (e.g. renew now and get free tickets to our next movie) if they renew with a specific pack within a limited window of time.

 

Who can do this and what will they need?

Internal teams: Data science + Product + Growth + Marketing

Tools: Analytics tools (e.g. R studio + Tableau) + Campaign tools (Adobe Campaign)

If they go missing, make them an offer they cannot refuse

Churn Prevention

Swipe left to see the 3rd priority

3rd Priority: New user acquisition

Step 1: Find affinity empaths - find people who like the same stuff that our existing users like

 

Step 2: Increase visibility - gain exposure through social, digital, TV, OOH, radio, on-ground campaigns

 

Step 3: Drive omni-channel marketing - make the user’s journey seamless across platforms & devices

 

Step 4: Reduce bounce rate - ensure they see what they want when they arrive, and it buffers fast

 

Step 5: Refine the user experience - treat first timers with special care to ensure that they register

 

Step 6: Emphasize on original content - generate a timeline of buzz around originals

Get new people to sample our content

Scroll down to know the how and who of these steps

Step 1: Find affinity empaths

How will we do this?

Observe social media chatter of our affinity tribes through social listening and find others who share the same interests but are not yet our users. Identify conversational touchpoints to reach out to these people across media channels (e.g. Do you love Salman Khan? Watch his best movies on Eros Now).

 

Who can do this and what will they need?

Internal teams: Data science + Growth + Marketing

External team: ORM agency

Tools: Analytics tools (e.g. R studio + Tableau) + Campaign tools (e.g. Adobe Campaign)

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Find people who like the same stuff that our existing users like

New user acquisition

Step 2: Increase visibility

How will we do this?

Targeting the right people on the right channel is the key to gaining meaningful exposure that can convert to sampling. Leveraging prevailing trends in social media marketing (e.g. memes, influencers, stories, live videos), optimising digital spending (e.g. programmatic buying), and surgical TV advertising (e.g. show an ad for a movie while it’s playing on TV, saying “watch this movie ad-free, whenever you want!) are just some ways.

 

This point deserves a complete, in-depth action plan for itself (coming soon).

 

Who can do this and what will they need?

Internal teams: Creative + Marketing + Growth

External team: Social media agency + Digital marketing agency

Tools: Campaign tools (e.g. Adobe Campaign) + Social Media tools (e.g. Hootsuite)

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Gain exposure through social, digital, TV, OOH, radio, on-ground campaigns

New user acquisition

Step 3: Drive omnichannel marketing

How will we do this?

By ensuring homogeneity in content and context, our marketing collaterals across channels need to deliver, redeliver, and drive home the same message. This is not as simple as it sounds, as vast variations in formats, visibility, discovery, and analytics can hinder effective deployment and measurability of omnichannel strategies.

 

This requires a deep synergy between internal and external teams, which we shall have to develop with the goal in mind - to bring the user to sample our content, despite the medium of communication.

 

Who can do this and what will they need?

Internal teams: Marketing + Growth

External team: Creative + Social media + Digital marketing agency

Tools: Various

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Make the user’s journey seamless across platforms & devices

New user acquisition

Step 4: Reduce bounce rate

How will we do this?

Ensure that first-time customers on our app see exactly the content they came to see by deep-linking marketing touchpoints to relevant sections in our apps. Additionally, the content needs to play without any hiccups, otherwise, the customer will leave and we’ll have to spend again to acquire the same customer.

 

Who can do this and what will they need?

Internal teams: Marketing + Product + Growth

Tools: Various development tools

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Ensure they see what they want when they arrive, and it buffers fast

New user acquisition

Step 5: Refine the user experience

How will we do this?

Provide first-time customers with a minimal journey from landing to registration, such that they feel the need to register. Driving registration on the first visit is important as we need the customer’s email/phone details to send them further communication.

 

Who can do this and what will they need?

Internal teams: Marketing + Product + Design + Growth

Tools: Various design & development tools + Persuasive microcopy

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Treat first-timers with special care to ensure that they register

New user acquisition

Step 6: Emphasize on original content

How will we do this?

Follow the tried and tested original content release checklist:

- Announce the name/concept

- Announce stars and lead cast

- Release the teaser

- Release the poster

- Release the trailer- with/without PR events

- Announce the launch date

- Deploy pre-launch trivia

- Hold a screening of 3 episodes

- Hold a launch PR event

- Deploy post-launch trivia

 

Who can do this and what will they need?

Internal teams: Marketing + Growth

External teams: Social + Digital + Media buying + Event agencies

Tools: Various marketing tools + Industry connections

Generate a timeline of buzz around originals

New user acquisition

1st Priority: Sponsorship & integration deals

Step 1: Identify prospects - list the brands that are most likely to spend on associating with fiction

 

Step 2: Make a sales pack - create a deck showcasing the brand, the content, the numbers, and packages

 

Step 3: Figure out brand integrations - find space to place brands in upcoming content

 

Step 4: Meet many people - setup meetings with multiple brand managers

 

Step 5: Customise our offering - sell them what they want to buy

Get brands onboard for the eyeballs

Scroll down to know the how and who of these steps

Step 1: Identify prospects

How will we do this?

Gain intel from the sales team(?) or other internal teams with their ears to the ground to decide which brands are spending how much on what kind of content. Juxtapose this intel over our content pipeline and identify the best brands to target with our content.

 

Who can do this?

Internal teams: Growth/Sales + Content

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List the brands that are most likely to spend on associating with fiction

Sponsorship & Integration deals

Step 2: Make a sales pack

How will we do this?

Make a master deck that showcases all we have to offer and how much it’s going to cost for different degrees of association.

 

Who can do this?

Internal teams: Growth/Sales + Content

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Create a deck showcasing the brand, the content, the numbers, and packages

Sponsorship & Integration deals

Step 3: Figure out brand integrations

How will we do this?

Work with content creators to find suitable spaces to fit brands into the content without compromising the integrity of the script.

 

Who can do this?

Internal teams: Growth/Sales + Content

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Find space to place brands in upcoming content

Sponsorship & Integration deals

Step 4: Meet many people

How will we do this?

Meet every brand manager possible from the list of target brands, and gain insights into what their budgets, plans, and requirements are.

 

Who can do this?

Internal teams: Growth/Sales

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Set up meetings with multiple brand managers

Sponsorship & Integration deals

Step 5: Customise our offering

How will we do this?

Create custom sales packs based on the master deck with relevant details and deals that are most likely to appeal to a target brand.

 

Who can do this?

Internal teams: Growth/Sales

Sell them what they want to buy

Sponsorship & Integration deals

2nd Priority: Branded content

Step 1: Identify prospects - list the brands that are most likely to spend on creating content

 

Step 2: Conceptualise bespoke ideas - create concepts unique to sectors/brands

 

Step 3: Meet many people - setup meetings with multiple brand managers

 

Step 4: Co-develop the stories - include their creative teams in the development journey

Tailor-make content for brands with deeper pockets

Scroll down to know the how and who of these steps

Step 1: Identify prospects

How will we do this?

Gain intel from the sales team(?) or other internal teams with their ears to the ground to decide which brands are best to target with branded content concepts.

 

Who can do this?

Internal teams: Growth/Sales

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List the brands that are most likely to spend on creating content

Sponsorship & Integration deals

Step 2: Conceptualise bespoke ideas

How will we do this?

Based on intel, devise a set of ideas that a specific to a sector or to brands that are most likely to spend on branded content.

 

Who can do this?

Internal teams: Growth/Sales + Branded Content

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Create concepts unique to sectors/brands

Sponsorship & Integration deals

Step 3: Meet many people

How will we do this?

Meet every brand manager possible from the list of target brands, and gain insights into what their budgets, plans, and requirements are.

 

Who can do this?

Internal team: Growth/Sales

Scroll down for the next step

Set up meetings with multiple brand managers

Sponsorship & Integration deals

Step 4: Co-develop the stories

How will we do this?

Work with the client’s creative team to co-author fiction/non-fiction content based around the brand’s ethos.

 

Who can do this?

Internal team: Growth/Sales + Branded Content

Include their creative teams in the development journey

Sponsorship & Integration deals