I was interviewing with a US based Fin-Tech firm Tala and as a first step, they asked me to prepare a marketing plan in 5 days with the given brief: Tala has launched in India and acquired an initial set of users using only digital channels - (Facebook and AdWords). Tala’s short-term credit product is performing well and the team is ready to scale up acquisition beyond these channels. Tala’s leadership would like to understand our strategy for building a brand and acquiring customers using cost efficient scalable channels in India. The leadership team has asked you to present an overview of different options and a recommendation of which to pursue, including a high-level project plan of how to execute the campaign and measure its success. -------------------------------------------------------- My research says that reaching out to unbanked Indians is a bigger challenge than reaching the unbanked in Africa and South-East Asia, the company plans to start targeting the banked Indians first and then the unbanked. While I think that there are other companies better set to take on the challenge of addressing the Indian market and I decided to not pursue the opportunity further, it's worthwhile to take a look at the presentation for facts, strategy and ideas. I hope this helps all the Financial companies looking to expand into India / professionals working in this space.

1. Marketing Strategy
Submitted by Vartika Verma

2. Agenda:
● Overview
○ Industry Overview
○ SWOT Analysis
● Marketing Plan
○ Marketing Goal
○ GTM Strategy
○ Marketing Channels
● Metrics and Measurement
○ Impact of Various Marketing Initiatives
○ Measurement

3. Overview:
I. Industry Overview

4. Bank Industry in India
● Since 2014, the PM Jan Dhan Yojna included additional 310 million Indians into the formal banking system by
March 2018
● A total of 80% of Indian adults have a Bank Account as of 2018
● Overall, only 36% of the account owners use their bank accounts to make or receive e-payments
● However, about 66% of the inactive account holders in India have a mobile phone that can be used more
efficiently as a banking channel.

5. Loan Industry in India
● Q. Who gives loans? A. Banks, NBFCs, MFIs, Loan Companies, Unorganised lenders against collateral
- More and more Micro Financing Institutions are filing for NBFC Licence
- There are 7 MFIs in India who made it to the list of the world's top 50 microfinance institutions per Forbes
- There are many unorganised lenders existing and operating around the unbanked Indians
● Consumer lending has been growing far quicker than the underlying nominal gross domestic product (GDP).
Source: Global Findex Report,
World Bank

6. India Versus Other Developing Markets
● In 2017, 5% of Indians accessed a financial institution
account from their phone or the Internet, and 2% of
the population owned a mobile money account
● Compare this to sub-Saharan Africa, 21% of adults
had a mobile money account in 2017, the highest
anywhere in the world and a 50% increase since
2014.
● Digital payments are also more widespread, with 97%
of adults in Kenya making a digital payment in 2017
and 60% in South Africa, compared to 29% in India.
INDIA NOT YET BENEFITTING FROM MOBILE BANKING Source: Global Findex Report,
World Bank

7. Current Market
● 4/25 Top Free Financial Apps are of the Instant Loan
Category leading to stiff competition
● Proven concept with successful competitor apps
having 10K+ downloads
● The Interest rate ranges from 1-5% for different apps
● The current loan apps are not just for the unbanked
but for the early jobbers
● App loan users are using it for convenience and ease
of use
Source: AppAnnie, 5th Feb, ‘19

8. Overview:
II. SWOT Analysis

9. Strengths Opportunities
Global brand, with the know-how, delivering the brand promise Being the sunrise sector, it’s day one for expanding in India
The Indian government is pro-financial inclusion and Startups 20% Unbanked Population cannot be addressed via traditional banking
instruments for loan disbursement
Tala can serve not just the unbanked, but also the salaried individuals
targeted by other Fin-tech apps
Weakness Threats
Behavioural Barrier: Accessing financial tools on mobile in India is rare
as compared to the Sub-Saharan Continent
Competition - Existing Fin-Tech companies, MFIs, NBFCs and
Unorganised Lenders
Crowded space with 2/25 top fin-tech apps being in the space of
lending
The operation of this space is highly susceptible to the Government
Policies changes
No NBFC licence will lead to reliance on the NBFC partner
SWOT Analysis

10. Marketing Plan:
I. GTM Strategy

11. Tala has launched in India and acquired an initial set of users using only digital channels (Facebook and AdWords).
Tala’s short-term credit product is performing well and the team is ready to scale up acquisition beyond these
channels. Tala’s leadership would like to understand our strategy for building a brand and acquiring customers
using cost efficient scalable channels in India. The leadership team has asked you to present an overview of
different options and a recommendation of which to pursue, including a high-level project plan of how to execute
the campaign and measure its success.
Their goal is:
● Build a brand in India
● Acquire users using cost-efficient channels
● Measure the success
Marketing Goal
Source: Case-study given by WeWork

12. Business Case: Acquire users to avail loan from Tala @ flat 10% interest
Market Strategy:
● Value Proposition: Instant Loans | Zero Documentation
● Positioning: App se account mein, 2 minute mein (From app to account, in 2 minutes)
● Messaging across channels:
○ Quick and paper-free loans - Talk about zero documentation
○ Global Presence, Local Expansion - Success stories and case-studies from other markets
○ Customer Success Stories - Local stories of different use-cases
○ Disadvantages of not paying back the loan - So that people are mindful of repaying
GTM Strategy

13. Market Size:
-> India has around 400M active smartphones
Whatsapp’s MAU is over 200M smartphones
Addressable market is of ~200M users in India (banked
and unbanked)
-> 50% of the Unbanked Indian Population has a phone.
Consider that 20% of them have a smartphone (rural
internet penetration), the market capacity for Tala
amongst Unbanked users will be ~38Million
Core Target Audience:Males between 25-45 years
(Core Audience of Males because 42% of male account
holders use digital banking versus 29% Females.)
Core Education Level of the Audience: Primary
Education or lesser
Target Audience

14. Why
Unbanked?
How do they
Borrow?

15. 200M
Users are Monthly Active Internet Users who own a Smartphone
Can be a part of Tala’s GTM plan in India

16. Two Types of Customers
Students, Early-Jobbers,
E-commerce Customers
Daily Wage Labourers,
Family members who depend
on spouse’s account, Farmers
1 2
Banked Unbanked

17. ~50%
Individuals borrow from friends and family in India

18. Tala should be like...
A FRIEND who you can borrow from rather than a company you’re taking loan from
- The tone of marketing communication should be friendly
- The support responses should be less formal and more big-brotherly / informal
- Brand ambassador, if any, should be approachable and kind
Tala should be
considered a friend

19. Marketing Plan &
Measurement

20. Marketing Plan Overview
Time Period April 2019- Dec 2019
Tentpole Build Awareness -> Induce Trial -> Follow Through with Stickiness
Pillars Instant Loans | Zero Documentation
Global Company Launching in India
Innovative Tech Advantage that enables quick and paper-free loans
What do we build Awareness
for? Quick and paper-free loans - Talk about zero documentation
Global Presence, Local Expansion - Success stories and case-studies from other markets
Customer Success Stories - Local stories of different use-cases
Disadvantages of not paying back the loan - So that people are mindful of repaying
Marketing Channels Advertising - Digital Advertising, Events, Partnerships
Product Marketing - Referral
Content - Video Blog, Testimonial, PR

21. Digital Marketing Overview
P.S. Cost is indicative and the same will differ with competition, volumes, customer retention and playstore rankings
Digital Marketing
Sub-channel
Cost Per
Install (INR)
Cost Per Loan
Granted (INR) Funnel Assumption When to do it?
Affiliate Marketing ₹50.00 ₹500.00 10% Click to Install and 10% Install to Loan From Launch
Google Play Advertising ₹60.00 ₹300.00 20% Install to Loan From Launch
Search Marketing ₹120.00 ₹600.00 20% Install to Loan From Launch
Display Marketing ₹100.00 ₹750.00 20% Install to Loan
During Offline
Events
In-App Referral ₹100.00 ₹100.00
Give Rs. 50 for every successful referral who takes a
loan
For every
repeat loan
user

22. Branding
Brand Marketing Ideas:
● Radio Advertising to make people aware of Tala
- Instead of plain Radio Spots, involve RJ’s to explain the product
● Partner with Youtube and TikTok influencers in different cities and languages to go live and talk about Tala
● PR outreach in both Traditional (National and Regional) and Digital Media
● Existing user meet-ups to pull in new users - Each Tala user bring a non-Tala user who could benefit. The
theme could be Women Entrepreneurs / Farming Smart / Small Business Heros etc.

23. Partnerships
Partner with large enterprises:
● Partner with Reliance Jio / Airtel to provide loans to their user-base giving special benefits / rates
● Partner with smartphone companies to offer loans to their users (the app could be pre-installed also)
Partner with MSMEs:
● Tie-up with vendors who pay salaries to unbanked people and rope them in as affiliates

24. Event Marketing
Guerilla marketing tactics at events such as:
Sonepur Mela:
● 3 Million people attend the Mela
● Heavily attended by Farmers
Kumbh Mela:
● 120 Million people attend the Kumbh Mela.
● ~75% Males attend
● Audience is mostly from Middle Class- Lower Middle Class
And others like Pushkar Mela, Farmers Mandi (localised to various regions)

25. Metrics &
Measurement:

26. Impact of Channels on KPIs
Rise in Lead
Generation
Lead Conversion Time Efficiency Top of mind
Recall
Branding Y Y Y
Digital Marketing Y
Offline Marketing Y Y Y
PR Y Y

27. Effort V/S Impact of Various Channels
Function Initiative Initiative's key asks Effort Impact Timelines
Branding Brand Building - Segregating messaging backed by consumer insights from the
TG
- Unified internal and external positioning in accordance with
global guidelines
- Positively impacting the buyer's journey
- Measuring High NPS from existing customers
High High Peak / Seasonal
Digital Marketing Acquisition/Lead
Generation
- Lead generation with qualifiers such as Male or Female,
Banked or Unbanked
- App Store Optimization, Search Marketing, Display Marketing
Medium Medium All year round
Offline Marketing Brand Building /
Acquisition
- Help the right people relate to us and bond with us
- Create brand love and loyalty
- Build thought leadership
- Acquire Users
High High Peak / Seasonal
PR Brand Building - Talk about technology impacting lives
- Regional Media PR as important as National PR
- Founder Profiling in Business Media
- Authored Articles in Mainstream Media
Medium Medium All year round

28. Thank You!
Vartika Verma
vartikaverma@gmail.com
+91-9717947775