DIGITAL MARKETING

PART ONE: Brand analysis

1. Introduction

Brand name: Hero Motocorp

Hero Motocorp Ltd. is an Indian firm which is the largest manufacturer of two
wheelers like motorcycles and scooters. It is guided by its mission to fulfil its
customers' needs and aspirations for mobility while setting benchmarks in quality and technological
innovation. It has launched itself on the various social media platforms to address this mission with
efficiency.

Website URL: http://www.heromotocorp.com/en-in/.

Hero Motocorp is has been present on various social media platforms like Twitter,
Facebook, YouTube, etc.

Product & service offering/USP: Hero Motocorp offers products across various
categories for two wheelers in the motorcycle and scooters product categories.
The major segments are from <110cc, 110-125cc, 125cc-150cc and in the
above 150cc segment. The products offer customer value proposition of being
value for money, superior product quality and having a high mileage efficiency.
During the months of August and September in 2016 it has clocked on an
average 6 lakh+ units being sold pan India, one of the highest in the industry.

India is a developing economy with the average Indian middle class segment of
buyers growing with a growing demand for two wheelers. This sentiment is
echoed both in the rural and the urban areas where having a two wheeler is an
emotional purchase as well as an aspirational one. Hero Motocorp has been using
social media proactively to raise causes of Girl Child Empowerment, Child
Education, Road Safety, etc to focus on the core issues pressing the country.
These social issues make the brand appear as authentic as well as socially
responsible among its target audience. Its USP is to provide a large product
variety as per the customers needs, possessing an excellent brand equity as
well as in maintaining and acquiring high customer loyalty.

Tone, persona, & communication style:

Brand Persona: Ajay is a 28 year old male from Lucknow, India. He is a

Software Developer working for Amazon. He belongs to Gen Y and regularly
makes use of social media especially Facebook and Twitter to follow the brands of
his choice as well as YouTube for watching videos. He makes use of his
motorcycle to travel to and fro from his place to his office location. He also loves
to travel across the city with his friends for motorcycle rides on the weekends as
well as for his NGO related work assignments. Hero Motocorps persona can be
summarised as being a confident, passionate, aware and a caring brand which
can be highlighted from its social campaigns.

Brand personality traits: Ajays persona resonates with that of Heros brand
personality, which highlights honesty, confidence and awareness. Trust and self-
confidence are major aspects of Heros brand personality. It is most certainly not
an untrustworthy, ambiguous or a timid brand.

Voice of brand persona: Heros brand persona is perceived as that of a caring,

self-confident one which tries to engage its consumers and comes across as
trustworthy. It makes use of SEO and PPC to a large extent. It also makes use of
its extensive Twitter and Facebook presence among the other two wheeler
brands in India to raise awareness about safe driving, girl child empowerment
and education, etc.

Markers comments:

/8

2. Target market

India is a young country with a median age of mere 27 years. Hero Motocorp has
segmented its target audience primarily in terms of their income and age to
make better and economical products. All urban & semi-urban as well as rural
youth in the age group of 20-40 years of age with a low to middle income group.
It provides products in the price range of INR 40,000 up to 1,00,000. Heros
customers are young, pre-dominantly internet-savvy and seekers of value for
money. They are usually working professionals irrespective of marital status.

As youth today are more socially aware, most of Heros consumers are vocal.
They are increasingly sensitive to issues of social importance and of the
changing dynamics in the society. They are more value driven and believers in
equal opportunity for all. Their attitudes & opinions are instrumental in shaping
the upcoming societies and their governance structures.
Markers comments:

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3. SMART objectives

SMART Tactic(s) KPIs Tracking Tools

Objective
To attain a 20% CRM, No. of e-mails Use of e-mail marketing
increase in Discounts forwarded to the analytics tools like
revenue through and offers in target segment SendLoop, Contactually,
customer place, e-mail and their Intercom, etc.; Sending
acquisition as marketing, forwarding rates; streamlined offers to
well as retention SMS No. of repurchases select customers;
during the FY17. marketing. done by previous Making use of CRM
customers; etc. through data tracking.
To attain a 30% Using Digital Growth in fan Twitter Analytics and
increase in Hero marketing follower base on Facebook Insights for
Motocorps on Twitter, the social media specific media tracking;
online Facebook; platforms; No of ORM tools like Radian6,
community Making use retweets, uberVU, Attentio,
especially social of social promoted posts, Brandseye, etc. Content
media platforms theme likes and shares; Management tools like
by FY17. campaigns. Timeline analysis Marketing.Al, etc;
of new posts being Making use of workflow
made/interval. maps and calendar
schedules for content
updation.

To drive an SEO, Online CPCM/CPA, etc of Campaign tracking

additional and Search ads; Value through tools like Piwik;
increase in Advertising conversions from AdWords tracking in
revenue of INR the undertaken Google Analytics for
15 mn. from its tactics as well as PPC; Server tracking for
pan India sales the no of paid media.
during the next conversions. No of
quarter in FY17. referrals from
search & display
ads; Quality score
and CTR.

Markers comments:

/9

PART TWO: Strategic considerations

1. Competitor analysis

The competitor site under consideration is Royal Enfield. It has been chosen as a
competitor due to Heros growing aspirations and investments of venturing into
the 200-250cc motorcycle segment where Eicher Motors owned Royal Enfield
clearly scores in the digital strategy domain. It scores notably above Hero
Motocorp in the following three areas:

#1 Brand Website Layout: For a motorcycle brand, it is essential that it

showcases the product so as to make the value proposition authentic and
appealing to the consumer. The website has elements to attract the consumer
through a number of factors as follows:

(a) Consumer based content: Imagery have been aesthetically highlighted

and showcased as an experiential product;
(b) User convenience to help them locate the nearest dealer, nearest service
centre as well as the roadside assistance feature;
(c) Ride Calendar which highlights the different events being scheduled like
bike rides;
(d) Highlighting the consumer filmed videos like Himalayan Stories, Rider
Mania, etc.;

The following screenshots illustrate the above differentiating attributes.

#2 Social Media consistency: Royal Enfield makes extensive use of social
media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram to drive user
engagement. It makes use of its Twitter handle and Instagram to share user
stories and upcoming events. Its YouTube channel
(https://www.youtube.com/user/royalenfieldmedia) posts content with exciting
videos. Its brand image consistency can be checked from the following
snapshots:
#3 Building an online user community: Royal Enfield unlike Hero Motocorp is
trying to incorporate its users into its brand through posting their stories,
promoting discussions, retweets, shares, etc. It is also building a cult type image
of its brand by bringing out a dedicated range of apparels like jackets, gloves, etc
for bike riders as well as accessories like helmets to increase the brand
association for its users thus building brand belongingness and identity.
Markers comments:

/9

2. Role of data

In the given context, in order to execute the digital marketing strategy of Hero
Motocorp, there will be an extensive use of data to validate and track the firms
objectives. The following tracking tools can be implemented to gauge the
effectiveness of the firms digital campaigns:

#1 Facebook Insights, Twitalayzer

#2 SEO: Google Analytics

#3CRM Analytics

#4 ORM and Sentiment Analysis on Social Media platforms

#5Campaign tracking and Google AdWords for PPC advertisements

#6 Email Automation & Analytics

Since Hero Motocorp has its dedicated social media channels thus its web
analytics will play a critical role in analysing the current consumer behaviour and
its favourableness for the firm.

Metrics that uniquely identify and characterise the site visitors, posted content
and the conversions taking place can be possibly tracked to optimize results.
Some of the following are examples of metrics that can be analysed:

#1 Bounce Ratios form the landing pages;

 #2 Duration/ visit and the no. of pages navigated and viewed from the
home page as well as value conversions

#3 No. of unique visitors visiting at a particular point of time

#4Usage of keywords and referrers used to reach the brand website

#5 Entry/ exit/ landing pages

It is crucial to analyse the performance of the specific product wise landing

pages, etc. to understand the websites objectives. This could possibly be
tracking of the specific reports in Google Analytics. The obtained insights could
be used to implement a conversion optimization process by making use of A/B or
multi-variate tests to improve performance.

Markers comments:

/6

PART THREE: Tactical plan

Tactic 1: Social Marketing

Hero Motocorp now is planning to enter the 200-250cc segment which is whole
new target market they have to cater. This market is driven not just by value for
money, but also by community building, social recognition and shared ownership
of brand with its customers.

One very important thing to notice is that, the brand which enters this segment
have to constantly put their efforts in coming up with idea till execution of events
where the users can come together a long rides and community building so that
they feel attached with the brand. This creates a unique psychological advantage
to the products pricing, thus adding premium to this segment. Its the lifestyle
which this segment sells, hence we should focus on our online campaigns also in
a way which can consistently deliver this message. Eg. The recent Tour of
Rajasthan 2016 Royal ride through the sands of time.
The social media presence of Hero can be seen from the image above. To
increase their presence further, we would like to suggest a campaign similar to
that of MTV Roadies. Instead of having it collaborated with MTV, we would like it
to be a Hotstar Original Show. Further, various customer engagement methods
such as elimination through votes can be done on various social media networks.

We would continuously post live feeds from events like Auto Expo, etc on
Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and Snapchat. Reviews from various websites such as
Cardekho, xbhp, Overdrive, Autocar, Bike etc would be posted keeping the page
active. User reviews and promotions in form of wordcloud will be posted based
on twitter feeds using sentiment analysis.

Markers comments:

/8

Tactic 2: Video Marketing

Apart from the normal campaign advertisements, we would promote the user
videos like Royal Enfields. We will be conducting small time surveys from Hero
users regarding their trips, how they feel about their bike, what all they look
forward etc. A potential customer always looks ahead for such reviews which
helps them with their purchase.

Hero can have an official YouTube channel for the same like Arsenal TV for fan
interviews. Also, an unofficial hero biking community can be formed like Bajajs
NS Wolves. Such a conglomerate video which contains the edits of various videos
appeals to the youth providing them a sense of community. A community, today,
is one of the most essential components of marketing a bike and Hero even
having a good online presence lacks in such a community.
Hero can have an association with a review providing channel. Potential
customers usually seek out for such information before making a purchase.

But with all the above attracts negative publicity. These videos not only damage
the brand but also feed a negative perception which is hard to change. The
online team has to take care of such videos based on their marketing strategy.
Markers comments:

/8

Tactic 3: CRM

In this competitive environment in the auto mobile market where post purchase
service is considered to be at par with purchase of the vehicle, CRM is one must-
need tools for Hero Motocorp Ltd. The servicing of the vehicles is another source
of revenue. An unsatisfied customer due to post purchase servicing would have
very low switching cost and would easily switch among bike maintenance
centres. CRM is a tool which would enhance the customer loyalty and customer
engagement. Apart from CRM, we also have Database marketing which would
help the same cause.

We would use CRM to improve the quality of Hero's service centre. Increasing the
satisfaction level of the customer induces him to repurchase thus building loyalty.
CRM along with mobile marketing would lead to better customer engagement.

Using analytics and database marketing, we would be able to analyse and

identify the causes of dissatisfaction in our services. These causes can be lack of
spare parts, inappropriate behaviour of maintenance staff etc. It would help in
analysing the distribution channel and identify the bottlenecks to be rectified.

Bottom line, through this we are trying to improve the customer experience post
purchase and provide a positive WOM which would help in building the brand.

Markers comments:

/8
Tactic 4: Online Advertising

Hero is seeing a shift from its <150 cc segment to >150cc segment. The shift in
the segment also signifies a shift in the target audience. While bikes below 150cc
were targeted for customers who seek value for money, are more mileage
oriented, more utility oriented and have low disposable income, bikes above
150cc cater to different needs altogether. Its potential customer would have a
high disposable income, more power and speed oriented; mileage comes second
but high on aspirational values. When segmented demographically, this segment
is tech savvy and their online presence is in the form of YouTube, review
websites, etc.

Above 150cc, Hero has already launched the CBZ and Karizma with upcoming
models like HX-250 and Hastur 620 in the pipeline. Heros credibility has already
lied in the segment below 150cc and has to fight with the likes Yamaha, Honda,
Kawasaki, Bajaj, Royal Enfield and now TVS. These companies have been
producing above 150cc vehicles in the past decade and have huge market share
as compared to Hero. So for Hero to enter this rat race, it has to spend heavily on
its branding. From the display of the bike in an Auto Expo, we would start
building up the brand through chain of articles and YouTube videos. Content
Marketing and Review articles by credible sources like xbhp.com are most
important. We would get the bikes tested by them and promote their reviews
thus helping to establish the brand in the segment above 150cc. Also, we would
launch a series of promotional video or a promotional campaign like Vroom
vroom campaign. The campaign would in alignment to the brand persona which
the company wants to promote. Any misalignment with the persona could send a
very different image, thus hurting the establishing brand.
Positive blogging will be promoted and we would selectively add excerpts in the
website which would be adding to the credibility of the brand.

Markers comments:

/8

Section Mark Out of

Part One 23
Part Two 15
Part Three 32
Total 70
Percentage 100%
Markers comment:
Total words = 2560