Overview - The Indian Creator Industry has picked up major traction in the past 5 years, this is primarily due to the low cost that internet service providers are charging, along with the technological boom in the budget smartphone section. Today, each person is connected through multiple forms of social media, ranging from WhatsApp, right up to Clubhouse. The content consumption rate has also been at an all time high with the influx of digital content creators. Most creators opt for ad revenue, or affiliate marketing programs with big brands such as Amazon or ShareASale platforms to generate indirect passive revenue through referral codes, earning a small percentage of the revenue share. This is a great opportunity area for creators to not only endorse the products they believe in, but actually start building their own products. This initiative would be a win-win situation for both stakeholders involved, as there is a high level of intent generated subconsciously within the creator, to produce, market and create their own line of products, as there is an emotional angle attached to it. This would be induced in the content of the creator, and subsequently in the communities they have nurtured. Many successful ventures of big celebrities, Kylie Jenner's Beauty Line, or Kanye West's Yeezy Product with Adidas has elevated them from millionaires to billionaires
Opportunity -
Looking at the stats in bigger economies such as US and Europe, there is definitely a huge scope of opportunity in this space. Putting things into the Indian perspective, there are two things that are of paramount importance for a consumer/purchaser -
Cheapest Product - We Indians love haggling, unfortunately due to the pandemic, the street haggling has turned into sourcing coupon codes across various platforms to add to your checkout cart. But make no mistake, the compromise on quality is not directly proportional to the cost of the product. We still want the best quality, but at the most subsidised rates
Word of Mouth - Communities are a strong case to understand the purchasing power of a particular TG. Till date, the products that your friend would recommend/personally endorse has a high sentimental value when it comes to taking the plunge and investing in said product. Eg. Zerodha, I was personally recommended this platform by a friend of mine, and ultimately that led to me deep diving into Financial Literacy and Education, and understanding the fundamentals of stock market investments. They have invested a negligible cost in terms of customer acquisition, but the product in itself is so diverse, that it has indirectly led to communities being formed on channels such as Telegram and Discord
Influencer Mindset - Indians have always been attracted to big personalities, with the current trend in digital content market, the move from Big Bollywood Stars and Sports Stars have moved on to many other diverse fields such as Financial Influencers, Social Media Influencers, and many more.
USP - This is primarily an unexplored territory for Indian Digital content creators, but what we're missing here, taking the example of Mr Beast YouTube Channel here, is about creating your private label to be the primary source of income, rather than being dependent on the ad revenue algorithm. Mr Beast has a clothing line, a chain of burger joints across the US, and his YT channels gets millions of views within a couple of hours. He has diversified his portfolio to get into the Fashion, F&B, and Philanthropy Industry, which is supporting his channels, and driving new viewers to get associated to the channel. This can be easy replicated in India, by identifying the right product, creator or market
Execution Timeline - This is where the problem statement comes in, as the process would begin with identification of the right product, creator or market, and then subsequently work from there to start tying up with the right retailers, understand the need of the market, what the momentum of the market is, what the current trends are, which need to align with the creator's core competencies. The first step would be identification, subsequently the retailers would come into the picture, then the product pricing, sales strategy, product placement, performance marketing, end-to-end delivery timelines, and customer success would follow. The whole cycle for this can be replicated across various TG's simultaneously in order to assess the timeline of the business cycle better. Ideally, the TAT for ideation and market research should be done within 1 month of the identification process, as we need to keep in mind the future trends according to the market. The whole cycle could be run and replicated well within 3 months from an end-to-end perspective, but we would need to run certain pilot programs with a small set of creators with large market appeal in order to scale this for the small to mid-ranged creators
Deliverables - Understanding the appeal for the creators, in terms of contractual obligations, what % revenue should Trell make out of this, royalties for Trell on each success purchase, part ownership of the brand as an intellectual property for Trell in order to scale the business, promote and find the right target audience, along with a stipulated budget for marketing, performance and influencer on other social media platforms to increase the NAU's, DAU's and MAU's on the Trell platform to add to the top of the funnel. New user acquisition would be the key metric for growth here
Threats -
<aside> 💡 Case 1 : Identify the Product
</aside>
In this case, we are targeting identification of the product
Product in spotlight : Home Gym Equipment
When & Why : Personal Fitness has been trending since the onset of pandemic, and with the current situation of the pandemic still looming at large, people are looking for alternate ways to either start, or keep up with their daily regime. The importance and awareness of physical health has been highly promoted and a lot of creators have started posting their own home workout routines which has led to them gaining good traction across platforms
Who : The target audience is a key metric here, as everyone has started understanding the importance of physical health.
Age 13-30 - This set of users would be ideal as they are heavily active on social media, and products like weights, benches, exercise equipment, alternate supplements would be the ideal start point
Age 25-65 - Yoga has been one of the most searched terms on YT/Google since the pandemic has started, and the best part about the practise is its international appeal to all TG's. Personalised products curators to the creators competencies could be a high success product as the investment requirement would be minimal, focussing on the customised experience for the learner. Example, if a Yoga Creator is creating yoga related content on the platform and using their own brand, the users would be more interested in purchasing the said product primarily from the customised/personalised perspective
How : The key here will be to provide the best suppliers, that have the lowest TAT, lowest cost to manufacture, have a large distribution network. This could be assessed by researching on the current base of suppliers we have, and assign point value systems to the aforementioned metrics. From then, it is just the selection of the right supplier in order to manufacture and source the product
Delivery : The delivery experience is pivotal for niche products like these, the delivery partner assigned should have a good reputation in the market, right from the product reaching the warehouse to the door step of the purchaser, the customer should have complete transparency with respect to where their order is.
Marketing : The creator can curate specific content to integrate their product by using it regularly in the videos, the integration has to be subtle at first to increase the awareness about physical fitness, and why it is important. The most important marketing strategy would be to first address the issue at hand, and how the creator is helping to solve the problem in the market, i.e, what is the USP of their product, is it the cheapest, is it the best quality, etc.
Customer Marketing : In order to increase the reach of the product, the creator could ask the customers to post photos of themselves with the product with a particular hashtag that could be curated for the specific product campaign, this would intrigue other consumers in the customer's personal network and could add to the NAU's for the platform
Customer Retention & Loyalty : The creator could do a limited drop of the product, creating the buzz around it, so that it peaks the consumers attention. Personalised products have always been a rage in the overall consumer market, we have seen multiple flagship phones being launched by companies such as OnePlus or Apple with minor technical advances. In order to appeal to the larger audience, the creator could also do a bunch of giveaways before the official launch of the product line to create and aid to the buzz about the aforementioned products, when the consumers start posting on social media about the product, the hype marketing could be utilised well here.
<aside> 💡 Case 2 : Identify the Creator
</aside>
In this case, we are targeting identification of the creator
Creator in spotlight : Ashima Makhija
Category : Beauty Enthusiast | MakeupHacks | Tutorials
Reach : ashima_colorsnglitters (Shop Handle)
Verified
When & Why : Makeup and cosmetics are consumables that are heavily searched on all platforms by women. This has a mass market appeal as the cost of certain items by prominent brands are skyrocketing due to the demand-supply gap. Since the consumer here is primarily trying to level up their own makeup game, there is a strong business case for this category. As Ashima does tutorial videos as well, this would directly align with her own product line philosophy, as to why she has started her own brand.
Who : The primary TG we are targeting here is women from the age of 13 onwards, as they are avid consumers of makeup content.
The TG could range from 13-30, 30-45, even 45+ if the creator can reach those TG's well
<aside> 💡 Since FamPay has launched a teenager payment card, we can collaborate with them to target the audience <18, as they are the most impressionable when it comes to cosmetics. This could help in increasing the sales volumes by a massive scale, if we partner up with them for the payment/checkout process
</aside>
How : The key here will be to provide the best suppliers, that have the lowest TAT, lowest cost to manufacture, have a large distribution network. This could be assessed by researching on the current base of suppliers we have, and assign point value systems to the aforementioned metrics. From then, it is just the selection of the right supplier in order to manufacture and source the product
Delivery : The delivery experience is pivotal for niche products like these, the delivery partner assigned should have a good reputation in the market, right from the product reaching the warehouse to the door step of the purchaser, the customer should have complete transparency with respect to where their order is.
Marketing : The creator can curate specific content to integrate their product by using it regularly in the videos, the integration has to be subtle at first to increase the awareness about getting makeup right, and why it is important. The most important marketing strategy would be to first address the issue at hand, and how the creator is helping to solve the problem in the market, i.e, what is the USP of their product, is it the cheapest, is it the best quality, etc.
Customer Marketing : In order to increase the reach of the product, the creator could ask the customers to post photos of themselves with the product with a particular hashtag that could be curated for the specific product campaign, this would intrigue other consumers in the customer's personal network and could add to the NAU's for the platform
Customer Retention & Loyalty : The creator could do a limited drop of the personalised product line, creating the buzz around it, so that it peaks the consumers attention. In order to appeal to the larger audience, the creator could also do a bunch of giveaways before the official launch of the product line to create and aid to the buzz about the aforementioned products, when the consumers start posting on social media about the product, the hype marketing could be utilised well here.
<aside> 💡 Case 3 : Identify the Market
</aside>
In this case, we are targeting identification of the Market
Market in spotlight : Clothing for Plus Sized Women
When & Why : With the increase in social media platforms for awareness campaigns around Body Positivity, this makes a strong case for having a mass appeal from an emotional, as well as a business proposition. Currently in India, there are very few brands that provide Plus Size clothing options for women, and this can have a great opportunity to target a set of creators that promote or endorse body positivity in their content.
Who : The primary TG we are targeting here is women from the age of 18 onwards, who follow and endorse such creators
The TG could range from 18-30, 30-45, even 45+ if the creator can reach those TG's well
<aside> 💡 Since FamPay has launched a teenager payment card, we can collaborate with them to target the audience <18, as they are the most impressionable when it comes to cosmetics. This could help in increasing the sales volumes by a massive scale, if we partner up with them for the payment/checkout process
</aside>
How : The key here will be to provide the best suppliers, that have the lowest TAT, lowest cost to manufacture, have a large distribution network. This could be assessed by researching on the current base of suppliers we have, and assign point value systems to the aforementioned metrics. From then, it is just the selection of the right supplier in order to manufacture and source the product
Delivery : The delivery experience is pivotal for niche products like these, the delivery partner assigned should have a good reputation in the market, right from the product reaching the warehouse to the door step of the purchaser, the customer should have complete transparency with respect to where their order is.
Marketing : The creator can curate specific content to integrate their product by using it regularly in the videos, the integration has to be subtle at first to increase the awareness about Body Positivity, and why it is important. The most important marketing strategy would be to first address the issue at hand, and how the creator is helping to solve the problem in the market, i.e, what is the USP of their product, is it the cheapest, is it the best quality, etc.
Customer Marketing : In order to increase the reach of the product, the creator could ask the customers to post photos of themselves with the product with a particular hashtag that could be curated for the specific product campaign, this would intrigue other consumers in the customer's personal network and could add to the NAU's for the platform
Customer Retention & Loyalty : The creator could do a limited drop of the product, creating the buzz around it, so that it peaks the consumers attention. In order to appeal to the larger audience, the creator could also do a bunch of giveaways before the official launch of the product line to create and aid to the buzz about the aforementioned products, when the consumers start posting on social media about the product, the hype marketing could be utilised well here.
⛰ Epics are large overarching initiatives. 🏃♂️ Sprints are time-bounded pushes to complete a set of tasks. 🔨 Tasks are the actions that makeup epics. 🐞 Bugs are tasks to fix things.