B Swaminathan/ Megavarshini
Being India’s first pure-play consumer Internet company to be publicly listed Matrimony.com is doing phenomenal in the digital marketing sector. With the COVID 19 crises affecting all sectors and people working in all mediums, the Matrimony.com has set up its stand with its appealing and user-friendly features. On a quick chat with Medianews4U, Rajasekar KS, GM Marketing at Matrimony.com reveals how this COVID crisis had made an impact on various industries and how they are trying to handle the same efficiently.
Speaking about industries coming up with new normal and how he foresees it like a marketer, he said that COVID 19 has definitely affected and disrupted people’s lives and we need to come up with new ideas and inventions so as to overcome this stressful situation. Regarding matchmaking, he said that it takes a lot of time for people to find a match and they are not feeling much of pressure because of the crises.
Further, he said that there is a significant increase in registrations across matrimony.com services, including BharatMatrimony. Due to strict lockdown conditions, they may see a slow growth when it comes to weddings as of such. He further stated that since about 50 people are allowed at weddings things have started looking up.
Speaking on the measures as a brand they have taken during this lockdown he said they have enabled more than 4 Thousand employees to work from home so as to keep their customers on track and to provide them the services they need to search their life partner without any difficulties. He was beamed as they received a positive response within two weeks of their Home weddings launch on Matrimony bazaar, to help couples conduct their weddings at home. He further said that they have launched a video chat feature on BharatMatrimony on 18th June to help their customers to communicate easily with one another.
On sharing interesting insights that were implemented and had produced remarkable results he acknowledged that they have optimised their television campaigns and have improved their digital spending. Furthermore, he revealed that their registrations have increased 30 percent in comparison to the pre COVID period.
Disagreeing the myth among the agencies that brands concentrate only on existing medium and might not invest in a medium like cinema, he clarified that the context is different for various categories. “And as a marketer, I feel that the brands always focus on immediate business, though the brands are currently holding into the purses they are always open to newer opportunities. He said that brands do have an eye on storytelling and content to connect with the audience but it is not happening anytime soon.”, he added.
With the lockdown being eased, when he was asked about the strategies and their key spends he said that as of now they wanted to stick with the television and digital media. Print campaigns will be optimized and in-film integrations will be done as soon as theatres start drawing a crowd.
On a concluding note, asked him about transformation one may notice on the way brands conduct their campaign, he assured that the brands will start working more on the core problems customers face and find creative solutions for the same. He felt that this is the best time to innovate and start working on ideas and strategies that were parked due to some reason. “Brands will relook the way they’ve marketed themselves. For now, what worked then may not work now”, he concluded.
