A dating app wants to enter the Indian Market. What Strategy to adopt for Market entry? a) Develop a market entry strategy to reach users in the target group (18-35). Focus the distribution strategy on reaching women. b) Which of your proposed actions are quick wins (i.e. can be done without much time and cost effort)? For a dating app, especially in India, it’s important that there are equal number of men and women on

the app. Considering, there is more men in India then Women, this could be a big break through if

achieved in winning the market share. The idea is if you can have women users, men will follow

(unequal demand and supply principle).

The app should be branded as a network empowering women, meaning in the Indian society the status

of women is already seen as struggling against the men. So, if we can brand the app as a network where

Women has more power than men it will gets a lot of women on-board.

On the feature side, when a Women registers on the app via Facebook, after verification she will directly

have access to the app, but when a men tries to join the app, he would not be activated until this men is

approved or “Liked” by at least 5 Women in his area (location). This will give Women the real power and

create a challenge in men’s mind to cross the hurdle by wooing the ladies with their profiles and win the

access to the elite network. This could be done by creating an entry Challenge for the men.

Keeping this strategy in mind, the app should partner with Women focused businesses. For e.g. ads and

partnership with Women magazines such as Femina etc. Online ads and banners on Women only

platforms such as iDiva.com (the no.1 online destination for Indian women offering style and beauty

tips, relationship advice, entertainment news and celebrity gossip, health tips etc.) and Indusladies.com

(the largest online community for Indian women in the world).

Further distributions and print marketing should be done by partnering with Women Beauty Parlors and

Saloons and Women Apparel Shops. The app can partner with such businesses by offering limited cross-

marketing strategies by showcasing ads to limited users from the local businesses.

The app should do print (posters/Newspaper leaflets) and radio commercials, challenging Men for

winning the challenges thrown by Women on the app platforms. Male (ego) behavioral marketing

strategies are typically a big hit in the Indian Society.

Dating is a big topic in colleges and universities in India. Since, the society is still behind in terms of

dating as compared to the west. Dating is most prevalent after high school. To tap the massive user base

in the universities and colleges, the app needs a focus on content marketing and a source of insightful

information on typical dating topics such as- What women want? What men want? How to find true

partner etc. These content can be acquired by engaging university students by themselves, offering

small amount of money (for e.g. INR 50/post) to the student will keep the content supply flowing.

Students love making money like these in India and once you can offer such spicy topics, it becomes all

the more interesting.

The app can further enhance its content strategy and online marketing by offering challenges on

Blogging Networks such as IndiBlogger and BlogAdda. Here the app can invite people to write about

topics such as Women security and women empowerment and relating it with the app. This will help in

spreading the word about the service really fast and with a larger reach.

The content strategy can also be used to win Men users, i.e. by offering direct access to Men on the elite

app network, if their posts are rated as the best content on the web.

Gyms and Fitness studios are another distribution network where both men and women users can be

targeted, by offering cross-marketing techniques.

TV Commercial is also a very popular and important market entry and branding facet, if you are looking

for a fast marketing growth with sufficient budget at hand. Creative ads can quickly get you many users.

The app can also tag itself for finding the right partner for the people, and brand itself as disrupting the

way typically Matrimony works in India.

The Quick Wins will be-

Partnering with Women only businesses should be cost effective as well as fast. ( Feminia

(Women magazine- Print), iDiva/Indusladies (Online))

Content strategy and online marketing by offering challenges on Blogging Networks such as

IndiBlogger and BlogAdda is easier and cheaper. Blogging networks are still in their infancy in

India and making money from content sourcing is still not the top priority of such networks.

Therefore, these provide a great channel for online marketing and content marketing.

Engaging University students for content and online marketing is very cost effective. (you nearly

pay INR 50/post)

Gyms, Fitness studios, Beauty Parlors etc. could be easily pulled in on-board without any extra

cost if cross-marketing benefits are offered for e.g. we show their ads to app users and they

place our banners and posters in their shops and businesses.

Getting regional Radio, Newspapers and bloggers for marketing and branding can be achieved in

a very cost effective manner.

A lot of word of mouth marketing though small temporary outlets at the malls and various other

public places can be achieved very quickly at low cost.

Challenging Matrimonial websites could be an easy bet, considering it has been the same format

for many years and people are ready to try new ways of finding life partners.