Ayurvedic Treatment – A concept note for future marketing

Ayurveda is definitely the next big thing in India. The entire world looks at India for making the best use of our tradition. However, the proliferation of too many players in the Ayurvedic segment has meant that people have too many options to choose from. This information-bombing from numerous companies leaves the public perplexed when it comes to choosing the best one - Thanks to digital marketers.

The best way to market any health organisation is to showcase the quality of its doctors and the facility. However, when we step into the shoes of a treatment seeker who searches online, we get to know that almost all the organisations have got good facilities, thanks to the advanced camera, and photo editing software which can literally cheat your eyes. 

Over the years, I have used many marketing techniques for numerous clients. Some worked and some did not. The one strategy that worked was through real and in-depth content about treatment and disease and the effective use of influencers to spread the message in their respective countries. What I understood is that there are two kinds of people who choses Ayurveda:

1. People who really know about it
2. People who want to try Ayurveda as a last resort

We don’t need much effort to pull the first category to our side. But we really need to push our brand to grab the eyeballs of the people who fall under second category. They need:

1. Information
2. Familiarity
3. References

How to achieve that is the actual problem. Well, if you ask my experience, I would say a mix of new-age media marketing and traditional Public Relation would be right blend that can make the people to buy.

We can use digital media, not the website alone, to spread information and traditional media to familiarise the brand among the people. The use of social influencers would give us an edge, as we take things seriously when it is said by someone look up to. 

This would be the right blend to sell, especially at a time people spend more time on their mobile phones than with their families.

Ten-Point Strategy

1.       Enhance the relationship with service providers in Africa and Middle East

2.       Organise strategic tie-up programmes with the stakeholders

3.       Ensure the visibility in media in target countries – full-fledge Public Relation

4.       Reach out potential customers through effective online marketing

5.       Ensure maximum content online in order to cater to the need of treatment seekers – Content Marketing

6.       Use Google AdWords to reach new customers

7.       Provide right content to brand messengers online and offline in the Middle East and Africa

8.       Actively participating in events of organisation such as KMCC and Indian associations

9.       Take the help or AYUSH Ministry in organising programmes Abroad

10.   Use social media to engage customers as well as to reach out to online influencers

What we understand after analysing the organisation’s past record is that the firm has a good reputation in the market and it is easy for us to sell the packages to the right customers, providing technical (Ayurveda-related) support from Raha. What we would attempt to do is to spread the message about the company to enhance goodwill. Leads, conversion, and sales would come as a by-product. We will chart out a yearly programme across the middle east and Africa by tying up with organisations such as KMCC and the Indian Association and AYUSH Ministry. In short, with a small sponsorship to the programmes of associations, we will get multiple brand ambassadors free of cost. It can become the largest mouth-to-mouth publicity. This will give us ample space to tell our story through an organic public relation. Once we start getting featured in multiple spaces, we accelerate the pace of digital marketing and social media marketing, which will help us getting recognised on all the platforms where people hang around. 

Public Relation

Middle East / Africa

                                  

1.       Strategy is to get brand stories published in maximum media outlets

2.       Leadership articles

3.       Technical articles by a doctor

4.       Talk to guest doctor through Radios

5.       Programmes of partner associations

6.       AYUSH sponsored programmes

7.       Can run a campaign on a special day such as world Ayurvedic day

8.       Can run a detailed campaign on obesity/psoriasis/backpain

9.       The the same campaign shall be executed on sports injuries and benefits of Ayurveda

  

Indian

 

1. The strategy is to get brand stories published in high authority news portals (we want to avoid news paper in order to cut down the spend, as result is not guaranteed. However, targeting news portal is good to create some awareness.)
2. Leadership articles
3. Technical articles by a doctor
4. Can run a campaign on a special day such as world Ayurvedic day
5. Can run a detailed campaign on obesity/psoriasis/back pain
6. The same campaign shall be executed on sports injuries and benefits of Ayurveda

 

Many think social media is not the right platform to market a serious topic such as Ayurveda and its treatment. However, it is also good to remember that 80 percentage of the total population in Kenya spend maximum time on Facebook. This interesting fact is enough to make sure of our presence in social networking platforms such as Facebook. Though it may not enhance the lead generation capacity, it actually support the brand by spreading the brand message. Who knows it may even play as an indirect marketing tool, as a person can influence his relative or a close friend. 

 Strategic Tie Ups

KMCC/Indian Associations

This programme has been designed this way because of the specialty of the place where the treatment centre is located - Kochi, Kerala. Kerala has been known for its connection with Middle east and. We designed this strategy in order to capitalize that connection, which is relatively an easy task.