Acquisition | PocketFM
Elevator Pitch
(Think of this as an introduction to your product- make it remarkable!)
Tired doing mindless scrolling on Instagram/Facebook while getting bored in traffic or waiting of your doctor's appointment or countless such occasions? Worried to find that next 15 mins of "timepass" on Youtube for your entertainment at night before dozing off. Look no further, Pocket FM is hear to provide easy to access audio content with wide range of shows on variety of topics/genres of your choice. So sit back and let's entertain you while you navigate mundane moments of life.
Understand your Product
Pocket FM is an audio content streaming service with more than 10Mn+ monthly active users. It specialises in long form serialised fiction content which provides screen-free entertainment on the go to the listeners. It helps eliminate boredom during mundane hours of the day with its vast library of freemium content.
Understanding Core Value Proposition
Core Value Proposition: Entertainment for users by giving freemium audio fiction entertainment in their mundane hours of the day. Users verbatim reflects that product does what is promises to deliver
"Mein factory jaate aur aate hue bus mein 8-10 episodes sunta hun aapke show ke; pata hi nai chalta time kahan nikal jaata hai"
Understanding the Users
(Go and speak to different users of the product and the people in the chain: households buying the product, shopkeeper selling the product, churned users, users using competitors products. In case of B2B products identify the decision makers, the influencer, blocker and the end user)
After talking to 8 users, these came as common themes across all people who bragged about PocketFM in their circle
- All users consume the product majorly in two time buckets: Before 11 AM and after 9 PM, and occasionally during 11-9 for consuming few episodes.
- They consume more than 45 minutes of content in one session and like the simple to understand language because they mostly engage in some other activities while consuming Pocket FM
- Some of the users prefer playing games on their phones while listening to content (Mainly users under 25)
- Users like daily free content and also model where they can pay for the content that they want to binge but also find recharges cumbersome and costlier.
After talking to 3 churned users, these came as common themes across all people who did not enjoy PocketFM experience
- Lack of depth in content categories like learning, self help, non fiction(crime & documentaries) which they find on other platforms: KuKu FM, Spotify, Youtube, Audible, etc.
- Content gets draggy and predictable in long format model and trying any new series requires very high intent which they sometime postpone.
Understanding your ICP
(There are separate tables for both B2C and B2B products, put down your your ICP’s in a Table Format, use this as a reference.
This table makes it super clear for anyone to understand who your users are and what differentiates them)
B2C Table
Criteria | User 1 | User 2 | User 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
Name | Aakash | Richa | Manohar |
Age | 19-35 | 25 - 35 | 50+ |
Gender | Male | Female | Both |
Income Group | 10k - 50k / month | < 10k / month | 50k+ / month |
Need | Entertainment while commuting to work | Entertainment while doing household chores | Entertainment in free time after retirement |
Pain Point | poor network to consume video content | can't look at screen while doing work | lack of content options catering to their needs |
Solution | low internet consuming content options | hands free content options | Age appropriate content |
Behaviour | Downloads videos before starting commute | Listens to tv shows running on TV in living room while working in the kitchen | Keeps scrolling on Youtube or TV channels to find option to kill time |
Marketing Pitch | High | High | Medium |
Frequency of use case | High | Medium | Medium |
Average time on the product | 1 hour, 30 min | 3 hours | 2 hours |
Propensity to pay | Medium | Low | Medium |
Value Experience of the product | Very High | High | High |
we have multiple users of a product and not all of them can be our ICP for whom we make our strategies, we need to prioritize.
(use this ICP prioritization table)
Criteria | Aakash | Richa | Manohar |
|---|---|---|---|
Adoption Curve | High | High | Medium |
Appetite to Pay | Medium | Low | High |
Frequency of Use Case | High | Very High | High |
Max Time Spent for Entertainment | Youtube, Instagram, Skill Based Games, WhatsApp | TV, Instagram, WhatsApp | Facebook, Spotify, Casual Games |
Distribution Potential | High | High | Medium |
Annual TAM | 4200 Cr | 6000 Cr | 1500 Cr |
Annual SAM | 3600 Cr (50% of population with access to internet + UPI) | 1200 Cr (20% of population with access to internet + UPI) | 750 Cr (80% of population with access to internet + UPI) |
Annual SOM | 360 Cr (~10% of users will be willing to pay of the service) | 60 Cr (~5% of users will be willing to pay of the service) | 40 Cr (~5% of users will be willing to pay of the service) |
Highest Priority: ICP 1: Aakash
Second Priority: ICP 2 Richa
Third Priority: ICP 3 Manohar
Understand Market
Factors | KuKu FM | Audible | Spotify |
|---|---|---|---|
What is the core problem being solved by them? | Self Help in Audio Format | Books in Audio Format | Music in Audio Format |
What are the products/features/services being offered? | Mainly Audiobooks & Self Help Podcasts, Some Audio Fiction Shows | Mainly Audiobooks & Self Help Podcasts | Music Streaming, Knowledge & Entertainment Podcasts |
ICP Overlap | Aakash & Manohar | Manohar | Aakash & Richa |
What channels do they use? | Organic, Paid Ads, Influencer Collaborations | Organic & Paid Ads | Content Loops, Paid Ads |
What pricing model do they operate on? | 99 / Month + Pay as you consume | 199 / Month | 119 / month Subscription |
Funding/Market Cap | 72 Mn $ till date | Acquired by Amazon | 60+ Bn Market Cap |
What is your product’s Right to Win? | Huge Library in Indian Languages for Audiobooks | Highest Selection of Books in Audio Format and Amazon's distribution | Distribution across the globe. Highest saliency in music streaming can easily help in entrying newer categories |
What can you learn from them? | Cracking Influencer Marketing Channel | Leveraging strategic partner like amazon for distribution and selection | User Recommendations & Content Loops in form of playlist sharin |
Designing Acquisition Channel
(keep in mind the stage of your company before choosing your channels for acquisition.)
Channel Name | Cost | Flexibility | Effort | Lead Time | Scale | Priority Score (Mature Scaling |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Organic Search | Low | Low | High | High | Low | 5 |
Influencer Collaborations | Medium | Medium | High | Medium | Medium | 3 |
Content Loops | Low | Medium | Low | High | Medium | 3 |
Facebook Ads | High | High | High | Low | High | 1 |
Google Ads | High | High | High | Low | High | 1 |
Referral Program | Medium | Low | Low | High | Medium | 4 |
Product Integrations: Airtel/Jio | Medium | Low | High | High | High | 2 |
Content Loops | Low | Low | Low | High | Medium | 4 |
Priority Score is determined for a mature scaling product like Pocket FM while prioritising in the following order:
1. Scale
2. Flexibility and Lead Time
3. Effort and Cost
The Acquisition Channels to Focus currently are:
1. Paid Ads: Facebook & Google Ads
2. Social Media Marketing
Detailing your Acquisition Channel
Paid Ads: Facebook & Google Ads
Product Funnel: Install --> Activation (1 Hr Engagement on Product) --> 1st Transaction on Product
Campaign Objective: Scale while maintaining similar CAC, Experiment and then improve LTV/CAC further Target is to reach 10% Penetration for ICP 1 (Aakash) in terms of Paying Users on Product
Ideal LTV (1 year) by CAC would be 3:1
Audience Selection: Age 18 - 35 Male
Look Alike Audience who engages and pays on product already.
Creative Strategy:
Video Ads promoting top content with best hook for this ICP.
Relatable, Aspirational and Bingeworthy show promos to be served to the Audience
Campaign Design:
Goal Optimise App Event (Purchase Event)
Placement: Open, Let platform optimise as the creative engagement
Exclusion: Devices which are alread paying users of the Platform
Budget: Scale Adgroups with highest RoAS, Starting with 2500 Daily and keep increasing budget till the time CAC is in control
Experiments for Reducing CAC or Improve LTV
Experimenting with different edits of same video (Length wise, Content Wise) and adapting the best performing ads in different formats (animation, Live Action, Video Podcast Format)
Use famous celebs/influencers as cast in the promos to drive salience with their fans and increase engagement on Ads and hence bring down CAC. Can help scale far & wide with limited creative fatigue
Experiment with different, description, headlines, CTA
Drive Urgency: Limited Period Offer (Higher Free Content, Discount on Coins Pack, etc.)
Generate and pass different In App events done by Paying Users to better understand their profile and Platform to allow such users to be Target (Eg: Engagement Times of High Paying Users, etc.)
Product Integrations
Objective: Tab into active users of Telecom companies like Jio/Airtel and get them to sample PocketFM content and potentially convert some of them to PocketFM active users
Customer Journey 1:
Customer Journey 1:
My Current Plan is about to get over --> Goes online to recharge for my phone number --> I usually go for my preferred plan but with the newly revised pricing I am not feeling I am getting the value I used to get from my recharge plan ---> I find a plan with Free 7 Day Pass for PocketFM --> I recharge and go to this app and sign up & voila I can access the library for free for 7 days. Example shown below, where instead of Disney+ Hotstar Offer, we would integrate PocketFM 7 Day Free Trail Offer.
Customer Journey 2:
I am a loyal Airtel customer --> My recharge plan gives me free access to Wynk Music under Airtel umbrella offering --> I listen to music/podcasts while travelling to office on Wynk Music --> While I finished listening to my latest Podcast episode Wynk autoplayed Ep 1 of PocketFM Production as per my content preference --> I really liked the story and continued listening to the series for 10 Episodes --> For Unlocking further Episodes I have to download PocketFM app and avail my 7 day free pass to consume from vast library of such content pieces.
Customer Journey 3:
I am a Airtel Customer --> I like listening to music and consume movies on OTT Platform --> I want to subscribe to multiple OTT Platforms at a discounted price ---> I come to Airtel Thanks App and checkout Airtel Xtream Offering --> I find Xstream a high value offering --> Under my Airtel Xstream Plan I come across Free 7 Day Pass for PocketFM --> I decided to give it a try and voila, I like the kind of stories PocketFM provides, and I continue coming to PocketFM app to listen to more such stories. Add PocketFM offering under the Airtel Xtream offering shown in SS below. Also remind the users who bought airtel xstream to download and try PocketFM and avail their 7 day free pass, examples of disney+ hotstar shown below.
Organic Channels: Content Loops
Understanding developed from user calling indicates that users like Aakash and Richa do share the content they consume with 1 or 2 of their friends and also discuss regarding the episodes that they have recently listened to. 1 of the user mentioned that he really likes sharing a new good piece of content he has discovered on PocketFM with is office colleagues travelling through the same bus. Basis this understanding the Content loop for PocketFM can be developed as below:
Hook: Discovering an interesting piece of content on PocketFM and wants his friends/colleagues to listen and discuss the same with him
Content Piece: Show Promo Video
Creator: PocketFM generates engaging high quality promos for its shows
Distributor: User
Distribution Channel: WhatsApp mainly, Instagram for some.
Platform | Engagement Rate | Content Type Suitability | Reach | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
High | High | Medium | 1 | |
Medium | Low | High | 2 |
Content Loop Diagram:
we hope this helped you break the cold start problem!
Reminder: This is not the only format to follow, feel free to edit it as you wish!
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