Digital marketing and sales in the e-learning industry

SIP project report submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the PGDM
programme

By Jai Katara

2017132058

Supervisors:

1. Company Guide: Mr. Ravi Handa, Director, Handa Education Services Pvt. Ltd.

2. Faculty Guide: Dr. Jasbir Singh Matharu

Institute of Management Technology, Nagpur

2017-19

Page | 1
 Acknowledgement

I would like to thank Handa Education Services Pvt. Ltd. for furnishing me with this chance to do
my Summer Internship Programme with them.

I would like to express my earnest on account of Dr. Jasbir Matharu, my faculty guide for
managing me how to approach my targets.

I would also like to thank my organization guides Mr. Ravi Handa, Director Handa Education
Services Pvt. Ltd., Mrs. Neha Aggarwal, Sales Team Head Handa Education Services Pvt. Ltd.
Throughout the period of my internship they supported, their positive criticism helped me nurture
as a professional.

This Internship wouldn't have been conceivable without consistent help and supervision got from
the organization workers. I would like to express my gratitude towards them for every one of the
experiences I have gotten from them in the due course of time.

Working with Handa Education Services Pvt. Ltd was a great learning experience for me. I got the
chance to take a shot at different crusades and activities that has helped me in understanding the
market better. I am thankful to them for helping me in effectively finishing the project.

Page | 2
 Successful completion certificate

Page | 3
 Table of Contents

Content Page No

Introduction & Objectives 5

Brief Description of the Concepts 8

Company Analysis 11

Findings & Results 18

Conclusion 23

Recommendations 24

Limitations of the Study 25

Scope for Future Improvements 26

Appendices 27

Bibliography 29

Page | 4
 1. INTRODUCTION
Digital marketing is a sub component of marketing that deals with marketing and promoting
one’s product digitally using online platforms mainly social media. Gone are those days when
traditional methods of marketing were used to reach out the potential client base. Digital
marketing can help to increase the customer base, visibility which eventually leads to the
development of the business.

The most important purposes for which digital marketing is used by a large number of
organizations are:

A. Digital marketing gives brand a platform for a strong brand recall, which means that
brand will always be seen by the potential client on any social media platform.
B. It enhances the brand image amidst the strong competitive market.
C. Digital marketing also helps the brand to widen the scope for the potential customer base
as it is accessible by all because of internet connectivity.

In today’s world where everything is easily accessible online at one click, it has become
mandatory for the brands to capture the online market. Any business which is doing its business
online gets noticed very easily as more and more people are engaged on the internet.

One more benefit of digital marketing is that it helps in increasing the sales of the company as it
helps to generate potential leads convert them into happy customers by selling the product to
them.

Page | 5
1.1 INDUSTRY INTRODUCTION:

Education technology or Edtech is a growing sector in India. According to a survey conducted by

RedSeer consulting, India’s online market is expected to go as high as $2.5 billion a year. The
survey report has further estimated that around 15-20 million students between higher secondary
and secondary school are the major contributors in this market.

Mixing technology with education helps students at all levels, as it can be accessed anywhere at
any point of time. Parents are gradually opening up to the possibility of a platform where there
children can learn something in an innovative manner.

The best thing about using technology in education sector is that it is not restricted to cities and
metros, it is expanding the base in tier II and tier III cities as well.

It is very interesting to look at how the education technology sector has evolved. While originally,
it aimed to provide a fun alternative related to education games and platform in general, now they
have come up with technology that is dedicated to enhance learning and education itself.

From a point of view of monetization in the edtech sector, the startups in India have gained pace.
The investors have a strong belief in this sector which resulted an upward growth in this sector.
According to a report by KPMG it is expected that the paid user base will grow 6X from 1.6 million
users in to 9.6 million in 2021.

The main reason behind such an increase in the online education is because of the low cost
alternatives (INR 10k – INR 20k) against the high cost (INR 4 lakh – INR 10 lakh). It has proved
to become a boon in disguise for areas where quality offline education is at an all - time low.

Increased internet penetration is also one of the key reasons behind the success of edtech business
model, approximately 409 million internet users are expected to grow approximately 735 million
by 2021.

Page | 6
1.2 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:

As a digital marketing and sales executive I was offered the following responsibilities during the
8 week summer internship project.

 To promote the company’s website on various social media platforms.

 Content creation, creating questionnaires for SNAP, CAT, IBPS PO & SBI PO.
 Improve the SEO rating for the company’s website.
 Sharing blog posts on LinkedIn, Twitter, Google plus, Facebook and WhatsApp.
 Generating leads from the information that they provided on our website and converting
them into potential customers.
 Writing answers on Quora relating to various entrance exams.

Page | 7
2. Brief description of concepts used in the study:

2.1) SEO - SEO is a marketing concept focused on increasing visibility in organic (non-paid)
search engine results. SEO is a mix of both technical and creative elements required to improve
rankings, it drives traffic and increases awareness on search engines. There are many aspects to
SEO, from the content written on your page to the way other sites link to you on the web. SEO is
simply a matter of making sure your site is structured in a way that search engines can understand.
SEO is not just about building search engine friendly websites, it is also about making your site
better for people friendly too.
The majority of web traffic is driven by the major commercial search engines such as Google,
Bing and Yahoo. Although social media and other types of traffic can divert visits to your website
but search engines are mainly the method of navigation for most internet users. This holds true
whether your site provides content, services, products, information or anything for that matter.
Search engines are smart, but they still need help. The major search engines are always working
to improve their technology to dig the web even deeper and give better results to users. However,
there is a limit to how search engines can operate. Whereas if the SEO done rightly can give you
thousands of visitors and increased attention, but wrong moves can hide your site very deep in the
search results where visibility is very less.
In addition to making content available to search engines, SEO also helps in boosting the rankings
so that content is placed where searchers will more readily find it. The Internet is becoming
increasingly competitive and the companies who perform SEO will have an advantage in
generating visitors and customers.

2.2) Social Media Marketing - Social media marketing (SMM), is a form of internet marketing
that involves creating and sharing content on social media networks in order to achieve your
marketing goals. Social media marketing includes activities like posting blogs, image updates,
videos and other content that encourages audience engagement as well as paid social media
advertising.
Before you begin creating social media marketing campaigns, consider your business’s goals.
Starting a social media marketing campaign without a social strategy in mind is like roaming
around a forest without a map—you might have fun, but you'll probably get lost.

Page | 8
Here are some questions to ask when defining your social media marketing goals:
 Increasing business traffic

 Building conversations

 Raising brand awareness

 Creating a brand identity and positive brand association

 Improving communication and interaction with key audiences

The bigger and more engaged your audience is on social media networks, the easier it will be for
you to achieve every other marketing goal on your list.
2.3) Content Marketing - Content marketing is all about the creation and distribution of high-
quality content that attracts and engages audiences online. Content marketing is most often used
to drive customer interest, deeper engagement with current customers, and for brand awareness.
The trend in content marketing has grown significantly over the past two decades as audiences
have shifted to new media, consuming content in entirely new and savvy ways. This has led to big
and small brands developing comprehensive content strategies with allocated marketing budgets.
Generally thought of as being separate from traditional advertising, content marketing is about
communicating with customers in a way that adds value, without the sales pitch. The content itself
is contextually relevant to a product or service, provides information in the form of entertainment,
education, emotional connection, or practical value.

2.4) Video Marketing – Video marketing is all about using videos to market your brand, product
or service. A strong marketing campaign incorporates video into the mix. Customer testimonials,
videos from live events, how-to videos, explainer videos, corporate training videos, viral
(entertainment) videos.

Page | 9
Benefits of video marketing

 Videos are a good for SEO – It can increase your search engine ranking, click-through
rates, open rates and conversions. But you have to reach your target audience.
 Videos will boost conversion rates – A recent study found that 57 percent of online
consumers were more likely to buy a product they were considering purchasing after
watching a video demonstration of that product.
 Videos are easily accessible – There are many platforms for video marketing. YouTube,
TV, and street marketing, you name it. The possibilities are endless. With a smartphone,
consumers can access online video anytime, anywhere. The same is not true with
traditional, paper marketing. With video, you can reach your audience wherever they are
in a cost-effective way.
 Video is effective – Studies show that retention rates for information that is both seen and
heard is as high as 80 percent. Those numbers drop to 20 percent for information that is
seen and just 10 percent for information that is heard. Combining visual and audio is
powerful.
 Video touches the emotional cord – Video allows you to make a direct appeal to the
emotional The human connection through video is more influential than reading facts in
text. center of a person’s brain through music. With video, you are also able to attach a face
to a concept.

2.5) Tele calling: This is one of the most important means of direct marketing, in this process, we
can directly call and pitch the potential client or the customer about the product/ services we offer.
This was the area where the leads that were generated from website were called and pitched.

2.6) WizIQ: It is the official portal which has tied up with our company’s website. On this website
we uploaded the course of Handa Ka Funda.

2.7) Townscript: An online payment gateway from where the payment for the courses of Handa
Ka Funda is made.

2.8) SproutVideo: This is the host for uploading the course videos, from here it is uploaded in the
main course.

Page | 10
3. COMPANY ANALYSIS
3.1 ABOUT THE COMPANY:
Handa Ka Funda is an e-learning company that is based in Jaipur, it was founded by Mr. Ravi
Handa an alumnus of IIT Kharagpur in the year 2009. The company was started as a website of
collection of videos related to CAT preparation, in 2013 the company expanded its business and
started selling online courses for CAT, SNAP, XAT, IIFT, SBI PO & IBS PO. In the year 2016
the company achieved a milestone as more than 10000 students enrolled in the various courses.

Hand Ka Funda also uses YouTube as mode of offering their service to the students, as of now the
page has 31,512 subscribers, 186 videos and 5,00,000 plus views on the videos.

The main goal of the company is to change the way students prepare for competitive exams- make
it easier.

The motto of Handa Ka Funda is: You may say we are dreamers – but we are not the only ones.

There are following departments in the company:

 Sales team: The main job of the sales team is to inform the potential customer about the
product, clarify any doubts that a customer has and pitch them, sale the product. The sales
team uses tele calling for contacting the customers.
 Digital marketing team: The team works on various social media platforms such as
Facebook, Twitter, Google plus, WhatsApp and LinkedIn. The main job of digital
marketing team is to increase the reach of website that is done through sharing of the blogs
and promoting the products offered by the company.
 Human resource team: HR department looks after the needs of the employees, they help in
building great team dynamics as they organize various outings so that team can work
together

Page | 11
3.2 SWOT ANALYSIS:

1. Strengths: The price at which the courses are offered is way cheap than the competitors,
the maximum one have to pay for the course is Rs. 9999 whereas the price of other
companies starts from the above mentioned value, the content that I
2. Weakness: Limited number of mocks provided, not every course related to MBA entrance
examination are not included.
3. Opportunities: There is a plethora of opportunity for the company to grow, as it recently
launched the pen-drive course so that the people who live in the areas where internet
connectivity is low can also access the course. Plus there is never ending demand for the
online courses by the people who work, so it widens the scope of target potential customers.
4. Threats: Various players which are heavily funded such as Byju’s, they are also focusing
on MBA entrance examinations. Gradeup.com is another competitor who is a potential
threat to Handa Ka Funda as it provides a different mix of courses and the offline coaching
centres such as TIME, IMS are a potential threat to the business

3.3 BUSINESS MODEL:

The company follows a model in which the services are offered to students via means of online
coaching.

 The courses that are offered are preparation for exams like CAT, SNAP, XAT, IIFT, SBI
PO and IBPS PO
 The course fees ranges from INR 500 to INR 10000
 YouTube is also used as a medium to increase the student base.
 The study plans can be directly accessed from the website once the registration is done and
the payment of fees is made.
 WizIQ is the platform on which the course is shared. Once the students have completed the
payment, they are provided with a login ID and password to access the course.

Page | 12
 Students visits the website

Joins the WhatsApp group/ enquires about course from chat support

Chat support convert them into leads

Sales team calls the lead informs them about the product

Customer registers on the website and makes the payment

Gets the access for the course

Page | 13
3.4 PRODUCTS OFFERED BY HANDA KA FUNDA:
Handa Ka Funda offers online courses for entrance examinations like CAT, XAT, SNAP, IIFT,
SBI PO and IBPS PO. Following are the products offered by the company and the price charged
for the same

 CAT courses:

Page | 14
GK course for XAT, SNAP and IIFT

SBI PO course:

Page | 15
IBPS PO course

3.5 COMPETITION:
Education sector in India consists of various big players in the market, the major players in the
field of online CAT coaching are:

 Career launcher
 Byju’s
 2iim.com
 Cracku
 Oliveboard

Following is the table provided, which shows the difference between price of courses of Handa Ka
Funda and its competitors.

Page | 16
 NAME OF THE
PLANS OFFERED HIGHEST PLAN COST LOWEST PLAN COST
COMAPNY

Carrer Launcher 8 Rs. 44,000 Rs. 23,000

Byju’s 2 Rs. 17,000 Rs. 4,000

2iim.com 4 Rs. 26,000 Rs. 23,000

Cracku 3 Rs. 6,999 Rs. 3,340

Oliveboard 3 Rs. 2,400 Rs. 1,699

Handa Ka Funda 3 Rs. 9,999 Rs. 6499

Page | 17
4. Findings/result:

I was in the sales team for last 3 weeks, so my job was to do the sales call and inform the customer
about the courses we offered and convince them to buy the product. This process was done by
generating the leads, they were generated by me from the data of the people who used to visit our
company website. Following is the list of leads generated by me:

Page | 18
Page | 19
Improved www.handakafunda.com overall Alexa ranking in April 2018, the rank of the website
was 152500 in the world and 10850 in India. But through extensive sharing of the blogs, promotion
of the links resulted in the improvement in the ranking of the company’s website.

This was the updated ranking of the website, this was done because SEO rating was increased and
many people were visiting the website.

Increase in the promotion on Quora, I used to write answers on Quora for the topics related to
Handa Ka Funda, it fairly increased number of people visiting our company website to look for
course. Next is the analytics of quora.

Page | 20
LinkedIn post stats:

The average views on the post used to be close to 100-110 views per day, I posted almost 15-20
blogs on LinkedIn, so this helped to increase our promotion on LinkedIn as well.

4.1 Results:
Sales pitching, in this we as a sales team did a fantastic job, we converted 2500 leads, which
is a record for the company, reaching such a number in a short span.

Page | 21
 Social media reach of Handa Ka Funda was felt this time as we were very active on various
social media platforms that helped in creating a follower family of 57,623 in June 2018. The
number of followers before that was around 37,250.

Keeping track of the leads, I was required to make a list of leads ranging from 30 to 50 leads
per day. This was done when the details of leads were provided to us by the chat support team.
An excel sheet was maintained regarding the same.

I was successfully able to design the questionnaire for CAT, SNAP, SBI PO & IBPS PO, the
test series which I created did quite really well when it was launched.

Improved site ratings, after extensive promotion of the website the content on the website was
also liked by the customers which resulted in improved website rating.

As per the analytics on various social media, the daily visitors on handakafunda.com are 70
per cent men and 30 per cent female.(Appendix 2)

Number of clicks per post is 316.

The people are from age group of 18-25.

Location wise 7 percent people are from Bangalore, 6 percent from Mumbai, 5 percent from
Delhi, 5 percent from Hyderabad and 3 percent from Chennai. These are the top cities from
which people visit the website.( Appendix 1)

Page | 22
5. Conclusion:
We all know that in this dynamic rapidly changing world, the need for digital marketing is
increasing day by day. It is not only an effective tool increase brand awareness, it also helps in
maintaining a healthy relationship with the customers.

During my experience of working with Handa Ka Funda, I got a chance to enhance my technical
skills, soft skills. It helped me to gain insights of the corporate world which was great. It helped
me in getting to know how the work culture of start- ups is different from the well established
companies thus, it ultimately helps in holistic learning about the work ethic and gives us the chance
to learn directly from the founders who are young aspiring minds.

As an overview of this project it can be clearly said that marketing on social media is the cheapest
form of marketing as it provides the reach to a significant number of potential target audience. The
competition in the edu-tech companies has increased exponentially with the number of start-ups
growing at a very high rate, in this dynamically changing world the thing that will make you stand
out from your competitors is great content which should be updated regularly. We all know that
social media is an integral factor when it comes to making your mark in the business.

The most important thing regarding the social media marketing is customer engagement in all
possible ways ranging from fun games to free service for a period of time. This will keep the
customer keen and he will remain loyal to the brand.

Lastly, when you are in E-learning business, it is very important to keep the track of your
competitors, what strategies they are using, how they are promoting the product because if you
don’t know what are your competitors are up to you won’t be able to become better than them.

Page | 23
6. RECOMMENDATIONS:
The most important thing that a company dealing in the e-learning sector should do is have a
variety of options to look for as without variety customer might get discouraged from the product
and buy the competitors product. Following is the list of recommendations for handkafunda.com

 Increase the test series content, from my personal experience as a sales team member I can
say that many customers said no to our product just because of less number of mock tests.
 Create test series for XAT, SNAP as well many people don’t buy the course just because
there are no separate courses dedicated to the above mentioned examinations.
 Introduce the sectional mocks as many students look for them.
 Monetarize YouTube, a large chunk of revenue can be made by handakafunda.com if they
focus on the video streaming site. This can only be done once the content on the site is
marketed properly, it can bring a good amount of revenue.
 Increase the number of ads of Handa ka funda on different sites so that it will gain reach
among the targeted audience.
 Improve the workforce by hiring some more professional workers.

Page | 24
7. Limitations of the study:

Digital marketing as we all know is a continuous process and 2 months is a very short duration to
learn about all the things in it. It’s an ongoing process, so the results are visible only after a certain
time period.

Certain concepts and models such as details of SEO and SEO friendly cannot be fully understood
in the period of 8 weeks.

I missed the chance to learn excel in a better way, as we were only made to enter the details in the
excel sheet and we were not required to use any advanced excel features.

Page | 25
8. SCOPE FOR IMPROVEMENTS:

The company is still at a growing stage, and is getting recognition on social media. So it is going
to be tough to keep par with the competition who have deep pockets. Following are the suggestions
which can help the company to sustain and grow at good pace:

 Reduce the number of unproductive workers, there are many people in the company who
don’t work at all, they are becoming a liability for the company.
 Try to introduce pen drive course in CAT as well so that people with low internet
connectivity can access the course.
 Just a little bit improvement is needed on e-mail marketing.

Page | 26
9. APPENDICES:

APENDIX 1:

Page | 27
APPENDIX 2:

Page | 28
10. BIBILIOGRAPHY:

 www.handakafunda.com
 www.wikipedia.org
 www.LinkedIn.com
 www.Quora.com
 cracku.com
 carrerlauncher.com
 2iim.com
 Byjus.com
 Oliveboard.com

Page | 29