The dynamic biz environment calls for real-time marketing strategies: Megha Agarwal

In conversation with Adgully, Megha Agarwal, Head of Brand and Marketing, WeWork India, speaks at length about the changes happening in the workplace environment in the post-pandemic world, the evolution of the flexible workspace industry, introducing real-time, data-first marketing strategies, and much more.

How has the evolution of digital marketing been over the past few years?

Over the past few years, digital marketing has undergone a profound transformation, driven by advancements in technology and the growth of the internet. As per EMR’s Indian Digital Marketing Report, the sector touched a value of $4.5 billion in the country in 2022, and is expected to touch $24.1 billion by 2028. The emergence of social media platforms has provided brands with a whole new range of opportunities. There is now a possibility to engage with our consumers, get real-time feedback on how ads are performing and personalise communications to drive consumers through the purchase journey in the most relevant way.

Furthermore, the incorporation of artificial intelligence and machine learning has led to the development of sophisticated marketing automation tools, which have the capability of personalising the customer experience and enhancing conversion rates. The advent of voice search and virtual assistants has made it necessary for digital marketing strategies to take into consideration the optimisation of content for voice search results.

According to the Cisco Annual Internet Report, India is to have 907.4 million total Internet users (64% of the population) this year, up from 398.2 million (29% of the population) in 2018. The exponential growth in internet penetration and mobile device access is another driving force behind the expansion of digital marketing in the country. Brands have had to adapt their strategies to the changing landscape, making mobile optimisation a top priority, as an increasing number of consumers are accessing the internet via their smartphones. For example, WeWork India introduced its digital product Virtual Office that simplified the otherwise complex transaction process involved in getting a premium address for businesses. This helped them choose from 30+ premium locations across 6 cities and sign up in less than 15 minutes.

Looking at this evolution of digital media from a consumer’s point of view, there has been an increase in digital content consumption owing to the availability of customised and personalised content. Since marketers look at communicating with different consumer cohorts across demographics, digital marketing can empower them to effectively manage targeted consumer communication.

How has the marketing strategy of WeWork evolved over the years with respect to changing consumer needs?

As a leading player in the flexible workspace industry, we understand the importance of staying ahead of the curve and evolving our marketing strategy to meet the changing needs of our target audience. When we entered the Indian market in 2017, our focus was to build brand awareness and resonate with young, tech-savvy professionals and entrepreneurs.

We then evolved our strategy focussed on innovation to ensure real-time member feedback was taken and converted to product ideas - This approach helped us unlock products of the future and made us a brand that delivered many unique offerings for our members such as WeWork On Demand, Virtual Office, and Managed Office by WeWork.

To further connect with our target demographic of millennials, we've also transformed our content strategy to focus on meaningful and impactful conversations through various B2C channels, particularly social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube. We use consumer data to gain valuable insights and drive targeted relevant marketing campaigns.

Overall, our marketing strategy is extremely real-time focussed on building brand love as an always-on strategy and on the other hand building strong awareness of our product portfolio across the wide cohort of audiences that we seek to serve through our products.

Our strategy has always been strongly tied to consumers being at the centre of all that we do. We have strengthened our focus on data and analytics and a much sharper focus on performance marketing to drive efficiency in advertising while not compromising efforts on long-term brand building.

What is the marketing strategy of WeWork in the year 2023?

The dynamic global business environment calls for fresh, innovative and real-time marketing strategies that are able to adapt to a fast-paced, ever-changing macro and consumer environment, and at WeWork, we are more than ready to rise up to the challenge. WeWork India has always been a digitally first, digitally forward brand. We will continue to create differentiated, personalized, meaningful and relevant experiences for our members and elevate brand love through engaging and thought-provoking content that aligns with our brand ethos and consumer needs.

We will be focusing on personalisation and omnichannel marketing to tap into our potential consumers. Furthermore, the integration of automation in our marketing activities is a key priority, as we aim to design more data-driven marketing campaigns. With our real-time - data-first marketing strategy, we are confident that we will continue to be the preferred choice for professionals and businesses of all sizes looking for flexible workspaces in the coming year.

How has the new age marketing shaped up with a focus on performance marketing?

Performance marketing, in particular, has transformed the way we reach and engage with our target audience. With the rise of data-driven marketing, we are able to track and measure the success of our campaigns real time, allowing us to make informed decisions and optimise our approach. The ability to measure the ROI of our marketing efforts has resulted in a shift towards outcome-based marketing strategies that focus on driving tangible results. By leveraging newer technologies and utilising data, we are able to create targeted and highly personalised, relevant campaigns that resonate with our audience and drive better results. This makes our marketing efforts more effective and efficient, contributing to the continued growth and success of our company. For example, customer acquisition cost/CAC is a key metric used to evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of a company’s customer acquisition efforts. Through precise targeting with the help of automation tools, one can achieve our overall improvement in performance.

In short, digital marketing has empowered marketers by providing them better visibility into how each action impacts consumer behaviour and tweaking campaigns real time to guide consumers towards a certain behaviour – in turn driving better efficiency of  marketing monies and returns. New-age marketing has also opened up a world of exciting possibilities on partnering with consumers on real time feedback and engagement – making them not just end stakeholders but potential stakeholders who help develop personalised and customised solutions – this is the future where a lot of control sits with the consumer.

WeWork India doubled down on its digital-first approach as part of its marketing strategy, especially during the launch of its recent campaign – ‘Great Inspires Great’.

With Internet proliferation, we have witnessed a tremendous upsurge in its users across the world and in the country. According to the IAMAI-Kantar ICUBE report, India will have 900 million active Internet users by 2025. Hence, for companies to communicate with their target audience, digital media has emerged as one of the most effective platforms. At WeWork India, we keep consumers at the centre of our marketing strategies and since a large majority of these users are on the internet, we adopt a digital-first approach for our marketing campaigns. Putting a focus on digital has led to growth through increased leads and sales.

With ‘Great Inspires Great’, the objective was to showcase the ever-evolving workplace requirements in the post-pandemic era and how WeWork India helps facilitate an individual’s greatness by offering a well-rounded, cohesive space that caters to everyone’s needs – be it a solopreneur, a Fortune 500, a start-up in its nascent stage or an MNC. In fact, the campaign was designed and driven by taking feedback from members to ensure that the final idea was customised for the target audience, thereby increasing its relatability. Furthermore, we wanted to execute a 360-degree campaign that reached our audience across various demographics and ensured an in-depth connection with them. Digital was the easiest and most common touch point that connected a large majority of these target groups and we leveraged it strategically. While it was a 360-degree campaign, 65% of our total ad spends were utilised towards digital platforms such as  Google, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Facebook accompanied by TV, Radio, Outdoors,  OTT, and social. We also went live with our influencer campaign, featuring artist Neha Doodles, singer Raghav Meattle, and actor Ayush Mehra.

The campaign drove 971k new users to our website, achieving a remarkable 33% jump compared to previous months. At the peak of the campaign, we observed 50 thousand new users on our website, a 230% jump from any previous single-day traffic. Overall, the digital-first approach of the campaign helped us garner 15 million+ views and 14 million+ impressions, reaching over 11 million people.

What are the growth projections of WeWork for the year 2023?

We are focusing on long-term sustainable growth and innovative product offerings that cater to the needs of the dynamic workforce of today. Currently, our portfolio spans over 6.5 mn sq ft with a capacity of 70,000 desks. We aim to expand it to 8 mn sq ft and 95,000 desks by the end of the year. Driven by the 90% occupancy levels, we are expecting our revenue to grow by 50-70 percent this year. While we already have marked our presence in 6 cities, considering the increased demand for flexible workspaces, we will also be making our foray into Delhi this year.

What is the marketing mix?

At WeWork India, we have a comprehensive marketing mix that has been carefully crafted to meet the needs of our very diverse target audience.

Our product offerings are designed to meet the ever-evolving needs of businesses, providing a range of options to suit different requirements and budgets. Our pricing strategy balances affordability with value, offering competitive rates with a strong focus on not just delivering a workspace but a productive, inspiring, quality workspace. Our presence in the 6 key cities and the network of locations assures convenient and accessible workspaces for businesses, regardless of their location. The promotion mix encompasses a planned calendar that includes both online and offline advertising, public relations, and direct marketing and activations, to reach and engage our target audience in the most meaningful and relevant way. The media mix of our campaigns is also carefully curated to reach the right target groups. While we predominantly utilise multiple platforms like digital to reach out to the millennial workforce, we continue to rely on traditional marketing as well since it enables us to drive larger brand awareness, especially when we are entering a new city.

We have always worked towards adapting to the dynamic work environment and providing solutions for the evolving needs of today’s workforce and our marketing mix is a reflection of that. It is thoughtfully developed to ensure that we curate a differentiated, relevant experience for our current and potential members.

How has the brand vision of WeWork changed over the years?

As the business landscape evolves rapidly, it is no longer enough for companies to settle for good. They need to dare to dream and drive themselves to achieve their great. Hence, today, both individuals and large enterprises recognise the importance of achieving their goals and are motivated to reach their defining moments of success. WeWork India’s Northstar vision is to help our members in achieving their goals and enabling them to reach their version of great by providing them with an avenue of opportunities. We give them access to a global network that facilitates connections between individuals and enterprises with similar interests, enabling personal and professional growth in a dynamic environment where one can discover the greatest version of themselves. We also help accelerate the growth of individuals as well as enterprises’ greatness by offering a well-rounded, cohesive space that caters to everyone’s needs. At WeWork India, we have been creating a culture that fosters collaboration and offers flexible and customised solutions to businesses of all sizes. As a brand, we believe in being consistent about our vision and constantly innovating and ensuring that feedback from our members is incorporated as workable solutions.