Hello Friends,
This blog is my response to the assignment assigned to us by our Prof. Dr.DilipSir for MA Semester 3 in Paper of Cultural Studies and my topic is Chetan Bhagat and his market. So, read, understand and enjoy. Happy Learning!
Five things about Product Marketing you can learn from Chetan Bhagat
As a product marketer specialising in content, I’ve always found it irksome to explain to people just how difficult my craft is, and how much time it takes to do it well. Building a brand isn’t easy; it takes a lot of effort, planning, strategy & execution, and involves as much editing out as it involved creating more. And even then, one misplaced word or misguided blog post can turn around and bite you.
But there is one gentleman (or a brand, however you choose to see him) who has consistently been so good at product marketing, that it would be a shame not to try to learn from him. Chetan Bhagat has been so good at selling books that several of our more established, critically acclaimed (and might I say, better) writers have had to go into therapy to treat their egos. He single handedly changed publishing in India, and though his methods may be suspect, they are nothing if not effective.
From the beginning, I’ve looked at Chetan Bhagat as a product marketer, and not as a writer who’s good at selling books; one reason for that is that his ideas (& tradition, as he has spawned several copycats & me-too writers) offend my literary sensibilities. Books are respected repositories of our knowledge, wisdom & stories for a reason, and somehow Bhagat’s books (or products) seem to undermine the very reason books are written & read.
None of that, though is relevant in a discussion about selling books, of which he is an absolute master. There is much to be learnt about product marketing from this seller of mass-market paperbacks, and I’ve distilled five of them.
Here goes –
1. There’s no such thing as bad publicity
Bhagat goes out of his ways to court attention. There is a reason he consistently picks fights with what he calls ‘the literary elite’; they are a self serving bunch not concerned about writing for ‘the common man’, he says, and is constantly getting into debates with them on national television. He has no original ideas to share at these platforms; all he does is reiterate that India’s new English readers need simplicity and stories that make them feel good, and that he is providing it to them. But intellectual debate is not the point of his appearances at all. The point is to stay in the news and never to go out of the mainstream. If you are always in front of your potential consumers, of course the probability that they will buy your product goes up exponentially. This is Marketing 101!
2. Revenue doesn’t care if it comes from shameless self-promotion
All of Chetan Bhagat’s books have one very prominent (& jarring) common factor. He appears in all of them in the beginning, as himself, listening to the story he is going to tell. It is a cringeworthy opening set-piece that smacks of supremely lazy writing, but what it also is is a reiteration that the book the reader is holding in his hand is part of the Chetan Bhagat brand, more a proclamation of allegiance than worthy literature. In marketing, we call this real estate. If you have a place you can showcase your brand or your product, every inch of it has to be used. Chetan Bhagat is so good at this that he has literally used the product he sells, that is, his books, to sell his own brand. If that is not genius, I don’t know what is.
3. Create your own market
The Blue Ocean strategy was something that was taught to me in my MBA days. I remember thinking that it was a pretty neat concept, but then as college students are wont to do, promptly forgot about it. The first time it struck me how Chetan Bhagat had applied it, I was mesmerized. In short, the Blue Ocean strategy puts forth the idea that instead of trying to compete against an established company in a congested market, a better way to create value would be to create a new market in the first place and then, by virtue of being the only players in that space, surge ahead before anyone even thinks about catching up. Before Chetan Bhagat came into the scene, the simple language/easy to digest/cheap paperback novel did not exist, simply because no one knew that such a market existed and that it could be serviced and made heaps of money off. I wasn’t paying attention during my MBA, but Chetan Bhagat certainly was.
4. Tailor your product & communication to your audience
Chetan Bhagat know who he is writing for. His audience is not the reader who has been reading for years and knows the kind of books he prefers or doesn’t, who already has a favorite author or authors or who can distinguish between a Mills & Boon and a Penguin Classic. Bhagat does not write for them. He writes for an aspirational middle class for whom English is a distant second language. And he makes no bones about that fact; Bhagat never claimed to be Naipaul. When you are this clear about the market you are selling to, you usually cannot go wrong. And he doesn’t. His books are not high literature, but they are perfect for the people he is selling to.
5. Go for the low-hanging fruit; grab the easy-to-acquire customers first
Though product marketers are beginning to catch on to the fact that pageviews is largely a vanity metric, there is a certain segment of the online content factories that have made this their field of expertise. And the foremost among them is of course Buzzfeed. The overwhelming majority of Buzzfeed’s content are listicles and feel-good stories that can only be described politely as great for passing the time. But there can be no argument with the fact that they work. Buzzfeed is an extremely intelligent, data driven company (run on Valley money) that knows exactly what it is doing. It is low-brow because it chooses to be, because that’s where the money is, and because it’s so easy to get that money. Chetan Bhagat understands this. India’s English book readers are a minority; in a country with so many regional languages and low literacy levels, the market for literary fiction and nonfiction in English is relatively miniscule. But there are millions of people who can read and understand simple English, and since they had never been sold books to before, all Bhagat had to do was write his books and spread the word. The low-hanging fruit was his for the taking.
I’m sure there are many more things we product marketers can learn from him. If there is anything I’ve left out that you’ve noticed, do point it out. As they say, knowledge shared is knowledge gained, and a discussion featuring books, in whatever oblique way, can never be not fruitful.
'Story Selling': Chetan Bhagat reveals his marketing strategy at Goafest 2015
Renowned author Chetan Bhagat explains the reasons behind his success as a writer as he candidly admits,
"I am not the best author, I am the bestselling author"
At the leadership summit at Goafest 2015, bestselling author and renowned youth icon Chetan Bhagat spoke about ‘Storyselling’, his marketing strategy as a writer. He candidly admitted
‘I am not the best writer, I am the bestselling writer’.
The first thing he said is that his marketing spends are zero. He said spending on marketing does not fit into his overall strategy. He referred to a front page ad for the launch of one of his books which was released by Flipkart and declared India’s best-selling author is back with his new book. This was the most expensive ad which featured him that came out, but it was paid for by Flipkart.
Bhagat said his goal is not just to write bestsellers. In fact he hopes to bring about change which he aims to do by reaching maximum Indians via entertainment and influence them towards a progressive society. He further explained that the reasons why his books sell are because they have tight plots, humour, simple English, relatable characters, connect and that they address a social issue.
Other than writing books, his marketing strategy involves scaling up to writing scripts for Bollywood movies (he wrote the script for Salman Khan starrer Kick), writing for English and Hindi dailies (Hindi daily because his target audience is in places which are best reached by Hindi regional newspapers) , hosting TV shows (ABP News, Nach Baliye), delivering talks (he has delivered over 300 talks worldwide), having massive social media presence (he is widely followed on Facebook and Twitter); quintessentially being omnipresent on all mediums in order to voice his opinion and reach a wider audience. Bhagat said all these steps are important to achieve his goal of reaching 100 million Indians.
Bhagat added that hosting 7 Race Course Road on ABP News was one of the most challenging tasks for him in terms of being a studio Hindi speaking host. He also said that many people have asked him why he decided to join Nach Baliye as a judge. To this effect, he explained that the show has a wide audience reach. So one fine day if a viewer who knows him through the show, picks up the newspaper to find his column, he may read it and be inspired by his voice in some way.
Chetan Bhagat’s Marketing Decoded
One of the most successful Indian author of recent times, he has a lot to his credit, and we don’t talk only for his books. Well even after turning a writer, lessons from his business school didn’t leave him. Let’s decode how!
“My competition is apps like Candy Crush or WhatsApp,” says Chetan Bhagat. “I don’t see other writers as my competition at all. I want a share of people’s minds. I have to wean them off YouTube, movies and apps. I have to make them interested in books.”
Before Chetan (BC) was a time period in India where demand for literature was restricted to a segment of society with higher inclination for literature. An average Indian would seldom be seen with a novel in his hands. But Chetan’s entry into the publishing industry set things rolling. He has to be accredited with bringing Indian youth out of their reverie, lethargy and indifference to the act of reading, hence imbibing reading habits among them. But can he really be called a ‘writer’ ?
More than a writer, he has repeatedly proved himself to be a suave and spontaneous marketer, who has fine skills to market himself and his books. He doesn’t write to be read: he writes to sell. And he sure knows how to do it. He understood there’s potential in the Indian reading market and tapped the opportunity in a heartbeat.
In the words of an editor-assistant who received his manuscript for the first time:
“Out came a professionally bound manuscript with perfect layouts and typefaces. Even more interestingly, the first page had a CD stuck on it which said ‘Read Me’.
Swiftly and efficiently, it introduced me to the author (a hot-shot young investment banker) and his book (a coming-of-age novel about friends at one of India’s best-known colleges). But what came next absolutely took my breath away. A marketing strategy that would ensure the book became an instant bestseller: low pricing and buy-backs, tie-ups with the said academic institution and its alumni (all of whom, the author felt, would immediately want copies of his book). This author was clearly no pushover. If only he had written his manuscript with half the dedication he had put into his marketing plan!
He writes for the masses. Most of the people can’t read to save their lives. He writes in simple plain English for which they don’t have to refer any dictionary. Much like what Akshay Kumar movies do for you; you don’t have to exercise your mind. The fact that he un-complicates English is something which earns him extra cookie points. His characters are youngsters maneuvering their way through the labyrinth of stressful education system, career wards and relationship problems. The fact that he uses swear words so often, brings in sexual references in the novel, adds to his charm for the casual readers.
"His books are cheaply priced (that’s what he himself says), thus making it a cheap investment for people who merely want some entertainment to while away time. People can buy the books without batting an eyelid."
Plus, the books are thin. You can carry them wherever you want, whenever you want. This kind of helps, doesn’t it? The fact that he is present everywhere to voice his views, advertise the products and is active on the social media does include a lot of fame to his credit. He has also been writing editorial articles for Times of India, pertaining to developmental and political issues in our country, which does give him an intellectual weight in the world out there. But that is till date overshadowed by his carefree attitude to writing by critics. He does reach out to his fans, and not only when his books are slated to release. He ensures that his readers don’t forget him.
He makes it a point to stay in the limelight as consumers have a short attention span. Whether it’s by claiming that he will charge 5 lakhs for endorsing tweets like Shahrukh Khan does, or by appearing on national telelvision debates conducted on different topics quite frequently, he always has a space occupied in your mind.
Releasing a teaser for his novel ‘Half Girlfriend’ did raise the curiosity level of the public. Many of them started taking guesses at what possibly could the term ‘half girlfriend’ mean. Indian authors are not known to be proactive on social media websites as some of the writers from other countries are.The idea of releasing teaser videos, making up playlists, interacting with their readers is all very foreign to Indian publishing industry, for that Chetan Bhagat deserves all the adulation.
He has been criticized for being a non-serious, flippant writer who doesn’t have concrete writing style, inspiring words or substantial matter to feed a reader’s soul and mind. His is an easy to read writing style, which has actually won millions of hearts in India and abroad. Despite his feats, it will be literally incorrect to call him a ‘writer of quality’. He’s an amazing marketer and that’s all there is to it.
What his future has in store for him is something many people are placing bets on.
2,533 Words.
Works Cited
1. Indian Advertising Media & Marketing News – Exchange4media, exchange4media.com.
2. KRISHNAN, SAIRAM. "Five Things About Product Marketing You Can Learn from Chetan Bhagat." ProductNation, 27 Nov. 2014, pn.ispirt.in/five-things-about-product-marketing-you-can-learn-from-chetan-bhagat/.
3. Sood, Shubhangi. "Chetan Bhagat's Marketing Decoded | The Indian Economist." Qrius, 6 June 2016.
www.google.co.in/amp/s/qrius.com/chetan-bhagats-marketing-decoded/.