Zomato Marketing

Overview

Zomato marketing considers one of the most successful & inspiring campaigns. Zomato initially started as a restaurant search and discovery tool. Over the years it has become an internet platform for meal delivery.

Zomato has left a lasting impression on almost every customer, and through intensive & detailed marketing strategies has stood them out from the crowd.

Zomato Marketing Case Study

Just like any other idea, Zomato was also built one day. Deepinder Goyal and Pankaj Chaddah (founders of Zomato) realised one fine morning and noticed the routine of day-to-day people waiting for menus from where they got a glimpse. The ideology was thought but the question of how it is to be solved was the area that needs to be worked on.

Foodiebay, the initial name was started in 2008 with fame in starting nine months in the country which resulted in the largest directory for restaurants in Delhi. Freshly, it was a restaurant searching zone with in-depth details.

After spreading into a few states, in Nov 2010, Foodiebay gained a huge user base with investors and modifies the name to Zomato (to take it internationally).

Zomato Business Model

An upward steep curve was seen in Zomato’s marketing growth in the initial stage. After the fame, it earned from Delhi, NCR the company spread to the areas like Pune, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, and Chennai.

• Till the year 2012, Zomato commenced its international expansion by branching to Sri Lanka, Qatar, the UK, UAE, the Philippines and South Africa. 
• However, 2013 added Brazil, New Zealand and Turkey into its box.
• Furthermore, the tech segment of Zomato marketing did not stop and gave rise by launching its application. Also, the company worked aggressively for foreign competition to increase its foot around the world.
• By 2014, the company took over the Italian restaurant search service, Cibando and Poland’s restaurant finder named, Gastronauci.
• Moreover, 2015 brought its biggest acquisition of US online-based table reservation – NexTable. After which soon it acquired Urbanspoon another US restaurant directory. But the company had to shut the app for five months.

Starting with Personal Selling delivery system

• Zomato has around 150,000 lists in India from the count of 1.4 million that it has internationally. The Indian platform provides 22 million users with regular fresh customers every two months.
• The founder stated that 5% of the 22 million new users every two months, try food delivery and that acquisition comes no-cost. 

• However, concerning food delivery, Zomato marketing charges restaurants a commission which counts on several orders. Accordingly, the users pay the delivery charges, and Zomato marketing earns from restaurants that pay to the company for each delivery.
• As a result, the fee received gets split among the delivery partners and the company. Moreover, this commission differs from one restaurant to others. Finally, this amount adds up to the income of the company.

Facing the Duct/Channel

• Although Zomato marketing had a steep upward curve. It did not stay on the same page in 2014. The year 2015 started with hardships which resulted in a few tough decisions.
• After a rebranding and acquiring Urbanspoon, the venture failed and laid off 300 employees to cover its losses (10% of which was from the US). However, the stability strategy in strategic management can also be referred to as overcoming the problem.
• Till the year 2016, things became worst when Zomato marketing rolled back its operations in different countries like the UK, Chile, Canada, Slovakia, the US, Brazil, Sri Lanka, Italy and Ireland. As a result, when it resumed its operations, the company had to focus on remote services.
• In addition to the above, a setback was faced by the company in 2017 when with a cyber attack its existence got at stake. This happened when a hacker breached 17 million users from the company’s database.

Comeback 

• However, the case study of 2017 when communicated by the hacker proved his point that the company’s security system had loopholes.
• In 2019, the campaign #logout started where restaurants blamed the company for capturing their profit margins through features like Zomato Gold and Infinity Dining that provided large discounts to consumers.

• As a result, Zomato marketing revised the GOLD rules and discontinued the Infinity dining service.
• As the tagline depicts “Never had a bad meal” shows the spirit intact in the company. Finally, Zomato gained a rise of 177% in restaurants partner and 73K onboard more restaurants. To date, Zomato marketing has 119000 restaurants compared to 43000 in 2019.

Success factors

• Efficient employees
• First mover advantage
• Good rating mechanism 
• Good social platform
• Funding via experienced sources
• Strong content platform

zomato marketing strategy

There is no doubt that Zomato’s marketing strategy is one of the finest rewarding strategies. According to statics, Zomato drives major junk of its traffic from search – 66.41% & directly- 31.36%.

Zomato marketing strategy has not just clearly defined its presence on different social media platforms but also according to the tone of the platform.

Target Audience

• Zomato marketing target audience range from 18 to 34 years who are comfortable using apps and smartphone. 

• There are two ways to use the app: Firstly who order food online and secondly the group that wishes to dine out. However, these groups may overlap. The application delivers food and incentives to groups who wish to dine out via Zomato Gold.
• People who cannot cook, students who stay in hostels, professionals with a lack of time or groups who are occasional – all get served by Zomato marketing.

Zomato Strategy

Zomato focuses on various strategies to develop and grow by engaging human traffic regularly. The strategies opted for are as follows:

1. Financial strategy: Increment in revenue and funding
2. Growth strategy: Continuous growth with a target to increase page traffic 
3. Globalisation strategy: Expansion of the company globally to become a leading service provider 
4. Marketing strategy: Since the company deals with the customers, there has to be a dynamic Zomato marketing strategy to attract customers which will be studied below.

Zomato Marketing

• Digital marketing-focused techniques
• Globally connected mobile app
• Simpler rating system and review 
• Customer-friendly
• Largest in the food supply market 
• Tools used to hike their business like sales promotion and direct marketing

SEO(Search Engine Organisation)

Zomato marketing invested efforts in its SEO. According to Urbansuggest, it ranked 13,696,471 keywords in Feb 2021 with organic traffic of 58,901,810 users every month. As a result, the statistics depicted were appreciable. This was cleverly done by the company by blocking the SEO techniques to scan their sites. 

Keywords 

Zomato worked in their sector using top keywords and created a webpage URL. Therefore this explained that their page is capable to search a query faced by the user. As result, this strategy worked so that the website ranks.

Backlink

Zomato gain around 11,387302 backlinks. Along with this the company receives 42,098 backlinks from unique websites like .edu and .govt. As result, this helps the company to increase its domain authority and make him rank higher.

Paid advertising 

Zomato marketing also enrols in paid advertising through Google Adwords and Google Ads ran by Search Engine Campaign which focuses on the keywords related to restaurants, food names, etc.

Social media strategy

In today’s scenario, social media has become a powerful source to attract customers and advertise their aim. It becomes easier for people to reach. As result, it has tapped this area up to the great extent.

Zomato marketing strategy has always been about the right content on the right platform. To keep yourself relevant & engaging on social media it’s important to have the content according to the platform tone.

Like in the case of Zomato they have been targeting the age group of 18- 35 on social media. And the way of presence has always been different

• Instagram & Facebook has been used to be in trend & and to be visible in every possible trend. Also, platform promotion through collaborations with influencers.
• Twitter memes & news sharing.
• LinkedIn office & corporate mems.

Trends

Zomato has been always creative by posting trendy stuff related to current topics. They know what is liked, shared and viewed by the audience to connect with the viewers. Furthermore, they realise that social media is famous for crazy stuff and funny content.

• Zomato marketing used noteworthy sports i.e Olympics advertised in the year 2016 and posted the content.
• Another example that can be quoted is the symbol of the cartoon “ Pokemon Go” on which the company capitalized as well.
• Zomato marketing also extremely encourages comparison content.

For example, Two ways how people grab a pizza connect people to themselves and encourage them to share or comment.

• Using popular series like Game of Thrones loved by the viewers was also modified by the Zomato marketing strategy like below.
• Moreover, using info-graphs to connect groups with their personal life is also a quoted gesture by the company.
• Furthermore, using the influencers’ trending content, the company posts funny material too. For example A YouTuber Yashraj, the video got trending and Zomato used it as a promotional tool.

Beyond Image

Going with the numbers or records, Zomato traced a rise of 225% in its revenue in the first half of the year 2020. Further, the company registered $205 million in revenue compared to $63 million of last year.

Although Zomato faced ups and downs it is meant to be a part of every business or startup. In the end, there will face hard decisions and making things work matters for the organisation.

Likewise, the founder Pankaj wished to quit Zomato and took time off but continued to hold a stake of 3.11% in the company. However, at present, the company is growing with a vision to enlarge its service portfolio.

For the future, it targets to reach new markets and tap other domains to grow. Along with its competition with Swiggy, it becomes a greater deal to manage with new entrants.

FAQs

What is Zomato’s marketing strategy?

Zomato’s marketing strategy is a combination of different aspects of marketing such as ads, third-party ads, in-app ads, SEO strategy,  social media marketing, and even billboard or newspaper advertising. They have strategies to target their audience on different channels & to engage with different content forms & different levels.

Who is Zomato’s target audience?

Zomato has always target the people of age between 18 to 35, as the people of this age group likes to dine out, try new food often. So, Zomato made it easy for people to get their food delivered at their loactions.

What are the distribution strategies adopted by Zomato?

Zomato uses several channels to distribute its content, which is as follows:

• Its own website and blog
• Social media such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and other platforms
• Mobile Notfications
• Search ads and display ads
• Email News Letters
• Third-party advertising
• Billboards
• TV ads

How does Zomato monetize its offerings?

Zomato is primarily a food ordering app that is slowly spreading its offerings in multiple segments. Zomato mainly rakes in revenue using advertisements from restaurants and brands that want to use its platform to reach their target customers. In addition, Zomato generates revenue from the commission that it charges restaurants.

How many users does Zomato have?

In FY2021, Zomato had 32.1 million monthly active users. This number is inclusive of the 6.8 million monthly transacting users (MTU) it had during the same period.