'Objective to sell' kills branded content, says Sai Narayan of Policybazaar

For brands struggling to create one good piece of branded content that is engaging and stands out in the clutter, there is only one thumb rule, says Sai Narayan, Associate Director and Head of Marketing, Policybazaar.

“If the objective is to sell, then you will never be able to make a good branded content. You have to be honest to the story that you want to share,” he says.

Narayan, Associate Director and Head of Marketing, Policybazaar and Paisabazaar, along with Shamik Ghosh, Head, Content and Communications, Paisabazaar, spoke exclusively with BuzzInContent.com about the group's content marketing strategy and how to create a good piece of content.

Speaking on the things brands should keep in mind so that content doesn’t look like ads, Narayan said, “Ensure that you have a good story to tell, otherwise don’t start doing it. If the objective is very clear, that you don’t want to sell, then it is very simple.”

“We recently launched a beautiful film purely based on storytelling for Paisabazaar, The Wedding Speech, which went viral within a span of three to four days. The objective was not to make a viral video but to engage with the consumer via a great story. We are a very functional brand where we talk about personal loans and home loans. And the conversation with the consumers we had was just money. So, the objective was how we can go beyond money. Even we didn’t expect that it will go viral or it will have a conversation of this level. The brand plug in that content was extremely seamless and that is why it connected with the consumer in a better way,” Narayan added.

For a category like financial services, whose content is considered usually boring, the most important aspect is to make the content extremely relevant and useful, and to use the right channels, according to Ghosh. “You can’t just create blogs and expect people to come to your website and consume the content. You have to reach out to your consumer with data-driven strong distribution strategy.”

Talking about the distribution approach of Policybazaar, Ghosh said, “For me, there is only one distribution channel, which is a smartphone. People don’t come on social media to read about financial content. It’s a sad reality but it is true. We are focusing on how to create content through infographics that is sharable on WhatsApp. It’s not something that you have to pay money for. You just have to send it to a few customers and we have seen it in the past that it automatically goes viral. Unfortunately, we can’t measure how many times it has been shared on WhatsApp but the numbers would be 2X or 3X of what we know.”

In 2016, 55% people were coming on Paisabazaar through smartphones. Today, that number is 88%. “So, you have to think smartphones so that people can consume and share content on them,” Ghosh added.

Financial services is not a category like FMCG, shoes or premium bikes, which has a cult following and the biggest challenge is that people look for financial content only when they are looking for the product. Creating really beautiful content about the consumer can tackle the challenges associated with financial category, according to Policybazaar.

“At Paisabazaar, we have all kinds of lending products. But that’s not the content we focus on solely. We do a lot of content on Aadhar, EPF account or PPF. You can create beautiful an infographic and circulate it. It has nothing to do with the brand or its products. It creates an image that a brand that stands for financial services is there for you. The idea is to not sell a product through content. That is a mistake a lot of brands make. When you make useful content that is engaging and use the right platforms, you can break the clutter,” said Ghosh.

Talking about the brand’s expectations from content creators, Ghosh said, “The philosophy that Paisabazaar stands for in terms of product offerings or content is that we want to make financial services very easy, convenient and transparent for the consumer. And exactly that’s what we look for from content creators who approach us.”

At a time when brands are developing different communication and content strategies to target millennials, Policybazaar does not see any merit in creating separate content for millennials and feels good content cuts across different age groups.

“People looking for financial services are usually in the age group of 21-50 years from all over India. You can have an intelligent conversation about segmentation, age groups, millennials, but I think good content cuts across the segments. Once you create good content, you do not need to create segments,” said Ghosh.

While videos continue to rule content marketing, Policybazaar has found infographics as a big trend, at least for financial services brands. “If you create good content around infographics, it is genuinely helpful for the consumer. The problem with financial services content is that it is too long and boring and people don’t have that much time. You have to give your message in five seconds.”