People, in fact, they're adopting teleconsultation, other services, they're consuming our content, everything a whole lot more than in tier 1.
Three takeaways worth carrying forward.
- 01
So you get them on board through your content and then whatever the problem is, you try and solve it.
- 02
The content and the use of the online platform will continue to increase.
- 03
Primary difference is that a lot of people, a lot of our audience, they come from a place where they're not very familiar with modern medicine or that there are simple solutions that already exist.
Connected to the DMAasia operating frame.
Proof
This episode connects privacy-first marketing to credible evidence, leadership archives and field-tested marketing practice.
Access
This episode connects privacy-first marketing to routes into communities, councils, juries and senior conversations.
Ascent
This episode connects privacy-first marketing to learning, recognition and the next generation of marketing leadership.
AdChoices / DAA
This episode connects privacy-first marketing to privacy-first marketing, consumer trust and responsible data use.
Unfinished Business
This episode connects privacy-first marketing to open industry problems that still need senior participation.
Durable lessons from the record.
- Start with the consumer problem, not the channel.
- Treat digital transformation as a behaviour change, not a software purchase.
- Measure effectiveness without losing the brand story.
If privacy-first marketing is now table stakes, what will make the brand genuinely harder to ignore?
Take it into Unfinished Business →READABLE TRANSCRIPT909 words
Once you introduce them to modern medicine, they adopt it very very quickly and they're more than happy to actually use technology to be able to get access to doctors. So Manoj, most healthcare brands in India today are focusing on the urban markets. Why did MyUpchal decide to go to the smaller towns?
It's maths simply if you look at it. So most of India is outside of tier 1. There are 8 or 10 tier 1 cities. You add up all of the population, all those cities, what number are you going to come to? Take a guess. 10 crores, 15 at the most. There's still 120 crores Indians who are outside of these cities. So we wanted to serve and build for these 120 crores. But maybe when it comes to health, they are not as tech savvy.
So that's something, you know, people have a sort of bias towards, but we've found that that's not true at all. So when we've taken the tech to them, they've adopted by the droves. People, in fact, they're adopting teleconsultation, other services, they're consuming our content, everything a whole lot more than in tier 1. So what are the major trends that you've seen in tier 2 vis-a-vis tier 1 cities?
Primary difference is that a lot of people, a lot of our audience, they come from a place where they're not very familiar with modern medicine or that there are simple solutions that already exist. They'll still go to a traditional medicine method. They'll go to nothing specific, I won't mention. But once you introduce them to modern medicine, they adopt it very, very quickly. And they're more than happy to actually use technology to be able to get access to doctors. So how do you reach this small town in there?
We started with providing content in Indian languages. A lot of people engage with us through that. So this is all content created by doctors. And once they're on our platform, then through teleconsultation, so we have thousands of doctors who are associated with us, who then are able to provide medical advice. So basically it is from content to consumption model. So you get them on board through your content and then whatever the problem is, you try and solve it.
Yeah, absolutely. And then we also are building an offline network. So in Lucknow, for instance, we have a full stack, everything from medicines to labs. So it's like a brick and mortar clinic you have. Yes, in Lucknow we do. What compelled you to become a full service on an offline network? Great question. So, you know, our DNA was to be a tech company, to be completely online. Right. But there is a significant amount of healthcare that still requires a physical intervention. Physical intervention.
Right. So when we partnered with people on the ground, we found that the quality of service that we expected, that we want to give to our users, just couldn't be ensured. And in healthcare, quality and trust are the most important things. Right. So those are things that we didn't want to compromise on. So we had to go offline ourselves. As compared to the larger chains that are also present in smaller towns now, is your platform more cost effective? I don't know about their cost structures.
No, but then you would be competing in the same chains as Fortes, Medanthai and Max. So they are also in Lucknow. So for now, we haven't built huge clinics anywhere. We've partnered with doctors that we've identified. We've built our own pathology lab. We've partnered with pharmacies who are able to deliver medicines within a couple of hours. So the service level is much better. So basically what you're trying to build is a hyper-local healthcare facility. Yeah. Right. Which is also cost effective.
Yeah. And not just that, but we're also able to serve outside of the city limits. Right. So it's sort of a hub-and-spoke model. So we set up, let's say, a base in Lucknow. From there, we're able to service anywhere between 50 to 100 kilometers outside of Lucknow. Right. So that's where we found that the existing networks really, really didn't service anything. So what are the key growth areas for MyUpChall now?
The content and the use of the online platform will continue to increase. We serve about 25 million people online every month now. We are very confident we can increase it up to 100 million in the next couple of years. Then telemedicine, e-commerce, etc. Everything will grow along with it. That's just natural. Right. And for us, the future is a full-stack model offline. So an online to offline. Sure. So Rajan Investor is one of the investors in your company. Right. What was that one piece of advice that he gave you?
Remember, the most that I found the most useful is what he told us in the very first meeting, which was be patient. What we are embarking on is not going to come together in a day. This will take a lot of perseverance, a lot of tenacity and a lot of patience.