A Brief Case Study on the Marketing Strategy Of Kotak Mahindra Bank

Some brands have grown exponentially since their inception. Kotak is one of them. How did they manage it? What did they do to increase their customer base? What did they do to keep their consumers coming back? We think Kotak’s Marketing Strategy played a significant part in all this, especially its digital marketing strategy. This article analyses a few digital marketing strategies used by the company to give you an insight into what they have been doing.

 

About Kotak

Kotak Mahindra Bank is a private sector bank headquartered in Mumbai Maharashtra. It is known as the fastest-growing bank in India.

Kotak Mahindra bank was founded by Uday Kotak in 1985 and later became an Indian financial services conglomerate. In 2003 it was given the license of carrying on banking business by the Reserve Bank of India. It was one of the non-banking finance companies which were converted into a bank. The company believes in giving a delightful experience to its customers and is regarded as one of the most trusted financial institutions today.

Now that we are discussing Kotak, let’s take a look at their marketing strategy too.

 

What’s new with Kotak?

Here’s what was buzzing around Kotak recently:

• Kotak Mahindra Bank helps Ramakrishna Mission Sevashrama Charitable Hospital in Vrindavan install an advanced PET CT Scanner.
• Kotak Mahindra Bank Customers Can Now Use RuPay Credit Card on UPI
• Kotak Mahindra Bank is India’s first bank clearing member to clear FPI commodity derivative deals.
• ActivMoney by Kotak to Change the Savings Culture; Savings Account Holders to Earn FD Wala Interest up to 7%* p.a. with ActivMoney
• Kotak introduces the Privy League, an exclusive premium banking programme.
• Kotak Mahindra Bank is the first bank in India to move a Mauritius-based fund to GIFT City.
• IndianOil, Kotak Launch Co-Branded Fuel Credit Card
• Rohit Bhasin, a former Unilever executive, has joined Kotak as Chief Marketing Officer

 

Let’s now understand the target audience of Kotak better with the help of a buyer persona.

Buyer Persona of Kotak

A buyer persona generally refers to the detailed information of an ideal customer of a company. When it comes to Kotak, people from India use it the most. This buyer persona will help you understand the attributes of regular a Kotak user.

From the table above we can conclude that an ideal Kotak User uses the app for convenient and efficient money related solutions. In this case, Kotak needs to evaluate the attributes further to understand future challenges.

Want to know about the current challenges of Kotak? Read a detailed SWOT Analysis of the brand before moving on with marketing strategies.

Kotak Marketing Strategies

 

1. Search Engine Optimisation

Kotak has put a lot of effort into SEO.

As per Ubersuggest data, it ranks in India for 470,340 keywords as of September 2023. Its organic traffic is 11,626,6689  sessions per month. The stats are much higher compared to their SEO performance in April 2023. 

Here are some of their Search Engine Optimisation techniques :

Backlinks

Kotak gets backlinks from 1,860,839 unique domains. All this increases the Domain Authority of Kotak’s domain and helps it rank higher.

 

Search engine optimization is at the core of Kotak Mahindra Bank’s online presence. They optimize their website to rank high on search engine results pages, increasing organic traffic:

• Keyword Research: The bank conducts thorough keyword research to identify the most relevant terms and phrases that potential customers use when searching for banking services.
• Quality Content: Their website is loaded with high-quality, informative content, catering to various customer needs, including blog posts, FAQs, and financial calculators.
• Mobile Optimization: With the rise in mobile users, Kotak Mahindra Bank ensures that their website is mobile-friendly, guaranteeing a seamless user experience.

 

 

2. Social Media Marketing

Kotak is active on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. As of August 2023, it has 61.3k followers on Instagram, 1.5  million followers on Facebook and 1.5 million followers on Twitter.

Let’s analyze how their posts are:

• Engaging Content: The bank regularly posts informative and engaging content, including financial tips, industry insights, and customer success stories, to keep its audience connected.
  
• Customer Service: Kotak Mahindra Bank uses social media to address customer inquiries and concerns promptly, enhancing their reputation for stellar customer service.
  
  

• Community Building: The bank fosters a sense of community by organizing discussions, contests, and Q&A sessions to promote financial literacy. Like the following video by  Yahya Bootwala

On this occasion of World Mental Health Day, kOTAK  presented words that offer healing, inspiration, and a sense of connection, eloquently performed by @yahyabootwala.

 

3. Email Marketing 

Email marketing is an efficient way for Kotak Mahindra Bank to maintain a direct line of communication with its customers:

• Personalized Campaigns: The bank sends personalized emails with tailored product recommendations, promotions, and financial insights based on individual customer preferences and behavior.
• Educational Content: Kotak Mahindra Bank uses emails to educate their customers on various financial products, making it easier for customers to make informed decisions.
• Transactional Emails: For account-related updates, transactions, and security alerts, they send transactional emails promptly, ensuring customer trust and security.

4. Paid Advertising

• Google Ads: The bank invests in Google Ads to ensure that their services appear prominently when users search for related keywords, such as “savings accounts” or “home loans.”
• Display Advertising: Kotak Mahindra Bank utilizes display advertising to reach a broader audience, often through banner ads on websites and mobile apps.
• Social Media Ads: They target their audience with precision on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, tailoring ad content to different segments, such as personal loans for young professionals and wealth management for high-net-worth individuals.

5. Promotion Strategy of Kotak Mahindra Bank

It offers feasible, convenient, options for its clients as their tagline says to make money simple. They turned twenty-five years old in 2010, on the occasion it launched a ‘youthful 25 years’ campaign. It had launched a ten-second high-impact television commercial and print advertisements. The campaign talked about how money can build self-esteem and provide security.

It was a quick ad but created a strong impact on the users. It promotes its firm through television channels, YouTube, radio, and many other platforms. They also try promoting through various hoardings which are set on popular places to grab user’s attention. It is also accessible through mobile phones as it launches its app called Kotak Bharat banking app.

 

 

6. Brand Ambassadors & Brand Mascots of Kotak Mahindra Bank

It is not just about business offerings but also about creating brand awareness. In the simplest terms, it’s the brand identity and awareness that people associate with the business. Without it, a business would be just another company fighting to survive in an overwhelmed market. 

Here, brand ambassadors are the friends who can help a brand take its business to the next level by building healthy brand awareness and customer engagements.

Kotak Mahindra Bank has signed Ranveer Singh as its brand ambassador. It also had signed Vinay Pathak, as the brand mascot of the company. 

 

 

 

 

Marketing and Advertising Campaign Examples

Here are some of the unique and successful advertising campaigns of Kotak:

1. Kotak Bank Trevor Noah: Off The Record Tour Offer – August 2, 2023

Trevor Noah’s ‘Off The Record Tour’ will now include events in Delhi, Bengaluru, and Mumbai from September 22nd to October 1st, 2023. As part of a partnership with Kotak Mahindra Bank, all Kotak Credit Card users will have access to the tour tickets for 48 hours, beginning at 6 p.m. on August 1st and ending at 6 p.m. on August 3rd, 2023. Tour tickets will go on sale to the general public on August 3rd, 2023, at 6 p.m. Additionally, Kotak White and White Reserve Credit cardholders will receive a unique flat 25% discount on the tickets, up to Rs 6500/-.

2. Ranveer Singh, Keerthy Suresh to promote Kotak’s Multimedia ActivMoney – June 23, 2023

To promote its flagship offering, ActivMoney, Kotak Mahindra Bank has launched a statewide multimedia campaign. TV, digital, print, outdoor, movie, and social media commercials are all part of the campaign. The advertisements, which include prominent actors Ranveer Singh and Keerthy Suresh, highlight the advantages of ActivMoney, which offers competitive Fixed Deposit (FD) interest rates of up to 7%* per annum for deposits up to 180 days. It also emphasises the freedom to access funds at any moment without penalty.

3. Kotak Mahindra Bank launches Kushalta Ka Nirman – May 26, 2023

Kotak Mahindra Bank has collaborated with Shroff Foundation Trust (SFT) to launch “Kushalta Ka Nirman,” a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme in Gujarat focused on skill development. The effort seeks to improve livelihood and employment possibilities for youth from tribal, rural, and other marginalised populations in Gujarat and surrounding areas. In conjunction with the bank, SFT will carry out the CSR initiative.

4. Gulshan Grover to feature in Kotak Mahindra Bank new Safe Banking Awareness Campaign – April 3, 2023

Kotak Mahindra Bank has launched an awareness campaign starring actor Gulshan Grover to promote safe digital banking practices. The campaign’s goal is to educate customers on the necessity of protecting personal information and remaining watchful against scammers. By selecting April Fools’ Day, the bank emphasises that scammers are always on the lookout and can strike at any time. The message of the film cautions customers to be cautious, to avoid clicking on unfamiliar links or downloading files, and to report any suspicious activity to the bank as soon as possible.

The bank has taken initiative to create brand awareness on various social media platforms. It promotes its bank through various marketing campaigns. It does aggressive marketing and thus ensures that the advertising attracts customers. Ranveer Singh is the brand ambassador of the bank. The agency creates such marketing campaigns through electronic, print, and digital mediums. Following are some of the marketing campaigns by Kotak Mahindra.

5. Enter Shubu

The company came up with the benefit of getting 6% on your savings account. It also rolled out various ads on these campaigns in the form of advertisement and print advertising.

This ad shows how Vinayak Patkar has been portrayed and he speaks about the financial decisions one needs to make in their life.

 

 

6. Hashtag Banking

In this ad campaign the bank came up with the Jifi zero balance hashtag banking campaign wherein they promoted through their service called Jifi saver through social media accounts.

 

 

Here the customers could sign up for the Jifi saver account through their Facebook or Twitter account credentials. This was one of the innovative campaigns done by the brand.

7. Kona Kona Kotak 

The bank presented this opportunity with a wide distribution of networks as their ad name also portrays the same. This campaign highlighted that the Kotak Mahindra bank is also present in remote areas all over India having a huge presence.

 

 

These were some of the popular campaigns released by BPCL to promote its new offerings and services. Let us now understand what it is doing in terms of its digital presence in the next section.

8. Phone Phone Pe Kotak 

After the successful campaign of Kona Kona Kotak, the bank came up with this ad campaign driving the message as time changes banking service also evolves.

 

 

9. Bank From Home 

In this ad campaign, the brand ambassador Ranveer Singh has been portrayed following is the image and youtube link for the ad.

 

 

Kotak took this opportunity during this Covid-19 time to deliver their customer’s service from home wherein they introduced zero contact video KYC 811 savings account urging users to #bank from home.

Failed Campaigns of Kotak 

Kotak more than often grabs attention with its unique marketing. But, there have been a few times when the campaign failed to connect with the audiences and gained backlash. 

Here are a few examples of failed campaigns of Kotak:

Kotak Mahindra Bank Withdraws Ad Featuring Tanmay Bhat – February 14, 2023

The bank’s advertising ad campaign sparked a major social media backlash. Several individuals shared screenshots of Mr Bhat’s previous tweets and petitioned the bank to cancel the ad campaign.

 

Kotak Mahindra Bank has pulled a marketing campaign using comedian Tanmay Bhat after a decade-old remark about a Hindu God resurfaced on social media. Days after unveiling the new ad campaign, which also included comedian Samay Raina, Kotak Bank regretted partnering with the popular AIB comedian and announced the removal of their 811 campaign.

Competitors of Kotak Mahindra Bank

Kotak Mahindra Bank is known as one of the leading banks of India. It faces huge competition in the market. One of the major competitions is from the first leading bank in India which is as follows. 

Its chief competitors also include

• Bandhan Bank
• Axis Bank
• HDFC Bank
• ICICI Bank
• State Bank of India

 

Conclusion

As we wrap up our analysis of Kotak’s impressive digital marketing strategy, it’s clear that staying up-to-date with the latest trends and techniques is key to success in the digital marketing world.

Whether you’re a marketing professional or just starting out, be sure to check out our free digital marketing masterclass to gain a solid foundation in the essentials of digital marketing.

Who knows, you might just develop the next big marketing strategy like Kotak’s! Don’t forget to share your thoughts and comments on Kotak’s strategy in the comments below.