Marketing Strategy of Steel Authority of India: In-Depth Review

About Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) –

Source – Wikipedia

Located in New Delhi, India, Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) is a central public sector organisation. It is owned by the Ministry of Steel, Government of India, and would have the fiscal year 2021–2022 revenue of INR 1,03,480 Crore ($13 billion). SAIL, which was founded on January 24th, 1973, now has 60,766 employees (as of 1 October 2022).

It is the largest government-owned steel producer, producing 16.30 million metric tonnes of steel annually. The PSU’s hot metal production capacity will grow even more, and it is anticipated that it would reach a level of 50 million tonnes annually by 2025.

SAIL runs and owns three special steel mills in Salem, Durgapur, and Bhadravathi in addition to five integrated steel plants in Bhilai, Rourkela, Burnpur (Asansol), Durgapur, and Bokaro. Chandrapur also owns a ferroalloy facility. The PSU is undergoing a significant expansion and modernization initiative as part of its global ambitions, modernising and constructing new facilities with a focus on cutting-edge green technologies. SAIL is one of India’s public sector organisations that is growing the quickest, according to a recent poll. In Ranchi, Jharkhand, the PSU also operates an R&D Center for Iron & Steel (RDCIS) and a Center for Engineering.

The Ministry of Steel and Mines drafted a policy statement and presented it to the Parliament on 2nd December 1972. The Steel Authority of India was created on the basis of this policy statement where a holding company was made to manage all the inputs and outputs under a single framework. 

On January 24, 1974, SAIL was incorporated as a company with an authorized Rs. 2000 crore capital. It was given the responsibility to manage all 5 steel plants, namely, Bokaro, Bhilai, Durgapur, Rourkela and Burnpur along with the Alloy Steel Plant and Salem Steel Plant. In 1978, SAIL was reconstructed in order to function as an operating company.  

Current Day Scenario: Steel Authority of India is a government-owned organization under the Ministry of Steel with its Headquarters situated in New Delhi, India.

Quick Stats on SAIL

Marketing Strategy of Steel Authority of India –

As informed earlier, SAIL is a government-owned body, hence, its market base lies around consumers with in-bulk demands. Nevertheless, let us take you through a point-wise explanation of the marketing strategy of Steel Authority of India.

Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning 

Segmentation: SAIL’s primary and priority consumer is the Defense and Rail Industry of India. It supplies its full range of products to them. Other than defence and rail, SAIL is also successfully meeting the requirements of consumers from different segments such as projects, heavy engineering, fabrication, coated sheet manufacturers, tube manufacturers, etc.

Target: The current annual production of steel by SAIL is 16.03 million metric tonnes. By the year 2025, they aim to produce 50 million tonnes annually by increasing their production company. 

Positioning: Steel Authority of India positions itself competitively in the market following its branding strategies which helps them to achieve its goals and objectives smoothly

Marketing Campaigns

• SAIL’s ‘Gaon Ki Ore’ Campaign

In the year 2017, SAIL launched a nationwide campaign to create awareness and boost steel consumption, especially by consumers at the rural end of society; as they found a potential, an untapped market they could capture. They held workshops in more than 100 locations. Through various engagement activities, the campaign ensured to motivate the village people about the usage of SAIL steel ensuring the product’s durability, longevity, and safety. SAIL ensured the steel’s innovative applications in construction, household utensils, and equipment as well as agriculture. 

The campaign was a massive success strategically planned to develop a stronger bond with the consumers through direct engagement; SAIL steel became a common household name in every village as the governmental firm expanded its product base. By the month of August, an 18% rise in sales was observed.

• Adhyaksh se Vartalaap Campaign

This was a massive communications campaign led in the year 2020 by then Chairman, Anil Kumar Chaudhary. This was when the entire world was shockingly hit by the global pandemic, Novel CoronaVirus (Covid 19). A two-day conference was led by Anil Kumar Chaudhary where more than 2000 employees spread across the nation joined through online portals to discuss the immediate and future goals of SAIL considering the uncertainty the world was hit by. 

The campaign resulted in integrating a positive vibe among the employees and renewed hope and enthusiasm among them. 

• Brand Awareness Campaign

In order to market SAIL’s newly launched SAIL-SeQR-TMT bars, SAIL started with a brand awareness campaign partnered with the ‘Media Post’ of the Department of Posts. With them, SAIL aimed to reach its rural audience. SAIL also launched an online portal to increase its sales around the country. 

Social Media Marketing

The Steel Authority of India has social media pages on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook as well as LinkedIn.

• Twitter – 41.5K
• Instagram – 19.1K
• Facebook – 217K
• LinkedIn – 156K

They have a commercial account on Facebook with presumably an immense following.

The organization engages its audience in various posts talking about the new launches by SAIL, their new projects, certain governmental initiatives, extending greetings on celebratory occasions etc.

To mark the 50th Anniversary of SAIL being incorporated, they held a story-telling competition for children ensuring that the winners will be announced on every single one of their social media pages. The initiative was named SAIL Swarna Jayanti Story Telling Competition.

SEO Strategies

Source – UberSuggest

Understanding that for a website to have organic keywords below 500 is bad, equal or than 1000 is good and greater than 10000 is amazing; the Steel Authority of India Ltd. has an organic keyword number closely nearing 68K+ which should be understood as terrifically good.

From the given screenshot it can also be observed that SAIL has organic monthly traffic of more than 338K which amounts to a mammoth number. 

The digital marketing strategies of SAIL have performed in a phenomenal manner and should maintain the pace in order to grow further. 

Influencer Marketing

It is observed that SAIL is engaged in various promotional and branding activities. SAIL in the recent past had sponsored the training and other various expenses of the two Indian Wrestlers, Sushil Kumar and Yogendra Dutt, for the preparations of the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Rajiv Tomar, another wrestler, is also being sponsored by SAIL for the Commonwealth Games. 

E-Commerce Strategies

Steel Authority of India has its own online portal where you can buy SAIL products directly from the website. Being a governmental body, they are not associated with any other eCommerce portals. 

Once you are on their official website to buy steel, you will be redirected to another page where you would be asked to enter your contact details and what product interests you.

Mobile Application

Steel Authority of India has a mobile application available on iOS and Google App Store. This app is exclusively for SAIL’s ISP Members. This app has 4.4 ratings and 1T+ downloads on Google Play Store.

Content Marketing Strategies

Whether it is the content on social media pages or the content on the official website of SAIL, they have a very neat, creative, bright and detailed way of putting up information. SAIL updates all of its social media pages every time they post content, they do not have a selective preference. 

Being a PSU (Public Sector Unit), it has a fair amount of shares distributed widely in the market, hence, the Economic Times keeps a close tap on all the ups and downs of the organization and its strategies. 

Thus, we conclude the marketing strategy of Steel Authority of India Ltd. 

What’s Unique in the Marketing Strategy of Steel Authority Of India?

Reading and understanding the marketing growth of Steel Authority of India Ltd., the key takeaway should be how it is important to change and adapt to the dynamic business world. Whether it is a private firm or a public organization, the efforts put forward to attract the market and consumers should be at par.

The marketing strategy of Steel Authority of India is unmatched with its extensive reach in every corner of the nation and business abroad. They have far-fetched goals carved for themselves and every single year they thrive to outrun their own performance – an attitude important for any business. 

The digital marketing strategies put forward by SAIL are commendable and if you have a similar business, setting up one or just want to learn more about digital marketing, you should enrol yourself for IIDE’s Free MasterClass on Digital Marketing by CEO and Founder, Karan Shah.

The scope of digital marketing has an ever-increasing need in the current corporate world and it’s never harmful to equip yourself with something that may come in handy in the future. Be future-ready and call in successful propositions by top companies by signing yourself up for IIDE’s Online Digital Marketing Course or MBA in Digital Marketing Course.

We hope this blog helped you through and understand the creative and executive marketing strategy of Steel Authority of India Ltd. To know more about companies and their unique strategies to attract market and success like the marketing strategy of Steel Authority of India, do visit the IIDE Knowledge Portal for their story.

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