BYJU’S

Byju’s is an Indian multinational educational technology company, headquartered in

Bangalore, India. It was founded in 2011 by Byju Raveendran and Divya Gokulnath. Byju's is
the world’s most valuable education technology company. After raising $1 billion in 2021,
Byju's' market valuation stands at $15 billion.

HISTORY

Byju's' app was developed by Think and Learn Pvt Ltd, established by Byju
Raveendran and Divya Gokulnath in 2011. Raveendran, who was trained as an engineer,
started coaching students to pass mathematics exams in 2006. In 2011, he and his wife founded
an educational company with the help of his students offering online video-based learning
programs for the K-12 segment as well as competition exams. In 2012, Think and Learn
entered both Deloitte Technology Fast 50 India and Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia
Pacific ratings and has been present there ever since.

In August 2015, after 4 years of developments, the firm launched Byju's: The Learning App.

In 2017, Think and Learn launched Byju's Math App for kids and Byju's Parent Connect app
to help parents track their child's learning course. By 2018, it had 1.5 crore (15 million) users
and 900,000 paid users. In July 2019, Byju's won the sponsorship rights for the Indian cricket
team jersey, replacing its former sponsor Oppo. Mohanlal and Shah Rukh Khan are the brand
ambassadors for Byju's.

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Byju's subsidiary WhiteHat Jr. was asked to remove their five television advertisements by
the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) due to misleading
advertisements. WhiteHat Jr. had created a fictional character named "Wolf Gupta" for its
social media advertisements, without disclaiming that he was just a character. They often
claimed his age to be between 6–14 years who got job offers worth crores in multiple posters.

PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

Byju's is an education tutoring app that runs on a fermium model, with free access to content
limited for 15 days after the registration. It was launched in August 2015, offering educational
content for students from class 4 to 12. and In 2019 Early learning program has started for class
1 to 3. It also trains students for examinations in India such as IIT-JEE, NEET, CAT, IAS and
international examinations such as GRE and GMAT.

Academic subjects and concepts are explained with 12-20 minute digital animation videos.
Byju's reports to have 4 crore (40 million) users overall, 30 lakh (3 million) annual paid
subscribers and an annual retention rate of about 85%. In 2019, the company announced that
it would launch its app in regional Indian languages. It also planned to launch an international
version of the app for English-speaking students in other countries. Recently, Byju's launched
new programs in its Early Learn App for students of kindergarten as well. In April 2021, the
company also announced the launch of "BYJU'S Future School" to be led by WhiteHat
Jr Founder Karan Bajaj. The Future School aims to cross the bridge from passive to active
learning with an interactive learning platform blended with coding and other subjects like
Math, Science, English, Music and Fine arts through storytelling. BYJU'S will launch the
Future School in the USA, UK, Australia, Brazil, Indonesia and Mexico in May.

ACQUISITION

 In July 2017, Think and Learn acquired TutorVista (including Edurite) from Pearson.
 In January 2019, Byju's acquired a US-based Osmo, a maker of educational games for
children aged 3–8 years for $120 million.
 Byju's also acquired Indian startup WhiteHat Jr for $300 million.

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  In February 2021, Byju’s acquires Mumbai-based doubt clearing platform Scholr.
 In April 2021, Byju's acquired test prep firm Aakash Educational Services Ltd. in an
estimated $950 million cash and stock deal. Aakash's founders and Blackstone
Group will receive minority stakes in Byju's as part of the deal.

BYJU’S – COMPANY’S HIGHLIGHTS

Startup Name BYJU'S

Headquarter Bangalore
Byju
Founder
Raveendran
Sector Edtech
Founded 2011
$12 Billion
Valuation (November
2020)
$2.48
Total Funding
Billion
Rs 2,800 Cr
Revenue revenue
(FY20)
Think and
Parent Organization Learn
Private Ltd
Website byjus.com

OBJECTIVE AND ANALYSIS

Understanding the Target Audience

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It is a real challenge for one marketing campaign to target two really different audiences of a
different age group and thinking process, but BYJU’s surely managed to find that link which
drives decision-making among its audience. Here is how the company did/does it:

Targeting the Student Community:

Being the actual users of the platform, the students are majorly concerned about the experience
they will receive. Hence, their opinion about the app is hugely impacted by their learning
journey with the app.
To earn the support of the learners, BYJU’s left no stones unturned, and targeted this audience
group very smartly. Firstly, the company came up with an early learning app for the students.
Also, partnered with Disney to make the learning experience more interactive for the kids and
created trademark Disney stories, educational games and digital worksheets which led their
path to success amongst the students. BYJU’s also worked with the King of Bollywood, Shah
Rukh Khan, as their brand ambassador which attracted this age group to their platform. Their
television advertisements began with their first ad with Shah Rukh Khan that aired during a
India-Pak match and it turned out to be a real success and prompted the audience to download
BYJU’s app. But, their approach for the grown up students was a bit different, since they have
a different kind of understanding and learning responsibilities. BYJU’s encountered the
common tensions which many students face such as clearing an entrance exam and conveyed
themselves as a powerful tool that will help the students crack their dream.

Targeting the Parent Community:

You must have heard or watched a video from the campaign “Come Fall in Love With
Learning”
It was a phenomenal Video Marketing Campaign and it left a lasting impact on the minds of
parents and broke one of the biggest myths about technology. This campaign shed light on how
the modern devices can help their kids in learning and can offer rich and interactive content for
the students.
Mrinal Mohit, COO, BYJU’S commented, “At BYJU’S, creating quality and seamless learning
experiences for students have been our key focus area. Parents often think that children use
smart phones for entertainment only. This campaign has been crafted to help parents

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understand the importance of learning through smart devices and how the concept of using
smart phones as a learning device is becoming widely popular. In fact, the TV commercial
depicts real-life scenarios that students learning from smart devices would have gone through
at some point or the other. We are confident that this new campaign will help us instill trust in
the fact that better learning experiences enable students to become self-learners and learn for
the love of learning, rather than the fear of exams.”

MARKETING PROBLEMS FACED

The marketing journey of India’s No 1 Edtech brand has been a rollercoaster with many
successful marketing campaigns gaining a prodigious amount of business for BYJU’S and even
some failed campaigns which have some important learning for every marketer.

SWOT Analysis of BYJU’s The Learning App

SWOT analysis of BYJU s The Learning App can be based to make important strategic
decisions and accomplish the business objectives. The four components of BYJU s The
Learning App SWOT analysis are given below.

Strengths of BYJU s the Learning App

Strengths of BYJU s The Learning App is the first element of the SWOT matrix.

 The geographic presence in different regions can act as one of the major strength of the
organisation. It determines the business’s reach to the target market and ensures the
easy accessibility. 
 The wide product portfolio can allow the organisation to expand the customer base and
offset the losses from one product category with benefits obtained from the other.
 Strong online presence on different social networking sites and efficient social media
management can enhance the effect of positive e-WOM and develop strong
relationships with customers.
 Strong financial position and health can allow the firm to make further investments.
 Access to the suppliers that offer raw material at a lower cost can improve the overall
business efficiency. 
 The locational advantage can improve the competitive positioning of the firm in various
ways, such as- lower cost, improved accessibility or enhanced brand image.

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  The well-developed and efficiently integrated IT infrastructure can improve the
operational efficiency and increase knowledge of the latest market trends.
 Competent and committed human capital can act as a powerful source of competitive
advantage, particularly when business is service oriented in nature.
 High product quality increases brand loyalty and improves BYJU s The Learning App's
performance in a competitive market.
 Workplace diversity can also act as a major business strength, particularly when the
organisation intends to operate in the international market.
 The horizontal and/or vertical integration can increase the control over whole value
chain, result in improved access to raw material and quick product delivery to the final
customer.
 An organisation may own different intellectual property rights that can make the
product offerings unique and exclusive, making it difficult for competitors to imitate.

Weaknesses of BYJU s The Learning App

Weaknesses of BYJU s The Learning App is the second element of the SWOT matrix.

 The organisation can draw the criticism from the environmentalists for its poor waste
management practices and inability to integrate sustainability in business operations. 
 The company may lose efficiency due to poor inventory management practices. The
shortage or excessive inventory can either result into
 The cash shortage or insufficient current assets negatively affect the liquidity position
and harms the overall business performance. 
 Insufficient budget for the marketing and promotion activities weakens the firms’
ability to expand the customer base and encourage repeat purchase. 
 Less expenditure on the research and development activities can weaken the company
performance due to poor local/international market knowledge. 
 The inability to understand customers’ needs and expectations lead to an ineffective
strategic decision-making process. With this weakness, the organisation may not be
able to identify the potential improvement seeking areas in product/service mix. 
 The prices charged by the business may not be perceived as justified when compared
to the product/service characteristics. It indicates the need to revise the pricing strategy. 
 The poor customer service (such as inefficient customer complaint handling) can trigger
the negative word of mouth about the business and affect business growth.

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  The decision making in the BYJU s The Learning App takes too much time, causing
expensive delays in introducing new products in the market.
 Poor project management practices can internally weaken the ability of the organization
to successfully open new branches or expand the product line.
 Lack of organizational commitment and high employee turnover can increase
recruitment costs and reduce organizational productivity. 
 High job stress and consequent low workers’ morale makes the workforce less
productive.
 The misalignment between the organization’s leadership style and its core strategic
objectives can make the business organization directionless. 
 Organizational culture also becomes a big internal weakness when it does not align with
the strategic/business objectives. For example, the main strategic objective of the
chosen business organization is to launch innovative and new products in the market.
But there exists a risk adverse attitude prevailing in organizational culture, which
discourages employees from thinking creatively. 

Opportunities of BYJU s the Learning App

Opportunities of BYJU s The Learning App comes into the third column of SWOT matrix.
BYJU s The Learning App. The organization currently has the following opportunities
available in the market:

 The exponential growth in the population, and particularly in the existing or potential
customer segments is a great growth opportunity for the business organization. 
 The changing customer needs, tastes and preferences can act as an opportunity if the
business organisation has good market knowledge.
 The development of new technologies to assist the product/service production and
delivery process can be exploited to embed the innovation in business operations. The
advanced technological integration can decrease costs, improve efficiency and result in
the quick introduction of innovative products.
 Rise in the customers’ disposable income and increase in the affluent customer base
can be taken as an opportunity to introduce more high-end products.
 Reduction in the interest rates makes the fund raising and financing at lower cost easier
for the business organisation. 
 Customers may start preferring new and creative products/services as a result of

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 changing tastes.
 The emergence of e-commerce and social media marketing as a trend can be a great
opportunity for BYJU s The Learning App if it can ensure strong online presence on
different social networking sites. 
 The emergence of new market segments and new niches provide business and product
line expansion opportunities. 
 The diminishing boundaries and rising global interconnectedness allow the
organisation to get into the international market; target geographically dispersed
customer base and increased profitability. 
 The subsidies provided by the government and other policies to make the business
environment more friendly is a positive external environmental factor for BYJU s The
Learning App. 
 Improvement in the customers- lifestyle and standards mean more consumption on
consumer goods and services, and more opportunities to encourage the purchase. 

BYJU s The Learning App can improve its performance by exploiting the above-mentioned
opportunities. However, it must also recognise the threats presented in the next section.

Threats of BYJU s the Learning App

Threats of BYJU s The Learning App comes into the fourth column of the SWOT matrix.
BYJU s The Learning App. Besides different opportunities offered by external business
environment, the organisation also faces some threats as presented below:

 The changing regulatory framework and introduction of new stricter regulations impose
a major threat to the BYJU s The Learning App. It makes compliance with legal
standards more complex and challenging for the business organization. Inability to
comply with changed regulations raises the risk of expensive law suits.
 Shortage of skilled labour in the market can make it difficult for the organization to
attract talent with the right skills set.
 The increasing number of direct and/or indirect competitors affects the organization’s
ability to sustain and expand the customer base. 
 The deteriorating economic conditions affect business performance when they directly
influence the customers' spending patterns and purchasing power.
 The rise in inflation increases the cost of production and affects the business

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 profitability.
 The growing environmental sustainability trends act as a major threat when offered
products/services are not environment friendly. It draws the negative publicity and
criticism from the environmentalists and affects the brand image in a competitive
market.
 The globalization pushes the organization to cross national boundaries and deal with
cultural diversity, which may have a detrimental impact if the organization lacks the
cultural intelligence. 

The BYJU s The Learning App SWOT Analysis requires BYJU s The Learning App to
differentiate between threats having short-term or long-term implications. Threats with
immediate implications need to be addressed on a priority basis to avoid any possible harm.
While threats with long-term implications can be tackled after addressing the immediate
threatening factors.

 BYJU’S brings opportunity for Student amidst COVID-19 Lockdown:

According to the BYJU’S team, students do not care about the product, they care about the
problem it solves for them. Hence the ed-tech company planned to solve one of the biggest
problems for the students during the time of crisis and offered a free-access to the live classes
from the best teachers on BYJU’S.
The user just has to select their preferred subject and time slot, and they are ready to get back
to their curriculum for free. These online classes were backed with interactive videos, revisions
and practice tests.
With this campaign, the learning app successfully gave a flavor of the seamless learn-from-
home experience to the students.

 Launch of BYJU’s Regional Campaign:

The edtech company is targeting to increase their business in other regions of the nation and
has recently partnered with Sudeep Sanjeev to launch their first-ever campaign in a regional
language (Kannada). Also, the team has created two ad-films in Telugu starring movie star
Mahesh Babu which means to focus on the growing preference of online learning among
students.
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Mrinal Mohit, chief operating officer, BYJU’S, said, “The on-going crisis has led to a
substantial shift in the mindset of parents who are becoming more accepting of online learning
platforms as they are witnessing its impact in real-time. With the immense popularity that
Sudeep Sanjeev and Mahesh Babu both enjoy, we are confident that we will be able to continue
the momentum and address the common apprehensions that parents have about online learning
solutions.”

 Failure of BYJU’s Facebook Ads:

The Edtech company planned a marketing campaign while targeting the audience on the basis
of their interest which surely worked and BYJU’s was successful in generating a great number
of leads for the business.

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But, unfortunately the leads were not converted into customers because according to the
interest, the targeted audience were mostly students. Considering the expensive prices, the
buyers must be the parents.
Hence, most of these leads were just not useful for the business.

 Failure of BYJU’s at SEO:

The leading SEO agency in gurgaon explains Search Engine Optimization as one of the most
powerful tools for boosting sales and generating organic leads, but it didn’t really work the
same way for BYJU’s.
The team worked really hard to drive students on their platform by integrating SEO efforts, but
the fact is there are a huge number of competitors like Toppr and Vedantu fighting for the first
position on Google and were doing it successfully.

 Failure of BYJU’s at Google Ads:

In this case, the audience attracted by the keyword ‘NCERT Solutions’ were mostly students
looking for study material for free and had no intentions of making a purchase on the platform,
hence these leads could not be successfully converted into customers.
Nevertheless, these challenges could not stop BYJU’s from growing. Adding the traditional
tactics to their marketing campaign helped the business to boost awareness for both the
generations of their targeted audience: parents and students at the same time.

ANALYSIS
CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
The consumer behaviour at byju’s is measured with the help of the business development
agents working with them, and the greatest part of revenue generated comes from the side of
these BDAs.
BYJU’s operates as a Freemium business model where a lot of their services are offered for
free but to gain access to the further content, users have to opt for a paid subscription.

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According to a report, in the fiscal year of 2019, BYJU’s revenue was recorded to a whooping
Rs 1,341 crores and a profit of Rs 20 crores. The top digital agency mentions that this
unbelievable success is the result of the increase in the number of its paid subscribers and full-
throttle marketing efforts.
We can understand the consumer behavior with the working strategies of these business
development agents for eg:
 Firstly, these BDAs call the customer and try to figure out their status, that what level
do they belong and are they really interested to help their children with quality
education.
 Secondly, they fix a meeting at the customer’s house to confirm about the actual status
by taking into consideration the material things like house, car etc, and they try to pitch
their product
 Thirdly, after properly analyzing the status of the customer they try to pitch the product
for a longer duration for eg : if they are rich, then they are suggested to take the plan
for 7 years and if they they are not that rich then they are suggested 3 to 4 years plan

MARKETING STRATEGY ACCORDING TO THE SITUATION

I would like to specify some situation with their marketing strategy below:

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1) If the customer is willing to take the plan but do not have enough funds to pay.
Solution - BYJU’s provide EMI facility for their customers with duration of 12 months, so that
they can pay the amount slowly per month with small small installments.
If they unable to pay that also then the BDAs has a option to reduce the package
For eg : if the package is of 50,000 then it can be reduced to 40,000 and some of the classes
will be cut off from that package
2) If the customer has funds but are not sure that whether they should buy it or not.
Solution – First the BDAs try to generate interest by pitching the benefits of the plan, and in
what all ways the parents can be benefited with this plan i.e. parents will be given discount on
that plan, and if they try to make payment with loan process then they will get exemption while
filing for IT return, and they get a trial for 15 days and if they don’t like it then they can cancel
the plan and will get full refund.
3) Customer is neither willing to pay nor has money.
Solution – BDAs are allowed to give demo for 1 month without the tablet in which students
will get full course and after that they can take final decision.
4) Customer has money and is willing to pay but has issues face issues with the payment
process.
Solution – BYJU’s has tie up with third party to provide EMI facility to the customers, with no
cost EMI and with 6, 9, 12 months installments.
If they do not have credit score for loan.
Solution – BYJU’s provide no cost loan facility, but customers have to pay higher portion of
package in first month and rest of the amount can be taken per month.
5) Customer has money, credit score but has heard a negative review.
Solution – eg : every student has a unique ability to study and grab things so try it for 15 days
and then that can easily confirm. BYJU’s provide a adaptive learning process, so it depends on
how the student is performing and according to that they question will change its level.

MARKETING STRATEGY

Byju’s is the ed-tech decacorn (unicorns valued at $ 10 Billion or above) valued at $ 11.1
billion. It is educating millions of students on its online portal. But the question arises that what
attracts 80 million students and 5.5 million annual paid subscribers to these e-learning
platforms.

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The answer lies in Byju’s marketing strategy, which is minimal yet powerful.
Byju’s is a platform for students to study and for teachers to educate. Moreover, it is making
the students’ time on phones and computers worthwhile by educating them. Also, in the
pandemic, Byju’s has been a saviour for millions of students who were unable to visit the
schools due to the coronavirus. In March and April of 2020, over 13.5 million users joined
Byju’s to learn and educate themselves.
What attracts users the most lies in its marketing strategy how it pitches the target customers.In
this article, we will unveil the outstanding marketing strategy of Byju’s and understand how it
educates millions.

Brand ambassador

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One of the most powerful marketing strategies of Byju’s is the brand ambassadors wh are
associated with the brand. It is undeniable that having a brand ambassador attaches a face to
the brand. Byju’s ambassador is the most loved actor not just in India but worldwide. Shah
Rukh Khan is the brand ambassador of Byju’s justifies the user base of the tech brand.
Another brand ambassador for Byju’s is the favourite of every child. Disney is another brand
ambassador of Byju’s. It is the most popular and loved company that is entertaining children
for years. Associating it with a learning platform brings together entertainment and education.
These two big names are enough to make any brand sell.
Byju has recently acquired brick-and-mortar test prep leader Aakash Educational Services
Limited (AESL). From this strategic merger, Byjus aims to provide a hybrid of online and
offline learning for students.
Byju’s has partner with WhiteHatJr to offer courses in local languages to different geographies.
Regional campaigns

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When a brand runs marketing campaigns in India, it has to pay attention to the different regions
and languages the people speak. This way, they can target customers from different regions in
their regional languages.

Byjus made a perfect ad film to pitch to regional customers in the regional language (Kannada).

To top it all, the brand featured the Telugu movie star, Mahesh Babu. In two of its ad campaign,
Byjus showcases how online learning is increasing preference among students nowadays.

Collaborations and Sponsorships

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When a brand collaborates with other brands or sponsors events, then it can pitch different
customer bases of the brand we partner with. Byju’s app promotes itself with such
collaborations and sponsorships.

Byju is the sponsor of the Indian Cricket Team in the ICC world cup. The ICC world cup has
a large audience base, and being a sponsor in the event gives Byju increased brand exposure.

Byju is also a partner of News18 Network in a national campaign. The campaign is about
recognizing and inspiring young geniuses from different fields in the country. This campaign
is a weekly episodic show that aired on TV from January to march in 2021.

Video marketing campaigns

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Byju’s pitched the customers with an ad campaign by associating the brand with India’s
favourite sport, cricket. Byjus, in their ad campaign Titled ‘Keep Learning,’ features the
Indian cricket players donning the new jersey Byju’s name imprinted in front. The ad
features Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, and the players sharing their learnings.

Another remarkable video marketing campaign was the ad titled by Byjus stated that children
do not use technology just for entertainment, but they can learn from it. The ad showcases how
the children use various gadgets like mobile and computers to learn from Byju’s learning
platform. The ad was surely a success and left a great impact on audiences.

Bridging the gap between Gen Z and millennial

The marketing strategy of Byju’s is bridging the gap between the Gen Z and Millenials
generation as they are the target users of Byju’s. To pitch to the Gen Z generation, Byju’s has
come up with an early learning app and offering them a great experience. The brand is offering
immersive content like interactive videos, Disney stories, fun educational games. Byju’s offers
a great experience to Gen Z generation users to create a strong brand image in their eyes.

Byjus targets grown-up students who are aspiring to crack competitive or entrance exams as
well. By offering them a way of reaching their dream to crack the exams, Byjus pitches the

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young generation. Byju’s also targeted the parents by making them believe how the gadgets
their children stick to these days can be a learning platform for them. It is also making the
parent-children relationship better. So in different ways, Byju’s is bridging the gap between
different generations.

Digital ads

Apart from SEO, another strategy that did not work well for Byju’s is digital advertising like
Google ads and Face book ads. The Face book ads of Byjus generated leads, but the leads were
of no use. The Face book ads of Byju’s target students who are interested in their platform. But
the students are not frequent buyers. The frequent buyers of the app were the parents, which
were not much interested in the app.

CHALLENGES FACED BY BYJU’s

As said by Byju Raveendran, the founder of BYJU’s converting the students to paid subscribers
after the free trial ends is a major challenge for BYJU’S. The company is also working towards
expending to other English speaking countries, and finding suitable partners to assist with this
expansion is the second challenge.

In the free trial period which is given to the student, only limited courses are free and available
for access. The challenge arises when the trial period if the student is over. An amount of INR
10000 is required in order to subscribe to the premium content i.e. the cost of accessing the
complete learning program with videos and adaptive learning modules of a particular class. It
has an 89 percent subscription renewal rate.

Another challenge Byju faces is in finding a partner who will help him with the international
distribution of this model. He is not just looking at partners from a financial perspective, but
those with access to good technology for distribution.

Other educational websites and apps just provide the content to the user in the form of videos,
tutorials and so on. But when a student chooses BYJUs for one’s learning, one gets a
personalized experience using their ‘knowledge graph’ feature and can proceed with their own
pace.

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Also, the platform provides a free counseling session at the doorstep and then the student can
understand and select the course of one’s interest more confidently.

CONCLUSION

BYJUs has just captured the Indian market with his impressive teaching and marketing
techniques on education. It now has greater goals, greater challenges, and greater team support.
It is looking to expand its market to the US, UK, South Africa and other African and
Commonwealth markets. It is already present in the Middle East.

BYJUs has just captured the Indian market with his impressive teaching and marketing
techniques on education. It now has greater goals, greater challenges, and greater team support.
It is looking to expand its market to the US, UK, South Africa and other African and
Commonwealth markets. It is already present in the Middle East.

References

https://www.themarcomavenue.com/blog/marketing-analysis-of-indias-no-1-edtech-platform-
byjus/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byju%27s

https://byjus.com/free-ias-prep/indian-education-system-issues-and-challenges/

https://marqueex.com/byjus-marketing-strategy-how-it-educates-
millions/#:~:text=The%20marketing%20strategy%20of%20Byju%E2%80%99s
%20is%20bridging%20the,learning%20app%20and%20offering%20them%20a
%20great%20experience.

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