Case Studies on Best Practice in External Marketing Communication. Horus Technology Il Birrino Memeoirs Fluentify

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1 Case Studies on Best Practice in External Marketing Communication Cases on Horus Technology Il Birrino Memeoirs Fluentify Written in May 2015 by the Italian team of the University of Trento: Michele Bassetto, Eufemio Ferrante, Carmen Iaderosa, Enrico Libralato, Luca Manisera, Chiara Tilola.

2 Fluentify International market focus and in the market for less than 10 years Introduction of Fluentify: Fluentify is a website which proposes an innovative way of learning foreign languages. During the last decades, foreign languages have become more and more important, especially English. However not everyone can access a specific training. In particular, the ability of speaking a foreign language is difficult to improve without practicing with mother tongue people. Fluentify, fulfils students need to improve English skills. The idea is to create an online platform where any user can improve his/her skills in any foreign language, by speaking with a personal teacher. In addition, speaking with a foreign person should help to develop cultural knowledge and communication skills. Fluentify was established in London by four Italian entrepreneurs: Giacomo Mosio, Andrea Passadori, Claudio Bosco and Matteo Avalle in During a period of study abroad, Giacomo Mosio and Andrea Passadori had the idea to use videoconferencing technology to learn foreign languages. Claudio Bosco and Matteo Avalle made the technical development 34

3 of the platform. The first name given to the platform was bilinguo.com. Later, the four entrepreneurs changed the name to Fluentify, because the first name was not easy to pronounce and to remember for an English mother tongue. The mode of operation is very simple. Every student has to buy a session in which he/she speaks with a personal tutor for thirty minutes. The topic of the discussion is proposed by the students. The student is helped by the tutor in order to improve the vocabulary or the pronunciation. The student can choose between 80 tutors, among which 20 are always available on line. Moreover, a student can see a video presentation from the teacher who explains his/her study curriculum and personal interests. According to this video presentation, a student selects the teacher who better fits his/her interests. In addition, tutors are from all over the world, as well as the students. It is useful for the professional who wants to improve English as work tool, and also for students who need a tutoring or have to pass a proficiency exam. The cost for this service varies from a minimum of Euro 5 to a maximum of Euro 30 for one session. Teacher can receive the payment using PayPal when the account has reached a minimum of Euro 50. This website offers a 24/7 service, including one-to-one lectures with a mother tongue teacher. Fluentify uses technological tools in order to connect people from their home directly to the teacher s home. In particular, Fluentify has a built-in video conferencing software which should guarantee good video quality during the lectures. The software utilised by this society for the videoconferencing does not require installation. This means a faster and easier access for the final consumer. Moreover, the selection of the teacher is particular severe. Indeed, teachers have to possess sound educational skills and show to be 35

4 patient with people who can have problems in communication. The company uses the money-back system, which means that if a consumer is not satisfied for the service, the company gives back 110% of the cost that he/she has supported. In other words, Fluentify is sure that the service provided reflects customer expectations. Actually, Fluentify offers only English as foreign language. English is the most studied language in the world, and it allows to reach a bigger audience. Moreover, this period in which Fluentify is focused on just one language helps to improve the design of the platform. In order to do that, the enterprise uses a feedback system from the users. What makes Fluentify an entrepreneurial company? How innovative are they? The English courses can already be found online. What is surprising about Fluentify is the fact that on the platform there are no teachers and students, but tutors and learners. Everybody can be a tutor on this web-site because the only requirement needed is to be a mother tongue who owns a computer with internet connection. What really differentiates this platform from the others is the individual lesson feature; here it is indeed possible to speak alone with the tutor for half an hour. This way, the whole relationship is changed: there is not the teacher/student relationship anymore, but at the moment of the virtual meeting they will share interests and while away the time together. 36

5 The quality of the tutors plays an important role for the success of the platform and that is why the selection procedure is strictly defined in three different phases: an online application, a presentation call to get to know one another and finally the customer s feedback. Tutors can even earn 2,500 per month, since the cost they choose for a meeting goes from 6 to 30, and they are picked according to feedbacks and different learners needs. For the students, the first lesson can even cost just 1 in order to better understand if the tutor is the most appropriate for them. Learners pay at the moment of the lesson-reservation and if they are satisfied at the end of it, the payment will be transferred to the tutor s account. If they are not, it is possible to be paid back with a 110% on the initial sum. The most fascinating aspect about Fluentify is the flexibility; tutors are available all day long, every day of the week. Fluentify joined forces with a very well known American business: Uber, which is a private transport service that supplies a direct connection between drivers and passengers through an app. The aim is mainly to give drivers the possibility to learn the language to make sure that they will be able to handle a conversation with foreign customers. The collaboration, as explains Fluentify, is one of the most relevant strategies used by the platform to offer tailor-made solutions to several different business realities and, as for the single users, it focuses on specific learning needs. The choice of Uber says Giacomo Moiso, 37

6 Fluentify co-founder and CEO, shows how important English is; most of all in the touristic industry. The web-page, with 15 thousand subscriptions and 50 tutor just received from Stefano Marsaglia, Mediobanca executive chairman. With this investment the founders will try to keep on promoting the platform, investing on more efficient marketing strategies, trying to involve as much talents as possible as they are the best asset of the company. Fluentify s major goal is now to expand globally and of course it will be much easier with the money they received, even if still very difficult. The possible future achievement will probably be the entrance to new countries and the addition of some languages other than English which was chosen because of the fact that the initial aim was to reach markets like Southern Europe and Italy. What makes Fluentify an example of best practice with regards to external marketing communication? How are these practices implemented? Nowadays having the ability to talk more than one language is a plus for any CV, but talking English is one of the fundamental requirements in order to apply for any kind of position in a company. That is the main reason why the young founders had this idea; they understood 38

7 the essential need of knowing English and the problem that most people face with learning it. The success of the platform becomes evident given the increase in number of tutors reaching 82 tutors in just 6 months. This success depends of course on the very high quality of the tutors, which is determined by the users feedback. The feedback is considered to be one of the main elements that allowed Fluentify to grow so fast during the first period; thanks to them, it is possible to get an idea of how tutors perform and which is the satisfaction level of previous users. The profile is another element that helps understanding common interests and things in which tutor and learners have a lot in common; in this way the platform is able to gain more and more subscribers. The platform is registered on Facebook and Twitter and it also uses advertising tools like Instagram. The fast spread on the social networks made it possible for them to be known at a wider level. What makes Fluentify so popular is the fact that it gives an idea on how the courses will be. 39

8 In this way it is clear which are the most influential characteristics the service is providing : it is evidenced that the way consumers are going to learn is funny and much more efficient than learning on a book, like they had done or still do at school. Andrea Passadori is the current marketing responsible who is in charge of the management of the website and of the development of the product. Fluentify is an online platform, accessible only via its website. The marketing team is working on the creation of the mobile app in order to make available the service, and so, to interact with tutors from mobile devices. This is why they are working on the design of the new platform to spread the service making it available in every circumstances. The objective of the company is to invest in marketing strategies, especially using the big fund received, to enlarge as much as possible the pool of customer. Fluentify is mainly present in Italy and England, but its future steps and strategies will lead the company towards the enlargement of its market share also in others European countries. 40

9 On the other side, the marketing team is working on the enlargement of the number of languages taught in the website. Now the main language is English, but the plan with the enlargement of the geographical market is to increase also the number of languages offered by the platform. As their aim was to reach different industries with the only goal of supplying their employees with individual and tailor-made tutor sessions, so that everyone (even in the most remote sectors) will be able to start talking English, they are going to seal new partnerships. One that has to be mentioned is the one with Kaplan International Colleges (known worldwide to be a famous and brilliant language school, with more than 40 institutes). It is a project that will start in September and will offer the software to different businesses that already pay language courses to their workers. How is Fluentify utilizing the new communications features? Fluentify uses the new communication features in order to engage users and generate word of mouth. This platform uses four social networks in order to enlarge its visibility. These social networks are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Vine. Moreover, we can consider as new communication features, the system of feedback and chat that this platform provides to its users. Indeed, an user can interact directly with the Fluentify employees. The company requires a short video presentation for every teacher. This video is utilised as a business card, 41

10 in order to show interests and curriculum of each teacher. We are going to analyse the strategy in every communication features, which is adopted by the platform. Fluentify s Facebook page was created in 2013, in the same year the ultimate version of the platform was launched. This means that this social network was always present in the communication policy of the company. This company is active in this social network, it is used as public relations tool. This social network page is followed by people. By analysing Fluentify s Facebook page, we noticed that it is utilised as a showcase for the company promotions. For example, in this page promotions are posted such as Fluentify offers you a discount of 20%! or Join the competition to get a free ticket for the Sziget festival. Moreover, Fluentify proposes posts related to Anglo-Saxon cultures in the form of quizzes and pictures related to travelling and communication. This use of the Facebook page should lead to a bigger consumer involvement and should reach more audience. Facebook data, from Fluentify s Facebook page, 30 April Twitter is another social network intensively utilised by Fluentify. As Facebook, this social web page was opened in Now it counts followers and it has published

11 tweets 4. This company utilises Twitter in the same way of Facebook. In the Twitter account you can see the same posts published on the social network described above. In addition, this company launched its hashtag #fluentify in This hashtag has facilitated the word of mouth in Twitter, in facts it is utilised by journals or third parts which speaks about the company. Fluentify uses Instagram to publish photos concerning Anglo-Saxon culture, English or American slang and idioms. Actually, the Instagram profile of the society has 676 followers and 41 posts. The pictures in the profile are generally humorous, this should help to spread through the social media and enlarge the number of potential consumers. The social network Vine plays a marginal role in the communication features. Only 37 people follow the company profile, where are released short looping video about the company. Also in this social network the content are humorous. To sum up, this company uses the social networks in order to spread the brand through the web. In order to do that, Fluentify have developed an entertaining style of the post, which helps to expand rapidly. Once the customer is on the platform, the new communication features changes to give a better user experience. First of all, the teacher publishes a video wherein explains his/her interests and curriculum. This video contributes in helping the user to choose the right teacher. The presentation videos are short, about one minute. On one hand, this gives the opportunity to see a lot of videos in a short time, on the other hand, the presentation is not accurate. The other communication tool used by Fluentify is the chat room. This feature helps the 4 Data from Fluentify s Twitter page, 30 April

12 customers to keep in touch with the website administrator. In this chat, customers can complain or suggest improvements for the platform. According to Fluentify, feedback are considered important for developing the website. Indeed, the company uses the comments in order to enhance the experience on the platform. Moreover, paying attention to the customers advices boost satisfaction in the platform usage. Generally, Fluentify utilises video and the chat room, two communication features inner the platform, in order to increase consumers contentment. International issue As stated above, Fluentify was established in 2012 in London. According to Fluentify s founder Giacomo Mosio, it happened for two main reasons: first, in UK you have less bureaucracy compared to Italy. Second, in Great Britain it is easy to find investors, thanks to the first European stock exchange and the presence of business angels who are not available in the Italian financial system. The initial investment required to open Fluentify was 15 pounds and all the paper-works was conducted online. Therefore, it was easy to establish a fiscal base in UK, even if the founders were located elsewhere in the world. In fact, all the team is composed by Italian entrepreneurs. During Piazza Pulita, a television show concerning politics, Andrea Passadori and Giacomo Moiso stated that in Italy the cost of an employee is too high for a small business. Actually, the core markets for Fluentify is Southern Europe, especially Italy. Despite the customer market is focused on Europe, the employees are from all over the world. Indeed, Fluentify recruits tutors from all the globe, in order to offer different types of English 44

13 accents. In addition, this geographical dispersion of the teachers is relevant to provide several time zones and offering a 24/7 service. Finally, the project of expansion to include languages means enlarging the relationships with foreign employees and therefore increase the internationalisation. 45