For nearly four decades now, accounting solutions provider Tally Solution – focused on the MSME sector – has evolved from supplying just accounting software to a complete solution provider. Initially, the focus was demobased marketing, experiential marketing and partner marketing.
Says Jayati Singh, Chief Marketing Officer, Tally Solutions, “A strong network was needed to drive on-ground demo and servicing. Tally has a very strong partner network, close to 26,000 partners working with us across 100 countries. Tally’s philosophy - in terms of its customer centricity – has been the power of simplicity that we wanted to drive, not just in terms of the usage, but also customer service and this has percolated to this entire partner network. A lot has gone in training.”
Tally’s marketing has since evolved to include below-the-line marketing, particularly industry events and demo, to drive visibility. With education being an important element, Tally collaborates with CAs, experts with influencer and evangelist marketing forming the fourth pillar of Tally's marketing efforts. Another key element is content marketing and creating engaging content. Singh says, "We have a very stong influencer base and the reason for that has been the strong product proposition that we've always had. Simplicity, flexibility, reliability, and speed, these are the four pillars on which the Tally product runs.” Tally has also tied up with TVF for product
integration in shows such as TVF Pitchers, Half CA and Baap Beta Of ice.
Best To Market Rather Than First To Market
Singh states that Tally’s inherent stated philosophy is “best to market rather than first to market.” She says that even when GST was implemented in 2017, the company released its product after its competitors but Tally Solutions offering turned out to be the most reliable. “If the experience that you give to the customer is good, they
will not want to leave you,” states Singh. She also highlights that Tally’s key differentiator is the ease and the overall experience when it comes to product usage. Also, while Tally’s primary product is Tally Prime, the company has diversified into other segments such as Tally Education, Tally Edge (account aggregator business).
Coming to customer acquisition, the three focus areas are the discovery phase, acquisition and retention. With the decision-making being longer for B2B players, it becomes important for Tally to be at all the touch-points where the customers could be potentially be present, with digital being optimized. Says Singh, “We focus a lot on
the functionality discovery level digitally, as well as below-the-line. In terms of acquisition, we rely heavily on our partner network. We've got more than 3,000 certified partners who work very closely with us and they have their own ways of reaching out to the customers. We work with our partners to enable them and their teams in
understanding and partnering with them when it comes to communication. We've invested a lot in getting our partners to digitally transform. For international markets, digital marketing and digital acquisition plays a very important role, right.”
Like in most B2B, the retention part becomes very important. While the primary product is a lifelong product, certain services are provided to customers on a subscription basis requiring the company to be in constant touch with its customers. Says Singh, “Our customer management practices and the program that we undertake are
strong as we have 2.5 million licensed businesses.”
Increased digital penetration has resulted in 45% of Tally’s clients coming from the metros and Tier I cities and 55% from Tier II and Tier III cities.
To drive up engagement with clients and celebrate International MSME Day (held on 27 June every year), Tally Solutions launched the MSME Honours awards. - an annual recognition platform that aims to identify MSME Heroes and celebrate their efforts. Says Singh, “The MSME Honours 2024 is going to be much bigger and we are spreading our wings. The first year we had roughly 800 entries, the second year we had 2,000 entries, third year
we had 5,000 and we hope this grows exponentially.” This year, Tally will be launching the awards in Saudi Arabia in addition to other international markets - Nepal, Kenya, Indonesia, Bangladesh and UAE – from where entries have come in from in the earlier editions.
Looking ahead, Tally’s focus continues to focus on simplicity and delivering an elevated consumer experience. Adds Singh, “We do intend taking our customer base from existing 2.5 million to a 3.5 million and we're eyeing growth of at least 30% to 40% in the next couple of years.”
