What is Speak?
Speak is an AI-based English speaking app that uses a user-centered approach to focus on personalized learning experiences and active communication strategies. Aimed at changing perfectionist attitudes towards English learning, Speak promotes making mistakes as a positive learning experience. AI tutors are implemented to reduce learners’ anxiety and build confidence.
Speak is not a Korean company but it’s so successfully localized that Koreans believe it’s a Korean company. Making it a strong foreign player in localization, which is crucial for entering the Korean market.
Speak’s key marketing strategy: Communication
Speak uses SNS marketing by implementing threads channels and upkeeps their social media presence. Admin and users on the app are able to easily communicate, share English expressions and personal stories in these channels.
Speak also receives recognition and traffic through their interactive content and persistent communication on social media, which improves their brand awareness among young audiences.
This openly flowing communication and easy conversation between brand and consumer has strengthened Speak’s marketing endeavors. They also collaborated with model Lee Hyori as a celebrity endorsement – a pursuit that was persevering and caught a lot of attention from the public, boosting brand visibility.
Speak’s successful marketing campaign
Speak’s marketing success is attributed to localization. Speak has done a stellar job at localization, as they have a campaign called “You Have to Be Wrong to Get It Right”. Given Korean cultural nuances, Koreans fear being wrong or making mistakes due to perfectionist mindsets. Speak tries to ease this by promoting learning through making mistakes.
Another campaign called “World’s Best Excuse Contest” asked users to give their witty excuses for quitting learning English, which created a supportive community on the app. The campaign promotes resilience and encourages users to let out their frustration for learning English.
Through these campaigns, Speak utilizes communication to localize and also build up users’ confidence and removes the burdens of learning. Speak quickly gained users through their strong audience communication strategies as well as through their celebrity endorsement resulting in over 4 million downloads.