TDI — August batch strategy.
Website fixes, campaign architecture, budget, content, and partnerships. For review and alignment.
What's in this document
Two things, both ready for decision.
Website (tdi.institute)
- Trust and accuracy issues that need to be fixed before ads run
- Two-path hero rewrite for Digital + Mobility
- Brochure CTA alongside Apply Now
- Pain-acknowledgment copy for the engineer avatar
Marketing Plan (16 weeks)
- Three parallel campaigns — engineer, teen, parent
- Geographic targeting grounded in Batch 1 data
- Budget and CPE projections with uncertainty stated
- Content, competitions, partnerships, and what we're not doing
Decisions needed from Ronit
- Budget level — ₹1L/month minimum for parallel campaigns, or ₹70K/month with sequential (Digital-first) and missed seats.
- Batch 1 data to proceed — full student list (names, backgrounds, companies) and contact list for lookalikes.
- Website fixes — approval on urgent trust items before any paid traffic.
- ASDC / government partnership path — yes/no on meetings this quarter.
Website — fixes before paid traffic
The new tdi.institute is a clear step up from timesofdesign.co.in. A few trust and conversion issues still need to be fixed before we drive paid traffic into it.
What's working
| Improvement | Why It Matters |
|---|---|
| Both programs displayed | Price anchoring and avatar segmentation now possible. |
| Named placements with companies | Concrete proof (Made to Stick principle) vs generic "100% placement." |
| Expanded mentor roster (20+ from Mahindra, Ferrari, Honda, Daimler, BMW etc.) | Authority layer dramatically stronger. |
| Specific batch date (August 10, 2026) | Real scarcity — acceptable per our Long-Term Filter. |
| Studio-led approach articulated | 1:1 models, 3 OEM briefs, 5 industry visits = concrete mechanism. |
| FAQ depth (safety, parent LMS access, biometric entry) | Addresses parent concerns, critical for Mobility Design. |
Issues to fix
Current framing presents 5 students at CCS Detroit, Pforzheim, ArtCenter, and NID as if they were TDI alumni. In reality, these students were placed by TDI's mentors before TDI existed. This is an attribution risk — when discovered, it permanently damages trust with parents, who are the payers for Mobility Design.
Fix — reworded section:
Heading: "Placed by our mentors"
Subhead: "Before TDI existed, our mentors helped these students reach the world's top design schools."
[Table: 5 students, schools, locations]
Footer line: "The same mentors now lead TDI's Mobility Design program."
Current website shows 4 students (Navneet Rana, Suraj Thorat, Nishank Goundaje, Harsha Vardhana) at Technicon, Tata, Raptee. This doesn't match our earlier Batch 1 data (Renault, Ampere, Technicon, Ether Design). We need confirmed placement list for all 8 Batch 1 students before finalizing copy.
Hero says "30 Seats." CTA section says "30 Mobility + 15 Digital." These contradict each other and create cognitive friction.
Fix: Hero should say "45 Seats" or remove the number and put the breakdown in program cards.
Current: "India's First Studio Led Design Institute"
This is process language, not avatar language. It doesn't name the problem the avatar feels or activate any hardwired desires. Per Schwartz awareness matching, a Problem-Aware avatar (Level 4) needs: Name the problem → Dramatize it → Present the product as solution.
Fix — Two-Path Hero
Top headline: "Two paths into automotive design."
Subhead: "Choose the one that fits where you are."
You didn't study engineering to fill spreadsheets.
9 months. One tool. 100% of Batch 1 placed.
A portfolio that opens ArtCenter, Pforzheim, CCS.
12 months. Portfolio and IELTS. Built by mentors who've placed students at each.
"Apply Now" implies admissions rejection risk and high commitment. 95% of first-visit prospects aren't ready to apply — they're researching. Forcing "Apply Now" as the only action costs leads.
Fix — Two-button system everywhere
- Primary (darker): "Get the Brochure" — "Full program details, pricing, and batch dates."
- Secondary (ghost button): "Apply Now" — "For students ready to enroll."
Both go to the same form, brochure delivered by email. Backend tags lead source for different nurture tracks. This captures research-stage prospects who would otherwise bounce.
The entire site is promotion-focused (aspiration). But the avatar arrives in prevention focus (stuck, wanting out). There's no acknowledgment of where they are emotionally — all "here's the amazing opportunity," no "we get it, you feel trapped."
This is a Schwartz Level 4 mismatch. Copy should acknowledge the Sunday-night feeling, the "am I too late" anxiety, the "did I waste my degree" fear — then bridge to the solution.
"Hurry Up!" is clickbait-register language. The avatar — especially the engineer who's been burned by online course ads — pattern-matches this to spam.
Fix:
"August 10 batch. 45 seats. Reviewed in order received."
Real deadline, real fairness. Urgent without the clickbait register. 9 words, down from 12.
Current: "12th+ Students, Engineers, Diploma Holders, Entrepreneurs, Designers, Overseas Students"
Six different avatars mashed together violates the Vista Avatar principle — trying to reach everyone reaches no one effectively.
The two-path hero fix (High 1) resolves this by letting each audience self-select into their path.
| Priority | Issue | Who Executes |
|---|---|---|
| Urgent | Global Design School Alumni section reword (mentor attribution) | Content team, WordPress admin |
| Urgent | Placement section with verified Batch 1 data | After Ronit confirms names |
| Urgent | Seats inconsistency in hero | WordPress admin |
| High | Two-path hero rewrite | Page builder + copy |
| High | Add "Get Brochure" CTA alongside "Apply Now" | Developer (lead tagging backend) |
| High | Add pain acknowledgment copy throughout | Copy team |
| Medium | Replace "Hurry Up!" | Copy team |
| Medium | Simplify target audience listing | Copy team |
Foundation
Avatars, positioning, and the beliefs we need to break. The plan in Part 4 references this.
The two avatars
Grounded in Batch 1 data.
Positioning
- India's first studio-led design institute (Blue Ocean: "studio-led" is an uncrowded positioning vs classroom-led competitors)
- For engineers + design aspirants specifically (not generic "design education")
- With industry mentors, not academic faculty (differentiator that maps to hiring criteria)
The Two Product Stories
Digital Design — ₹2.99L / 9 months
- Outcome: Placement at automotive industry companies
- Proof: 100% of Batch 1 placed
- Mechanism: Autodesk Alias mastery + portfolio + mentor network
Mobility Design — ₹4.99L / 12 months
- Outcome: Admission to top international design programs
- Proof: Mentors have personally placed students at CCS, Pforzheim, ArtCenter, NID (attribution to mentors, not TDI as institution)
- Mechanism: Portfolio building + IELTS + aviation/4-wheeler/2-wheeler projects + mentor guidance
Three beliefs to break
Counter: 70% of working automotive designers started as engineers. Alias + portfolio, not degree name.
Counter: Automotive surface modeling is mathematical precision. Engineers are often better at it than pure design graduates.
Counter: Our mentors designed the curriculum AND are the hiring managers at Mahindra, Honda, Ferrari.
Marketing plan
Budget
Stated budget is ₹70K-₹1L/month over four months. ₹70K works for sequential (Digital-first). Parallel campaigns — Digital + Mobility parent + Mobility teen — need ₹1L/month minimum.
Mobility Design costs roughly 2x Digital Design per enrollment:
- Higher ticket (₹4.99L vs ₹2.99L) means a longer consideration cycle.
- Two decision-makers (parent and teen) means two creative tracks.
- Parent CPMs (42-55, HNI) run 1.5-2x higher than young engineer CPMs.
CPE projections (cost per enrollment)
| Program | Pessimistic | Realistic | Optimistic |
|---|---|---|---|
| Digital Design | ₹7,500 | ₹5,500 | ₹4,000 |
| Mobility Design | ₹14,000 | ₹10,000 | ₹7,500 |
Optimistic — full funnel lift (lead magnet cuts CPL 30-50%, webinar + nurture pushes conversion 5-7%).
Realistic — partial funnel lift, normal creative performance, some wasted spend in first cycle.
Pessimistic — minimal funnel lift, narrow geo raises CPMs, parent CPMs come in higher than expected.
Mobility Design projected at ~2x Digital because of higher ticket, older audience, and dual decision-maker structure — these are education-industry benchmarks, not TDI-verified. Real TDI numbers emerge after 4-6 weeks of running.
Total ad spend for 45 seats
| Scenario | Digital (15 seats) | Mobility (30 seats) | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pessimistic | ₹1,12,500 | ₹4,20,000 | ₹5,32,500 |
| Realistic | ₹82,500 | ₹3,00,000 | ₹3,82,500 |
| Optimistic | ₹60,000 | ₹2,25,000 | ₹2,85,000 |
Budget Level Verdict
- TDI's actual data: CPL ₹312, 3% conversion, CPE ₹10,400.
- Indian education benchmarks: CPL ₹150-500 for broad audiences, ₹300-800 for high-ticket programs.
- Funnel improvement expected: Lead magnet drops CPL 30-50%. Webinar plus nurture lifts conversion from 3% to 5-7%.
- Uncertainty: Tier 2/3 CPMs differ from metros. Parent CPMs run higher than engineer CPMs. Automotive design is a narrow niche inside education. Real TDI numbers only emerge after 4-6 weeks of running. Plan for 2-3 optimisation cycles.
Allocation at ₹1L/month
| Month | Digital Design | Mobility — Parent | Mobility — Teen | LinkedIn / Test |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month 1 | ₹25K | ₹40K | ₹25K | ₹10K |
| Month 2 | ₹20K | ₹45K | ₹25K | ₹10K |
| Month 3 | ₹20K | ₹45K | ₹25K | ₹10K |
| Month 4 | ₹25K | ₹40K | ₹25K | ₹10K |
| Total | ₹90K | ₹1.7L | ₹1L | ₹40K |
Channels per audience
| Platform | Priority | Why this rank |
|---|---|---|
| Meta (IG + FB) | Primary 60% | Behavioural fit high — engineers scroll Instagram and Facebook daily. Economic fit strong — cheapest CPM in this age/geo band. Format fit — reels carry pain-hook stories well. |
| YouTube | High 15% | Search intent is where high-ticket research happens. Long-form builds authority the engineer needs before a ₹2.99L decision. |
| LinkedIn Ads | Medium 15% | CPL roughly 2-3x Meta, but qualifies harder. Use for Mahindra/Tata challenge retargeting and job-switcher audiences — small, precise. |
| Google Search | Medium 10% | Hot buyers searching "automotive design course India" convert well. Volume is limited — it's a defense line, not a growth line. |
| Reddit (organic only) | Low effort | Reddit rewards depth over spend. Paid ads perform poorly here. Founder/mentor participation compounds authority over months. |
| Platform | Priority | Why this rank |
|---|---|---|
| Primary | 17-22 year olds live here. Reels + Stories + DMs is where design aspiration lives for this demographic. | |
| YouTube Shorts + long-form | High | Portfolio tutorials and college comparisons are researched on YouTube. High search intent. |
| Google Search | Medium | "Best international design schools" queries — intent is high but volume is limited. |
| Platform | Priority | Why this rank |
|---|---|---|
| Primary | Parents 42-55 still live on Facebook in India. Meta's income and life-event targeting is sharpest here. | |
| High | Senior corporate parents and NRI returnees are LinkedIn-active. Prestige framing lands better on this platform. | |
| Google Display + YouTube | Medium | Retargeting parents who researched design schools. Cold reach is weaker. |
| WhatsApp / school parent groups | Organic | Peer word-of-mouth is the highest-trust channel for education decisions. Not directly buyable — earned. |
Geography
Digital Design — Primary (Batch 1 proven)
- Pune, Nagpur, Nashik, Aurangabad, Kolhapur (Maharashtra)
- Hyderabad, Warangal (Telangana)
- Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala)
- Coimbatore, Madurai (Tamil Nadu — NOT Chennai)
- Hubli, Mysuru (Karnataka — NOT Bangalore)
- Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot (Gujarat)
Digital Design — Excluded
- Bangalore metro
- Chennai metro
- Mumbai
- Delhi-NCR
Response from these geos has been weak for this avatar.
Month 1 plan: Split budget equally across Tier 1 metros and Tier 2 HNI pockets. Measure CPL and lead quality per city. By Week 4, scale what works.
Content
Full pillar system lives in tdi-content-strategy.md. Summary below.
Organic mix
Per-platform cadence
Creative volume (adjusted for budget reality)
The GOATed Ads framework recommends 150+ ad variations per month. At TDI's budget level that isn't realistic — each variation costs money to produce. Revised plan:
Content pillars
- "The Stuck Engineer" (Pain/Problem) — 40%
- "The Proof" (Transformation/Placement) — 25%
- "Behind the Studio" (Process/Day-in-the-Life) — 15%
- "The Industry" (Education/Authority) — 10%
- "The Founder's Voice" (Attractive Character) — 10%
Design competitions
Participants in automotive design competitions have already raised their hand. Higher intent than any cold interest-targeted audience we can build.
Priority competitions
| Competition | Organizer | Audience | Priority |
|---|---|---|---|
| SIAM Automotive Design Challenge | Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers | Industry-serious students/professionals (18th ed. 2026, Goa, theme "Collaborative Creativity") | Highest |
| Maruti Suzuki Design Challenge | Maruti Suzuki India | 400+ students in inaugural 2025 edition | High |
| Formula Bharat | Student engineering teams | Formula-style car design/build/race | High |
| ETWDC (Electric Two-Wheeler Design Challenge) | SAEINDIA Southern Section | 2-wheeler design students (concluded 2025-26 cycle Jan 2026) | High |
| Mahindra Design Challenge | Mahindra | Automotive design enthusiasts | High |
| Student Kart Design Challenge | National | Go-kart design students | Medium |
| Toyota Dream Car Art Contest | Toyota India | Children | Skip |
Five-layer approach
Meta can't filter "entered Maruti Suzuki Design Challenge" directly. Layered tactics reach the same audience:
Create content specifically FOR these challenges. Participants actively search this stuff.
- YouTube: "How to approach the Maruti Suzuki Design Challenge 2025 brief (by a working Honda designer)" — mentor hosts
- Reels: "3 mistakes that cost my Mahindra Design Challenge entry"
- LinkedIn articles: "What a SIAM ADC judge looks for" — mentor-authored
- Lead magnet PDF: "The Competition Entry Survival Guide — Alias tips, judging criteria, common mistakes" — gated download captures email
Participants find this organically while researching. They download. They enter TDI's nurture funnel.
Target people who follow Mahindra/Tata/Maruti/SIAM design properties + automotive design interest:
- Interest: Mahindra Auto, Tata Motors Design, Maruti Suzuki, SIAM, Formula Bharat pages
- AND Interest: Automotive design, Industrial design, Autodesk Alias
- AND Age: 20-30
- AND Education: Engineering or Design
- LinkedIn Ads engagement retargeting — target people who engaged with posts containing "Mahindra Design Challenge" / "SIAM ADC" / "Formula Bharat" / "Maruti Design Challenge"
- Sales Navigator filter: Autodesk Alias, Industrial Design, or Automotive Design skill + 22-32 age + India geo
LinkedIn ads are expensive (CPL ₹600-1200 vs Meta ₹200-400) but highly qualified. ₹10-15K/month reserved for this.
Hashtags to monitor: #MahindraDesignChallenge, #SIAMADC, #MarutiDesignChallenge, #FormulaBharat, #automotivedesign, #cardesign, #IndianCarDesign
TDI social account, founder, and mentors engage thoughtfully on participants' entries. NOT automated DM spam — genuine engagement. Over 2-3 months, TDI becomes a recognized presence in this sub-community.
TDI's mentors work at Mahindra, Honda, and other companies that judge or participate in these challenges. Can facilitate introductions (not selling, just inviting to webinars) for strong runners-up who didn't make the final — exactly the TDI avatar.
Where the winners come from
MIT Institute of Design (Pune), NID (Ahmedabad), Strate School of Design (Bengaluru), IIT Delhi IDC / IIT Bombay IDC, Ajeenkya DY Patil University (Pune).
Partnerships
Why this matters
Branding is TDI's strongest moat. Government-body affiliation compounds it — the institutional authority transfers. For Tier 2/3 parents, who are the real veto-holders for Mobility Design, government certification signals legitimacy in ways no private credential can.
Bodies to engage
| Body | What TDI Gets | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| ASDC (Automotive Skills Development Council) | Sector-specific skill standards, OEM hiring network access, certification signal, possible subsidy routes | Highest |
| NSDC (National Skill Development Corporation) | Broader skilling ecosystem, Skill India branding | High |
| Maharashtra State Skill Development Mission | Strong overlap with Batch 1 geographic concentration, potential state subsidies for Tier 2/3 candidates | High |
| Tamil Nadu / Karnataka / Telangana skill missions | State-level candidate subsidies in Batch 1 geographies | Medium |
| AICTE | Diploma holder validation, possible course certification | Medium |
| Ministry of Heavy Industries (FAME EV scheme) | Future tie-in with Mobility Design's EV content | Low |
Trade-offs
Benefits
- Authority transfer kills the #1 objection (certificate credibility)
- Possible subsidy routes effectively reduce fee without TDI cutting price
- Placement pipeline expansion
- Curriculum validated against industry NOS (National Occupational Standards)
Costs
- Slow bureaucracy (certification 6-12 months)
- Possible curriculum rigidity (standards may constrain TDI's studio-led flexibility)
- Process overhead (audits, documentation)
- Brand commoditization risk (if ASDC becomes the primary value prop, TDI gets lumped in with generic NSDC courses)
How to approach it
Get ASDC-aligned or certified in the background (6-12 month timeline). Use as a credibility badge alongside mentor and placement proof. Keep the marketing story on mentors, placement, and the studio-led experience. ASDC reinforces — it doesn't lead.
First step: Schedule intro meetings with ASDC and NSDC. No cost, no commitment — just scoping. The founder should attend personally.
What we're not doing
Paths we considered and dropped, with reasoning. Raising them here so nothing is silently absent.
Against platform ToS. Legally risky after the hiQ Labs v LinkedIn case. Accounts get banned, legal notices land, brand takes the damage. Also fails the test of whether we'd be comfortable if every prospect knew what we were doing.
Legal alternatives that get ~90% of the same outcome:
- LinkedIn Sales Navigator for lead search (~₹4-6K/month)
- LinkedIn Ads engagement retargeting (native feature, no scraping)
- Social listening tools (Sprout Social, Brandwatch) for hashtag/keyword tracking
Our call, not Ronit's. Pinterest's Indian user base skews heavily female; our engineer avatar is predominantly male and has low Pinterest usage. The teen (Mobility) avatar lives on Instagram. The parent audience barely uses it. Budget goes further on Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook for the same audiences.
Batch 1 is 8 students. Too small to scale a formal program. Keep informal testimonials — one or two willing alumni for case-study videos. Revisit after Batch 3.
Searched the Indian market. There's no established automotive design influencer ecosystem. Only car enthusiast and reviewer creators — Motor Beam, Carwala, Flying Beast, Priyanka Kochhar. Useful for broad awareness (paid mentions), not for conversion.
Discounts train customers to wait for discounts. They punish full-price buyers. They erode premium positioning. At ₹2.99L and ₹4.99L, this does lasting damage to pricing power. If seats need filling at the margin, EMI (April 2026 partnership) handles affordability without cutting the price.
Real urgency (August 10 batch, 15+30 seat limits) is fine. Fake countdown timers, "only 3 left" when it isn't, "last chance" that resets weekly — all permanently damage trust once seen through. Not recoverable.
16-week timeline
Today is April 16, 2026. Batch starts August 10. Four phases, roughly four weeks each.
Deliverables
- Shoot Batch 1 testimonial videos (6-point script — before/struggle/discovery/transformation/proof/invitation)
- Shoot founder-led content (15+ pieces covering pain acknowledgment, mentor introductions, program structure)
- Shoot studio/day-in-life footage
- Design Placement Report PDF (separate for Digital Design and Mobility Design)
- Webinar deck + registration system
- Email nurture setup (ESP — ConvertKit or MailerLite)
- Website fixes shipped (per Part 2 of this doc)
- Lead tagging backend for "Brochure" vs "Apply Now" tracks
Channels
- Meta ads (cold audience): pain hooks for engineers; aspiration content for teens; prestige/outcome for parents
- Organic Instagram cadence (5-6 posts/week following content pillars)
- YouTube (1-2 videos/week)
- Reddit organic (founder + mentor participation — 2-4 weeks warm-up)
- First webinar: "How engineers become automotive designers in 9 months"
Channels
- Meta retargeting (warm audiences): testimonial ads, placement proof ads
- Email nurture firing (7 emails / 14 days)
- WhatsApp nurture for non-responders
- Webinar #2 + replay promotion
- Founder calls aggressively booked
- Career counselor partnership outreach (for Mobility Design)
Channels
- Meta retargeting (hot): real scarcity ads ("15 seats, 30 seats, Aug 10 — applications reviewed in order received")
- Email: deadline-driven sequences
- Parent-specific final-push campaigns for Mobility Design
- Daily founder calls
- Waitlist enrollment for next batch starts
What we need from Ronit
Before ads run (Week 1-2)
- Batch 1 student list — 8 names, backgrounds, companies, roles.
- Batch 1 contact list (emails + phones) — lookalike seed. Highest-leverage input Meta takes.
- Time — 2-day content shoot, one webinar per month across Phases 2-4.
- Permission for Batch 1 testimonials — 6-8 alumni.
- Website fix approvals — the urgent items in Part 2.
- Budget level — ₹1L/month minimum for parallel. ₹70K only works for sequential Digital-first.
Before Phase 3 (Week 8)
- Email/WhatsApp automation set up.
- Calendar cleared for sales calls.
- Career counsellor outreach list. We can help prioritise.
Decisions
- ASDC partnership — intro meeting this quarter. Yes or no.
- NSDC / state skill missions — which states first. Maharashtra makes sense given Batch 1.
Open questions
Unknowns to align on before execution. Each has a real impact on the plan.
₹1L/month for parallel campaigns, or ₹70K/month with 10-15 seats expected to miss?
How hard do we push Mobility Design in Month 1 when we have no Batch 1 data? Safer path: 70% Digital / 30% Mobility in Month 1. Let Mobility generate its own data. Scale in Month 2.
Is the founder willing to spend 10-20 hours across Q2 on ASDC, NSDC, and state skill mission meetings?
If August fills, do we start a waitlist for the next batch immediately, or run a separate structure for Batch 3?
The short version
- Website: trust and accuracy fixes (global school attribution, placement verification, hero rewrite, Brochure CTA, pain-acknowledgment copy) before paid traffic runs.
- Three parallel campaigns: engineer, Mobility teen, Mobility parent. Mobility Design has two decision-makers, hence two creative tracks.
- Geography. Digital Design: Tier 2/3 Maharashtra, Karnataka (non-Bangalore), Telangana, Kerala, Tamil Nadu (non-Chennai), Gujarat. Mobility Design: Tier 1 metros + HNI pockets — hypothesis, to test.
- Budget: ₹1L/month minimum for parallel, ₹70K defensible only for sequential. ₹4L across four months.
- Lead magnet is the brochure. "Get Brochure" next to "Apply Now" captures research-stage prospects, 5-10x the apply-stage pool.
- Webinars monthly, founder-led. Highest-trust conversion for a trust-dependent sale.
- Competitions. Mentor-led breakdowns of SIAM ADC, Maruti, Mahindra, Formula Bharat, ETWDC, plus LinkedIn and hashtag work.
- Partnerships. ASDC, NSDC, state skill missions — long-term moat, pursued in the background.
- Not doing: scraping, fake urgency, discount-led enrollment, micro-influencer spend in a niche without influencers.