New marketing plan a must to enlarge market percentage

Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesian companies must escalate their marketing strategy from the customer satisfaction level to the sensational level in a bid to snatch the largest market share in coming years.

"What they're doing now is only at the level of customer satisfaction. Their marketing strategies have to go to the level of customer experience where the keyword is sensation," marketing consultant Hermawan Kartajaya said on Wednesday during a seminar titled "Seizing the 2004 Market with Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC)".

IMC is defined as a process for managing the customer relationship that drives brand value. It takes forms such as above the line advertisement through electronic and print media, and below the line advertisement using direct mailing, public relations and sales promotions.

"This is the sensational communication era, you can't do average stuff anymore. Go to entertainment pools like theaters, cafes, and learn from entertainment people to find sensational ideas," Hermawan said in the seminar held by The Jakarta Post.

General manager of Telkomsel Erik Meijer, who was among the speakers at the seminar, said that the method had worked in his company.

"We got free media coverage for our the new features of our Simpati GSM card," he said, referring to an off-air Simpati event where he and several of Telkomsel's managers had their heads shaved by Miss Universe 2003 some time ago.

His statement is supported by the general manager of Bates Indonesia, Deli Makmur, who said that having a unique style of delivering a message would differentiate a brand from the others.

"Differentiating your brand from the competition is the biggest challenge faced by advertisers and advertising agencies," he said.

Another topic discussed in the seminar was the effectiveness of below the line advertisement. Lia Sunarjo, general manager of Euro RSCG Active, took the example of Nescafe Ice, which only spent 10 percent of its advertising budget for above the line advertisement.

"We spent the rest on below the line, such as holding entertainment events and launching the product on campus. The result was an increase by 20 percent of our brand's total market share within four months," she said.

This statement was amplified by Hermawan who said that using traditional media such as television or magazines to advertise products was no longer the most effective way.

In his presentation, he stated that 75.2 percent of a consumer's decision to purchase was influenced by word of mouth, which is a form of below the line advertisement, whereas only 50.6 percent was based on television exposure.

"This word-of-mouth method will be beneficial to our company as the cost will be lower and at the same time we will get our message across," he said.