Enterprises and Marketing

Business is Negotiation !

2009-05-09T18:44:00.002+07:00

Business is negotiation, but negotiations is not something that related only to business. Negotiation is a thing that humans always do all the time :), for example negotiation for deciding time to meet, place to go, where to talk, and etc. Negotiation is a compromise to settle an argument or issue between minimum two parties to benefit ourselves.

Why do you negotiate?. If your reason is for beating your opposition party then you must prepare with many persuasive tactics, because you may not end up with maximum benefits. If your reason is for reaching agreement with your opposition party then you must be much more friendly to your opposition and finding ways to reach agreement that brings an outcome which you will both benefit highly.

Divergent interests between parties are exist. But, that doesn't mean that you must negotiate with many people or many parties. Often you just have to use authority instead of negotiation. Many business matters are solved in a form of business contracts. If you have good contracts then just implement it, you don't have to negotiate anymore :).

Forbidden Things in Causal Marketing

2009-05-06T04:43:00.002+07:00

As posted before, Causal marketing is a magnificent way of marketing. It combines getting profit and building relationship with markets in one package. In implementing this kind of marketing in my thought there are forbidden things that shall never did by every marketers. Those things are:
1. DO NOT try to manipulate your customers
Please please please do not try to manipulate customers by supporting causes inconsistently just because each kind of customers give attention to different causes. In supporting a cause please never let your customers down. Choose a cause carefully and support it consistently so that your brand in the future will be correlated with the success in supporting it.
2. DO NOT counteract a negative perception of reality
In reality there are some products that are perceived negative by customers, such as tobacco. Don't try to counteract a negative perception of tobacco with some causal marketing programs because that would be useless and that would increase protests and rejections from customers that perceive tobacco as negative and toxic products.
3. DO NOT hide the truth
Just inform whatever the truth is :), tell the customers whatever the programs have done to support the cause and the results.
4. DO NOT forget to follow through
Support the cause consistently and build relationship with stakeholders :)

Causal Marketing, It's not Corporate Social Responsibility

2009-05-03T22:50:00.000+07:00

Causal marketing is a kind of marketing that used to promote products or services and cause together for benefit for community and corporation. Enterprises often use this kind of marketing to build long-term relationship between company and their markets and at the same time getting profits from sold products :). Famous pioneer in causal marketing is American Express. American Express charged 1 cent per card usage for restoring Statue of Liberty, and the result is beside the statue was restored American Express also had 45% growth of new cards and card usage was increase 28%.

In the other side Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a form of company self-regulation integrated into its business model. CSR functions as mechanism whereby company monitor and ensure their adherence to ethical standards, law, and norms. By integrating CSR into business model, corporation encourages community growth and development and eliminating practices that harm the public environment. CSR policies shall not implemented for getting profits, but sometimes people in many corporations don't understand it, they think by implementing CSR then corporation will get increase in its profit directly, in fact corporation may be getting increase in its profit in the longer terms because of corporation's image increase and many other business entities would like to cooperate with corporation that cares and implements CSR.

Causal marketing programs' results are direct to profit, but CSR policies' results are indirect to profit. Causal marketing programs also can increase product's brand equity, CSR too. Because of the nature of causal marketing programs that getting profit and increase relationship with markets in the same time then as marketer i love causal marketing more than CSR!

Forex Currency Pairs and Spread

2009-04-30T22:42:00.000+07:00

As many people know, there are foreign exchange currency pairs, the most popular ones are: EUR/USD, GBP/USD, USD/JPY, USD/CHF, EUR/JPY, USD/CHF, EUR/GBP. EUR=Euro, USD=US Dollar, GBP=Great Britain Poundsterling, JPY=Japan Yen, CHF=Swiss Franc. Volatility of each forex pairs are different, some pairs are more volatile than others. Forex pairs that are more volatile than others are better to use in trades, because traders make profit from the up and down movement of the currencies.

Normally, forex traders trade currencies of the major role players in the world economy because that players (countries) affect global economy. Other reason is the spread of forex pairs of major role players is much lower than less popular pairs. What is spread? spread is the difference between asking and bid price, that's why when you involve in forex trading there will be difference between currency actual rate and what you pay for getting it. That's the way forex broker get their profit. For example actual currency rate of 1 EUR is 1.275 USD, and the spread of EUR/USD is 2 pips, then you can buy 1 EUR for 1.277 USD. So, you must win 2 pips before you get break even :). If you choose less popular pairs then you must win lot more pips before you get break even, for example the spread of EUR/ZAR is 270 pips, then you must win 270 pips before you get break even, it's difficult aye :).

How to Market Home Made Products ?

2009-04-30T11:11:00.002+07:00

In Indonesia there are many starting entrepreneurs that start their own business in their home. I received a lot of questions from my friends that started their business in home about how to market their home products. There are many kind of products in this kind of business, such as foods, handicrafts, beverages, furnitures, and even software!. Hmm, so let's talk from general to specific concepts 'bout how to market home made products.

First, producers shall know 'bout their target customers, what product do they like? (product preferences such as color, package, features, and other product's attributes) , when they prefer to consume/purchase that product?, where they often to buy that kind of product, and etc (5W 1H;)). After that producers can design and develop products that suitable with what market wants, and then try to sell it through ways that match with customers' purchase activities.

The most common home made products in Indonesia are dry or half-baked foods, such as cake, snack, and etc. So i want to highlight home made dry foods :). How to market those foods? piece of cake, the most profitable way is offering it to enterprises/corporations, just come to each corporation and get to know who is in charge of canteen/cafetaria in that corporation and offer your products to him/her, of course ask him/her politely 'bout the procedures and try to negotiate some terms that you feel so difficult to be achieved ;). Don't forget offer your products to big supply chain stores such as Carrefour, Giant, Hypermart, Indomaret, Alfamart, and etc too :).

Tourism Business Opportunities in Indonesia after What Happened in Thailand (3)

2009-04-14T08:42:00.003+07:00

Do you know Papua? the biggest Island in East Indonesia that its shape like a lizard opens its mouth. Papua is a virgin heaven in earth!. Papua has a lot of potential tourism destinations, and for investors this island is so prospective. I would like to describe a potential tourism destination in Papua, that is an area called Raja Ampat. Raja Ampat or "Four Kings" is located in the Coral Triangle, the heart of the world’s coral reef biodiversity, so the seas around Raja Ampat hold the richest variety of species in the world. Survey of Raja Ampat islands that was held by the Nature Conservancy in 2002 shows that there are 537 coral species (75% of all known coral species in the world) and 1074 fish species live on the seas around Raja Ampat islands. It is a heaven that God created for you, divers!! :).

Raja Ampat islands currently is tourism destination for divers around the world. But these islands also suitable for any other tourism activities such as hiking, camping, skydiving, or etc. For investors this spot on earth is very prospective for business, especially to replace or compete with diving destination nearby Pattaya in Thailand after unstable politic condition hit Thailand. You can invest your funds in:
a. travel business: offer transportation services so that tourists can easily come in and out of Papua by airplanes and come in and out of Raja Ampat islands by comfortable schooners that well equipped for diving
b. accomodations business: build eco-friendly hotels and other inns in one of the Raja Ampat islands or in an area on the Papua mainland that very close to that beautiful islands
c. event-organizer or wedding-organizer business: offers services to manage underwater wedding ceremony for those who would love to feel once in a lifetime unique and unforgettable wedding, runs eco-friendly beach parties, runs fashion shows, and etc
d. infrastructures: cooperate with local government to build infrastructures in mainland nearby Raja Ampat islands that can support the growth of tourism in Raja Ampat islands, such as: airports, harbors, bridges, warehouses, electric generators, and etc because one of the big problems in the east of Indonesia is lack of infrastructures
e. human resources training: offers language and communication training programs for local people and government officials so that they can interact with foreign investors more fluently.

Tourism Business Opportunities in Indonesia after What Happened in Thailand (2)

2009-04-14T06:11:00.004+07:00

Indonesia is a beautiful country gifted with beautiful natural landscapes and various cultures. You can find a lot of interesting places and customs in Indonesia. Many foreigner tourists perhaps only know Bali. Bali is an island among 13,000 islands in Indonesia that is gifted with beautiful beaches such as Kuta and Sanur, interesting customs such as Ngaben, wonderful night life, and friendly local people.
There are business opportunities in Bali. You can develop resorts, hotels, motels, and etc. in Bali even though there are a lot hotels and such inns, but you must have creative and unique concepts to be implemented in your inns. You can also invest in Event Organizer businesses!, runs party events combined with traditional customs, party in the underground (really beneath the land), or any other unique events that you have in your imagination. In my opinion Bali is already a stable market for any leisure-related business because all infrastructures are available, its local people can speak English well, and the most important thing is Indonesia already a democratic country, Indonesian protestors never blockade public facilities such as airports, terminals, train stations, politics and security in Indonesia are in a very good condition, and terrorism is enemy of the state and Indonesia is as far as i know one country that fights terrorism very well by capturing terrorists dead or alive, not by bombing terrorists' origin country. So just be imaginative and creative in offering your products or services if you are interested in doing business in Bali.

Tourism Business Opportunities in Indonesia after What Happened in Thailand (1)

2009-04-13T22:03:00.005+07:00

ASEAN that comprises South East Asian countries such as Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, and etc. have been interesting places for tourists to spend their time and money. Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, and maybe Vietnam offer a lot of cultural traditions and beautiful and natural landscapes to invite and please tourists. I think in the segment of cultural and natural tourism industry in South East Asian countries there are two biggest market leaders: Indonesia and Thailand. As we all know, tourism industry all about to make tourists enjoy their visit and feel safe during their visit. So, the politics and security are important. Unfortunately for Thailand, after Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra ousted from its position by a military coup the security and politics in Thailand are unstable. There were several unrests in Thailand. During Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat's era (after Thaksin was ousted and temporary government was led by military generals) , People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) protestors had control over 2 international airports in Thailand: Suvarnabhumi and Don Muang and caused a lot of tourists couldn't come in and out from Thailand, infact a lot of them couldn't come out of the airport.

Currently, United Front for the Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), the opposite side of PAD protestors penetrated police barriers and went into Royal Cliff Beach Hotel where most of ASEAN leaders plus China, South Korea, Australia, India, New Zealand and Japan leaders were staying. Because of UDD invation the Thailand government has had to cancel the latest Asean++ Summit. Thailand failed to guarantee the security of that summit and because of that ASEAN plus neighbours countries' leaders safety were in danger, fortunately there were no fatal incidents hit those leaders.

Forex Trading (2): Some Success Stories

2009-04-12T22:06:00.004+07:00

In this game there are a lot of losers and winners. Only some of those winners are regarded as greatest forex traders because they have made enormous profits. I write success stories of those greatest forex traders here to motivate all forex traders .

The first and i assume the greatest forex trader of all time is George Soros. Even though he is accused by some of government leaders as a person who likes to ruin the economy of many countries. Some other observers said that Soros encourages many nations to become open societies, not only freedom in its commerce but also tolerances to new ideas, behaviors, and thoughts. His biggest success story is known as Black Wednesday event. On September 16, 1992 George Soros did short-selling more than 10 billions Poundsterlings and profited approx. US$ 1.1 billions because of UK's reluctance to raise its interest rate levels or to float its currency.

Another success forex trader is Joe Lewis. In 1979 He became multimillionaire after selling its family catering business and then relocated to Bahamas. Then he reinvented himself as currency trader although he is just a high school drop out!!. He also participated in Black Wednesday event and taking lots of profits. Three years later he gained profit against Mexican peso. Those jackpots brought him to become one of the greatest forex traders. His net worth is approx. US$ 2.5 billions.

Bruce Kovner also amongst those success forex traders. From 1979 to 1989 He realized 87% averaged annual compounded return from his investments in commodities and foreign exchange. His trading methodology is based on analyzing worldwide political and economic events. He always set up alternative scenarios about what this world would be in the future based on current worldwide events. He also gets gurus report daily: Preichter, Zweig, and etc. He made money by holding a position with a conviction that is based on his worldwide events analysis, his predetermined stop decision, and etc. His net worth is approx. 11 billions US Dollar. In 2001 he made 500 millions US Dollar personally!!.

There are also Bill Lipschutz and Paul Rotter. Paul Rotter was nicknamed "the Flipper". Those two also considered amongst greatest forex traders. Paul Rotter, 32 years old German has made 65 to 78 millions US Dollar per year for 10 years (1994 to 2004). A lot of traders don't like him because he often changes his position so quickly. Bill Lipschutz is a trader who in 1985 pulled in 300 millions US Dollars per year for Salomon Brothers.

Forex Trading (1)

2009-04-12T05:02:00.006+07:00

All topics about how to increase wealth are interesting to me. One of those topics that i would like to discuss and share with is Forex Trading. Hmm, do you know Foreign Exchange? it is an international term for exchanging currencies amongst countries in this world. Forex itself is an abbreviation for Foreign Exchange. So, Forex Trading market is simply a market where each parties trading foreign currencies. Many years ago currency trading had high barrier to entry, only large institutional firms had access to participate in Forex Trading games because there were strict financial requirements and massive transaction size that had to be complied. Recently Internet becomes a stimulus for Foreign Exchange Brokers (FX Brokers) to appear. Anyone interested in becoming an investor in this game can open account and buy and sell in many quantities through those FX Brokers, because those FX Brokers have hundreds to thousands of investors investing and trading through them so they able to comply minimum transaction size by buying large blocks of currencies and distributing those currencies among investors that trust their funds in FX Brokers. What are those currencies that traded in Forex Trading market? there are four pair of currencies that dominate the Forex Trading market: Euro vs US Dollar, US Dollar vs Japanese Yen, US Dollar vs Swiss Franc, and US Dollar vs British Poundsterling. When you are buying and selling in the foreign exchange currency trading system market your target is to hold a currency that appreciates in value in relation to other currency, so don't hold a currency that its value is depreciating. A simple example is: if you bought 50 Euros for 70 USD then held it for a week, during that time the value of Euro was appreciating, then in the end of that time your 50 Euros are equal to 85 USD. The daily volume of Forex currency trading in this world is approximately US$ 1 to 1.2 trillion and there is no organization that acts as middleman, supervisors, or regulators. Currencies trading or forex trading revolves between banking centers around the world. One thing that you must know, the Forex trade system market is opened for 24 hours, because it's always noon somewhere else in Earth, so it's always business hours in some regions in Earth. So, prepare your body in healthy condition if you want to be an investor that actively buys and sells currencies in forex trading system market :).

Four Basic Investing Rules

2009-04-11T17:14:00.003+07:00

Howdy? hope you are just fine, especially you that investing in the very risky investment sectors :). For everyone who haven't tried to jump into risky investment sectors such as stock market, then please take these four basic investing rules in your consideration:
1. Investing needs enough money
Investment enterprises always approach wealthy individuals such as bankers, government officials, members of House of Representatives, and etc. You can accumulate money by saving. These saving i am talking about is not just an ordinary saving, you must doing "forced saving", that is saving as much as and as often as possible. After you have enough money to invest then you shall have enough money for your next few months living costs and your assets equal to your liabilities (you must not have debts that more than value of your current assets such as house, vehicles, etc.). Please consider this too, every inheritances and sudden windfall funds shall be considered as capital, not as your income.
2. Budget enough money to invest
Please don't be a greedy investor, because greedy investors in stock market always spend ALL their money in the stock market. You can see many of the investors become greedy especially when the market is bullish. Please be a smart investor that invests money within your surplus in savings, in case market turns against you. If the market turns against you, you will not panic, and the best thing is you can invest your money by buying the undervalued shares
3. Decide your investing goals
Before you jump in the investment markets especially stock market please decide your investing goals. Ask yourself: a. do you invest in the short term, medium term, or long term?, b. do you invest for income (dividend) or for capital growth?, c. why do you invest?
Combination of your answers in those three questions are the basic for your investment plans. For example, if you want to invest for income and medium term then you can buy shares that give good and steady returns in form of dividend and keep that shares for 1 to 2 years or longer.
4. Aware of the risk
Last thing you must consider is: every investments have risk, higher risk higher return. In stock market the risks are: a. you went broke, b. companies that you invested your money in went down either to tough competitions, mistakes in managing business, or corruptions, c. the market sentiment went down because of political situation, monetary policies or regulations, and etc. that can affect the price of your shares.

A Business Opportunity: Campina Scoop Counter

2009-04-10T19:52:00.002+07:00

Heyhoo, if you are interested in doing business with small fund then this is a suitable business opportunity for you. Campina, as we all know is a famous and well known ice cream producer that was built by the Pranoto family in 1970. At the first time, they made ice cream in their home garage in Surabaya. Then they made ice cream using ice cream maker tool made in Italy during 1970 to 1980s. At 1985 they moved to a factory in Rungkut industrial estate in Surabaya. In the mid of 1990s Campina changed into a modern corporation.

Ice creams and other products of PT Campina Ice Cream Industry are made through several processes using high quality standard materials. PT Campina supports research and development for developing new delicious products to meet customers' needs and wants. There are several kind of Campina's products: stick ice cream, cake ice cream, cup ice cream (i love one of Campina's cup ice cream, that is Concerto Chocolate Sundae), family pack, premium ice cream, and etc.

Campina also revolutionizes the way it sells it's products. Previously it sells products to minimarkets, supermarkets, hypermarkets, and malls. In 2006 Campina started to offer opportunity for investors to invest in Campina Scoop Counter (CSC) program. Investment for that program is approximately 10 million Rupiahs. Investors who join CSC program rent a Freezer Exquisite 320 (125 cm x 70 cm x 200 cm) 215 watt (155 watt + 60 watt of 2 neon lamps), get 7 packs of 5 liters basic flavor ice cream (strawberry, chocolate, durian, chocolate chip, blueberry chip, and etc), and etc. Investors can sell that basic flavor ice creams in cones or mix basic flavor ice creams with other delicious things such as banana, black sticky rice, corn, green coconut, and others. For further information please google it or browse campina website.

Property Business Opportunities in Indonesia

2009-04-10T10:46:00.002+07:00

Even though global crisis spread since sub prime mortgages problem in USA affects many countries including Indonesia but there are still a lot of business opportunities in property sector in Indonesia. Indonesia's House of Representatives (or known as DPR Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat) achieved a consensus in January 2008 to allocate 1% of National Budget (or known as APBN Anggaran Pendapatan dan Belanja Negara) for citizen residential subsidy. That subsidy is distributed to some real estate developers so that the national target 2004-2009 to develop 1.265 million units of Simple Residence/Simple and Healthy Residence, 60 thousand units of Citizen Apartment for Rent (Rusunawa) and 25 thousand units of Citizen-Owned Apartment (Rusunami) can be achieved. Beside that, cabinet minister for citizen residential (Menpera) urges local governments to support the development of those 85 thousand units of subsidized Apartments. So, the development of subsidized residence and apartments is a property business opportunity in Indonesia.

For businessmen who don't know or don't have background in construction business can participate in property business in Indonesia by becoming franchisee of existing Property Broker Corporations in Indonesia, such as Coldwell Banker, ERA, Century21, LJ Hooker, Marvin Reeves, Raine & Horne, Ray White, Professionals, and etc. Only few of those corporation's franchise opportunities is described in detail.

ERA offers franchise opportunities for tax obedient Indonesia citizens that own a Inc. corporation and strategic 100 square meters unallocated building for ERA office, and have fund above 1 billion Rupiahs. Currently ERA Indonesia already have more than 130 office Member Broker and more than 2850 Active Marketing Associates spreads around Indonesia’s big cities. ERA's products and services are: Electronic Integrated Systems (EIS), ERA Referral / Relocation System, Integrated Promotion, Certificate Checking, Comparative Market Analysis (CMA), Property Ownership Credit Program, ERA Move, ERA Renovation, ERA House Insurance, ERA SMS, ERA Customer Care, ERA Free Notaris/PPAT Fee, ERA Community Service. For further information, investors can browse www.eraindonesia.com.

Marvin Reeves Real Estate Indonesia is a global franchise network that operating in the Real Estate sector. Marvin Reeves having the central office in Groningen, Holland. The Marvin Reeves Real Estate Indonesia is a Trading Business jointly established by independent entrepreneurs under a professional centralized management with an integrated and standardized marketing program to present one full services and professionalism. Marvin Reeves offers franchise investment for local investors that comply these requirements:
1. Able to invest fund as much as 591 million Rupiahs (included franchise fee for first year operating business)
2. Franchise fee 80 million Rupiahs/5 years
For further information, investors can contact Marvin Reeves at their central office at Mangga Dua Plaza Complex (Agung Sedayu) Block C no. 6, Jl. Mangga Dua Raya - Jakarta 10730. Telephone: (62-21) 6013738 (hunting) Fax (62-21) 6018037.

Ray White that is a household name and has a long association with the real estate industry offers franchise opportunities for those investors who are interested in it and can comply requirement to invest fund as much as 500 to 1000 million Rupiahs. According to David Chandra, Principal of Ray White Kelapa Gading, Cempaka Putih, and Kuta: "Property agency business is a business with minimum risks, doesn't need a lot of funds, and very profitable. With Ray White's system and its good brand image, i can get unlimited income". For investors who are really interested in becoming Ray White franchisee can contact Trisna Yany in Jakarta (Phone: +62 21 3922 777, Fax: +62 21 3925 528, Mobile: 0817 817 525, Email: trisnayany@raywhite.co.id), or Irene Sutjianingsih in Surabaya (Phone: +62 31 5355 777, Fax: +62 31 5481 688, Mobile: 0817 330080, Email: irene@raywhite.co.id ).

Word of Mouth Marketing for Restaurants

2009-04-10T10:30:00.002+07:00

Hmmm..WOM or known as Word Of Mouth is a term that was popularized by an Australian MLM company in the mid 1980. That MLM company refers the method for gaining much more sales by asking their members to describe the benefits of using their products to the potential customers as Word Of Mouth method. Because the nature of WOM Marketing relies on the communication between people whether 1 to 1, 1 to many, or many to 1 then the credibility of a product (good or service) in the mind and heart of potential customers relies on the credibility of the messenger and the media that they used.

Restaurants are places in which people not only looking for foods and drinks but also looking for ambiences, atmospheres, or nuances. The most common program that is used to create BUZZ to potential customers is the restaurant-owner invites friends or colleagues to eat and spend time in his restaurant for free or for some percent of discounts but they must having their cars or motorcycles park in front of his restaurant, because when we try to choose a restaurant we consider that a restaurant with full of visitors shall be a terrific restaurant.

Another method of WOM marketing is viral marketing: marketers use existing social networks such as mailing lists, dating website, friendship website free online game forum or website, blogs, amusement park membership cardholders, or even text messages network to inform customers about a product. Restaurant owner can use this kind of method, but remember that the credibility of person that inform customers through this WOM method is more important than its important in the previous method, so the messenger shall be well known people (not always celebrities). A simple example for the use of viral marketing method for creating positive buzz of a restaurant is: restaurant-owner invites friends or colleagues to eat and spend time in his restaurant for free or for some percent of discounts but they must coming with minimum 2 friend, because owner's friends or colleagues will speak to their friends, families, and etc. positively if they are impressed by restaurant's products or atmospheres and the buzz will spread like pathological viruses or computer viruses. Restaurant-owner can also creates a culinary lovers group in facebook that is dedicated for those who live nearby his restaurant or in the same city as his restaurant's place and send information about events or new foods and drinks. Below are the example of other viral marketing programs.

Evolution of Volvo, its Brand Logos and its Products

2009-04-10T09:49:00.005+07:00

Volvo, one of the popular commercial vehicles company in the world, one of its products exist in the exclusive and luxurious automobile market. Volvo founded on 14 April 1927. Volvo itself as a word is a Latin word, means "I roll" or "I drive" in the modern era. Volvo has evolved from safety luxurious cars to luxurious cars that more stylish and elegant. When it was founded, Volvo like what its brand mean concentrated in the manufacturing of everything that rolls: ball bearings, roller bearings, machines, transmissions, automobiles, bicycles, rolling-stock, transportation devices, means of transport of all kinds and parts of and accessories for the aforementioned products. Things that realized are Volvo automobiles and other transportation devices. Volvo introduced its first car, the OV4, and its first brand logo that was an old ideogram for the Roman God of War, Mars, and also an ancient symbol for iron to create associations between the Swedish iron industry: steel and strength and properties such as safety, quality and durability.

At the 1940s till 1970s Volvo tried to exist in the North American market. First Volvo tried to resemble famous American cars such as Volvo Carioca that resembled Chrysler Airflow in the mid of 1930s, then PV444 that launched in the mid of 1940s that resembled Fords and Mercurys. Volvo then tried to launch its sports car because Volvo understood the importance and tastes of the North American market . Volvo's second sports car, the P1800, made awareness of Volvo in the North American market increase higher. Volvo also invented the three point seatbelt. Volvo also involved in the rally championship in 60s and 70s and won the championship with its car, Volvo 850T.

In 2005, Volvo rejuvenated its brand logo, by adding some stylish and elegant aspect, but still maintaining its core aspects: old chemical symbols for iron and arrow that comes out of it. I think Volvo tried to harmonize itself with the trends, because in the 21st century customers prefer to choose anything stylish, trendy, elegant, and etc. In the 21st century Volvo also launched stylish and elegant products, such as XC60.
Nowadays world concerns with the environmental issues such as global warming, climate change, and etc. Volvo seems to follow up this trend by sponsoring many Burton snowboard championships. Volvo tried to rejuvenate its brand image as not only safe (because Burton snowboard is well known for its safety standard) but also environmental friendly, because Burton championships don't pollute environment like rally championships. Volvo also launches environmental-friendly products, one of its products is this Volvo truck.

Toyota Avanza in Indonesia

2009-04-10T09:38:00.000+07:00

In 1997 Indonesia faced economy crisis that was causing salary decrease and a lot employees were fired. At that time inflation were flying high from 8.8% to 57.6% and people's income were decreasing from 6.6% to -37.8% so that car sales in Indonesia were decreasing from 400 thousands cars to only 75 thousands cars in a year.

Since 2000 the market for 4x2 low cars were increasing. In 2000 the market composition of 4x2 low cars in the market of 4x2 cars were 18.3%, while in 2005 were 37.4%. Unfortunately for Toyota because Toyota haven't had any products in 4x2 low cars market at that time. So, Toyota obviously wanted to launch its own 4x2 low car.
In the 4x2 low cars segment, the composition is: 70% private cars and 30% public transportation ("Angkutan Kota"), while the distribution of cars in that segment was: 35% in Jakarta, 29.4% in West Java, 14.2% in East Java, 7.4% in Sumatra, 1.7% in Borneo (Kalimantan), and 2.5% in Sulawesi. The 4x2 medium cars segment in 2000 its market share composition was 78% to total 4x2 cars segment, while in 2005 its market share composition was only 57% of total 4x2 cars segment. The distribution of 4x2 medium cars was 37.7% in Jakarta, 19.9% in West Java, 13.1% in East Java, 12% in Sumatra, 3.8% in Borneo (Kalimantan), and 4.3% in Sulawesi.

Before launching its new product (Avanza), Toyota analyzed competition on 4x2 low and 4x2 medium cars market. Toyota's 4x2 low product (Avanza) would face direct competitors like some city cars: Suzuki Karimun, KIA Visto, and Hyundai Atoz, and some MPVs: Suzuki Carry, Daihatsu Taruna, Hi-Jet, and T120. Market leader in 4x2 low cars segment at that time was Suzuki. The new 4x2 low car product from Toyota would also face indirect competitors like 4x2 medium cars because the price of those 4x2 medium cars were not too different nor too higher than 4x2 low cars' prices. The indirect competitors were Toyota Kijang, Mitsubishi Kuda, and Isuzu Panther, in which the market leader was Toyota. Let's see competition in the 4x2 markets that Avanza would enter that time in this price to engine chart.
Toyota then analyzed profile of 4x2 low cars' customers. 4x2 low cars were cars with engine approximately 1000cc to 1100cc and priced 70 to 100 millions Rupiahs. That cars' customers were demographically married, young age (average 32.5 years old), had high education, businessman or employees. They believed that relationship with others and happiness are important things and they love doing individual activities. The reasons behind what cars they bought were: economic (price, oil consumption per kilometers, maintenance costs, sell price), performances, capacities (total passengers and total weights the car could carry-this reason especially mentioned by MPV buyers) or style and size (mentioned by city cars customers), and credibility of cars' brand. Those customers wanted a stylish minivan car that offers safety features, capacity, features, and comfortable like Toyota Kijang but with cheaper costs and price.

After analyzing current situations, Toyota mapped potential customers segments (segmentation):
1. young businessman or employees (max 30 years old) that just married and interested in buying economic and stylish car
2. older businessman or employees (31 to 45 years old) that already married, had children, and interested in buying economic and larger capacity car as substitute for his/her current car
3. students that interested in stylish car with good performance.
Target segment for Avanza then decided to be >= 30 years old businessman or employees that married and interested in having economic, stylish, and large capacity car (segment 1 and 2). Toyota positioned Avanza as stylish and large capacity MPV 4x2 low which its qualities were equal to MPV 4x2 medium while its prices weren't different with city cars' prices. 4P or Marketing Mix that suggested for Avanza were:
1. Price: 75 to 95 millions Rupiahs
2. Place & Promo: first focused on Jabodetabek (Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, Bekasi) for few months (3 months), then distribution and promotion would spread on West Java and East Java.
3. Product:

Ad Campaigns Using Obama's Figures

2009-04-10T09:29:00.000+07:00

Barrack Husein Obama II is the 44th President of the United States of America and the first African American that elected as an USA President. Barrack Obama's popularity is spreading around the world. Let's take a look at Obama's presence in Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/barackobama), wow there are more than 6 millions supporters of him there. In the past, most people across the world preferred Democrat Barack Obama to win the US presidential election over John McCain based on poll spanning 22 countries. Obama's popularity is considered also as a power for USA to convince its alliances and its close-friend countries around the world to find ways to fix the economic crisis and to get closer to muslim countries. Obama's popularity seems too tempting for marketers around the world. Some marketers are creating Ad campaigns that expose Obama look alike figures. Russian advertising agency Voskhod launched ad campaigns for an ice cream product. That campaigns expose Obama look alike figure, with slogan: "Everyone talking about it: dark inside white!". I think that campaigns are little bit racist.

There are also other ad campaigns that use Obama figure, such as a television commercial for heartburn medication in the Philippines, and Sunco, Telkomsel Simpati Card, and Waffle Tango TV ads in Indonesia (the actor is Ilham Anas, Obama look alike from Indonesia - http://hubpages.com/hub/obama-look-a-like). Those ad agencies that create these ads take benefits from Obama's popularity and hope that the products will be remembered and get popular. I think these ads will increase brand awareness (recall) in the mind of customers, but not in the heart of customers because these ads are exposing thing that:
1. not directly related with the quality of the product so that the customers don't know exactly what are those products' qualities
2. not giving promises to satisfy customers' needs or wants
3. not emotionally related with the products nor the customers.
Iam not judging those ads as useless ads, because at a point those ads really can increase brand recall of the product in the mind of customers, but corporations that sell those products must aware that Obama's popularity may go down in the future and those products cannot always rely on the popularity of Obama because there are no make sense associations between Obama and those products and because of that the image of Obama may hurt those brands' images. Corporations must ask ad agencies to launch more heart and unconscious-mind touching ads for their products because:
1. Alex Pouget, associate professor of brain and cognitive sciences at the University of Rochester, has shown that people do indeed make optimal decisions—but only when their unconscious brain makes the choice.
2. A lot of customers decide to buy products based on an emotional decision (in the other word buying decision process in many cases is affected by unconscious mind, for example women will be tempted by the shine of a beautiful diamond or gold jewellery and suddenly women wants to have it, women tend to buy lot of stuffs automatically when they see discounts at shopping malls even though they dont need those stuffs, men want to have strong, robust, and branded watches, cars, etc. automatically when they are exposed to those stuffs even their rational minds said that they dont have enough money for those stuffs).

This is another example of commercial advertisements that expose Obama figure. This is television commercial for heartburn medication in the Philippines:

How to Market a Pharmacy ?

2009-04-10T09:21:00.000+07:00

A friend of mine in a yahoo group asked other members how to market his/her Pharmacy especially in the market of non prescription drugs with its specific target segment is low to medium income customers. After reading his/her email, I remember the days when I helped my parents planning and implementing strategy to increase market share of our family-owned Pharmacy in Surabaya, Indonesia 7-8 years ago. Nowadays that Pharmacy still exist and grow even though there are more than 20 Pharmacy nearby it, but my parents decided not to open branches nor franchise opportunities like Pharmacy K24 because of some family considerations, one of those considerations is that Pharmacy was existed not only for profit-oriented business but also for social business.

First thing that shall be considered when you are going to market a Pharmacy is you shall have great and fix operational system, you shall service patients (Pharmacy's customers) fast, no errors, and with care. The second thing is what is the positioning of our Pharmacy ? if you position your Pharmacy as high class Pharmacy then it is not suitable for it to be opened in the middle of residential area for medium to low classes, or in the other word our Pharmacy must be placed on public shopping areas such as nearby supermarkets, inside plazas or malls, or in the middle of residential area for high class society. The layout and interior design must be luxurious too. You can also increase the price above normal price. Apotek Guardian is one of the Pharmacy that positioned as high class Pharmacy in Indonesia.

Okay let's forget about high class, medium, or low class Pharmacy. Pharmacy sells drugs that are basic needs for customers. People don't care where to buy legal drugs as long as they can get legal drugs whether prescription or non prescription drugs. Why is that? because patients don't like to be sick, so they just want to get drugs and get away to consume that drugs as soon as possible. There are no prestige in buying drugs in high class Pharmacy, nor there are bad image in buying drugs in low to medium class Pharmacy. There is no lifestyle in buying drugs nor in consuming drugs because nobody like to be sick!. That's why I personally suggest to all of my friends who want to have Pharmacy to target all segment of customers but position the Pharmacy as low to medium class Pharmacy. That was also my suggestion in past planning strategy of my family-own Pharmacy. The third thing that shall be considered when you are marketing a Pharmacy is medium to low class customers are not price sensitive customers, so please dont think to involve or to start price war in Pharmacy business. If you are considering to involve or to start in it please take a look first thing to be considered in the above part of this article because that is the main and the most important thing in this business :). If the operational system of Pharmacy is going well then more than 50% success is in hand. The next thing that you shall do is having people know and visit your Pharmacy. Please focus in personal communication and relationship development to invite people nearby your Pharmacy to become customers of your Pharmacy because trust is important in their mind. Trust is more valuable than various discounts, brochures, or other marketing programs for your Pharmacy. The fourth thing that shall be considered by you is your Pharmacy's layout/interior design. Don't use lamps that are too bright, just use medium-bright lamps, because it is correlated with the image of your Pharmacy in customers mind. If the light in your Pharmacy are too bright then the image of your Pharmacy is high class Pharmacy which sells drugs above normal price. Another thing that is related with Pharmacy's layout is cleanliness and neatness. Preserve your Pharmacy's cleanliness and neatness within high standard. Nobody wants to buy drugs in a messy and dirty Pharmacy.

How to Manage Product that in Mature Stage ? (VitaCharm & Yakult)

2009-04-10T09:12:00.000+07:00

There was an interesting question in a yahoo group that i already joined in (marketing-clubs) about how to increase sales turnover of healthy probiotic drinks (the brands are VitaCharm and Yakult) that he/she thought already in mature stage. Before giving solutions let me asking questions about those products to make sure that those products are really in the mature stage:
1. Are the costs decrease due to experiencing many times of production and production volume is increasing ?
2. Does the volume of sales stable in the peak position and difficult to reach higher ones?
3. Are there many competitors in the markets?
4. Do the profits go down ?
If questions 1 to 4 are answered with Yes then there is a high possibility that those products are in the mature stage.

How to increase sales turnover and profits of products that in the mature stage? in this case that products are healthy probiotic drinks Yakult and VitaCharm. These are some suggestions that i think will rejuvenate that products to be in the growth stage again:
1. Product Innovation!:
a. produce Yakult or VitaCharm with delicious flavors: strawberry, chocolate, orange, or others.
b. launch Yakult or VitaCharm in various packages: can, bottle, or other interesting form of packages
c. produce Yakult or VitaCharm in various substances, e.g. jelly
2. Marketing Innovation!:
a. launch new brands for those innovated products
b. join with healthy food producers to launch marketing programs to educate younger customers such as children (for example giving free healthy breakfast plus Yakult or VitaCharm with flavors for junior high school students) because in many cases many products that bought by mommy are chosen or wanted by her children and those children will grow up and become next generation of Yakult or VitaCharm's customers
c. repositioning from healthy probiotic drinks to hip modern drink for everyone
d. co-branding with other products, but this must be done cautiously, because co-branding can also hurt Yakult or VitaCharm's previous brand image.
3. Distribution Innovation!:
a. launch center for healthy intestine with cooler name (such as "Rumah Sehat Yakult or VitaCharm") nearby malls where customers can check their health up and can have clear information how to take care their intestine's health by some ways, one of that ways are consuming Yakult or VitaCharm everyday
b. distribute new innovated hip products to hip places such as restaurants, cafe, etc.

Axe Effect in Indonesia

2009-04-10T08:52:00.000+07:00

Axe, that was first launched in 1983 in France now is the leader of male deodorant segments in Indonesia. Currently Axe launched marketing campaign titled "Axe Effect" in Indonesia. That campaign in TV Ads exposes sex appeal of Axe deodorant's users to females. These are Axe Effect's TV Ads in Indonesia:

"Axe Effect" campaign also involves online campaign that informs Axe events, How to succeed in getting dream girl by using Axe as one key success factor, and etc. Axe Effect campaign explores one of human needs, that is relationship. There are five human needs according to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, one of those needs is Belongingness and Love Needs that include relationships, affection, family, and work groups.

Other deodorants in Indonesia have tried to explore another need that is Esteem Needs especially self esteem need. In the improvement model of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs the category that other deodorants in Indonesia have explored is more appropriate to category Aesthetic Needs especially beauty need. One example of deodorant that have explored the esteem need is female deodorant Rexona, which created buzz word "Burket" or "Bubur Ketek" to mention the disgusting mush at female armpits that appears all the time if they are using talcum powder instead of deodorant.

In those hierarchies of needs, the bottom stages are closer to the basic needs, especially the one at the bottom are human basic needs or called as Biological and Physiological Needs that include air, sex, food, water, shelter, sleep, etc. Another deodorant or perfume product explored the same need as what Axe Effect campaign is doing. That female product (i forget the brand name) explored relationship need by creating buzz words that spoken by a girl to mention the effect of that deodorant to men nearby her, "Lengket Kaya Perangko" which means "Always Stick to Me Like Stamps to a Letter". Deodorants and perfumes in Indonesia have explored needs like Belongingness and Love Needs, Esteem Needs, and Aesthetic Needs in their campaigns. I wonder is there any perfume or deodorant product that will explore the basic need such as Sex in their marketing campaign. I am thinking if there will be a deodorant or perfume that works on that niche market like Viagra does. I think Axe Effect campaign haven't entered that needs, because the expression of girls in its campaign are just expressions of liking the fragrant of Axe and that the stimulus for them to give their phone numbers. LOL, i do like those ads.

iPhone vs Blackberry in Indonesia (3)

2009-04-10T08:51:00.000+07:00

I really want to analyze these products furthermore by using SWOT, Porter 5 Forces, and etc. but it seems the analysis will look too formal. So in this final case study article of iPhone vs BlackBerry Bold in Indonesia i want to give conclusions and suggestions. My conclusions are:
1. Those products are competing in different segments, iPhone's target customers are high to premium class segments who want to have stylish mobile phone that reflects his/her personalities, love to socialize, and need mobile phone that offers high internet speed and a lot bandwith, while Bold's target customers are medium to high class customers that want to have compact mobile phone that offers internet availability in cheap costs, safe and easy to use so that they can connect with corporate data & info and their colleagues in work.
2. Basically those products are not the most advanced PDA or mobile phone, because there are more mobile phones or PDAs that have better specification than those two products, e.g HTC, Nokia E Series, etc.
I have some suggestions for Telkomsel:
1. Telkomsel shall focus iPhone's marketing programs and IMC on high to premium class social networks such as social gathering of wives of government officials and company directors ("arisan ibu golongan atas"), golf clubs, artists and actors' organization (PARFI, PARSI, etc.) gathering, and etc.
2. Telkomsel shall educate that high to premium class segment by introducing iPhone as easy to use, stylish, high tech, and prestigious mobile phone. Customers in that segment in Indonesia often don't know well how to use high technology gadgets; they have high tech gadgets but doesnt have experiences in trying some of their gadgets' high tech features.
3. Telkomsel shall try to offer iPhone to corporates especially to directors and managers. Those leaders shall not worry because iPhone like other Apple's products are not so susceptible to security threats such as viruses, worms, and etc.
I also have some suggestions for Indosat and other BlackBerry's service provider:
1. They shall continue to offer the gadget to corporate and try to offer BlackBerry to governments, and college students.
2. They shall offer usable applications and services for BlackBerry's users.
3. They shall conduct cooperations with other private corporations to offer discounts for BlackBerry's users, such as 10% discounts in restaurant A, 15% discounts of B airways tickets, and etc.

iPhone vs Blackberry in Indonesia (2)

2009-04-10T08:37:00.000+07:00

In this second part let's analyze pricing and bundled service strategy of those two products (iPhone 3G and BlackBerry Bold) in Indonesia. Bold, like any other Blackberry offered by Indosat in two kind of packages: Matrix BlackBerry Retail/Individual (BIS) and Matrix BlackBerry Corporate (BES). BIS package is offered to customers in the range of 190 thousand, 230 thousand, and 270 thousand Rupiahs (approx. 19 USD, 23 USD, and 27 USD) per month. If individual customers choose package 190 thousand Rupiahs then customers can get GPRS minimum package of 50 MB per month, 75 minutes call, and 75 free SMS. If customers choose package 230 thousand Rupiahs then customers can get broadband package 500 MB per month and any services that offered in package 190 thousand Rupiahs, while the package 270 thousand Rupiahs offered unlimited broadband package. Those individual/retail Indosat Matrix BlackBerry packages offer 5% sale discount for each BlackBerry devices. Those packages can be compared with iPhone package that offered by Telkomsel. Telkomsel offers iPhone device for as cheap as 2.622 million Rupiahs (approx. 262.2 USD), while the cheapest BlackBerry in Indonesia is 555.5 USD.That iPhone package is Turbo Premium Package which customers must pay 730 thousand Rupiahs (approx 73 USD) per month and customers then can get 6 hours free talk, 300 free SMS, 1GB free data package per month, and HALO SIM card. If customers choose package for SIMPATI SIM card then customers shall pay 9.605 millions Rupiahs just to get iPhone device. Packages of Matrix BlackBerry for corporate (BES) are offered in the range of 260 thousand Rupiahs (features are the same with 190 thousand Rupiahs BIS package), 300 thousand Rupiahs (features are the same with 230 thousand Rupiahs BIS package), and 310 thousand Rupiahs (features are the same with 270 thousand Rupiahs BIS package). If customers want to have better GPRS data package then customers can choose to get 100 MB (+25 thousand Rupiahs/months), 250 MB (+50 thousand Rupiahs/month), or 550 MB GPRS package (+150 thousand Rupiahs/month).

From the details of Indosat BlackBerry and Telkomsel iPhone pricing strategy above, i can conclude that Telkomsel iPhone's target customers are high to premium segments with high income and need: higher internet speed (3G vs BlackBerry's GPRS), a lot more bandwith (Telkomsel offers 500 MB to 1 GB per month, while Indosat offers minimum 50 MB and maximum 500 MB per month), and social facilitation such as free talk and free SMS.
Yellow table shows Telkomsel packages that are offered for iPhone's customers while blue tables show Indosat packages for BlackBerry's customers:

iPhone vs Blackberry in Indonesia (1)

2009-04-10T08:32:00.001+07:00

Blackberry has been a booming trend in Indonesia lately. That device is becoming more popular and more people buy it. Blackberry was introduced several years ago but the booming trend of it was started few months ago (or was it a year or two years ago? i forget the details). In the contrary iPhone was introduced by one of the biggest providers in Indonesia (Telkomsel) in 23rd March 2009. Those two devices are predicted to have tough competition amongst them. Let's analyze product specification, pricing strategy, and bundled services of those two products in Indonesia. In this first part let's analyze specification of each those products (Apple's iPhone and RIM's Blackberry Bold 9000).
Size and weights: iPhone is narrower (2.4" vs 2.6"), longer(4.5" vs 4.48"), thinner (0.48" vs 0.59"), and slimmer than Bold (4.7 oz vs 4.8 oz).
Navigation: iPhone applies touch screen while Bold applies trackball and QWERTY keyboard
Display: iPhone's screen (3.5" screen) is larger than Bold's screen.
Features: iPhone 3G offers 3G support, GPS, camera 2.0 MP, push email (mobileMe & Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync), desktop class web browser, built-in accelerometer so that iPhone can respond in it's user motion, and widescreen iPod. Bold offers those features too plus video recording and corporate data access (i dont know for sure what this feature is, if this feature is about sending data through push email then i think this feature is offered by iPhone too).
Battery: iPhone's standby time is 300 hours (approx. 12.5 days), while Bold's standby time is 13 days.
Capacity: iPhone offers 8GB or 16GB flash drive while Bold offers 1GB with expandable memory supports for microSD card.
Security: Bold offers more security features than iPhone.
Network: iPhone applies these networks: UMTS/HSDPA, GSM/EDGE, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth, while Bold only applies networks: Wi-Fi, GSM, and UMTS.
From those product specification comparison, it seems that Blackberry position itself as secure mobile phone for corporate customers, while iPhone 3G position itself as stylish 3 in 1 product that redefines what mobile phone can do-again.
Credit of this picture goes to iPhone Blog (http://media.shinyplastic.com/prodimg/blackberry-bold-iphone-comparison.jpg).

What is Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning (STP) ?

2009-04-10T08:29:00.000+07:00

STP often used before marketing programs are planned. STP is related with market research and marketing research. STP uses information about current market size, market shares, concentration of customer base for particular products, potential customers, customer's purchase decision process that gathered from market and marketing research to find out kinds of consumers with different needs, different characteristics, and etc (this is known as Segmentation). For example in the auto market there are consumers that need speed and performance, there are consumers that need safety and luxurious, there are consumers that need an economical auto, there are consumers that need the combination of some needs that have been described, there are consumers that want to have their own imagination car or modified car special for themselves, and etc. In the auto market there are consumers with high, medium, and low purchasing power too. There are some variables that often used to segment various consumers. Demographic segmentation is consumers segmentation based on: income, gender, marital status, education, etc while psychographic or behavioral segmentation is consumers segmentation based on lifestyles, opinions and attitudes, degree of loyalty, consumption occasions, usage consumption, and benefits sought. After finding out kinds of consumers the next thing to do is deciding to target a kind or some kinds of consumers (a segment or few segments of consumers) (this is known as Targeting). There are 3 considerations in choosing target segment(s): 1. how well existing segment(s) treated by competitors, 2. how large the market size of the segment is, how good it's potential, and how easy and how big it will grow in the future ?, 3. do the company has enough strengths to appeal one or more group of segment(s)?. The next step in STP is positioning the product or the company to appeal target segment(s). There are 3 strategy for it: undifferentiated, concentrated, and differentiated strategy. In the undifferentiated strategy all consumers is treated the same or a product for all customers, for example is a company supply same aluminium commodity to various household tools producers. In the concentrated strategy a product is positioned to serve customers' specific needs, for example Volvo is positioned as safety and luxurious car to serve a high-class target segment that has high consideration on safety, or Southwest Airlines is positioned as an airways that makes people fly to serve price sensitive passengers that needs to fly in a low price. In the differentiated strategy a product is positioned differently for each target segment, for example nowadays many airlines provide economy and business class for their customers.

8 Marketing Communication Functions

2009-04-10T08:25:00.000+07:00

Eight marketing communication functions are: advertising, public relations, sales promotion, direct marketing, personal selling, packaging, events and sponsorships, and customer service. Those eight functions are used by marketers when they are designing marketing communication mix as one part of their marketing programs. Brand messages are delivered to customers via one, some, or all of those eight functions or 'methods'. Those eight functions need the right media to send brand messages effectively and efficiently. Let's see each of eight marketing communication functions:

What is 7P ?

2009-04-10T08:20:00.000+07:00

4P is not enough, because nowadays service or non-service products need to be treated in more complex ways and involve more men, more processes, and more creative ideas to be implemented nearby that product so that customers aware of it, would love to buy it, buy it often, and finally become loyal customers. Booms and Bitner added 3 additional mix to the Marketing Mix, that are: People, Process, and Physical Evidence. That 4P + 3 is called as 7P.
People: All men or women that are directly or indirectly involved in the consumption of a product and those people add significant value to the service or non-service product offering. The questions that needs to be addressed by marketers and other functions in the company are questions about who are the people that shall stand nearby the product to explain about the product's functionality? what kind of expertise that needs to be mastered by those people that stand nearby the product so that those people can influence customers to come by and finally become one of their loyal customers? is it needed to train those front people any additional knowledge or expertise? and etc.
Process: Mechanism by which the service or non-service products are consumed. The questions that are related with it are: how do customers find out the product? how they consume the product, are they consuming the product all at once or in few times (not all at once)? how frequent the product is consumed? and etc.
Physical Evidence: Nearby environment including all things in it that helps marketer or front salesman/salesgirl to communicate the product's features, to perform the service, and etc. Physical evidence is environment where the product meets potential and existing customers and that environment shall be able to relay the existing customer's satisfaction to potential customers so that they are willing to buy and consume the product. Layout and design of the environment add significant value to the perception of the customers. If the design of the nearby environment is luxurious then customers can start to perceive that products shown or sold there are expensive and exclusive products. If the cleanliness of an environment is preserved then customers can perceive that products that sold there are more clean and safe than products that sold in the vile traditional market.

What is 4P ?

2009-04-10T06:00:00.000+07:00

4P that is popular as term Marketing Mix is a set of correlated that work together to achieve what marketer wants, that are the product is sold, customers need or want that product so much, the product sales is increase, and at the end the company enjoys profit. 4P consists of Product, Place, Promotion, and Price.
Product: What is the functionality of the product? What are the accessories of the product? How about if the product that customer bought is broken, is there any reparation and support? How is the package of the product? and many more questions that related with the attributes of the product that needs to be addressed by marketers together with other functions in the company.
Price: What kind of pricing strategy that will be used (skim, penetration, etc.)? Is there any discount for it? Is the discount for large volume buyers or for each retail buyers? Is the company going to suggest the retail price to the retailers or is the company giving retailers a chance to set the price themselves? and many more questions that related with how much the customers want to sacrifice to get the product are needs to be addressed by marketers together with other functions in the company such as finance department, operation department, and etc.
Place: What kind of distribution channels that suitable for the product? Is the product going to be sold in mass channels or in limited and private channels? How is the market coverage for each channels? Do the company needs to develop distribution centers that close to each private owned stores or other channels? and many more questions about where and how the product is placed nearby the customers that needs to be addressed by marketers and other functions in the company, e.g. distribution department.
Promotion: What kind of promotional strategy (push or pull) that suitable for the product? Do the product needs to be advertised in multimedia or just specific in a media? Do the product needs to be advertised for mass customers or just for specific targeted potential customers? Do the promotion for the product combined with IMC so that not only the product is sold but also the brand is becoming popular? and many more questions about how and when information about the product delivers to customers?

What is IMC ?

2009-04-10T05:58:00.001+07:00

IMC is an abbreviation for Integrated Marketing Communication, which is an integrated ways to communicate your marketing strategies, started from IMC planning, its implementation to its brand message delivery. IMC is related with synergy, creativity, and integration between marketing communication functions, media, and those continuous IMC processes. Briefly, the process model IMC can be seen in below figure.

What is Marketing Communication ?

2009-04-10T05:56:00.000+07:00

Few or perhaps all of you know what the 4P (Product, Place, Price, Promotion) or 7P (4P++ Process, People and Physical Evidence) is. 4P and 7p is related with the creation of product and all things nearby product’s attraction so that the product has high quality and it is expected able to fulfill the customers’ needs or wants. The question is how the fate of a product if customers don’t know it? Is it going to be sold well? The most logic answer is that product will fail in markets. Do not expect even that much that its brand become popular, because the product can’t be sold well. Now then marketing communication is crucial here. Marketing communication is a mechanism to inform, introduce, or popularize qualities that a product has and its brand. The analogy related with writing world including blogging world is a person called “A” has brilliant ideas, and by writing his/her ideas in email groups, magazine, and also blog then A’s qualities and A as a personal brand become popular. What the marketing communication delivers is brand messages. Brand messages are not about the brand but also all things that the brand promises that can satisfy customers’ needs or wants. Brand messages are delivered to customers through eight marketing communication functions.

What is Brand ?

2009-04-10T05:55:00.000+07:00

Brand is a name, a term, a sign, a symbol, a pattern, or combination of those things that can differentiate products (goods or services) that you sell with competitors’ products and that delivers promises to customers. Strong brand in the mind of customers can be achieved when: first that brand is memorable in the mind of customers as something with high quality and it delivers promises to the customers that are different with other brand competitors’ promises and those promises that the brand delivers are needed or wanted by customers. Brand is so powerful when its customers are loyal and actively become evangelists of that brand. They become evangelists when they are starting to spread the information about that brand to their friends, families, and colleagues and asking those people to try that brand.

What is Brand Equity ?

2009-04-10T05:53:00.000+07:00

Hmm, what is Brand Equity, what are it's differences with brand?. Brand Equity is the value of a brand that is felt or thought by customers. For example, I personally as one of the Coca-Cola’s consumers think that the brand of Coca-Cola is kewl, suitable for hanging out, but ‘toxic’ a.k.a is not healthy for the body if I drink it too much n too often. Brand Equity is a connector between what customers felt about a brand in the past, in the present, and in the future. If Brand Equity of a product in the past is good then with doing marketing programs and IMC that don’t change drastically the value of that brand in the customer’s mind then its Brand Equity in the future will be good too or shall be better than its in the past.