Multimedia Content in Conventional Media

Dear Mr. Stephen Kurnia,

Thank you very much for the sharing. I also noticed the same thing and I salute Kompas for the effort utilizing IT for its product leadership strategy. I have scanned one of its dakode using barcode reader program in my Nokia E90 and it showed a web address...

I think Kompas is anticipating the trend that more and more people like reading news online than from the conventional media. Some old newspapers have 'died' in America and they are now seriously entering the paperlers media: online news!

Let's see what other conventional newspaper will do in this paperless era.

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Every Product has Its Own Target Market

I am now in Jakarta already. I came back from Malang yesterday afternoon. Malang is a nice city but not so cool as it was 20 years ago. One interesting thing is when a friend of mine brought me to a plasa to see a big store selling Tanggulangin's products: hand bag, wallet, etc, which are all fake products!!! Hundreds of products available and their models are very similar to the original versions!!! Personally I don't like those products. Why? Firstly, they are against the law. Secondly, their quality are very low... though the prices are very low too - value for money! But, this business exists! It shows that it has its own loyal target markets. It proves that every product has its own segment(s). We don't need to worry to sell our product -what ever it is - as long we know how to market it.

We are in holiday season so many people go with their family and stay at hotels. Yes, you are right. We need a new fresh atmosphere to recharge our energy. Novotel Bogor is one of the recommended places to stay for this purpose. Its room rate is relatively high but its occupancy is quite good, especially during high seasons. It proves that every product (hotel) has its own target market. So, don't worry if we have expensive products to sell as long as we know how to sell or market it.

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It's not Free... It's a Discounted Offer!

I am still in Malang, East Java, Indonesia. Today is Sunday, and I remember last Sunday I went to Dufan (Dunia Fantasy), Ancol, Jakarta, with my family and relative. We went to Dufan because my daughter wanted to use a free Dufan voucher she got from Dufan because of her good academic result. The voucher offered a 20% discount for four persons entering Dufan with her. We were seven, so there are two of us must pay the entrance fee with no discount!

My daughter was very happy enjoying Dufan, the best fantasyland in Indonesia before the newer and better one will be operated in Makassar... CMIIW...

Two thumbs for the management of Dufan who give special attention to students with good academic record. It's a brilliant marketing strategy since normally a student will not go to Dufan alone. In my case, we have to pay: Rp. 0,- + (4 x Rp. 140.000 x 80%) + (2 x Rp. 140.000 x 100%) = Rp. 728.000 for 7 persons, or Rp. 104.000/person. The normal entrance fee was Rp. 140.000/person, so we received roughly around 25% discount for all seven persons!!!

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Images for Printed Promotional Materials: Free, Paid or Self Created...

Dear Mr. Selamat and Others,

Thanks for your comments. I agree with you that we should ask for permission for the non-free loyalty images or personal images on the internet. I have a good example for this, but not the commercial case. It’s a blogger that asked me permission for using one of my pictures on Solaria restaurant I posted on my blog. He personally asked permission since he wanted to share the similar issue on the restaurant and need my picture. I happily let him used my picture and he thanked me for this. I really appreciated him contacting me.

Why non-free images could create better impression for our products? Firstly, these images usually have better resolution as well as photography techniques. Secondly, these images look special, exclusive, not common pictures that many companies also use. A few months ago an advertising agency was invited to my company to speak about how to create a better design for our printed promotional materials. They observed some my company’s brochures and mentioned that one of the products with good promo material design was OSFIT DHA (a supplement containing calcium and DHA that are very important for pregnant women and its baby). One of the reasons was because of the good quality of the image used on the brochure: very good in resolution and photography technique. Our company paid quite expensive for the image!

Other alternative is: by creating images or pictures by ourselves! Our professional photographer takes the pictures with our original model, views or places. Sure, it will look very exclusive! No other products use the same image! The printed promo material will then look like more qualified and can help enhancing our product or company image. But, of course, usually we need more budget for this effort.

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FKI (Festival Komputer Indonesia) Exhibition, Sales Opportunity in Campuses, the Era of Netbook...

Dear Mr. Stephanus Kurnianto and Others,

I visited FKI (Festival Komputer Indonesia) exhibition during lunch time today with my son and stop by at your booth but did not find you. Instead, I met Mr. Stephen Kurnia - our friend in Sales-MarketingGroup - at the exhibition area.

Actually I was considering buying a notebook with international warranty for my son as he is going to Singapore next month to start his study in this country. We visited some booths of international brands but haven’t decided yet to buy one. I remembered that usually students at NUS (National University of Singapore) will be offered to buy a new notebook on their first days in the campus with special price and condition. I remembered Toshiba once offered students in some campuses in Jakarta with 25% discount! So, for the time being considering buying a notebook for my son in campus in Singapore might be a wiser choice… CMIIW…

Talking about buying notebook in campus…. Wow!!! It’s a great sales opportunity for notebook vendors…. Imagine that hundreds of new students are entering NUS next month (and could be thousands for some universities!!!). Wow!!! How great sales will be created! Several years ago I read in newspaper that new students in Universitas Pelita Harapan also would get a notebook for free… (actually it’s already included in their admission fee…).

Back to the computer exhibition.. Wow… I can say it’s an era of netbook! So many vendors - either the international brands or the local ones - are promoting netbooks with relatively cheap prices bundled with interesting sales promotion programs.

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Mo. family Christmas photo turns up in Czech ad

Interesting real story how a photo on internet has been used for advertising illigally. Please click this link.

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Service Excellence... Thank you Indosat, still waiting for First Media

Last night at Galeri Indosat on Thamrin street was a very good experience.. . I was there for complaining why there were invoices for imofis for a few months in my billing statement - a product we have to pay every month. The fact is I have unsubcribed for imofis a few months a go. After checking for about 5 minutes then the officer said it's okay with my idea to write off the wrong invoice!!! What a very smart dec
ision! No need to debate with customer why customer pay several months for the wrong billing... Thank Indosat!

Contrary with Indosat is First Media... I have sent several emails to its customers service complaining the 'FTV case' then the billing I paid for the foreign tv channels I did not receive during 1 - 28 April 2009 (because First Media turn off all my foreign tv channels... as I suggested to them if they had no idea how to filter FTV...). My last two emails have not been replied for more than two weeks... So, no response to my idea of writing off the invoice...

Again, thank Indosat... and I am still waiting for First Media response...

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Word of Mouth Marketing - Fatigon HYDRO, a Good Example

Dear Ms. Monalisa and Others,

You're right, emails ask us to be forwarded mostly are cheating us, especially those who offer unbelievable promises. The exception is if the emails show some links to their official websites then we can see their real offers there. A few months ago Fatigon HYDRO successfully had a buzz for its promotion program on websites and some of our friends here were happy to get prizes from Fatigon HYDRO. And, the happy persons told their friends about Fatigon Hydro's promotion campaign... A successful word of mouth!

Attempting to fake word of mouth is unethical and creates backlash, damages the brand, and tarnishes the corporate reputation. Ethical marketers reject all tactics related to manipulation and dishonesty.

I believe that some emails have been created by some individuals to - merely - get our email addresses. For what? They can do spamming, or sell our addresses to the other parties! So, please be careful...

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The Great Singapore Sale 2009, Jakarta Great Sale 2009...

If you are in Singapore at the end of this month you’ll see more Indonesians there… Why? Because there will be ‘The Great Singapore Sale 2009’ (GSS 2009) on 29 May – 16 July 2009. Sure, it’s funny… especially when you’re on Orchard road… And, with the new fiscal-free policy for all Indonesian tax payers…. wow… I can’t imagine that there will be much more our Indonesian friends there in the next two months…

Please see the above web address and you’ll see a good promotion site for GSS 2009 (in four languages!) organized by SRA (Singapore Retailers Association) . It’s easy to find the web by writing the key words: Singapore Great Sale 2009 in Uncle Google’s search engine. In contrast, it’s very difficult to find the official website of “Jakarta Great Sales 2009” (JGS 2009).

How can JGS compete with GSS if it’s quite difficult to find information on JGS 2009?

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Word of Mouth Marketing

Dear Mr. Chris Japari and Others,

Yes, our friends here could be very busy so that less emails come to us… In my observation there are less messages on weekends compared to work days. Hope there will more messages after my reply…

Thanks for your sharing on WOMM (Word of mouth Marketing)…Giving people a reason to talk about your products and services, and making it easier for that conversation to take place…. It is the art and science of building active, mutually beneficial consumer-to-consumer and consumer-to-marketer communications… and it's important to make it work within a marketing objective.

Good word of mouth marketing strategies involve finding ways to support satisfied customers and making it easier for them to talk to their friends:

1. Encouraging communications
2. Giving people something to talk about
3. Creating communities and connecting people
4. Working with influential communities
5. Creating evangelist or advocate programs
6. Researching and listening to customer feedback
7. Engaging in transparent conversation
8. Co-creation and information sharing

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Terminal 3, Soekarno-Hatta, Jakarta International Airport (2)

The interesting thing is the J.Co and Circle-K outlets here. I am sure this two outlets will benefit from the new operation on T3. I saw many people at J.Co, but I did not observe Circle-K. In marketing 'time' is one of the most important things to be considered. Why not Dunkin Donut? Why J.Co at T3 on these days (first operation days of T3)? I am sure now many people will mentioned this place to meet others here. As at Terminal 2, people always say 'meet me in front of DD, KFC, or others...' I am sure people will ignore the meeting point which is available at T3... They will mention J.Co... the name that is more convenient to say vs Circle-K...