Accelerated Digitalisation is Driving Modern Marketing In Indonesia
Rustantra Fumicko, Head Of Digital Marketing at Indonesian conglomerate Sampoerna, talks about three major trends driving digital marketing strategies as the competition hots up during this ecommerce inflection point.
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Marketers around the world huddle together in the recession storm. Still, there are economies that are raging forward nudged by the accelerated digitisation brought on by the pandemic.
With over 191 million social media users in Indonesia last year, it’s no big surprise that the country’s digital ecosystem is witnessing steady growth from $41 billion in 2019 to$77 billion in 2022. The value is expected to further increase to $130 billion by 2025, driven by ecommerce. The numbers represent a huge potential waiting to be tapped.
For instance, Social Bread, a digital marketing marketplace, was launched to help the sea of social media users in the country fulfil their entrepreneurial efforts and level the playing field. The platform is building a differentiated live shopping experience to increase merchants’ sales that is pegged to grow by at least ten times by the end of the year.
In the APAC region, the Indonesian retail sector is one of the most promising markets, and businesses are looking to re-evaluate their brand strategy and tech stack to boost the country’s digital ecosystem.
We spoke to Rustantra Fumicko, Head Of Digital Marketing at Sampoerna, about the three significant trends driving the digital landscape while catering to the dynamic consumer demands.
Audio-based Content
Audio content has been on a constant upward trajectory. “Consumers want more audio-based content, and we need to be ready to provide it to them,” agrees Fumicko.
Far from radio and podcasts, the future of digital audio advertising belongs to companies that allow businesses to create and publish audio content on their platforms. For instance, an Indonesian audio content startup NOICE launched a creation platform enabling creators to publish audio content directly.
Fucmicko also highlights that utilising content optimisation tools for paid media works best. But how does one measure the success of the ad spend?
Success metrics
“Look for operational/channel metric and business metric to deliver more effectiveness and efficiency aligned with each campaign objective. Also, marketers need to experiment with new ideas to gain valuable learning for future campaign deployment,” says Fucmicko.
Marketers can create the right audience profiling, and build a premise segmentation that can be activated through relevant campaigns via intelligent omnichannel strategies. “Digital ad planning and buying will move to more contextual buying. While it is important to develop first party data strategies, each marketer needs to understand their business and consumer, and get a clearer picture of what kind of data they need to capture, and be able to scale,” he adds.
Seamless omnichannel services
As ecommerce and fintech are gaining more transactions in the country, online transactions across various channels will also increase. Here, a powerful marketing strategy for omnichannel experience becomes crucial.
Businesses must also be more effective and efficient while deploying their marketing and advertising campaigns using relevant martech and ad tech tools. Brands that are able to deliver scalable yet targeted communication will come out on the top.
“It’s important to build the right portfolio, route to market and optimise your omnichannel marketing strategy while addressing multi-dimensional dynamics and challenges,” says Fumicko. Blibli, an ecommerce platform, recently announced that it would double down on its B2B segment with a more robust omnichannel strategy.
Onwards and upwards
According to a pwc report, Indonesia’s GDP could increase by $10.7 billion between 2021 and 2025, provided technology such as cloud computing is implemented. Even the government’s active support for the country’s digital infrastructures has created new ways for digital trends.
At the 2022 G20 Summit in Indonesia, President Joko Widodo stated that he wants to focus on the digital transformation of the economy through investments in technology such as cloud computing and 5G.
To help the government get the digital wagon rolling and achieve its target of digitising 30 million MSMEs by 2024, Grab Indonesia recently inked a partnership with PT SRC Indonesia Sembilan (SRCIS). Through this strategic partnership, SRC retail stores can offer third-party delivery services to consumers through the AYO SRC application and expand their delivery coverage using GrabExpress services.
McKinsey rightly states, “Businesses in Indonesia need to focus on three primary issues—the scale of the impact of the specific trend, its technical maturity, and the organisational fit of the technology.”
