UNDERSTANDING THE CONNECTION BETWEEN MARKETING STRATEGY AND MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS

PROLOGUE
Being the market leader is a dream of every company. And it takes more than having good stuffs and delivering its value to the market. If they (company and or marketers) want to succeed, they will have to deliver it in a right way. Theres a common secret said, Successful value creation needs succesful value delivery , a phrase should have been known and applied as a credo by every successful company in the world. And although the marketing is a dynamic, often unpredictable one-kind-of-a world, the credo itself remains the same, almost being a classical one.
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THE IMPORTANCE OF MARKETING STRATEGY

The market nowadays is a grueling land of war and uncertainty. With a fiercer competition between the existing players while a much more newcomers coming, company and marketing shouldnt feel easily at ease. Now creating a good quality product or service and deliver them isnt enough. Well have to strategize and build a solid plan and manages it to run (hopefully) smoothly to secure the safe point. In the term scope of marketing, the strategy to deliver the value properly to the market is called as Marketing Strategy. Marketing strategy can be described as the compherensive strategy used to ensure the success of delivering value to the market, and gain profit from these actions. The basic of marketing strategy is always referred from five questions below2 :

1. Where are we now? 2. Where do we want to be? 3. How might we get there? 4. Which way is best? 5. How can we ensure arrival?
The marketing strategy itself includes many elements. Some of the most popular and applied elements in the industry are known as Marketing Mix, including 4Ps (Product, Price, Place, and Promotion). The clear positioning of the 4Ps often determines the first step to success, for 4Ps is also the crucial factor in the worthiness of defining marketing concept. The simple explanation of marketing strategy can be associated as if building a good-looking yet comfortable house to live in. The house is the product and also the proof of brands strength and value. The happy people living in there is the satisfied customer. How the home environment can provide the secure,

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Phillip Kotler & Kevin Keller. Marketing Management 14th Edition. 2005. Richard M.S. Wilson & Colin Gilligan. 2012. Strategic Marketing Management : Planning, Implementation, & Control (3rd Edition). 2005.

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functional, yet comfortable surrounding indicates the brand performance. Defining how to materialize the concept of the house into reality is the product and added value creation.

Marketing mix

Figure 1. The Marketing Mix and Marketing Environment (adapted from Wilson & Gilligan, 2005)

And how to offer the house to the market, and also convince people so they buy the house is the marketing strategy. When the potential people buy the house and move into there, that means the marketing strategy applied is worked. If company wants to secure its position in the market and (for further) becomes a market leader, then having a solid marketing strategy is a must. Since by having a solid marketing strategy, although the success story is not guaranteed yet, but it can helps the company to calculate and minimize the potential loss and also manages risks. As shown in Figure 2 and 3 below, marketing strategy is influential to drive the business strategy and also business performance. The smooth business performance, combined with sustainable plans and actions can lead company to aim to be market leader.

Figure 2. Marketing Excellence Framework (adapted from Wilson & Gilligan, 2005)

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Figure 3. The discipline of market leaders (adapted from Wilson & Gilligan, 2005)

THE CUSTOMER-ORIENTED MODEL

In a model proposed by Robert F. Lauterborn oin 1993, we can see about 4Cs classification to be associated with the 4Ps. 4Cs classification is defined as a more consumer-oriented version of the 4Ps that attempst to better fit the movement from mass marketing to niche marketing3. P category Product C Category Consumer C definition
shifting the focus to satisfying the consumer needs. By defining offerings as individual capabilities that are combined and focused to a specific industry, the result is a custom solution rather than the pigeonholing of a customer into a product.

Price

Cost

reflecting the total cost of ownership. Many factors affect Cost, including but not limited to the customer's cost to change or implement the new product or service and the customer's cost for not selecting a competitor's product or service.

Place

Communication

represents a broader focus. Communications can include advertising, public relations, personal selling, viral advertising, and any form of communication between the organization and the consumer.

Promotion

Convenience

With the rise of Internet and hybrid models of purchasing, Place is becoming less relevant. Convenience takes into account the ease of buying the product, finding the product, finding information about the product, and several other factors.

Exhibit 1. The 4Cs Model (adapted from Lauterborn, 1993) From Exhibit 1 above, we can see that Communication is the 3rd part of Marketing Strategy based on Lauterborns model. In conclusion, Communication aspect in Marketing known as Marketing Communication (marcomm) is a part of the whole marketing strategy. While understanding about product creation and pricing is a must, companies nowadays are also focusing more and more towards using marketing communication to engage their products to the market.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marketing_mix

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RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MARKETING STRATEGY AND COMMUNICATIONS

Marketing strategy and marketing communication have a inseparable relationship, as Marketing Communication is basically a part of Marketing Strategy. In term of delivering value, Marketing Strategy acts a main idea ground concept for action taken, while Marketing Communication enforces on the actions about How we can deliver the message right?. Marketing communications are the means by which firms attempt to inform, persuade, and remind consumersdirectly or indirectlyabout the products and brands they sell. In a sense, marketing communications represent the voice of the company and its brands; they are a means by which the firm can establish a dialogue and build relationships with consumers.4 Accoring to Kotler, there are eight major models of marketing communication, known as Marketing Mix Communication, like listed below : 1. AdvertisingAny paid form of nonpersonal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, or services by an identified sponsor via print media (newspapers and magazines), broadcast media (radio and television), network media (telephone, cable, satellite, wireless), electronic media (audiotape, videotape, videodisk, CD-ROM,Web page), and display media (billboards, signs, posters). 2. Sales promotionA variety of short-term incentives to encourage trial or purchase of a product or service including consumer promotions (such as samples, coupons, and premiums), trade promotions (such as advertising and display allowances), and business and sales force promotions (contests for sales reps). 3. Events and experiencesCompany-sponsored activities and programs designed to create daily or special brand-related interactions with consumers, including sports, arts, entertainment, and cause events as well as less formal activities. 4. Public relations and publicityA variety of programs directed internally to employees of the company or externally to consumers, other firms, the government, and media to promote or protect a companys image or its individual product communications. 5. Direct marketingUse of mail, telephone, fax, e-mail, or Internet to communicate directly with or solicit response or dialogue from specific customers and prospects. 6. Interactive marketingOnline activities and programs designed to engage customers or prospects and directly or indirectly raise awareness, improve image, or elicit sales of products and services. 7.Word-of-mouth marketingPeople-to-people oral, written, or electronic communications that relate to the merits or experiences of purchasing or using products or services. 8. Personal sellingFace-to-face interaction with one or more prospective purchasers for the purpose of making presentations, answering questions, and procuring orders.

Phillip Kotler & Kevin Keller. Marketing Management 14th Edition. 2005.

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As both Marketing Strategy and Marketing communications should be planned and applied in harmony, so its almost nearly impossible to have a conflicting or contradicting Marketing Communication to its Marketing Strategy. Because, the concept (Marketing Strategy) will determine the communication of promised value (Marketing Communication). That means, companies should check and always be aware about the relevancy and connection between Marketing Communication Strategy to the whole concept Marketing Strategy, in order to ensure that the message is communicated properly and in sync to the brand or product positioning. With the crucial role that Marketing Communication plays in the implementation of Marketing Strategy, so its no wonder that this aspect often becomes the biggest of companys spending sector related to actions for boosting sales and collecting more revenue. As seen in legendary brands like Apple, Microsoft, Coca Cola, and et cetera, it shows the way creative marketing communication applied to rise, manage, and engage consumer to the brand and to push higher sales. Meanwhile the marketing communication of product should be relevant to its marketing strategy, companies and marketers should ensure the distinction factor or even its uniqueness in order to get the message be heard and got consumers attention. According to explanation above, then it can be said that in term of marketing control, Marketing Communication also becomes the easiest aspect to be tracked or evaluated, when the things go wrong or the sales starts to decrease.

Example 1 : KRAUKK The 1st Seafood Online Store in Indonesia

KRAUKK is the brand of frozen seafood produced and distributed by CV. Kraukk Indonesia, Jakarta. Founded in 2009, KRAUKK positioning is The 1st Seafood Online Store in Indonesia. Their vision is to provide a healthy, delicious, and high-quality fast-food for Indonesian families. The term high-quality fast-food here related to their products, various kinds of frozen seafood, all claimed to have export-standard quality. As a relatively new player in the food industry, KRAUKK already have various seafood-based products, such as Shrimp Tempura, Crab Nugget, Calamari (Squid) Drumstick, Siomay, Fish Nugget, Ebi Furai, and Fish Samosa. They also have chicken-based frozen food products, such as Chicken Nugget, Spicy Wings, and Ekkado.

Figure 4. KRAUKK products (frozen seafood) & their price ranges 5

Source : KRAUKK official website (www.kraukk.com)

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Being aware that competing with big players such as So Good and Fiesta will be hard, they choose to be different by positioned KRAUKK as The 1st Seafood Online Store in Indonesia. So from the very start, they choose online marketing as a main channel to introduce their brand and products, and also to penetrate the market. The message is clear : KRAUKK is not yet a biggest brand in the industry, but they are the first one in online store business. As they already define the message which is also becomes the brand positioning and marketing objective, they do marketing communications to deliver the message properly to the market by doing these steps : 1. Building a pleasant, professionally looking website acted as the only official website for KRAUKK6. The website acts as a main channel for KRAUKK promotion and distribution channel, while also become a tool to convince the market about their positioning. 2. Using website as the only place to display all their products. While the other brand might greedily place their products, KRAUKK focuses displaying and selling their products only through their official website. Youll never get KRAUKK products distributed in hypermarkets like Giant & Carrefour. 3. They emphasize in using personal, low-cost viral marketing, targeting mainly working mother and (overal) middle-class working people. Their common marketing communication strategies used are personal selling, direct marketing, or word-of-mouth marketing. The strategy implementation is by direct purchasing and also reseller system. Everyone can join freely as member in Kraukk.com. Once they registered as members, theyll get an account and password to log into the website and start purchasing. The minimum purchase quantity is 1 kilogram, and they offer free delivery service for Jakarta area. This purchasing system works well to raise the brand awareness among office workers (especially single females and working moms) and housewives in Jakarta.The marketing communications itself proceed in 2 (two) scenarios illustrated in next page.

Visit www.kraukk.com for further informations

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Scenario 1.
Office worker (female) purchases KRAUKK through website The package delivered to her office, may be seen by her friends/colleagues She comes home, cooks the food, and enjoys its delicious taste NEXT DAY She tells her office friends about KRAUKK yummy taste (Word-of-mouth)

Her friends/colleagues becomes curious, and (maybe) they will order KRAUKK too

Her friends are convinced, and they order too (with her ordering again) to save the delivery cost

ADDITIONAL PURCHASE(s)

REPEAT PURCHASE(s) possibly in bigger quantity

Exhibit 2. First Scenario of KRAUKK purchasing scheme by consumers

Scenario 2.
A stay-at-home mom (having children with excessive fast-food preference) searches for solution in Google She finds KRAUKK Website, feels interested in their products She purchases KRAUKK products for her family, especially to manage her children eating habit The package arrives. The mom serves KRAUKK nuggets for their children

REPEAT PURCHASE(s)

Mom will surely purchase KRAUKK again, for her childrens sake.

THE CHILDREN LOVES KRAUKK ! Mom is happy, too!

MORE / ADDITIONAL PURCHASE(s)

The other mommies feel related to the story. They become interested, and try order too.

Mom promotes KRAUKK to her childrens mommies while meeting them at school or neighborhood

Exhibit 3. Second Scenario of KRAUKK purchasing scheme by consumers

They also launch reseller, agent, and dropshipper programs to accelerate market penetration and extend product distribution, meanwhile rising brand awareness and customer loyalty. These programs packaged with special discount and also consumer loyalty voucher. With these integrated marketing strategy and communications, now KRAUKK already has 3.000 agens spread around Indonesia, with minimum a hundred million monthly omzet.

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Example 2 : Comma Indonesia

Comma Indonesia (often simplied as CommaID) is a coworking space located in Jl. Wolter Monginsidi 63B, Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta, Indonesia. Coworking space is a commercial space providing representative working environment for flexible-working people. The definition of people here are mainly related to entrepreneurs, freelancers, or simply people who occasionally want or need to work outside their usual office-cubicle.
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Figure 5. The ambience of CommaID coworking space

The concept of coworking space is relatively new to Indonesian market, while it has been being very popular and shows rising growth overseas. Founded by nine buddy bestfriends (including Yoris Sebastian, Michael Tampi, Dondi Hananto, and Rene Suhardono Canoneo) in 2013, CommaID try to offer this concept : a fun enviroment to work-in and connect with people. Because your work matters. Since some of the founders are already known especially in Twitter world as the young creative entrepreneurs making their marks by following their passion, they try to offer not only a place for working, but also a new paradigm for Indonesian people that Working should be fun. And in coworking space, you may make collaboration which can help in accelerating your business or projects. The concept becomes the main idea and also the main objective for CommaID marketing strategy & communications. As for the implementation, to emphasize benefits of working in coworking space, they relies on spreading the words initially through Twitter and other social media. The news-spreading actively done by the founders themselves, as all of them have thousands Twitter followers. The strategy used to spread the words using Twitter is basically done in these steps :

http://www.comma-indonesia.co

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1.

Engaging Twitter audiences (as potential target market) by regularly posting the stories of CommaID, starting from its idea launching, seeking feedback of ideas from Twitter audiences, reporting the construction progress, soft-opening, grand opening, and the growth of business.

2.

Giving Twitter Virtual Lecture (Kuliah Twitter / Kultwit) to inform Twitter audiences and give them insights about coworking space concept and its benefit.

3.

Regulary posting photos about CommaID ambience and also what really happens there. They often post photos of CommaID capturing young, successful people working there, like Ligwina Hananto (Financial Planner), Alanda Kariza (Writer), Yoris Sebastian (Creative Marketing Consultant). The pictures reinforce the message which CommaID wants to deliver : A fun enviroment to work-in and connect with people. Because your work matters.

4.

Raising market awareness by offering reasonable price packages with additional facilities and services, such as virtual office, refreshing working space with nice interior design, pantry, and hourly-rented meeting room. For example, people can sit and work in CommaID for two hours, by paying only fifty thousand rupiahs/person. If they want to work there all day, they just need to pay two hundred thousand rupiahs/person. The price packages already include the cozy working space, free high-speed internet WiFi, electrical usage charge, free flows of mineral water, tea, and coffee. People are also allowed to bring their own food and snacks, and are free to used the kitchen for re-heating the food, if needed8.

5.

Organizing various events located in CommaID, mostly aimed to emphasize the benefit of coworking space, working in collaboration, which also invite experts related to creativemarketing and entrepreneurship. By using CommaID as event location, people coming there can also gain insights and get experiences about the feeling and atmosphere of coworking space by themselves, while networking with many interesting people from different expertises and backgrounds.

6.

CommaID also feature Wall of Fame where people can put or patch their business card there. Its like a free promotion media for people coming there, as they get a chance for being discovered by the right people, according to their expertise.

From marketing communication strategies listed above, we can conclude that CommaID emphasizes their message delivery by inviting people to come and to feel the experience by themselves. As the chosen strategies for communicating the values are mainly using digital media, the potential cost can be minimized, yet the effect or news-spread can be very viral. CommaID founders also play the crucial role in being a persona portraying the figure of creative-independent workers and also the young successful (yet low-profile) entrepreneurs which becoming a new dream for many young people in Indonesia. If CommaID keep striving to maintain and improve their services, while keep sounding the concept to the market, I predict that they will grow bigger and better, and may also be a leading player in the commercial working space market in Jakarta.

http://inkvibe.com/2013/01/coworking-space-bernama-comma/

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