Introduction
In
the current era of 4.0, people's way of life has begun to be influenced by
technology, especially the internet. The development of the internet encourages
people to do activities through digital, starting from how to socialize, take
education, and do business. This statement is supported by (Gumilang, 2019), which states that the
use of digital affects supporting people's businesses, especially in promoting
and marketing, starting from businesses on the MSMEs scale (Micro, Small and
Medium Enterprises) until large-scale businesses. (Haryanti, Mursito, & Sudarwati, 2019),
also stated that marketing activities in this era are not only be done
traditionally but also with modern methods by using the internet. Based on
those explanations, it can be proven that digitalization has affected the way
people do marketing, which started to switch to digital. Business owners in
Semarang, Indonesia, especially MSMEs, have also experienced that shifting.
Based on research conducted by Novita (2020), (Purwana, Rahmi, & Aditya, 2017),
and (Pradiani, 2017), these businesspeople
admitted that after doing digital marketing, their MSMEs business's brand
awareness and sales volume were increased, this result also in line with
increasing of the customers. On the other side, based on research conducted by Barreda, Nusair, Wang, Okumus, and Bilgihan, (2020) found that digital marketing has
a positive impact on the brand�s image of the company. Based on these results,
Ayosemarang.com (2020), stated that MSMEs owners in Semarang are encouraged to
use digital marketing, especially due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The data
contained in Kominfo (2017) also supports this statement, which stated that now
MSMEs business owners in Semarang are also starting to expand the market
through online platforms.
In
addition, Semarang is also known as the city of MSMEs. This is supported by
data submitted by Suaramerdeka.com (2019), which stated that Semarang is
getting closer to establishing itself as a city of MSMEs in 2020, where
Semarang is the first area in Indonesia to have the greatest number of MSMEs
permits, with a total of 16,597 MSMEs registered and has a micro and small
business license (IUMK). This number has increased ten times compared to the
previous years. In addition, Suaramerdeka.com (2019), also said that the Mayor
of Semarang, Hendrar Prihadi, officially launched Gerai Kopi dan Mi (Gerakan
Terintegrasi Koperasi dan Usaha Mikro) program, to support the integration of
MSMEs business owners in Semarang, by providing 699 healthy cooperations. This
integration was expected to improve MSMEs in Semarang.
Meanwhile,
based on data submitted by (Wahyudi, Utomo, & Mariana, 2019),
the type of MSMEs business in Semarang is dominated by processed foods, with a
total of 4,282 MSMEs. Along with this, according to IDN Times (2019), Semarang
is also known as the city of lumpia and jamu, which shows that Semarang is one
of the cities that contributes and has attractiveness in foods and beverages.
Many
previous researchers have discussed about digital marketing of MSMEs such as
research conducted by Novita
(2020), (Purwana et al., 2017), (Pradiani, 2017), (Felicia,
2015) and (Gumilang, 2019), but previous research
only focused on implementation, utilization, or the influence of digital
marketing, but not many researchers have discussed about the digital marketing
processes more deeply. The digital marketing processes have been discussed by (Pradiani, 2017) and (Gumilang, 2019), but (Pradiani, 2017) did not discuss this
topic specifically, because she used a quantitative approach, which focused on
discussing the effects of digital marketing, while (Gumilang, 2019) research used a
qualitative approach, but only discussed the processes in the literature review
section, while in the discussion section, he only focused on the strategy or
media used. Meanwhile, Novita
(2020), as well as (Purwana et al., 2017), focused more on
the implementation and use of digital marketing rather than the processes.
This
is very unfortunate because according to
(Chaffey, Edmundson-Bird,
and Hemphill (2019),
in doing digital marketing, there are various processes that are very important
in supporting strategy and improving business performance, even these processes
have the greatest effect on the success of digital marketing, so it is necessary
for business owners to know and apply the processes.
On
the other hand, researchers decided to focus on digital marketing processes to
improve business performance because according to Strauss and Frost (in (Pradiani, 2017), digital marketing strategies have impacts in some aspects,
such as increasing sales, market share, awareness, and so on. So, the
conclusion is the researchers are interested to research on the digital
marketing processes to improve the business performance of foods and beverages
MSMEs in Semarang, Indonesia.
Digital
Marketing
According
to Novita (2020),
nowadays, marketing is no longer carried out conventionally, where buyers
should meet with sellers directly. With technological developments, buying and
selling transactions including marketing activities can be done digitally. The
theory said by Novita
(2020) is in line with the results of research obtained by (Pradiani, 2017) and (Gumilang, 2019), which stated that
digital marketing is the result of the adoption of technological developments
from traditional to digital forms. Meanwhile, (Krisnawati, Ubaidi, Rais, & Batu, 2019)
have a different perspective about digital marketing. In their opinion, digital
marketing is not only talking about changes in promotional methods but also
changes in forms of interaction, where now consumers can participate or modify
the content and the information they receive (two ways). This opinion is also
supported by (Purwana et al., 2017), who think digital marketing not only
in terms of promotion, but also from the interactions that happened through
available media, such as blogs, websites, e-mail, and social media.
Other
than that, (Liesander & Dharmayanti, 2017)
said that there are several dimensions related to digital marketing, which
consist of design and content, as well as customer relationship management
(CRM). Design and content in digital marketing are displays, visualizations,
and materials, so they can provide positive value for businesses. Meanwhile,
relationship management with customers (CRM) is a relationship that exists
between business owners and customers, so that information can be delivered
properly and build customer loyalty. Meanwhile, according to (Gumilang, 2019), the dimension related
to digital marketing is the platform. The platform is a forum where companies
can meet and share information with customers through the internet. In
addition, to the opinion said by �(Ompusunggu, 2018)
,
the important dimension in digital marketing is promotional activities.
Promotional activity is a program or activity that is used to promote or
introduce a product, in order to gain long-term benefits. Besides the digital
marketing theories that have been explained above, there are also digital
marketing processes that should be done by business owners.
Digital
Marketing Processes
According
to (Chaffey et al., 2019), digital marketing processes are
described in the scheme below:
Figures 1. Digital Marketing Processes
Situation
analysis is carried out to understand the current and future environment, which
can help the company in making realistic and strategic objectives toward what
is happening in the market share. Situation analysis consists of Customer
Opinion, SWOT Analysis, Perception of Brands, Capabilities, and Internal
Resources. Purpose consists of the 5S objectives, such as Sell (customer
acquisition and retention target), Serve (customer satisfaction target), Sizzle
(intensity and duration of the site), Speak (how many brands are spoken by
other people and the number of customers involved), Save (efficiency gains are
achieved). Strategy defines how digital marketing goals will be achieved. It is
done by carrying out several stages, such as: (1) Determine segmentation,
targeting, and positioning; (2) OVP (Online Value Proposition); (3) Sequence
(credibility before visibility); (4) Tools (website, email, social media, etc).
Meanwhile, Tactics consists of (1) Digital Marketing Mix (4P / 7P - Product,
Price, Promotion, Place, People, Process, Physical Evidence); (2) Content
Strategy; (3) E-campaign; (4) Online Branding (Brand Equity and Identity).
Action is an activity carried out to execute a plan. It consists of managing the
division of tasks and structure, recruiting resources, partnering, outsourcing,
and budgeting. Based on Strauss and Frost (in Pradiani, 2017), when the business
owners did the budgeting step, they should monitor the actual revenue and
expenses to see what results have been achieved. Control can be achieved
through marketing research and website analysis to monitor whether the
company's goals are being achieved, which is measured by creating KPIs, doing
customer satisfaction surveys, and seeing the number of visitors. According to (Chaffey et al., 2019), it can be said
that digital marketing processes play many important roles in supporting the
success of digital marketing.
Business
Performance
Digital
marketing is seen as the best, effective, and efficient medium for promotion
and can improve business performance, such as increasing sales, customers, and
awareness (Gumilang, 2019). This opinion is also
supported by (Krisnawati et al., 2019), who stated
that digital marketing plays a positive role to increase some business aspects,
especially increasing sales. Based on research conducted by (Pradiani, 2017), by doing digital
marketing, the increment in sales has even reached an average of up to 100%,
which in line with increasing the number of customers. This is because the use
of digital marketing can reach a wider market, build closer relationships with
customers, and simplify the buying and selling processes (Haryanti et al., 2019). The success in
the use of digital marketing must be followed using an appropriate platform,
the right strategy, the use of analytical tools to find out customer needs,
appropriate and consistent marketing contents. All these stages can have an
impact on building brand awareness which leads to increase sales (Lockett, 2018). Therefore, to improve
business performance, business owners must know the right processes for doing
digital marketing.
According
to (Kurdi, 2018), there are
several dimensions related to improving business performance, such as sales
volume, company profit, and company growth. Sales volume is all sales generated
by the company within a certain period. Company profit is collected by
subtracting the net sales of the company from expenses. Company growth is
measured by an increase in the number of customers, customers involved, and
visitors in the platform of a business.
Method
This
study uses a research method with a qualitative approach. The reason
researchers chose the qualitative approach is because it needs deeper
exploration through every digital marketing processes, by knowing the
perspective from foods and beverages MSMEs business owners in Semarang, and how
these processes have an impact on improving business performance. This study
also uses the descriptive research method, intending to describe and provide a
complete and accurate picture of the digital marketing processes in improving
business performance. This research was conducted through observation,
interviews, and documentation of foods and beverages MSMEs business owners in
Semarang, which was conducted to obtain primary data. The research strategies
were carried out online which started in March 2021, due to the COVID-19
pandemic. In this study, the study setting chosen by the researchers were the
non-contrive study, where the research will be carried out with real
observation in the field, without changing any element. Units� analysis of this
research are MSMEs business owners because the researchers want to find out
every perspective of business owners.
In
this study, researchers use a cross-sectional time horizon, because the
researchers want to get the results of the research simultaneously within a
certain period. The subjects in this study are 5 foods and beverages MSMEs
business owners with certain criteria, which will be explained in the
"population and sample" section. The reason the researchers chose 5
business owners is because the researchers felt that the five business owners
can provide maximum information, according to the data the researchers needed.
In addition to this, according to (McCusker & Gunaydin, 2015),
qualitative research is based on the quality of informants' responses to the
questions and is not based on statistical calculations or the number of
informants. In its practice, the number of informants will be adjusted,
according to the completeness of the data obtained. If the results obtained
have not found a saturation point (there are still variations of answers), the
research will continue by adding the number of informants. Otherwise, if the
answer has found a similarity, the addition of informants will be stopped.
Meanwhile, the objects in this study are digital marketing, digital marketing
processes, and business performance. The location of this research is in
Semarang. In this study, the primary data was obtained by researchers by
conducting interviews, observations, and documentation of business owners.
Meanwhile, secondary data is obtained by collecting information through several
sources of books or literature studies, previous research, and online data
search.
Data
collection methods used in this study consist of (1) Interviews. In practice,
the type of interview used by researchers is semi-structured interviews. The
interview was aimed to find deeper problems. In this type of interview, the
researcher makes interview guidelines, but the questions asked were more
flexible, according to the answers given by the informants. The interviews will
be conducted online via Skype or Whatsapp Video Calls. The reasons why the
researchers chose the semi-structured interview method is to know the
experiences and perceptions of each informant regarding the digital marketing
processes that have been done; (2) Observation. In conducting the observation
method, the researchers observed the platform where MSMEs business owners
carried out the digital marketing processes, the goal is to find out whether
the digital marketing processes on the platform have been running well or not,
and whether the business performance has improved or not; (3) Documentation. In
practice, the researchers took a photo together with the informants and made
the interview transcript to support the accuracy of the data; (4) Document
Checking. Researchers checked documents to determine the percentage of increase
in sales, net income, and volume owned by the business owners. The populations
in this study are all of foods and beverages MSMEs business owners in Semarang.
This study uses non-probability sampling with a purposive sampling technique.
Purposive sampling is a sampling technique with consideration of certain
criteria.
Therefore, some of the criteria chosen by the researchers were:
(1)
MSMEs business owners in foods and beverages; (2) Has been in business for at
least 1 year; (3) Domicile in Semarang; (4) Has been doing digital marketing,
for at least 1 year.
Based
on the criteria above, the researchers chose 5 foods and beverages MSMEs
business owners in Semarang, as follows on Table
1.
�
The reason why researchers chose the
purposive sampling technique is because the researchers need certain criteria
in determining the research sample so that the results are obtained
specifically. On the other hand, this study uses data processing and analysis
techniques based on the Miles and Huberman model. Activities in data analysis
are divided into (1) Data Collection, in this activity, the researchers
conducted a general search, by collecting data from literature studies, online
data searches, interviews, observations, and documentation; (2) Data Reduction,
in carrying out the reduction activity, the researchers recapitulated the data
using a computer / PC by only selecting some data related to the topic and
being able to answer the problems. This stage is carried out to eliminate
information that is irrelevant to the research topic; (3) Data Presentation;
researchers connected the results of research with literature reviews by
previous researchers and theories, so that the research results are detailed
and could answer existing problems; (4) Data Verification, after presenting the
data, the researchers concluded the data that can be used to answer the
problems and give recommendations for further researches, related to the
digital marketing processes. The data validity technique used by the researcher
is the degree of trust, especially by using the triangulation technique. Denzin
(in Moleong, 2013) divided triangulation
into four parts, such as triangulation of sources, methods, investigators, and
theories. The types of triangulations used by researchers were, (1) Triangulation
Method, in this study, researchers used several data collection methods such as
interviews, observation, documentation, and document checking to check data;
(2) Triangulation Theory, in this type of triangulation, the researchers
connected the findings with digital marketing processes and other theories that
explained in the introduction section.
Results
And Discussion
Digital
marketing of food and baverage in Indonesia has been varied and tried to
implementing various digital platform to marketing the products although it is
not occured oftenly.
After
conducted interviews, observing, and checking documents methods with the five
informants, the following research results were obtained:
Digital
Marketing Processes
From
the results of interviews and observations, the 5 informants have carried out
several existing digital marketing processes that in line with theories stated
by (Chaffey et al., 2019). The processes carried out
are divided into:
(1)
Situation Analysis
The
situation analysis consists of:
�
Internal capabilities and resources
All informants agreed that they have
analyzed the capabilities of internal resources before carrying out the digital
marketing processes, both from the capabilities of management and the resources
they had (such as digital marketing planning, the team they had, and so on).
This internal analysis can result in the company�s SWOT, which will be
described in the next section.
�
SWOT analysis
All informants have also conducted a SWOT
analysis before carrying out the digital marketing processes, where informants
1-5 have known the strengths of their business, compare to its competitors. By
knowing their strengths, they also created a unique selling proposition that
can be offered to overcome existing weaknesses and threats and take full advantage
of opportunities.
�
Customer�s opinions
1 of 5 informants (informant 4) has done this
process. Meanwhile, 4 other informants have not done this process when doing
digital marketing for the first time. The four informants immediately carried
out trial and error, without considering the approximate opinion that the
customer had previously conveyed. From the results of observations about the
number of followers on Instagram, researchers found that informant 4 has the
highest number of followers (2,008 followers), compared to the other 4 MSMEs,
thus proving that customers� opinions need to be considered before doing
digital marketing. The reason is because customers opinions also affect the
quality of the contents that the company served, where informant 4 has more
interesting and consistent contents (use pastel, gray tone and manner), that
are different from its competitors, and relevant to its target customers
(millennial to 50 years). On the other side, informant 4 also uses koala mascot
to make its brand easy to remember especially by Millenials.
�
Perception of Brands
1 of 5 informants (informant 2) has not
considered the perceptions that the public wants to have on the brand and
immediately carried out trial and error, while the other four informants have
considered that perception. Informant 1 wants to build its image as a fun and
friendly place to eat. Informant 3 wants to build its image as a Japanese food
with provide various sauces and using Japanese kanji on Instagram. Informant 4
wants to build an image as a provider of healthy drinks and relevant to young
people, by providing and promoting menus containing natural ingredients, such
as honey and coconut water, and eye-catching packaging with an interesting tone
and manner. Informant 5 wants to build an image as food that can be enjoyed at
any time by various people that easy to carry everywhere, by making simple
packaging, informants 5 also involves talent for photos from all ages (parents
to young people).
(2)
Purpose
All
informants have objectives to be achieved when doing digital marketing. The
objectives consist of:
�
Sell
All the informants have the same objective
to
increase customers and sales. This can be proven by the type of contents that
they served, such as discount promotional contents and photos of products. 4
out of 5 informants (except informant 3) have also collaborated with KOL and
the food community to increase sales.
�
Serve
All the informants have the same objective to
increase customer satisfaction, by answering customer comments, responding to
any questions, or directly providing solutions if there were problems.
�
Sizzle
4 of 5 informants (except informant 2) have an
objective to increase the intensity of customers who visit and follow their
social media. Informant 1, Informant 3, and Informant 5 have created holiday
greeting contents to increase the intensity of visits from customers. Informant
3 and Informant 4 have also created a community to build relationships with
customers. Informant 4 has community on Instagram, and Informant 5 has created
a community of coffee lovers, vape, and cute drink lovers for women.
�
Speak
1 of 5 informants (informants 4) has an
objective to make their business are known and discussed by others, by having a
tone of voice that 70% of their ingredients are healthy and natural, and people
can change their drinks to be healthier. Besides that, informant 4 also
provides creative and interesting contents, so their customers, especially
young people, can be interested and talk about their brand to their closest
relatives.
�
Save
1 of 5 informants (informant 3) has an
objective to minimize costs to be more efficient, by using digital marketing,
so that they can reach a wider target with minimum possible cost.
(3)
Strategy
All
informants have a strategy that is carried out to achieve the goals of digital
marketing, which consists of:
�
Determine segmentation, targeting, and
positioning
All informants have not yet determined
the segmentation of their business, but the target market and business
positioning have been determined by all informants specifically. Informant 1
targeted Diponegoro University students aged 18-23 years at first, then
expanding their target by reaching employees and parents up to the age of 43
years. Informant 1 has a positioning as a friend of the customers who is
friendly and fun, which is shown through the language in the caption or when
responding to customers. Informant 2 has targets from college students to
parents aged 18-45 years, groups of people who like to try new foods such as
Madurese foods, and groups of people who like to find places that are
instragrammable because the design of their restaurant looks like Majapahit
Kingdom. Informant 2 has a positioning as the only Madurese Sego Babat provider
in Semarang. Informant 3 targeted all ages and groups, but prioritized families
and Japanese food enthusiasts. Informant 3 has a positioning as a
family-friendly Japanese restaurant that everyone can enjoy. Informant 4
targeted SES A-C people aged 18-50 years, groups of people who are looking for
healthy and cute foods and drinks, and groups of people who like to hang out or
drink coffee. Informant 4 has a positioning as a provider of healthy drinks
with unique and aesthetic packaging. Informant 5 targets people aged 18-45
years old with its positioning as daily edible food in any situation.
�
OVP (Online Value Proposition)
From the research results, it can be found
that informants 1-5 have their uniqueness to add OVP to their brands. OVP of
informant 1 is they use slang language on social media, the unique nickname so
that it has an image as a friendly and funny brand, and photos of food
products. Meanwhile, informant 2 also presented photos of tantalizing food
products as their OVP. Informant 3 has community and specific tone and manner,
such as red, black, and white, and using Japanese kanji characters. Informant 4
presented aesthetic photos of products, had a koala mascot, pastel,
monochromatic tone and manner. Informant 5 provides photos of products, video
reviews from influencers, real photos from customers, Grab, Go-jek, and carries
out discount promotions.
�
Sequence (credibility before visibility)
All of the informants strive to provide the
best quality of foods and drinks with the uniqueness of their businesses, such
as informant 1 provides saus brewok (sauce with sweet-spicy taste), which is
different from the sauce on usual geprek chicken, informant 2 provides sego
babat of Madurese, informant 3 provides Japanese foods with a choice of various
sauces, informant 4 provides foods and drinks with healthy ingredients, and
informant 5 provides rice boxes with simple packaging that can be carried
everywhere and zero waste because there are no chicken�s bones. In addition,
all the informants also provide the best services on offline and online stores
on social media, such as providing quick responses when there were complaints
and questions from customers.
�
Tools used
All the informants are using social media
Facebook, Instagram, and Whatsapp, as well as GoFood and GrabFood in marketing
their products. In addition, informant 1 also used Line but it is starting to
be rarely used, informant 3 using Tokopedia and Twitter, while informant 4
plans to use Tiktok to keep up with trends.
(4)
Tactics
Consists
of:
�
Digital Marketing Mix
To achieve marketing goals in the
targeted market, all informants have used a digital marketing mix, with the
following explanations:
Informant 1 has a geprek chicken product
with saus Brewok that is unique and different from its competitors. The price
of the foods offered starts from Rp. 15,000 - Rp. 22,500, and the price of the
drinks offered starts from Rp. 3,000 - Rp. 6,500. However, related to the
place, it has a place that is quite strategic and comfortable but does not have
any specialty compared to its competitors. To solve this problem, informant 1
is doing promotion by highlighting saus brewok, giving discount promotions,
photos of food products, and the atmosphere of the place to eat, along with
captions that are friendly and relevant to young people.
Informant 2 is the only brand that serves
Madurese sego babat products in Semarang. The price of the foods offered starts
from Rp 18,000 - Rp 28,000. One of the uniqueness of their restaurant is it
provides a place to eat with the atmosphere of Majapahit Kingdom. So far, the
promotions carried out by them are discount promotions, photos of food
products, and video reviews from food bloggers.
Informant 3 has Japanese food products
such as katsu, karagee, and rice bowls served with various types of sauces. The
price of the foods offered starts from Rp 13,200 - Rp 32,400. The place offered
by them is quite comfortable with a semi-outdoor design. However, the
promotions carried out by them are quite limited by carrying out discount
promotions, photos of food products, and the atmosphere of the place to eat.
Informant 4 has food and beverage products
with aesthetic packaging and uses 70% natural ingredients. The price of the
drinks offered starts from Rp 18,000 - Rp 60,000 and the foods start from Rp
15,000 - Rp 30,000. One of the advantages that they have is a unique place with
a monochromatic design, which is perfect for being a photo spot for
millennials. The type of promotion offered by them is a photo of foods and
beverages products that are very creative and aesthetic.
Informant 5 has food and beverage
products of chicken rice boxes with simple packaging that can be carried
anywhere. The price of the drinks offered starts from Rp. 5,000 - Rp. 23,000
and the food start from Rp. 22,500 - Rp. 54,000. They have a comfortable place
with indoor and outdoor options, but it doesn't have any specialty compared to
its competitors. The types of promotions offered by them are photos of food
products, discount promotions, video reviews from food bloggers, real photos of
customers, and Gojek / Grab.
�
Content Strategy
The strategies of the informants in
providing content of digital marketing are as follows:
Informant 1 has contents such as holiday
greetings, discount promotions, photos of products, the atmosphere of the place
to eat, testimonials, and information about their restaurant. Informant 2 has
contents such as photos of products, video reviews from food bloggers,
information about their restaurant, and testimonials. Informant 3 has contents
such as holiday greetings, engagement content in the form of quizzes, discount
promotions, collaborations with brands, photos of products, dining atmosphere,
testimonials, and information about their restaurant. Informant 4 has contents
such as photos of products, testimonials, engagements, and information about
their coffee shop. Informant 5 has contents such as holiday greetings, discount
promotions, video reviews from food bloggers, photos of products, the
atmosphere of the place, testimonials, and information about their restaurant.
Besides of contents above, 2 out of 5 informants (informants 3 and 4) also made
a tone and manner to increase public interest in their social media. Informant
3�s tone and manner are red, white, and black. Meanwhile, informant 4 has a
tone and manner of pastel and gray colors.
�
E-campaign
On social media, 1 in 5 informants
(informant 3) have conducted an e-campaign to distribute free food every Friday
for underprivileged people.
�
Online Branding
All the informants have done Online
Branding on social media in accordance with the Online Value Proposition they
have.
(5)
Action
In
executing the entire digital marketing processes, the five informants have
carried out activities such as managing the division of tasks and structures,
recruiting resources, partnering, outsourcing, and budgeting. The explanations
are as follows:
Informant
1 divided the tasks that consisting of 3 people, with the following tasks: 1
person is responsible for operational activities and human resources, 1 person
is responsible for marketing and design for social media, and 1 person is
responsible for semi-chef, research, and development. Informant 2 did not have
any division of tasks or outsourcing, all digital marketing activities are
carried out by the owner, while operational activities are assisted by a chef
and several waiters. Informant 3 divided the tasks that consisting of 3 people,
with the following tasks: 1 person is responsible for finances, 1 person is
responsible for marketing and operational activities, and 1 person is the head
of the kitchen, research, and development. Informant 4 has a division of tasks
consisting of 2 people to handle operational activities and general marketing
strategies. Meanwhile, they have partnered for designing content design and
taking photos of products. Informant 5, all tasks are done by the owner,
assisted by several waiters and chefs. Regarding to do digital marketing, they
outsource the worker to design, make contents, and take photos of products.
In
addition, all informants also make a budget each year to estimate the money
spent on all operational and marketing activities. Informant 1 issued a digital
marketing budget of Rp 500,000 - Rp 1,000,000, informant 2 issued a digital
marketing budget of ≤ Rp 700,000, informant 3 issued a digital marketing
budget of Rp 500,000, informant 4 issued a digital marketing budget of Rp
1,000,000 - Rp 3,000,000, informant 5 issued a digital marketing budget of
≤ Rp 10,000,000.
(6)
Control
All
informants agreed that they evaluated carrying out the digital marketing
processes. Informant 1 evaluates once a month and after the events by looking
to the insights section on social media (to find out reach), increment of
followers and sales. Informant 2 evaluates once a month by looking to the
insights section on social media (to find out the reach), number of sales, and
making a list of food bloggers who have collaborated with for further
consideration. Informant 3 conducts evaluations twice a month every mid and at
the end of the month by evaluating the whole team and conducting discussions
per area to find out what needs to be maintained and changed. Informant 4
conducts evaluations after advertising contents on social media, by seeing how
many its reach and providing an evaluation form to customers who came to the
offline store. Informant 5 conducts evaluations once a month by seeing the
increment of sales, followers, and reach on social media.
Based
on the elaboration of the processes explained above, all informants have
started to carry out the stages of the digital marketing processes, even though
some of the informants did not do the entire processes. Digital marketing
processes should be done repeatedly during digital marketing.
Business
Performance
All
the informants agreed that carrying out the digital marketing processes could
improve business performance, especially increasing customers and sales. This
is also proven by the results of interviews and observations of the five
informants. In 2021, Informant 1 had an increase in customers and sales of 10%.
Informant 2 had a 30-70% increase in customers, followed by a 30-40% increase
in sales. Informant 3 had a 40-50% increase in customers followed by a 15-20%
increase in sales. Informant 4 had an increase in customers and sales of
150-200%. Informant 5 had a 20% increase in customers, followed by a 30%
increase in sales.
Based
on the explanations above, the percentage of the sales increment is balanced
with the digital marketing processes that were carried out. Informant 4 has the
highest percentage of the sales increment which is comparable with the
completeness of the processes that it carried out, starting from research to
the control (evaluation) stage. The success of the digital marketing process is
because they considered the perceptions of the customers, starting from using
mascot until distributing the evaluation forms. This is also proven by the
number of their followers on Instagram as many as 2,008 followers. Meanwhile,
in second place there is Informant 2. Even though they didn�t do the entire
digital marketing processes but they have their uniqueness to do digital
marketing compared to its competitors, such as presenting interesting Sego
Babat foods through photos, video reviews from food bloggers, and have a place
with the atmosphere of Majapahit Kingdom. This is also proven by the number of
followers that informant 2 has on Instagram as many as 1,937 followers.
On
the other hand, Informant 3 is in third place. This is because they carried out
the processes of tactics optimally, starting from holding e-campaign until made
community, and presenting interesting tones and manners. However, the number of
followers on Instagram has only reached 549 followers because they just started
using digital marketing in 2020. Meanwhile, the other four MSME had started
using digital marketing from 2016-2019. Besides that, Informant 5 is in fourth
place. This is because the digital processes carried out have not been done
completely and optimally, compared to the other four informants. This is also
proven by the number of their followers on Instagram, which only reached 669 followers,
even though they have been doing digital marketing since 2019, and this is also
recognized by the owner who stated that he did not understand digital marketing
processes that must be done. In the last place, there is Informant 1. The
processes carried out are quite good because they have a unique nickname. This
is proven by the number of their followers on Instagram that reached 1,071
followers. However, the increase in sales is not too significant due to the
Covid-19 pandemic, where customers who previously consisted of students have
decreased, due to the absence of direct teaching and learning activities.
Based
on the various descriptions above, it can be proven that MSMEs, which carried
out comprehensive and unique digital marketing processes, gained a more
significant increase in sales, customers, and even awareness that measured by
the increment of followers on social media which can improve overall business
performance. These results also in line with research that conducted by (Gumilang, 2019).
One of the informants (Informant 4) already conducted almost all the processes
which leads to the success of their digital marketing. This result also in line
with the theories stated by (Lockett, 2018) that said the success
in the use of digital marketing must be followed by the use of an appropriate
platform, the right strategy, the use of analytical tools to find out customer
needs, appropriate and consistent marketing contents. Informant 4 uses the
right platform (Instagram) that suits its target market, does some strategies
to answer the customer needs such as making contents that are relevant to
Millenials.
Conclusion
After
doing the observations and interviews with five foods and beverages MSMEs
business owners in Semarang, Indonesia, it can conclude that to achieve the
success of digital marketing, every business owner must consider all the
digital marketing processes that have been mentioned above, such as situation
analysis, purpose, strategies, tactics, action, and control. Through this
research, it can be proved that the business owners who did the comprehensive
and unique digital marketing processes improved their business performance by
gaining a significant increase in sales, customers, awareness, and followers on
social media.
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