Developing a New Marketing Approach to Enhance Brand Awareness: Case Study of an E-commerce Enabler Company in Indonesia
LSHOP, a SaaS startup company that was introduced as a direct-to-consumer (D2C) e-commerce enabler. With LSHOP’s D2C strategy, MSMEs can benefit from technological solutions without the involvement of a third party. Building awareness is crucial for a new brand, particularly a startup company with an existence of less than five years, or even less than a year if it is computed since they conducted the rebranding, to concentrate on its position and remain in the sector. According to observations and conversations with LSHOP’s marketing manager, there are still a lot of people who are unaware of the SaaS company, which is beneficial for MSMEs as one of their business channels, LSHOP. The frameworks of Porter’s Five Analysis, Marketing Mix, SWOT, Competitor Analysis, and Customer Analysis are used in this study to examine business issues. Data and information were gathered from a variety of sources, including observation, employee interviews, questionnaire distribution employing sampling, and questionnaire distribution. According to the survey, LSHOP’s underuse of marketing channels and customers’ lack of familiarity with the SaaS sector were to blame for the lack of brand awareness. The author suggests a marketing approach based on the 5A Framework to address the issues, namely how to raise brand awareness. The tactics employed for stage 5A of spreading awareness of LSHOP vary depending on the level. At the Aware stage, businesses can work with influencers, put up billboards and banners in MSMEs’ common areas, and introduce a distinctive catchphrase. The strategy that can be used in the Appeal stage is to produce engaging content regarding the brand’s features or industry-related data. Additionally, to make it easier for customers to understand the information, viral or unique promotions are required. The business should implement a plan to build a community network utilizing Facebook and regularly produce content using short videos on TikTok during the Ask stage. Additionally, in the Act stage, launching internal events, working with the government, running promotional campaigns, and having live chats with customer care are all highly beneficial for LSHOP’s new approach. Finally, LSHOP can strengthen relationships with consumers at the Advocate stage by developing referral and loyalty programs that offer rewards to customers.