Marketing Strategy to Improve Brand Awareness: Case Study of a Cloud Service Provider in Indonesia

: The World Health Organization classified Covid-19 a global pandemic, its effects have rippled across every aspect of society, including the economy. Firms are shifting their objectives and concentrating on their information technology capability to deal with the unpredictability that this pandemic has brought onto the economy. Cloud and colocation will be required to support company operations with digital infrastructure. Many of the world's largest cloud service providers are thinking about creating cloud regions within its boundaries as a result of its tremendous development potential. Cloudgear as one of local Indonesian cloud service provider wants to take this opportunity to grow their business. Cloudgear has a comprehensive service portfolio consisting of Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Software as a Service (SaaS), Professional as a Software (PaaS), professional services, and multi-cloud services. However, based on the initial interview with ten cloud engineers and specialists in different companies, most of them are not aware that Cloudgear is a local Indonesian cloud service provider. Therefore, the next challenge is how to improve brand awareness of Cloudgear by formulating the right marketing strategy. Because it will strengthen the brand and develop Cloudgear competitive advantage for the company's future growth. This research is objected to analyse Cloudgear internal, external conditions, analyse the factors that influence the brand awareness, and propose the most suitable marketing strategy in building Cloudgear brand awareness. Brand awareness is affected by advertising, social media, word of mouth and publicity. In this research, advertising, social media, word of mouth and publicity are being analysed whether it has significant positive influence to cloud service providers brand awareness or not. The hypothesis are that each of these factors have positive influence to cloud service brand awareness by performing customers analysis. Questionnaire was distributed to two hundred samples. Then, the data were processed by SPSS using multiple linear regression method. Several tests were conducted consisted of validity test, reliability test, normality test, and linearity test. After the data were valid, reliable, normal, and linear, analysis continued by doing multiple linear regression. The results are there is significant effect of each advertising, social media, word of mouth and publicity to brand awareness of cloud service provider. Determination test is resulted these variables have 50.1% influence. When F Test was conducted, the result was these variables if tested simultaneously or simultaneously have an effect on cloud service brand awareness. Therefore, the proposed marketing strategy for Cloudgear is related to improvement in advertising, social media, word of mouth and publicity in order to increase their brand awareness as a local Indonesian cloud service provider.


INTRODUCTION
Indonesia's economy has been severely impacted by the global pandemic called Covid-19. Many firms have been forced to move their activities online as a result of the government's efforts to contain and mitigate the pandemic. Businesses that have not yet adopted digital technology have discovered that they must change in order to survive. Indonesian enterprises must overcome numerous obstacles before becoming fully digital. Many of these firms lack the infrastructure to enable turning digital, and worries about security have made them hesitant. Due to the risk of cyberattacks and paucity of resources, it was particularly challenging for some firms to fully digitize. Enterprises must enable and reciprocate the digital attitude and culture within the firm in order to pivot and begin the digital transformation process. They need to locate the appropriate personnel who are talented and knowledgeable about the technology that will be adopted or applied. It would take time for them to fully comprehend the extent of what they must do in order to survive. In the wake of the recent global pandemic, many firms are focusing on their information technology capability to deal with the unpredictability that this has brought onto the economy. However, there are new perspectives on the digital transformation in the future due to the low touch economy that is anticipated in the market.
Indonesia's government has launched 100 main initiatives in 10 priority sectors, focusing on digital infrastructure, digital government, digital economy, and digital society. There are opportunities for new technology trends to accelerate the digital government transformation such as smart city, cloud computing, cyber security, artificial intelligence, internet of things, big data analytics, etc. Indonesia is one of the 10 top countries with the largest numbers of startups in 2022. These technology companies are heavily relying on digital infrastructure such as internet broadband, mobile applications, data centers, and networks. To lay the groundwork for a company's digital operations, digital infrastructure brings together and links physical and virtual technology such as computing, storage, network, apps, and IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS platforms. This will help businesses in restructuring their services for scaled-up global digital delivery and to have access to the ecosystems and resources they require to quickly create products and services. Digital infrastructure is a business enabler that acts as competitive advantage sources. Businesses must now more than ever offer contactless solutions, and they will need to leverage data to better understand client needs. On the other hand, Indonesia is one of the APAC region's fastest expanding markets. Many of the world's largest cloud service providers are thinking about creating cloud regions within its boundaries. Public cloud industry is now dominated by SaaS and IaaS models, but PaaS is predicted to develop at the fastest rate. Cloudgear (a pseudonym due to confidentiality) as one of local Indonesian cloud service provider wants to take this opportunity to grow their business. Cloudgear has a comprehensive service portfolio consisting of Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Software as a Service (SaaS), Professional as a Software (PaaS), professional services, and multi-cloud services. Focusing on cloud capabilities development itself, Cloudgear is targeted to lead the B2B IT services of its parent company. This led to the needs of Cloudgear to expand and strengthen their capabilities. However, based on the interview with ten cloud engineers and specialists in different companies, most of them are not aware that Cloudgear is a cloud solution from Indonesia. Therefore, the next challenge is how to improve brand awareness of Cloudgear by formulating the right marketing strategy. Because it will strengthen the brand and develop Cloudgear competitive advantage for the company's future growth.

LITERATURE REVIEW
Brand awareness can be broken down into four distinct stages: brand oblivion, brand recognition, brand recollection, and finally, brand persistence at the top of memory where it develops into an automatic nature [1]. Three factors can be used to measure brand awareness [2]. First, the brand's level of exposure when used as a cue. Second, the degree of familiarity attained through repeated brand exposures, which may lead to a consumer's improved recognition and memory of the brand. Third, how frequently you hear people discussing the associated brand. Marketing communication initiatives across all media support brand equity and sales in a number of ways, including by increasing brand awareness, ingraining the brand image in consumers' minds, evoking positive brand judgments or feelings, and bolstering consumer loyalty [3]. Advertising, online and social media, word of mouth, and publicity all have an impact on B2B brand awareness. The organization will be able to influence and mold all awareness sources by effectively managing these factors. Because of their relationship to B2B brand awareness, these variables are being used in this study [4]. One of the promotional tools that can affect consumer brand awareness and help to build and maintain a favorable perception of the company and its goods is advertising. Its objective is to inform and educate people about the product while also cultivating positive attitudes and providing incentives for them to purchase it. Additionally, advertising is used to generate immediate sales or to build a strong brand image for a product [5]. This emphasis on social influence and the significance of advertising in society is reflected in the new definition of advertising as "brand-initiated communication intended to reach people" [6]. Getting coverage (recall), enhancing brand image through persuasion messaging, and providing information are the four indicators to develop an efficacy indicator that is tailored to the needs of each advertiser and applicable to the various communication techniques that may exist. This indicator enhances the metrics in two ways: first, it addresses concepts such as brand image and buying intention, which are crucial to the advertiser, in addition to traditional advertising recall, and second, it removes some biases that frequently appear in the measurements [7]. According to prior research on advertising, it is evident that advertising, which serves as the primary information source, plays a significant role in building brand awareness and engaging the target audience. In order to create a strong and positive brand awareness among consumers, businesses are increasingly sharing information about their brands through social media activities like managing user-generated content, blogging endorsements, and advertising on social networking sites like Facebook and YouTube [8]. In reality, marketers create brand page posts that feature video content, high-quality photos, creative content, and digital storytelling techniques to tell compelling stories that deepen consumers' understanding of the brand [9]. Easy use, interaction and widespread participation, fun and entertainment while using, simplicity of public information dissemination, and high credibility are the features of social media that are used as indicators in this research. Therefore, these earlier studies have come to the conclusion that social media is crucial for spreading knowledge using the right platforms and contents by facilitating interactions and engagement [10]. Word of Mouth (WOM) is defined as the process through which customers share information and views that steer buyers toward or away from particular products, brands, and services. WOM is classified into two types: (1) Organic WOM, which is WOM that is formed naturally and when a delighted consumer with a product voluntarily and joyfully promotes the product (very much depends on consumer experience) (2) Amplified WOM, or WOM that is conditioned or constructed such that consumers are willing to inform other consumers by targeting "opinion leaders," or people whose opinions are heard, and "surrogate buyers," or expert buyers. The most significant benefit of WOM is that it lowers the company's promotional costs because WOM is less expensive than other forms of promotion [11]. There are three determinants of word of mouth. Frequent interactions often occur between people who are more extraverted and more susceptible to interpersonal factors to receive the word-of-mouth information. Credible expertise refers to the source's perceived expertise, defined as the source's level of expertise and experience with regard to the product or organization. This can be considered as someone who has a higher level of involvement with the product or service. Closeness defines the tie strength relationship between the source and recipient of the information. Stronger ties, such as close friends, are often more easily accessible and lead to more frequent engagement, allowing for the request or provision of word-of-mouth information [12]. The term "publicity" covers a broad range of activities designed to enhance or defend the reputation of a business or specific products. Publicity includes non-personal communications like press releases, media appearances, press conferences, feature stories, newsletters, photos, movies, and audiotapes. Public relations include, among other things, annual reports, membership drives, lobbying, managing special events, and public affairs [13]. The establishment and maintenance of strong media relations to get stories covered, lobbying for change in institutions like the government and other organizations, and planning and supporting events are all ways that an organization can achieve its PR objectives. Contrary to advertising, public relations can lead to publicity, which focuses on communications that are not sponsored or managed by the organization [14]. Publicity is influenced by the recognition of messages and recall of messages [15]. Recognition of messages is the audience awareness of media content displayed while recall of messages is the audience is capable of remembering the message. After determining the variables and indicators, the conceptual framework can be defined as below Figure 1.

METHODOLOGY
The sample size for problem solving research is 200 samples [16]. Thus, the customer analysis questionnaire is using 200 samples. The sampling is limited to people that are working in companies that use or look for cloud services information. The questionnaire is using close-ended questions with Likert Scale of 1 to 5 [17] to identify the five variables. Customer analysis is conducted by using multiple linear regression analysis methods in SPSS. A software package for managing data and performing statistical analysis is called SPSS. SPSS played a significant role in revolutionizing social science research methodologies. It allowed researchers to carry out intricate statistical analyses on sizable datasets without the need for statisticians who were adept at using difficult to use programs on mainframe computers [18]. In order to do the multiple linear regression, there are several tests that should be performed. It consisted of a validity test, reliability test, normality test, and linearity test. The results will be defined in Five Why's diagram that explain root causes of the problem. Below are the hypothesis of this research: H0: Advertising, social media, word of mouth, and publicity have no positive influence to brand awareness of cloud service H1: Advertising positively influences the brand awareness H2: Online and social media positively influences the brand awareness H3: Word of mouth positively influences the brand awareness H4: Publicity positively influences the brand awareness

RESULT AND DISCUSSION Respondents Profile
Respondents' profiles are determined by the industry segments, age, gender, and cloud service usage of the respondent's companies.
The number of respondents is 225 and shown as the below diagrams. A. Industry Segments   Based on Figure 5, it can be seen that 75% of respondents are already using cloud service, 14% are currently looking for information, and the remaining 11% are not yet using the cloud service. 75% that are already using cloud service consisted of 169 respondents and 14% that are currently looking for information consisted of 31 respondents. These 200 respondents are continuing to the next step of the questionnaires.  Brand recall of Cloudgear is determined by asking the respondents of "what brand that first popped into your mind when you heard cloud services?". Figure 6 determines the majority of respondents (37%) are recalling Google Cloud, followed by 27% recalling Amazon Web Service (AWS), 14% recalling Alibaba Cloud, 11% recalling Biznet Cloud, 4% recalling Lintasarta, 3% recalling Indonesian Cloud while 2% recalling Microsoft Azure and Cloudgear. Even though there are 11 respondents that mentioned Cloudgear as the first brand that popped into their mind when they heard cloud services, it is still far from Google Cloud, Amazon Web Service (AWS), and Alibaba Cloud. Compared to the local Indonesian cloud services, the number of respondents that recalled Cloudgear was also still lower than the other local cloud service providers such as Biznet Cloud, Lintasarta, and Indonesian Cloud. As seen in Figure 7, to determine the brand recognition of Cloudgear, there are three questions that are asked to the respondents. First, regarding the level of exposure is "I have heard about Cloudgear", second is "I am familiar with Cloudgear", and third is "I have listened to people talk about Cloudgear". The result of the first question is that 119 respondents strongly disagree that they have heard about Cloudgear while only respondents strongly agree that they have heard about Cloudgear. This means there are 59.5% of respondents that strongly disagree that they have heard about Cloudgear while only 3.5% strongly agree that they have heard Cloudgear. The result of the second question is that there are 125 respondents that strongly disagree that they are familiar with Cloudgear while only 7 respondents that strongly agree that they are familiar with Cloudgear. The graph indicates 62.5% of respondents that strongly disagree with the familiarity of Cloudgear and only 3.5% that strongly agree. This means that the Cloudgear level of familiarity is very low. The third question resulted in 117 respondents strongly disagreeing that they have listened to people talk about Cloudgear while only 9 respondents strongly agree. It shows that 58.5% strongly disagree they have listened to people talk about Cloudgear and only 4.5% that strongly agree. Therefore, it can be concluded that the level of exposure, level of familiarity, and frequency of listening people talk about Cloudgear as cloud service are very low.

Multiple Linear Regression Analysis
In this study using multiple regression analysis to determine the significant or not the effect of independent variables namely Advertising (X1), Social Media (X2), Word of Mouth (X3), and Publicity (X4) on Brand Awareness (Y).

Figure 8. Media Advertising Preferences
Because of the significant effect of advertising to brand awareness of cloud service, it is necessary to see which media that preferable by Cloudgear potential customers. Based on Figure 8, respondents can choose more than one advertising media in this question. However, the result shows that the most preferable media advertising is online advertising compared to others with 98% of the responses.  shows that customers prefer searching for cloud service information through search engine by seeing the top page of search engine results. Next to it, respondents prefer to go directly to websites and blogs that provide information about cloud service. Highest percentage of the search engine optimization is 76.5% while also more than 50% of respondents prefer websites and blogs. C. Word of Mouth (X3) The X3 variable's regression coefficient is 0.130, which means that a 1 unit increase in the X3 variable will result in a 0.130 unit increase in the Y variable. The coefficient is positive, indicating that the X3 variable and the Y variable have a relationship that is directional, meaning that as the X3 variable rises, the Y variable rises as well. This implies that the relationship between the X3 variable's value and the Y variable is inverse: the higher the X3 variable's value, the higher the Y variable's value, and vice versa. According to the t value, the effect of the X3 variable on the Y variable is 0.001 0.050, and the t-count value is 3.448 > the t table (1.97220), where Ho is rejected and H3 is accepted, indicating that the effect of X3 on Variable Y is significant.

Figure 10. Source of Respondents Word of Mouth regarding Cloud Service
In this questionnaire question as shown in Figure 10, respondents are being asked from whom did they get information about cloud services. 71.1% of the respondents know the information about cloud service from experts or cloud service users. However, 59.8% of them also get the information from their friends.

D. Publicity (X4)
The X4 variable's regression coefficient is 0.163, which means that a change in the X4 variable of 1 unit will result in a change in the Y variable of 0.163 units. The coefficient is positive, indicating that the X4 variable and the Y variable have a relationship that is directional, meaning that as the X4 variable rises, the Y variable rises as well. This implies that the relationship between the X4 variable's value and the Y variable is inverse: the higher the X4 variable's value, the higher the Y variable's value, and vice versa. According to the t value, the effect of the X4 variable on the Y variable is 0.004 0.050, and the t-count value is  Figure 11. Publicity Media Preferences Respondents are being asked regarding in which publicity media did they prefer to looking for cloud service information in Figure 11. 78.4% of them prefer go to company website to get the cloud service information. While 48.5% prefer community and 38.2% prefer to get the information from press releases and publications. of the company and potentially lead to more customers in the future. This strategy allows Cloudgear to gain visibility and recognition in the community, which can lead to increased sales and customer loyalty in the long run. It is also an effective way to build relationships with existing customers and potential customers, which is essential for any business. 4. Make a routine or yearly Cloudgear event Such an event could take the form of a professional workshop, Cloudgear talk day, or Cloudgear tech day. Inviting expert speakers and Cloudgear partners to these events will help to draw interest and demonstrate the value of Cloudgear. This will create buzz and interest, as well as providing an opportunity to showcase the product to potential customers. Additionally, such events can provide valuable networking opportunities and lead to increased collaboration and knowledge sharing. Such events could also be used to announce product updates and new features, further raising the profile of the product.

Collaborate with government programs related to IT services development across Indonesia
This strategy can be used to create an environment that is conducive to the growth and success of Cloudgear. It can also help to create an image of credibility and trustworthiness, as well as to increase the visibility of the business in the local market. By partnering with government initiatives, Cloudgear can access new markets, resources, and customers that may not have been accessible otherwise. Additionally, by collaborating with programs related to IT services development, Cloudgear can tap into the potential of the digital economy, allowing them to reach a larger and more diverse customer base. Furthermore, this strategy can be used to create a more favorable environment for Cloudgear to operate in, as government programs are often backed by incentives and government-funded resources. Ultimately, this strategy can provide businesses with a platform to reach new customers, expand their business, and increase their overall profitability. 6. Optimize online advertising by utilizing social media ads and search engine ads Social media ads allow Cloudgear to target specific audiences on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. These platforms offer businesses the opportunity to reach potential customers that are interested in their products or services. Additionally, Cloudgear can use social media ads to drive website traffic and increase brand awareness. Search engine ads, such as those found on Google and Bing, are also effective in targeting potential customers. By incorporating keywords into ads, businesses can ensure they are appearing in front of customers who are actively searching for the services they offer. Additionally, Cloudgear can use search engine ads to optimize their website content and increase overall website visibility. By optimizing online advertising through the use of social media ads and search engine ads, Cloudgear is able to reach a larger audience and generate more leads. This strategy also helps Cloudgear to reduce their marketing costs by targeting specific customers that are more likely to be interested in their products or services. 7. Increase the public relation news content in company and community website Increasing public relations news content on Cloudgear and community websites is an effective marketing strategy that can help to raise awareness of a company, its products and services, and its mission and values. Public relations news content can include press releases, blog posts, articles, interviews, and other content related to the company. This content can help to build relationships with the public, potential customers, and other stakeholders, as well as establish trust and credibility for the company and its products and services. Additionally, the content can be used to drive traffic to the website and help to increase sales. By providing interesting and informative content to the public, companies can establish themselves as leaders in their industries and create a positive image for the company and its products and services. 8. Utilize social media channels for marketing promotions and PR campaign Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram allow businesses to easily reach a wide range of potential customers and create conversations around their brand. Through social media channels, Cloudgear can promote their products and services, provide updates on promotions or events, and build relationships with customers. Additionally, Cloudgear can leverage social media channels to approach influencers and create content that resonates with their target audience. By utilizing these channels as part of an overall marketing and PR strategy, Cloudgear can create greater brand awareness and reach more people.

CONCLUSION
Cloudgear brand awareness is still low and needs to be improved. It can be seen by the brand awareness measurement in the questionnaires result that stated the level of exposure, familiarity, and frequency of hearing people talking about Cloudgear are very low. Not only that, the brand recall measurement resulted that most customers are not recalling Cloudgear brand as a cloud service. Customers analysis is being conducted to determine which factors are positively affect brand awareness of cloud service. The results are each of advertising, publicity, social media, and word of mouth are positively significant effect to brand awareness of cloud service. After conducted thorough analysis, the root cause can be determined. Low brand awareness of Cloudgear is caused by the marketing communications that are not yet developed and integrated. Therefore, several recommendations are made to improve Cloudgear brand awareness in accordance to the customer analysis result. The recommendations are make a referral program by affiliate marketing; increase SEO content by push the publicity content organically; join in communities and involve in their program to increase publicity; make a routine or yearly Cloudgear event; collaborate with government programs related to IT services development across Indonesia; optimize online advertising by utilizing social media ads and search engine ads; increase the public relation news content in company and community website; utilize social media channels for marketing promotions and PR campaign.