The Integration of Conventional and Digital Marketing to Achieve Indonesia’s Tourism
The Integration of Conventional and Digital Marketing to Achieve Indonesia’s Tourism Glory
Ginting Satyana
Director of PT Mahoni Global (mahoni.com) & eastjava.com
The phrase of the world in a grasp today is more than just a metaphor, because it has become a reality. It seems that limitation of space and time is no longer relevant because today’s interaction has transformed into a fast paced, easier, and more affordable with the advance of communication technology. Undoubtedly, digital platform seemed to be the top, including in business and tourism. Our nation tourism sector that has growing continuously becomes a profitable business field. In order to develop the tourism sector, the ability to adapt and innovate is certainly necessary to compete with other countries' tourism. In this case, the government -- especially the Ministry of Tourism - and all relevant stakeholders must play an active role in marketing and 'selling' Indonesian tourist destinations. All parties must have a loyalty and a sense of responsibility for managing Indonesian tourism – both for the current condition and for the future. Funding for tourism promotion should be proportionally shared, which is 50% for short-term funding for the promotion of well-known tourism destinations, while the remaining 50% for long-term funding for the development of new tourism destinations. On the other hand, this should also be balanced with the quality and attractiveness of the tourism destination itself. Indonesia’s tourism condition nowadays is adequate and yet still have a lot of things to be fixed, from the aspect of accommodation, access, to facilities in tourism destinations in Indonesia.
In order to achieve the ideal business conditions of tourism, the marketing aspect that includes publicity and promotion -- both domestically and internationally should not be ignored. In this case, digital marketing plays a very important role. A device equipped with an internet connections gives everyone the freedom without exception to access information and then redistribute it. In connection with the development of tourism business, digital platform is the right medium to be utilized in order to expedite and expand the scope of promotion and publication of existing tourism destinations. By implementing digital marketing strategies, Indonesia has equal opportunity and reach as wide as other countries in marketing tourism.
In essence, digital marketing is a medium for the branding of a product and service that includes promotional and marketing activities based on the development of digital technology. Implementation of digital marketing in general utilize various digital platform for brand image enhancement activity, for instance through website, social media, online advertising, direct marketing email, discussion forum, mobile applications, group chat, and others. Digital marketing is not just a one-way communication, because there is also a digital platform that allows the creation of mass interactive activity, such as discussion forums. This can involve many people and able to help the development of a business digitally, both as a reference and in terms of Search Engine Optimization. So, when compared with the conventional marketing (offline marketing), digital marketing has a series of advantages, from the aspect of speed, practical use, little expense, to unlimited scope of space and time.
All the advantages of digital marketing certainly had to be balanced with the right optimization for marketing efforts to get maximum results. Marketing strategy through digital platform should be able to attract the attention of targets, which are both local and foreign tourists. Therefore, promotional materials should be prepared to not only become informative, but creative as well –from articles, photos, videos, infographic , and etc -- to attract more visitors. Furthermore, consulting with digital marketing experts can be done to start an implementing of maximum marketing strategy. Unfortunately, the business development opportunities of digital tourism is still not fully aware and understood by the stakeholders who play an important role in the Indonesian tourism sector. Just look at how some areas in Indonesia are still stick to offline marketing by producing and distributing thousands of printed brochures that beside wasting more time and narrow coverage, also certainly requires a lot of money. Therefore, it is very important to start promoting digital literacy as early as possible, either through seminars, discussions, or exchanging information in cyberspace. In the end, all relevant stakeholders can have awareness and understanding that the implementation and utilization of digital platform will have a positive impact on the effectiveness of tourism business marketing.
However, it does not mean that conventional marketing (offline marketing) should be completely eliminated. Because in essence, the goals and public targets of both marketing strategies are the same, which is to maximize the number of tourist arrivals, especially from foreign countries to increase foreign exchange. Therefore, the right strategy is through integration and combination between offline marketing and digital marketing according to the segmentation of each existing tourism destination. Furthermore, other advantages offered by digital marketing are the promotion and publication not only can be done the business, but can be done by anyone as a user of the digital platform. Therefore, those who can contribute in the development of Indonesian tourism are not only tourism from government or private sector, but also can involve various parties, including the young generation. With loyalty and high sense of nationalism, awareness and a comprehensive understanding of the appropriate marketing strategie implementation, and collaboration of all stakeholders to actively promote Indonesian tourism, the triumph of Indonesia's tourism business is not a dream anymore.
Source: Grand Story Magazine
