SiteMinder - The Client

SiteMinder is a technology company offering an e-commerce platform that allows hotels to sell their rooms on their own websites and through third parties like online travel agencies. It is an Australian Public Company operating worldwide.

The Objective

SiteMinder is trying to re-enter the market before it’s coming back up again through Bali, Indonesia by providing a platform for hoteliers and hospitality industry enthusiast to gather and discuss what is important in the pre-recovery, approaching G20, and what is sustainable strategic, to position themselves as a more premium platform and cultivate relationships with General Managers in the Island.

Ultimately being in top of the head when it comes to e-commerce platform that allows hotels to sell their rooms on their own website and through third parties like Agoda, Booking.com, Airbnb, Tiket.com and others.

So, how do you enter a market in a post-pandemic economy in tourism industry?

When we accepted the opportunity, we know that this project will be a challenging project understanding the current economy situation in Bali, Indonesia. It was one of the worst place that got hit from the tourism sector, knowing the island 80% depends on it.

So - we set the expectation clear, however we did a 2 months market research for SiteMinder, and the result was that the Industry is coming back slowly. Bali, now, more than ever is one of the most desirable place to travel to, especially from its closest neighbor, Australia.

With that in hand, Jesse, one of my business partner in Itchi Digital, put together a strategic positioning for SiteMinder Indonesia and how to enter the market. Here are few of the strategies that we put in place and successfully executed;

Industry Event Marketing

We suggested an in-person event for SiteMinder where it has a lot of opportunity to gain publication and industry recognition.

Roundtable Discussion - Early Post Pandemic

An in-person event in Bali, for the industry was long awaited. So it’s only right for SiteMinder to move forward with the idea, and to gauge response of their brand in Indonesia. The event was a success, with over 90% attendance list of 114 participants(hoteliers, General Managers etc)  we also received amazing feedback from the attendees.

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Public Relations

Challenges;

1. Post-pandemic economy, business is reluctant to move with any major investment.
2. The industry had been hit so bad, it creates a lot of doubt and tip-toeing in crafting communication strategy and driving narratives

Solutions;

1. By providing platforms like events above, SiteMinder position themselves in the top of their potential customer’s mind
2. Our Public Relation Firm, disseminate narrative and intensify its communication for SiteMinder and managed to gained over $380,000USD ++ in PRV and $40,000USD ++ in AVE.

Impact;

1. Aside from re-igniting their brand awareness country wide, Itchi Digital had managed to help SiteMinder to enter the market post-pandemic and establish a relationship with Bali Hotel Association & The Tourism Board.
2. SiteMinder is starting to gain more quality lead in their funnel to bring in sales from Indonesia, and solidify their decision in having stronger support and sales team in the country.

🗞️ Here are some of the articles we helped disseminate for the client;

1. Hotel-hotel di Indonesia Kini Kembali Kebanjiran Reservasi dari Turis Asing
2. Hotel-hotel Indonesia Dibanjiri Reservasi Wisatawan Asing
3. SiteMinder Gelar Diskusi Perhotelan di Bali, Ini yang Mereka Bahas
4. Akuisisi GuestJoy, SiteMinder Perluas Layanan Platform
5. SiteMinder Perluas Platform Komersial Hotel Melalui GuestJoy
6. Destinasi Pariwisata Indonesia Semakin Dilirik Wisman, Ini Faktanya
7. Pariwisata Indonesia Kembali Ramai, Reservasi dari Wisatawan Internasional Meningkat
8. Indonesia hotels experience spike in international bookings

Digital Marketing

With a demographic of a high-level decision maker, SiteMinder, needs to be very practical in approaching their potential leads, with the post-pandemic economy and culture, an accommodating and not too sell-ish to the leads are the message that we suggested in the digital strategy for the company.

We crafted few different messaging ranging from; Discounts right after the Roundtable Event Discussion, followed with Unique Value Proposition messaging, and then we conclude the campaign with a user generated content like Testimonial aiming to cultivate the social confidence in the user’s buying state.

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📌 We did the campaign in both English, and Indonesia, knowing the landscape of CEO, General Managers of Hotels in Bali are a mixed of Locals and Foreigner.

Results;

We reached over 1,8 million impressions with 13k clicks. The key learning of this campaign is that understanding the local context of the demographic’s behavior will set your campaign budget in a more effective direction.

So, what does it take for a B2B company to enter Indonesian market in summary?

1. Have a strong understanding of the current economy and come up with a strong narrative that drives a desirable/long awaited story and ideas. This will set you for a head start in your market entry strategy for Indonesia.
2. Work on the seamless experience of your brand, meaning; For SiteMinder, a huge event that was longed for, followed by online presence, and be in every single news distribution create an effective brand awareness through out your campaign.
3. Work with a local expert that has a deep knowledge of the context, and be flexible in how you approach the new territory. Cost-efficient might not always be the best option. Cultural difference should be on top of your head, in how you enter a new market.

So that’s all. Do you think that this article help you understand what it takes to enter Indonesian Market for your business?

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