A lot of entrepreneurs come into our office and ask for advice on how best to get their tech startup noticed in the Indonesian market. It’s true, the archipelago is somewhat of a difficult animal to cope with for newcomers. It’s tough to get recognition in Indonesia because there are many different types of consumers, all of whom engage with media in different ways. Religion and cultural values also come into play. Specifying “trendy women aged 18 to 25” as your target audience, for example, won’t be enough in Indonesia. You’ll need to think about a wide range of socioeconomic standings, a variety of education levels, prefered languages, and whether you’re marketing to Muslims.
It’s not an uncrackable case, though. Startups can market in Indonesia in many clever ways, and on the cheap. In no particular order, here are ten tips to help you promote your startup in the archipelago. They’re sure to come in handy regardless of whether you’re a homegrown tech startup or a foreign firm looking to enter Indonesia’s playground.
1. Spread your data around like hot butter
You may already be familiar with content marketing. This is actually an effective strategy in most places, but it’s particularly useful in Indonesia, where market research and reliable data are hard to come by. Local media outlets are always looking for the most recent stats on Indonesia’s tech scene. If your company can provide an updated overview of the market or perhaps the most recent trends in a specific sector, Jakarta-based startup reporters are likely to gobble it up. Do make sure they cite your company as the source, however, provided that the data is accurate, useful, and originated straight from your own efforts.
See: 10 trends that will shape Southeast Asian ecommerce in 2015
2. Understand Kaskus
Newcomers may be perplexed by Kaskus at first. Questions naturally include, “Is it a forum?” “Is it an ecommerce site?” The simple answer is that it’s a lot of things, namely “Indonesia’s largest online community.” Kaskus consistently shows up as the top referer for most other successful portal in Indonesia, as is evident on public analytics tools Alexa and SimilarWeb. This means that Indonesian consumers often arrive at given sites after first visiting Kaskus. Tell your marketing and growth hacking team to ignore this site at great risk.
3. Embrace consumer-to-consumer
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