Increasing Brand Awareness Through Digital Marketing Channel: A Case Study of Bank BRG
Alamsyah Suhanto1*, Anggara Wisesa1, Jacob Silas Mussry2
1Institut Teknologi Bandung, School of Business Management, Jakarta, Indonesia
2MarkPlus, Inc., Jakarta, Indonesia
*Corresponding Author: [email protected]
Received: 15 April 2023 | Accepted: 10 June 2023 | Published: 30 June 2023
DOI:https://doi.org/10.55057/ajrbm.2023.5.2.6
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Abstract: This research aims to increase awareness of Bank BRG, a well-established Indonesian bank seeking leadership in group KBMI (Bank Groups based on Core Capital) III for retail customers, by identifying factors contributing to brand awareness through digital marketing channels. Using a business-oriented approach, data from public and internal sources such as the Bank BRG Marketing Campaign Report and Online Tracking and Social Media Analytics were analysed. Descriptive and inferential statistics assessed the current state of Bank BRG's brand awareness, identifying significant drivers. Key findings include a positive association between higher marketing budgets and targeting specific age groups with increased brand awareness, the importance of managing online reputation and addressing negative comments, and the identification of the most effective channels for building awareness. These insights have significant implications for Bank BRG and other banking and financial institutions looking to improve their digital marketing strategies and increase top-of- mind awareness among target audiences, ultimately benefiting their competitive market positions and enabling them to better serve their customers.
Keywords: Digital marketing, Top-of-mind awareness (TOMA), Brand awareness, Banking industry
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1. Introduction
The banking industry in Indonesia has become increasingly competitive, with over 106 commercial banks vying for customers' attention. The top four banks, Bank Mandiri, Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI), Bank Central Asia (BCA), and Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI), collectively dominate the market. Digital banking is also aggressively acquiring new customers through mobile banking. In this competitive landscape, it is crucial for banks to maintain top- of-mind awareness (TOMA) among consumers. TOMA refers to the brand or product that first comes to consumers' minds when they think about a specific category or need, and it increases the likelihood of a customer choosing a particular brand over its competitors.
Figure 1: Download trend in mobile banking Indonesia market
This article focuses on Bank BRG, an Indonesian bank that offers a range of financial products and services. Bank BRG has a long history of serving the Indonesian market and is known for its commitment to customer satisfaction and innovation. The bank has established a dedicated digital marketing division that develops and implements effective marketing campaigns to increase brand awareness, attract new customers, and retain existing ones. Despite the bank's success in improving brand awareness, Bank BRG faces a significant challenge in capturing the top-of-mind position among consumers. With the goal of becoming the leader of bank KBMI III in retail customers. KBMI group is developed by Indonesia financial regulator based on their assets.
This article aims to understand why Bank BRG has low TOMA and evaluate the current marketing communication strategy of Bank BRG in increasing brand awareness that leads to TOMA. To achieve this objective, the article addresses four research questions. First, the article examines the current situation of Bank BRG TOMA. Second, it identifies the marketing communication factors that have the most influence on Bank BRG's brand awareness. Third, it assesses the digital marketing channels that have the most impact on Bank BRG's brand awareness. Finally, the article explores how the findings can benefit stakeholders, including Bank BRG's management team, marketing department, and customers.
2. Literature Review
2.1 Brand Awareness and Top-of-Mind Awareness (TOMA)
Brand awareness refers to the extent to which consumers are familiar with and able to recognize or recall a particular brand or product (Kotler & Keller, 2012). It can be thought of as a hierarchy, with different levels of consumer familiarity and recognition (Aaker, 1991; Keller, 1993). At the base level, a consumer might recognize a brand when presented with its name or logo - aided brand awareness. As brand awareness increases, consumers may recall the brand without any prompting - unaided/spontaneous brand awareness (Kapferer, 2004). The highest level of brand awareness is TOMA, where the brand comes to mind first when a consumer thinks about a particular product category (Aaker, 1991).
Becoming TOMA is an essential advertising goal, as it indicates that a brand is part of a consumer's evoked set during purchase evaluations (Belch & Belch, 2021). The more familiar a consumer is with a brand, the more likely the brand will be considered first when a consumer
high-quality product or service. Kotler & Keller (2012) suggest to improve TOMA, companies need to strengthen their brand awareness. Several studies found a similar situation where stronger brand awareness will lead to stronger TOMA (Yoo et al., 2000; Hakala et al., 2012;
Huang & Sarigollu, 2012).
It is essential to note that TOMA is not an indicator of purchase intention or actual brand choice (Aaker, 1991). However, other researchers argue that TOMA has a positive response to purchase intentions (Keller & Lehman, 2006; Woodside & Wilson, 1985). It is justified by the customer who will preferably buy a brand that is top-of-mind in the relevant category (Hakala et al., 2012).
2.2 Marketing Communications
Marketing communication encompasses a diverse array of activities aimed at communicating a company's products or services, increasing brand awareness, and driving customer engagement to ultimately boost sales and revenue growth (Belch & Belch, 2021). Moreover, to develop marketing communication, Kotler & Keller (2012) suggest a few basic steps:
identifying the target audiences, determining the objectives, designing the communication, selecting the channels and establishing the budget.
In this research, on step selecting channels, the author will focus on channels in digital marketing because the author would like to analyse deeper on how digital marketing is able to support building a strong TOMA. Given that the primary objective of this study is to enhance brand awareness, the determining objectives will also be centred on this goal.
2.3 Digital Marketing and Its Channels
Digital marketing refers to all promotional endeavours conducted online through various digital channels, including search engines, social media, email, and websites (Alexander, 2022). Given the current landscape of internet penetration and evolving consumer behaviour in Indonesia, leveraging digital marketing channels has become an essential strategy for brands seeking to broaden their reach and impact (Das et al., 2016). The widespread availability of smartphones and cost-effective data plans has connected millions of Indonesians to the internet, achieving a penetration rate of 77% in 2023 (Kemp, 2023). Digital marketing channels offer numerous benefits, including cost-effectiveness, increased reach, better targeting, and enhanced customer engagement (Chaffey & Ellis-Chadwick, 2019). Furthermore, they provide access to real-time data and analytics, which enable organisations to make informed decisions and continuously improve their strategies (Kumar & Reinartz, 2016).
Digital marketing offers few channels that can be used by brands. According to some studies (Ghose & Yang, 2009; Vries et al., 2012; Bruhn et al., 2012; Kim & Ko, 2017; Pires et al., 2022), channels who are able to contribute in building top-of-mind awareness are social media, display advertising, influencer, search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM). For email marketing, research by Chittenden & Rettier (2003) demonstrated that email marketing is more suitables to build loyalty to the customer instead of building awareness to drive acquisition.
3. Research Methodology 3.1 Data Collection Methods
To answer the research question, the author will occupy secondary data with detail as follow:
a. Bank BRG Marketing Campaign Report
The Bank BRG Marketing Campaign Report, a secondary data source used in this research, provides detailed information about the bank's awareness campaign on Meta (Facebook and Instagram) in 2022. Although the report's findings may not be generalizable to other digital channels, the use of Facebook and Instagram was deemed appropriate as these platforms are popular in Indonesia, where Facebook and Instagram users respectively represent 46.8% (129.9 million) and 35.7% (99.5 million) of the total population (Kemp, 2023).
The author retrieved the data from the ads manager. Ads manager is the platform used to set up and measure the marketing campaign performance that is executed on Meta platforms (Facebook and Instagram). The ads manager provides metrics such as the impressions of the campaign, the target audience that was set before, and the amount spent on that campaign.
The way each metric measures each information as follows, impressions were counted as the number of times an instance of an ad was on the screen for the first time. The amount spent was used as the numerator for calculating all cost per action or cost per result metrics.
Communication attractiveness was measured as the number of clicks generated divided by impressions. Additionally, the target audiences that were set up before the company ran its campaign on the Meta platform were recorded.
Using these metrics, the author was able to assess the level of TOMA for Bank BRG and identify key factors that influence TOMA. It's important to note that this report only covers information related to the awareness campaign and does not include any other marketing activities undertaken by the bank during the same period.
b. Online Tracking (Keyword Trends)
Keyword Trends is a tool that offers valuable insights into customers' online search behaviour by tracking their searches over time, seasonally, and by location. For this research, the tool was set to Indonesia, and daily searches made within the finance category, specific region, and time period were tracked. The tool provides data points that indicate the popularity of search terms, with 100 representing the highest popularity, 50 representing half the popularity, and 0 indicating insufficient data. These data points helped the author understand what potential customers are searching for, enabling them to develop a marketing strategy that could increase TOMA for Bank BRG.
3.2 Data Analysis Method
In this research, two data analysis methods were used to analyse the data collected, descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. I employed descriptive statistics as one of the key methods to assess the condition of Bank BRG's brand awareness and the impact of various digital marketing channels on overall brand awareness, as represented by impressions. It effectively summarises and collates the data collected, offering a comprehensive understanding of the current state of Bank BRG's brand awareness. Furthermore, this analytical approach was instrumental in breaking down and visualising the impressions generated from each individual digital marketing channel, allowing for a clear representation of how each channel contributed to the overall brand awareness of Bank BRG.
The second data analysis method used was inferential statistics, which was employed to analyse the relationship between the independent and dependent variables and identify the causes of the dependent variable situation. This method was particularly useful in examining the factors that influence brand awareness and determining the most significant drivers of this outcome.
By using inferential statistics, the study was able to test hypotheses and make inferences about the population based on a sample of data. Overall, the combination of descriptive and inferential statistics helped to provide a comprehensive analysis of the research data and allowed for a deeper understanding of the research questions.
4. Results and Findings
4.1 Brand Awareness Conditions
In the current situation at KBMI III, only four privately-owned banks exhibit stronger brand awareness and top-of-mind awareness (TOMA) - Bank CA, Bank DN, and Bank MA. As a result, our analysis will primarily focus on these four banks. According to Aaker (1991), TOMA represents the highest level of brand awareness. Ghose & Yang (2009) discovered that when consumers have a specific brand in mind, they tend to search specifically for that brand.
This indicates that brands with strong TOMA are likely to generate searches.
In order to address this research question, keyword trends for each bank will work as a proxy to measure the overall TOMA condition. Keyword trends reflect daily searches made on Google search engines within the finance category, specific region and time period. In this research, the region has been set to Indonesia. The data points include values representing the popularity of search terms, with 100 being the peak, 50 signifying half the popularity, and 0 indicating insufficient data.
In 2021, Bank CA boasted the highest mean score of 79.8, a median of 78, and a range of 39, whereas Bank MA recorded the lowest mean score of 18.2, a median of 18, and a range of 10.
Meanwhile, Bank BRG and Bank DN registered mean scores of 38.6 and 24.7, medians of 38 and 24, and ranges of 23 and 13, respectively.
In 2022, although Bank CA's mean score experienced a slight decrease to 79.3, it demonstrated an increased median of 80 and a reduced range of 37. Bank BRG observed a significant enhancement in its mean score, which climbed to 43.9, accompanied by a median of 43 and a range of 21. Both Bank DN and Bank MA also witnessed improvements in their mean scores, with Bank DN's mean escalating to 26.5, a median of 26, and an expanded range of 18, while Bank MA's mean score rose to 20.5, a median of 20, and a range of 12. In summary, Bank CA retained its dominant position throughout both years, while all other banks exhibited progress in 2022 relative to 2021.
Table 1: Keyword Trends for Year 2021 & 2022 (Source: Google, 2023)
2021 2022
Bank CA
Bank BRG
Bank DN
Bank MA
Bank CA
Bank BRG
Bank DN
Bank MA
Mean 79.8 38.6 24.7 18.2 79.3 43.9 26.5 20.5
Median 78 38 24 18 80 43 26 20
Range 39 23 13 10 37 21 18 12
In conclusion, the study's findings highlight that Bank CA consistently outperformed its competitors in both 2021 and 2022, maintaining its leadership in Top of Mind Awareness (TOMA) as reflected by keyword trends. Despite this, all other banks demonstrated progress in their TOMA performance in 2022 compared to 2021, with Bank BRG experiencing the most significant improvement.
4.2 Marketing Communications Factors that Influence Brand Awareness
The present study operationalizes brand awareness by employing the number of impressions, as suggested by Santo (2019) and Riserbato (2022), as the measurement of brand awareness.
The independent variables, as recommended by Kotler & Keller (2012), included target audiences (age and cities), objectives, communication, channels, and budget.
The regression results revealed a strong relationship between the independent variables and brand awareness, as indicated by a multiple R of 0.951 and an R-squared value of 0.905. This means that the model can explain approximately 90.8% of the variation in impressions. The adjusted R-squared value of 0.895 takes into account the complexity of the model and remains strong, demonstrating the model's robust explanatory power.
Table 2: Regression Result
The regression analysis revealed that among the independent variables, Budget had the strongest positive relationship with brand awareness, with a coefficient of 0.824 (p < 0.001), indicating that higher marketing budgets were associated with higher levels of brand awareness. Age also had a positive association with brand awareness, with a coefficient of 0.123 (p = 0.004), implying that targeting specific age groups was an effective approach for
increasing brand awareness. In contrast, cities had a weaker positive relationship with brand awareness, with a coefficient of 0.068 (p = 0.261), suggesting that targeting specific cities had limited impact on brand awareness. Communication had a negative association with brand awareness, with a coefficient of -0.164 (p < 0.001), indicating that higher click-through rates were linked to lower levels of brand awareness.
Table 3: Regression Result (continue)
Further investigation of the communication data showed that the high response rate was due to a significant number of negative comments directed towards the bank. These negative
Figure 1: Negative Comment in Social Media
In conclusion, the study suggests that the marketing communication variables included in the model have a significant impact on brand awareness of Bank BRG. Specifically, higher budgets and targeting specific age groups were associated with higher levels of brand awareness.
Additionally, managing online reputation and addressing negative comments may be an important aspect of Bank BRG's marketing strategy to improve brand awareness. It is important to note that the results are based on a sample of 128 campaigns conducted on Facebook and Instagram channels and may not generalise to other digital channels or different campaign contexts. These findings have implications for Bank BRG's marketing strategy and can inform future marketing campaigns.
4.3 Digital Marketing Channel Influence
Similar to previous analyses, this study utilises impressions as a proxy to examine the results of brand awareness. The author focuses on campaigns with brand awareness as their primary objective in 2022, gathering data from the company's analytical tools and social media analytics.
Figure 4: Bank BRG Impressions Trend in 2022
In 2022, Bank BRG's marketing campaign successfully generated 1.17 billion impressions through various channels, including search engine marketing (SEM), social media, display advertising, and influencer marketing. Among these channels, social media and display advertising contributed the most to Bank BRG's overall impressions. Display advertising led
in generating the majority of impressions during the 1st quarter, followed by social media in the 3rd and 4th quarters.
Upon examining the distribution of Bank BRG's impressions, there is a noticeable spike in the 1st and 4th quarters. In contrast, the impressions generated in the intervening quarters were relatively minimal compared to the others. These fluctuations in brand awareness efforts are worth investigating further to determine the factors driving these trends. Based on our findings, we can conclude that display advertising and social media are the most effective digital marketing channels for Bank BRG's brand awareness.
5. Conclusions
The analysis conducted in this research aimed to provide insights into the current state of Bank BRG's TOMA, the marketing communication factors influencing its brand awareness, and the digital marketing channels with the most significant impact on its brand awareness. The findings revealed:
a. Bank BRG has been showing considerable progress in catching up with its competitors, there is still room for improvement in its marketing strategies.
b. Higher marketing budgets and targeting specific age groups were positively associated with increased brand awareness for Bank BRG.
c. Importance of managing online reputation and addressing negative comments to improve brand awareness.
d. In terms of digital marketing channels, display advertising and social media were found to be the most effective for Bank BRG's brand awareness efforts.
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