MAKING A BRAND IMAGE TO BOOST A BUSINESS

Most people assume that building the first brand is to make use of large-scale advertising. However, facts prove it that big companies in the world have built their brands for the first time by utilizing public relations that involve a variety of programs designed to promote and / or to maintain the company image or products. Advertising is needed to maintain the brand in order not for a company to collapse, but not to build a brand for the first time.

Microsoft utilized public relations when it launched its new operating system, Windows 95, which was not actually a completely new product; however, it is very easy to apply, and so is Macintosh. The launching of Windows 95 dated August 24, 1995 was a tumultuous day for it. The Wall Street Journal estimated that 3000 cover stories, 6852 stories and over 3,000,000 words would be devoted to Windows 95 from July 1 until August 24. Microsoft teams around the world did publicity to attract attention. Windows 95 banner was hoisted by 600 feet from the Toronto CN tower. Red, yellow and green colors were sprinkled on the logo of Windows 95 on the Empire State Building in New York. The London Times was paid so as to give out 1.5 free million copies of its daily publications to the public. When Windows 95 was sold at 90 dollars, thousands of people lined up to buy it. At the end of the first week, sales in the United States alone reached 108 million dollars. Microsoft was to pay 220 million dollars for public relations. Why did Bill Gates spend so much for public relations?. There were two possible reasons. Firstly, Microsoft was worried about the defects found in earlier versions of the operating system so that computer users might be reluctant to buy it, and in this respect, Microsoft wanted to overcome this reluctance. Secondly, Macintosh quickly decreased its computer prices with the hope of selling more Apple computers before Windows 95, which was similar to the Macintosh operating system, was sold in the market. Microsoft wanted to stem the flow of Macintosh sales by selling Windows 95 packages as much as  possible within the shortest possible time.

Anita Roddick built The Body Shop, one of the most well-known, world brands, without advertising, but she did public relations all over the world tirelessly to introduce her products. Wal-Mart, one of the most spectacular, world corporates, only slightly put ads. Similarly, Intel, Dell, Compaq, Gateway, Oracle, Cisco, SAP, and Sun Microsystems were created for the first time on the pages of the Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Forbes, and Fortune, by publicity, not by advertising premises.

THE UNIQUE TOUCH STRATEGY TO BOOST AN EDUCATION BUSINESS

Many strategies are used to excel in competition. When first opening Primagama education institution, we got 2 students only, so we tried to find strategies on how to get a lot of students. Primagama strategy, as we call it a unique touch strategy, is to invite senior high school students by using free, integrated trial test on social knowledge and science. This strategy is carried out because the students who want to continue their studies at state universities should sit for such tests. Primagama is the education institution that first held the try-out considered as the guidance of an entrance-test of state universities. As such try-out was done for the first time, there were a large number of participants who sat for it. Before the try-out began, we let the participants know particularly about one of the benefits of Primagama compared with the other educational institutions. Because of the guidance, there were 62 students who took part in Primagama test guidance . The next strategy is an insurance-of -being accepted program, which means that if the students are not accepted at state universities, they needn't pay tuition fee apart from registration fee, that is, Rp10,000. Such an idea derived from Mr. Purdi, and it was realized by providing the participants with customer services in two offices. One office was located at 7 Jl. Kapten Tendean, and the services were handled Mr. Purdi, and the other was situated at 92 Jl. Demangan Kidul, and the services were handled by Mr. M. Suyanto. The customer services should be handled by the persons who know all the ins and outs of the institution including practical formulas to answer the test items, and the prediction of the test items that come out in the integrated entrance test of the state universities where the participants will continue their studies. We could not imagine how many students of Primagama would have been if the participants who had joined Primagama, and who had been accepted at state universities and announced through newspapers had been enormous.

When I founded the Center for Computer Education and Management IMKI, the unique touch strategy that I applied was the One-year Professional Program, which was equipped with Computer Education, Practical Management Education and Entrepreneurship. When IMKI was founded, there were no computer-education institutions that carried out one-year computer education. Then, the prospective participants of the programs were informed that if they just took the 1- or 3-month computer program, they would only get a little of the knowledge and skill, but if they took the 1-year computer program, they would get much more of the knowledge and skill". This strategy proved effective.

When STMIK Amikom Yogyakarta was founded , a unique touch strategy was also applied. The weakness that I found was that of mental attitude. Therefore, the education at STMIK Amikom began with the mental attitude known as Super Excellent Training. The training model incorporates Super Camp by Bobby De Potter, Achievement Motivation Training, and Spiritual / Emotional Training intelligence. To maintain this mental attitude, when students attend the lecture, they are required to wear a tie, and eventually the habit of wearing a tie leads to the term "The University for Prospective White Collar Workers". Then, that the facilities applied in process of education of knowledge and skills are high level ones leads to the term "Excellence in Information Technology Trend". In addition, the concentrations that are offered cover Television Advertising, E-Commerce, and Cartoon Films. In fact, when you understand what unique touch strategy is, it proves to be differentiation strategy or positioning strategy.

STARTING A BUSINESS FROM SOMETHING HAPPENING AROUND US

There are various ways to start a business. One of the ways is to begin from something happening around us. By so doing, Ruth Handler, the inventor of Barbie doll, became one of the most successful businesswomen in the world. Handler’s doll, a well known toy among children in the world, is named after her daughter, Barbara Millicent Roberts. The doll business started when Mrs. Handler happened to see her daughter playing with paper dolls. Then, Mrs. Handler, the wife of one of the founders of Mattel, thought to make the doll more permanent and realistic. In modern management, that doing Barbie doll business can last long is a strange thing. A consultant of Oxford Group, Ian Ritchie, who had worked with Hasbro toy business, found the key lessons from such a business, namely: it is of great importance that we market children-toys as quickly as we can; in this respect, the interval between getting a better idea to put them on the shelves of stores and realizing it itself promptly can determine either success or failure in the business; and in the marketing world, such timing must be absolutely proper: to achieve success should keep up with the trend of the children-toys that can be found in the latest movies, books, stories, or television series.

Barbie is a universal product and usually standardized. There are also a number of diverse costumes. More than 100 new costumes are added each year. This is because Barbie is a woman of Renaissance, a successful career woman, a member of rock band or of football world cup for women.

The next event was when she decided to raise a male friend of Barbie, Ken, whose creation was actually by accident, but it produced the expansion of exceptional brands. Ken, ‘who, in the story, hid behind, and who was possibly glad to see Barbie succeed in various aspects of life’, was introduced in 1961. Introducing Ken has laid the foundation for the entire set of extensions which maintain that the Barbie brand remains the center of attention.

Furthermore, a friend of Barbie’s, Midge Barbie, was launched in 1963; Barbie’s younger sister, the skipper, in 1964; a black friend of Barbie, Christie, in 1968; a confidant of Barbie’s, Teresa, also a friend of Hispanic’s, in 1988; an Asian friend of Barbie’s, Kira, in 1992; and baby sitters of Barbie’s, Kelly and Becky, the smallest in a wheelchair, in 1997. The number of Barbie dolls was then 15,000, combined with the changing of clothes, eyes, colors, but without that of legs.

Like Ruth Handler, Elton John created the song ‘Candle in the Wind II’ in the event of the death of Lady Diana. In terms of business, John was successful then, as you know 32 million copies sold out within one month. Even in 1997, Candle in the Wind II was the best product of the year.

STARTING A BUSINESS FROM A SIMPLE IDEA

Many people argue that opening a business requires a very creative and innovative ideas. It is, however, not true for Michael Dell, who once opened a business with a simple idea that he did not sell computers to selling brokers but directly to consumers. He cut off the middlemen; thus, the price of a PC could be suppressed. He started the business with a capital of $ 1000, and he did marketing through the "Mail Order", and within 16 years, his computer sales increased from 6 million to $ 36.9 billion dollars. Then, he opened offices in London in 1987, and now he has opened branch offices with 40,000 employees around the world.

However, Dell did not develop his business smoothly. In 1993, Compaq, which was the leader of the PC sale market at the time, put through a price cut to compete with Dell. As a result, Dell lost 65 million dollars in the first six months, which caused him to be nearly bankrupt. Finally, Dell made a very fundamental change in the so-called reengineering process in the business with the introduction of E-commerce. In 1999, Dell began to rely on speed. Whether or not the orders of his customers were complex was served as fast as he could.

Other innovations were assembling computers after orders. Dell's mass customization approach, namely producing in large numbers, reduced the production cost per unit. Dell put parts store run by his supplier, and it took 15 minutes to get there from the factory, and transportation was arranged by e-mail and made quickly. Dell provided a rapid servant by performing communication via e-mails and Web sites. PCs from Dell in the same test with the network testing and cooperation with other suppliers could reduce the test period of 60 - 90 days to just 15 days. Dell monitored employee productivity and Return On Investment (ROI) on an ongoing basis.

Dell has introduced E-commerce in the business. Most of his customers did transaction through his E-commerce. The customers could also access detailed diagrams of computers and get information about troubleshooting. By using the pricing and product configuration online, it could eliminate the work, and Dell himself could save 15% administrative fee. For the biggest buyers, such as Easman Chemical, Monsanto and Wells Fargo, Dell did business of Web pages that could access Dell's E-commerce, which allowed employees to order quickly and easily. By using this strategy Dell could sell at a price below his competitors. In 1999, Dell could sell 1.7 million dollars per day on the website of his E-commerce. Dell shares rose 2000 percent in two years. Dell could compete with world-class businesses, such as IBM, Compaq, HP, and Bell-Nec. Even the market share and profits continued to rise, and eventually he became the greatest PC seller in the world.

Dell's business on computers was an amazing business ranked 23rd in the world in 2001 and 4th in 2003. Dell has got real benefits from the use of E-commerce and has a success story that is hard to believe, but the story is real and comes from a simple idea.

STARTING A BUSINESS OF YOUR WORK

Apart from starting a business of education, you can start a business from the work you have done. Reuben Mattus started a business of the work usually done by a child. He arrived in the United States from Poland in 1921. When he was 8 years old, he lived with his mother who was a widow. To make money, his mother sold lemon ice from a squeezed lemon while he helped her. In 1932, he founded the company Senator Frozen Products in the Bronx, and in the late 1950s, he built an ice cream company marketed through grocery stores and liquor stores. Then, he had the idea to enter into supermarkets, but supermarkets were asking for incentives that could not be met by his company. He did not easily discourage. Then he created a luxury brand of ice cream made from real fruit and natural ingredients and were marketed through the imaginative use of the name smells of Danish “Haage-Dazs” as the perfect way to differentiate a brand new with its competitors. Three flavors Haagen Dazs, which first appeared were a sense of Vanilla, chocolate and coffee, and all them were sold in food stores in New York. Community positively welcomed the ice and only in a few weeks other stores throughout the United States sent a reservation for this new ice cream. Word-of-mouth marketing was enough to improve the distribution of these products to the urban centers and cities and universities in the Northeast region. People across America sent a letter asking how to get Haagen Dazs near where he lived. Some even volunteered to distribute this product. Mattus's girls then proposed the idea to open a shop selling only brand Haagen Dazs. The first store was opened in Brooklyn and opened a new era for this brand and was followed in major cities across America. In the year 1982, he expanded the store to Canada; cooperated with leading food companies; and crossed the Atlantic to Europe. The Europeans were welcomed with enthusiasm ice.

Eugene Schueller also started the business from his job as a chemist. As a chemist who was young, he managed to make hair dye formula which he called innovative “aureole”. Then Schueller founded the company called “Franncaise Societe de Teentures Inoffensives pour Cheveux”, which eventually became “L’Oreal”in the year 1909. Schueller's principle used to achieve success was to conduct research and innovation focused on beauty. As a chemical expert starting from a small company, at first he employed 3 chemists 11 years later; however, the number of chemists is now approaching 2000. Schueller sold these products at the beginning to the hairdresser in Paris. Five years later, L’Oreal products was found in the Netherlands, Austria and Italy. A few years later, through distributing agents and their representatives, L'Oreal was sold to the United States, Russia and Asia. Now, L’Oreal products have been present in the whole world, and L’Oreal is a company that is the most remarkable in France and has been ranked as a 23rd amazing company in the world according to Fortune magazine.

STARTING A BUSINESS OF EDUCATION 1

Many people complain that opening a business has no chance. This is a common complaint that we cannot hear anymore. In fact, in order to start a business, we can do a variety of ways, one of which is to apply the education we have.

Jerry Yang and David Filo, Yahoo founders, started the business by using his education. They used to be students of Stanford University. Yahoo, which started a business by using the back of a parking lot, is now growing rapidly. Jerry Yang and David Filo started the business from small and simple things. Jerry Yang Yahoo illustrated that the discovery was 'an accident' when he and Filo finished their theses. Yang and Filo started Yahoo when they were in college. They started doing business with a website, listing some of their favorites, and writing some software that allowed a website to get other web sites that would be placed on the so-called web portals until it was established in 1994 and was called Terry’s Guide to the World Wide Web. When they learned that their sites had been visited by people from 90 countries, they spontaneously said 'Yahoo', and ultimately that’s the word used to name their company. In 1999, Yahoo reached star status. Net income quadrupled in the fourth quarter of 57.6 million dollars while revenues jumped from 91 million to $ 201 million dollars. Then Yahoo was the best portal in 2002.

Kiichiro Toyoda is the son of the founder of Toyoda Spinning & Weaving Co., which was changed into the field of automatic loom. After completing his engineering studies, he decided to start a business by transforming the company into the production car and he changed the company name from Toyoda to Toyota in 1936. Kiichiro Toyoda became President of the Toyota company until 1950. The first car produced was then AA Crown Model. Offices in foreign countries was first established in Taiwan and then Saudi Arabia. The product that the company began to produce was forklift trucks (tub / trailer), which made the company number one in the world in this market. These trucks entered the U.S. market in 1958 and the British market in 1965. The Crown Model failed to enter the U.S. because the car was designed for the Japanese market but it was not designed for being driven on American highways. Then, after producing Toyota Corolla cars in 1968, the company achieved success so that it could shift Volkswagen cars as number-one imported cars in America, even it could take the Americans with General Motors to make Toyota cars in America. The sales of Toyota Camry cars were the most successful in the United States in 1997. Toyota is now extended to other areas of business, namely financial services, telecommunications, housing, machinery navy, recreational boats, parts distribution and aviation services. Toyota is now a number-three car maker in the world after General Motors and Ford. Toyota can sell 5 million vehicles per year.

STARTING A BUSINESS OF EDUCATION 2

Pierre Omidyar started a business with his degree in Computer Science. He was interested in developing technology to create products for consumer needs, and he also liked the idea of the concept that could produce a variety of ways through the delivery of products to consumers, to see their reaction, and then improved the products according to their needs. Then, he made the Internet as a place to realize his idea, because with the Internet, quickly he could not only publish the software, get a reaction from consumers, but also correct the mistakes he did. To find out how bidders in Paris, he did not need to go to Paris but just saw it from home or office. Subsequently, he founded eBay, the Internet auction company, in 1995. Prior to  founding eBay, Omidyar, with his colleagues, founded the eSharp, which made him experienced in entrepreneurship. eBay is a company that relies on trust. You can imagine that people paid what they only saw in the auction on the Internet. Without trust, this company would not survive. Net income reached 1.35 million dollars in the third quarter of 1999, and its sales increased by 58.5 million dollars. The number of people who registered on the eBay site increased from 5.6 million to 7.7 million in comparation with the previous quarter. Net income increased by 1.3 million dollars in the same period in the previous year. The sales of goods on the web site increased from 195 million dollars to 741 million dollars. According to Yahoo magazine, eBay was the best on the Internet auction company in 2002 . 

Anita Roddick founded The Body Shop in his garage space in 1976. He founded his business with his education, that is History. With History, she loved the environment, made natural concept, mixed pure ingredients, did not conduct an experiment with animals, was friendly with the natives, and took care of the environment where the herbal derived. Almost without advertising but with a very massive publicity, The Body Shop became one of the world brands.

THE OBSOLESCENCE OF STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

The emergence of Strategic Intent, which is a strategy based on a dream or vision, which makes the Management Strategy pride in the business school, became obsolete. Strategic Intent have foresight, but only oriented Strategic Management today. In Strategy Management or Strategic Planning or Corporate or Planning, how to deal with your opponent is always to underestimate what a company owned by now. At business schools, Strategic Management is the culmination of knowledge that combines all the knowledge management. Starting with a set mission, SWOT analysis, which contains internal strengths and weaknesses and external opportunities and threats, sets goals, develops strategies, designs programs, implement and evaluates programs.