Utilization of Digital Marketing after the Covid-19 Pandemic

in Indonesia Businesses

Yenni Merlin Djajalaksana

and Doro Edi

Information Systems Program, Maranatha Christian University, Jl. Surya Sumantri No. 65, Bandung, Indonesia

Keywords: Covid-19 Impact, Covid-19 Pandemic, Digital Marketing, Indonesia Businesses.

Abstract: In the midst of difficult time due to COVID-19 Pandemic, Digital Marketing turned out to be a significant

help for the businesses that were forced to reach out to customers using online means. This study investigated

the impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the use of Digital Marketing Tools in Indonesia Businesses. The

106 survey participants were Indonesia-based Business Owners on a small to medium scale, contacted through

Instagram Direct Messages, Facebook Instant Messengers, Facebook Groups, WhatsApp Groups, and

Telegram Groups by purposive sampling method. Statistical Tabulation of the responses and correlation

analysis on the characteristics of the businesses and usage behavior of digital marketing tools are identified.

Among many results, several important highlights were the followings. There was a significant difference

among the use of different marketing media before and after the COVID-19 Pandemic (F=18.30, p<0,05),

however, there was no significant difference in the use of the same digital media before and after COVID-19

(F=0,08, p>0,05). There was no evidence of a difference in marketing expenditure before and after COVID-

19 (F=0, p>0,05).

1 BACKGROUND

The COVID-19 Pandemic that emerged at the end of

2019 has had a profound impact on the entire world

in all areas and aspects of human life and the world

economy. This is very pronounced when many

countries impose social restrictions, including

Indonesia. Indonesia enforced large-scale social

restrictions that lasted from March to July 2020,

having an impact on many aspects of business,

resulting in layoffs (PHK or Pemutusan Hubungan

Kerja), reduction in employee salaries, postponement

of holiday allowances Eid al-Fitr, and many more.

Many businesses were suffered as a result of the

COVID-19 Pandemic; however, as the business

mechanism works, many specific businesses also

experienced positive income trends as a result of this

Pandemic. The term "New Normal," which has been

adapted to become "Adapted to New Habits" in

Indonesia, has now been running, and the Indonesian

people have begun to adapt. In line with these

adjustments are the changing procedures and

mechanisms for implementing business processes.

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9789-4394

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3093-2816

For example, companies in Indonesia, which usually

use printed materials and distribute brochures for

marketing activities, had switched to using online

media marketing or digital marketing. This was done

to minimize physical paper contact among many

people and avoid the close social distances between

the person giving the brochures and the recipients of

the brochures.

By looking at this trend, the researchers saw an

unusual impetus in the expenditure of promotional

funds that shifted from printed marketing materials to

online media, with various benefits. By looking at this

trend, researchers see that aspects of digital marketing

can play an important role in helping companies to

bounce back from difficult times. This research was

carried out with the aim of identifying the use of

digital marketing for companies in the presence of the

COVID-19 Pandemic.

2 LITERATURE REVIEW

The COVID-19 Pandemic has changed the way

Djajalaksana, Y. and Edi, D.

Utilization of Digital Marketing after the Covid-19 Pandemic in Indonesia Businesses.

DOI: 10.5220/0010743100003112

In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Emerging Issues in Humanity Studies and Social Sciences (ICE-HUMS 2021), pages 63-72

ISBN: 978-989-758-604-0

businesses market their products; from what was

originally conventional to being completely digital.

This has led to various studies regarding the impact

of the COVID-19 Pandemic on businesses in

Indonesia. This literature review will present previous

similar research that have been carried out.

2.1 The Impact of the COVID-19

Pandemic on the Business World

The COVID-19 Pandemic had a major impact on the

business world in Indonesia. Based on research from

Thaha (2020), there are indications that 1,785

cooperatives and 163,713 micro, small, and medium

enterprises (MSME) were affected by the coronavirus

Pandemic (COVID-19), they even indicate that in a

few months of the Pandemic, 50% of the MSME

respondents were threatened with bankruptcy. This

statement is supported by similar research conducted

by Amri (2020), who found that the impact of

COVID-19 on MSMEs was very significant because

of the domino effect of the lockdown from the

tourism industry, which had a domino effect on

MSMEs such as handicrafts, souvenirs and the like.

Research from Taufik and Ayuningtyas (2020),

which uses secondary data on the impact of COVID-

19 on various fields from January to April 2020,

provides some information, namely the following

affected areas:

1. Elementary, Secondary, and Higher Education -

has a big impact on learning that is carried out at

home, but positively businesses and organizations

in this industry can still carry out their operations

and business activities.

2. Trade - heavily affected by business restrictions,

forcing most to use e-commerce for business

actors, which is welcome because consumers who

have to stay at home increase their spending

through e-commerce interfaces.

3. Online Transportation - due to the absence of

normal traffic, online transportation has

experienced a significant reduction in transactions

but is later helped by partnerships with various

businesses that provide various basic

commodities.

4. Hospitality - the impact is extremely heavy, as

there have been many cancellations of trips so this

business area has fallen into disrepair.

5. Tourism - various tourist attractions have been

completely closed, resulting in significant impacts

on small and medium enterprises that rely on these

tourist attractions.

6. Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare Needs - the

business is growing with an increase in production

and consumption.

According to Taufik and Ayuningtyas (2020), the

following are business fields that developed after the

COVID-19 Pandemic, telecommunications, online

platform providers / vendors, pharmaceuticals, health

products through the adjustment of online-based

business platforms.

Apart from this research, various news in

newspapers and national news reports have also

announced the impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic,

including the Indonesian Minister of Finance - Sri

Mulyani, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and

the World Bank, predicting the economy in early

2021. Indonesia will experience growth of

approximately minus 2.2 percent (or contraction) in

2021 (Fauzie, 2021).

The efforts of Indonesian President Joko Widodo

continue to be made to help MSMEs; for example, the

State of Indonesia provides Working Capital

Assistance of Rp 2.4 million, which has been

launched since July 2020 to MSME players in the

hope that it can help push the wheels of business,

especially for increasing MSME trade transactions

(Kantor Staf Presiden, 2021). For real results, it may

still take time, but MSME actors are a priority for the

Indonesian State to continue to survive in this

difficult time of the Pandemic.

2.2 Digital Marketing in the Business

World

Digital Marketing is also commonly referred to as

Online Marketing. The definition of digital marketing

itself, according to Chaffey and Ellis-Chadwick

(2019), is "The application of digital media, data, and

technology integrated with traditional

communications to achieve marketing objectives." Or

in the translation is "Application of digital media,

data, and technology that is integrated with traditional

communications to achieve marketing goals."

Despite the fact that Digital Marketing is not a

totally brand-new innovative concept and has

flourished in more advanced countries such as the

USA, research from Kane et al. (2015) only 4,800

corporations in the USA showed that they were not

ready to use digital platforms in the most effective

way. The readiness of the corporations to go digital

cannot be undermined. As resulted from interviews

on 777 marketing executives by Leeflang et al.

(2014), a number of challenges were identified, such

as trying to find the people to fill the "talent gaps,"

making changes in relation to the “organizational

design” to fit the new digital forms, and using newly

identified “actionable metrics” in the new digital

business forms.

ICE-HUMS 2021 - International Conference on Emerging Issues in Humanity Studies and Social Sciences

Based on research conducted by Jati and

Yuliansyah (2017), the influence of online marketing

strategies on consumer purchase interest based on a

case study at the Azzam Store Online Shop states that

online marketing strategies and consumer purchase

interest with this system are considered quite good

with an average score of 336.67 for online marketing

strategies and 343.33 for consumer buying interest.

From these studies, it can also be concluded that the

coefficient between online marketing strategies and

consumer purchase intention has a very strong

relationship. If the seller and buyer here have a good

relationship, this can be a major factor in increasing

buyer interest.

Meanwhile, according to Setiawati (2017), in her

research entitled Online Marketing to Increase

MSMEs Profits, the results of this study answer the

hypothesis statement, which shows that online

marketing strategies have a positive effect on the

profits of MSMEs in Central Java. In this study, the

data obtained are primary data, collected by sending

questionnaires to respondents both online and offline.

This online marketing system can improve the

welfare of the community considering a large number

of internet users in Indonesia. By maximizing online

marketing in the field of MSMEs, sales profits will

increase.

According to Redjeki and Affandi (2021), a few

simple things to start a business with Digital

Marketing are to determine marketing goals,

marketing targets, digital platform selection, setting

budgets, and creating content that can attract

consumer attention. They also described the added

value obtained by customers who use digital media.

Based on this study, Digital Marketing provided

convenience to customers in terms of information,

time, distance, availability of goods for 24 hours, and

of course, choices. These value creations were not

obtained through conventional marketing systems

that have been available previously. The effectiveness

of Digital Marketing was confirmed by an interview

study by Putri and Hermawan (2021) on creative

consultants during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Digital / Online Marketing is also often associated

with Digital Branding. According to Fadly and

Sutama (2020) in their research entitled Building

Online Marketing and Digital Branding in the midst

of the COVID-19 Pandemic, it was concluded that

online marketing and digital branding strategies are

very effective marketing strategies, considering that

technological developments today are increasingly

rapid and have entered the era of the industrial

revolution 4.0. Some of the advantages of this online

marketing system are that it is easy to access and

communicate between sellers and customers in regard

to product sales problems, payment systems that are

easier because of utilizing technology, and efficiency

of time and place. If online marketing is maximized

by building the brand, the products sold will be

increasingly recognized by the wider community and

can maximize the role of online marketing.

An interesting phenomenon was found by

Alshaketheep et al. (2020), discovering that

consumers have certain behaviors and preferences

during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Their participants in

Amman, Jordan reacted positively towards messages

that gave an emotional touch, such as "offers, anti-

crisis deals, personalized digital communication, and

empathy" given by the company promoting their

products or services.

2.3 Potential Market for Digital

Marketing

Technology and digital media are not something new,

since more than 25 years ago when the World Wide

Web was created by Sir Tim Berners Lee (Chaffey &

Ellis-Chadwick, 2019), the world began to include

this element. Even so, the development of technology

and online media is so fast that in 2021 there are so

many ways for certain companies or brands to interact

with potential customers. The existence of the first e-

commerce with Amazon.com in 1994, Yahoo and

Alta Vista search engine in 1995, eBay online auction

site in 1995 changed the world of business forever

(Laudon & Traver, 2021). Amazon.com and eBay,

which to this day still exist, still dominate the world

of E-Commerce. While Yahoo is currently still in the

top ranks, it has been defeated by the Google search

engine, which was born in 1998, wherein 2021, it

controls a market share of more than 90% almost

evenly around the world (Stat Counter, 2020).

In the latest statistics for social media in

Indonesia, Facebook as of December 2020, recorded

more than 170 million users (Napoleon Cat, 2020).

while for Instagram, there are more than 83 million

users (Napoleon Cat, 2020). Of course, these statistics

are a bright spot for the business world because digital

marketing tools through social media will enable

them to reach a very large market, more than 60% of

the total population in Indonesia. Moreover, the new

habit of living and working at home will be greatly

helped by the use of digital marketing. Of course, for

social media, there are still many other popular

platforms with promising user statistics in Indonesia.

It is evident that Indonesia is now forced to accelerate

its Digital Transformation in the COVID-19

Pandemic era, as confirmed by a study from

Utilization of Digital Marketing after the Covid-19 Pandemic in Indonesia Businesses

Muditomo and Wahyudi (2020) that digital

transformation has been forced on the Small to

Medium Entreprises (SME) in Indonesia, while those

enterprises did not have enough maturity for the

transformation.

There are still many other online marketing tools

used specifically for the implementation of digital

marketing in Indonesia and around the world. These

include Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Whatsapp,

Telegram, Line, and Tiktok, depending on what

market you want to target.

2.4 Social Media for Digital Marketing

Marketing through social media is a marketing

process carried out through third parties, namely

social media-based websites. Currently, there are

many social media platforms that can be used for

marketing or the promotion of a product or service.

Social media platforms that are often used for

marketing or promotion include Facebook,

Instagram, and Twitter. Through this media, the

company or brand can carry out a structured and

targeted promotion.

Marketing with social media is not always directly

related to buying and selling. In this marketing,

content can be marketed in the form of posts on the

web, images, or videos. Content marketing through

social media is related to the product to be sold. Apart

from marketing content, this modern marketing

technique is also used to market brands. The purpose

of marketing the brand here is to introduce the brand

in general to the public as a whole or what is often

referred to as brand awareness.

Zainal Abidin Achmad and friends (Achmad et

al., 2020) conducted a research entitled Utilization of

Social Media in Marketing of MSMEs Products in

Sidokumpul Village, Gresik Regency. Based on the

results and discussion, this study produces two

conclusions. First, social media platforms play an

important role in marketing MSMEs products in the

Sidokumpul Village during the COVID-19

Pandemic. Second, the MSMEs in the Sidokumpul

Village have not optimized the marketing of MSMEs

products through social media. Some MSME players

have used social media for marketing, but it is still

small and not well organized. Third, the trial of

optimizing the use of social media as a means of

marketing good products for MSMEs in Sidokumpul

Urban Village can increase the number of MSMEs

product sales again and reach consumers on a scale in

Gresik Regency and outside the Gresik Regency area.

Fourth, the use of social media as an effective means

of support for the running of MSMEs during the

COVID-19 Pandemic because MSMEs players in the

Sidokumpul Village can still carry out their business

activities by complying with and implementing health

protocols. This study suggests that it is important for

MSME players to understand and add insight into the

importance of digital marketing strategies to support

the sustainability of MSME businesses. Digital

marketing is an opportunity that can be developed to

maximize business profits during the COVID-19

Pandemic. By looking at these case studies, the

potential of social media for MSMEs can be said to

be promising and can continue to be developed for the

future.

2.5 Research Gap based on Literature

Review

Based on the literature review in the previous sub-

sections, this research aimed at completing the

following research gaps:

1. There were no scientific data on how large the

Indonesian companies' revenue changes were

due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

2. There were no scientific data on the difference in

marketing media used before and after the

COVID-19 Pandemic.

3. There were no scientific data on the marketing

expenditure before and after the COVID-19

Pandemic.

4. There were no scientific data on the most

effective digital marketing tools after the

COVID-19 Pandemic.

5. There were no scientific data on the reasons and

challenges for the company in regard to using

and choosing digital marketing tools.

3 RESEARCH METHODS

3.1 Research Questions

Aligned with the research gaps identified, the

following research questions have guided this

research:

1. How did the company's revenue perform before

and after the COVID-19 Pandemic?

2. What kind of marketing media were used before

and after the COVID-19 Pandemic?

3. What was the company's marketing expenditure

before and after the COVID-19 Pandemic?

4. What are the most effective digital marketing

tools for companies after the COVID-19

Pandemic?

5. What are the reasons and challenges that the

company faces in using and choosing digital

marketing tools?

ICE-HUMS 2021 - International Conference on Emerging Issues in Humanity Studies and Social Sciences

3.2 Data Collection Method

This research was conducted with primary and

secondary data collection. The primary data

collection was conducted using a Google Form that

was targeted towards business owners, marketing

staff, or employees who handle marketing tasks. A

purposive sampling method was implemented by

targeting qualified potential respondents. A filtering

question was initially asked to potential respondents

to avoid non-qualified participants answering the

research questionnaire.

The distribution of questionnaires was conducted

through several channels:

1. Business people Whatsapp groups

2. Digital marketer Telegram groups

3. Instagram Direct Messages targeted to businesses

4. Facebook groups related to business

5. Facebook messenger messages targeted to

businesses

6. Businesses relations of the researchers

3.3 Factors Studied

The factors to be studied are:

1) Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Business:

a) Income

2) Company Marketing before and after the

COVID-19 Pandemic:

a) Marketing tools that are used

b) Marketing Expenditures

3) The most effective digital marketing tools

a) Evaluation of various digital marketing tools

(Facebook Ads, Instagram, etc.)

b) The determining factor in choosing the use

of digital marketing tools

c) Challenges in using digital marketing tools

These factors were reflected in the questionnaire

distributed in a digital form format.

3.4 Construct Validity

The questionnaire underwent construct validity tests

through expert verification on the questions and tests

sent to several potential participants. There were two

experts that read the questions and suggested better

wording and changes as needed. There were 5

participants who tested the questionnaires and

contributed input for questionnaire improvement.

Questionnaires by means of Google Form were

distributed post questionnaire refinement.

4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The execution of the data collection effort was

between January 2021 and February 2021. There

were 106 qualified responses obtained and 12

unqualified responses. The data collected were

processed and analyzed with descriptive statistics and

presented in the following sub-sections. The

following results can be described below.

4.1 Participants Profile

The 106 qualified responses were obtained from 15

employees in marketing functions (14.16%) and 91

business owners (85.84%). The respondents who

were employees were staff at the lowest level, up to

General Manager at the highest. Of those employees,

80% of them have been working for over two years at

the current company. Business owners were diverse

in terms of the industry they were in. Table 1 shows

the ranges of Business Field, with Consumer Services

(24%), Food and Beverage (20%) and Retail and

Commerce (17%) as the top three.

The business owners specified the number of

employees they currently employee in Table 2. The

majority were MSMEs with fewer than 20 employees

and 76% of the business responding. The businesses

in the majority had operated longer than three years

(72%), as shown in Table 3. In terms of the

availability of physical facilities (office or store), 77

respondents (73%), which was the majority, owned it.

Business locations spread across Indonesia cities,

mostly coming from Java Island 95 respondents

(90%), Bali Island 7(7%), and Sumatra Island 4 (4%).

Table 1: Respondents Business Fields.

Business Fields Freq. %

1. Consumer Services 25 24

2. Food an

Bevera

e 21 20

3. Retail an

Commerce 18 17

4. Information Technology 9 8

5. Education 6 6

6. Travel an

Leisure 6 6

7. Industrial/Factor

5 5

8. Technical an

ineerin

4 4

9. Medical an

Health 4 4

10. Real Estate 4 4

11. Agriculture 2 2

12. Financial Services 2 2

TOTAL 106 100

Utilization of Digital Marketing after the Covid-19 Pandemic in Indonesia Businesses

Table 2: Number of Employees in the Company.

Number of Employees Freq %

No employee 18 17

Fewer than 10 46 43

11 – 20 17 16

21 – 50 12 11

50 – 100 8 8

> 100 5 5

TOTAL 106 100

Table 3: Number of Years in Operation.

Number of Years in Operation Freq %

Shorter than 1 year 12 11

Between 1 and 3 years 17 16

More than 3 to 5 years 12 11

Longer than 5 years 65 61

TOTAL 106 100

The respondent’s ages are classified in Table 4.

The majority of respondents are 36-45 years old

(40%), followed by respondents above 46 years old

(38%), 25-35 years old (22%), and respondents below

25 years old with just one person (1%)

Table 4: Age of Respondents.

e Ran

e Fre

. %

< 25 years ol

1 1

25-35 years ol

23 22

36-45

ears ol

42 40

46 >

ears ol

40 38

TOTAL 106 100

Table 5: Level of Education.

Levels Freq. %

D3 or lowe

11 10

D4 o

S1 71 67

S2 21 20

S3 3 3

TOTAL 106 100

Table 5 shows the respondents’ level of education.

The majority of them are in D4 or S1 (bachelor’s

degree) with 71 respondents (67%), followed by

respondents in S2 (master’s degree) with 21

respondents (20%), D3 or lower with 11 respondents

(10%), and S3 (doctoral degree) 3 respondents (3%).

Table 6: Respondents’ Gender.

Gende

Freq. %

Male 64 60

Female 42 40

TOTAL 106 100

Table 6 shows the gender of the respondents.

There were 106 respondents, with a majority of the

64 (60%) were males.

4.2 Business Performance

The majority of businesses (72 responses, 68%) had

decreasing performance due to the COVID-19

Pandemic. Those affected by decreased performance

were in the majority, decreasing over 30% compared

to their condition prior to COVID-19 (referring to

Table 7). On the opposite condition, there were still

20% of business (20 businesses) that experienced an

increase.

About 29% (31 businesses) of respondents also

revealed that they were forced to reduce the number

of employees in the company. The rest put their best

effort into keeping their employees intact and made

alternative efforts to survive the difficult time.

Among many major efforts to survive were reducing

opening hours of businesses and offices, reducing

staff salary, reducing physical media promotion, and

reducing operational and overhead costs.

Table 7: Magnitude of Impacts on Business Performance.

Percent Decrease / Increase Fre

Decrease over 30% 49 46

Decrease between 10-30 % 21 20

Decrease less than 10% 2 2

No significant change 14 13

Increase less than 10% 5 5

Increase between 10-30% 8 8

Increase more than 30% 7 7

TOTAL 106 100

4.3 Marketing Media Utilization

This study investigated the different use of digital

marketing media for marketing. Based on the

percentage difference between before and after

COVID-19 in Table 8, this study found that fewer

respondents used several marketing media such as

flyers, printed media, newspaper/magazine/other

printed media (-7%), SMS (-3%), radio (-2%),

Company Website (-2%), Offline Marketing (-2%),

and Search Engine Ads (-3%) after the Pandemic as

compared to before the Pandemic. On the opposite,

the use of the following marketing media was

increased for Instagram (6%), Facebook (3%), and

Whatsapp (5%).

Table 9 shows that there was a significant

difference (F=18.30, p<0,05) among groups in terms

of utilization before and after COVID-19. However,

there was no significant difference (F=0,08, p>0,05)

in the use of digital media between before and after

ICE-HUMS 2021 - International Conference on Emerging Issues in Humanity Studies and Social Sciences

COVID-19, as shown in Table 10. Thus, there is no

proof that there was a change between the use of the

marketing media before and after COVID-19.

4.4 Marketing Spending and Tools

Following the results, this study also surveyed

marketing expenditure before and after COVID-19,

as shown in Table 11. The results show that there

were changes in terms of percentage of before and

after COVID-19 with a trend of businesses reducing

their marketing expenditure. There was no evidence

of a significant difference in marketing expenditure

before and after COVID-19, as shown in Table 12

(F=0, p>0,05).

The top three most effective marketing tools to get

new customers are shown in Table 13, with the most

being Instagram ads (27%), WhatsApp (27%),

Facebook Ads (9%), while other tools follow. When

asked about the most effective marketing tools to

generate revenue, the respondents chose the top three

most effective marketing tools as shown in Table 14,

they were WhatsApp (31%), Instagram (25%),

Search Engine Ads (9%), while other tools follow.

Table 8: Marketing Media Utilized Before and After

COVID-19.

Marketing Media

Before After

% Diff

Freq % Freq %

Flyers, Printed

media Newspaper/

Magazine/Other

rinted media

36 10 10 3 -7

Radio 9 3 3 1 -2

Company Website 43 13 34 11 -2

Email 33 10 31 10 0

Facebook 44 13 50 16 3

Instagram 64 19 77 25 6

WhatsApp 59 17 69 22 5

Line 3 1 4 1 0

SMS 14 4 3 1 -3

Marketing Offline 9 3 3 1 -2

Search Engine ads 12 3 0 0 -3

Others 17 5 24 8 3

TOTAL 343 100 308 100

Table 9: ANOVA Table on Different Marketing Media Utilization Before and After COVID-19.

SUMMARY

Groups Count Sum

verage Variance

Flyers 2 46 23 338

Radio 2 12 6 18

Company Website 2 77 38,5 40,5

Email 2 64 32 2

Faceboo

2 94 47 18

Instagra

2 141 70,5 84,5

WhatsApp 2 128 64 50

Line 2 7 3,5 0,5

SMS 2 17 8,5 60,5

Marketing Offline 2 12 6 18

Search Engine ads 2 12 6 72

Others 2 41 20,5 24,5

ANOVA

Source of Variation S

-value F crit

Between Grou

s 12188,13 11 1108,011 18,30163 0,000008 2,717331

Within Grou

s 726,5 12 60,54167

Total 12914,63 23

Table 10: ANOVA Table on Before and After COVID-19 Marketing Media Utilization.

SUMMARY

Groups Count Sum

verage Variance

BEFORE 12 343 28,58333 431,1742

AFTER 12 308 25,66667 738,2424

ANOVA

Source of Variation S

-value F crit

Between Groups 51,0416667 1 51,04167 0,087294 0,770416 4,30095

Within Groups 12863,5833 22 584,7083

Total 12914,625 23

Utilization of Digital Marketing after the Covid-19 Pandemic in Indonesia Businesses

Table 11: Marketing Expenditure Before and After COVID-19.

Marketing Expenditure

Before Afte

% Diff

Fre

% Freq %

<500k 39 37 48 45 8

>500k

–

1000

17 16 17 16 0

>1000k

–

3000

13 12 15 14 2

>3000k

–

5000

14 13 7 7 -7

>5000k

–

10.000

6 6 5 5 -1

>10.000k

–

20.000

4 4 5 5 1

>20.000k

–

50.000

6 6 2 2 -4

> 50.000

7 7 7 7 0

Total 106 100 106 100

Table 12: ANOVA Table on Marketing Spending Before and After COVID-19.

SUMMARY

Groups Count Sum

verage Variance

BEFORE 8 106 13,25 129,6429

AFTER 8 106 13,25 223,6429

ANOVA

Source of Variation S

-value F crit

Between Groups 0 1 0 0 1 4,60011

Within Groups 2473 14 176,6429

Total 2473 15

Table 13: Most Effective Marketing Tools to Get New

Customers.

Marketing Tools Freq. %

Instagram ads 29 27

WhatsApp 29 27

Facebook Ads 10 9

Search En

ine Ads 9 8

Website Bisnis 7 7

Email Marketing 4 4

Linkedin 4 4

Sho

ee 2 2

Toko

edia 2 2

Others 10 9

TOTAL 106 100

The top four reasons why the respondents wanted

to utilize digital marketing tools include the “Ability

to reach a larger market” (26%), the “Savings on

printed marketing materials” (16%), the “Ability to

target a market with certain characteristics” (16%),

and the “Right targeting to reach the market wanted”

(16%) as shown in Table 15.

The respondents' top reasons in choosing certain

digital marketing tools are shown in Table 16 with the

top three reasons being “Number of Active Users in

the Digital Marketing Tools in Indonesia” (19%),

“Ease of Use” (17%), and “Success in Improving

Sales” (16%).

Table 14: Most Effective Marketing Tools to Generate

Revenues.

Marketing Tools Freq. %

WhatsApp 33 31

Instagram ads 26 25

Search En

ine Ads 10 9

Facebook Ads 8 8

Website Bisnis 7 7

Linkedin 3 3

Shopee 2 2

Toko

edia 2 2

Others 15 14

TOTAL 106 100

Table 15: Reasons for Utilizing Digital Marketing Tools.

Reasons Fre

. %

Ability to reach a larger market 83 26

Savings on printed market material 50 16

Ability to target a market with certain

characteristics

50 16

Right targeting to reach the market wante

50 16

Increase brand awareness 36 11

Increase sales conversion 33 10

Increase web traffic 8 3

Increase search en

ine ranks 5 2

Others 3 1

TOTAL 318 100

The availability of digital marketing tools did not

automatically persuade business owners and

marketing staff to utilize it due to a number of

ICE-HUMS 2021 - International Conference on Emerging Issues in Humanity Studies and Social Sciences

reasons. The top three challenges that the respondents

chose, as shown in Table 17, were “Do not have a

staff focusing on digital marketing tasks” (20%), “Do

not have time to create content” (19%), and “Do not

fully understand how to use Digital Marketing Tools

effectively” (18%).

Table 16: Reasons for Choosing Certain Digital Marketing

Tools.

Reasons Freq %

Number of Active Users of the Digital

Marketin

Tools in Indonesia

60 19

Ease of Use 53 17

Success in improving sales 52 16

Popularity of the tool 49 15

Ease for Audience Tar

etin

37 12

Lower cost

er new leads or im

ression 30 9

Demographic of the users fit the

roducts/ services

27 8

Securit

facto

7 2

Others 3 1

TOTAL 318 100

Table 17: Challenges in Utilizing Digital Marketing Tools.

Challen

es Fre

Do not have a staff focusing on digital

marketin

tasks

63 20

Do not have time to create content 60 19

Do not fully understand how to use Digital

Marketin

Tool effectivel

58 18

Inabilit

to create

hoto or video content 48 15

Do not have an idea on creatin

content 42 13

Lacking the budget to push with Paid Ads 35 11

Others 12 4

TOTAL 318 100

5 CONCLUSIONS AND

RECOMMENDATIONS

This study obtained 106 valid responses from targeted

study participants and produced the following

conclusions:

1. Respondents’ company revenue had decreased in

the majority, over 30% in comparison to revenue

before COVID-19. A major percentage of

respondents, a total of 68%, experienced this

business performance decrease. Only 20% of

respondents stated an increase in business

performance after COVID-19.

2. There was a decrease of respondents using several

marketing media such as flyers, printed media,

newspaper/magazine/other printed media (-7%),

SMS (-3%), radio (-2%), Company Website (-

2%), Offline Marketing (-2%), and Search Engine

Ads (-3%) after Pandemic as compared to before

the Pandemic. On the opposite, the use of the

following marketing media was increased for

Instagram (6%), Facebook (3%), and Whatsapp

(5%).

3. There was a significant difference among the use

of different marketing media before and after the

COVID-19 Pandemic (F=18.30, p<0,05),

however, there was no significant difference in the

use of the same digital media between before and

after COVID-19 (F=0,08, p>0,05).

4. The respondents stated that they decreased their

marketing expenditure; however, there was no

evidence of the difference in marketing

expenditure before and after COVID-19 (F=0,

p>0,05).

5. The top three most effective marketing tools to get

new customers were Instagram ads (27%),

Whatsapp (27%), Facebook Ads (9%), and the

most effective marketing tools to generate

revenues were Whatsapp (31%), Instagram

(25%), Search Engine Ads (9%).

6. The top four reasons why the respondents wanted

to utilize digital marketing tools include the

“Ability to reach a larger market” (26%), the

“Savings on printed marketing materials” (16%),

the “Ability to target a market with certain

characteristics” (16%), and the “Right targeting to

reach the market wanted” (16%).

7. The top three reasons for choosing certain digital

marketing tools were “Number of Active Users in

the Digital Marketing Tools in Indonesia” (19%),

“Ease of Use” (17%), and “Success in Improving

Sales” (16%).

8. The top three challenges that the respondents

chose were “Do not have a staff focusing on

digital marketing tasks” (20%), “Do not have time

to create content” (19%), and “Do not fully

understand how to use Digital Marketing Tools

effectively” (18%).

The results of this study portrait the results of the

participants responding to this research

questionnaire; thus, the results cannot be generalized

to all industries nor participant types.

Recommendation for the continuing study will

be the followings:

1. A replication of this study with a larger sample

size and wider area coverage in Indonesia in the

12 months after this study will add value to the

current results and provide comparisons.

2. A qualitative study in the method of interviews

where the targeted respondents can produce better

Utilization of Digital Marketing after the Covid-19 Pandemic in Indonesia Businesses

insights on the reasons why they use or avoid

certain digital marketing tools.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Our highest appreciation to our institution, Maranatha

Christian University, for supporting and funding this

research.

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