Let's Talk About Reputation

This is my second week with the new company. There are a lot of great moments in terms of self development and new experiences. I have a chance to work with some great engineers in Australia. I could be exposed to a lot of different great and important projects.

Every morning I and two of my seniors always go down to a café and have a bit of coffee to boost our day. We basically just have a good chat about every single issue that we meet in the day before. They have been in the industry for at least ten years. As one of the youngest in the company I always like to listen to my seniors experience and get to know them better. Therefore, I always try my best to be able to attend all the activities in the company.

This morning in the café one of my seniors emphasized how important reputation is in the professional world. He told me a lot of great stories in regards to the reputation of the outstanding young engineers who have accomplished a lot of great achievements within the company. He also pointed the importance of our reputation not just according to the managers but also according to the clients. Eventually, the clients would be more than happy to send the recommendation letter in regards to our promotion to our managers if we have a good relationship with them.

Good reputation of us among our colleagues is also important. There is no point to be very successful, however being hated by a lot of our colleagues. Therefore, it is very important to have a good reputation in any respect.

How can we correlate reputation with marketing? I believe that a good reputation would be the proof of the true quality. Good quality would eventually lead to the good customer experience. It takes more than just mere products and services to beat the marketing war. The great customers’ experience is a necessity in marketing. Look at Mr, Hermawan Kartajaya with his reputation as a marketing guru!! His reputation does a great deal of marketing for himself and his company.

We live in the information age where society’s perception could be easily changed by a lot of factors. Therefore, reputation in marketing would be very useful.

Welcome to the "Reputation Era"

David Herlambang
MarketingFirst

People, Performance, and Results

Approximately a few weeks ago I received an awakening call. This call stated that I am accepted by a great company, Kellogg Brown & Root, to fill in one of their graduate positions. This company is a multinational company in project management industry. The company is actually one of the leaders in engineering multi disciplinary consulting industry.

I just started the employment on Monday, July, 09, 2007. This is actually my first experience in the industry. There are a lot of exciting projects to be completed, ranging from small into humongous financed projects. Their completed projects surely have formed the history of our global society. Therefore, it is such an honor to be invited to actually join the group.

However I found something which is more interesting than the company’s history and the projects, which is its marketing strategy. As an engineer, the company really treats me as an apprentice to be educated, trained, and prepared for their future leaders. There are a lot of development programs that I will be enrolled by the company. Moreover, I will be working closely with my seniors in different projects in order to provide with enough exposure within the industry. They encourage me to set a goal and career objectives, therefore the future development will be easier for me to be obtained.

I really find that this company has a great people orientation in delivering great performance and results. In my previous sharing, I asked how professional companies market themselves. I think I have found one of the answers. Without the proper people, a system will be redundant. Marketing is all about people since a brand is just a brand, hence the people behind the brand who actually create the image.

I have never worked as a professional in the other countries. Therefore, it would be greatly appreciated to hear about your career experience in any company. Do they focus on the people? Do they provide great trainings to their graduates? What are the other marketing strategies that they have?

Opinions, questions, and comments are greatly appreciated.

David Herlambang

MarketingFirst

The Shrinking Universe

Have you ever shopped online? Have you read online news? Have you tried to invest some of your money in the other country? Of course all of you have communicated through email. In fact this sharing is being read by you wherever you are, even though I am sitting in front of my computer in Sydney Australia. These situations probably were not possible some decades ago.

A couple of decades ago, it took us a long period of time to communicate with our relatives in another part of the world. Nowadays, all you have to do is log in to your windows messenger and do an online chat with them. It was impossible to order a bunch of flower from London to our loved ones in Jakarta. Nowadays, some online florists could even reach you wherever you are. It was a troublesome to make a payment without cash. Nowadays, all you have to bring is your credit card and you could easily access your money practically everywhere. Nowadays, you can find all the international brands (McDonald’s, Burger King, Starbucks, Carrefour, etc. in Jakarta. The more I think about it, the more I am amazed by this phenomenon. I call this phenomenon a shrinking universe.

This phenomenon also affects the whole business atmosphere. In marketing this phenomenon somehow increases the competition level within the market. The local giants can no longer claim its country as their market. The occurrence of Carrefour surely affects the Hero Supermarket business in Indonesia. Gramedia bookstore is facing both international online and offline competitors within Indonesia (QB Bookstore and Amazaon.com). Moreover, the local professionals are also threatened by the expatriates in the job markets.

Another change in marketing due to the shrinking universe is the existence of the horizontal marketing. Initially marketing was conducted vertically from the company to the customers. Vertical marketing means educating the customers via advertisements. The shrinking universe summons the existence of blogs, online community centers, and forums. These mediums create the possibility to accelerate new information to percolate throughout the society. They also create the freedom to the society to voice and communicate their opinions easily. Therefore, the engagement of marketing through these mediums becomes more and more important.

Are you an entrepreneur? Are you a professional? Or are you a student? What do you think of the shrinking universe phenomenon from your profession point of view? What are the disadvantages and the advantages? Feel free to give your opinions!!

David Herlambang

MarketingFirst