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International Education Marketing in Ipoh, Malaysia with Keh Eng Tschong

If there was ever any doubt that it took brains, courage and creativity to lead a team through the COVID-19 pandemic, then this interview puts those doubts to bed.

In Malaysia, as in many countries, there’s a clear difference between the big, bustling cities like Kuala Lumpur and Johor, and the smaller, calmer places like Ipoh. Outsiders might mistake Ipoh for a sleepy retirement village, but beneath the surface, there is a busy, dynamic community thriving in sectors like education.

Joining us for this issue is Keh Eng Tschong, Head of Marketing at Tenby Schools Ipoh. He’ll take us through his career and how he found himself at the helm of the team in Ipoh. We follow his in-depth narrative on how he, his team and the Tenby Schools group navigated and survived the pandemic and Eng Tschong’s analysis of how we will be affected from now on.

Hi, Eng Tschong, thank you for joining us in our Marketing Expert Series. Let’s kick off with a little background, can you tell us a bit about yourself? How did you get to where you are now?

After graduating from Monash University with majors in Marketing and Management, my career kicked off in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia.

My roles were mainly marketing-related and, being adventurous at the time, I hopped industries from building materials, home décor and IT before deciding to relocate back to my hometown in Ipoh.

It was in the tertiary education sector that my career truly took off. I was very gratefully mentored by the then-Group-COO of Impiana Group, which owns the local college.

Other than honing my strategic planning skills, I strove to become more well-rounded and at one point I had 3 departments under my wing – Recruitment, Branding & Promotions and Student Affairs & Alumni.

When it was time to move on, I joined Tenby Schools Ipoh under the International Schools Partnership. Still attached to them, I’ve served for over 3 years in Tenby so far.

You’re the Head of Marketing at Tenby Schools Ipoh. Please tell us about the work you do.

Naturally, the title comes with the ownership of the School’s Strategic Marketing and Admissions Plan and Annual Budget. Essentially, I make sure that everything is aligned, especially for areas such as key priorities progress, consistencies in key messages, observing and anticipating listed threats, improvement tactics and budget management.

A huge chunk of time is invested in content creation, as we have a commitment to a bi-weekly content calendar submission for review. Ipoh is one of the only two schools in the SEA group to come out with in-house campaign videos from scratch. We went from storyboarding, photography, videography, design, content writing, and copywriting up until editing towards the final product. This is then pushed out digitally through social media and reinforced through offline or out-of-home media.

Usually, there are two main content categories – acquisition and retention.

The department also works internally on designs such as sales, academic and non-academic events collaterals such as posters, landing pages and digital ads. As brand guardians of the school, we try our best to ensure the school as a whole sticks to brand guidelines.

Personally, I’ve also helped in training new admissions staff (sales) in the areas of marketing basics relevant to their daily routines (the 7Ps in our landscape, understanding buyer roles, importance of delivering consistent key messages, buying decision-making process and factors) and personal selling techniques. I’m also the gatekeeper for the school’s social media and admissions e-mail enquiries, mainly filtering and forwarding them to our Admissions Team.

What’s it like to work in an international school in Ipoh versus other cities in Malaysia? Is it very different somehow?

I’ve personally not worked in any other international school. Under the International Schools Partnership, we have nine schools in Malaysia – 6 Tenby, 2 Straits and Asia Pacific – and as a group, we have weekly virtual meetings and quarterly physical meetings or team-building get-togethers.

We constantly share best practices and challenges and try to support each other the best we can.

Ipoh is a unique market, especially in demographics, consumer & social behavioural patterns, customer service level expectations, price sensitivity and marketing channels’ efficiencies and effectiveness.

To elaborate, the average age of Ipoh citizens is constantly rising as the salary gap is widening each year compared to other areas such as Klang Valley, Penang, and Johor. This results in the younger generation often opting to work outside of Ipoh and Perak in general.

In turn, this impacts buyer roles. While other schools are almost always dealing with parents (initiator & buyer), Ipoh sometimes deals with grandparents or guardians (initiator & influencer but not the buyer) as many parents are working in other states leaving their child(ren) in the care of grandparents. Naturally, this can complicate marketing initiatives like ad placement and deployment strategy, admissions communication and buying decision processes.

The salary gap also influences consumers in Ipoh to be more price sensitive. The perceived value of “amount of money paid versus products or services acquired” differs greatly compared to states which have higher average salaries and disposable income.

Consequently, the role of customer service frontliners is more challenging and if not managed properly, will result in a higher number of withdrawals.

Ipohians are a very down-to-earth bunch, more resistant to change coupled with a more slow-paced working environment. So implementing branding practices is more challenging as the education process will take longer and the steps in change management tactics must be further broken into smaller steps.

As mentioned on the average age combined with the resistance to change factor, Ipohian’s tech savviness is much lower compared to other major cities in the country and therefore some traditional media such as street buntings and LED billboards are still adopted to have decent coverage on targeted segments.

You’ve worked in a variety of industries throughout your career. Is there a moment or campaign you’re most proud of?

There are a few, but the one that will forever be imprinted in my memory would be my time in tertiary education – Perak College of Technology (PCoT).

As managers or heads of departments, in reality, what we plan to execute for the year, almost always doesn’t pan out as the year runs down. Not even 75% close to the initial plan becomes reality most of the time due to the many factors and different expectations from various stakeholders.

During my second year in PCoT, I would say the execution was nearly 90% of what is planned at the beginning of the year all thanks to the trust from senior management, my peers, and my team.

The Recruitment Team numbered ten at the time, and we were able to pull off a cost-effective Guerrilla Marketing type of public engagement activity in between the seeding and harvesting period. Combining 2 years of consistent messaging and digital content schedule with some third-party SEM, we closed the year with 680 recruitments as compared to the previous year of 430.

It was really a remarkable year!

What sort of impact did the COVID-19 pandemic have on Tenby Schools Ipoh?

Tenby Schools Ipoh was the first school in the state (both private and government) to go online since day 1 of Malaysia’s lockdown, thanks to a proactive central office, 1.5 months prior the whole school was instructed to have a detailed plan on “what if a lockdown occurs and how can we prepare to go online?”.

Some hiccups in the first month didn’t stop us, and like many other industries, our community endured the good struggles and is now more tech-savvy and resilient. As safeguarding is an integral part of what we do, we get essential guidelines and through sharing of best practices, we were told by the Ministry of Education during a “spot-check” that we were the golden standard for Covid SOPs at the time for other schools to follow. Unknown to many, the community really pulled through together as non-facilities staff volunteered to put up signs and tape for social distancing measures.

Beyond Tenby Schools Ipoh and applying to general as well, companies could have done more to blanket the transition from working from home towards back in the office. From my viewpoint and observation, the pandemic really took a toll on the mental and physical health of the public even without us consciously realizing it.

This is unsurprising as this was an unprecedented event, at least in Malaysia. For example, some of our physical stamina might have deteriorated, and it’s easy to slip our minds to just expect our bodies to switch from staying at home with minimal exercise to going back to our normal routines pre-Covid.

Numbers-wise the school was hit by expats’ children leaving due to parents returning to their home country, but we managed to retain the same number of children in the first year of Covid and had a small growth in the second and upcoming years.

The pandemic will likely have a lasting effect on our daily lives, although government SOPs have softened, the school majority still stuck to wearing masks, social distancing, and being more attentive towards personal hygiene.

How did the developments of the COVID-19 Pandemic affected your strategies as Head of Marketing?

During the first lockdown, we deployed almost 85% of our budget on digital channels. We anticipated that the digital environment would be very cluttered, as every business from sole proprietary owners to SMEs to MNCs would be left with no choice but to promote online. Our response to it was that artwork needed to be cleaner and crisper to optimize impression, engagement and call to action.

Throughout the whole ordeal, there were on and off lockdowns in Malaysia, the priority during those lift-off periods would be getting as many raw materials for content creation so that we keep the momentum going with decent content. My advice to the photographer was in a single photoshoot, try to have more variance so that the photos can be applied to different collaterals and artwork that serve different purposes. During liftoffs, we also deployed some street buntings and were among the first to do so in Ipoh during the second lockdown lift-off.

Content balancing was also a vital component of how we keep our followers intact, we tried to balance retention and ads as best we could while also giving breathers to our targeted audience.

From 80% being spent on digital during the 1.5 years of the pandemic, we are now shifting towards 55% offline and 45% digital in this running financial year budget.

I’ve adopted SWOT in my strategic plans since 2016, often using the 7P model to run a company’s SW and PESTEL for OT. A strategic plan for me should always be a live document, and the pandemic further reinforced my motion. A month plus prior to the actual lockdown, I’ve prepared the usual MarComm plan for the year and a what-if-lockdown MarComm plan for the year. We swam into it right from the start and were able to stay ahead of our competitors.

Do you think smaller towns like Ipoh were impacted differently by the Pandemic compared to larger places like Kuala Lumpur? In what way?

I think what hits Ipoh most was and still is, the economy. By observing peers, friends and families working in other states and countries, Ipoh’s recovery was vastly slower. The main factors would be the naturally slower pace working environment mentioned earlier, the difference in SOPs between the different states (many other industries reopened in Klang Valley while Ipoh remained mandatorily closed) and the struggles to hire or rehire staff (laid off during the pandemic) due to its naturally tiny talent pool which was much smaller after the pandemic as much more people are able to find means and ways to generate income online and were contented in working in their own pace at the comfort of their homes.

What sort of lasting impact do you believe the pandemic’s forced acceleration of digital transformation has had on the education industry in Ipoh?

Based on conversations with our existing parents (especially those who transferred from government public schools), potential parents, friends and family, the impact on public schools is not significant. The main reason could be limited funding to put the required technology in place for online or hybrid learning. The mainstream feedback was that what happened in public school was mostly children were assigned homework, given a deadline, submitted, and repeat.

The fact is hybrid or online learning consumes much more time compared to traditional physical learning whereby teachers work around the clock attending to any questions students might have beyond the usual working hours, as some parents can only assist in their child(ren)’s learning after working hours.

On a positive note, around the last quarter of 2021 and early 2022, there was feedback that government public schools offered better employment packages to teachers, with guaranteed minimum yearly increments. Hopefully, this will help improve the education sector here in general, as children are always key to a brighter future.

Do you think that this impact has permanently changed how you and your team go about your work? Where do you see your strategies going in the next few years?

Regardless of Covid, I think the world is constantly evolving and change is imminent, that’s why we run SWOT periodically to predict and anticipate these macroenvironmental changes.

As marketers, we should always keep our ear close to the ground and be as versatile as we could in grabbing opportunities and mitigating threats, or better still turn threats into opportunities.

Any advice you’d give to aspiring marketers?

No job is easy and being a marketeer comes with a unique set of benefits and challenges. Marketing and branding practices are very subjective, there could be 99 ways to reach a similar goal so have your own flare, master your 7Ps, have faith and respond based on your data analytics. Most importantly, be happy with what you are striving towards. ‘Okay’ is not good enough if it can be ‘better’, consistency is key in brand-building and opt for progress over perfection.

It’s been great to learn more about you and your work, Eng Tschong, thank you for sharing. How can people connect with you if they’d like to know more about you or Tenby Schools Ipoh?

Anyone interested to know more can contact me via WhatsApp at +60125166621 or drop us an email or fill out an enquiry form. For those who simply want to learn more about what we do, you can always go to our YouTube channel to get a feel for who we are.

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Marketing Expert Series

Marketing in Uncertain Times with Nancy Tan

Since the start of 2020, the world has entered a new era. Until the global pandemic is fully under control, individuals and companies alike are faced with uncertainties and insecurities. For digital marketers across all industries, the game has changed, probably forever. In sectors like education, companies have had to change tactics and change their priorities to better reach their potential customers.

In this issue of the Marketing Expert Series, we talk with Nancy Tan, Chief Marketing Officer for the XCL Education Group in Malaysia, a group that caters to K-12 students in Southeast Asia. Join us as Nancy takes us through her journey and the ups and downs the pandemic has presented her as a digital marketer during these uncertain times.

Welcome to the Marketing Expert Series, Nancy, thank you for joining us! Let’s start with an easy one, tell us a bit about yourself! How did you get to where you are now?

It’s been a long journey. I started as a ‘suit’ in advertising after graduating from university and spent several years at international advertising agencies like McCann Erickson, Dentsu, Young and Rubicam, and Peter Beaumont & Friends.

I then decided to become an entrepreneur and opened my own cafe. It was a valuable experience but after three years, I gravitated back to the corporate world and landed in branding, marketing, and communications in the telecom industry for the next 11 years with big telecom giants in Malaysia, namely Maxis, DiGi, and TIMEdotcom.

After this, I continued my marketing career in retail and property development namely with the Pavilion Retail Group, Lendlease, and BRDB Developments. Now, I lead brand, marketing & communications in one of the largest education groups in Malaysia.

I’ve always been intrigued by brands and enjoy the opportunity to apply strategy and creativity to enable people to get more out of life.

What drew you to this kind of work? Was it something in particular, or just pure chance that attracted you to the world of marketing?

I would say it was a mix of both.

To be honest, I didn’t know what I wanted to do when I was in university and picked a major in psychology with an interest to better understand human behaviour. I never intended to go into the clinical side but found its application relevant to marketing since it had to do with understanding consumer psychology and insights. It also aids in formulating perceptions and value propositions relevant to consumer demographic, psychological, geographic, and social needs.

From a career in advertising, I decided to move into marketing as I felt there was more value to deep dive into understanding how businesses operate and leverage the power of branding and marketing to add value and grow the business.

You’ve become the CMO for the XCL Education Group in Malaysia recently. Please tell us more about the work that the Group does, what are they all about?

Headquartered in Singapore, XCL Education is one of the largest, fastest-growing K-12 platforms in Southeast Asia. In Malaysia, we serve over 20,000 students across Private and International Schools, Preschools, and English Language Centers.

In our stable are four key brands, namely:

Sri KDU – a best-in-class premium local and international private school with a reputation for academic excellence – having been previously recognized by PISA as the top-performing school in Malaysia.
REAL Schools provides holistic, well-rounded private education with a strong value-for-money proposition. Founded in 1985, it is one of the oldest private schools in Malaysia. Now operating 3 campuses in Cheras and Shah Alam and Johor Bahru.
REAL Kids has built over 30 years of history in providing excellent, award-winning preschool education, and pioneered in incorporating the Multiple Intelligences approach in Malaysia. Voted by parents as the ‘Best Preschool Programme’ and ‘Best Trilingual Curriculum’ amongst many other categories in the Parents’ Choice Awards by Parenthood Magazine, REAL Kids have won multiple awards 3 years in a row (2019 – 2021).
Cambridge English For Life (CEFL) has been an established and trusted brand all across Malaysia for 20 years. We deliver high-quality and internationally recognised English language programmes and offer the largest network of English language centres in Malaysia.

On the Group’s website (realschools.edu.my) we learn that your mission is ‘Transforming lives through Education’. In your opinion, how important is the quality of education for young people in Malaysia, and indeed in South East Asia, today?

Extremely important. We live in a “VUCA” world – volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. Students today will face unprecedented challenges tomorrow that will change the way we live, work, and interact – many of these challenges we don’t yet have solutions for. As such, as educationists, we have to prepare them so that they can thrive in the fourth industrial revolution.

To do this we are focused on four key areas:

i) Integrating Technology in Education

ii) Empowering Parents by partnering with the parent community and provide them guidance and support in their child’s development

iii) Developing a Globally Competitive Workforce by instilling knowledge, soft skills, and real-world ready skills that will nurture a more competitive workforce in the future

iv) Bridging the English Language Divide to raise English literacy levels across the country.

Before XCL Education you worked in the property development sector, at BRDB and Lendlease. What’s it like to be a CMO or Marketing Director in such a large industry?

These roles come with great responsibilities. Every company and industry has different objectives, goals, and each has unique challenges and to top it off, each organisation has a distinct work culture. Being adaptable and agile is essential, however with marketing, its principles remain the same while the industry or product may change. I must admit that the expectations were very high and the pressure can be both mentally and physically challenging. I remind myself to stay focused and stay the course. It is important to surround oneself with good people we can trust and rely on.

What has it been like, making the shift from the property development world to the world of marketing education?

I must say that the transition has been surprisingly smooth but I still have lots to learn. I reckon it is because while I may not have worked in the education industry before, I am a parent and can put myself in the customer’s shoes and relate from a consumer’s point of view. With marketing, one of the most critical factors is to be able to understand one’s customer, their psyche, behaviour, pain points, needs, and wants.

Another reason the shift has been manageable is due to the support and guidance from my CEO. He is a visionary, a veteran in the education field, extremely sharp, open-minded, and a passionate leader. Besides having grown successful brands in education, he is also a psychologist and engaged in people and change management. Most importantly, he has played a very genuine and supportive role in helping me get up to speed in my new role.

Do marketing strategies differ between the two sectors or are you finding similarities in how you can reach the right audiences?

The marketing strategies differ between the two sectors, although there are certain areas where they overlap because the audiences’ needs are similar. Marketing both development and schools are very much based on the locations of the properties, hence strategies primarily address the immediate catchment areas and then widen to attract those who may be drawn to other value propositions the product offers.

COVID-19 has impacted a lot of companies and industries, education is a sector that has been hit hard. You became the XCL Education Group – Malaysia CMO during the pandemic, how have you had to adapt your marketing strategies?

We have to listen constantly to understand the customers’ concerns and provide them with solutions and compelling propositions that resonate with them or solve their problems. Like most brands, we had to adopt more aggressive digital marketing strategies, but it was also essential to ensure that the brand stood out in the white noise. Hence, while our strategies had to be more tactical and focused on value in the short term, we spent a lot of time re-evaluating the value propositions and key messages. We also aimed at tactics that strengthen brand positioning and drive awareness for the longer term. We had to be extremely agile and fluid in our plans as the rules of lockdowns changed frequently and our tactics also had to change accordingly. I believe the rules of engagement in marketing have transformed indefinitely; hosting physical events will be controlled, and being able to effectively engage virtually has become more challenging due to online fatigue.

And when this pandemic is over, what’s next for you, any big plans?

I believe this VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous) situation will not go away anytime soon and hence we will need to continuously challenge ourselves to think out of the box, apply innovative strategies, and pivot when opportunities arise. Tactical solutions alone are short-term and not sustainable hence we need to build long-term brand equity and create value for our customers to survive the pandemic and beyond.

Our focus now is to ensure sustainability and continue to poise ourselves for growth so that we will be in the position to reap opportunities in the post-pandemic.

Any advice you’d give marketers looking to change their primary industries?

There is never a better time to take a leap than now. If the industry you are in is challenging and bleak due to the pandemic, reflect on your strengths and potential talent and be bold enough to try something new … you may discover your true calling. Nevertheless, learning never stops, as long as one has the will and resilience, there is always a way to reach one’s goals whether in a new job or industry.

Thank you, Nancy, for sharing your insights! How can people connect with you if they’d like to know more about you?

Thank you for this opportunity to share my thoughts and experiences. I welcome any opportunity to connect and can be reached via my LinkedIn profile.

The Marketing Expert Series features marketing and communications experts from across every industry. Every month, 2Stallions will showcase the stories and expertise of marketing experts from around the world, join us as we explore how marketers navigate the challenges of the regions and industries they work in. If you’d like to be featured in a next issue of the Marketing Expert Series. Please reach out to us via email.

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Marketing Expert Series

Higher Education Marketing with Ooi Lay Tin

Education is a vital aspect of modern society. Young people learn to navigate the diverse world around them, and grow their social skills during their educational journeys. Education, of course, takes different forms – homeschooling, private tuition, public schools, higher education like universities, etc – but they all have one thing in common: they are all striving to help build a better society through our youth.

Higher education marketing is a role that many of us will have encountered at some point in our lives, whether subconsciously or obviously. Physical flyers or digital advertisements have at all drawn our attention to different educational opportunities. In this issue of the Marketing Expert Series, we delve into the complex and fascinating world of marketing in the higher education industry. Join us as we speak with Ooi Lay Tin, Head of Marketing & Sales at the International University of Malaya-Wales in Kuala Lumpur. With her vast wealth of knowledge, Lay Tin talks in depth about her diverse experience in the industry and her outlook of its future.

Welcome to the Marketing Expert Series, Lay Tin, thank you for coming onboard. Let’s kick off with a little background, can you tell us a bit about yourself? How did you get to where you are now?

During my school days in Penang and my uni days in Kuala Lumpur, I was an introvert. I also bloomed late in my career. For a time I worked in the publishing and the retail industry – all very much people-based lines of work. Since then, I have been in the private higher education industry for some 29 years.

The demands of a customer-facing and business development role, and adapting to constant change, moulded me into more of an extrovert in my work. I enjoy learning and solving problems. Somehow I never liked standardised operational or compliance work. In marketing, sales, business development, and communications no two days are the same. These areas are always evolving and are even more challenging to navigate in difficult times.

What was it that first attracted you to this work?

It all started with an opportunity to join an enterprising Malaysia education group (MBf Education Group) and work with the president. The internal Management Development Programme allowed me to move into areas I showed an affinity for.

At an international marketing conference, a topic on the “Importance of Branding Strategy” really spoke to me. I even did my MBA dissertation on it! Afterwards, all my bosses gave me opportunities in different roles to help their organisations grow.

Looking back now, I realise that my underlying interest was in writing and communicating, meeting many new people, while further developing myself.

Currently, you’re the Head of Marketing and Sales at the International University of Malaya-Wales (IUMW). It seems like such a unique combination – Malaysia and Wales – can you tell us a bit about IUMW?

Yes, I am back in an organisation that has links or roots close to my heart. I am a proud alumna of University Malaya.

IUMW is owned by two prestigious universities – University of Malaya and the University of Wales, UK. Set up 8 years ago, it provides affordable study for students in Malaysia and more than 40 other countries. We offer programmes at the foundation or pre-university level to MBA, DBA and PhD.

The University is special because of its Dual Awards programmes. When students graduate, they receive 2 certifications, one from IUMW and one from the University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD) in the UK.

Dual Awards programmes also provide a valuable opportunity for students to experience global education by spending a semester abroad at UWTSD in the UK.

What is it like to shape the marketing strategy of a university like IUMW?

While there are similarities, each university I’ve worked at has its own organisational culture, is at a different product lifecycle stage, and attracts a slightly different market segment. The market strategy depends on differentiation, specialisation, segmentation and positioning.

Being young, IUMW has a much flatter and leaner structure. With its reputation and management, the academic quality is very much governed by the University of Malaya, a highly ranked university internationally and the oldest university in Malaysia.

This year, we looked for modest growth by increasing sales of existing programmes and introducing new online programmes. We are also growing distribution channels using student recruitment agents and direct digital marketing efforts, competitive pricing, and partnerships. Our efforts using omnichannel marketing focus on the highest return initiatives.

For 2021, it’s about enhancing student experiences and rebuilding consumer confidence in online and blended learning.

Do you think that we will continue to see a growth in the online and blended learning opportunities in Malaysia and South East Asia even after the pandemic is over?

Students need to study and follow well-structured lesson plans so that they can graduate on time. With the uncertainties and the dynamic changes of the last year, institutions are blending online and face-to-face learning. This entails combining online seminars and tutorials with face-to-face delivery prioritised for workshops, and studio and practical laboratory work.

We expect growth; both students and lecturers find this blended method of learning viable. The downsides, however, include lack of social interaction, limited collaborative learning, and the need for more preparation and adjustment time.

The review of pedagogy (approach to learning), learning design, curricula and assessments to meet the needs of the future generations and global competitiveness of the education industry will need a lot of effort.

Before joining IUMW, you worked as the Deputy Director of Marketing at Monash University Malaysia, and before that you were at Taylor’s University College, ACCA and at the International Medical University. You clearly have an affinity for marketing in the education sector. What is it about this industry that drew you to it?

I’m thankful to have led marketing at 5 top education brands, contributing my ideas, and sometimes even shaping structure at each institution.

Somehow opportunities were always there for me as a higher education marketer and I do like a people or service-related job. At IMU, I worked alongside professors of medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and nursing. These super smart yet humble colleagues inspired me. It’s like they say: everyone you meet knows something you don’t. I spent days talking to students and parents about study opportunities in Malaysia and abroad. We shared countless real-life experiences and stories with them. The end goal is to make someone else’s life better.

Can you give us some insight into your time at Monash and Taylor’s? What was it like? Is IUMW very different?

Private higher education is very competitive and the Ministry of Higher Education strictly regulates it. Taylor’s was always on-the-go and would invest a lot to have top-of-mind recall. It had large marketing budgets and produced amazing work, they still do it today. It was a place determined to be a trendsetter.

It was a privilege to work for Monash. Working with such a strong global brand, I got noticed and was even invited to events as a panel speaker at marketing conferences. I worked with the CMOs in Australia and was involved in brand refresh, brand reputation projects, research positioning, and digital transformation projects. The scale of marketing campaign projects aimed at global audiences amazed me. The ‘Monash – Change it” campaign, for example, focused on research initiatives to bring real positive impact to communities. (For these projects, I worked with Ms Margot Burke and Mr Fabian Marrone, CMOs of Monash University in Australia).

In IUMW, my aim is to help in talent development, team upskilling, spearhead the digital marketing direction, and using resources effectively and efficiently. Exploring the huge Malay student market is an interesting new project. With the changing customer landscape, my team and I spend time to finetune our customer lookalike audiences and customer personas. We also work with industry and brand names that want to collaborate more with universities.

In every organisation, I have worked with incredible people – colleagues in Malaysia and abroad and mentors who have become personal friends. It is truly a satisfying industry to be in.

What is the best part of your role? Is there a specific thing you enjoy most about your work?

In a way, it’s about getting visibility. Business viability rests on a strong and visible brand and annual student growth. With this knowledge and the skills I’ve learned, I can go places; I feel that I am seen and heard.

I enjoy working with many different people and learning from them. I like helping academic researchers profile themselves and their outstanding research. I feel relevant when it comes to digital transformation, especially in brand building and key market outreach. There’s so much to learn and I enjoy sharing results with like-minded people from the sales and marketing fields.

Recently, however, I feel that it’s much more about doing something meaningful for younger people. For example, I feel like we should be working with Student Councils and youth leaders of clubs and societies.

Universities have been under a lot of pressure during the pandemic. How have you and IUMW worked to overcome any obstacles or challenges you’ve had to face this crisis?

When the COVID-19 situation hit universities in March 2020, our priority was the health and safety of our students and staff. Communication and messaging played a key role in this area.

We also sought the help of our parent universities since we needed to accelerate our digital teaching readiness. Today, we use a plethora of tools such as Google Classroom, Open Learning, Zoom, Discord, and Labster (Science) to deliver the lessons.

On the marketing front, my team sets up virtual open days and exhibitions, runs live chats and FB sessions, hosts webinars, and responds quickly to our customers. I am grateful to have a team that can work outside the normal office hours; for example, when we reached out to interests from the Middle East markets in the virtual education exhibition.

What about for you, personally, when this pandemic is over, what’s next for you?

I have yet to see many more exotic places and experience new cultures. Travelling within the country and to other new places abroad such as Scandinavia is on my agenda. Meanwhile, I have earned certifications for coaching and mentoring. I’ve also successfully completed the certification to be an HRDF trainer.

There is still so much I can offer. I would like to help SMEs (small-medium enterprises) set up sales and marketing functions. Help them build a talent pool, set KPIs, integrate and streamline key processes, that sort of thing.

Now, your career and your many successes are inspiring to women everywhere. I understand that you’ve done some work to help advocate for women entering more C-level, leadership roles. Could you share something about that with us? Why is it so important for women to be part of the leadership fabric?

Women improve the company’s performance and gender-diverse teams have higher sales and profits (Gallup). Having women in leadership roles can bring some balance to male-dominated industries. My contribution would be in the area of ‘brand visibility’. I am glad to assist many female academic staff tell their research-related stories. I also enjoy helping them get noticed by upper management, and be able to compete for and win grants or funding for their projects.

Now is an exciting time for women. We are strong and capable and we need to support one another by acknowledging achievements and encouraging each other.

My colleagues and I look forward to helping young students and student leaders increase their confidence and unlock their potential.

Any advice you’d give to young and aspiring marketers, particularly those with an eye for the education sector?

After all these years, it’s truly a blessing to be in the private higher education sector. It helped me guide my own children in their educational journey and they are making good progress in their respective careers.

All experiences are individual, and for me, it would be to have a love for learning and keep company with knowledge workers. Be curious and have the ability to communicate well with a wide variety of stakeholders, from your customers (students and parents, alumni), corporate colleagues, media agencies, to the rest of the academic community. We need to emphasize interpersonal skills and learning to sustain conversations.

The decision to pursue a higher education degree or postgraduate degree requires a lot of research, thought, budgeting or financial commitments, as well as some soul searching for the intended career pathways. A young marketers planning to build a career in this specialised area of marketing should:

Enjoy working with people and be customer-centric or customer focussed. You will have to create campaigns that appeal to the emotions of students and their parents. You don’t work on your own so you need the support of the academic team.
You must be digital savvy. Understand the purpose of your campaigns, and know which need investment: video marketing, podcasts, social media campaigns, website development, Google search, etc.
You should enjoy creative work and engaging with your target audience. You should also know that you must deliver the right message and outcomes (lower cost per lead, conversion rates, etc).
You can grow in this industry if you are someone who loves to learn and isn’t afraid to ask “why?” or “how?”.

Things to consider for career growth for young people in this sector:

The international education, distance learning, and virtual learning market are expanding. Aspiring marketers will find lots of opportunities to learn, contribute and to grow. Foreign universities are always looking for talents in Malaysia and the South East Asian markets.
Learn finance and analytics to understand the student enrolment numbers and to help you make business decisions.
As a staff benefit, most institutions offer full or partial scholarships for you to continue your postgraduate studies. We look for staff with open mindsets, seeking to do more.

It’s been a great pleasure and privilege to learn more about you and your very impressive career, Lay Tin, thank you for sharing your experiences. How can people connect with you if they’d like to know more about you?

I am quite active on LinkedIn and use it as a learning and engagement tool with people around the globe. I am also active on Instagram @ooilaytin which I use to showcase my home cooked food and travel experiences.

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Hi, Eng Tschong, thank you for joining us in our Marketing Expert Series. Let’s kick off with a little background, can you tell us a bit about yourself? How did you get to where you are now?

You’re the Head of Marketing at Tenby Schools Ipoh. Please tell us about the work you do.

What’s it like to work in an international school in Ipoh versus other cities in Malaysia? Is it very different somehow?

You’ve worked in a variety of industries throughout your career. Is there a moment or campaign you’re most proud of?

What sort of impact did the COVID-19 pandemic have on Tenby Schools Ipoh?

How did the developments of the COVID-19 Pandemic affected your strategies as Head of Marketing?

Do you think smaller towns like Ipoh were impacted differently by the Pandemic compared to larger places like Kuala Lumpur? In what way?

What sort of lasting impact do you believe the pandemic’s forced acceleration of digital transformation has had on the education industry in Ipoh?

Do you think that this impact has permanently changed how you and your team go about your work? Where do you see your strategies going in the next few years?

Any advice you’d give to aspiring marketers?

It’s been great to learn more about you and your work, Eng Tschong, thank you for sharing. How can people connect with you if they’d like to know more about you or Tenby Schools Ipoh?

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