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Digital Marketing Talent with Minh Hien To

Variety and diversity of digital marketing experience coupled with a strong head for numbers and finance sound like the perfect recipe for a successful marketing career. And it is. As we’ve seen throughout the Marketing Experts Series, digital marketers come in all shapes and sizes – from all walks of life and all sorts of backgrounds and education.

Minh Hien To is no exception.

With experience stretching across Australia, the UK and Singapore, Minh currently heads up marketing for Snaphunt. Join us for this issue of the Marketing Experts Series and learn more about how she and Snaphunt not only navigated the changes and challenges of the last few years, but came out thriving.

Welcome, Minh! Excited for you to join us on this issue of the Marketing Expert Series. Let’s start with something easy. Tell us a bit about yourself! How did you get to where you are today?

Thanks for having me! And what a question to start us off! 😄

I am very lucky to have found my passion for marketing quite early on. I feel like there are two different sides to my brain. On one hand, I have always been good with numbers: I’m obsessed with analytics and problem-solving. On the other hand, I’m a storyteller: I love conceptualising and bouncing off ideas with people and eventually figuring out how to make that idea a reality. I studied Marketing and Finance at university and at the time they felt like completely unrelated fields. In retrospect, they are in fact very complementary to what I specialize in today, which is Digital Marketing.

I started my career in traditional marketing in an FMCG firm where I had the opportunities to be part of a spectrum of traditional marketing channels from visual merchandising, events, TV sponsorships, to newspapers and radio campaigns. Around 2014, when digital marketing was gaining momentum, I gained a great deal of hands-on experience from launching a new website and running my first Google and Facebook Ads with a big project I was spearheading. That was when I caught the curiosity bug and decided to delve deeply into Digital Marketing and make it my focus.

Looking at your career, you’ve worked in a variety of different industries over the years. How have your experiences evolved over the length of your career?

That same sense of curiosity and eagerness to learn which got me into digital marketing has led me to where I am today. I now have almost a decade of experience under my belt across Australia, UK and Singapore, working with some of the most innovative brands. I have also gone from FMCG and Retail to eCommerce to Technology. One thing that hasn’t changed though is my genuine enjoyment for what I do. As the Digital Marketing landscape continues to rapidly evolve, I get to try new tools and figure out better and more effective ways to do everything from SEO, Content, social, CRM to paid advertising. And yes, I’m still very obsessed with analysing metrics to optimize exposure and conversions while getting better value for our bucks.

I also believe that the ability to apply and transfer your skills and to adapt to different industries becomes increasingly important as we get further into our careers. I’m always up for a challenge – with every brand that I work with, I have always been invested in the brand story and found a way to relate to the customer persona. Once I’ve cracked that, soaking up information about the industries became a lot easier – it’s like once you have a sturdy foundation, you can always build on it layer-by-layer.

Is there a particular career experience that stands out for you? A project you enjoyed most or a challenge you’re glad to have faced?

I had the pleasure of working with 8020 Ventures which is an incubator for industry-first brands including Bootea, Third living, Cocowhite and Sneak Energy. It was a thrilling experience leading an in-house marketing team that acts like an agency, in a start-up environment! Each brand had its unique target market, a completely different tone of voice and strategies which meant that we had to be super organised, but also agile to be able to jump on opportunities and activate campaigns all year round. So no two days were the same and it was an amazing and stimulating playbox for any marketer! I was also able to experiment a lot with various channels from podcast advertising to gaming influencer marketing and target niche audiences from socially conscious millennials to hard-core gamers. I’m also super proud of what we achieved with such young brands in such a short amount of time, not only in terms of revenue but also brand loyalty and international reach.

Currently, you’re the Head of Marketing for Snaphunt. Tell us about Snaphunt and the work that you do there as the Head of Marketing.

Snaphunt is a leading remote hiring platform that helps companies find and hire the right talent for their teams, anywhere in the world. What has really drawn me to this role from the very beginning is the opportunity to make an impact at scale. With what we’re doing at Snaphunt, we give job seekers the chance to accelerate their careers internationally and the flexibility to choose the best job for them, no matter where they are based. At the same time, we’re helping employers reach their business goals by hiring A-players from their teams and removing the geographical boundaries when it comes to recruiting for talent.

As the Head of Marketing, I am in charge of both B2B and B2C marketing. My ultimate goal is to:

Raise brand awareness and attract candidates and employers to the platform,
Build the customer acquisition funnel and pipeline, and
Drive customer engagement from both audiences. We do these through a range of organic and paid channels, from content generation, SEO, social media to partnerships.

I can imagine that the Pandemic has impacted how Snaphunt and its competitors have had work – has COVID-19 impacted your marketing strategies?

Funny story! I had worked at Snaphunt for exactly 4 weeks before the world went into lockdown. As a tech startup that depends on hiring, this changed everything!

There were a lot of uncertainties in the world which led us to take a supportive approach with our marketing instead of an aggressive sales approach. It came down to how we could bring value to our target audiences, build connections and help them navigate through this turbulent time. We hosted webinars for job seekers to guide them through the virtual hiring process, and guide managers on leading from home for instance. We also leaned more heavily on organic channels and partnerships rather than paid advertising to nurture leads until the market picked up.

Do you feel that there has been a change in the demand or need for hiring platforms like Snaphunt?

Definitely! I think the world had already been moving towards digitalisation prior to the pandemic but we certainly accelerated that process drastically over the last 2 years.

When it comes to the world of work, our perception of how work is done has completely changed and we’re seeing companies and people choosing remote work as a permanent option going forward.

Companies are a lot more comfortable with hiring virtually or remotely and it’s now a candidate-short market where companies need to expand their pool in order to find the right talent quickly. There’s definitely momentum that has built and we are seeing that traction first hand at Snaphunt. Last year we hit 10x growth and we are now helping thousands of companies hire remote and onsite talent in 90 countries.

Do you think we’ll be seeing more developments for hiring and recruitment platforms and their strategies as the world adapts to new normals?

With the opportunity of remote work, there are tools that help with not only hiring and employing global talent but also in employee productivity and engagement. There is also a lot of synergy that can be created between brands to provide end-users with comprehensive solutions to solve their problems.

How do you think this will impact your marketing strategies at Snaphunt?

I believe what we created and are offering at Snaphunt is pretty unique. We are riding on the waves of not only last year’s amazing growth but also the remote work momentum. On top of that, we’ve built an audience in APAC, which is arguably one of the world’s best tech and digital talent hubs.

This gives us the confidence to explore new channels for marketing to draw in new audiences while ramping up our customer engagement and retention strategies to ensure we communicate our values clearly and quickly to drive conversions.

Many marketers have reported a lasting impact on their lives and careers, how has the pandemic affected you personally and professionally?

As I mentioned, professionally, the pandemic impacted literally everything I do for work and navigating it continues to be a fun (and sometimes stressful) rollercoaster.

Personally, I really appreciated the reset. Working from home means I’m saving so much time from commuting, I’m also eating better because I can prepare my food daily and I can work from anywhere.

And finally, any advice you’d give to young and aspiring marketers?

Stay open and continue to pick up new skills. There are so many aspects to marketing that it can be a little overwhelming at the beginning. And you don’t know what you don’t know! There are many online courses out there but I found I learn best when dealing with practical problems. So keep at it and give everything a go!

Thanks for taking part in this Series, Minh, and for sharing your experiences with us! How can people connect with you if they’d like to know more about you?

You can hit me up on LinkedIn – I’m always up for a chat or a virtual coffee/tea!

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.

If you are interested in building your own company’s digital advertising, get in touch with us today, and find out how you can optimize your digital marketing strategies.

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Marketing Expert Series

Talking Marketing & Business Development with Pei Khoek

In the marketing sector there’s a lot of overlap between roles, from marketing outreach initiatives to active business development strategies. Many marketers find their way into their roles through varying pathways. The thing with marketing is that it takes a certain skillset – communication with one’s audience, clear descriptions of products or services, etc. – that can be developed a variety of ways.

Joining us for this issue of the Marketing Expert Series is one such marketer. Pei Khoek is an experienced marketer and business development specialist. In this issue of the Series, Pei takes us through her journey, starting out as a journalist to her work now as business development consultant and marketer.

Hi, Pei, 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?

I love to tell stories; my first job is a feature journalist in Sin Chew Media Corporation. I was with Sin Chew for 6 years, my last position there as Personal Assistant to Executive Director.

I developed an interest in marketing when I was working alongside the Executive Director, who was managing several departments including Marketing Dept. The marketing activities fascinated me. To me, a marketing campaign is a series of story-telling activities that is creative and innovative. I want to learn more about marketing and its strategy for a successful marketing campaign. Once a day, my boss came to me and showed me a postgraduate students recruitment advertisement, next thing I know is, I was on the flight to Scotland for a marketing postgraduate course.

I didn’t work in marketing after I return from Scotland. When Cense Media (now OOGA X) started Kupikupifm – the first Sabahan community radio station was established, the founders invited me to join the team & be the Marketing Manager for the radio station. That’s officially my first marketing role. One year later they started CITYPlus – the first Chinese Business Radio Station in Malaysia, and my responsibilities expanded.

I spent 3 years with Kupikupifm & CITYPlus, it was challenging, yet fun. We have a bit more freedom to do things unconventionally and get to experiment with some of our ideas. Some works, some failed, but the experience and the teamwork are priceless.

I left the radio stations to explore something else, but now I am back with the radios.

You’ve been involved in marketing and business development roles for many years, what was it that attracted you to these roles?

What I like about marketing and business development are the challenges, and opportunities those challenges bring to you. I am attracted by the creativity I see in many international marketing campaigns, those ideas!

To promote a new product, to enter a new market is challenging, every breakthrough we seek in an existing market with existing products is even more challenging. Those challenges are priceless learning processes for me, they have shaped me to become who I am today. I have to be honest that I am not a very creative person, you need the creativity to design a good marketing strategy, but I have been involved in many ideations processes, strategies meetings, and I must say, teamwork always works the best.

Is there a specific thing you enjoy most about your work?

I enjoy the learning. Marketing and business development is constantly evolving, especially now in the era of digital marketing. I still remember when I learn about marketing 12 years ago, we are still talking about in-store sales events, newspaper advertising etc. Google SEO was new and upcoming. Now, Google is almost in everything we do, social media is more powerful than traditional media, KOLs are more influencing than a country leader.

I enjoy the challenge because every challenge brings new learning. It can really drain your brain to run a successful campaign. So, be innovative to achieve the result you want. That’s probably the reason I always take up a new role in a new industry, for learning and self-improvement.

Currently, you’re the Business Development Consultant at OOGA X. Please tell us about OOGA X and the work you do there.

The OOGA X brand is a holistic and complete communications platform that embodies our aspirations to be the ultimate media ecosystem partner in our (ever-growing) sphere of engagement. The O.O.G.A acronym itself stands for ONLINE, OFFLINE, ON- GROUND and ON-AIR. The “X” serves to remind us that our horizons and potential are limitless. The OOGA X brand represents an ecosystem that is built on multimedia and communications platforms that are beyond just radio or, audio alone.

Currently, I am helping OOGA X in hirings and restructuring the revenue team. We are a small team developing busin

ess opportunities with a different external partner, more than half of the team is new and never have media experience. Although there are challenges, I find that we are able to think out of the ‘media ads’ box because we are from different backgrounds. I enjoy seeing the team grow and bring results to what we are doing.

OOGA X owns Kupikupifm & CITYPlus, our on-air products are quite complete. As we said earlier, OOGA X is designed to be a holistic & complete communications platform, in 2^nd half of 2021 we started to work with external business partners on developing more products and services for online, offline and on-ground, and I can’t wait to introduce the new products in 2022.

In 2020, you also founded Indeed Pilates. What drove you to start up a new company in the middle of the pandemic and why Pilates? How did you overcome the challenges?

I love Pilates. I am a certified Pilates instructor and have been teaching Pilates in my free time for some years. Before the pandemic, I have a Facebook group that I share Pilates videos with my clients, to encourage them to exercise every day, that Facebook group is called ‘Pilates Everyday’.

During the pandemic, fitness centres were operating on and off, many people’s fitness routines is being disrupted. It affects their health, physically and mentally. Hence, besides sharing Pilates videos on Pilates Everyday Facebook group, I started to conduct online classes for some clients, to keep them active.

After the first MCO, Yen Nee, who is also a certified instructor, my now business partner in Indeed Pilates and I met up for a coffee, and we ended up with an idea of creating an online Pilates website for people to practice Pilates whenever they want, wherever they are. A few months after that coffee session, we launched Indeed Pilates.

There were a few challenges, the greatest one is to change people’s habit of wanting physical classes. When we first had this idea of creating a Pilates website with on-demand workout videos and live online classes, I did a quick survey among my clients, only a small percentage of regular gymgoers are open to attending classes online, and most of them are reluctant to pay for on-demand workout videos. Because you can watch many free workout videos on YouTube, why pay?

To overcome that, we package our online classes and video-on-demand service in one subscription plan. Our core idea is to work out whenever and wherever. Before we can get people to change their habits, if we sell the video-on-demand service separately, no one will subscribe. Hence, we package it with online classes to allow clients access to the videos as an added value service.

We ran a social media campaign focusing on the importance of certified instructors and exercise whenever, wherever. The campaign objective was to educate people on knowing the instructor’s qualifications and to own a flexible workout hour. We also ran another campaign that gave free videos and classes access to 100 medical frontliners, to show our appreciation to the frontliners because many of them have back pain due to long working hours during the pandemic.

We received positive results from those campaigns, and some feedback too. When the lockdown continued in 2021, we increased online classes from 4 classes to 8 classes per week while maintaining an upload of 2 new workout videos weekly. I must say that we are lucky, the third lockdown helped the growth of Indeed Pilates because, after 2 MCOs, people are becoming used to attending online classes and workout at home. Even when fitness centres are fully operating now, there are people who have already been converted to online classes because they find it more convenient and time-saving.

We understand that to grow the business, we need to offer more services. When Selangor entered phase 4 of the national recovery plan, we started to conduct a monthly physical Pilates workshop for knowledge sharing and hands-on adjustments during workouts. We received encouraging business growth with that move.

In Jan 2022, we have a certified Yoga Instructor on board, adding 4 yoga classes to the online class schedule. We still upload 2 new Pilates workout videos weekly, but the number of classes increases to 12 online classes per week. Currently, we have more than 90 Pilates workout videos listed on the Indeed Pilates website, all by certified instructors, free access to Indeed Pilates’s members.

Now, aside from your day job and Indeed Pilates, I understand that you’re involved in charity work. Can you share something about PeopleStories and what the charity does exactly?

I started to volunteer in PeopleStories in 2021, contributing my time and skill as a member of PeopleStories marketing & fundraising team.

PeopleStories is a 4 years old charitable organization that helps children in the Bakong district of rural Cambodia to access to schools. Besides scholarships, PeopleStories also give bicycles to students, to provide easier access to school. By 2021, PeopleStories started working on the Smart School Anywhere initiative that aims to bring digital learning to rural Cambodia in 2022.

Why is it so important to have entities like PeopleStories? What role do you see them playing in the future?

PeopleStoies operates fully on international & local volunteers, and 100% of donations go to fund education programs. It is a young charity passionate in creating greater access to education in rural Cambodia.

I am impressed by the result they achieved. The founder Victoria is fully committed to PeopleStories program, and she dreams big for better education for children in rural Cambodia. For the determination and genuine heart that she has, I believe PeopleStories is able to improve education quality, reduce school drop-off rate in Bakong, because I have seen PeopleStories latest initiative – Smart School Anywhere 3 years plan, it is developed and managed by a group of professionals from different countries; I am moved by the new STEM For Girls initiative – it is a scholarship to support girls in pursuing STEM education (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math); I have read inspiring & encouraging stories about the local students, they are hungry for knowledge and they too, dream big.

In 2022, you can help a student to have a bike to ride to school at USD60, or support a student’s education fee at USD25 per month – Pei Khoek • PeopleStories SchoolForLife 2022 (raisely.com)

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

I want to go on a pub crawl in Munich or a whisky distilleries tour in Scotland. I miss my friends in Europe and I really would like to spend time with them again. I have a 1-year-old niece whom I haven’t met yet, she is the cutest little creature on the planet, I am dying to cuddle her close.

I used to travel a lot before the pandemic, I will definitely travel again when the pandemic is over.

Any advice you’d give to young and aspiring marketers interested?

If you want to be a successful marketer, you need to be creative & innovative, at the same time master in data analytics skills and be result orientated. Be open to new learnings, new concepts, new ideas. Always try something new in everything you do. Be persistent and resilient. Be a team player.

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

Thank you too. People are welcome to contact me via Linkedin I am happy to take questions and open to collaboration ideas.

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Marketing Expert Series

Medical Marketing during the Pandemic with Michael Teh

If you thought you had it rough these last few years with a global pandemic on, try being smack in the middle of all of it. In this issue of the Marketing Expert Series we talk challenges and outlooks with Michael Teh, Head of Marketing at the Kensingston Green Specialist Centre.

A medical centre focused on the care of expectant mothers and children, you can imagine just how busy their lives have been over the last two years. In this interview, Michael gives us a glimpse at the challenges that he and his team have faced at the KGSC and just how their perseverance has paid off.

Welcome, Michael! Excited for you to join us on this issue of the Marketing Expert Series. Let’s start with something easy. Tell us a bit about yourself! How did you get to where you are today?

Hi, it’s good to be here, thank you for the opportunity.

Actually, I was headhunted for this position. I was a layman working in property development for Sales & Marketing for 14 years when, rather unexpectedly, I made a switch to the medical industry during the COVID-19 pandemic. People had been telling me that healthcare is recession-proof, and I listened. The switch wasn’t just from one industry to another, I went from technical to clinical; it was totally different from what I have been doing in the past. This is one of the things I find most exciting and challenging having made the change.

COVID-19 changed my life. The pandemic made me rethink my priorities and I realised I wanted to make a change. At the time, I was thinking to survive in a recession-proof industry, hopefully lasting me for the next two decades and leading me to retirement. I was extremely grateful to my former bosses and managers, all of whom helped prepare me, learning while growing with the company.

Currently, you are the Head of Marketing at Kensington Green Specialist Centre. Please tell us about the work that the Kensington Centre does and your role there.

Kensington Green Specialist Centre (KGSC) is a multi-disciplinary private hospital that focuses on O&G (Obstetrician & Gynecology), IVF (In-Vitro Fertilization), and paediatrics.

As Marketing Head, my role is perpetually challenging, at least, I think so. Working together with my team, my charge is to make things happen in accordance with what is best for the company.

How has the Kensington Specialist Centre grown its marketing presence in the last two years?

Two years ago, we were still very new in the market, but we still had to field enquiries via social media and be able to share our location, specialities, packages, pricing, consultants, facilities, etc. in what is a highly competitive market.

Along the way, we managed to address all enquiries and challenges. We stuck to our positioning – to serve the community and all the corporations around us.

By the time the border is fully open again, we will be ready to go regional market.

What has it been like to work in the medical industry as Head of Marketing during the global pandemic?

It’s been a challenge every day. Over the course of the last two years, I’ve met so many doctors, specialists, consultants, business chambers leaders, business owners, politicians, competitors…

We’re all in it together, but it’s not easy. We strive to deliver our best, all while leading the team, meeting our KPIs, planning for online and offline marketing campaigns. As Head of Marketing, my goal is always to make sure that everybody on my team is being nurtured and educated on how best to put in extra efforts to overcome all the many challenges that we face.

How have you overcome challenges you have faced during the last two years?

Coming up with new ideas to overcome the challenges that spring up is always time-consuming; it’s a tough process. Persuading and getting all senior management to buy into my idea isn’t particularly easy either. Luckily, I have very a supportive senior management staff.

What about for you personally when this pandemic is over, anything excited planned?

After all that we’ve been through, I realize prevention is better than finding a cure, that’s why we roll-out so many screenings package. To be ready and manage what we can, rather than to hope that something like a cure will just happen is more important, and far more practical. “Ever ready” is the keyword. Going regional market is our future direction.

Any advice you’d give to young and aspiring marketers, particularly those with a passion for the medical industry?

I suppose, no shortcuts. The chances to strike the jackpot are very slim. Everyone must be ready or equipped with skills and knowledge to overcome any upcoming outbreaks or changes. Everybody starts from scratch and every picture tells a story. To know and understand the mechanism of the industry makes a lot of difference. Work hard, keen to explore, think extra, will help to elevate. What you know and who you know is very important as well.

Thanks for taking part in this Series, Michael, and for sharing your experiences with us! How can people connect with you if they’d like to know more about you?

Via Linked in linkedin.com/in/michael-teh-99ba4858 or via email at Yeowheng.teh@kgsc.com.my, or micteh88@yahoo.com.

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Marketing Expert Series

Content Marketing & Writing with Dheepu George

Content marketing is one of the most diverse and involved sectors of the digital marketing industry. In this issue of the Marketing Expert Series Sendhelper’s Dheepu George takes us on a deep-dive into the world of content marketing and writing. A dedicated and award-winning journalism graduate, Dheepu has been working in the digital content sector for many years. His passion for journalism – especially for writing – has allowed him to work at the heart of digital marketing. So join us for this issue of the Series as Dheepu takes us on a journey, sharing his knowledge and experience.

Welcome, Dheepu! Excited for you to join us on this issue of the Marketing Expert Series. Let’s start with something easy. Tell us a bit about yourself! How did you get to where you are today?

Hello, I am Dheepu George. I am an award-winning journalism graduate from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. Prior to pursuing journalism studies, I was at the helm of launching Sendhelper, the best home services brand in Singapore now, in 2015. Since then I had been leading its business operations and partner management before I went on to explore my passion for journalism, and writing in particular, in 2018. Post my graduation, as chance would have it, I returned to Sendhelper but this time as the Head of Content Marketing. I am proud to say that this homegrown startup is one of the top 50 rising tech startups in Southeast Asia.

I am also a creative writer who happens to be a confessional poet although I pretend not to be one.

Currently, you’re the Head of Content Marketing at SendHelper. Tell us about SendHelper and your role there.

Sendhelper is one of the top 50 rising tech-enabled startups in Southeast Asia. We are a managed online marketplace that connects verified and trusted home service providers with households in Singapore. We offer a range of services like cleaning, cooking, laundry, aircon, handyman, home improvement and renovation, pest control, disinfection, elderly care, and tasks and errands.

I am the head of content marketing at Sendhelper. My role is to devise strategies to create and market value-driven content that connects with our potential and existing customers and service partners across all brand platforms and social media channels. We create digital content – images, videos, articles – that answers questions and provides solutions to problems around household chores. Ultimately, our objective is to build a brand name that households can count on through delivering connected content experiences and thus helping them make informed decisions through their buying journey.

As a content marketer myself, I often get asked this question: what is content marketing exactly? What role does it play in brand development and digital marketing in general?

Content marketing in simple terms is creating and distributing relevant content to reach and nurture new customers with an objective to convert them as well as to retain and delight existing customers. Good content should address a customer’s pain points by providing them with appropriate solutions and helping them in each step of the buyer journey.

Content has always been at the core of every consumer-centric organisation and their marketing strategy. Only the methods of creation and channels of distribution have evolved or changed. Content marketing allows organisations to tell their brand stories to potential customers. In the long run, it helps you build brand awareness and authority. To grow as a voice of authority in a given domain and construct a positive brand image in the minds of customers, a focused and connected content experience across channels is necessary. Innovative content ideas will help you stand out from the rest.
You have a clear affinity for content development for customer acquisition – in your opinion, what is it about content marketing that you find best helps drive customer acquisition?

Content marketing is about telling stories, stories that will resonate with your target audience. At Sendhelper, we create content that provides easy and convenient solutions for tackling household chores. We create content that provides customers solutions to enjoy an improved and stress-free lifestyle.

Content marketing helps you to build relationships with customers and enhance brand trust. Once you earn the trust of potential customers, they will eventually stay invested in your brand. What I like about content marketing is that we provide customers valuable information in a way it is easy to consume without demanding them to buy from us. There is less noise of hard-selling.

Say, for example, an expat living in Singapore might not be well educated about local rental agreement and different clauses in it. These clauses suggest mandatory home maintenance, regular aircon servicing etc. To help them understand these requirements, we write articles, create visually appealing and shareable infographics about it. Someone who moved in recently will definitely find this content informative and helpful. Content marketing attracts or pulls customers to like and trust brands.

Being said that, content development for customer retention is as important. It wouldn’t be right to say I have a clear affinity for customer acquisition. As much as we focus on the top, middle and bottom of the funnel, we must keep creating interesting content to nurture and engage with existing customers. Newsletters and social media engagement are great examples of this. It will bring you opportunities to upsell as well as more referrals. Any content marketing strategy should equally focus on both customer acquisition and delight after purchase; tell stories to delight them so they never will have to regret choosing you.

Social media requires a different approach than say, writing copy for websites, or developing articles; how would you suggest that a newcomer to the content marketing field learns how to navigate these different channels?

Whichever channel you choose to write for or create content, the key is knowing your audience. On social media, a more conversational tone is preferred over something formal. You can incorporate humour and friendly banter to draw the attention of your target audience and thus improve their engagement with your content. Finding your voice is necessary here because that is going to be the brand voice people will recognise eventually. Although Facebook allows for long-form writing, I would advise you to keep written content short and simple on social media otherwise.

Writing articles is a different ball game. It is more like writing a journalistic piece, a feature story, I would say. Here research is important. Decide on what to write about based on search queries your target audience performs on search engines, feedback from regular customers or any topic you think is relevant to your business. You have the luxury to adopt flowery prose instead of simple sentences. However, make sure you present content in a digestible form with proper headlines and signposts. Using an appropriate and focused keyword based on your initial research will optimise your article for search engines.

Website copywriting must be to the point that will convert customers. There is no room for long-winded sentences and flowery words. Remember how your target audience will land on your website page. They would search for a solution to their problem on a search engine using a keyword and end up on your website. Once they are on your website, you should provide them with the exact information they are looking for. Otherwise, they will quit the page immediately (bounce off) and go in search of other websites. Consequently, a higher bounce rate will adversely affect your SEO rankings.

Ask yourself, have you got all the necessary information on your landing page that a potential customer wants to know about you, your product or service offerings? Eventually, you need your website visitors to take a desired action like navigating to another page or proceeding to make a purchase. Lack of enough and easily consumable information shouldn’t break the deal.

Who are you writing for? What is the objective of the content? Why are you writing it? How and when do you want your audience to take action? – These are the basic questions you need to keep in mind when writing for different channels.

Can you share some tips on how one can develop compelling content on social media or other platforms?

The first and foremost thing required to develop compelling content is to know your audience or who your customer is. Have a persona in mind. If you are creating content for everyone, you are creating for no one. The way you communicate to a stay-at-home mum is different from talking to a professional who is a bachelor. The language, choice of words and topics will be different while crafting content for different customer personas. Also, you must have a thorough understanding of social media platforms on which your target audience is more active and engaging; know where they are! You need not necessarily be on every social media platform. Choose the ones relevant to your audience, understand the nature of the platform, its algorithm and create customized content for each of them. You should also understand that what works on one platform may not be as effective on another. For example, articles and infographics work well on LinkedIn and Facebook whereas videos are effective on Instagram Reels, Tiktok and YouTube, and images on Pinterest.

Once you understand your audience and learn the nuances of each platform, look out for real-life experiences your customers have shared with you on social media or the customer service team regarding your products or services. Solutions to their pain points can be turned into a blog topic or infographic, videos of happy customers are great additions to your social media, important days, festivities and observances every month are topics for content creation- these are some of the tips I can tell you from the top of my head.

2020 and 2021 have been interesting years, to say the least; as marketers, I think we’ve all seen a shift in how our audiences approach to content. What sort of new opportunities and/or developments do you believe will continue to grow, or indeed, develop based on the world’s experiences with COVID-19?

From my personal experience, I realise that customers value ‘trust’ more than ever. They wish to engage with reliable brands that assure quality and safety. From this standpoint, I would say creating high-quality content is the way forward. Content that evokes a feeling of belongingness, a sentiment of camaraderie and consideration, a sense of safety and care, a desire for endurance, and a need for empathy will play a vital role in every step of a customer journey moving forward. Consumers will only engage with brands they trust in a post-Covid world. I don’t think they will take chances with businesses considering the physiological and psychological challenges they endured in the past year or two. Brands that promise peace of mind will succeed.

Any advice you’d give to young and aspiring marketers, particularly those with a knack for storytelling or content development?

If you wish to grow as a storyteller or a content developer, keep your eyes and ears open. Consume any content that comes your way and try to make sense of it. Read as much as you can – fiction, non-fiction, poetry, articles, journals etc. Pay attention to content created by global as well as local brands so that you can adopt some of their best practices when you create your own content. This is how you learn until you find your own style. Improve your writing skills – learn to write without spelling or grammatical errors, learn to write in simple sentences and paragraphs. Pick up some basic image design skills (Photoshop or Canva), video making and editing skills (Adobe Premiere, Canva or VN Editor) and an understanding of content management systems like WordPress.

Thanks for taking part in this Series, Dheepu, and for sharing your experiences with us! How can people connect with you if they’d like to know more about you?

You can contact me on LinkedIn. Feel free to send me a connection request. If you are interested in poetry, send me a follow request on my Instagram handle, @dheepugeorge.

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Marketing Expert Series

Marketing Fintech with Vahid Ebrahimi Fakhari

For external to the sector, financial technology may seem completely alien. The truth is, however, that the world of fintech (finance technology) is not so far removed from our daily associations – we use it all the time, whether we’re fully aware of it or not. More than that, however, is that fintech leads the way in data-driven marketing, allowing for great strides to be made in this aspect.

Joining us for this issue of the Marketing Expert Series, is the Head of Marketing for award-winning fintech company, Finology: Vahid Ebrahimi Fakhari. Passionate about data-driven digital marketing and the impact that it is making across all kinds of industries, Vahid takes us through his – and Finology’s – story.

Welcome to the Marketing Expert Series, Vahid! Thank you for joining us! You’ve done so many amazing things in your life, can you tell us a bit about yourself? How did you get to where you are now?

Thank you for inviting me, it’s my pleasure.

Originally from Iran, I’ve decided to pursue my studies in Malaysia for a Bachelor in Marketing and a Master in Business Administration (MBA).

After graduating, it was quite difficult to find a job that fit my education qualification. So instead of just waiting for the mountain to fall on my lap, I took a job at a start-up called Loanstreet, (a financial marketplace under Finology) as an intern to kick start my career. I took this opportunity to sharpen my hard and soft skills. After much blood, sweat and tears, metaphorically speaking, I managed to get myself converted into a full-time employee as the company’s Digital Marketing Executive.

Over the past few years, I have worked on multiple aspects of marketing and business development from campaign ideation to execution, developing marketing strategies, expanding revenue streams, and working closely with clients and partners on multiple projects.

Fast forward to today, I’m Head of Marketing for Finology and leading Loanstreet our marketplace platform.

What was it that drew you to this line of work? Was it something specific?

During my first year of working as a digital marketer, I found out that I enjoy creating data-driven strategies based on out-of-the-box thinking, and that’s what gives me fire. The fact that what I do requires both critical thinking and creativity made me pursue this line of work. It’s not just one thing or one set of skills to be good at: it’s a mixture of soft and hard skills and I realized I enjoy being a generalist and contributing to the holistic growth of the business.

Currently, you are the Head Of Marketing for Finology. Please tell us more about Finology and the work the company does.

Finology is a FinTech company that specializes in enabling seamless access to financial and insurance products. Our mission is to simplify the process within the conventional financial sectors through our API services and market distribution channels.

Our recent recognition includes being the Seedstars’ Global Winner of World Competition 2020/21 and Frost & Sullivan’s Asia Pacific InsurTech Entrepreneurial Company of the year (2020).

Data-driven marketing has been shifting the way in which many industries are approaching their marketing strategies. Is it the same for you and Finology? Why do you think that data-driven marketing is becoming such an important aspect of businesses?

Data is fundamental to marketing – always has, and always will be.

Traditionally, marketers use data like market studies that were available at the time and their assumption of the target market to meet marketing objectives, which often requires a lot of trial and error.

Today, where businesses are mostly in the digital space and with digital tools in place, the data that marketers get are in real-time. It means that marketers can now measure, analyse and improve their marketing strategies and optimise their campaigns in real-time by personalising the customer experience, targeting well-defined marketing segments, building long-term engagements that lead to customer retention while getting new customers.

Now, COVID-19 – the pandemic has had a clear impact on all sorts of industries; in what ways has it affected Finology and your strategies there?

We did feel the pinch. Fortunately, because of the diversity of the products and services we offer, we managed to tackle the situation. Of course, we had to re-strategise and shift the focus on the products and services that demand was spiking.

For example, due to movement control orders, motor insurance renewal centres were closed and people had to renew their insurance online. This created a spike in demand. Finology provides online insurance renewal through API services by enabling distribution channels to provide this service digitally. This service is available on our very own marketplace platform, Loanstreet, as one of the very first movers in this sector.

Another instance would be that during this pandemic, we can see a spike in online content consumption. Since we also produce personal financial content via our marketplace, Loanstreet, we took this opportunity to refocus on increasing traffic to our blog.

Are you anticipating any long-lasting trends based on what the fintech industry has experienced during the pandemic?

The pandemic has accelerated the shift to online banking, advancing the existing trend by several years. Many people who switch to using online services during the quarantine will continue to do so even after things are fully back to normal. Customer behaviours have changed and financial institutions must follow it and work with fintech companies to digitise their services.

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

I can’t wait to start travelling, meeting my friends and colleagues more often. As much as working remotely is a new normal, I believe meeting face to face helps ideas to thrive and build stronger relationships.

Any advice you’d give to young and aspiring marketers specialists?

Don’t limit yourself to your job description. Learn from different aspects of your work and business. It’s always good to be very good at a certain set of skills, but also it’s important to know why you are doing what you are doing.

As a marketer, you are the frontline of the company and it’s important to know other parts of the business. So you have to have good critical thinking skills to understand your business, products and audience, learn about your competitors, get insights from other teams, do A/B tests and make sure to prioritise your marketing efforts based on your ROI.

Thank you for sharing your story with us, Vahid. How can people connect with you if they’d like to know more about you?

People can always connect with me on LinkedIn.

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Marketing Expert Series

Marketing to China with Alice Yu

Over the course of the Marketing Expert Series, we have heard about the lives and careers of marketing experts from all around the region – and even outside of it. Asia is a diverse region, with as many marketing strategies and tactics as there are markets. One of the joys of this Series is hearing how regional marketing experts deal with each individual market and adapt to the different needs and expectations of each country and target audience.

In this issue of the Marketing Expert Series, we meet Alice Yu, one of the most dynamic, motivated experts we’ve had the pleasure of interviewing so far. Born and raised in China before moving to Singapore a little over a decade ago, Alice brings a passion for marketing not only to her professional career but also to her personal and community efforts with her non-profit community, Mama on Palette. Join us in this issue, and discover how all paths can lead you in the right direction, as long as you’re brave and motivated enough to make it happen.

Welcome to the Marketing Expert Series, Alice, thank you for joining us! Let’s start with some background, can you tell us a bit about yourself? How did you get to where you are now? What drew you to this line of work?

Hi, I’m Alice and my Chinese name is Yu Yuebo. Thirteen years ago, I came to Singapore from a small town in Anhui, China. My city is famous for its rich culture known as ‘Hui Pai (徽派)‘. Many famous writers, poets and artists were born or used to live there. I guess I was inspired, and have inherited a little of their creativity and most importantly an appreciation for it.

In 2018, I was recruited as one of the 200+ Chinese scholars to study STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) degrees in Singapore universities. During that time, there was no doubt that I should choose Chemistry, as I had done somewhat well in national competitions on the subject.

My family’s expectation for me is to pursue a PhD and then become a professor. Ironically, upon graduating, I did receive a PhD offer in analytical chemistry from a well-respected professor with whom I worked to publish two papers in science magazines. But I rejected the offer.

Why?

Because afterwards, I did more than eight internships and part-time jobs in university as a librarian, social media marketer, researcher, brand marketer, office administrator, corporate comms assistant, and lab assistant. I also did three years as a special reporter and tutor.

During all that time, my true passion became clearer and clearer – I wanted to work in a field that allows me to communicate with people (as opposed to dealing with flasks and beakers). I love listening to stories and moreover, telling stories. I realized that what I wanted to be was not a professor, but a marketer.

When I came to that clear realization, I had a few seconds of pride in knowing what I wanted, but it wasn’t an easy path towards the dream.

I can’t remember how many times I was turned down during job interviews with feedback such as ‘you don’t have a marketing degree’ or ‘you are inexperienced’ (yes, after hearing I did 10 internships)’.

In between all the rejections and the subsequent depressions, two things that cheered me on:

A supportive partner (who’s now my husband) who understands and encourages me to pursue my dream
A non-rejective family, my mum and dad, who never said yes or no to what I was doing (“as long as you can feed yourself!”)

Because of them, I was able to stay positive. I took my steps slowly, first as a management trainee, then an Account Executive in a PR agency, then an in-house marketer at a start-up where I was able to evolve my role from a program manager to a marketing manager, from covering SG local market to three markets including Europe and China. Afterwards, I took another regional marketer role in a bigger company and then managed a small content & social team at a Fortune 500 multinational company.

Now I’m moving on to another exciting opportunity to kickstart an entirely new function in partnership marketing in one of the biggest B2B tech companies in the SEA region. Along the way, my title and scope change, but the only thing that stays the same is my wanting to tell exciting stories and connect people/communities for good.

Over the course of your career, you’ve gained some experience marketing to the Chinese market. What sort of challenges did you face? How did you overcome them?

Marketing in China is definitely one of the most sophisticated, yet exciting topics to talk about! I could spend hours on it. To summarise the key challenges based on my experience of helping international brands enter China market include:

Connection – regardless of the tier of the cities you are selling your product or service to, a strong local network is essential. It is even more important when you are moving to 2nd or 3rd tier cities where traditional performance marketing drives lower ROI than mouth-to-mouth referrals. Building a powerful network also gives brands chances to steer effective partnerships.

For example, during my startup days, we hosted a two-week-long phonics boot camp with one of the biggest parental influencers in Shanghai, that led to over 3000 leads and 30% conversions. For those who are interested, read further on the ‘Pinduoduo’ model, where buyers are encouraged to share products they are interested in via their own social networks and invite their friends and family to form a shopping team and benefit from attractive prices.
Speed – there’s a buzzword among Chinese young Millenials ‘手慢无’ which means ‘if your hand is slow, the thing you want will be gone’. It is often used when shoppers are competing for limited edition items during e-commerce sale seasons such as ‘11.11’. The concept applies to the marketing world, too.
For example, trend jacking is known as a great way to drive engagement. While I notice brands in Singapore usually take 1-2 days to react to new social buzz, which by Singapore standards is considered fast enough, in China it could be the first 1-2 hours after the hot topic is out! In my contribution to China Marketing Insights, I shared that Luckin Coffee’s record-breaking campaign was made in merely 13 days. Their marketing team took the first-mover advantage by working with Lelush, a Russian contestant that gained top popularity in Tecent’s reality show ‘Produce Camp 2021’.
The commercial ads had almost two million views on Bilibili within 24 hours and the official hashtag #瑞幸冰咖推荐官利路修 (Chief Recommendation Officer Lelush) broke a billion mention record on Weibo. It also led to historical high product sales. After then, many other brands jumped onto the bandwagon to hire Lelush as their KOL, but no one did it as successfully as Luckin.
Empathy – On many occasions, I’ve shared the importance of dropping stereotypes, egos, or any preset perceptions before entering the China marketing game. Just like localisation is not just about translation (if you think it is, rethink it quickly); knowing the Chinese culture and being able to drive emotions that resonate with the local audience requires big efforts in listening to the people, talking to them, and even having hotpot with your target group (like the young Chinese says, ‘nothing can’t be solved over a hotpot’).

Many global brands, even local brands failed as they didn’t really listen or have real conversations with the locals. Some good examples include Dolce & Gabbana’s controversial ads which depicted a Chinese model struggling to eat pizza, cannoli and pasta with chopsticks. Locally, former Harper’s Bazaar China editor Su Mang received many backlashes from Gen Y and Zs for her ‘inappropriate interpretation’ of a buzzword, involution, as ‘a reflection of high desire but low willingness to put in the work among the young generation’ during a reality show. So that patience to closely study China marketing trends and truly understand the meaning behind social topics can’t be neglected. In fact, that’s the key to your marketing in China’s success.

You have done some amazing things, as a marketer, and, as a woman. It’s clear that you are a woman with a mission, please tell us more about your community and podcast, Mama on Palette.

I’m humbled to be recognised as a ‘woman with a mission’. I’ve always considered myself as a woman with passion. 😛

My friends often ask, ‘Alice, why are you doing so many extra things?’ Their next question would usually be, ‘isn’t a full-time job and the motherhood duty enough?’

I know it all comes from a good heart, as they know my husband and I have been taking care of our kiddo on our own without a helper or grandparents, so there is a lot on our plate, but I do feel that doing the ‘extra things’ helps me to gain energy, rather than the reverse.

Take Mama on Palette as an example – I started the nonprofit community four years ago after I became a new mother and suffered from baby blues. Art helped me walk out of postpartum depression and I even managed to publish a picture book which is now available in all public libraries in Singapore (you can borrow it here if you are interested). This experience showed me that art can be a powerful tool to help mothers achieve better mental wellness, which is something I feel that today’s society doesn’t pay enough attention to.

Since then, I’ve been writing blogs to share my own parenting experiences and inviting mothers to tell their stories via the platform. Along the way, we had the honour to be featured in The Straits Times, 958 City Channel, Channel 8, The Pride by Singapore Kindness Movement and Lianhe Zaobao.

Despite the challenging COVID time, we hosted our first exhibition at National Library Singapore gathering artworks of eight mother artists to celebrate Mothers’ Day in May. We just launched our first Mama on Palette podcast two months ago focusing on art, motherhood and wellness, and it is now ranked No.7 in the Art category in Singapore. I have the vision to turn Mama on Palette into the No.1 Go-To platform for parents to appreciate and practice art in Singapore. There’s still a long way to go!

Now that COVID-19 seems to finally be getting under control, what’s next for you personally?

To be very honest, I do not think COVID-19 is under control yet. That’s why it’s still important to keep our social responsibilities to protect each other and our loved ones. It’s not easy. We weren’t able to see our parents in China for almost three years, needless to say, our desperate hope to be able to travel again.

Personally, I had a few hectic moments of managing back-to-back work calls and caring for a home-based learning kid, but I took all these as chances for building resilience. Through the challenges I also found a new purpose for Mama on Palette, that is how we as mothers could use art to destress and establish better mental health.

I practice art therapy techniques often to pull myself out of negative thoughts and refresh my mind before jumping back to the daily battles. I take every change as an opportunity to self-reflect and evaluate my passion, priorities and skillset. That’s why I decided to leave the financial services industry after two years and return to the tech field, and also I will take on a different portfolio that drives more direct business impact.

Any life or career advice you’d give to young and aspiring marketers?

Looking back at my own career map in the past eight years, I think I benefited from three characteristics I was born with or that I have learned:

Resilience – What exactly does it mean? For myself, after I identified what I wanted to work as, I didn’t get there immediately. In fact, it was quite a nonlinear path.

After leaving my first job in the education field, I had to pursue a part-time communications degree to ‘prove’ myself to potential marketing employers. Over half a year I juggled evening classes and teaching home tuitions around the island so that I could balance my investment and income. When I was happy that finally, I had a full-time marketing job in a working environment I like, I found out I was pregnant. I had to move on looking for a more stable, better-earning job without losing track in marketing.

After I had a few years of marketing under my belt, I began to realise it’s a field not hard to get in (I might be a special case), but hard to get up, so I had to continuously upgrade myself by learning at least two courses every year, spending time on making connections and staying up to the trend. In the meantime, I always want to give back.I use my after work to mentor students, teach marketing courses, and build my own Mama on Palette community to help mothers who suffered from postpartum depression (PPD) or live a happier parenting life through art. Given the COVID pandemic, parenting becomes harder as well with home-based learning arrangements. So no matter which stage of life you are at, being resilient is really the key to thriving.
Learning – As mentioned I keep a cadence of learning two new things every year. Here are two main drivers behind me: one is to keep up the attitude to stay humble, stay curious, and realise there’s new knowledge I can grab to make a better world; the other is to stay energetic – I gain my energy from discovering new domains.

If one day I retire and don’t need to worry about making money, I will be very happy, sitting in a library or bookstore the whole day, as there’s so much more to be learnt!

Learning also brought me many opportunities: without self-studying how to develop a WeChat account and build my own IP ‘Doggy and Catty’, I wouldn’t even know there’s a job category in ‘social media marketing’; through Mama on Palette I also learnt a lot such as building my own website, crafting EDMs and jumping onto Live sessions with my community members to talk about motherhood and art, and even rolling out our first podcast that is now ranked No.7 in the Art category in Singapore. I literally believe that opening a book, attending a course, or whichever format of learning resources, is like opening a door to new possibilities. That’s why learning always makes me feel excited.
Network – If there’s something that I feel grateful for in my career besides being able to work in marketing, that is building my network and meeting all the fun people along the way. After my third job, all the opportunities I received next were through connections, mostly from LinkedIn. I always believe social media is a double-edged sword: you may get lost by chasing flashing waves or setting unrealistic comparisons that eventually led to anxiety or depression, but you can also make the best use of this ‘rented land’ (as Carlos Gil wrote in his ‘The End of Marketing’) to build your personal brand for free, connect with people that could potentially become your future employers or partners, or promote your business.

Relationships are not always about profit or loss, buy or sell; in fact, the fewer commercial elements in your intent of building a connection, the longer-lasting and more profound an impact it has. Building an effective relationship is also about providing value. Just like Eric Sim, a personal branding expert once shared with me, ‘if you know how to use Canva, volunteer to help the others with a better design; if you are professional with excel, offer to provide your potential employer some historical data analysis and insights.’

Don’t worry if you are too young or inexperienced, you always have some unique value in you that you could offer in exchange for friendship, so step out of your zone and make real, impactful connections.

Coincidentally, I am working on a career book for Gen Zs where I interviewed 13 leaders with a variety of backgrounds to share their life stories and practical tips on good challenges and hard-earned lessons along their career journey. This is not to self-advertise but I do believe the book will bring more food for thought for the young and aspiring marketers. I learned quite a lot through conducting those interviews. My book will be published in Q3 next year and I’ll do my best to make it available both in print and digital format so more can benefit from it.

Thank you, Alice, for sharing your experiences with us. How can people connect with you if they’d like to know more about you?

I’m usually active on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aliceyuyuebo/ sharing marketing, growth and community-related stuff. I also welcome people to connect with me via https://mamaonpalette.com/ if they are advocating for art, motherhood and wellness related causes and join our community here with already a thousand members.

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 the next issue of the Marketing Expert Series. Please reach out to us via email.

If you are interested in building your own company’s digital advertising, get in touch with us today, and find out how you can optimize your digital marketing strategies.

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Marketing Expert Series

Marketing Green Energy with Alex Chan

With everything that 2020 and 2021 have given us so far, namely a global pandemic, it’s easy to forget that climate change is still a threat. While it’s vital that we talk vaccines and defeating COVID-19, it’s also important that we do not lose any ground in the battle for the planet. One of the companies keeping this conversation at the forefront is Geneco, one of Singapore’s leading energy retailers.

Joining us for this issue of the Marketing Expert Series, is Geneco’s Head of Marketing, Alex Chan, who shares the importance of green energy for Singapore and Geneco’s place on the frontlines for greener energy initiatives. With a background in marketing that cross-cuts multiple sectors and industries, Alex offers insights that help deepen our understanding of marketing, especially when it comes to marketing green energy.

Hi, Alex! Thanks for joining us in this issue of the Marketing Expert Series! Let’s start with something straightforward: tell us a bit about yourself. How did you get to where you are now?

It’s my pleasure and thanks for inviting me to the Series.

I always believe in the power of language and visual elements, and how it impacts the way one feels or think, whether it is a tv commercial or even a billboard. From then, I knew that this was an area that I always wanted to pursue, and that’s why I studied Mass Communications during my university days.

I started my career in advertising agencies as account servicing. Over time, I wanted to be in the end-to-end marketing journey and be a key influence behind campaign results. Soon after, I had an opportunity to work in the marketing team of M1, a telco company, where my passion to be a marketer truly ignited. One gig led to another, I had the opportunity to work in another leading telco StarHub and other industries, such as FMCG and Chemical.

Over my 17 years of experience, I was also fortunate to spearhead multiple award-winning brand and marketing campaigns. And that led me to where I am right now – Geneco, a retail brand of YTL PowerSeraya, in the energy industry.

As I progressed in my career, I realised that the marketing landscape is dynamic and evolves incredibly quickly. There is always something to learn, skills to hone and strategies to adapt. This is one key reason that continues to fan the fire for my passion for marketing.

Now, you’re the Head of Marketing at Geneco, a leading electricity retailer in Singapore. What does your role entail?

To make it concise, I would like to describe the Head of Marketing role as having two key focuses: Brand-First and Digital-First.

This role charts the path in building the brand of Geneco. In the competitive energy market with 12 retailers, consumers are immune to an endless bombardment of tactical shout-outs with ever so slight differences in prices, plans and promotions. There is a need to balance these functional attributes and differentiate the brand with emotional attributes. This is where brand building comes in, this is where it worked well for Geneco, and we will continue to do so.

In the world of digitalisation, this role is also required to develop and optimise digital performance as well as social media strategies. As Geneco is a digital company without any brick-and-mortar shops, its online presence has to be built towards delivering effective direct-to-consumer results. As part of customer engagement, this role also looks after the development and enhancement of the Geneco mobile app, which was recently revamped and relaunched. Singapore has a mobile penetration of 155%, one of the highest in the world, and we see the need to leverage the mobile app as a two-way platform to continue to engage and build loyalty with our customers.

Energy companies are all in the process of adapting to the impact of climate change. Green policy is in fashion, so to speak, what with the Singapore government launching its new Green Plan 2030. What steps has Geneco made to align with this initiative?

First, I would like to explain the brand name ‘Geneco’, which is made of two key parts: ‘Gen’ refers to our organisation as energy experts with over 50 years of power generation experience and electricity retailing for 20 years. And ‘Eco’ represents our commitment towards building a sustainable, greener nation. The brand purpose of Geneco is ‘Power The Change’ – our brand is not just about providing electricity, we aim to have a positive impact on the social, environmental and cultural aspects that shapes the lives of Singaporeans.

Since Geneco launched in 2018, we have embarked on this eco-journey by offering green electricity plans to our customers. Beyond this option, we have also initiated a program called The ChangeMakers, partnering with 6 like-minded organisations, Comcrop, Cultivate Central, Food Bank Singapore, Green Nudge, Refash and Repair Kopitiam. Each of us brings our area of expertise to encourage Singaporeans to adapt their lifestyles with greener practices.

Since the multi-agencies announced SG Green Plan 2030 earlier this year, Geneco is even more driven to work towards the 2030 vision with its green targets.

The first initiative we had was on Earth Day, 22 April. We announced the launch of our comprehensive solar installation solutions for residential, commercial and industrial customers, to help offset carbon dioxide emissions. On the same day, at Windsor Nature Park, we planted the first 50 of 250 trees that we have committed over 5 years. This initiative is under the NParks’ One Million Tree movement, and which is part of the SG Green Plan as well.

The next key initiative, and which I am very excited to share is the launch Power Eco Add-on – Singapore’s First-and-Only green add-on for an electricity plan.

Can you elaborate a little on this? How has it been received so far?

At Geneco, we always challenge ourselves and strive to create impactful ways to empower customers to Power The Change for the environment. Along with SG Green Plan 2030, we are even more committed to encourage and ease Singaporeans in embarking on a journey towards building a greener home for all.

Through the study on how Singaporeans responded towards climate change, we had the insight that while 80% of Singaporeans do care about the environment, 75% felt they lack options to act sustainably and 56% felt sustainability choice was of poor value.

And we were determined to make that change and worked on an innovative product that is the first of its kind – Power Eco Add-on.

Not only we simplified 6 plans to just 3 plans, but we also addressed the pain points of customers with 5 key differentiating benefits:

- Flexibility – It allows customers to choose between Carbon Credits or Renewable Energy Certificates.
- Affordability – Customers is able to select the level of green contribution from 25/50/75/100%, which starts from just 40cts more per month.
- Impact – Customers can help to offset/avoid up to 3920kg of carbon dioxide emissions and that’s an equivalent to 192 rain trees absorbing in a year.
- Simplicity – Customer’s sign-up journey takes less than 5mins
- Certified – A digital certificate will be sent to the customers for their green contributions

We coincided with our launch on National Day, not just to celebrate our Garden City’s 56th birthday, but also to reinforce our commitment to the SG Green Plan. We hope to rally Singaporeans to ‘Go Green Your Way’, which is the campaign tagline, and do their part for the nation.

And in just a month, we are heartened to see 10 times more customers who chose this green add-on actively as compared to the past. This result is exceptionally encouraging as it shows the growing commitment that Singaporeans has. It also reflects that the green path to SG Green Plan 2030 is a promising one.

Being more focused on green initiatives, I imagine your marketing strategies and approaches have shifted as well. Could you tell us a bit more about what marketing activities you’ve been using to engage your customers and partners? Have there been any marketing challenges?

If we think about it, the need to protect the environment is not a recent trend or topic. Years ago, our nation has quite a few green initiatives, such as the 3Rs – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. And as shared earlier, though 80% of Singaporeans are aware and do care about the environment, such green practices have not been adopted widely over the years.

One of the key attributes is that the green topic is not a popular one for an engaging conversation, let alone to evoke any action.

Since its inception, Geneco has always strived to be a responsible organisation. We always seek to understand what challenges our customers are facing and how we can ease and encourage them into adopting a greener lifestyle.

For example, to amplify the Power Eco Add-on campaign, we looked for partners that not only understand and are aligned to our purpose but also have a wide reach for us to leverage and increase the campaign awareness.

We eventually collaborated with the ever-popular bubble tea chain Playmade, as the design of Power Eco Add-on’s varying green contributions is in the likes of the sugar level choices concept for bubble tea. With the strong bubble tea culture in Singapore, this partnership will allow us to reach out to more Singaporeans through our gamification and initiatives together.

In addition, we also engaged prominent social media KOLs, who range from eco-warriors to those who just started their sustainable journey, to talk about their own green lifestyles and then explain the benefits of Power Eco Add-on.

Through these collaborations, we believe that we are able to reach out to the masses, create meaningful conversations and open up new narratives on a sustainable future.

Let’s switch it up a bit now. You’re a successful marketer with a variety of experiences across a different number of well-known brands. How have your career experiences shaped you as a marketer?

I am very thankful for the opportunities I had as each industry has its own learning curves, customer behaviours and marketing strategies.

For example, some companies focus on tactical approaches; others focus more on brand building. Some companies are smaller scale with a different set of priorities, while the bigger companies have a different set of challenges. Some companies’ core business depends on having physical stores or presence; others are going digital-only. I was fortunate to be exposed to these experiences, which made me learn and re-learn and helped in shaping my skill sets as a marketer.

But what made a significant difference was that I had many inspiring mentors throughout my career. They didn’t just teach me about marketing but also guided me on how to be a more rounded individual, collaborative team player and a better leader. Some of them made an effort by translating their thoughts to me; while others inspired me by the way they led, approached and resolved matters.

These are valuable learnings, which will stay with me as a marketer and as an individual.

Looking back at your career, is there any experience that you feel had a bigger impact on your life as a whole? Or do you feel like they all add up?

There are definitely key moments in different stages of my career that influenced my journey. As I look back and beyond my own experiences, it culminates into two key takeaways that I will always reflect on – the constant need for self and skill improvement.

Marketing has evolved rapidly over the years, advanced by technology. The media landscape has been significantly disrupted, renowned companies who led in the past have been overtaken by e-commerce platforms, customers have vastly different consumer habits now, and with the Covid-19 pandemic, these changes are accelerated – the list goes on.

What I feel is important, during these waves of changes, is to hold on to our marketing basics, as these foundations will never waver. Then complement these foundations by learning constantly whenever there are new opportunities, and keep applying what we have learnt. Only then, I feel we can build ourselves upwards and be stronger marketers.

Any advice you’d give to young and aspiring marketers specialists?

I hope to give three pieces of advice and hope these will resonate with them.

Stay on top of the latest, whether they are trends, topics or happenings. It can be over casual conversations with your agency partners or connections with your peers in different industries; to be relevant is everything in this field.

Stay curious in the ever-evolving marketing landscape. Learning never stops, whether you are a marketer of 10 months or 10 years, there is always something new to add to your expertise.

Most of all, stay passionate. No matter how challenging it gets, remember why you chose Marketing and keep the fire burning bright. It will only make you stronger over time.

Thanks for spending some time with us, Alex! How can people connect with you if they’d like to know more about you?

Thanks for having me. For those who might have more questions or simply want to connect, they can easily find me via LinkedIn; I will be happy to share more.

The Marketing Expert Series features marketing and communications experts from across every industry. Every month, 2Stallions showcases 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 the next issue of the Marketing Expert Series please reach out to us via email.

If you are interested in building your own company’s digital advertising or online presence, get in touch with us today, and find out how you can optimize your digital marketing strategies.

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Marketing Expert Series

Strategic Marketing & Branding with Bernard Yong

Strategic marketing and branding is one of the leading sectors in marketing today. Gone are the days of ‘set and forget’ marketing tactics or ‘hope for the best’ strategies; nowadays, it’s all about strategic insights and taking action on collated data. One of the affects of this shift is that marketers must now have at the very least a good awareness of the impact of their work – and, hopefully, an ability to understand that impact.

As we’ve seen before throughout the Marketing Expert Series, marketers come from all sorts of backgrounds and paths. For some, jumping into the world of marketing is no surprise: a logical step from their background or education that just makes sense. One such individual is our Expert for this issue, Bernard Yong, the Head of Strategic Marketing and Brand Experience at Mah Sing Group, one of Malaysia’s leading property developers. With an affinity for data and analytics, and with a Bachelor’s in Software Engineering, it’s no surprise really that Bernard found his way into marketing, bypassing the IT industry altogether.

Join us for this issue of the Marketing Expert Series to gain a deeper insight into the world of property development marketing and strategic marketing and branding.

Welcome, Bernard! Thanks for joining us in this issue of the Marketing Expert Series! Let’s start with the basics. Tell us a bit about yourself. How did you get to where you are now?

My background actually is in Computer Science, more specifically in software engineering – I have a Bachelors. However, I haven’t touched a single line of code ever since I graduated back in 2002. I guess at that time, a career in programming just didn’t strike my fancy. After graduating, I did a stint of corporate advisory (with an international accounting firm), where we advised clients on fund-raising and listings.

I first got into property in 2006. Although I had no background nor experience whatsoever in property at that time, I’ve always had a personal interest in property as a product, as an investment vehicle, and as an embodiment of someone’s dreams and aspirations. My role was as Marketing Manager, handling high-end strata projects in Kuala Lumpur.

From there, I moved from strength to strength, and have been in property – in one form or another – ever since. My initial years were focused on sales & marketing, and I made the switch to specialize in Branding and Strategic Marketing when I made the move to TRX City Sdn Bhd back in 2012. Moving away from the core of sales and marketing, into branding and B2B initiatives, was a great learning experience.

I joined my current company in 2017, and my portfolio – besides handling branding & strategic marketing – expanded in 2020 to include the nascent Experience Management division – which I basically kickstarted. The purpose of this new division is to drive increased customer satisfaction amongst our buyers.

Were you always interested in marketing? How did you find your way into this career?

I’ve always had an interest in marketing. During my 20s, I embarked on quite a number of start-ups and business ventures (part-time), ranging from an online clothing retailer to an aggregator of property news. As with any start-up, a robust understanding of marketing was a must, and all these learnings complemented and added value to what I was doing in my day job.

Currently, you’re the Head of Strategic Marketing and Brand Experience at Mah Sing Group. What sort of work does Mah Sing do and what role do you play there?

Mah Sing is one of Malaysia’s largest property developers, and my role is multifold as I head two departments within the organization.

One of my departments – Branding & Strategic Marketing (BSM for short), is the steward of the brand, focusing on driving positive brand perception, awareness and recall. This department also handles all group-related marketing initiatives, ranging from group sales campaigns to partnerships and sponsorships. We’re also tasked with improving overall marketing efficiency for the group, in terms of increased conversions, reduced CPAs, and improving overall marketing ROI.

My second department, which is Experience Management (XM), serves to improve customer experience and satisfaction with regards to our business. We kickstarted a ‘Voice of Customer’ program, where we obtain real-time feedback from customers, and use it to measure out NPS and CSAT scores. With this in place, we’ve then had to work to develop the right KPIs, set up the right organizational structures, obtain the buy-in from key stakeholders, in order to drive change and improvements.

Property development is an interesting industry. What sort of challenges do you face and how do you overcome them?

Yes, it’s an interesting industry. The main challenges now are, and I’ll keep it brief:

The awareness and discovery phases of marketing are increasingly taking place online. This may not seem like a big deal for most industries, but property is still a very bricks-and-mortar physical product. Customers mostly still want to see the physical product (in our case, it’ll be the show unit), before they sign on the dotted line. So, it is this straddling off online and offline, or online-to-offline (O2O as they call it), and striking the right balance, which poses an interesting challenge. We overcome this by building up our online offerings and channels, as we’ve always been strong offline. By building up, I mean ensuring that the sales process is digitized so that it can be monitored and tracked, focusing on increasing the effectiveness of our web assets, shifting more spend to digital marketing, and training and upskilling our team to sell across different modes of communication.
In Malaysia, the property market is going through a soft patch. Structural issues mostly – oversupply caused by many years of rampant development, economic slowdown caused by COVID-19, stagnation in wages and compressed affordability, etc. We’ve responded by shifting our product offerings over the years, to focus more on mass affordable properties. 91% of our recent products are priced below RM700K. The days of selling million-ringgit properties are for now at least, put on hold in view of buyer preference and sentiment.

Let’s talk about you personally, you’re a successful marketer with a lot of experience in branding and creating strong customer experiences. How have your career experiences shaped you as a marketer?

I think all our experiences, be it career or personal, help shape who we are as a professional. There were many lessons learned, and yes mistakes made. I think given my background in IT, and my fondness for data and analytics, I’ve evolved into a marketer who is very much focused on performance.

No matter what we roll out, my question to my team is always “Well, how did it do? Did it meet our objectives?”. The days of execution for execution’s sake, or as the famous saying goes “Half of our marketing budget is going to waste, the problem is I don’t know which half”, are long gone. Marketing is becoming increasingly data-centric, and attributable, and that has greatly informed the way I approach marketing, and even branding in general.

Looking back at your career, is there any experience that you feel had a bigger impact on your life as a whole? Or do you feel like they all add up?

They definitely all add up. I can name one experience which really made me pause and evaluate myself and my approach to leadership. There was one incident where my department suffered a flurry of resignations. Needless to say, this was highly discouraging – to me personally, and disruptive to our operations.

Looking back, I believe I could have perhaps been more attuned to the sentiment of the team, and been that stronger leader they needed at that time. A bitter pill to swallow, yes, but a necessary one. That has definitely impacted the way I lead now, hopefully for the better. I’m still learning.

Now, COVID-19 – the topic none of us can ignore. How have the lockdowns and movement control orders impacted the property market and your work at Mah Sing?

It definitely has impacted the property market. While interest is still high, people are still registering their interest and making bookings (online), there is still a lot of waiting and seeing before they finalize their sale (sign on the sales and purchase agreement). We hope that with the NRP announced recently, the opening up of the economy will happen sooner rather than later.

Do you think there will be a lasting impact from the pandemic that will affect how property developers and indeed marketers go about their business?

Yes, it will. This has been a global, market shifting experience. One that will leave a lasting impact. For one, the way property developers design properties will change. From the previous focus on increasingly fancy common areas and a focus on ‘placemaking’, we have shifted to a strategy of ‘homemaking’, whereby the home is now the core of your personal life. A home is now to be more flexible, cosy, intimate, secure.

In terms of marketing, the massive shift to online and virtual channels will definitely affect how we plan and execute our marketing campaigns. We’re still experimenting with a lot of different formats and mediums, and it’ll be an interesting journey of learning for sure.

What’s next for you, personally? Is there anything you’re looking forward to most when this pandemic is over and done with at last?

I most look forward to hitting the skies and travelling with my family again! I think 99% of people out there would echo this sentiment.

Any advice you’d give to young and aspiring marketers specialists?

To achieve success for all your plans and initiatives, you need to know what success looks like. What is the outcome (measurable) that you want to achieve? Plan that out, measure it, and work your butt off to achieve it. In today’s world, there is no longer a divide between traditional and digital marketing. Marketing = Digital. So, get comfortable with metrics and analytics, it’ll serve you well.

Thanks for spending some time with us, Bernard! How can people connect with you if they’d like to know more about you?

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bernardyong/

Mobile/WhatsApp: +6012-5266551

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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.

If you are interested in building your own company’s digital advertising, get in touch with us today, and find out how you can optimize your digital marketing strategies.

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Marketing Expert Series

Digital Transformation Importance with Rena Tan

Since the start of the pandemic in 2020, many companies have struggled to adapt to the changing circumstances. Digital transformation has often been a forced effort, born out of necessity rather than a driving desire. Some industries took the opportunity to take hold of their own futures and address the challenges head-on.

One of the digital marketers who drove through digital transformation early on, is Rena Tan, Regional Head of Marketing and Communications for Randstad Singapore, Malaysia, and Greater China. The world of recruitment and human resources has been impacted by COVID-19, requiring adaptation to new working practices and flexibilities, as well as the strain companies have had to deal with in light of hiring freezes and dips in revenue.

Join us for this remarkable issue of the Marketing Expert Series with Rena Tan as she takes us through her personal journey and professional digital transformation.

Hi, Rena, thank you for taking part in the Marketing Expert Series! Let’s start with some background, can you tell us a bit about yourself? How did you get to where you are now?

I like to think I’ve always had a creative side. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve loved to write, doodle and draw, create poetry, and was a voracious reader. In fact, my dream is to publish my own book one day.

I was interning at MTV Asia back in my poly days, and was offered a full-time position on the very day I completed my final exams (yes – they liked me that much!). Pursuing my creative dreams, I went on to become a TV and radio producer at MTV, and later moved to the licensing and merchandising division where I helped launch various consumer products under the MTV and Nickelodeon brands. That stint truly honed my skills in marketing, branding, and communications.

Subsequently, I was drawn to the bigger idea of marketing my home country. I took on a marketing role in the Singapore Tourism Board and was working on major projects such as the Singapore Fashion Festival, Singapore JewelFest and the MTV Asia Awards. My job took me on a study trip to Disneyland in California where my mission was to research theme parks and their accompanying amenities to build a business case for having big-brand theme parks in Singapore (and this was before Universal Studios came to town!)

Afterwards, I was offered a Head of Marketing role in a recruitment company. Now, including my current role at Randstad, I have been in the recruitment industry for 15 years.

Was there something that drew you to this line of work? Were there any specific experiences that attracted you to it?

The recruitment industry is where I felt I’ve finally found my groove as a marketer. The role allows me to express my creative flair while giving me exposure to all types of people, companies, and industries.

When I first joined the industry 15 years ago, recruitment marketing was not as prominent. In fact, it was pretty traditional. Companies typically ran newspaper ads, participated in career fairs, and posted advertisements on job boards to attract job seekers.

Over the years, the industry has been constantly changing and disrupted – yet it remained resilient and agile. Since the recruitment industry is constantly evolving, it is extremely challenging and exciting to be working in marketing. You are always running on adrenaline, and forever looking 10 steps ahead to see how you can stay competitive and relevant. The industry, although traditional, has also gradually opened up to new and emerging technologies, especially over the last five years.

Randstad in particular, was on a digital transformation journey when I joined the company, which gave me a blank canvas to pilot new marketing technologies and ideas. We are also very open to experimenting and although not all initiatives are successful, our leadership believes that failing is also about knowing what works and what doesn’t. This level of trust is really empowering for me, especially in Asia where failure is often frowned upon. The experience is exhilarating, to say the least, because having that autonomy to try new things has opened up so many new opportunities not just for the company, but also for myself and my team. I feel like I am learning something new every day.

Currently, you are the Regional Head of Marketing and Communications for Randstad Singapore, Malaysia, and Greater China. Can you tell us more about what Randstad does and how you fit in?

Randstad is a global leader in the HR services industry, and our mission is to support people and organisations in realising their true potential. We help connect companies with the best permanent and contracting talent in accounting & finance, banking & financial services, corporate & secretarial support, engineering, human resources, legal, life science, technology, sales, marketing & communications, and supply chain & procurement. Our ultimate goal is to touch the work lives of 500 million people worldwide by 2030.

As the Head of Marketing for Randstad Singapore, Malaysia, and Greater China, I’m responsible for the evaluation and implementation of Marketing and HR technology, with a particular focus on regional digital transformation projects for the business. I work with both internal and external stakeholders and partners to develop, trial and roll out initiatives involving marketing automation, demand generation, artificial intelligence, big data, predictive marketing analytics, social selling, design thinking, employer branding, talent communities and customer experience (CX).

I also oversee a dynamic team of 13 marketing and CX staff across Singapore, Malaysia and Greater China – and they look after strategic marketing, communications and branding campaigns, public relations and customer experience management.

I understand you cover Singapore, Malaysia, and Greater China – that’s a broad area indeed, what sort of challenges do you face dealing with such a large region?

The key challenge, I think, is understanding the cultural nuances and socio-political landscapes in each country. As much as you would like to bring some level of consistency and scale for certain marketing initiatives across the region, it might not be possible as there are different rules and regulations governing each market. I personally have to download a number of different apps so that I can communicate more effectively with my team members in the local market.

You need to navigate the local markets with a high level of sensitivity and be acutely aware of the lines you can or cannot cross. This is on top of the cultural and language differences you need to be mindful of when interacting with people from different markets – which I feel requires a strong sense of diplomacy, humility, EQ, and the ability to switch your state of mind quickly from one to another whenever you are interacting with people from the different markets. There is always something new to learn from local colleagues so you will continue to gain new knowledge, insights, and perspectives.

Are there any advantages to dealing with a region that large?

I love learning new things and having a large remit across multiple countries feeds my insatiable curiosity – where I am constantly exposed to new things, industries, organisations, cultures, people and ideas. I’ve learned to work with different types of people, gained stronger problem-solving skills through managing various difficult situations and conflicts, developed better cross-cultural communication skills as well as significantly enhanced my local market knowledge beyond Singapore’s shores. I get the opportunity to improve my Mandarin too when I interact with my stakeholders and teams in China. I would also say this experience has vastly expanded my horizon and perspectives, and made me a more consultative, strategic, and well-informed business partner and leader.

You have a bit of experience in the marketing sector in Asia; before Randstad you worked with Robert Walters. Have you noticed any changing trends and marketing strategy changes in the region over the last decade or so?

I recently published a trends report on the new skill sets a future marketer would need in the next normal. Future marketers are responsible for championing data-led innovation within the organisation to drive business or better customer experience. They leverage technology and emerging trends in marketing to enhance the end-to-end customer journey. Marketers are not only increasingly looked upon as sales enablers, but also act as strategic business partners and drivers of change.

We are also shifting to deploy more digital strategies not just as a response to the pandemic, but also to better engage the new generation of digitally-savvy consumers. This explains why there is also a stronger focus on areas such as social selling, social listening, marketing analytics, SEO, online reputation management, storytelling, hyper-personalisation, gamification, voice search and customer experience (just to name a few!).

I am hopeful that as more companies go through their digital transformation journey, the marketing function will be regarded as a growth driver. The future marketer will be expected to harness the power of data, automation, customer insights, machine learning and artificial intelligence to better attract, retain and engage their organisation’s customers.

Given the work you are involved in with Randstad, I imagine that COVID-19 has had a big impact. Have your marketing and communications strategies had to change because of the pandemic?

At the onset of COVID-19, I convinced my team that we had to pivot, and pivot early. Globalisation and technology have created a borderless world, and we could never be truly immune to whatever is happening in other parts of the world. If we had waited till the virus became a pandemic, we would not have been able to reap the success we did. We literally threw our 2020 marketing and content plans out the window and started fresh – creating a series of employer guides, market research on hiring appetite and employees’ expectations, employment outlooks, as well as a whole suite of business technology tools and COVID-19 related resources to help organisations navigate the complexities of operating in the midst of a pandemic. Subsequently, we continued to produce content to help organisations engage and manage the well-being of their staff and provide information they need to accelerate business recovery in the new normal.

We have definitely learned to be more agile in these unusual and uncertain times, and constantly try to anticipate what challenges lie ahead and how we can add more value to our recruiters, clients, and candidates.

As a result, we saw phenomenal growth in terms of web traffic and social media engagement levels, and continue to generate a high number of quality leads despite a really difficult year where we saw many businesses come to a halt.

How lasting do you think the impact of the pandemic will be to marketing – and indeed to Randstad – in the coming years?

I think the pandemic has made a permanent positive impact on marketing and hopefully, the way businesses now view the value of marketing.

In this new world, organisations need to learn how to better engage their talent and customers in a virtual environment, and design new digital processes to attract, engage and retain them. Company leaders are increasingly looking to their marketing teams to help build and amplify their brands online; drive constant sales through new e-commerce models; explore new channels and partners; leverage data to predict customers’ propensity to buy or leave, as well as automate time-consuming and manual processes to drive greater efficiencies.

We have definitely experienced this in Randstad, and this trend will only grow as more and more business leaders stepped up their organisation’s digital transformation efforts to stay relevant and as a business sustainability and growth strategy. At Randstad we are already experimenting with ML/AI and blockchain and building our own tech platforms and apps through our global Digital Factory so that we can be future-ready.

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

As a marketing leader, I feel we have an obligation to stay ahead of the curve. We need to constantly find ways to disrupt our own industry because others will do it for us if we don’t.

Hence, I will be expecting my team and I to remain open-minded and agile in our marketing approach, embrace the fact that the market will remain unpredictable and be prepared for change as it will be a constant, whether we like it or not. I will be looking out for new ways in which marketing can evolve further – for example, explore non-traditional marketing channels, tools and partnerships; adopt a data-driven mindset; and continue to benchmark our work with the best in other industries and countries.

I also hope my team continues to receive the recognition for the amazing work they are doing everyday, not just from me but also the business. They are the real masters in their craft and they deserve all the credit for the successes we see in Randstad across the region today.

Most importantly, I would need to strive to achieve a better balance between work, family, and personal life. My boss told me in a recent performance review that he has no negative feedback for me at all but if he has to pick one, it would be that I’d need to maintain a better work-life balance as I tend to be an incorrigible workaholic, and the pandemic has kind of amplified that trait. I recognise that is not a healthy example for myself, my family nor my team, and this is something I am working on. For instance, I have tried to not check my emails or work during the weekends, and take time out to do things I really enjoy like drawing and gaming together with my family.

Now, I just want to touch on something you mentioned during our correspondence ahead of this feature interview: you’re a working mother with two children, a gamer in a previous life, and I understand that you like to draw in your spare time to destress? Could you tell us a little about that? How did you start and where can we see your work?

As mentioned, I have always had a creative streak and loved drawing and doodling since I was young. However, I never had the chance to pursue my passion for art further because you know, real life gets in the way. I picked it back up again in recent years because my daughter, who like me, has developed a real passion for art. Hence I used drawing as a reason for us to bond and spend time together. Recently we even went for a manga drawing workshop together – and we loved it!

You can check out my humble works on Instagram @sheerdoodles.

I also used to be quite an avid gamer before I got married – and at one time I was really into the MMORPG game World of Warcraft. I was literally “going on dates” with my husband (then boyfriend) – questing and raiding in the virtual gaming world every weekend. I stopped playing when I became a mom (time is such a luxury I don’t have!) and got back into playing casually only recently due to the lockdown.

Any advice you’d give to aspiring or upcoming marketers?

For a start, I would perhaps encourage aspiring marketers to keep pace with the trends not just within the marketing function, but also the industry that you work in. Understand your skills gaps in the next normal and take initiative to find out how you can upskill to close that gap. It’s also important to take an outside-in approach and network with your peers to find out where they are at and how they got there. It could help you map your career path.

However, when I am looking to hire, I tend to look out for talent with a good set of soft skills. I am a strong believer that technical skills can always be taught, but soft skills – or essential personality traits as some might call them – have to be developed. For many people, you either have it or you don’t.

Examples of soft skills that many CMOs like myself look for in marketers would include having a high level of emotional quotient, adaptability, drive, an open and positive mindset, as well as strong work ethics and commercial acumen. Marketers are also increasingly expected to be a collaborative team player, great communicator and champion for change.

Some key advice for aspiring or upcoming marketers:

Continuous learning is key. Cultivate an insatiable appetite for knowledge and understanding in the disciplines or areas that are beyond your current role. Learn from the best outside of your function or industry to gain a new perspective on your work.
Don’t be afraid to experiment. You won’t know if an idea will be a success unless you move it to reality. Be prepared to fail and try again.
Always strive to add value and position yourself as a business partner. If you act like an order taker, you will be treated as one. Integrate yourself into the heart of the business and identify challenges/issues you can solve as a marketer.

Thank you, Rena, for sharing your experiences with us. How can people connect with you if they’d like to know more about you?

LinkedIn would be the best place as everything you want to know about me is right on my profile page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheerlock/

If you’re wondering, sheerlock is my avatar’s name in World of Warcraft when I was playing a warlock. 🙂

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