Who Uses Content Marketing Anyway?
You are reading part 2 of our series on Content Marketing. To read part 1, click here.
Some of Singapore’s businesses have been slow to realise the potential of content marketing. But it is becoming increasingly apparent that posting online material on a regular basis is one of the most effective and economical ways to communicate with your target audience.
In fact, a firm that ignores content marketing or gives it a low priority is likely to lose touch with its customers, a factor that could, in turn, lead to declining sales and a shrinking market share. However, many of Singapore’s firms have recognised that putting up videos, articles, and social media posts that inform and educate customers can be a high payoff activity.
A large number of content marketing agencies have sprung up in Singapore. This activity is rapidly gaining importance with both large and small businesses incorporating it into their marketing strategies.
In a development that highlights this fact, HubSpot, a sales and marketing platform that specialises in website content management and social media publishing among other activities, opened its Singapore office last year.
HubSpot’s Singapore office, nicknamed SingSpot, will serve as its headquarters for the Asia Pacific region. The company plans to add 150 Singapore-based employees in its first three years.
Here is a brief description of four Singapore-based organisations that conducted highly successful content marketing campaigns.
1. Regus – providing flexible office spaces
Regus provides businesses with various options for temporary office space. It has close to 3,000 business centres spread across 900 cities in 120 countries.
The company hired HubSpot to beef up its Singapore operations. The agency adopted a multi-pronged approach to spread the word about Regus’ facilities.
A number of blog posts were written on topics that related to flexible working spaces. HubSpot even conducted interviews with existing Regus tenants.
An email campaign was initiated and potential customers were provided with office space related information.
HubSpot created several high-quality guides that describe the factors involved in selecting an office in Southeast Asia. Information regarding business culture in Southeast Asia was also compiled and disseminated.
The campaign, which targeted customers in Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia also involved the preparation of a 4,000-word blog post that described the best locations for startups in Singapore. This was a heavily researched piece of content that had the firm’s writers attending Echelon Asia 2016 to understand the startup scene.
The 4,000-word post got 1,214 views in the first month. This reinforces the fact that well-researched content that provides valuable information will always be in demand.
2. Goldheart Jewelery
Goldheart is Singapore’s leading bridal jewellery provider. The company hired Mediacorp’s content marketing arm, Brand Studio, to promote its products with a special focus on its Si Dian Jin. The phrase signifies the traditional Chinese engagement gift of “four touches of gold.”
Brand Studio’s approach to the assignment involved making a short film that showed the relationship between a traditional mother-in-law and a modern-day bride. The video was an instant success, getting 470,000 views on Goldheart’s YouTube channel in its first two months.
The film also got 1.7 million social media impressions and reached an audience of 3.5 million on television.
What was the reason for its success? According to Ms Toni Chew, Business Director, Goldheart Jewelery, “Brand Studio’s idea of paying tribute to long standing traditions in a modern society like Singapore was wonderful and spot on.”
3. Red Cross Singapore
Another content marketing initiative that enjoyed enormous success was Red Cross Singapore’s “Give Blood. Save Lives” campaign. It involved a series of films that showed accident victims smiling and talking. They had survived because someone had donated blood.
By focusing on the positive aspects of donating blood, the short films struck a chord with ordinary Singaporeans. The content that Red Cross shared conveyed that ordinary people, just like you and me, get into accidents. It also pointed out that only 1.8% of Singapore’s citizens donate blood.
The Red Cross website provided material that served to demystify blood donation. The details served to both inform and educate the reader. In an effort to involve readers, the website encouraged them to download an app that would provide alerts when blood was required to help save lives.
What if the individual who downloaded the app was not in a position to donate blood because of ill-health or age? Help could still be provided in such a situation by simply forwarding the message to your contacts and spreading the word about the requirement for blood.
4. Changi Airport
Last year, Changi Airport launched its content marketing platform called, “Now Boarding by Changi Airport.” The focus of the airport authorities was to provide useful tips about travel as well as information that pertained directly to Changi.
The intention of the content marketing initiative was to portray Changi Airport as a destination in its own right and not merely a place to catch flights from.
The platform divided its content along three main themes – Go Global, Live Local, and Discover Changi. The following is a sampling of the type of content on the site.
Go Global
3 must-do activities (and where to go) for an instagrammable Batam getaway
Food of the Vikings: 6 exotic Nordic food items you have to try
Wake up to the land that discovered coffee: Ethiopia
Live Local
Unique activities in Singapore that will jazz up your weekend
5 of the best morning jogs in Singapore
Discover Changi
Watch: Travellers try local dishes at Changi Airport
Your ultimate Changi airport layover survival guide
Changi Airport has been able to successfully capitalise on the mileage that informative content and social media can give it. When Joseph Schooling became the first Singaporean to win an Olympic gold medal, Changi Airport posted this on Facebook:
Within the first hour, the post received over 3,000 likes and 400+ shares.
Content marketing is set to grow rapidly
Many of Singapore’s companies relegate content creation to the lowest level in the organisation. Janice Tan, director of digital marketing for Starwood Hotels and Resorts puts it succinctly, “Everyone is wondering if they should get the intern to do the content, or regurgitate all the old stuff they had in print and push it all online.”
But companies who continue to adopt this attitude towards content marketing will soon see the negative effects on their business results.
It is essential for every business organisation to give this activity the importance that it deserves. Those firms that are able to generate interesting and well-formulated content that provides their customers with usable information are bound to pull ahead of the competition. Companies that are unable or unwilling to adapt to this reality will, most likely, fall behind.
Look out for part 3 in our Content Marketing series next week.
(By Ravinder Kapur)
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