Is content marketing for Singapore businesses?

Content marketing in Singapore is still in its infancy stage. Companies that are able to leverage on quality content marketing not just have the first mover advantage, they will also have an “UNFAIR” advantage over its competitors. This is because content marketing is a marketing strategy that it is not easy to be duplicated by the competition.

Consumers Believe in Custom Content More than Advertisements

We see advertisements everywhere; they are mostly shout-outs of discounts, promotions, and offers; and most businesses are using this same strategy. A study by Content Marketing Institute stated that “61% of consumers feel better about a company that delivers custom content and are in turn more likely to buy from that company.”

And the study further states that “77% of consumers understand that the company’s goal for content creation is to sell them something.”

Since Singapore is still very new to the concept of content marketing strategy, those companies that currently do content marketing will therefore have better market advantage than their competitors.

Content Marketing and Mainstream Strategies

The current digital marketing strategies Singapore businesses are trying out are Facebook advertising, app marketing, search engine marketing, and search engine optimisation.

For the mainstream strategies, they are TV, radio, and print advertising. One similarity among both the digital and mainstream strategies is that they can be easily duplicated by the competitors.

Content marketing creates a unique positioning for the brand from its competitors. This is because content is very subjective. Two writers may write differently for the same subject. Just like music, a professional pianist will play much better than a novice pianist even if they use the same piano!

Competitors can copy our marketing moves, but they cannot copy our content, its quality, and its writing style. With quality custom content, even if the company is a small startup in Singapore, they can still create better marketing and branding advantages than the big boys in their industry.

Content Marketing is More Than Search Engine Optimisation

Often, content marketing strategy is being viewed as search engine optimisation. It is much more than that. The objective of content marketing is to create relevant, educational, and interesting content for the consumers, so as to influence them to become your customers eventually.

Content marketing is also about managing content and conversation for the brand on the social networks.

Hence, a good content marketing strategy not only helps in your search engine organic ranking, it also builds your brand credibility online. This is because the consumers will see your brand as the thought leader in your industry.

The New Age Marketer Has to Be an Excellent Writer

Marketers today have to be excellent writers who are able to write long worded articles that can subtly influence consumers to like their brands in the long run. Other than writing good content, the marketers also need to manage consumer expectation and perception with engaging content.

Today, we see that there are still a few companies in Singapore trying out content marketing in their strategies; not all of them are successful because they may not have good writers who are able to deliver the consistency in the content quality.

Some brands we know locally have been doing content marketing for quite awhile. For example, Red Bull focuses on developing content towards consumers that love extreme sports. American Express has a dedicated content strategy website called 'Amex Open Forum' that provides interesting business and management tips especially for the corporate consumers.

The way brands draft their content will define the community of consumer personas they want to achieve eventually. Thus, ensuring brand longevity.

Hence the first step to succeed in content marketing is about getting good marketing writers for your brands. So, look out for the good ones!

Have an Archive of Quality Content Online

Compared to print media which have only limited pages for content creation, brands today can create limitless pages of branded content for their consumers; the more content they publish, the better branding position they will have. 

Publishing online is also relatively more cost-effective than on print media. The key to win in content marketing is therefore to have an archive of quality content online. An archive of consumer-relevant content is a thousand times better than an archive of advertisements.

As your content archive develops, your customers will grow as well especially in the long run. Your content archive can make consumers feel more confident about your brand when they do research online, because your brand has given them ample information that they want to look for.

We can see that companies which have strong content marketing strategy usually will have consumers that already know what they want to buy even before they visit their shops.

"Hence, a good content marketing strategy will make selling better."

When all marketing channels fail or become too saturated and expensive for businesses, content marketing will therefore rise among them. Content marketing is perhaps the only effective marketing strategy that is left for businesses to build their market and brand positioning in today’s fast-paced economy.

Companies in Singapore that started content marketing in the earlier stages will therefore benefit “UNFAIRLY” from this strategy. So, start writing content for your brand today!