Customer acquisition: an afterthought?

In my interactions with several entrepreneurs and founders, their go-to marketing strategy is “social media” or “content marketing”. This is without regard to what the product is because customer acquisition seems to be an afterthought. Some throw out random words include Facebook, Google, SEO.

It’s worrying that many entrepreneurs building great products don’t know the basics of customer acquisition. As I read through the available material online, it’s remarkable that a simple step-by-step guide for early-stage customer acquisition doesn’t exist.

We end up with comprehensive acquisition strategies that mention every possible channel the founder can think of. But this doesn’t work.

With limited runway and time to gain traction, simply throwing everything at the wall and hoping something sticks simply won’t work.

Here are all the acquisition channels available to you

The Traction Book

Here‘s everything you need to read to get it done. It’s a great list, but holy cow! A list of blogs which link to other blogs which link to other blogs? You can’t read everything on that list! Even if you tried, you’d be paralysed with too much disjointed information that don’t piece together.

In the end, you won’t really know what to do and go back to throwing everything but the kitchen sink at the wall. But there is a better way.

A 3-step guide to customer acquisition

Every single business is different. That’s why it isn’t quite as straightforward as telling you what the best channel is. But it is as straightforward as following a process.

There is a simple process to figure out which channels are right for YOUR business.

Step 1: Intent vs Interest

The first question to ask yourself is :

Is my product an intent-based product or an interest-based product?”

It’s a pretty simple question to answer. Put into simpler terms, are users already looking for your product i.e., demonstrating intent to purchase?

If they are, they’re looking for it on Google. Imagine what search queries your users could be using, type them into the Google Keyword Planner and check out the suggestions and volumes that come back. If there are significant enough volumes, Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is the channel you should focus on.

Say your product is a platform for people to discover divorce lawyers online, an intent-based product if ever there was one. SEM is your channel — thousands of potential customers are searching for your solution. You simply need to capitalise on the existing demand and win at SEM.

Think about it. How many people are going to subscribe to a blog about getting a divorce? Or how many customers do you think you’re going to get by advertising on Instagram? Those channels simply will not work.

An intent-based product is something that your users don’t care about at all — until they need it. Other examples of intent-based products are flights, hotels, storage, cleaning services, home services, property agent services, loans, funeral services, and mortgages to name a few.

Once you validate that those users on search are the right customers for your business (i.e., they are converting at scale), you can then focus on the other pillar of search — Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) — and follow Brian Dean‘s methodology to rank on page 1 of Google.

Alternatively, your product could be an interest-based product. SEM will definitely not work for you – there’s no one looking for what you offer on Google. Unfortunately for you, things might be slightly less simple for you than those damned divorce lawyers.

Step 2: Who are your customers?

If your response to this is :

Everyone is a potential customer …

You’re wrong. You may have a great product — but if you don’t segment your market, you won’t be able to speak any of the different segments effectively.

Start by coming up with at least one ideal customer persona. There are two simple questions to ask yourself that would help you formulate the ideal customer:

1. Who would this product/service deliver value to?
2. Where do they hang out online?

Let’s say you launched an app in Singapore that connects parents of toddlers with other parents so the kids can make new friends.

Let’s go through the questions.

1. Who does the app deliver value to?

• Parents of toddlers aged 3 – 8.

2. Where do they hang out online?

• They likely spend time on social media
• They read parenting sites like TheAsianParent & SingaporeMotherhood

Using this information, we can now craft a first draft ideal customer profile based on this.

• Demographic (Gender): Male & Female
• Demographics (Age): 28 – 40 years old
• Demographic (Parents): Are parents of 3 – 8-year-olds
• Spends time on Facebook, Instagram(?), Parenting sites

Step 3: Reach them where they are

Using the information above, you already know where to reach them — Facebook.

Throw in the information above into the Facebook ad editor and it’ll let you reach your ideal customers in a couple of clicks.

35,000 young parents living in Singapore that Facebook know about. There’s your audience, and this is a potential acquisition channel.

But we found another channel when coming up with our ideal customer. Remember those parenting sites before? They sell display ads on their site. That means you can reach their readers whilst they’re reading this parenting stuff.

Let’s take a look at TheAsianParent. Three display ads easily accessible through Google’s Display Network on their homepage – getting you access to >300,000 Asian parents for an average of S$1.25 (around US$0.88) per click. Seems like a pretty great, the deal doesn’t it?

TheAsianParent stats. That’s a lot of Asian parents to get your app in front of, fast.

That’s only 1 site. Add the other parenting sites on the Google Display Network and you can easily reach hundreds of thousands of users using those sites every week.

Why all paid?

So I know I’ve been recommending paid channels only in this post. Are there free channels you can consider — totally. Those simply take a little time for you to figure out if they work. As I said in the beginning, time is of the essence and paid marketing gets you traffic onto your site today and helps you figure out what works so you can figure out next steps.

It’s not the end-all. It’s simply the first channel that helps you to learn more about your customers. It leads to developing other channels in the future.

• If leads from SEM are converting, you need to invest in SEO at some point.
• If leads from GDN are converting, a content marketing strategy is likely to have a place in your marketing mix so you own the content they read.
• If leads from Facebook ads are converting, try out a referral programme that gets your users to share your product on social media.

Tips & tricks

Pick one channel

As I was writing this article, I came across Neil Patel’s take on marketing channels for brand new businesses.

One thing that I definitely agree with him on is to pick one channel and invest your time and effort in it.

It’s easy to set up an Adwords campaign or Facebook campaign, watch it crash and burn $1,000 and declare that it’s a hack, call me a few names and declare it’s the wrong channel for you.

I did the same thing at my first marketing job. Tried a couple of channels — nothing worked. But that’s because I was (a) using the wrong channels, and (b) doing a bad job on the right channels.

If you’ve gone through the above steps 1-3, you know your customers are on the other side. You can be sure of it. So you won’t be in danger of using the wrong channels.

So we know you’ll be using the right channel. If you’re not seeing conversions, break it down and figure out why things may not be working.

• Do you have a low click-through rate?
• Why aren’t people clicking on your ad?
• Is your ad relevant?
• Is it attractive? Does it make people want to click?
• Does it show up for the right search terms?
• Go really, really deep into that channel. It won’t be a waste of time. I can guarantee you’ll learn something about your customers.

The only way you should abandon a channel is if you’ve got a definitive understanding of why it isn’t working.

For example:

SEM is not the right channel for us because we’re offering a premium intent-based product. After studying search term reports, we’ve identified that users searching on Google are looking for “discount” or “cheap” products. As our strategy is to price high, the users searching on Google are not our target audience.

Make sure you’ve got fundamentals in place

Everything I’ve mentioned above won’t work without some basics in place.

1. You need analytics set up on your site. Without it, you can’t track anything including conversions and there’s simply no way for you to know whether something is working or not.
2. Don’t send users to your home page. This should seem pretty self-explanatory, but it happens surprisingly often. When users click on an ad, they want to go to a relevant page, not navigate around your site to find whatever the ad was talking about. Don’t make it harder for them to convert.
3. Understand the channels before you start. Google and Facebook have complex workings. Yes, they’ve made it incredibly easy for you create an account and start running ads but you will lose money if you don’t understand how they work. Whilst it’s strongly recommended you work with someone who has some level of experience on these platforms, you can choose to go it alone. If you do, read up on Adwords or Facebook before you get started.

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Editor’s note: e27 publishes relevant guest contributions from the community. Share your honest opinions and expert knowledge by submitting your content here.

Join our e27 Telegram group here, or our e27 contributor Facebook page here.

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So you’ve got a space at LaunchPad, a few hungry graduates you call ‘employees’, a Slack chat up and running, and you’re all set to be known as ‘The Genius Behind The Next Big StartUp’.

But I have some bad news. It might be the idea of a lifetime, but starting a tech start-up in Singapore may be something to regret in the long run. Despite its reputation as the region’s start-up hub, the conditions here are far from ideal, especially if for those who are just starting out.

Here’s why:

Expensive tech talent

Key to every tech start-up is strong tech talent, and chances are, you’re not going to find that in the Little Red Dot. Look around — tech startups are springing up every day, but graduates with software expertise are rare gems.

Plus, the ones you can find here are often expensive. The head of the Singapore International Chamber of Commerce recently recounted to The Straits Times difficulties faced by Silicon Valley technopreneurs in Singapore. They found a “shortage of good IT developers” with “unrealistic remuneration expectations”.

Don’t expect stellar quality either — he went on to say that these technopreneurs were “disappointed with the quality and quantity of output”. Ouch.

Expensive, well, everything else

IT geeks aren’t the only expensive realities in Singapore — everything else one could possibly need, from office rental to transport can quickly wipe out a young company’s funds.

Also Read: Baidu’s iQiyi said to have filed for US$1B IPO in the US

I’m not the only one saying it; property consultancy firm Knight Frank named Singapore the most expensive city in Southeast Asia for tech start-ups. Need I say more?

No promiscuity

Maybe it’s our conservative Asian values, but we somehow don’t seem to realise that promiscuity pays. Racking up experience at one firm and bringing it to another start-up isn’t stealing ideas, it’s spreading valuable insights and contacts throughout the start-up ecosystem! That brings the whole sector forward.

But remember, promiscuity is NOT job-hopping. That’s just not cool, man.

Also Read: A good chatbot is a USED chatbot

Last word: If you want the benefits of Singapore, but not its high costs, offshoring may be your best bet.

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Keith Tan is the Singaporean entrepreneur behind Start Now, a social enterprise that was acquired in 2015. His current venture, Wonderlabs, was co-founded with Ivan Chang. It operates 3 offshore software development centres in Indonesia, employing 125 software engineers in Yogyakarta and Bandung. Read more of his musings on entrepreneurship here.

Copyright: prestonia / 123RF Stock Photo

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I wonder if Mark Zuckerberg wakes up every morning, checks the news, and dies a little inside.

At the end of June, his company crossed 2 billion users. Since its IPO in 2012, Facebook stock has risen by nearly 5x and the company continues to see incredible growth in the world’s emerging market.

Facebook is the most powerful social media company in the world.

Except it’s not.

That company is Twitter. And, as I will argue, in one moment last night, I realised that this company with slow growth, boring product updates and no profits is the most powerful company in tech.

Come on man…

It is a ridiculous claim, but hear me out, because it starts with a change in opinion.

For about a year now, I have told anyone who would listen that I think Amazon is the most important company in tech, and that it wasn’t even close.

The only other company I would even consider was Google, just because of its sheer volume of information. But Amazon is going after the infrastructure of capitalist economies which I believe will fundamentally alter how we live in the next couple of decades.

I pointed to skyrocketing stock prices, dominant market share (both in e-commerce and cloud computing), and a sense that the company is just scraping the surface of its potential.

In terms of pure financials and money-making potential, I still think Amazon is the clear leader, but my argument was confused with power. It is an easy mistake to make, as that distinction is often blurred, but it is still a mistake.

By Wall Street metrics, Twitter is a dying company (just look at its stock price, dummy). It will never compete with Facebook, and Snapchat has zoomed past in terms of potential. Wall Street tells me that Twitter will go down as a historical footnote of the second startup revolution. Hell, even I wrote that Twitter was dying.

But I forgot that the vast majority of people are not investors, and the masses don’t particularly care about their opinions.

Also Read: Can overfunding kill a startup?

Last night, my inner-teenager rose from the ashes and reminded me that, not only is the finance sector’s view of impact warped, it is incorrect.

So, let’s set the stage.

Donald Trump Jr.

The problem Twitter has is a push-pull between its loyal users and attracting new customers. I would argue that the problem is the most extreme of the major social media platforms.

Twitter is hard, it requires effort and most new users get either frustrated, bored, or both. (Snapchat is also hard, but far less boring with only a few friends).

I recently told my friend with reinvigorated Twitter-interest that she needed to sit down and add 2,000 accounts to follow. Until that happens, Twitter’s usefulness will be opaque at best.

But this required-investment is also Twitter’s strength, and it is particularly why journalists love the platform.

What Twitter has that no other social media can replicate is a sense that it is alive. It sleeps, it gets angry, it is often sarcastic, funny and aggressive. It really never gets happy, but so be it.

A lot of journalists can keep their account open all day, and promptly ignore it. What they are waiting for is the moments when Twitter explodes (and no social media platform has figured out how to replicate a Twitter-explosion). It is a ‘lead’, and now the reporter can do the follow-up research.

For people who are really good at Twitter, they can “feel” the network.

For example, last night I was watching Netflix and had my account open. Usually, if Twitter is open and I don’t pay attention for an hour, it will notify me that I missed 50-60 updates, all on various topics. When I turned off my show, I checked Twitter and saw 600 updates.

What just happened!? There was a David Brooks column that angered some people, but this seemed out of proportion.

Within a minute I had figured it out.

Donald Trump Jr. had just released an email chain admitting he had met with a Russian lawyer to discuss dirt on Hilary Clinton during last year’s US election.

An important point. Trump Jr. did not tell a journalist, who then blasted out the story. He just just dropped the files in his feed and watched the explosion.

Here's my statement and the full email chain pic.twitter.com/x050r5n5LQ

— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) July 11, 2017

Which led to this hilarious tweet from an independent journalist.

I…worked on this story for a year…and…he just…he tweeted it out.

— Jared Yates Sexton (@JYSexton) July 11, 2017

But it was one semi-sarcastic tweet from the New York Time’s tech reporter, Mike Isaac, that led to my epiphany.

twitter dot com: we may have product and revenue struggles, but we also played an instrumental role in taking down an administration

— ?_? (@MikeIsaac) July 11, 2017

Does Mike Isaac think the Trump administration is over? I doubt it. But he is making a point: this unprofitable company with slow growth has done more to alter modern history than Amazon, Facebook or Google.

If that sounds hyperbolic, here are some examples.

Prove it

So far, I have explained why Twitter is valuable to reporters, which does not support my thesis that it is the most powerful company in tech. So, let’s make that argument.

It boils down to a few things — the 140 character limit, the minimal algorithm and the dumb luck that one of the most powerful people in the world is practically addicted.

Let’s get the obvious example out of the way. Donald Trump would not be President of the United States without Twitter. A lot of factors led to his election, but Twitter is very much one of them.

Ironically, it also might be the vehicle of his demise.

Twitter is Trump’s direct connection to his base, and his go-to tool for pissing off the left. He has a Facebook account, and guess what? Nobody cares.

Trump could Facebook the way he uses Twitter, but he doesn’t; that right there gives Twitter a significant edge.

Now, let’s broaden out a bit but stay in the same general arena.

In 2011, the Russian online activist name Alexei Navalny went after a parliamentary election and in doing so motivated a protest-movement that nearly took down Russia’s President Vladamir Putin. His core form of organisation? Yup, Twitter.

In the process, Russian officials blamed then Secretary of State Hilary Clinton of supporting the opposition, which lead to bad blood that came full circle five years later.

US intelligence agencies all agree the Russians meddled in the US election with the purpose of ensuring that anybody besides Clinton became President. Many people point to the Navalny protests as the moment the antagonistic relationship began.

Finally, if he can navigate Russia’s power-system, Alexei Navalny may very well run for President in Russia next year.

Also Read: News Capsule: The 5 stories that rocked the Asian tech community today

Moving south to Iran, in 2009 Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected President with 63 per cent of the vote despite reports of irregularities. It sparked a massive protest movement called the Green Movement that was highly dependent on Twitter for communication.

Despite its eventual failure, the following elections in 2013 and 2017 resulted in a strong mandate for the moderate leader Hassan Rouhani.

If anyone uses the term ‘Twitter Revolution’, they are speaking of the Green Movement.

The most important Twitter-enabled movement was, of course, the Arab Spring. Over six years after the people overthrew the Tunisian government, its hard to think of an event that has more dramatically impacted our world.

Much of the impact has been negative, but it’s the Arab Spring is the most significant event of the last 6 years.

If we look in our own back yard, Twitter was absolutely essential to the success of Occupy Hong Kong in 2014. Part of the reason the protest movement was able to survive for 72 days was because it would pick and choose its locations (and times) to ‘wake up’ and when to ‘sleep’.

To give an example, if rumours circulated that police activity would ramp up, the message would be blasted to the community and within hours the two main locations (which were often fairly empty) would suddenly be filled with tens of thousands of people.

Twitter was the critical means for this communication. WeChat was not as powerful as it is today, but even if it were, privacy/censorship concerns essentially rendered Chinese social media pointless.

Facebook’s algorithm makes this kind of communication nearly impossible. Followers would discover the police are coming to clear the camp eight hours after the protest was over.

Twitter is real-time, and therein lies its power. With the stroke of a thumb, Donald Trump can send thousands of newsrooms into a frenzy, a man in Russia can nearly take down an authoritarian regime and local students can create the most important before/after historical moment in an Asian financial hub.

Will Twitter ever compete with Facebook on the MBA business metrics? No, that seems extremely unlikely.

But that’s not the point.

Other tech companies impact people, Twitter impacts power.

—
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Pintek, Indonesia-based fintech platform that provides credit to consumers and education institutions, announces that it has raised pre-Series A funding led by Global Founders Capital (GFC). The fund was received by SoCap, Pintek’s parent company.

Finch Capital and Amand Ventures also participated in the round. Previously, Finch Capital and Amand Ventures had invested in Pintek’s seed funding together with Japan-based venture capital firm, Strive.

The company said that it plans to use the funding to “drive technological and financial innovation needed to support Indonesia’s education sector to achieve international standards for the country’s economic development”.

SoCap & Pintek Co-founder and CEO, Ioann Fainsilber, noted that Pintek will use the proceeds from the round to expand its technology platform and scale its commercial team.

Also Read: Meet the 10 Indonesian fintech startups you may have never rooted for before

SoCap, Pintek’s parent company that receives the investment, aims to grow ventures facilitating cooperation, exchange, and innovation for social impact in the region. GFC is a seed and growth investor that has backed entrepreneurs worldwide such as those behind Facebook, LinkedIn, Slack, Traveloka, Canva, and HelloFresh.

Tito Costa, Partner at GFC said; ”We look forward to working with Pintek’s team in their mission to provide better access to education to millions of Indonesians. The team has identified a unique, holistic approach to education financing, working in partnership with educational institutions. We are excited to support the company’s new phase of growth.”

“In line with President Jokowi’s vision to reform & improve the country’s quality of education, we find it equally important for education to be financially inclusive and accessible for all Indonesians,” said Hans De Back, Managing Partner at Finch Capital.

Established in 2018, Pintek aims to democratise access to education in Indonesia through affordable and flexible credit to consumers and institutions across the education sector. By servicing the entire education market (including K-12, Vocational, Higher Education, and nonformal), Pintek believes it can essentially service students throughout their education journey.

SoCap & Pintek COO and Co-Founder, Tommy Yuwono, stated that Pintek is keen to collaborate with the Indonesian government and wider stakeholders in helping schools and vocational institutions improve their education infrastructure and management.

Also Read: Fintech startup SuperAtom raises US$24M funding led by Gobi Partners, eyeing expansion to the Philippines

“We are excited to learn that Nadiem Makarim’s Education and Culture Ministry is placing a big focus on technology and making human capital development one of its key priorities for the next 5 years. We believe Pintek can directly contribute to Indonesia’s efforts in improving its education standards and overcome its current skills gap,” Yuwono said.

Pintek claimed that it has partnered with payment infrastructure, education technology, education suppliers, government, and foundations, and has already disbursed loans to customers in 22 provinces in Indonesia. More than half of Pintek’s borrowers were first-time borrowers, showing that consumers are willing to borrow from financial institutions to pursue better education.

Next, the company plans to launch its Syariah product next quarter.
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Esther Nguyen, CEO & Founder of POPS Worldwide

Digital entertainment company POPS Worldwide (POPS) announces that it has received a US$30 million funding from Mirae Asset – Naver Asia Growth Fund Investment Pte.Ltd, and Eastbridge Partners Pte.Ltd. With the funding, the investors will have a significant minority stake in POPS.

Along with the funding, the company also announces the launch of the POPS App, which the company said will deliver free high-quality premium content and original series, shows, and videos from music, entertainment, and kids.

Esther Nguyen, CEO, and Founder of POPS, said that the investment will be used to scale its direct to consumer strategy through POPS OTT application across the region as well as enter into new markets.

POPS has spent more than a decade of setting up in the digital market in Vietnam and expanding across the region. With the launch of its apps, POPS noted that it made a big move beyond digital entertainment by bringing an entertainment experience.

“More high quality original series will be produced, connecting hot actors and actresses. More shows are upcoming and more premium stories from global studios will appear on our POPS App to bring new experiences every day to our fans. Our stories bring opportunities for fans to experience and connect. We put the fans at the center of our process.” Nguyen added.

Also Read: I still feel we are the underdog: POPS Worldwide CEO

POPS claimed to have a daily-updated library of diverse storytellers, top producers, and artists that create curated and personalised content.

Ji-Kwang Chung, Managing Director of Mirae Asset Capital, said: “We believe in the sustainable competitiveness of POPS after their success over the last 10 years in digital entertainment in Vietnam and Thailand. We share their belief that POPS’ opportunities in the region are enormous.”

Mirae Asset-Naver Asia Growth Fund is 50:50 joint initiatives between Mirae Asset Financial Group, independent financial groups in Asia that provides comprehensive services to clients worldwide – including asset management, wealth management, investment banking, and life insurance.

EastBridge Partners is an independent private equity firm with offices in Seoul, Singapore, and Ho Chi Minh. The company focusses on mid-market growth capital and buyout investment opportunities in Asia.
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In the world of technology, where we have easy access to everything on the mobile phones, like paying bills, transferring money, checking statements, etc. then we are a part of one of the billion-dollar industry called FinTech.

Every product and every company requires marketing and throwing all the eggs in the basket of content and then letting it market the services for you is one of the best options. Content marketing can pave a successful way for your product if portrayed effectively and creatively.

Moreover, organised creative writing also helps to attract customers and this requires safe surfing on the internet to learn more about ongoing trends and its uses, while some sites serve that needs and provide content services on easy access.

 What is FinTech?

It stands for Financial Technology. The word seems simple, but it is changing the world’s economy. It includes products, technologies, business models that are building the financial service industry.

It’s the techniques to change the world by means of transferring and borrowing money. This embraces new technologies for lenders, insurers and asset managers. It is the most significant transformation in banking history.

FinTech is an emerging business that provides financial facilities to the world using modern technology. The investments in this business have increased in the past years.

As people are learning the new techniques, it’s not only making the lives comfortable and practical but is expanding the use of it globally. Around the globe, many countries are using the FinTech, and the adoption rate has reached 67 per cent in China.

Great contest is a rocket fuel

The purpose of the content is to build trust and attract users because good content could bring revenue to a company and increase its user base.

An insightful content, when promoted well, can be profitable. Good content will, therefore, be able to prove long-term brand awareness.

Fun fact: content creation and its marketing have proved to be the most powerful technique that accomplishes the goal of brand promotion and helps in better knowledge of future innovations in the world of technology.

 Content marketing for a FinTech company

For content to stand amidst competition, it should be approached in a unique way. 

FinTech companies should garner a fresher look to their content. Creativity is always the best answer, creating unique concepts and flaunting them like no one else for the marketing campaign.

Also Read: 3 promising fintech verticals in Southeast Asia

To paint a more precise picture lets look at some of the techniques and strategies for good content to market. Content marketing is not an easy task as it requires creative ideas, here we have discussed some strategies to better position your content.

1. Know your audience

Learning and evaluating the demands of the customers and clients is one of the crucial steps to focus before writing content for a FinTech company.

In general, we have no time to read boring content, make it catchy and creative.

2. Focus on the goal

Do not go out of the track. Keep your strategy clear and straight. Evaluate the points that need to be focused and set goals not to lose the main purpose.

3. Organise

Before churning out for ideas to create the best quality content look for an organized set up for your content. The key factors and keywords that need to be part of it. Create a best-opted life cycle for content to be written.

4. Choose the best team

Choose a competent team to work with you. The more productive the environment, the better are the outputs. For fantastic content, constructing an amazing team is a crucial step.

5. Think outside the box

The best content has a revolutionary look that from the mind of an ordinary human turned extraordinary. The most creative idea wins the hearts of people and is easy to catch eyes. Originality always helps in creating the best impacts.

Don’t be afraid to experiment with ideas. A new strategy that has not been used earlier can be a daring way to win people and influence your brand globally. An influential idea or some brand awareness in a new trick never turns out to be a bad idea.

The ideas that are already prevailing in the rest of the world may not be a good trick to catch hearts and win the market. Everyone demands new methods and ways. Likewise, an annoying email is not a good idea, but a catchy advertisement on YouTube or any search engine may serve as a good trick. 

6. Don’t be frugal with quality

Quality over everything. Keep everything later and priority on the first number. Your content should not be satisfactory but outstanding.

It’s easy to write so many blog posts and publish them, but if they are not aligned to the brand’s story, you will lose.

7. Build trust

Trust is the key to every relation. Likewise when we need to make homes in the hearts of people, building a trustworthy relationship is necessary.

Do not add false techniques and catch customers in glittery traps. They might get you people at the initiative, but for a long-lasting mark, it’s more than essential to create a secure connection.

8. Go social

Social media is one of the best technologies ever designed to explore and share new ideas.

We need to learn about the audience and the targeted website that we can use by getting engaged with the world such as Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Pinterest or Facebook.

Also Read: A sneak-peek at the state of Malaysias fintech ecosystem

Each has its own clients and is of advantage to share the ideas of the newest technologies. The hacks of Social media engagement can serve as a way of changing the concept for a brand.

9. Engage with the world

Make sure to engage with the customer either through social media or emails. According to a research 7 out of 10 customers prefer to know about a company through articles, rather than ads.

Send relevant analyses and advantages through emails and education about the ongoing trends and future technology is way too important. 

Conclusion

FinTech is the upcoming rising technology in the world of mobiles and comfortable “on one-click” access. It is an advancement in the world of banking.

But before starting a Fintech company it’s vital to look for its promotion, and the best answer is to create outstanding content that matches the services the company provides.

Moreover, the key factors that need to be looked for in a remarkable material to make a mark are by far the most important thing.

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Editor’s note: e27 publishes relevant guest contributions from the community. Share your honest opinions and expert knowledge by submitting your content here.

Join our e27 Telegram group here, or our e27 contributor Facebook page here.

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Singapore clinches the second position for the highest percentage growth of open source contributors and overall contributors worldwide, according to the latest The State of the Octoverse Report by software development platform GitHub.

The country recorded a 111 per cent year-on-year percentage increase in contributors to all repository types. Coming on top of the list in this category is Hong Kong at 175 per cent, followed by Indonesia with a 90 per cent growth.

Generally, developers in Asia are making their mark in this report with the soaring number of their participation on the platform this year.

In the category of open source contributors, Hong Kong tops the list with a 101 per cent increase in comparison to the previous year, while Japan observes a steady year-on-year growth with a 60 per cent rise.

Indonesia also experienced a 42 per cent growth of open source projects in the platform, the only Southeast Asian country in the category.

Also Read: What are the next steps for startups graduating from an accelerator program?

“Asia’s contributor community has surpassed ones in Europe and North America in annual growth. This indicates a substantial shift in Asia Pacific, from being a consumer to increasingly becoming a contributor to open source,” Sam Hunt, Vice President APAC at GitHub, responded to e27‘s query about the factors that contributed to this phenomenon.

“Southeast Asia is a big part of this shift. The report shows 111 per cent growth in contribution in Singapore. The country is home to a strong startup scene and, once again, this is a testament to the realisation that consumption is not the only value proposition of GitHub. GitHub is more than just a place where you download code. It’s where technology, collaboration and the world’s largest developer community converge and, together, drive innovation,” he continued.

The rise of Asia

The State of the Octoverse Report defines contributions as any substantive action that generates content on GitHub, such as creating an issue, opening a pull request, or commenting on an issue or pull request.

The report stated that over the past year, 10 million new developers joined the GitHub community, contributing to more than 44 million repositories across every continent.

Also Read: ICE71 announces top ten cybersecurity startups from second batch

GitHub said that 88 per cent of these contributors are from outside the US. On average, each open source project on GitHub welcomed contributors from 41 different countries and regions this year.

“Every year since 2014, we’ve seen more open source contributions from outside the United States,” it said.

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Sage and Standard Chartered partner to help SMEs make smarter financial decisions- Press release

Cloud business management solutions provider Sage announced a new partnership with Standard Chartered to provide small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with access to the right tools, knowledge, and funding, to simplify SME banking and support them in making more timely and insight-driven financial decisions at critical stages of their business lifecycle.

Sage CashView is now available to both current and new users of Sage 300 starting with Singapore and Malaysia. The launch of Sage CashView that combines new cash flow reporting tools with a prequalification to apply for business installment loans (BIL) to help SMEs anticipate and address future funding needs is the first tool of their partnership.

The Sage CashView digital dashboard will offer SMEs a user-friendly pictorial view of the business’ key ratios and results at a glance, and a 1-day to 365-days financial forecasting capabilities, to anticipate possible financial roadblocks. Combined with Standard Chartered’s embedded decision framework, a message will appear on the dashboard which will inform users that they are prequalified to apply for the Bank’s business installment loan (BIL).

Standard Chartered will be able to access only the minimum information required for initiating the loan application process, with consent from the user, this feature offers SMEs easier access to working capital without compromising on data security and privacy.

KKR evaluates IPO of Chinese digital marketing firm Cue- [Bloomberg]

KKR & Co. is considering an initial public offering of Chinese digital marketing company Cue Holdings Ltd. that could raise as much as $400 million, people with knowledge of the matter said in a Bloomberg report.

The company is working with financial advisers on the potential share sale, which could take place as soon as the first half of next year, according to the people. It has been considering Hong Kong and the U.S. as potential listing venues, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private.

Cue seeks to help Chinese companies with their digital marketing strategy to boost their business growth. Its clients include consumer brands, financial institutions, online gaming companies, and internet service providers.

In August, Cue completed a series A financing round led by Anchor Equity Partners to fund research and development, add-on acquisitions and improvements in Cue’s products and services. KKR, which was Cue’s founding investor, and Princeville Global also participated.

No final decisions have been made, and details of the IPO could change, the people said. A representative for KKR declined to comment.

Game publisher Sky Mavis raises $1.5m funding led by Animoca Brands- [DealStreet Asia]

Singapore- and Vietnam-based blockchain startup Sky Mavis bagged nearly $1.5 million in a funding round led by ASX-listed games and app developer Animoca Brands, according to a DealStreet Asia announcement.

The round was joined by the Korean crypto fund Hashed, Swiss Pangea Blockchain Fund, US-based blockchain solution provider ConsenSys and early-stage VC firm 500 Startups. The lead investor said it subscribed to $420,000 worth of ordinary shares in Sky Mavis in cash and its own shares. It has also signed advisory and collaboration agreements with the owner of blockchain-based game Axie Infinity.

The advisory agreement will see Sky Mavis provide consultation services in the areas of scarcity models, as well as the design, development, and distribution of non-fungible tokens. Sky Mavis will use proceeds from the funding round to complete its offerings within the Axie Infinity universe and launch an app in the first half of 2020.

Also read: Blockchain startup Terra gets funding from HashKey Capital, to expand alliance in Asia

It will also be building technology required to create blockchain-based applications for users in the real world.

Reliance Industries Ltd has increased its stake in US-based SkyTran Inc., a venture-funded technology company that is developing pod car transport systems.

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance said in a stock market disclosure it has increased its stake in SkyTran to 17.3%. It did not disclose the financial details.

Reliance Industries in India hikes stake in US-based futuristic pod car developer SkyTran- [VCCircle]

RIL, through wholly-owned subsidiary Reliance Industrial Investments and Holdings Ltd, picked up a 12.7% stake in SkyTran in October last year. At the time, it had said it had the option of investing an additional US$25 million in the US company.

Founded in 2011, SkyTran says it aims to solve the problem of traffic congestion globally by creating a transport option that is high-speed, scalable and low-cost. The company, which has partnered with National Aeronautics and Space Administration in the US and Israel Aerospace Industries in Israel, has developed the magnetic levitation technology for implementing personal transportation systems.

The proposed SkyTran network would consist of computer-controlled passenger pods running on its patented Passive Magnetic Levitation technology. It will leverage information technology, telecom, lnternet of Things and advanced materials technologies for the purpose.

RIL said its investment in SkyTran is now housed under another unit, Reliance Strategic Business Ventures Ltd.

Image credit: Pixabay

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The rise of the subscription economy in Southeast Asia

The subscription economy has seen a BOOM over the past 5 years, particularly in the United States, where there is an abundance of new offerings targeting the recurring payment space. Now, there is pretty much a subscription for everything from monthly gift boxes for your cats to weekly fresh food delivery.

The attraction of subscription is the mere fact that recurring payments allow the ability to maintain a customer relationship, which also allows cross-selling that could eventually increase your customer lifetime value (CLV). More and more startups coming has inadvertently attracted traditional business giants such as P&G, Adobe and Disney to enter the subscription space.

According to the Subscription Economy Index (SEI) by Zuora, it is mentioned that subscription businesses increased their revenues 5 times faster than the S&P 500 companies’ revenues (18.2 per cent versus 3.6 per cent). Besides that, Credit Suisse estimated that the market size of the subscription economy to reach US$530 billion in 2020. Such high growth would only attract the attention of investors, which adds fuel to the already growing industry.

What does this tell us about Southeast Asia?

Well, a similar transition of business models in startups would eventually attract traditional businesses to come in as well. Drawing back in time, the subscription model has been around the region for ages. Look at the old TV channel subscription, gym memberships or even your internet connection. These are all one form of subscription either way.

What started the shift in charging methods? Well, initially local startups have attempted to emulate similar models or even businesses in the West and try to replicate it in Southeast Asia. Look at iFlix, a video streaming service similar to Netflix or even media websites taking the paywall subscription approach similar to The Wall Street Journal.

Also Read: In-app messaging, How to convert trial users to paying subscribers

All in all, there was a form of replication either purposely or indirectly due to the increase in Internet penetration growth in the region. Majority of these early subscription models have worked by maintaining an increasing recurring revenue, as long the churn rate is not above the growth rate in users.

Like all money chasers, other businesses have looked at this model and see opportunity in this golden industry. Then, innovation begins, and previously traditional industries attempt a subscription approach. For example, there is the influx of car subscriptions, as seen in GoCar and Flux in Malaysia.

The more fixed commitments that an average individual has, the lower the stickiness he or she has for non-key payments. Thus, an exponential increase in subscription businesses occurs to be able to attract their customer base back. For example, Grab launched a subscription plan for bubble tea in Singapore and a GrabFood-no delivery fees plan as well.

What is the key to this industry?

Data is everything.

As the saying goes: “Data is the oil of the 21st century”, we now know that understanding your customer’s data is the key to unlocking high growth rate. The constant reevaluation of your customers’ preferences would push the business to relook at its pricing strategy, improve product offerings and improve the overall user experience for the product.

At the same time, the same data is instrumental in refining any marketing strategy that the company has. At present, all the social media ads have become so robust that you can drive down to the interest and locations, among others. Through this data, can subscription-based business only measure and improve their metrics.

The key subscription metrics that all businesses have to measure is mainly these four: Monthly recurring revenue (MRR), churn rate, customer acquisition cost (CAC) and customer lifetime value (CLV). Through measuring these numbers effectively, a company can make readjustments and improve its overall operations to grow the company, as customer preferences are constantly shifting.

Challenges facing the industry

Subscription-based business models do not have all just positive attributes. Controlling the churn rate is difficult because more people have increased the number of subscriptions in one’s monthly expense, which results in higher demands for user experience and product offerings. Thus, the process of matching the demand of customers is not necessarily a simple solution considering the financial and time constraints.

Also Read: Vewd CEO: APAC users more likely to use ad-supported streaming services compared to North American users

The increase in churn would lead to a decrease in the customer lifetime value (CLV), which simultaneously increases the acquisition cost. Besides that, there are numerous challenges approaching the industry such as high payment failure rates and financial data protection. Not all subscription-based model would work in the region, as customer preferences are constantly changing, and an increasingly crowded space would lead to a price war if the product offering is not attractive enough.

Opportunities for the future

Overall, the region would continue to see an increase in the subscription economy, as the attractive components still outweigh the possible downsides to it.

However, I believe there would be opportunities that would allow startups to capture a large market in the space that supports this industry.

Your everyday digital marketing company would need to implement data crawling to better understand users and managing the subscription plan would require enhanced user experience in payments and the onboarding process.

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