I’m admittedly a generalist — a jack-of-all-trades, a master of few.
Since graduating from the National University of Singapore (NUS) in 2009, my professional path has led me through diverse functions, spanning product management, marketing, financial analysis, investor relations, fundraising, and community management.
With each new venture, I experience a twinge of imposter syndrome and that fear of being ‘not good enough’. Yet there’s always this addictive rush of adrenaline and excitement as I learn the ropes, uncover hacks, question the incumbent practices and survive.
Around 2.5 years ago, I had the privilege of joining Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India (VVSEAI), where I led the corporate communications and community engagement for the fund. VVSEAI is a venture capital powerhouse investing in tech startups at pre-A, series A, or B stages across diverse sectors in the SEAI region and boasts US$1.5 billion in Assets under Management (AUM). As part of the global Vertex network, encompassing six funds with a collective US$6.5 billion AUM, VVSEAI plays a pivotal role in shaping the startup landscape.
On the side, I lead the Asia Startup Network (ASN), a community designed to empower early-stage entrepreneurs in Southeast Asia. ASN facilitates learning opportunities from industry experts and investors, fostering a collaborative environment for networking among budding entrepreneurs. We also give back by raising donations for charities, clocking over nearly US$180,000 in donations for charities like Beyond Social Services in the past three years.
Navigating digital marketing and communications in the dynamic Southeast Asian landscape, especially when targeting entrepreneurs gearing up for Series A funding, has been a fascinating journey at VVSEAI.
Here are some key takeaways from my two years here:
Digital marketing: There is no one-size-fits-all approach to content marketing
Southeast Asia is so often regarded as one region, but in fact, it is a very fragmented group of countries with very varied sets of cultures and habits.
In Singapore and India, we often use LinkedIn, especially among working professionals. However, in Thailand and Vietnam, Meta/Facebook serves as a primary platform for both business and personal purposes. As for Indonesia, the land with the most social media users (over 190m according to Statista!), Instagram and TikTok are the main platforms to engage your target audiences.
Recognising the diverse linguistic landscape, we’ve realised the need for subtitles in video content targeting non-English native speakers to prevent our intended message from being lost.
Also Read: Unlocking marketing success for startups and small businesses: Strategies for excellence
When I first started out in 2021, I initially believed that I could copy and paste the same content across different social media platforms — but I was wrong. Subsequently, my team and I adopted a more nuanced strategy.
We delve into the data, analysing posts with high impressions or engagements on each platform. Additionally, we engage in conversations with founders in specific markets, leading to insights that shape our tailored content approach.
Digital marketing: The 7-11-4 model works
Are multiple channels necessary? Well, the renowned 7-11-4 rule suggests that we should position ourselves where founders and entrepreneurs actively engage. For some context, research by Google suggests that if a buyer is exposed to content from the same brand for more than seven hours, across eleven moments and in four locations, he or she becomes more familiar with the brand and is more likely to recommend it.
Each platform demands a tailored approach. For instance, LinkedIn often requires a more formal tone compared to Facebook, Meta, or Instagram. I find posting on Twitter/ X the hardest, as you will need to condense the message, capture the attention of your target audience and add hashtags at the same time, all within 280 characters!
Looking back, I find LinkedIn’s content creation and follower growth to be the fastest and ‘easiest’. For VVSEAI’s LinkedIn, our follower count grew the fastest, reaching 10,000 in just over two years.
Interestingly, ASN’s Meta/Facebook platform saw significant growth with minimal effort, reaching 700 followers despite little time and attention spent on it. Notably, strategic event planning played a crucial role in boosting engagement in 2020, contributing to the platform’s growth.
Communications: Distribution, distribution, distribution
In content creation, meticulous planning for distribution is paramount. In the offline world, the phrase used is “Location, Location, Location” because, for brick-and-mortar establishments, it’s all about being visible and accessible to the customers you are targeting. The same principle holds true in the online world.
How do you market your content to the channels that are already being followed by your target audience?
In the startup vernacular, we often discuss Product Market Fit. Translating this to the marketing domain, we can think of it as Content Channel Fit (CCF). When we achieve CCF, our content ‘flies’, effortlessly reaching 100,000 impressions within a few days.
Bringing it full circle to the strategy of repurposing content for diverse social media platforms, we’ve discovered that distinct content channels require unique formatting approaches. For instance, we adapt our podcast content into short-form videos for IG reels, enhancing distribution and engagement.
Communications: Market the content and the author
Beyond having value-adding content and an effective distribution plan, I realise that a complementary strategy is to promote my colleagues as thought leaders so that they get to showcase their expertise, build credibility, and gain visibility within the startup community.
Also Read: AI in influencer marketing: Transforming trends and shaping the future
I’m delighted to witness the recognition of my colleague and Venture Partner, Genping Liu, who was invited to write the Business Times column “Crypto Watch,” building his reputation as a fintech and blockchain expert. Similarly, my colleague and Partner, Puiyan Leung, is well-known for her expertise in the climate space. Her three-part series on climate tech investments in Southeast Asia was published on Deal Street Asia (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3). This not only enhances their individual profiles but also contributes to the collective expertise of our team.
Communications: Images and videos are king
In today’s fast-paced, digital-first landscape, content is abundant, and attention spans are fleeting. Whether skimming through articles or scrolling through social media, users seek visual appeal. Images and videos play a pivotal role in capturing attention and ensuring enjoyable content consumption. At VVSEAI, we meticulously repurpose written content into video format and vice versa to ensure that readership is maximised.
Our strategic use of Instagram, where we post reels from our podcast “Hard Truths by Vertex,” has seen a threefold increase in followers within six months, achieved organically.
Additionally, we have also observed that incorporating images into articles has proven to increase page reading time (Of course! We are, after all, visual creatures). We also make a deliberate effort to craft visually engaging titles and use captivating images in our article and video banners to attract a wider readership.
I feel grateful to have the opportunity to try out a marketing role, and it changes the way I look at creating and capturing the value of a piece of work. As with any job, the key question to ask every day is why we do this, who we are targeting and what we are trying to achieve. No matter what role it is, I learned that critical thinking will always take one further.
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