ED’S LETTER ................................................................................................................................................................................................................
THE BUSINESS OF CONTENT MARKETING Rezwana Manjur, Deputy Editor rezwanam@marketing-interactive.com Vivienne Tay, Journalist viviennet@marketing-interactive.com Editorial – International Matt Eaton, Editor (Hong Kong) matte@marketing-interactive.com Production and Design Shahrom Kamarulzaman, Regional Art Director shahrom@lighthousemedia.com.sg Fauzie Rasid, Senior Designer fauzier@lighthousemedia.com.sg Advertising Sales - Malaysia Joven Barceñas, Director, Business Development & Strategy (Malaysia & Indonesia) jovenb@marketing-interactive.com Bernadine Reyla, Project Manager bernadiner@marketing-interactive.com Ong Yi Xuan, Advertising Sales Coordinator yixuano@marketing-interactive.com Advertising Sales - International Johnathan Tiang, Sales Manager (Singapore) johnathant@marketing-interactive.com Sara Wan, Senior Sales Manager (Hong Kong) saraw@marketing-interactive.com Event Production Hairol Salim, Regional Lead - Events and Training hairol@marketing-interactive.com Event Services Yeo Wei Qi, Regional Head of Events Services weiqi@marketing-interactive.com Finance Evelyn Wong, Regional Finance Director evelynw@lighthousemedia.com.sg Management Søren Beaulieu, Publisher sorenb@marketing-interactive.com Justin Randles, Group Managing Director jr@marketing-interactive.com Tony Kelly, Managing Director tk@marketing-interactive.com
Discussions around content marketing are evolving from being a marketing concern to a business concern. While everyone acknowledges it’s nothing new, in the realm of the online world, it requires a new strategy and a fairly serious one. What was initially seen with scepticism, written off as just another jargon the industry is obsessed with, eventually evolved to become a nice-to-have. Now, most of that has been proven wrong – the importance of a proper strategy and resources for content cannot be underestimated. From hiring one content person to setting up a whole team around it, to getting an agency on board for content to establishing newsrooms, we have seen it all in Asia Pacific. Different companies are at different levels of growth when it comes to content, but what’s common is they are all becoming more and more serious about it. We spoke to several ACMA members earlier this year on what they think content marketing will be like in 2016 and all of them emphasised on the growing need for content to play the role of a differentiator for the business and not just marketing. As Edward Bray, head of marketing, APAC, marketing solutions for LinkedIn, said: “Content marketing will no longer be the sole responsibility of the marketing team. The rise of social selling means that content creation needs to be a collaborative effort between marketing and sales. Organisations that embrace this concept will extend the reach of their content through sales channels and are more likely to achieve sales and marketing alignment.”
In another recent interview in Marketing magazine, Andrea Edwards, of The Digital Conversationalist, said: “You cannot be successful at content marketing if you operate in a marketing silo.” And dealing with internal structures is perhaps the biggest challenge confronting content marketing. For most organisations it is no longer a question of “why” content marketing; it’s about when, what, and most importantly, how? Therefore, at this year’s Content 360, we paid extra focus on answering the hows of content marketing through our line-up of excellent brands, and speakers who shared the stories of their brands. Read all about content marketing – right from coming up with the right team, to the formats that work to managing KPIs around content – in this edition. And as marketing becomes more and more business-centric, see what Debbie Goldingham, head of marketing, Southeast Asia, MasterCard, has to say about the new age of marketing, in our profile section. Enjoy reading! Photography: Stefanus Elliot Lee – www.elliotly.com; Makeup & Hair: Michmakeover using Make Up For Ever & hair using Sebastian Professional – www.michmakeover.com
Editorial Rayana Pandey, Editor rayanap@marketing-interactive.com
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