Singapore's brands love zero-budget marketing, here's why

By Chris Reed

Zero budget marketing took hold in Singapore in 2017 and will run rampant in 2018. Why? Because it works.

Why do you need to spend millions on fancy and creative media in Singapore if customers are not viewing and not engaging and there is no longer any compelling reason for it?

Companies are cutting back spend and not seeing any difference in sales. Other brands never spent a cent on media and have risen to become household names and able to drive engagement and sales - the most obvious being brands like Facebook and YouTube.

Even if you look at more traditional brands like retail giant Zara they spent zero money on media and yet everyone shops in their stores no problem. How do they do this? They deliver products people want. They analyse trends, they look at what people want, they listen and they constantly change their product range. Fast fashion perfectly executed. Check out all their stores in Singapore and you'll see happy and frequent customers.

Simple. Word of mouth and social media does the rest. Authentic influencer marketing is key to their success.

Why would they need media?

Social media has taken away the need to spend money on media in Singapore. Nothing beats authentic content marketing going viral organically through naturally, ie unpaid, influencers on a channel that a customer loves.

Now that video has taken over every platform from facebook to WeChat to LinkedIn why do you need a media budget? All you actually need is customers talking about your brand and sharing their experience on social media channels targeting your customers in Singapore.

All your brand needs is authentic, engaging, original, raw content. Content marketing and storytelling will do the rest along with authentic influencers and advocates in Singapore.

If you build up your social media channels you own those followers in Singapore, if you engage with those followers to share your content and their content on these channels you own that content in Singapore, you own it all. That is a direct investment in your long-term brand in Singapore.

The best example of this is Red Bull. They are a media company to rival any other. By building their brand through compelling content marketing and social media, mostly through influencers and fans, they have become the ultimate media brand for targeting their audience.

Their media channels include 4 print publications, 3 TV channels, 6 websites, 2 mobile apps, 3 music labels, cinema, books, feature films, action features, TV documentaries, magazine programming, reality TV, short formats, live broadcasts, still images and every kind of content that you can possibly imagine.

That’s better than any usual media channel gives you.

Zero budget marketing is here to stay. It is the future of smart marketing in Singapore.

If you've been wondering whether SBR could work for your company — yes, probably.

A lot of the companies we partner with started as readers. They'd been following our coverage for a while, saw their own customers and competitors in it, and eventually asked the obvious question: could we do something with you? The answer is usually yes. The shape of it depends on what you're trying to do.

The options are broader than most people assume — thought leadership articles, sponsored content, industry summits across Southeast Asia, regional awards programmes, podcasts, and media placements in print and digital. Some partners use one channel; most use a mix. We figure out the right combination by starting with your brief, not with our rate card.

So if the question has been on your mind, here's the easy way to ask it.

We'll tell you honestly whether we can help, and how. It's a better use of everyone's time.

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