Bite-sized digital marketing tips from Cheryl Yeoh and Khailee Ng

Cheryl Yeoh and Khailee Ng speak at NEXT Academy’s event on August 9, 2016.

500 Startups-backed Malaysian coding school NEXT Academy has rolled out a digital marketing bootcamp.

Officiating the launch on August 9 were Cheryl Yeoh, founding CEO of the Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Centre, and 500 Startups managing partner Khailee Ng.

During a panel discussion at the event, the duo raised the problem of a severe talent shortage in digital marketing, not only in Malaysia but regionally.

Cheryl pointed out the need for university or college courses that focus on practical things in digital marketing, such as online advertising, data analysis, content marketing, SEO, and copywriting, rather than broader concepts.

“In fact, marketing has changed so much that in Silicon Valley, marketing personnel are essentially engineers – people with technical skills – with the marketing mindset. That’s the future of marketing,” added Khailee. “Malaysian companies large and small need to upskill their teams, or risk getting disrupted.”

Also in the panel was Ross Cheong, head of content and media at iMoney, who spoke about data being the core of any marketing initiative and how digital marketing is the means to achieve that. “This is how iMoney makes informed marketing iterations and decisions,” he said.

Some instant tips:

(From Cheryl)

• Anything worth building is worth tracking. Great companies are data-driven.
• Align your company’s brand message with the problem you’re solving for your customers.
• Find lots of ways to get customers for free (SEO, email marketing, PR etc) – but ad spending has its role too because investors will need you to know your cost per acquisition and to project growth with that. Be smart with your money.

(From Khailee)

• Dare to test new ideas. Even if it seems silly, test it. This is how you can find groundbreaking ideas.

• Your customers are a mass sea of individuals, not one “archetype”. Customize. Personalize.
• A lousy product that doesn’t solve a problem won’t go far even with awesome marketing.

(From Ross)

Program curriculum