While social media marketing may be the best way to reach a wide range of audience, it is important to know what type of content would work best for your brand in the local market. Two of the commonly used approaches bigger brands practice to break into markets are influencer and celebrity brand endorsements.
There is no magical solution that works for all brands. It is important to understand your brand’s role in the local market, your target audience’s preferences, and your competitor’s approach in that market. Top social platforms in Southeast Asia are YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Facebook, so these should be the focus apps you advertised on in the region depending on your brand’s needs and target audience.
TARGETED LOCAL INFLUENCERS
Take pet food marketing in Malaysia for example, Royal Canin is by far the most popular in the category for cat and dog food. This is due various reasons, one of them being that most vets recommend and sell it at their clinics and the clinic signboards seem to be sponsored by the brand too. Every time a pet parent goes to the veterinary clinic, they see the brand at the entrance, registration counter, waiting rooms, and sometimes even consultation rooms. It sends the message that the professionals trust the brand so the end users should too.
In recent years however, through influencer marketing in social media, international brands such as the Happy Pet company or nurturepro™ collaborated with nano influencers in the pet community to spread brand awareness and break into the industry. Back in 2020, if you asked the Malaysian pet community about Happy Cat or Dog kibbles, or nurturepro™ Longevity wet food for cats, they would have no idea what they were and would be hesitant to even try it for free. Fast forward four years, you can now find these brands at veterinary clinics that are keeping with the times. There were little to no advertisement when these brands first broke into the market, instead they leveraged social media influencers’ power of persuasion to get their brand name and trust out there.
RENOWN CELEBRITIES
For decades, using celebrities to endorse brands has been a well-established tried and tested approach that yields results. While this method usually used “Hollywood celebrities” even when marketing in countries like Indonesia or Brazil, brands have explored using other globally renowned celebrities for brand endorsement in the past decade or so.
An example of this would be luxury brands partnering with Korean pop groups like BTS and Blackpink who became household names in recent years. Whether you are a fan or not, you have likely heard of them as they shot to fame and their names and faces were plastered everywhere. Their fame broke through language and cultural barriers and mega brands such as Dior, Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Saint Laurent, Bvlgari, and Chanel jumped on their global fame to endorse their brands.
AFFILIATE BRAND PARTNERSHIP
Besides regular influencers and celebrity endorsements, some brands like to appeal to the masses by offering affiliate brand partnerships programmes. Regular folks can sign up to be “influencers” and recommend products to their followers and friends. E-commerce platforms such as Tokopedia, Lazada, and Shopee in Southeast Asia offer these collaborations with their users. With every sale of a product, affiliate partners can receive anywhere from one per cent up to 99 per cent of the purchase price as their commission. Some smaller brands use this approach with their influencer brand partnerships on social media too.
BRAND CATEGORY IS IMPORTANT
Knowing and understanding the local market is important. For example, if you are a new brand or a brand unknown in the local market, it is best to use a celebrity or well-known influencers to create brand trust and awareness. Luxury, beauty, or electronic brands in general work best when a celebrity endorses them, whereas others may have more success choosing local influencer partnerships especially when starting out.
In conclusion,your brand’s marketing budget will influence your decision in going down the influencers route or celebrity route. It is important to keep in mind your brand’s needs, competitors and consumer preferences in the local market when creating such budgets. Afterall, what is the point of marketing your brand with a Tik Tok star if your targeted audience does not respond well to them.
MELCHERS IN CHINA
The Melchers group opened its first Asian branch in Hong Kong back in 1866. Melchers China offers a wide range of services and brand solutions, one of which is Genuine. Genuine offers a ranger of digital marketing and e-commerce expertise, including social media marketing, e-commerce consultation about the Chinese market, entering and thriving on the unique Chinese social media platforms, and B2B market opportunities.
If you are interested in opportunities with us, contact us at: contact@melchers.de
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