GetCRAFT shares challenges Malaysian marketers face in digital marketing

Content marketplace GetCRAFT has opened a new office in Malaysia, as part of its effort to boost presence in Southeast Asia. Prior to this, the company has established presence in Singapore, Philippines and its headquarter Indonesia.GetCRAFT Malaysia's spokesperson also told A+M that its Kuala Lumpur office will be led by Jonathan Davies as MD. He was formerly head of agency at Google for Teledirect Telecommerce. Meanwhile, GetCRAFT also released the "Malaysia Digital & Content Marketing Report 2018" report which said that brands in Malaysia have earmarked a third of their total media budgets to digital.It also noted that, almost eight in every 10 marketers said their 2018 digital spending are increasing, some by more than 50% from 2017.The accelerated growth of digital spending in Malaysia comes despite the fact that some 2 in every 5 marketers GetCRAFT surveyed admit that they are unclear about their digital marketing strategies. Some, in fact, have not set clear digital marketing goals. The main challenges Malaysian marketers face in doing digital marketing include establishing and sustaining engagement; skills and resources gaps; and budget restrains.In addition, there is also a strong interest among marketers over content marketing in Malaysia.Content marketing emerged as the most exciting digital opportunity in the survey, followed by mobile, customer experience, and social media.GetCRAFT Malaysia's MD Davies said, the market excitement for content marketing signals "maturity among digital marketers in Malaysia, who are increasingly recognising the crucial role content plays in all part of the marketing funnel.”Other key findings include: brand awareness noted to be the main objective in doing content marketing, most brands do content marketing in-house, as well as, social media is deemed the most effective and important digital channel.The "Malaysia Digital & Content Marketing Report 2018" report, is based on a survey of 50 marketers across industries in the country and in-depth interviews with five experts.Circling back to the launch event on 30 January 2018, GetCRAFT Malaysia also featured the "Malaysia’s 100 Most Influential Creators in 2018", who are the influence list of creators predicted to be the shakers and movers in the country’s growing digital economy. Creators were chosen based on content quality, client feedback, and the impact of their work, according to GetCRAFT Malaysia's spokesperson.This inaugural list includes both up-and-coming and established creators working in a range of genres such us current affairs, youth, fitness, food, in most categories on GetCRAFT’s marketplace - photography, videography, writers, bloggers and celebrities.Davies said, “In setting up our marketplace in Malaysia, we curated a list of creators and vetted their work individually. It made sense for us to turn that groundwork into a list of Malaysia’s 100 Most Influential Creators.” [gallery columns="5" link="file" ids="210878,210881,210882,210883,210884"]GetCRAFT co-founder and group CEO Patrick Searle said, that the company operates in the creative and digital environment, which both are flourishing in Malaysia. Searle added, the company "envisions Malaysia as a regional content hub because of its diversity in culture and language.”Across Southeast Asia, GetCRAFT’s has expanded by 135% to some 4,000 creators, from 1,700 in late 2016. In 2017, GetCRAFT ran some 3,000 campaigns for 170 top clientele including Samsung, P&G, J&J, Nestle, Unilever, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and DBS, according to the company's statement.Read also:GetCRAFT appoints ex-Yahoo executive as managing director in Philippines