Malaysia: A Digital Marketing Growth Story
The rise of Malaysia is SEA has been a fantastic story. Annual GDP of the country has gone from approximately $94 billion in 2000, to an estimated $336 billion for the year 2020. This is down however from 2019 estimates due to the impacts of COVID-19. But the growth story is still intact as internet connections, smart phones, and use of social media services continues to increase. If fact, it could be said that Malaysia is in that sweet spot in the cycle. Malaysia is also making it easier for foreign businesses to start and prosper in the country. Some features are: low corporate income tax rates, high levels of education among the workforce, ease of administrative burden for companies, and a developed infrastructure. All these changes bode well for marketing and marketers to do their thing. Let’s look at some opportunities.
It probably comes as no surprise that e-commerce is on the rise. And half of all purchase come from mobile. COVID had certainly accelerated the trend that was already strong. Marketers that really want to make a difference should not only keep the focus on digital strategies, but also put resources into mobile and really getting in front of that audience. With Android as the OS winner for smart phones, additional thinking should be around getting a strategy there too.
Social media continues to make headway in Malaysia. Facebook is the go-to medium and that share has only continued to expand in a COVID world. As individuals needed to connect indirectly, Facebook filled that demand strongly as use already had a tailwind. With Facebook holding a market share of close to 85%, no digital marketer can ignore the SNS if they are to reach buyers. Youtube also continues to see strong numbers as video is becoming a bigger and bigger source of users.
Other strategies that cannot be ignored would be Google in search and WhatsApp and WEChat with messaging. Particularly messaging is seeing strong gains as social distancing still is the norm in most of the SEA region.
An ideal method for conquering Malaysia is to go with an established partner. The company BowNow offers marketing automation (MA) solutions that bring results for your product or service across the region.
