Asia-Pacific and Japan (APJ) covers a huge area and an even broader diversity of cultures and client expectations. Nick Midgley speaks to inEvidence’s APJ team to find out more about achieving advocacy marketing success in this remarkable region.
How do advocacy marketing clients in APJ compare with those in Europe or the Americas?
Jocelyn Lau: Client requirements are broadly the same: they’re looking for assets that promote their product or service. Their expectations can be very different, though. Clients in the region can be much more value-driven than European or North American clients; they want to feel that they’re getting more bang for their buck. A big part of our job is making sure that clients understand the value they’re getting.
Weng Yan Yip: Clients tend to go into much more detail about what they want from advocacy marketing and how the big deliverables are produced. Some will try to get as much detailed content as possible into an asset, especially a case study or blog, to increase its perceived value.
Pei Choo Ang: Clients usually want to see benefits and returns more quickly too. They’re looking for immediate results rather than longer-term outcomes.
APJ is obviously a vast area with huge variations in culture and language. What differences do you see among clients within the region?
Pei Choo Ang: Asian communication styles can seem reserved, especially in Southeast Asia. They can hold back a little, so it’s up to us to get them involved and make sure their voices are heard. Japanese and Korean clients often have more formal business hierarchies and processes, and they like to be very well prepared ahead of an interview. For a video, our job is to respect that while making their responses sound as natural as possible – we have a number of techniques that help them do that.
Jocelyn Lau: At the other end of the spectrum, people in Australia and New Zealand are usually very open and happy to talk. India is similar too – sometimes it’s hard to find a full stop when talking to customers there! And while many of them speak at least some English, most prefer to be interviewed in their own language. Customers in countries like Korea and Japan also tend to prefer the formality of a face-to-face interview over a Teams or Zoom call.
Why is it important for inEvidence to have a dedicated regional presence in APJ?
Jocelyn Lau: Being in the same or similar time zone is obviously an important factor, so it’s easier to communicate during the same work hours. It’s also good to understand local cultures and how different countries work.
Weng Yan Yip: Using local interviewers and writers can make a big difference, as they usually have a better understanding of local trends, brands and nuances. Some clients would insist on it.
Pei Choo Ang: Some interviewees may worry that they’re not expressing themselves clearly in English if it isn’t their first language, even if they speak it quite well. Working with local people in their native language can be very reassuring for them.
What advice would you give to an APJ client looking to move into advocacy marketing?
Weng Yan Yip: The first step is to build that pipeline of customers who want to share their stories. This can be more challenging in Asia than in North America or Europe, for example, because as Pei Choo says, people here can be more reserved. Getting customers to open up, share their experiences and then have that content approved isn’t always easy. That’s one area where we can help.
Jocelyn Lau: It’s important to set expectations early. Especially in Singapore, customers will want to know what the benefits are, such as discounts or rebates, so it’s best to establish those up front before getting too deep into the process. Videos and case studies are great ways to show how forward-looking a business is, and they can be great promotional tools for both the client and the end customer. That’s an important message to get across.
What are the big emerging trends and most exciting developments in APJ?
Pei Choo Ang: AI and sustainability are the two main talking points, as they are in many other regions. Companies across the technology sector are very keen to include these in their stories now.
Weng Yan Yip: The culture is becoming increasingly digital. People are looking for short and sweet content that works well on LinkedIn and other social media, and the medium is becoming as important as the stories themselves – if not more so.
Jocelyn Lau: People expect information at their fingertips, and if they’re watching a video on Instagram they want to know what it’s about in the first five seconds. Younger people are also engaging more with content that has a live feel with fewer frills. They see it as more authentic and relatable. Asia moves at a very fast pace, and staying ahead of that is both the challenging and exciting part of what we do.
