84% of Singapore companies are using digital marketing to advertise products and services, but half face challenges measuring returns on investment: HubSpot research
In a survey conducted by Milieu Insight that explored how companies in Asia perceived digital marketing, only 17% of Singapore respondents strongly agreed that there was a link between a good digital marketing strategy and increased revenue, suggesting that there is room for businesses to optimise and better leverage their digital marketing capabilities to drive further growth.
The survey, commissioned by HubSpot and LinkedIn, also looked at how companies were leveraging digital marketing, and how they could revitalise and improve strategies to drive business growth.
One key finding from the survey was that 84% of Singapore respondents shared that their companies were leveraging digital marketing to advertise products and services. Among the companies engaging in digital marketing, 78% currently have a digital marketing strategy in place. For respondents in companies without a digital marketing strategy, 57% said their organisation had plans to implement one in the future.
Insufficient ability to track results limiting full potential of digital marketing
Despite the prevalence of digital marketing among local companies, only 17% of all Singapore respondents strongly agreed that there was a link between a good digital marketing strategy and increased revenue. This figure is significantly below the regional average of 41%, as well as the other countries included in the survey.
A potential contributing factor could be insufficient adoption of specific tools such as Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platforms that play an essential role in tracking and measuring the outcomes of marketing campaigns. This data provides brands with an understanding of how their marketing activities may be impacting business goals, allowing them to better assess any returns on investment. Among Singapore companies engaging in digital marketing, only 41% are using CRM tools, the lowest among all countries surveyed.
Beyond the low adoption of tools to measure success, nearly a quarter (24%) of Singapore companies engaging in digital marketing are not confident in their team’s ability to effectively use digital marketing tools. Nearly half (49%) felt that their digital marketing strategies had not contributed to organisational goals in 2023. These figures are the highest across the countries included in this survey, and point to a possible skill or knowledge gap among Singapore’s marketers that is limiting the full potential of digital marketing.
Matt Tindale, Head of LinkedIn Marketing Solutions, APAC, emphasised the crucial role of learning and development (L&D) in Singapore’s digital economy: “In Singapore, with the pace at which technology is advancing, there is an opportunity for marketers to enhance their skills. Upskilling and reskilling will not only help professionals adapt to changes but leverage new technology for increased productivity and enhanced outcomes.”
When asked about the measurement used to assess the impact of digital marketing efforts, more than half (52%) of Singapore respondents cited brand awareness as the primary metric. This differs from regional sentiments, where the majority consider sales or revenue as the key indicator of success.
“Findings from the survey indicate that while the majority of local companies are focusing on brand awareness, the real challenge is converting that awareness into actionable growth. With the integration of AI into digital marketing strategies — as indicated by 60% of companies in our survey — Singapore is on the brink of a transformative era in digital marketing. Success requires the use of effective measurement frameworks and tools to support data-driven decisions, which are essential for maximising ROI. One example is LinkedIn’s Revenue Attribution Report, which connects CRM data to information from marketing touchpoints across the customer journey. These can help marketers better demonstrate the impact of their LinkedIn campaigns on key metrics such as pipeline generated, deal cycles, and revenue, ultimately helping them to make better business decisions,” added Tindale.
This trend towards digital marketing is on track to continue in 2024. Among Singapore companies engaging in digital marketing, more than a third (35%) were spending S$10,000 or more on related activities each month. Most companies (28%) are currently allocating 21% to 40% of their monthly marketing budget to digital marketing, with similar levels of investment registered across all countries surveyed. Survey findings indicate that more than a third of Singapore companies were planning to maintain their current level of investment into digital marketing in 2024 instead of increasing budgets. This is the highest proportion among countries surveyed.
Social media, content, and search engine marketing are key channels
Among Singapore companies with digital marketing strategies, a majority (62%) identified social media as the key channel for digital marketing, followed by content marketing (50%) and search engine marketing (49%). Nearly half (42%) of these respondents also ranked social media as one of the top three critical channels for their digital marketing activities. These findings correspond with observations from a separate HubSpot study that identified social media as the preferred platform for shopping and brand discovery among global consumers, with a majority of brands surveyed attesting to the effectiveness of social media marketing for their business. In Singapore, nine in ten social media marketers predict that local consumers will increasingly choose to engage in social commerce and social search in 2024.
The rise of social media as a leading digital marketing channel can also be observed in budget allocation and tools. Among Singapore companies engaging in digital marketing, social media marketing receives the lion’s share of marketing budgets (23%), while social media management platforms are the most popular tools, in use by more than half (51%) of these respondents. This aligns with the growing adoption of social media in Singapore, where 85% of its population are estimated to be social media users according to We Are Social and Meltwater’s Digital 2024 Global Overview Report, ranking the country first in Southeast Asia in terms of social media use.
“Social selling and commerce are becoming increasingly popular in Singapore, offering a highly effective platform for brands to reach, target, and engage on a personal level with their audience. Despite the growing popularity of social media platforms, brands should avoid being over-reliant on a single channel. More than half of global customers today leverage anywhere between three to five different channels throughout their buying journey. Success will increasingly be contingent on the ability of brands to establish a presence on the channels their customers and prospects reside on, and to leverage CRM platforms to accurately measure the impact of their marketing efforts. This will be essential to actively engage and deliver frictionless experiences to audiences regardless of channel,” said Kat Warboys, Senior Marketing Director, APAC at HubSpot.
Alongside social media management platforms, other popular tools among Singapore companies engaging in digital marketing include CRM platforms (41%) and email marketing solutions (37%). An effective approach to digital marketing should also include the implementation of these tools alongside a robust marketing strategy to optimise outcomes. This enables brands to better engage customers on the various channels they reside on today. By using a CRM platform, brands can consolidate customer data from disparate channels and sources and create a single source of truth to accurately measure the impact or effectiveness of marketing activities and deliver a better customer experience.
“As the popularity of digital channels explode, the key to success will lie in ensuring customer data doesn’t reside in siloes across multiple platforms. Solutions could include the use of Conversion APIs that enables brands to accurately track and measure the effectiveness of their marketing efforts on social media platforms. As a server-side tracking option, Conversion APIs can still deliver observable data that would otherwise have been restricted by privacy controls, something marketers need to consider as third-party cookies are phased out. By adopting CRM solutions that can seamlessly integrate with such tools, marketers will be better positioned to make the most of information gathered throughout the customer journey. This unfettered information flow can empower marketers with the necessary insights to drive more targeted campaigns, automatically follow up on leads generated from social media, and clearly track ROI of every ad campaign.” said Warboys.
