The digital transformation of Malaysian companies has been in motion for years now but COVID-19 and a partial lockdown has made it a means of survival. With the lack of face to face interaction, marketing and customer servicing is forced to move online entirely. 

While our means of communicating has changed, the core elements of communication have stayed the same. People always have and always will expect conversations to be helpful, personal, and empathetic. The only difference now is we have the technology to have those conversations at scale. 

As a campaign to fund raise for MERCY Malaysia, MARKETING Magazine kicked off its Power Up and Save Malaysia webinar series with the first CMO Roundtable session yesterday.  Head of Group Marketing & Branding from Axiata Group Berhad, Fernie Jasmine ad Senior Vice President of Marketing for Product & Partnerships from INTI International University & Colleges, Timothy Johnson took part in this knowledge-sharing session as speakers. 

Titled, ‘Conversational Marketing: How it can determine your business’ growth during a #StayAtHome mandate’, the session’s topic tackled specific strategies for businesses to consider incorporating as they adapt to the ‘new normal’. 

As the oldest mobile telecommunications mobile provider in Malaysia, Celcom Axiata has over 9 million subscribers. As the head of the department that links the company’s identity, values, and personality with its communications to the audience, Fernie weighed in on the perspective of  using an approach of engaging with consumers on a one-to-one basis at scale.

She explained that when shifting focus from offline to online experience, a good place to start would be to think about how to repackage your company’s existing offers to address current concerns. When conversational marketing is in play, companies that are considering adopting AI assistance, must be clear on the role it plays for their brand.

For example, understanding that although chatbots and automated reply options, such as on social media can take conversational marketing to the next level, the tricky aspect is to get the content right. 

Coming in from the education industry, Timothy Johson presented problems and solutions of a different range. A movement control order (MCO) brings about a multitude of challenges to any university or college’s management. Institutions that service and host thousands of students and teachers are forced to embrace an entirely online-learning system. 

“It is vital for brands to be as useful as possible to the communities they serve – the result of combining purpose and practicality, Tim said. “77% percent of social media users agree that they feel more positively about brands making an effort to support society at the moment.”

By explaining the efforts Inti has been taking to smoothly transition into an effective online learning system for as long as needed, Tim drew parallels between the university’s efforts to strategies any business can consider adapting. 

To find out more about what went down during the CMO Roundtable 1, stay tuned for the highlights video this Friday. In the meantime, registration is still open for the CMO Roundtable 2 on on Business Continuity From Home happening on 22 April at 4pm via Zoom. 

Speakers who will be sharing their knowledge on strategies for this unprecedented situation will be Group Chief Marketing Officer of CIMB Group, Mohamed Adam Wee and Senior Vice President of Marketing & Alternate Business of Etika Holdings, Santharuban. 50% of your registration fee will go towards MERCY Malaysia’s COVID-19 fund to help Malaysia’s frontliners during this pandemic. 

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