Starting out as a video-gamer has not prevented Marcus Ho building a successful digital growth-marketing agency.
What’s your story?
I run a digital growth-marketing agency that works with firms in the B2B, education, and finance industries to grow their awareness, lead acquisition, or lead to opportunity conversion rates.
Today, we have the honour of working with large organisations such as Hitachi, Bosch, Zendesk, NUS, Great Eastern and UOB.
What excites you most about your industry?
Marketing is seeing its biggest shift in decades. In the past, top marketers would build strategies and campaigns around trends. Today, the world’s best marketers also look inward at their own customer data. Data, in every form, presents fantastic marketing opportunities. This is why an increasing number of mathematicians have also taken on marketing roles.
What drives you in business to push beyond what other people consider normal?
I’ve been in this line of work (both marketing and the agency industry) for 12 years now. Most people in my industry crave winning more awards. To them, that’s normal. But we’ve always preferred to be a little more “under the radar”. And because of this, a key part that drives us is to truly become an extension of our clients’ teams. To do that, we have to love our customers and what they stand for.
What have been the most useful skills you have learnt and applied in your journey?
Grit. It’s easy for people to come and go in the agency industry. I started my digital agency around 2009. In 2015, we were acquired by a fintech company, but 12 months into our acquisition, the agency went downhill, with debts piling up for the first time, and unpaid vendors.
So in 2017, I made the difficult decision to take over the agency again, paid off the company’s debts and unpaid vendors with my own money, and started everything from the ground up. It was a challenging turnaround attempt, but I’m proud to say that we’ve done reasonably ok since then.
What’s the best piece of advice you ever received?
When faced with a difficult decision to make in business, always ask yourself “What will be the right thing to do here?”
I believe that as long as you do the right thing, good things will happen for you.
Who inspires you?
My wife, because she’s a great marketer herself, and she has always provided great counsel every time I needed it.
Lee Kuan Yew for his grand vision, leadership and resourcefulness.
Kevin O’Leary (from Shark Tank) for his creativity to structure deals, and candidness.
What have you learnt recently that blew you away?
I recently re-read this book – Blue Ocean Shift. It’s an easy book to read, but takes a lot of effort to implement the insights over there. But once we did it, we have a lot more clarity on where/how our business should be better positioned moving forward.
If you had your time again, what would you do differently?
Always give the other party the better part of the business deal. Doing so will pave the way for a fruitful long-term business relationship.
How do you unwind?
Video games. Funny enough, I was previously a competitive video gamer. E-sports today is a known industry. Sometimes, I’d wish I was 18 again where I was traveling around the world, competing in video games. I look forward to sharing these stories with my kids once they’re older.
What is a major mindset change, belief shift or ‘ah ha’ moment that you’ve experienced in relation to your business?
Previously, I was always a little embarrassed to ask for help from others. But over the years, I’ve learned that actually, there’s nothing wrong in doing that. Always better to be upfront with people.
Everyone in business should read this book:
Blue Ocean Shift by Renée Mauborgne and W. Chan Kim. I have just re-read this again, and I usually don’t read books again!
Shameless plug for your business:
Brew Interactive is a digital marketing agency, specialising in the B2B, Education and Finance sector. If you’re looking to grow a certain aspect of your business, there might be a chance that digital can help. Check out https://brewinteractive.com/.
If you would like to learn a little bit more about digital marketing, I’ve invested a significant amount of resources into the Brew Interactive blog as well.
Here’s our blog URL – https://blog.brewinteractive.com/.
How can people connect with you?
You may reach out to our team at info@brewinteractive.com.
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