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As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to reshape the business landscape, 84% of executives in Asia Pacific believe generative AI will help develop new lines of business within the next three years, according to PwC’s 2024 Digital Trust Insights.
This overwhelming confidence in AI’s potential marks a pivotal moment in the evolution of digital product marketing as organisations race to integrate intelligent technologies into their marketing strategies.
Leading this transformation at the Asia Pacific arm of multinational professional services network, PwC, is Hilary Chiu, regional digital product go-to-market lead. She has witnessed first-hand the journey from traditional marketing approaches to AI-driven customer experiences.
“When I first joined PwC seven years ago, there was still quite a bit of traditional marketing,” Chiu reveals in an interview with MarketingTech. “We’re seeing much more demand for digital-related communications, driven by increased technology adoption and changing customer expectations.”
Chiu, who transformed from an editorial background to digital business expertise, provides a unique perspective on the web’s evolution. She explains that simple search engine interactions characterised Web 1.0, while Web 2.0 introduced social media engagement and user-generated content.
However, the current Web 3.0 era represents a significant departure where users have unprecedented control over content creation and distribution.
Charting the digital product marketing evolution: from Web 1.0 to AI-driven experiences
“In Web 3.0, users become their micro-influencers, generating and owning content,” Chiu explains. “They’re not just passive consumers but active participants who infuse their purpose and thoughts into trending content, ultimately informing purchase decisions.”
The rise of AI and generative AI has emerged as a key challenge and opportunity for regional businesses. While these technologies can assist with initial content creation and campaign planning, Chiu emphasises that they’re not a complete solution.
“GenAI can help draft communications and provide foundation-level campaign planning, but it often produces shallow results that require human expertise to refine and contextualise,” she notes.
One of the most significant challenges in Asia Pacific’s digital product marketing landscape is the need for hyper-personalisation and localisation. Chiu highlights how cultural nuances can significantly impact marketing effectiveness, saying: “The same English or Chinese content may be well-received in mainland China but might not resonate with Chinese-speaking audiences in Taiwan or Southeast Asia due to cultural differences.”
This complexity is further compounded by the technical challenges faced by traditional businesses. Many established companies operate with legacy systems connecting multiple databases, making implementing modern solutions like dynamic pricing or hyper-personalised advertising difficult.
“Some businesses have been running systems since the 1960s and 1970s, connecting 10, 20, or 30 different systems,” Chiu explains. “This complexity can slow their ability to adopt AI solutions effectively.”
Navigating future challenges: localisation and technology integration
Chiu identifies experiential reality technologies as a significant trend shaping digital product marketing in the next 18-24 months. “We’re seeing more adoptions of AR, VR, and XR technologies to enable services in the market,” she explains.
“In healthcare, these technologies are helping with training simulations and improving patient care, particularly in psychological treatment where virtual environments provide controlled therapeutic settings.”
PwC’s approach to implementing these technologies is distinctive, considering customer and employee perspectives. “When implementing digital solutions, whether AR/VR, GenAI, or blockchain, businesses often forget one crucial aspect: training staff to be well-versed in these solutions,” Chiu notes.
“At PwC, we take a human experience approach, ensuring both customers and employees are at the same level of literacy with new technologies.”
Essential skills for digital product marketers in APAC
The evolution of B2B digital product marketing in professional services has also seen significant changes. “Five to ten years ago, companies relied heavily on offline events and traditional white papers,” Chiu recalls. “There’s increasing demand for quick insights and digital-first content, though still maintaining the depth expected in professional services.”
Chiu emphasises two crucial skills: analytical capabilities and communication expertise for marketers looking to succeed in this rapidly evolving landscape. “In the digital world, everything can be tracked, but you need to know what to track and how to interpret it,” she explains.
“Equally important is the ability to communicate benefits effectively rather than just listing features – even with GPT, messages still need human refinement to resonate with target audiences.”
Then, there’s the pace of change in digital product marketing, which continues to accelerate. Thanks to new technologies, what took two years to launch can now be accomplished in six months. However, Chiu stresses that this increased speed makes it crucial for marketers to stay closely connected to market dynamics and be prepared to pivot quickly.
“Marketing campaigns need to be more agile now,” she concludes. “You must be ready to change messaging and content at any time to stay relevant, especially when trending topics emerge that align with your market.”
Chiu emphasises two fundamental skills for marketers aiming to thrive in this dynamic landscape. “First, analytical capabilities are crucial in the digital world. Everything can be tracked, but you need to know what to track and how to interpret it for your marketing campaigns,” she explains.
This becomes particularly important when justifying marketing investments and demonstrating ROI to management. Equally critical is the ability to communicate effectively. “It’s very easy to tell your script of the product,” Chiu notes, “but if your audience doesn’t resonate with it, they’ll ask ‘what does it matter to me?’”
She stresses the importance of moving beyond feature listing to communicating benefits that resonate with target audiences, even in an age of AI-generated content. As businesses continue to navigate the digit evolution of digital product marketing Pacific, Chiu’s insights underscore the importance of balancing technological innovation with human expertise, cultural understanding, and market responsiveness.
Success in this rapidly evolving landscape requires technological adoption, the agility to adapt to change, and the human touch to make meaningful connections with audiences.
See also: Snowflake: AI is revolutionising the marketing landscape
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