Charles Lau dot Com

Singapore companies are finally awakening to the presence and power of the Internet. It is not easy for Singaporean companies to step into this realm because of the Internet bubble burst which had burnt a lot of the Singaporean investors.  These few days, I have been hearing everything about Web 2.0 from the presentations of the web content management system companies. All thanks to them that I have a feel that the Singapore companies are going social media finally.

Most of these web content management system companies are now only having an average office size of 10.  That’s to say that they have an estimated monthly expenses of $30k.  Their solution is costing an average of $100k.  Which probably means that they are closing deals at the rate of probably 3 big companies per year.  Having about 5 such web content management system companies in Singapore, they are probably closing at the rate of 15 companies per year.

With a rough gauge of 15 companies in Singapore buying Web 2.0 solutions, it is very likely that I would start to see more and more corporate companies involving in blogging, wikis, mashup applications and into social media.  And because many companies around the world like to use Singapore as their headquarter for certain countries in Asia, it will mean these 15 companies are most likely deploying throughout in the region.

As an Internet Reviewer, I don’t believe any small company will deploy a six figure investment on the Internet.  That’s because these companies still believe a lot in their traditional marketing techniques.  And even if they can cough up six figures, they will want to spend it more on advertisement in radio, TV or newspapers.

What can we do?  Most Singapore companies believe a lot in exposing themselves to as many eyeballs as they can.  No matter who they are, they will want to spend the money to make more impressions.  They do understand the meaning of reach and frequency.  Whether they can reach out to as many eyeballs as they can, or to make as many sequential advertisements as they can for frequency purpose.  They might face some issues when using the same knowledge on the Internet…

It is absolutely not impossible to spend six figures on the Internet advertisement if you want to go for anonymous reach and frequency (like TV, Radio and Newspapers).  But it is even more feasible to spend five figures on targeted reach and frequency with similar results or even better!

I will continue to observe these web content mangement companies’ growth… They should be the determinant for the readiness of Web 2.0 companies.