Artificial intelligence (AI) and content will play a key role in the country's digital marketing, says Heroleads Thailand, a Bangkok-based digital marketing firm.
Carlo Herold, founder and chief executive of Heroleads (Thailand), examines digital marketing in Thailand. (no photo credits)
"The growing number of social media users and online time spent via mobile in Thailand is spurring digital marketing spending," said Carlo Herold, founder and chief executive of Heroleads.
Mobile advertising accounts for 51% of the digital ad revenue that accrues in Thailand.
Brands are focusing more on the ageing society, Mr Herold said, adding that the Line app is the most popular online platform among senior citizens, with 31% of them using the app.
Mobile wallets and QR payment are gathering steam and helping boost brands' revenue.
"AI will play more of a role in digital marketing, as it helps to understand customer insights and optimise interaction with targets," Mr Herold said.
Thai digital advertising will move towards machine learning, he said, and several software makers will offer cloud-based machine learning platforms.
According to Mr Herold, content marketing is another aspect of marketing strategy that will shape brands as experts on product categories.
Brands need to produce quality content and pursue search engine optimisation. Marketers must use voice content and podcasts to reach their target audience.
"Live video streaming is also a trend," Mr Herold said. "Marketers can put short video clips in email marketing."
The big spenders in digital marketing are automotive, real estate, beauty/cosmetics, banks, insurance and e-commerce.
"Personalisation, automation, good content, influencers and chatbots need to be prioritised," Mr Herold said.
As Facebook has more than 51 million users in Thailand, Messenger will emerge as a key tool for digital campaigns in the coming years, he said.
YouTube will also serve as a key marketing channel, since Thais spend half of their online time on the platform.
One effective means of marketing is through Google search campaigns, Mr Herold said.
He cited data that 20% of Google searches are now done through voice, a trend expected to continue in the next few years.
Programmatic marketing -- the targeted purchasing and selling of ad space on all digital platforms -- held a 10% market share in terms of total digital ad spending last year, Mr Herold said.
"We have an AI and data scientist team to offer ad tech solutions to help customers in data-driven marketing to better allocate budgets via proper channels," he said.
Heroleads is expanding in the Asean market. In June, the company acquired Bdigital, a digital marketing agency in Indonesia. Plans call for expansion into Vietnam next.