How do you cut through the noise in a saturated market like Singapore? We spoke with Jarrah Lim, Insider‘s Regional Marketing Manager, to find out. Jarrah dives into how her team uses B2C tactics to create memorable B2B experiences, the importance of agility over rigid plans, and why AI is the ultimate tool for empowering, not replacing, human creativity in marketing.
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Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
- B2C Tactics for B2B Success: To stand out in a crowded market, create memorable experiences by applying B2C principles. Using the five senses for brand recall makes a bigger impact than standard metrics can measure.
- Agility Trumps the Plan: The outdated advice to ‘play it safe’ no longer applies. Today’s marketing success is built on experimentation, calculated risks, and the flexibility to pivot quickly.
- AI as a Creative Catalyst: Use AI to handle repetitive tasks, not to replace your thinking. This frees up marketers to focus on high-value work: strategy, brainstorming, and genuine human connection.
Could you please introduce yourself and your role at Insider?
My name is Jarrah, and I am the Regional Marketing Manager at Insider, handling Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Hong Kong. I lead our field marketing efforts across these markets, focusing on building brand visibility, creating memorable customer experiences, and driving pipeline growth through events, partnerships, and other strategic campaigns.
Could you share a bit about your career path and how you got into marketing?
I studied marketing in university, so it was a natural path for me. Early on, I wore many hats and tried my hand at both B2C and B2B marketing, copywriting, and SEO, which is common when you’re often the sole marketer at a company. I used to think B2C marketing had all the creative fun: pop-ups, stunts, guerrilla campaigns… until I realized the real creative challenge was in B2B. How do you make something inherently ‘corporate’ feel personal, emotional, and memorable? That question still drives my work today. I enjoy a challenge, and the central challenge in B2B is figuring out how to be creative when marketing to other companies. This journey eventually led me through fintech and into the broader tech world, which is how I found myself at Insider.
What is your key focus as a field marketer at the moment?
Right now, our focus is on creating high-impact touchpoints for both our prospects and customers. At this stage, marketing is not just about events; it’s about building trust in the market and creating moments that reflect our growth narrative as a company heading toward IPO. Every touchpoint needs to signal credibility, customer obsession, and creativity.In field marketing, this translates to doing more intimate, personalised events rather than large, flagship conferences. We’ve found that these smaller events, combined with deeper partnerships with industry leaders and strong alignment with sales, are what truly move the needle and accelerate our pipeline across our markets.
How do you measure success beyond the obvious metrics?
Of course, we track meetings booked and opportunities created, but I also focus on the factors that are harder to measure. We look closely at feedback from event surveys, which helps us constantly improve everything from the venue and food to the content. It’s not just about choosing a fancy restaurant; it’s about finding a place that reflects the agenda for the evening.
I also try to bring B2C tactics into our B2B events by appealing to the five senses. For example, I’ll serve the same welcome cocktail at each event to create brand recall. It’s these small touches that make you remarkable. We also collaborate with our customers, like serving snacks from our customer Irvins or giving away IKEA gift cards. It’s a great way to promote them while creating a unique experience at our events.
I often say that metrics tell you what happened, but experiences tell you why people remember you. That’s where we win, by turning data-driven marketing into emotionally resonant storytelling
What are the biggest challenges you’re facing right now?
The number one challenge, especially in a saturated market like Singapore, is getting the right people to attend our events. There is a real sense of event fatigue, so you have to provide clear value. My second biggest challenge is finding charismatic speakers. A great event is 50% content and 50% chemistry. You can have the right audience and the right topic, but if the speaker can’t connect, you lose the moment. Part of our role as marketers is to curate energy as much as information. You can get someone from a company with a strong logo, but if they aren’t a good storyteller with stage presence, they will fail to engage the audience. With attention spans shorter than ever, finding a speaker who is relevant, engaging, and willing to speak on the right topic is a constant struggle.
How does your company stay ahead of its competitors in its marketing?
On a global scale, our team creates brilliant, out-of-the-box digital campaigns. For example, our “Toxic Tech” campaign was a clever smear campaign against our competitors, framed around Valentine’s Day. It was edgy and not something you typically see in the SaaS landscape.
Regionally, we rely on deep research and agility. Our sales and SDR teams are constantly scouring resources to see what competitors are up to. In marketing, we execute targeted competitor attack plans through events and ABM. We know which competitor is strong in which product category, so our approach is never one-size-fits-all. What I appreciate most about Insider is that the company values thinking outside the box and is very agile when it comes to rolling out new strategies.
What is the biggest opportunity for marketers today that may not have been available in the past?
In one word: AI. It has been a huge blessing. A task that would have taken me half a day to finish now takes an hour or less. I know some people are worried about it, but I absolutely love it. I use it to automate tasks, which gives me my time back, but it’s not about letting AI do the thinking. I train my ChatGPT on our brand tone and use it to brainstorm initial ideas. This gives me a better foundation before I bring ideas to my team and frees up my mental capacity to explore my creative side more deeply.
What career advice would you give to someone starting in marketing today?
First, build a great mindset and work ethic from the ground up, as that will pave the way for your entire career. More specifically for marketing, don’t pigeonhole yourself. Marketing is constantly evolving—social media management wasn’t a job 20 years ago, and I’m sure “AI Marketer” will be a title in the future. Try different things, expand your knowledge beyond your immediate focus, and keep evolving with the industry. Curiosity is the new job security. The more you experiment, the longer you stay relevant.
What is a piece of traditional leadership advice that you believe no longer applies to modern field marketers?
The old idea that you need to “play it safe” or rigidly “stick to the plan.” Today’s field marketing requires agility and a willingness to consistently experiment. Some of the best outcomes come from taking calculated risks. You have to be able to make tweaks and adjustments to stay ahead of not just your competition, but sometimes even your customers.
What do you think the future of marketing looks like?
With AI becoming so ubiquitous, I believe the future is about human-centric personalisation powered by AI. AI should handle the menial tasks, because the human connection and touch are going to be more valuable than ever. We should let AI take care of the “negative” emotions or processes, allowing humans to focus on creating the “positive” ones. This means we’ll see a stronger blend of digital and in-person experiences, tighter integration between sales and marketing, and a much smarter use of technology that ultimately empowers, rather than replaces, the human aspect of our work.The future of marketing will belong to brands that master both empathy and efficiency, where AI handles the complexity, and humans deliver the connection. The next frontier isn’t automation; it’s emotional intelligence at scale.
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