When I joined Supermetrics in 2020, I was pretty confident that the company was going places. I was also pretty confident that I would go places with the company, both personally and professionally. What I didn’t anticipate was heading to the southern hemisphere so early in my tenure. Needless to say, when I was asked to speak at our SuperSummit event in Sydney, I couldn’t believe my good fortune.
SuperSummit is a Supermetrics’ live event series. I really think our marketing team nailed this one when considering the company’s customer base. How do you plan a live event series for over 17,000 customers? The answer, it turns out, is simple: host a single big online event that is supported by strategically-placed local events dotted throughout key markets. For the customers paying only a couple hundred a month for Supermetrics, the online event is free and easily accessible. For customers paying several thousand per month, an in-person touch and event in their market becomes a crucial touchpoint in our relationship with them.
In stark contrast to the -7C (and snowing) weather in Helsinki, our weather in Sydney could not have been better. A few mild clouds burned off toward the afternoon and brought a real energy to our audience. The venue, typically reserved for weddings, made for a lively backdrop for our audience to enjoy while learning about marketing and analytics. Many were surprised at the high quality of the venue, myself included, in addition to the personal touch they enjoyed.
My learnings from the event and the client meetings I had were profound. The Australian market (and by extension New Zealand) is an odd one considering the geography. The remit of most APAC sales teams spans a huge set of languages, cultures, geographies and importantly buying powers. The ANZ market easily represents the highest level of marketing and technological sophistication in the region in addition to the highest amount of buying power.
This has two consequences. One being that in-person meetups really go a long way. There were several meetings where our customers would tell us “none of our other vendors have come out to visit us, you all are really unique!”. Australia is a long way from everything (and Australians know that), so going the extra mile and making the in-person visit is really appreciated.
The second consequence is that the market remains underexposed to trends happening in the rest of the world. While many global companies have a presence in the market, it was clear to me that the average level of marketing analytics maturity I’ve come to expect from large North American companies was less present than I had expected. Naturally, this observation is based on my limited sample size, but it underscores the degree of opportunity available in the market considering its size and relative purchasing power. It also creates space for specialized vendors and service providers to build a niche and provide these services without as much competition as they might face in a competitive North American or European environment.
Needless to say, there’s a lot of opportunity in Australia and the APAC market in general. I’ll definitely be making way back there, even if it’s only to visit our JAPAC team in Singapore again.
