Hello!
Today’s Rise newsletter is an edited excerpt from the With Content blog. If you have 8 minutes to spare, read the full version here (it offers techniques and examples): Hot But Not Flaming: How to Write Opinionated Content for a Southeast Asian Audience.
Meanwhile, here’s the gist.
How to write opinionated content for a Southeast Asian audience
Ever ordered a dish marked with three chilies (🌶️🌶️🌶️) on the menu, only to find it’s not spicy enough?
All it triggers is a tingling sensation on your tongue.
But the promised heat that makes sweat drip from your forehead and causes you to reevaluate your life (er, food) choices?
Not even close.
A lot of B2B “thought leadership” articles feel like that. In Southeast Asia, that’s often by design.
It’s not that no one here has a controversial, contrarian, or fresh thought to share. It’s that we don’t want to make our readers and clients sweat. Our culture conditions us to prioritize collective harmony, preserve face, and defer to superiors—not challenge the status quo.
Such constraints deter many B2B marketers and executives from making memorable, opinionated content that cuts through the noise and sparks conversation.
But what if we turn them into creative constraints that help us write opinionated content without rattling our readers?
Factoring cultural norms into content marketing
“As a society, we Asians are taught to always be humble. There’s a Chinese saying that the biggest tree always catches the wind — meaning, don’t be too outstanding. Stay under the radar and no collateral damage will come your way,” shares Adrian Tan, a fractional CMO (chief marketing officer) for HR tech vendors.
With this context, we propose 5 tips for writing opinionated content that’s spicy enough to make an impact without antagonizing your audience.
- Find what you agree with and add your perspective (More “yes, and”, less “no, but”).
- Frame your argument based on how it can benefit the collective vs the individual.
- Preface a contrarian view with an agreeable statement.
- Don’t make things personal; focus on the learning point instead.
- Choose your battles.
D.I.Y.: Take the first step towards opinionated content
Let’s revisit the big tree that catches the strongest wind.
While smaller trees stay safe, they miss out on growth, too.
Can’t you have it all—serve the spice and receive everything nice in return?
Well, no. No matter what you say, there will be people who will dislike it or disagree with it.
But you can make your message palatable to your target audience.
Aside from the advice above, take time to reflect on your opinions and get advice from people you trust:
- Check your motives. Don’t be contrarian just for the sake of getting a reaction. Acknowledge the biases that affect your views. Challenge your opinions and examine the tiniest hint of malice or prejudice.
- Reserve your strong opinions for the issues that will have the most impact on your goal (e.g., on improving your corporate image, proving the need for your product, deflecting a threat to your business).
- Get honest feedback from a mentor or a trusted group. You can even ask someone to play the devil’s advocate.
- Have an editor review your tone to make sure you don’t come across as offensive, condescending, or rude.
Let’s raise the bar of content marketing in Southeast Asia
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Thanks for reading!
Katrina
