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20 Aug 2025
Lingzi Media: How a Company in a Sunset Industry Found its Digital Dawn
Lingzi Media, a homegrown Chinese publishing company founded in the 90s, struggled to find its footing in an increasingly digital world. That changed when they found crucial support in NUS’ Mentorship Support Grant (MSG). Find out about their unusual journey in this article.
Modern Challenges for a Traditional Business
At the turn of the millennium, homegrown Chinese publishing company Lingzi Media’s readership and revenue took a hit as their readers migrated to online books and magazines. The husband-and-wife founders, Denon Lim and Sandy Chen, responded to the online migration by setting up a simple e-commerce platform in 2015, which worked well for them until the COVID-19 pandemic up-ended business again.
The husband-and-wife team of Denon Lim and Sandy Chen founded local publishing company Lingzi Media in 1993.
In 2020, they realised that their website was struggling to meet the demands of their customers, who wanted e-books and a more sophisticated online reading platform. To keep his business afloat, Denon became an auto-didact during the pandemic. “I tried to strengthen my knowledge of digital marketing by searching the web, reading books and watching YouTube videos,” the 62-year-old says. He successfully applied some of his learning, like placing ads on social media, but found other concepts too difficult to put into practice.
Perfect Timing
During his self-learning, Denon discovered a book which met his business needs. “Its release during the pandemic was perfectly timed,” Denon says. This guide on digital marketing was authored by Professor Lai Kok Fung from National University of Singapore’s (NUS) School of Computing, an entrepreneur with over 25 years of experience in digital marketing and business development.
The MSG Journey
After they re-established contact, Professor Lai told Denon about an NUS programme he was involved in – the Mentorship Support Grant (MSG), which provides funding and support to businesses in Singapore to strengthen their capabilities – and Lingzi Media joined the MSG in October 2023.
During the MSG, Professor Lai met a team of eight Lingzi Media employees once to twice a week for 6 months, mostly online, to train and guide them in digital marketing. The training was challenging for the team, who had little relevant background. Denon himself, who was 60 at the time, recalls that understanding digital marketing concepts was already a challenge, let alone using various digital marketing tools.
However, Professor Lai’s hands-on approach eased the team’s learning and application. “Prof Lai’s training course used practical examples and charts rather than dwelling on theory,” says Denon, as the team used Google marketing tools like Google Search Console, Google Analytics and Google Merchant Centre under the professor’s guidance.
Training Lingzi Media's staff to use Digital Marketing tools.
Dawn of a Digital Era
Under Professor Lai’s guidance, Lingzi Media launched the platform chinesebooks.sg in April 2024, offering e-book subscription packages for different target audiences. “[The subscription] plays a large role in promotional campaigns for authors, readers, schools, teachers and parents, whether that means buying our books or signing up for an e-book package,” says Denon. He adds that this move has provided greater flexibility for customers, especially for schools.The team’s newfound capability in using platform customisation as well as Google Marketing tools were invaluable for their work. By tapping on plugins on the host site, the team could add key features like banners or buttons to promote discounts or packages during seasonal sales periods. In addition, by implementing tracking on the website, they were also monitoring and responding to the performance of their campaigns more effectively.
To date, 1,000 physical book titles have been made available on chinesebooks.sg. Since participating in the MSG, Lingzi Media has reported a 30% increase in revenue related to ebooks and e-commerce, more than 2,000 new subscriptions, and a grand total of 40,000 users on their new website.
Denon attributes their successes to the guidance of Professor Lai as well as the team’s hard work. “For us, it is not only essential to have professional knowledge in digital marketing, but also to gain insights and experience from experts who understand and are actively involved in the Chinese cultural industry. In both aspects, Prof Lai has been of tremendous help to us.”
Lingzi Media's office, with its workers using an array of Digital Marketing tools in their daily work.
A Bright Future for a Once-Sunset Industry
Lingzi Media is set to blaze more trails this year. Denon plans to enhance the content and functionalities of chinesebooks.sg, and will add assessment books to the mix soon. The team also wants to use new content to promote the distribution and sales of printed teaching materials, and are working to strengthen their overseas collaborations to publish more Singaporean authors who are abroad.
For other small businesses going digital, Denon says the key is to maintain a mindset to keep learning, even after seeking professional guidance.
“[Continuous learning] is the only way for us to keep up. It enables us to align with expert guidance and, more importantly, to continue progressing even after stepping out of the experts’ direct support,” Denon says. “Through lifelong learning, we can ensure that our business remains in sync with the times, allowing for sustainable growth and long-term survival.”
Established in 1993 in Singapore, Lingzi Media is known for its publishing, reading promotion, and integrated services in both online and offline channels, with a strong reputation in the cultural and educational sectors. The company specialises in publishing Chinese literary, non-literary, and educational books, supporting writers and institutions alike.
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