Valentine’s Day is a great opportunity for marketers in the West, and in China, it’s also a busy commercial holiday – sitting in the busy New Year celebration period and providing a celebration of love for the nation’s festival-loving public! Put the work in now for your Valentine’s Day campaign in China and you’ll also be getting a head start on Qixi and 520 day!

There’s still time!

Valentine’s Day may just be around the corner, but with a swift and well-thought-out campaign, you still have time to launch targeted, effective digital marketing activities in China – especially with the assistance of a Chinese marketing agency to accelerate the process.

1. Make use of your KOLs

Valentine’s Day is a gift for influencer relationships as it’s such a fun, meaningful celebration – and one that ties in beautifully with giveaways. Luxury brands such as Burberry, Dior and Gucci have all used Valentine’s Day to release limited edition red bags in China, and your KOLs can use this festival to launch a special giveaway, love-themed offer or competition.

2. Update your digital assets

The Chinese love beautiful graphics, so now is a great time to refresh your Chinese website and app with a shower of falling hearts, sweet ‘love’ emojis or illustrated flowers to show love for your customers! Consider creating stickers, banners or filters for your social media feeds too – brands such as Starbuck’s have used ‘show your love’ filters for short-video sharing competitions on social media, and these are particularly popular with their younger audience.

3. Look at your mini store

Why not create a WeChat mini store, branded for Valentine’s Day and with products that could make excellent gifting for the occasion? Throw in pretty red and pink tissue, Valentine’s wrap and appreciation cards for your recipients too, and your ‘unwrapping’ videos could make it onto social media for likes and shares. Maybe every 50th customer could receive a special gift in their package, or you might add complimentary samples to ‘show your love’? Consider offering gift options for a range of budgets too – with plenty of premium options, as Chinese customers spent heavily on imported luxury goods last year for Valentine’s Day and this trend looks set to grow.

4. Gamify!

Valentine’s Day is a great opportunity for gamification and the Chinese absolutely adore online gaming. Produce a love-themed digital game and encourage score sharing, with special offers for those players who complete the game and leaderboards to encourage plenty of visibility and competition!

5. Offer digital cards

Create branded digital cards for your followers to share with loved ones of all kinds – from their friends and partner to their family and even co-workers. These cards could unlock a special offer or discount and they will help to increase your reach and to build brand awareness.

6. Tell a story

The Chinese love stories about star-crossed lovers, and the warm feelings of love that they share with family and friends. If you can weave a story across your digital assets – one filled with warm messaging, culturally meaningful messages and a happy ending – your customers will engage with your brand in an emotive way, and you’ll build ‘stickiness’ across your channels.

7. Think creatively

In the West, Valentine’s Day is traditionally about romantic love, but in China, smart marketers can extend these campaign messages to include all kinds of loved ones – including oneself! In fact, last year, around 15% of Chinese shoppers said that they planned to buy something for themselves, and Niluu – the manufacturer of vegan kimonos and better sleep products – used this to create a ‘fall in love with you’ campaign, featuring a beautiful marketing video, special product and an integrated social media campaign. Think creatively and broadly to maximise your opportunities.

8. Don’t be daunted!

It can be daunting sometimes to consider your Chinese marketing campaign in such a saturated, tech-savvy market – but the key thing is to begin your work, measure it over time and refine your results as you gain data. Worried about creating a professional art-directed video or bespoke product lines? Don’t worry – there are plenty of ways to offer instant quirky benefits to customers. Why not offer free delivery on all orders for Valentine’s Day? Or make a simple video of your staff warmly wishing your customers a happy Valentine’s Day and showing your decorated office? Often it’s the thought behind the gesture that resonates most with Chinese customers – much like Valentine’s Day itself!

9. Test, test, test…

Add some time into your campaign rollout to test your digital assets very carefully pre-launch so that the experience is seamless – from your Baidu PPC campaign and social media online advertising through to your KOL messaging, WeChat mini store, campaign app or website and digital games, stickers, filters or other shareables. Your Chinese audience should be able to seamlessly move through your branded digital ecosystem without a hitch – and from their smartphones.

10. Plan ahead…with help

A Chinese marketing agency such as Market Me China can help you to organise and deliver your annual calendar of digital marketing in China, encompassing all of the superb shopping festivals that Chinese customers adore! China’s marketing landscape is as vast as its market – with a huge array of digital and marketing platforms, innovative technologies and rich opportunities – but placed against a highly competitive landscape, with cultural, contextual and language barriers to overcome.

By choosing Market Me China to assist you with your Valentine’s Day campaign you can accelerate your speed to market and improve your results. Our native Chinese language-speaking digital marketing professionals work flexibly with your business to achieve your goals, and we evidence our results at every turn.

Remember, the work you put in now to create your Valentine’s Day marketing campaign in China – from content to creative – can be repurposed later in the year for the Chinese equivalent festivals of Qixi and 520 day, further multiplying your efforts and gaining that all-important brand recognition, reputation and conversions.

Contact us

To find out more about how Market Me China can help you to achieve success with your digital marketing in China, please contact our team today for a no-obligation chat about your goals and needs.