The Chinese love to travel, and they also adore luxury experiences. So if your Western brand operates in the international travel sector, there’s no better time for a Chinese digital marketing strategy!

However, success with Chinese customers requires more than simply adding translated text to your Western website or posting a few Mandarin-speaking videos on Instagram. Chinese customers are sophisticated and discerning, and their cultural preferences are unique.

Let’s take a closer look and consider ways to successfully market your Western travel brand in China, tapping into this high-growth and incredibly rewarding market.

What to Know About the Chinese Travel Market

China’s outbound tourism market is the biggest in the world, and Chinese travellers love seeking out unique, enriching experiences in Europe and North America.

Although Chinese generations often have very different needs and attributes, they can all agree on personalised, high-end travel with meaningful cultural experiences!

The Challenges of Marketing to Chinese Travellers

It’s not always straightforward to market to Chinese travellers. After all, successful Chinese digital marketing leans heavily on social media, but Western marketers learn quickly that homegrown platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Google are blocked in China.

Instead, Chinese customers rely on their own huge platforms, including Baidu (Chinese Google), Weibo, WeChat, RedNote (Little Red Book), and Douyin (or TikTok in the West). For travel inspo and planning, Mafengwo is also very important.

Not only are these Chinese social media platforms largely unknown in the West, but they are also hugely advanced. Mega platforms such as WeChat and Weibo are entire digital ecosystems in their own right. For example, WeChat incorporates functions such as eCommerce, mobile payments, MiniPrograms, gaming, and more. The learning curve for Western marketers can be huge!

Strategies to Market Your Western Travel Brand in China

First, forget what you know about Western marketing and accept that the Chinese landscape is very different, from a cultural, social, political, and economic perspective.

For example, in the West, we don’t typically have city tiers that change local marketing strategies. Marketers don’t have to deal with government censorship in the same way.

There is also less sensitivity to colours, numbers, graphics, and other cultural elements, unlike in China, which is highly contextual. Proceed with care!

Key Strategies to Market Your Western Travel Brand in China

Chinese customers may be demanding, but they also tend to show real loyalty to brands that meet their needs. And with this affluent audience, it’s very notable that smart Western travel brands are already working hard to appeal to Chinese travellers.

Consider these elements for Chinese digital marketing success in travel:

1. Localise Your Brand and Messaging

Don’t translate; localise! Chinese travellers value quality offers, from brands they trust, backed up with social proof.

Choose a carefully targeted message that focuses on prestige, safety, support, meaningful and authentic personal experiences, and convenience. To do this in practice, you could:

• Ensure your Chinese language website is smartphone optimised.
• Adjust your brand story to meet the Chinese audience, focusing on the cultural elements that matter to this collectivist society, such as family, wellness, balance, and status.
• Ensure your website is localised and populated with quality Chinese language content.
• Check that the UX meets Chinese needs. Spare and minimal design doesn’t always resonate with Chinese customers in the way that it does in the West.
• Incorporate social proof with reviews and integrated Chinese social platforms (not all! Pick the most appropriate ones for your target audience.)
• Integrate Chinese payment methods such as WeChat Pay and Alipay.

2. Build a Presence on Chinese Social Media

Chinese social media is vital to your Chinese digital marketing strategy, but although you should have a brand presence on several platforms, don’t try to master them all! Consider:

• WeChat for an official brand account to share updates, travel content, and access to customer service
• Weibo for partnerships and promotions, and
• Little Red Book is great for young and affluent women and ideal for user reviews and visual content.
• Douyin, for short-form video travel clips.

Understand how to mix your content across each platform to reach the target audience and have a content calendar for each.

Where possible, reuse and repurpose content, but only when it’s appropriate. Remember to schedule all of the Chinese shopping and cultural festivals so your campaigns are ready in advance!

3. Partner with Chinese Travel KOLs

Chinese influencers, or Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs), are hugely influential in China, and the right partnership can work wonders for your credibility and visibility.

Your ideal KOL needn’t be a mega online celebrity, as sometimes micro-influencers have the perfect overlap with your target audience and can bring you better results.

The key to success is to find authentic, available KOLs who naturally align with your offer, message, and brand and then work together in a mutually beneficial partnership.

KOLs really know their industry and can offer fantastic value. Travel results through reach, engagement, and conversion metrics.

4. Optimise for Baidu SEO and Advertise via Baidu PPC

Google is forbidden in China, and Baidu is the primary search engine. Invest in Baidu SEO optimisation and ensure your Chinese-language website is locally hosted. Consider running Baidu PPC targeted ads for fast, qualified traffic to your digital ecosystem and specific campaign landing pages.
Google has no presence in China. Instead, Baidu dominates the search engine space. To appear in travel-related searches, you must invest in:

5. Make Use of WeChat Mini-Programs

These lightweight apps are incorporated in the WeChat ecosystem, and your travel brand can use Mini-Programs for various purposes, such as direct bookings, travel planning, virtual tours, special deals, and loyalty programmes.

Chinese customers are familiar with mini-programs and use them heavily, so this can reduce friction to boost conversions.

6. Provide Chinese Customer Service

Chinese travellers are used to receiving quality and personalised services, fast. Offer live support from human agents via WeChat and operate in the local time zone.

A Mandarin chatbot is a good first point of FAQ contact. Together, automation and Chinese-speaking local teams provide the service that leads to trust and customer satisfaction.

7. Work with a Chinese Digital Marketing Agency

A Chinese digital marketing agency can help you achieve faster success with your Chinese digital marketing campaign for travel. A good partner has the local expertise, platform access, and knowledge about cutting-edge Chinese digital marketing techniques that can accelerate your results and minimise errors!

Find out More

Contact Market Me China today to learn more about how we can help you successfully market your travel brand in China.

Our team of native-language-speaking professionals partners with clients across the Western travel industry to accelerate progress and amplify the results of their campaigns.

Please contact us for a no-obligation chat!