If you’re serious about building your brand in China, the right Chinese digital marketing agency can provide access to the specialist expertise and native language skills you need for success.

Partnerships and relationships are key in this highly contextual country, where Chinese business culture differs greatly from the West.

The right agency partner will help you to accelerate your marketing success and get to grips with the incredibly advanced marketing technologies available in China.

Crucially, they can also help you to avoid common mistakes when it comes to topics such as government censorship, translation and localisation efforts, and branding.

After all, some of the world’s biggest global brands have made serious errors in the Chinese market, including Pepsi, Louis Vuitton, Burberry, Nika and Prada!

10 Reasons to Partner with a Chinese Digital Marketing Agency

1. Springboard to faster understanding

Chinese culture is complex, geographically varied, highly segmented and extremely nuanced. Brands can easily make cultural mistakes, such as using the ‘wrong’ colours for advertising, or numbers which are considered unlucky.

A Chinese digital marketing agency will save your brand time and money by providing instant access to the trusted and accurate information you need.

2.  Brand development

Brand development in China goes far beyond simply translating your company name into simplified Chinese. A Chinese digital marketing agency can assess whether your existing Western brand will work effectively in your target Chinese market and propose smart adjustments if necessary.

Your agency partner can help you test your logo with a target audience to determine its impact before you launch in China.

3. Content localisation

In the same way that your Western brand needs testing and optimising to suit your target Chinese audience, your content must also be carefully and sensitively localised.

In many cases, this now means creating content from scratch that is accurately targeted to identified market segments.

Local content must be carefully translated and positioned to resonate in this complex, competitive market if it is to engage your target audience.

4. Social media savvy

The digital marketing landscape in China can be completely bewildering to Western brands, even those with an established presence.

WeChat, Weibo, DouYin, Little Red Book, and Zhihu are just some of the platforms available to your brand, and they all have very different purposes, audiences and brands of their own.

China has 1.06 billion social media users, and very often, ‘niche’ Chinese social media sites will have millions of users. So it’s important to really understand this landscape and position your brand accordingly.

5. Technology know-how

From Baidu SEO for organic visibility to Chinese social media, your chosen agency can help you navigate the complex and technologically advanced ecosystem.

This can save a huge amount of time and money, and overcome the language barriers. Your agency can also help you identify which technology platforms are best suited to your needs.

The best approach is usually to start ‘small’ (or at least, in a manageable way that allows you to measure what works) and then grow your approach as you become more familiar with systems and their possibilities.

6. Shopping Events

Singles Day, Golden Week, and the 618 shopping festival may be virtually unknown in the West, but they’re huge shopping events in China, and brands can make huge sales in very short timescales if they get their marketing strategy right.

Again, the key to success is to start with some key dates, roll out a solid campaign plan, and evolve your approach as you understand what works and what doesn’t.

7. WeChat Marketing

WeChat supersedes traditional social media as we might know it in the West, as it’s a vast ecosystem in its own right, delivering every imaginable digital service to customers.

It takes time and understanding to fully appreciate WeChat’s possibilities, and the platform also keeps evolving!

Your agency partner can manage your verified WeChat account, deliver targeted content, run ads and support the setup of customer service AI, MiniPrograms, payments and other features.

8. KOLs

Key Opinion Leaders, or KOLs, are vital to your Chinese digital marketing strategy. The key to success lies in finding the right KOL for your audience and building a mutually-beneficial relationship that offers benefits to both parties.

KOLs are experts in their field, so respect goes a long way as you develop this relationship. Remember that Chinese business practices can look different to Western ways of working and cultural sensitivity and understanding are key to success.

9. Campaign Management

From Baidu PPC advertising to social media advertising, your agency partner can assist with the technical setup and ongoing management of your integrated digital marketing campaigns. This is crucial because Chinese marketing platforms are all in Chinese!

10. Campaign Analysis

Campaign analysis can be time-consuming and complex. But your Chinese digital marketing agency partner will have the skills, software and analysis skills needed to provide the insights and recommendations you need to refine and develop your marketing efforts.

Again, this saves you time and money, whilst offering rapid access to essential digital marketing skillsets when you need them the most.

Find Out More at Market Me China

At Market Me China, we work with Western brands across all industries to help them launch and grow their brands in China.

Whatever stage you’re at in your Chinese digital marketing journey, our team of native-speaking marketing professionals will provide the skills, expertise and know-how that you need to succeed in China.

We work flexibly with our clients in a way that suits them best, providing valuable additional support to in-house teams where these exist, or delivering Chinese digital marketing campaigns in their entirety for newer brands that are yet to establish in-house marketing functions.

We are effective, friendly and always ready to evidence our results. Please contact us in the first instance for a chat about your needs, and we’ll be delighted to assist!