TL;DR

• Smart Western brands are already using AI to connect with their Chinese customers in new and more effective ways. When these brands consider their tech stacks, they also need clear Chinese digital marketing strategies, channels, and messaging in place to leverage the power of their AI tools.
• China is a highly tech-driven economy, and Chinese customers expect the best from local platform experiences, generative content, and personalisation.
• Where Western brands are able to blend AI-enabled marketing with a deep understanding of Chinese culture and marketing techniques, they can accelerate their results.
• Those who attempt to simply deliver ‘easy’ AI marketing or copy what they do in their Western markets will struggle to be heard.

Key stats to know about AI and Chinese Digital Marketing

• Chinese AI marketing has grown at a dizzying pace. In 2020, it was worth roughly ¥209 bn, and by 2029, it’s expected to be worth more than ¥1.3 tn.
• Over 75% of Chinese marketing is expected to use AI-generated content this year.
• 24/7 AI avatars are already outperforming human content hosts when it comes to ecommerce engagement.

Free download – No email required

Mastering Chinese Business Culture: A Practical Guide for Success

What AI means in China

Although artificial intelligence is already being used worldwide for better marketing, China is ahead of the curve when it comes to tech speed, sophistication, and integration.

This huge market of smartphone-first netizens is renowned for its high levels of social commerce and cutting-edge digital ecosystems, including WeChat, Douyin and Alibaba.

In China, AI isn’t a tool to add to a marketing stack; it’s the fundamental enabler of consumer markets.

Already, AI is being used in China to drive everything from content generation and personalisation strategies to advanced analytics and even immersive experiences using virtual avatars. Western brands that want to build a presence in China need to rewire their approach and deeply understand the differences – and opportunities.

The growth of AI in China

AI technologies are now highly embedded into every facet of Chinese digital marketing, whether that’s automatic content generation, customer insights or programmatic advertising.

As an example, we are starting to see more dynamic pricing online in the West, but in China, algorithms are dynamically adjusting and customising pricing, targeted content and individual recommendations in real-time; again, taking things to another level.

What are the opportunities for Western brands?

Chinese customers expect slick, tech-first and highly personalised experiences, and well-integrated AI can deliver these benefits at scale, when used correctly and intelligently. And because China’s digital economy is already so far ahead, Western brands have a huge opportunity to improve what they do.

1. Personalisation

For example, platforms like Douyin use dynamic data to adapt product pages based on the viewer’s preferences. These huge platforms use AI to understand everything from purchase and scroll habits to deliver deeply targeted personalisation in a way that Western platforms are unable to do.

Takeaway: Western brand managers will still be used to static messaging, tech silos and manual intervention in marketing management. It requires a significant knowledge upgrade and shift in thinking to understand China’s capabilities.

2. Chinese platforms

In the West, Facebook (Meta), Instagram, Google, TikTok, and X are dominant, but in China, the digital ecosystem is organised around Douyin, WeChat, RED, Taobao, and Tmall (among others). Each platform uses its own algorithm to show curated content, make tailored recommendations and drive online commerce. These systems are next level, with AI-driven avatars, livestreaming and gamification far beyond Western equivalents.

3. Generative AI and content

Again, in the West, we’re becoming used to using AI to amplify content and enable automatic content generation for brands at scale (although the quality is variable!,) but in China, AI is a true creative accelerator.

Chinese AI platforms can meet Chinese cultural needs and create content and images that really resonate with local users and contextualise global messages for local tests. These systems can also A/B test at scale and in real time, hugely speeding up the time needed to bring a successful creative to market.

An example of this is Shein, which uses AI to identify microtrends and rapidly deploy product offerings that immediately respond to these shifts in demand.

4. A level playing field

One key advantage of China’s AI capabilities is that it breaks down resource barriers. With the right knowledge and attitude, even small Western brands can access the kind of high-end marketing capabilities that only big players used to have. For example, small smart brands can leverage chatbots for customer service across channels, automate content production based on real-time analytics and use predictive AI to optimise campaigns and inventory management.

If you’re a newer or smaller Western brand, AI in China potentially levels the playing field, especially if you’re ready to learn, try new things and keep adapting at speed.

What are the challenges for Western brands?

Of course, there are challenges for Western brands too when it comes to AI in Chinese marketing, even though it levels the playing field. For example.

• AI for content is best when it uses local language models. Those trained on Western data tend to be less adept at producing culturally relevant messaging.
• New marketing mandates keep emerging as tech evolves. For example, Western brands must now be ready to evolve their SEO to include GEO to be included in generative AI search results.
• Chinese platforms keep data within their own ecosystems, making it harder to track performance across platforms. Western brands need to deeply understand the differences in Chinese digital ecosystems.
• China’s regulatory environment is also evolving at speed, especially when it comes to rules around content moderation, data usage and consumer privacy. This adds another layer of challenges for Western brands building AI capabilities into their campaigns.
• Chinese LLMs are already recommending local brands more frequently than Western brands, something that requires careful action to fix.

5 Ways Western brands can use AI for better Chinese digital marketing

Here are some keys to success:

1. Focus entirely on Chinese customer needs, bringing local understanding before technological understanding. Never attempt to retrofit a Western campaign!
2. Focus on using AI to complement cultural understanding in China, not replace it.
3. Use AI to deliver tailored content at scale, focusing on moving to a responsive approach from a static approach.
4. Make the most of AI analytics or data and feedback to understand which creatives work, take guesswork out of the equation and constantly refine and optimise campaigns.
5. Think like a Chinese marketer and use AI to iterate and experiment quickly, testing more variants, learning faster and becoming a confident, faster marketer.
How a Chinese digital marketing agency can help

AI is ready to support Western brands to build successful businesses in China, in a vast and lucrative market where tech of all kinds is deeply embedded into daily life.

The biggest challenge is knowing exactly how to blend AI with cultural awareness and deep local knowledge to deliver amplified results.

A Chinese digital marketing agency can help this process greatly by guiding Western brands in this evolving process and providing skilled Chinese digital marketing support, combined with native language skills.

To find out more about how Market Me China can help you, please contact us today!

FAQs

Q: How is AI marketing in China different from AI marketing in the West?

A: AI marketing in China is a deeply integrated part of daily platforms such as Douyin, WeChat and Taobao in China, rather than a bolt-on tool. It drives every element of the customer experience, from tailored AI-generated content to avatar-led livestream sales.

Q:Can Western brands use their existing AI marketing strategy in China?

A: No, Western brands cannot successfully use their existing AI marketing strategy in China because the ecosystems are completely different. The platforms, customer needs, cultural and contextual elements and algorithms all work completely differently.

Q: Which Chinese platforms should Western brands target?

A: Western brands should target Chinese platforms that meet their unique brand position and target audience, but the key players include WeChat, Douyin, RED and Taobao / Tmall.

Q: Do Chinese customers like AI content?

A: Yes, Chinese customers are used to high-quality AI-generated content with exceptional personalisation at its core. To feel authentic, it must be personalised. AI avatars are also incredibly popular and often perform better than human hosts for livestreaming because they can run around the clock, remain consistent and respond to queries instantly.