When looking for a digital marketing company to pull off marketing campaigns in China, you may find yourself lost and confused more often than not. How do you separate the legitimate offers from the impossible ones? How do you ensure the success of your campaign in China? Read on and find out more about how to pick the right digital marketing company in China for your brand or business idea.
Make sure the company knows its way around China’s social media ecosystem
Now the tricky part about marketing in China is that it doesn’t quite operate like other countries. Even though China has been ranked the most attractive market for the 6th time in a row in the world, when it comes to digital marketing, one must be extremely careful about picking their suitable digital marketing company. Since other familiar tools such as Facebook, Google, and Twitter, which are ideally used to market and promote your company won’t work in China, you have to be extra cautious.
China’s social media needs are met primarily by 3 companies: WeChat, Baidu, and Weibo! This seems like a small pool of options when compared to the wide range of social media platforms available in other countries. But when you hire a marketing company, the first thing you must ensure about them is that they have played this game before, and they’ve played it good- they must be familiar with the Chinese digital ecosystem.
Challenges One May Face
• The Ever-Changing Ecosystem
We’ve established that advertising and marketing in China is hard enough, but add to that the inconsistent and heavy regulations involved (that are constantly changing, by the way), you’ve got another problem coming your way. The strict advertising limitations is yet another thing you must consider. All of this does make for a rather complex environment to tap into.
• Lack of Data Flow
Different digital marketing channels in China are isolated, if you think about it. This is because of the aggressive competition between them. This further leads to poor data flow and demanding optimization with campaigns!
• A Whole New World: Language & Culture
Advertising in China is no joke- did you know that the most suitable option while appealing to the Chinese population is advertising in Mandarin? Scarce knowledge and lack of awareness about international competency often leaves global companies confused about starting to advertise in China!
Hire for a more holistic marketing campaign
So, what is the buzz about SEO- and just how effective is it with regard to marketing campaigns? Is it really worth the hype? Well, the truth is that digital marketing companies today put all their eggs in one basket and focus solely on keywords in order to make their SEO search phrases more efficient. But in reality, those keywords have little impact on your marketing campaign’s success. Apart from the keywords, one must put in a tonne of secondary research and work on developing ads, corresponding landing pages that are captivating, and gripping content that essentially turn those clicks into sales.
Don’t forget about your ROI
While most reliable sources of digital marketing companies prove the Return On Investment (ROI) of their efforts, it wouldn’t help to have tools and other analytics to help demonstrate the business growth in China. If your hired help is showing you anything similar to the following, you’re in good hands:
• Analytical tools demonstrating the metrics and growth over a timeframe of your website traffic and the success of your ads.
• A call tracking log that shows the leads you’re closing every day, helping measure the number of sales for a given period of time.
• Tools used to show how one could reduce the cost of advertising per new customer, and thereby increase the potential profit margin.
Have Your Game Plan Ready
Last but not least, make sure to have your marketing plan with a high-level overview sketched out by them before anything else. Ensure they have a meticulous plan and detailed process in place, while being able to explain how it’ll work for you in the long haul. With the right digital marketing company, there’s nothing you cannot do in China!