Content marketing is a very important perspective of integrated marketing plan. Many foreign brands find it difficult to plan content marketing in China because of many reasons: different media landscape, different competitive landscape and different cultural backgrounds. In this article, we will explain the reasons and introduce a simple way of planning content marketing in China.
Different landscape means that you need to move from Google, Facebook and Quora to Baidu, WeChat and Zhihu. For certain products/services, you need to use vertical media like Little Red Book for women product and Zhihu for B2B services. If you use the wrong platforms, you are not likely to succeed in China.
For companies that are successful and dominant in local areas, they find it hard to imagine that they are unknown in China. Unfortunately it’s true for most cases. And they can’t believe their competing edges like low cost, high quality, fast response, no shipping fee, etc are not advantages in China. You need to analyze your target audience in China and localize the products/services to meet the needs of Chinese customers. And the key message here is what makes your product/service outstanding in the market?
Chinese consumer values guide the Chinese when making purchasing decisions. According to theoretical and applied research in academia (Gong, 2003; Hiu et al., 2001; Fan and Xiao, 1998; Singh et al., 2004, 2005), below are some unique insights into a Chinese consumer’s mind:
1) Chinese consumers generally rely on research, which is based on past purchase experiences, to make future purchase decisions.
2) Chinese consumers in general, frequently use word-of-mouth or referrals from friends, family and colleagues to gather market information; social networking is becoming increasingly influential in this area.
3) Chinese consumers tend to be somewhat risk-averse when shopping; therefore providing free trials / gift set may reduce this anxiety.
4) Chinese consumers tend to consciously look for well-known brands that have high prestige or are considered high quality.
5) Chinese consumers, in general, tend to be very price-conscious and seek both extended information search and the evaluation of alternatives when making a high value purchase.
When planning content marketing in China, you must take all of the above into account. If you need support, please contact DDC. We consult your way to explore the China market!