Effectively marketing to Chinese consumers and influencing their purchasing decisions requires a unique and culturally sensitive approach. Compared to other demographics, it can be challenging to connect with Chinese consumers. You can increase engagement and drive conversions by implementing five proven techniques tailored to Chinese cultures. Effectively reach and engage with Chinese consumers by integrating these 5 proven techniques to improve your marketing strategy today.
1. Consider Demographic Differences
You can’t expect a country of over a billion people to have unified consumer interests or financial profiles. Consumers in Beijing have a higher purchasing power than in Xinjiang. Shanghai consumers prefer coffee and appliances, while Shenzhen and Dongguan cosnumers spend more on clothing, footwear, and skincare.
This is the same outside the walls of China. You see Chinese residents in Canada having different purchasing habits and abilities from Chinese residents in the US and Mexico. The first strategy is to collect data on consumer trends in your areas of interest. Identifying these trends serves as a precursor for the next strategy.
2. Localize Your Campaigns
Success involves more than identifying the demographics most interested in your product or service. You can focus your marketing campaigns on these areas or adapt your strategy to the interests of consumers within your industry.
Using the data collected, localize your marketing to geographical and more specific individual levels. This may require you to adapt marketing messages or even tweak your product or service to fit local consumers.
KFC’s menu adaptation to the local market is evident through the addition of rice bowls, now offered in various countries including China and Canada, as well as cities such as Vancouver and Toronto.
3. Know Your Target Age Group
While knowing the Chinese-affiliated locations where your product or service is likely to sell the most remains a priority, it’s not enough to focus solely on demographics. You should also know more specific information about your target audience, especially your target age group.
The disparity in target age groups is one of the unique qualities of the Chinese consumer market. For example, the average age of luxury car owners globally is 50, but in China, it is 33.5. Advertising to the worldwide target age group may save time and resources if you sell these products to Chinese consumers.
Sometimes, these disparities are even present among Chinese consumers, just like the differences in purchasing interests. When studying your target audience, it is then important to ensure that every metric you use applies to your target Chinese demographic.
4. Digitally Improve Your Marketing Strategy
Now, when it comes to digital strategies, collaborating with public figures has proven to work with the Chinese demographic. We saw this with Givenchy gaining excellent visibility after collaborating with The Futurer, a virtual boy idol group popular among Chinese netizens.
If you don’t have the budget for celebrities, influencer marketing is another effective medium to campaign through, given the online presence of Chinese nationals. Of course, before you use a digital marketing strategy, you should make sure that it works for your specific product and effectively converts your target audience.
5. Utilize Effective Digital Technologies
The Chinese digital ecosystem and the platforms favored by Chinese consumers differ significantly from those commonly used in the West. For example, 64.98% of Chinese consumers opt for Baidu rather than using Google for internet search queries. To put this in context, Google takes 92.4% of the global search engine market share, but in China, it only takes 2.81%.
When engaging in content marketing, this difference in search engine market share means you use SEO best practices for Baidu instead of Google. This is the same for other internet channels, such as social media platforms.
For further comparison, unlike Facebook, which is the preference of the global audience, WeChat is the Chinese’s most used social media platform, enjoying over 1 billion monthly users. The usage of WeChat by eCommerce brands in finalizing sales has been steadily growing year after year.
Some other social media platforms that guarantee a substantial ROI on your marketing to Chinese consumers include Sina Weibo, Tencent QQ, and Douyin.
Utilizing localized marketing strategies for your eCommerce business is only profitable when you use the right channels or avenues. The “right channels or avenues” are the digital technologies and platforms proven to be more popular with Chinese consumers.
Improve Your Marketing Strategy with Us Today
Chinese consumers represent a large opportunity for businesses to profit from. The Chinese market is complex, as they have a digital ecosystem that differs from the rest of the world.
To be successful, you need effective market research, localization, and implementation to meet Chinese cultures both in and outside China. The Chinese consumer market’s complexity is easier for certain business owners to navigate than others. Not sure where to begin? Reach out to us and start your journey today!
