The success of bringing your business into the Chinese market is mostly going to depend on how you get your brand noticed. There are many similar forms of advertising in China compared to the west, but with different priorities. While in the western market, social media marketing is huge, in China, customers are more trusting of ads. With frugality often being a way of life for many, companies that invest in search engine marketing in China will often be seen as more confident in their products and will get the interest of consumers.
Increase Brand Visibility
Brand visibility is one of the top key reasons to consider search engine marketing in China. Search engine marketing is a very effective way to get your brand seen through paid advertising. To Chinese consumers, putting your money where your mouth is through targeted advertising on search result pages on sites like Baidu shows a commitment and trust in your product, and this gets your brand noticed more easily than trying to push a marketing campaign on one of the Chinese social media platforms before it is sufficiently established. Of sampled adults, 79% believed advertising was a good way for brands to communicate with consumers, where the global average is just 51% (WARC).
Effectively Compete in the Market
With such trust in advertisements in China, compared to the western markets, it is a sure bet that many of your online business competitors (particularly foreign ones) will be invested in search engine marketing in China. This means that you need to be, too, or else you will get left in the dust, and you won’t be able to effectively compete in the Chinese market. Search engine marketing also allows you to do research; tools are available through the search engine’s systems to monitor how your advertising is doing, monitor keyword popularity, and will enable you to adjust your strategies to better compete.
Search Engine Marketing is Affordable
A great key reason to choose to do search engine marketing in China is the fact that, when compared to Google in the west, it is very affordable. While advertising is more effective due to the previously mentioned frugality of the culture, the frugality also means that many Chinese companies are not using search engine marketing themselves to save on costs. All this results in a lower cost per click on advertising rates, with some popular search terms being as low as 25%-40% the rate of Google in the west. Foreign companies on Baidu are required to pay a minimum initial deposit to start a marketing campaign, but the overall cost is going to be relatively low.
Search Engine Marketing is More Effective than Social Media Marketing
Navigating the social media digital landscape is going to be a very daunting task if you jump into it right away when joining the Chinese market. There is so much research you’d need to do on trends, influencers, and to learn about what does and doesn’t work; this results in a huge investment of time and money. That is why search engine marketing in China should be your first choice when trying to promote your online business in China.
Traditional Mediums Unwise When Breaking into the Chinese Market
Search engine marketing in China is also going to be far more effective than traditional medium marketing. There is a much easier point of entry when it comes to search engine marketing, especially for foreign companies, and trying to break into the market through paper ads or billboards is just going to be a drain on resources with little traction gained in the market.
If you are looking to get into the Chinese market, then you should consider search engine marketing in China to be your first entry point, and the experts at Westwin can help your marketing campaign thrive.