1. Use Beautiful Imagery

Chinese customers love social media and brands can use beautiful imagery to engage potential travellers. Consider launching a storytelling campaign that uses editorial-worthy imagery to market your destination or travel service in the most appealing way. You could work with a known photographer to place their unique artistic slant on the images, or even host a competition that asks travellers to share their favourite photo of your destination. They say a photo is worth a thousand words, so invest in the imagery that evokes the emotion, beauty and desirability of your offer!

You can take imagery to the next level by creating videos as well. Create a story or film that revolves around your destination or service. It could be a traditional love story, a funny and heartwarming story about a family holiday, or something adventurous. Evoke emotions to excite potential travellers and connect these feelings to your brand.

2. Gamify your marketing offer

Chinese customers love games, particularly digital games that they can play on their phones. So consider devising your own travel-based game and invest in something fun and shareable. It could be a digital maze, for example, that players navigate on their own travel journey, or a game to guess the contents of a suitcase! Make it engaging, add a prize that links to your offer, and share it widely. Add a leaderboard so your competitive players can replay to up their scores, and request their data for further marketing in return.

3. Work with the right KOL

Chinese tourists use platforms such as Baidu, WeChat, DouYin, Little Red Book and Weibo to research potential travel destinations and find information. Consider working with a relevant KOL for your target market, and create a partnership with them to make tailored video travel guides. This type of influencer content can really bring your offer to life, by using their own skills and talents to add a positive twist to your messages and market your travel offer in a way that will naturally appeal to your target market. You could create a series of little micro guide videos with a fun slant and top travel tips, for example, and live-steam these online as a ‘ticketed event’, with the ability to chat with customer services representatives and book your offer directly online as part of the event. When combined with direct and immediate calls to action, the engagement of live streaming can be incredibly powerful in China.

4. Collaborate with aligned brands

Why not consider building partnerships with brands that align with your own offer, to bundle up a package deal? For example, if you market a hotel in a Western destination, why not partner with local restaurants, visitor destinations and transport companies? Work together to create a tailored package that offers reciprocal deals and special packages to your Chinese market. Chinese customers love personalisation so you could devise a special programme that includes Chinese language-speaking guides, special tasting menus, private tours and so forth. Show how much you value your Chinese customers by going the extra mile to delight them!

5. Use Giveaways

Chinese tourists love giveaways, and you can use creativity to offer quirky little freebies that add value, in response to data collection and permission for further direct marketing. Remember that Chinese customers are increasingly concerned with sustainability, so some good examples of relevant giveaways could be:

• An eco-friendly bamboo travel brush, or recyclable disposable cleansing wipes to freshen up after a long flight
• Some restorative teabags, presented in cute packaging with a story about the destination
• A free cocktail upon booking your meal, free gift wrap upon buying a product in a local store, etc.
• You could also offer digital giveaways, such as a special travel filter or shareable stickers based on your destination offer, for sharing those all-important vacation snaps!

6. Bonus idea – Promote Safety

Chinese customers are keen to know they will be safe when they travel abroad. Parents also want to know that their children will be supported when they spread their wings and travel overseas alone. So consider creating a branded app that offers safety resources. These could include direct links to your customer services function for contact upon arrival, travel and health tips, useful numbers, and ‘what to do’ guides so that travellers feel prepared for every eventuality. This is an example of how travel brands can go beyond basic promotion and get to the heart of what travellers need to enjoy overseas destinations in comfort.

Other quick ideas for your next Chinese travel marketing campaign:

• Ask Chinese customers to share their funniest travel story or photo, with a prize for the best submission.
• Consider building an online community for travellers to your destination, where users share their top recommendations for local restaurants, tourist destinations and services, in return for building loyalty points.
• Partner with local destination guides and travel brands to offer a competition, such as a free stay at your hotel.
• Tell the story of the people behind the destination. For example, if you market a spa hotel, tell the story of the employees who work there and the passion that they have for offering the best possible experiences, so Chinese travellers feel welcomed and valued even before they arrive. You could share a greeting from the manager or a reminder from the driver that your customer’s airport transfer is ready and waiting for their arrival!
• Put faces to names and personalise your brand to humanize it and build engagement and warmth.
• Send out personalised ‘invites’ for a new offer at your destination or travel service, with beautiful design, and a tailored message, to show how much you value your customers. This could work particularly well for a repeat booking.

Get expert Help

Market Me China is here to help your Western travel brand create powerful marketing campaigns to attract, engage and convert your Chinese target market. Whatever stage you are at on your marketing journey, our team of native-speaking digital marketing professionals is here to get you results! Please contact us to find out more.

The post 5 fun and creative ways to market your travel brand in China appeared first on Market Me China®.

In this blog, we’ll look at why China should be your focus for your travel brand in 2024 and consider some strategies that Western travel brands can take to successfully position themselves in this exciting, lucrative and rapidly evolving market.

Why the Chinese travel market is so attractive

Research suggests that the number of Chinese tourists taking overseas leisure trips grew elevenfold in 2023, compared to 2022. Chinese travellers want to enjoy cultural experiences, shop in luxury Western retail spaces, experience adventure and broaden their horizons. The younger generations in China are particularly keen to enjoy tailored, rich experiences they can share with their friends, often via social media accounts. For Western travel brands, the China market represents a huge opportunity.

The rebound growth in outbound Chinese travel is already being seen in the way that travel brands are upscaling to meet demand. For example, British Airways is doubling its Chinese cabin crew to more than 100 staff this year, with its teams split between Shanghai and Beijing. This is in response to surging demand for high-end leisure experiences from Chinese customers travelling to the UK.

In summary, here are three reasons for Western travel brands to target Chinese travellers:

1. Chinese travellers are affluent, with generous levels of disposable income to spend
2. They are keen for rich, unique, heritage experiences that are tailored and personalised to their needs, offering plenty of opportunities for travel brands to target their offers
3. They are keen to travel widely, to experience unique adventures and to share their positive experiences with friends and family – offering a potential referral market.

Additionally, the Chinese market is vast and offers a huge scope for Western brands to build a successful business!

So what should Western travel brands think about to attract Chinese customers?

When Chinese travellers seek outbound travel opportunities abroad, they do so for a variety of reasons, from cultural enrichment to the chance to shop at luxury Western retail brands. This means that Western brands can delight Chinese customers with thoughtful, personalised and tailored experiences designed to meet their needs.

Here are some steps to position your business effectively for the outbound China travel market.

1. Invest in Research

It’s vital to deeply understand your Chinese target travel market. Chinese tourists can be segmented into a variety of groups according to a variety of demographic data, including age, interests, income and spending patterns. Primary research can help you identify and segment your target markets, building up user personas that allow you to target your marketing strategy. For example, you might want to target Gen X travellers in a certain tier city (with direct flights to your nearest city), and then deliver a social media campaign on the platforms they are most likely to use. Information is everything!

2. Perfect your Offer

As part of your information-gathering process, seek to understand what your target Chinese travel customer wants from their travel experience. Consider whether you can deliver this, and assess your services or products. For example, you might manage a traveller accommodation which meets your target Chinese customer’s desire for local history, authenticity, luxury and rich experiences. Again, by understanding each target group’s needs, you can better position and package your offer to meet them.

3. Focus on Service

Affluent Chinese customers want to enjoy luxuries abroad and the feeling of safety. You can provide this with carefully tailored services, such as Chinese-speaking customer-facing staff, Chinese signage, airport transfers, private tours and so forth. Go above and beyond to delight your Chinese customers, with plenty of tailored pre-travel communication, easy routes for engagement, and immediate access to staff when required. These all go a long way to providing that valuable experience that your Chinese customers will want to recommend to their friends and family.

4. Consider Customisation

Chinese travellers also want the chance to enjoy personalised, tailored travel experiences. Offer opportunities for this whenever you can, whether that’s in the form of a bespoke tour or specially designed gift wrapping and bags for your customers. Offer luxury experiences too, such as guided designer shopping tours, after-hours tours of special attractions, private transfers and luxury spas.

5. Max out your Marketing

Great marketing is the key to finding, engaging and converting Chinese travellers to customers of your brand. This will mean crafting a strong, targeted multi-channel marketing strategy with carefully tailored messaging. A good Chinese travel marketing strategy will blend images, storytelling, video and other means, such as viral marketing, to showcase your destination, travel products or services, and create a sense of excitement and desire. By using elements such as KOLs, Chinese social media channels, Chinese language apps, Baidu advertising and online PR, you can reach your target Chinese audience and showcase your travel brand to the best effect.

6. Get Expert Help

It makes sense to use the services of a Chinese digital marketing agency that can help you craft the right digital marketing strategy to win Chinese customers for your Western travel brand. A Chinese digital marketing agency will have the experience, expertise, localised knowledge and Chinese language skills needed to craft effective, impactful digital marketing strategies that will convert visitors into customers. With this kind of specialist support, you can attain a healthy ROI on your digital marketing budget.

Find out more

Market Me China is here to help your Western travel brand to attract, convert and delight Chinese customers, as this exciting market continues to grow. With huge benefits on offer to Western brands that can win over Chinese travellers, it makes sense to gain this vital support so that you can master the complex digital marketing landscape in China, which is based on an entirely different set of highly sophisticated tools and technologies – all delivered in Chinese!

Our native language-speaking digital marketing professionals are here to help you craft and deliver compelling campaigns that bring real results, and we work flexibly around your business’s needs too. Please contact us in the first instance to find out more.

The post Why China should be your focus for your travel brand in 2024 appeared first on Market Me China®.

But although the Chinese travel market is hugely attractive, it’s also very competitive, with low conversion rates. It can also be very challenging for brands to distinguish themselves against a powerful array of incumbent brands, and to make themselves heard amongst the marketing ‘noise!’

However, with the right approach, it is possible to boost your conversions and maximise the results of your marketing campaigns and budget. The key to success lies in having a strong strategy, delivering it carefully and measuring the results of what you do to keep refining your approach. Here are five ways to see those conversions rise!

1. Optimize your website

Your potential customers will get their first impression of your brand via your website or app. So it’s vital to make sure your landing pages and homepage are tightly optimised for the best possible first experience. Generally speaking, you have just a few seconds to make this first impression, so every element must be considered, from functionality to imagery and design.

For the travel market, simplicity is critical. All good travel websites and apps must be simple and easy to navigate, with crisp copy, obvious functionality and easy, logical search functions. Mobile optimisation is key too, because most Chinese customers will view your digital assets on their smartphone.

Takeaway: Focus on simplicity. Your travel website and app should be simple, crisp and clear with logical user journeys. Use SEO-focused copy, targeted imagery and really focus on your USP. What makes your travel brand stand out? It’s also vital to continually test your website. A/B or split testing is the best way to boost your conversion rates, and you simply do it by comparing two slightly different versions of a landing page or app and seeing which has the best conversion rates. This can enhance your digital marketing learning journey by evidencing what your target customers want to see.

2. Work on the customer journey

When a customer comes onto your website or app, he or she has a desired intention in mind; and generally, this will relate to making a booking, or finding information about travel. This means that travel businesses should invest in customer journey mapping in five stages:

• The dreaming phase, when the customer is considering making a trip.
• The planning phase, where the customer is looking for information in order to make a travel decision.
• The booking phase, to physically secure the trip.
• The experience phase, which is the lived experience of the actual trip itself.
• The sharing phase, which can happen during or after the trip, which occurs when the customer shares their experiences of the travel – perhaps in videos or photos shared on social media, and reviews.

It’s important for travel businesses to think about how they might engage with their target audience through each stage, and to provide content that meets the needs of each stage. This could include information in a digital brochure format for planning, inspirational imagery for dreaming, simple online forms for booking and a reviews section for the sharing phase (perhaps with an incentive to share and tag content on social media.)

3. Create powerful calls-to-action

Your call to action will persuade your website visitors to make their bookings. To encourage this, always have a visible CTA which is highly visible, simple to understand, and ready to help the visitor make their desired action.

4. Use social proof

Travel brands tend to experience high levels of digital cart abandonment, which is where online visitors will go through the process of loading an online cart with a booking, and then abandoning it. Booking a travel experience tends to be a complex experience which can be both expensive and emotionally involving, and many customers will need time and encouragement to complete their booking.

Brands need to be able to show that they are reliable, trustworthy and able to meet their customers’ needs. Testimonials and reviews can be a good way to show your brand’s quality and legitimacy and grow trust. Show summary reviews on your website with key insights and points, and add comments and replies as required. If a customer leaves a negative review on a third-party site always seek to respond positively and show that you wish to solve the problem.

5. Remember to personalise your offer

Chinese customers want to enjoy highly personalised travel experiences, so the more that brands can customise their offers the better. This personalisation can include the offer itself – Chinese travel guides, welcome signs, customised tours, localised food – and the website or app. To personalise the digital assets your customers will use look at using unique landing pages and real-time deals that update using AI.

To help develop these assets, use AI tools and analytics to track customer behaviour. With this data, you can gain the insights you need to plan appropriate engagement methods. These could include unique landing pages, personalised email marketing messages and loyalty schemes to build brand loyalty and more conversions.

6. Make use of all digital channels

Chinese digital marketing is a complex and ever-evolving field so it’s vital to know where your customers spend their time online and then have a strong, consistent presence on those platforms. A Chinese marketing agency can help you identify the right platforms and create a powerful campaign that maximises your tactics for the best possible results.

Find out more

Market Me China is a one-stop shop for all of your Chinese digital marketing needs. Our digital marketing professionals have the skills and native Chinese language skills you need to succeed in this exciting, lucrative and rapidly growing market. Whether your brand is in travel, education or services space, we can help you win and convert customers, building your brand and a loyal audience for long-term gains. Please contact us to find out more about how we can help your business thrive in the China market.

The post 6 ways to Boost Your Travel Brand’s Conversions in China appeared first on Market Me China®.

This market is incredibly appealing due to its size and value. It is also diverse, spanning Chinese Millennials with plenty of disposable income and the desire for personalised travel experiences, and older Chinese adults who wish to experience stress-free global getaways that support their hobbies and interests, such as photography or culture.

This means that Western travel brands have an exciting opportunity to build success in the China market; positioning their travel brand and growing it at a time when the market is rapidly evolving. One of the best marketing methods for marketing a Western travel brand in China is to use Chinese influencers; or KOLs. Let’s take a closer look.

Why Chinese KOLs matter for travel marketing

Chinese KOLs, or opinion leaders, are hugely influential in Chinese modern culture and they use their clout (and followings) to promote travel destinations, products and services through sponsored content on platforms such as Weibo and WeChat. They might do this by creating promotional videos, posting product images or offering experience reviews.

Chinese KOLs are hugely influential because Chinese customers are far more likely to choose travel destinations based on recommendations from friends, KOLs and online reviews – around 74% in fact, compared to 30% globally. This means that Western travel brands can strategically use influencer relationships to share their marketing messages effectively to target audiences – building brand awareness, educating target customers and using a holistic digital marketing ecosystem to convert viewers into buyers.

How to effectively use Chinese KOLs for travel marketing

If your brand can find the right Chinese KOL and build an effective marketing plan for the relationship, your business can experience a real boost to its funnel marketing strategy, from awareness and education through to conversation. The trick lies in finding the right KOL, brokering the deal and devising the right content and flow that guides potential customers to conversions. Let’s look at each stage in turn:

1. Finding the right Chinese KOL for your travel brand

There are a huge number of Chinese KOLs operating in the travel market and many are open to paid partnership arrangements, in return for sponsorship and promotional content. It’s important to do in-depth research into potential KOLs and understand their follower base. Niche KOLs can be more effective than higher-profile KOLs with broad-base followers, because the right niche may result in a higher percentage of conversions.

2. Broker the KOL partnership

Many KOLs operate through agency relationships and do business in Chinese. It helps to use the services of a Chinese digital marketing agency that can research and identify potential KOLs, engage with them and secure the right promotional arrangement for your travel brand, based on your objectives, budget and resources. This will secure the best results and formalise the arrangement.

3. Create impactful content

When you have identified the right KOL (or KOLs for your different target Chinese audiences), it’s time to create impactful content that will resonate with your target customers’ needs. Your KOL will produce their own videos or posts, depending on your arrangement, but you will want to have a landing page for them to link to. This could be your main travel brand website or a promotional campaign page, depending on your objectives and campaign strategy. This is also an important point to boost your customer service availability to handle incoming queries and to optimise your digital ecosystem as a whole; focusing on usability and customer journeys, positive customer reviews, ePR and so forth.

When your influencer begins to direct potential customers your way, you will want to be ready for them with the most effective and optimised content possible. Market Me China can help you to get this right by ensuring your content is culturally sensitive, appropriate for your tightly defined target audiences (with the creation of user personas), and technically optimised to work speedily and correctly in China (factoring in considerations such as localised hosting and platforms etc.)

4. Measure & optimise

As with all digital marketing campaigns, it’s important to continually measure and evaluate the success of your KOL relationship, in the same way that you would measure Baidu PPC advertising, ePR and social media marketing in China. Again, a Chinese digital marketing agency can help you with this, by offering expert digital marketing skills and the native language abilities that make this process as quick, easy and effective as possible.

Other things to focus on

As well as using Chinese influencers to effectively market your travel brand to Chinese customers, it’s also important to:

1. Localise your digital content (website, and marketing materials etc)
2. Invest in cultural sensitivity and language skills across your business, to facilitate effective communication and customer service with Chinese customers
3. Offer familiar Chinese payment options such as WeChat Pay or Alipay.
4. Offer Chinese language signage and amenities, such as Mandarin-speaking tour guides, menus in Chinese and some familiar foods and drinks.
5. Work on your online reputation management, by using channels such as ePR and social media marketing and communities.

Find out more

There are no shortcuts to success here, it takes careful planning, time and work to build and maintain your travel brand in China, but with the right strategy, tactical delivery and partnerships with a Chinese digital marketing agency, your Western travel brand can experience success in the China market and benefit from this fast-growing, lucrative market at its early stages. To find out more about how Market Me China can help you with your Chinese marketing success, please contact our friendly team of Chinese language natives and professional digital marketers today.

The post How to use Chinese influencers to market your travel brand appeared first on Market Me China®.

Now is the time!

It’s important for Western brands to start planning ahead now. A 2016 WorldPay study found that over 90% of Chinese outbound tourists book their flights and accommodation within three months of their travel date.

Why do Chinese tourists matter so much?

Western leisure, retail, tourism and services brands, in particular, will want to engage this growing audience. Chinese tourists spend more when they travel overseas and they seek out high-end products, accommodation, experiences and dining. They love city trips, and the top 10% will spend up to US $2,225 daily during their tips. Younger Chinese travellers are also looking for authenticity, independence, discovery and fresh content for their social media!

How does Ctrip digital marketing help?

Ctrip is the biggest Online Travel Agent (OTA) in China, with 65% of the country’s online travel market. In the West, it is better known under its Trip.com brand.

How should you prepare?

Once you have defined your target audience, take your time to:

– Localise your brand (if necessary), your website and your content.
– Consider your Chinese new year campaign strategy, combining OTA use with online marketing, such as Baidu PPC, social media and KOL engagement, and other activities depending on your goals and budget.
– Add visual Chinese New Year specific campaign elements, such as graphics, competitions, digital red envelopes and so forth.

If you want to do this quickly and effectively, but don’t have native in-house Chinese marketing professionals, a Chinese marketing agency can help. The right agency will smooth the process, avoid any cross-cultural issues and ensure that you stay in line with China’s strict advertising and content publishing rules.

Using Ctrip

This Chinese OTA is so powerful that around seven million Chinese outbound tourists used it to book their Chinese New Year trips this year. The platform is particularly popular amongst young, trendy and aspirational middle-class travellers who like to put together their own trips and itineraries, rather than relying on guided tours. In fact, 70% of Ctrip’s users are these Free Independent Travellers (FITs). Ctrip users can use the platform to book everything from their hotels and flights through to entertainment, dining out and travel services.

Who should you target on Ctrip?

Western marketers should look at travellers who have booked (or are looking to book) overseas travel services such as flights, car hire, holidays and WiFi. The powerful capabilities of Ctrip’s big data means that Western brands can benefit from precise targeting. For example, you might search for Chinese outbound tourists who have already booked their flights to the UK within the next five days, or you might search for Chinese travellers who are already touring the USA.

Using Ctrip to market for Chinese New Year

Ctrip offers a number of key benefits to Western tourist, retail and destination brands; primarily its AI, big data and cloud deployment which provides incredibly targeted, advanced marketing services. User preferences and online behaviours are recorded in minute detail and then mined to generate rich insights for customised marketing campaigns. For example, you can create highly targeted push adverts for your target customer group, according to their key user periods and the drivers that will result in a purchase.

Choose your type of advertising

Ctrip ads are placed throughout the website / app and in line with the customer’s user journey – beginning as they carry out research for a planned trip and through to their review of the experience. Western marketers can choose:

1. Retargeted banner displayers, with precise targeting against buyer behaviour
2. Hero apps – which again, drive conversions through varied channels and offer precise targeting by demographics, travel habits and buyer interests.
3. Brand placement – putting your brand in front of your target audience as they carry out their searches (and remembering that Chinese audiences find online advertising to be useful and informative, in contrast to Western audiences who often see it as a nuisance.)
4. Trip moments – which is akin to Instagram and which offers marketers the chance to place branded content against product placements, keyword searches and native feeds with discovery and city categories (bearing in mind that Ctrip Moments span 16,000 destinations with over 1.5 million posts!)
5. Joint promotion opportunities  with WIFI/car rental: O2O, target real-time, destination-oriented tourists effectively.
6. VIP Club promotion to high-end travellers and business travellers.
7. Sponsorship and advertising on official Weibo and WeChat Ctrip accounts.
8. Partner arrangements with KOLs for Trip Moments.

How to get real value from your Ctrip marketing campaign

As mentioned, the true power of Ctrip lies in its high-tech algorithms and precise targeting which are based on incredibly rich data insights from their user’s behaviour. If you can fully leverage this data for your own targeting, your budget will go much further and your adverts will actually get in front of your target audience. If, however, you don’t precisely target, you risk wasting precious digital marketing budget on adverts which are either crowded out by competitor brands or which are never actually seen by the right customers.

At Market Me China, we have the digital expertise and native language skills that you need to master Ctrip. We can help with every stage of your Chinese New Year digital marketing campaign journey, such as:

– Chinese New Year digital marketing strategy on Ctrip
– Identifying your target audience
– Curating, repurposing and creating content that makes their needs
– localising your website and the Chinese New Year visual assets that will bring it to life for the occasion – think red envelopes, celebration graphics, competition popups and so forth!
– Engaging with the right KOL for your brand to sponsor and promote your content in the right way.
– Organising, managing and evaluating the right type of Ctrip advertising campaign for your objectives

Contact us today

Interested in knowing more about Ctrip and the value it can offer to your Western brand for Chinese New Year? Our team of experts are here to help. Please contact us to find out how we can assist your brand, whether you are new to marketing in China or keen to build your brand presence further within your Chinese outbound tourism market.

The post Ctrip Digital Marketing to attract Chinese outbound tourists during Chinese New Year appeared first on Market Me China®.

The attractiveness of this market to Western brands is obvious, and already many businesses are stepping up their marketing efforts to accommodate the unique needs of this sophisticated audience. Today we’ll look at WeChat, one of China’s most popular social media platforms, and establish how western brands can leverage it for marketing success.

Why create a WeChat marketing strategy?

With over one billion users every month, WeChat is China’s biggest social media app, and it’s owned by Tencent. Akin in popularity and usage to Facebook and Whatsapp, the platform offers a wide range of functions to marketers – from mini program apps through to flight bookings and mobile payments.

Steps to creating a successful travel-based WeChat marketing strategy

The Chinese market is dynamic and complex, and this vast audience of netizens expect tailored, engaging and unique online experiences which offer them real value, entertainment and a seamless user experience.

Key points to know about Chinese outbound marketing:

– 60% of Chinese outbound tourism is now made up of Millennials and Gen Z travellers and 72% of this audience use social media, blogs, user-generated peer-content and travel websites to create their own tailor-made itineraries.

1. Use the right KOLs

Travel Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) are particularly important for attracting the millennial market, who use their smartphones extensively and value recommendations of trusted Chinese influencers. KOLs are seen as providing inspiration and being trustworthy. By engaging with the right KOL, your business can begin to engage with Chinese travellers as they plan their journeys. A good WeChat strategy is to agree a sponsorship or partnership arrangement where your KOL will provide reviews, soft-sell advice that positions your brand, live experiences at your destination and so forth. Research intensively to find the right influencer, with the audience that is right for your product / service. Remember too to provide your KOL with giveaway items – such as a free hotel stay, discount code or high-end product – so that they can launch a viral competition.

2. Time your campaigns

Travel in China peaks at Chinese New Year, through summer and in October Golden Week. Ensure your WeChat marketing strategy is designed to kick in during the planning period beforehand – typically 3-4 months beforehand, with tailored WeChat marketing campaigns that generate travel inspiration to your destination.

2. Create superb content

WeChat articles are a key source of inspiration to Chinese outbound travellers, so ensure your content is carefully curated to be visually appealing, beautifully designed, on-brand and engaging – Chinese customers love witty, entertaining and informative content. They also love the nature theme when it comes to travel. For example, a natural attraction can use scenery based imagery and messaging that reinforces the ‘clean, unspoilt, beautiful and natural’ image – generating high engagement amongst users who live in Chinese cities. Restaurants find that food-based imagery is popular and incredibly share-able, especially with competitions attached.

Create a variety of content styles using all tools available – such as the Moments feature – and have Chinese language speakers on hand to answer questions online and engage with followers. Competitions and quirky campaigns are key to success – and remember that your content can also be used to cross-fertilise your other branded social media sites and repurposed or repackaged to refresh your engaged audience and to inspire new visitors to your branded account.

3. Get your website and app ready

Consider using the WeChat mini program feature to create an in-site app that allows Chinese users to carry out their desired outbound travel function with your brand – whether that’s booking a flight or a room, making a reservation or ordering a product that they plan to see at your physical premises (where they will be lavished with attention; with Chinese speaking customer services staff, themed product variations targeted to Chinese needs and extras such as gift wrapping etc.) Ensure your website and its WeChat landing pages are optimised for Chinese visitors, with Chinese localisation that ensures language, tone, user journeys, content and images are mobile-friendly and ready to meet the unique needs of your Chinese users.

3. Integrate the right mobile payments

China is becoming an increasingly cashless society, so make sure you have WeChat Pay and AliPay integrated into your website and app. When your WeChat marketing strategy sends leads to your digital assets, they will expect to make any bookings or online payments using a platform that they trust and recognise. (Many shops, hotels and service providers in the West now offer mobile payments and Chinese payment platforms in their premises too, helping to boost sales.) WeChat Pay also offers the benefit of a tax refund mode which is attractive to Chinese customers.

4. Use WeChat advertising

WeChat advertising can be highly targeted, so do the necessary research to accurately pinpoint your target audience using tight demographics, and then set up an advertising campaign that matches these carefully planned criteria. This will maximise your returns whilst managing your budget. A Chinese marketing agency can assist with this and manage the process from end-to-end.

Find out more

Ready to leverage the power of WeChat to bring your brand to the attention of China’s vast and growing outbound travel market? Whether you are new to digital marketing in China or an experienced player, our team of experts work on a partnership basis with your brand to provide the service that you need. We evidence all results and help your budget – and conversions – go further with native Chinese speakers and highly skilled Chinese digital marketing experts ready to work on a flexible basis with your brand. Contact us to find out more.

The post Tips to create a successful WeChat marketing strategy for Chinese outbound tourism appeared first on Market Me China®.

Top destinations for Chinese outbound travellers

During July to August, sophisticated Chinese travellers like to take overseas trips and experience new destinations. These highly-informed, digitally-engaged and increasingly affluent travellers head to holiday hotspots that include Thailand, Japan, South Korea, the USA, Canada, the UK and Europe (particularly, Italy and France.)

Things to know about Chinese tourists

The China outbound travel market tends to display a number of characteristics when holidaying in the West:

1. They are short on time and prefer to visit attractions that offer efficiency and experiences, such as parks, historic buildings, museums, food, shopping centres and guided tours. They also like big attractions that they can ‘tick off’, especially if visiting a Western destination for the first time.
2. When visiting Europe, they enjoy arts and culture, the blue skies and smaller cities.
3. They love to spend, especially on shopping (although they may economise on transportation, accommodation and food.)
4. Chinese travellers are increasingly keen to travel in smaller, self-organising groups. They like to experience local cuisine too as part of their trip.

It’s vital to note, however, that the Chinese market is not a single one, and there are significant demographic differences that exist across the country’s regions. A Chinese digital marketing agency can assist with audience segmentation and targeting and offer valuable insights that will help to maximise the success of your digital marketing campaign to Chinese outbound travellers.

Digital Marketing channels

Digital marketing channels are the obvious focal point for a Chinese marketing campaign. For example, Western brands are recommended to:

– Create a localised Chinese language website with local hosting and targeted content. Ensure that you incorporate the appropriate Chinese payment solutions (including mobile payments) and customer services facilities.
– Build your social media presence on WeChat, Weibo, Little Red Book, YouKu, and other more specialist platforms that may be appropriate for your offer and audience. Create interesting, informative, fun and shareable content that is targeted to your Chinese audience. (For example, know that Chinese value relationships, so build trust and engagement by inviting them to see you and offer incentives, competitions, special offers/products and gamification to capture their attention.)
– Consider using Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) to help launch specific campaigns for potential visitors, as well as to build awareness of your brand.
– Invest in an online marketing campaign which posts to your localised Chinese landing pages.

Branding pointers

Remember to emphasise the heritage, history and quality of your brand – using human interest angles where possible. Chinese buyers love the cachet of Western brands. Equally, try to relate your own brand story to Chinese culture. For example, if you run a historic hotel, relate its rich history to key milestones in Chinese history.

Campaign tips

As well as Chinese digital marketing activities for the China outbound travel market, there are complementary offline activities that can further boost your results.

For example:

1. Develop specific products or services for the China outbound travel market – It’s important that your offer genuinely interests Chinese visitors and meets their unique expectations and cultural needs.
2. Train staff so that they are ready to welcome Chinese visitors – and make sure you have Mandarin speaking staff.
3. Update your signage and other branded materials so that they offer Simplified Chinese information
4. Make it easy for Chinese customers to pay by offering China UnionPay, AliPay and WeChat Pay.
5. Treat your Chinese customers as friends that you hope to see again. Offer them thoughtful touches such as gift-wrapped purchases or greetings cards. Have quality business cards ready too.
6. See if your country’s national tourism board runs a specific welcome campaign for Chinese visitors, and register your business as one that is keen and ready to welcome China outbound travellers. For example, in the UK, there is a GREAT China Welcome Charter operated by Visit Britain. (https://www.visitbritain.org/about-great-china-welcome-charter)
7. Know that Chinese customers expect an excellent level of service, and take all steps to deliver it. This includes competitive prices, punctuality of service, last-minute itinerary changes and flexible terms.

Case studies for success

In America, the Las Vegas Conventions & Visitors Authority (LVCVA) has built a well-known social media presence in China, with strong content and engagement on WeChat and Weibo, plus video content on Youku, iQIYI, Miaopai and Tencent video. The authority has worked in partnership with its office in Shanghai to build Chinese outbound tourism to Las Vegas for over ten years, investing in sales missions, familiarisation trips and hosting branded events.

In Canada, The McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Toronto has hosted high-profile Chinese events (including last year’s Canada-China Cultural Innovation Forum) and Chinese language weekend tours. It offers information sheets for the gallery in Mandarin, as well as private tours and Chinese speaking staff.

In London, the Mayor of London’s own city promotional agency, London & Partners has a Chinese-focused strategy for the UK’s capital, recognising the pace of growth in this market, the promotion that Chinese tourists give and the value of their spend within London (averaging $2,587 per visit.) Chinese travellers visit London for museums, sport and film and predominantly comprise young and well-educated Chinese. The city agency partners with WeChat and Sina Weibo and creates content that focuses on London’s culture and its art and design scene. It has created a Weibo based Virtual City with information about key attractions and opened partner offices in Shanghai and Beijing. It also carries out dry audits at key attractions to ensure that they have Mandarin audio guides, Chinese signage, UnionPay and AliPay payment services, Chinese speaking staff and so forth.

Find out more

At Market Me China, we help western brands from across all industries to market effectively to Chinese customers. If you are ready to attract Chinese tourists to your destination, service business or retail store, we can help you to achieve your goals. Please contact us for a no obligation chat about your needs and to find out more.

The post Effective marketing strategies for China outbound travel this summer appeared first on Market Me China®.

What is Golden Week?

Golden Week in China 2018 runs from 1st to 7th October. The holiday was created by the Chinese government in 1999 to encourage consumer spending, and it represents a lucrative opportunity for international travel destinations. In 2017, an estimated 710 million Chinese tourists took domestic and overseas trips during the holiday, spending ¥590 billion in the process (Source: www.forbes.com).

The opportunity

China has the biggest middle class demographic in the world (Source: www.telegraph.co.uk) and its consumers have both a healthy disposable income and a keen will to travel overseas. However, the audience is huge, diverse and complex, with significant requirements for marketing segmentation and targeting to achieve desired outcomes. The good news for Western travel businesses, however, is that 82pc of Chinese consumers see Western brands as desirable (Source: Toluna, for Marketing Week) and when it comes to travel, they view Western destinations as hotspots for unique cultural experiences, luxury shopping and retail bargains.

Marketing to Chinese travellers

So how can Western travel brands market successfully to Chinese customers in advance of Golden Week in 2018? Success will come by following a planned approach which uses in-depth local insight and data, combined with a rich experience of the Chinese market and the channels that its consumers prefer. For example:

1. Strategy and planning

A multi-channel marketing strategy before Golden Week must be carefully planned and conceptualised. The initial stage must be to research, to identify target audiences and to segment them effectively. Local knowledge is essential to factor in the impacts of regionalism, language and dialect, plus culture and social, political and economic factors. Various resources can be used intelligently to identify the values and desires that motivate Chinese travellers. For example, TuNiu and other Chinese travel forums are great places to get an insight into what your target travel audience’s interests, by following forum discussions and asking questions.

2. Social media

Chinese buyers are hyper-social in the digital space and respond well to unique, engaging and interesting branded content which offers them real value. Western travel brands can share destination guides, travel interviews, insights, reviews and details of tailored Mandarin-language cultural and retail experience tours, for example, to encourage engagement and referral marketing amongst individual networks. Additionally, Western brands can advertise on WeChat and other Chinese social media platforms, offering discounts, special offers, tax refunds and bilingual information for Golden Week in 2018.

Travel brands should promote the aspects of Western travel that appeal to Chinese travellers, such as Western culture, lifestyles, retail and experiences. Millennial travellers, in particular, are seeking destination-led experiences and older travellers may seek the chance to buy luxury goods. In terms of social media platforms, WeChat is a focal point for brand-led customer engagement, with over 1 billion registered users, especially amongst travelling Chinese youth. Weibo is also a key platform for sharing branded content and promoted images with its user base of 400 million. Both WeChat and Weibo are used heavily by Chinese tourists before they make a travel destination decision.

3. Key Opinion Leaders / Influencers

Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) are hugely influential in China, and many leading KOLs will have thousands of followers and real sway when it comes to recommending destinations and travel experiences. Once engaged to sponsor your brand, they will share your messages with their audience, blog or vlog about your destination and share images that resonate with your target audience. Chinese customers trust the opinions of the KOLS that they feel an affinity with, and a Chinese marketing agency can help Western travel brands to identify the right KOLs for their offer and audience.

4. Baidu PPC

Baidu is the largest search engine in China and it offers an array of advertising opportunities for Western brands. Baidu PPC is a result-driven channel. Success can be achieved by those which optimise their website for the Chinese audience or who – ideally – create a bespoke Chinese language website with targeted content, and who optimise for mobile. Baidu account application process is complex, therefore, it is recommended to get started 3 months before the Golden Week. Many Western brands will prefer to save time and money by using the services of a Chinese marketing agency to navigate the hurdles and to avoid wasting resources.

5. Online Travel Agencies (OTAs)

OTAs such as CTrip, eLong and Qunar are highly popular for booking travel, and there are opportunities to Western brands to advertise on them, directing customers to their locally-hosted, Chinese language and Chinese content-driven websites to boost conversions. Competition is high for ad space and big brands to dominate, so niche OTAs can be targeted for segmented Chinese audiences, to better leverage smaller budgets.

6. ePR

A Chinese marketing agency can help Western travel brands to get valuable content into the publications and digital news platforms that their target audiences will be reading. These can be a mix of reputational pieces, informative pieces with brand positioning or advertorial.

7. TV and outdoor advertising

Product placement may be a mature strategy in the West, but it is still gaining traction in China and well-placed TV advertising can be an excellent way to capture the interest of your audience – especially more mature Chinese travellers. Similarly, outdoor advertising is highly visual and can be powerful for showing travel destinations in an attractive, compelling way – with attention paid to regional placement and local values, dialects and imagery.

Examples of Western brands already marketing for Golden Week

Good examples of marketing effectively before Golden Week in China 2018 can be found across an array of Western brands. For example, the Cambridge Satchel Company uses KOLs, which it has built relationships with over a number of years in order to craft compelling and authentic messaging for their style-conscious followers. It also works with local travel and tour operators at its retail locations, which are based in popular cities for Chinese tourism. For Golden Week, it promotes its red and oxblood red, smaller satchels for POS advertising in-store, and offers in-store wrapping services, promotional gifts and other incentives. Luxury brands like Fortnum & Mason and Harvey Nichols adopt similar strategies and employ Mandarin and Cantonese speaking staff at their stores, as well as offering familiar Chinese payment platforms such as China UnionPay and Alipay (Source: www.marketingweek.com).

Find out more

To maximise the benefits of Golden Week in China 2018, it’s essential to start planning early on. For most Western travel brands, success can be vastly facilitated by using a specialist Chinese Marketing agency such as Market Me China, to navigate the complexity of the vast Chinese market, and to facilitate the complex administrative processes involved. We offer services in Baidu PPC, social media, ePR and more, to help Western brands achieve their target marketing outcomes. Whether you are new to Chinese marketing or an experienced brand looking to take your Chinese market presence further, we are here to assist. Contact us to find out more.

The post 7 ways for travel marketers to prepare for Golden Week in China 2018 appeared first on Market Me China®.

How Chinese tourism trends are changing

Talk about the tourism industry and increasingly it centres on Chinese tourism. In fact, China provided the highest volume of outbound destination tourism in 2013 at 97.3 million, and the highest level of overseas expenditure in 2012 at $102 billion, making it the new leader for outbound tourism on a global scale. It is also estimated that 20% of world travel will be undertaken by Chinese tourists by 2023, driven by domestic changes in the tourism market, greater affluence and a growing middle class and profound social changes that are transforming the country. If you’re serious about growing your destination to new visitors, it’s time to take the Chinese market seriously, and this means gaining a keen understanding of its features, characteristics and needs.

Where Chinese tourists want to visit

The top destinations for Chinese tourists span the UK, USA, Europe and Asia. In Europe, their preferred destinations include France, Italy, Spain, Germany and the United Kingdon. In Asia, hotspots include Japan, Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia. Other popular outbound destinations are the Maldives, Russia, UAE and Australia.

What are Chinese tourists looking for?

As a broad national group, their needs are varied and offer plenty of opportunities for effective marketing and proposition creation. Key search terms from Chinese tourists include island destinations, foodie holidays, nature and exploration, family fun and outdoor sports. They love five-star hotels (and can afford them) and enjoy getting away during the peaks of the Chinese summer and winter to avoid excesses of heat and cold. Relaxation and recuperation feature highly as requirements, as do in-depth cultural and local experiences and broad urban leisure attractions, from shopping and museums through to entertainment and dining. Interestingly too, tourism preferences are now including greater unique individual experiences and less reliance on group package travel, perhaps reflecting a rapid confidence in solo travel and the ability to craft tailored experiences through excellent local service provision (a key marketing message for tourism providers!).

Why successful Chinese tourism needs a multi-channel marketing strategy

Tourism businesses must successfully employ a multi-channel marketing strategy that includes China’s own key channels – remember, Google, Facebook, Twitter and Western equivalents aren’t available in China. It’s vital to also have rich knowledge about the target groups you are aiming to attract – knowing for example that Chinese tourists tend to book their trips 3 months in advance, are often female and upper or middle class, and are more likely to fly to a destination with a direct flight link to their own city.

Here are 7 tips we would like share with you.

1. Website optimisation

Chinese tourists are comfortable booking their travel and tourism services via their smartphones and other digital devices, so be sure to optimise your Chinese website to be fully responsive. Offer a translated alternative to local language content so that Chinese users can learn about your services in their native language. Also, don’t forget to make sure your Chinese website is user-friendly to Chinese tourist.

2. Search engine marketing in China

Baidu is the leading search engine in China with a market share of almost 80%. It offers multiple advertising products, including Baidu PPC and a BrandZone on a CPT auction model with a conversion rate of 50-80% AC Nielsen has reported that this feature can deliver a 78% rise in purchase intent. It is wise to invest in SEO and PPC activity which targets your key market demographics and which ensures local keywords are embedded into your own digital content to help elevate your search rankings for relevant terms. Online advertising is available to businesses, but it requires a lot of complex administration to navigate – something that we can assist you with at Market Me China.

3. Chinese social media

Social media marketing is vital, and WeChat and Weibo are vital platforms on which to build a destination tourism presence and to engage with potential visitors. Chinese tourists use social media platforms to help with their travel decision-making process in the pre-purchase phase. Travel brands can interact with users, reply to comments and messages, share rich content, launch competitions and deliver targeted advertising campaigns. The first step is to set up an official account on the right Chinese social media platforms, and then begin to share expertly crafted content, imagery, video, reviews and other engagement approaches.

4. Influence marketing / KOL marketing

Key Opinion Leaders – or KOLs – must be considered for their ability to influence opinion and intent via social platforms like WeChat and Weibo. Akin to Western influencers, they can be engaged with individually to soft promote, test or advertise services to their followers.

5. PR & travel forums

Tourism brands must build ePR strategies across key platforms such as TripAdvisor and Mafengwo – the Chinese equivalent. This means creating shareable, value-adding content, engaging with journalists and platform owners and being innovative, authentic and knowledgeable in your approach to meet the needs of your target audience. Chinese users also heavily use online travel forums to discuss travel options and to seek advice and views. Tuniu, Mafengwo and Qyer are good platforms to look at and to build a brand presence upon.

6. Online travel agencies

The key Chinese online agencies include Ctrip, Qunar and eLong, as well as Mangocity and Tuniu. It is vital to have your tourism service registered on these sites, as well as to consider targeted advertising to reach Chinese tourists. For smaller and more niche tourism service providers who don’t have the budget to compete for advertising space against large players, there are other specialist agencies which are worth considering for highly targeted advertising.

7. Offline marketing

Don’t forget the value of offline marketing channels either – which are as diverse as cinematic advertising through to Out of House advertising.

Remember, the Chinese market has different needs for messaging, content and imagery, and local expertise must be applied with consideration to regionalism, language and other segmented factors. The market as a whole is expected to segment greatly in the coming years, meaning that access to local expertise will be key to success. As an example, timing of campaigns is vital to ramping up demand before key holidays such as Chinese New Year, Summertime and October Golden Week, and regionalism is vital when considering language used by Chinese geography, age, social class and other demographics; all factors which are challenging to navigate without specialist and professional Chinese destination marketing expertise.

Ready to market your destination to Chinese tourists? Get in touch!

If you are responsible for destination marketing and keen to learn more about this fascinating market, the rich potential on offer and the strategies that you need to employ to gain market share for your own holiday hotspot, then we are here to help. As the experts in Chinese marketing, we can help you to craft the expert marketing strategy that leads to those all-important conversions, whilst building your destination brand and awareness in the China market. Whether you are seeking to enter the Chinese tourism market with a fresh destination proposition or are seeking expert help with your Chinese online marketing, we will be delighted to assist you. Please get in touch to find out more.

The post 7 tips for China Outbound tourism success: How to market your destination to Chinese tourists appeared first on Market Me China®.

These huge numbers offer a significant opportunity for destinations and tour companies that can appeal to and tap into this vast market. But for destinations without a firm foothold in the Chinese market, it can be difficult to know how to market to this relatively new and unique group of travellers – and where to start.

Chinese social media marketing is a good starting point for travel destinations. There are two main social platforms that any destination or travel company must master to appeal to the masses – WeChat and Weibo. WeChat is the most widely used social network in China, with one billion monthly users; Weibo comes second with 340 million.

Targeted marketing and understanding Chinese travellers

Building reputation via word of mouth is one of the most powerful ways to appeal to travellers. However, in a country with a population of 1.38 billion – almost a fifth of the world’s population – it is more difficult to build word of mouth organically. It is essential that those marketing to Chinese tourists take necessary steps to narrow down their audiences. A blanket approach in China will not work; in a country that spans almost 10 million square kilometres, the needs of so many diverse groups of travellers will vary dramatically.

Travel companies should take the time to understand the particular demographics of the visitors that are likely to be attracted to their hotel or destination. Brands should then invest in understanding the shopping and booking habits of these consumers.

Know the Chinese calendar

Like any country, China has its peak travel times; Chinese New Year, Summertime and October Golden Week are the most popular times for Chinese people to travel abroad, so any social media marketing campaigns should aim to reach travellers as they are planning their holidays for these periods. A 2016 study by WorldPay found that more than nine out of ten Chinese travellers booked their holidays within three months of travel; therefore, social media marketing campaigns should start around four months before each peak travel period to catch people during their “inspiration” phase, in time for them to book.

Focus on trust

Trust is important in any culture, but in China it is particularly important for brands looking to break into the market. Part of the reason China is a challenge for many companies is that Chinese people tend to opt for brands that are familiar and that they trust. Foreign brands may invoke uncertainty and ambiguity; therefore, for travel companies looking to appeal to the Chinese tourist, it is essential to focus on building a rapport with individual people and invest the time in creating memorable campaigns that have relevance, longevity and meaning.

KOL(Key Opinion Leader) marketing can also be a good way to market to Chinese tourists via social networks. This can help to associate your brand with an influence that is known and trusted and can help to initiate word of mouth.

Develop your content on WeChat and Weibo

Travel brands that want to capture the hearts of the Chinese traveller need to do more than just setting up official accounts on WeChat and Weibo. Once the social accounts have been set up, you then need to focus on developing a content strategy to build followers. This involves a huge investment in creating a regular flow of useful, interesting, emotional content; a successful social media content plan on WeChat or Weibo provides the opportunity to interact with followers on an individual basis – essential to building trust.

Create experiences for your WeChat or Weibo followers

Chinese travellers of all age groups value being able to interact with their favourite consumer brands. There is an older generation of consumers that has been the first to experience middle class wealth; these consumers are focused on buying material things to show off their wealth. However, the younger generation – which is now becoming more accustomed to this wealth – is more motivated by brands that can offer new experiences. Therefore, travel brands that are looking to appeal to this digitally savvy generation should focus on using WeChat and Weibo to create new types of interactions. Think competitions to win an experience like no other, or a campaign that is based on unique interactions. Brands need to be clever to appeal to this group of consumers – but a simple, original idea has the potential to carry itself far and wide through these vastly used sites.

Narrow it down using WeChat and Weibo advertising

Once you have a solid understanding of what specific groups of Chinese travellers you are targeting, you can use WeChat and Weibo advertising to narrow down your target audience in China. Through WeChat and Weibo advertising, advertisers are able to target specific types of people, based on aspects such as their age, region and interests. These targeting methods can be used to drastically narrow down the travellers your ad reaches. For example, when you have created your campaign or ad, you can opt for it to reach people living in cities that have direct flights to your destination, or for it to reach those that have stated an interest in your particular type of destination, or people with the average age of those visiting your destination. Due to the vast amounts of data WeChat and Weibo have on each of their members, you can choose to broaden or narrow down your campaign as much as you want.

There may be many complexities in entering the Chinese market, but with more than 25 percent of Chinese consumers using WeChat or Weibo to interact with Western brands, companies have a real opportunity to tap into this dynamic marketplace. We are experts in helping Western brands navigate this complex audience and start building their reputations among Chinese travellers. So get in touch with us today to get your Chinese social media marketing campaign underway in time for the next big holiday season.

The post How to market to Chinese tourists using WeChat and Weibo appeared first on Market Me China®.

Knowing what these expectations are will help you put a strategy in place to ensure you delight and impress Chinese tourists.

Understand what they value

Chinese tourists are slowly changing their tastes as their culture shifts to become more Westernised back home. Showing off success is a big part of Chinese society, and for a long time this meant buying the well-known brands of luxury items, such as iPhones, Rolex watches, and Louis Vuitton handbags. Now, sophisticated Chinese tourists are looking for new ways to show off, by choosing local brands that aren’t well known back home, but that focus on quality and workmanship (source: Luxury Society). Having an expensive handbag from abroad that no one has heard of still provides the chance to demonstrate their wealth, and the fact that they have been abroad, with the added bonus of exclusivity.

Be organised and efficient

Chinese tourists often have hectic itineraries. While many younger tourists are starting to strike out on their own, others are still happy to go on a package holiday. These guided tours incorporate plenty of opportunities for shopping, but because they want to get as much done as possible, time can be short. Chinese shoppers don’t want to have to wait a long time to be served, either, so it is important that you have the staff and capabilities to deal with queries and big purchases quickly, often from large groups.

They want to brag about their trip online

Some Westerners see a holiday as a break from social media as well as the usual work and life commitments. Chinese tourists have the exact opposite attitude. A huge 91% of Chinese tourists claimed to interact with social media in some capacity whilst on their travels (source: Jing Daily). They were using social media platforms such as Weibo to share updates on their trips, letting everyone back home see what an amazing time they are having. Considering this kind of recommendation is invaluable, you could find it very beneficial to ensure you have something worthy of being photographed or shared online, whether it is your staff’s distinctive uniforms or a particularly welcoming hotel lobby.

When welcoming anyone, a few small touches can make a big difference. For instance, simple things such as including a kettle (for cooking noodles and breakfast rice) and slippers in the room of every Chinese guest can transform a standard hotel into a place your Chinese guests will feel comfortable and respected in.

(Image source: Image created by khunaspix | www.freedigitalphotos.net)

The post What do Chinese overseas visitors expect? appeared first on Market Me China®.

Jewellery sales during Chinese New Year

For many the perfect gift, sales of jewellery in China between the New Year period in 2014 rose by 38.1% (source: International Business Times). As well as typical jewellery pieces, and New Year themed items, there was also a general rise in the sale of precious metals. Caibai, a leading jewellery retailer in Beijing, reported a 57.6% rise in sales, which included gold and silver as well as jewellery items. The Chinese like to buy jewellery, as well as New Year themed gold bars, as presents for themselves or others, in the hope that they will increase in value, therefore making them an investment, rather than a passing trinket (source: Bullion Street). Convincing Chinese shoppers of the potential for your jewellery and metal products to increase in value, is a good way to inspire confidence among New Year customers.

Chinese New Year travel

For many Chinese, New Year is a time to be spent with friends and family. During the Spring Festival period, into which New Year falls, over 1billion Chinese people travel to spend time with relatives and friends. But it is not just visits home that make Chinese roads, airports and seaports so busy during the Lunar New Year. Plenty of Chinese people take advantage of the time off to go travelling. Shanghai alone saw 64,000 people travel abroad in 2012, an increase of 11.6% on the previous year (Source: China.org). 2014 saw a total of 4.5million estimated overseas travellers, a record level at 12.5% higher than 2013 (Source: GB Times).

Spring Festival luxury goods sales in the China market

We already know that Chinese travellers are big spenders when abroad. During the New Year period, even more so. In 2012 Chinese travellers spent $7.2billion on luxury goods abroad. Their spending alone accounted for more than 62% of the luxury sales in Europe. As the Chinese people acquire a taste for luxury goods and enjoy increased levels of disposable income, they are becoming a powerful spending force, already accounting for the largest market in luxury goods in the world.

Are you considering marketing to China for the Spring Festival period? Let us know below!

(Image source: “New Year Bag” | www.freedigitalphotos.net)

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