Opportunities for Western brands

For businesses, of course, Chinese New Year is a fantastic opportunity to boost sales. But there are broader brand benefits too, as this unique festive season gives businesses the chance to highlight their values and cultural awareness – as well as their commercial offerings.

Already, businesses are putting up decorations – whether physical or digital on their online storefronts – and distributing promos to get customers excited about special offers, competitions and deals. So what makes a successful marketing campaign for Chinese New Year? Let’s take a closer look:

1. Your design

We’ve talked before about how symbolic and contextual the Chinese culture is, and Chinese New Year is a fantastic opportunity to showcase your appreciation of this culture. 2022 is the year of the Tiger – the king of animals and symbolic of strength and bravery – so it helps to include this image in your marketing, along with other popular symbols as much as the Neko cat, dragon, lanterns and good luck gong.

As an example of this done well, Alipay uses AR technology to gift traditional red packets (Hong Bao) to customers and gamifies Hong Bao searches on the website to create a game that users can play with friends. Remember though – design must always be stylish and well-executed to impress discerning Chinese customers. Make your digital imagery – photos, videos, stickers, wallpapers, even celebration filters, of the highest quality to reflect your own brand’s credentials and to respect the Chinese love of luxury.

Equally, you may also want to consider adding plenty of red and gold elements to your digital channels – red is the colour of prosperity in China and it is ubiquitous for the festival. But use it tastefully and remember to include plenty of smiling people in your imagery (Burberry’s entire campaign fell flat when photographed Chinese celebrities as an unsmiling family group that Chinese customers found disturbing and ‘creepy’!)

2. Your competitions

Online contests can help to grow your audience, build your community and win new subscribers. Your brand will benefit from a specific Chinese New Year marketing campaign that gets plenty of likes, shares and comments – and which potentially includes user-generated content for maximum results.

As an example, Coca-Cola created a Chinese New Year campaign in 2019 that asked customers to share nominations for people who made them happy. The campaign was a huge hit, resulting in over 650,000 uploads, and helping to create that sense of happiness and warmth that Chinese people associate with the festival. Brands that can tap into the festival emotions of prosperity, love, happiness and hope can achieve real success at this time of year – building a great story and connection that aids future brand recall and builds trust.

3. Your culture

Talk about your own business and its values and people. The more you can humanise your brand, the easier it is for customers to connect with it and feel an affinity with what happens behind the scenes. We Are Social launched a campaign to share its work culture and team celebrations for Chinese New Year which was received extremely positively by customers.

Why not share gifts and surprises with your teams and partners at work and video the results to share! Why not also use this time to donate to charity or to support a cause, so that customers see your brand as one with values and a social purpose? The younger generation, in particular, wants to support brands that have a social conscience and that make a positive contribution to society, so really showcase your impact and values.

4. Your KOLs

Now is also a great time to work with your KOLs so that they can share warm, celebratory and positive messages to their audiences with a link to your brand – whether that’s sharing details of a special Chinese New Year product line, a competition or a special promotion for the season. KOLs and brand ambassadors can really bring your messages to life during this holiday season and build connection and trust with your target audience.

5. Your integration

Luxury Brands such as Gucci have experienced real success with Chinese New Marketing campaigns by shooting Gen Z-friendly, stylish campaigns that are integrated across digital platforms – with features such as WeChat content (including long-form articles) branded chat stickers, mini-program e-commerce channels, branded mobile wallpaper and even a holiday selfie filter that their ambassador, Chris Lee, leveraged via social platforms.

However you plan to deliver your Chinese New Year marketing campaign, make sure you integrate your channels and activities carefully for that seamless digital experience – and localise your content at every turn. More than one brand has launched an expensive and carefully crafted digital campaign for the holiday season, only to find that it fell flat because of poor translation or localisation efforts!

6. Your products

You may even want to create a special Chinese New Year product line or special release to celebrate with your customers! For example, the Leather Satchel Company has produced limited edition red leather satchels and Dior updated its Toile de Jouy pattern for the occasion, with red and white illustrated trees that reflected the traditional virtues of modesty, dignity and strength. Lego has even released limited-edition holiday feast sets! Consider too giftable and limited-edition products and extra touches such as complimentary holiday gift wrap and bags, or free samples.

Find out more

Keen to deliver an effective, rapid Chinese New Year marketing campaign that achieves your objectives and ROI? Contact Market Me China. Our team of digital Chinese marketing professionals works with Western brands across all sectors and industries to help them achieve Chinese marketing success in this vast, fast-paced and lucrative market.

The post What makes a successful marketing campaign for Chinese New Year 2022? 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®.

Digital marketing in China is the natural channel focus for reaching the world’s biggest band of middle class consumers, with customers who are tech-savvy, interested in seeing the world and keen to invest in luxurious Western brands. And Chinese customers really do spend big for Chinese New Year, on flights home and fine food through luxurious gifts that showcase their status, and the famous Hongbao (red envelopes)! Research has shown that sales increase across all retail categories during Chinese New Year and particularly so in health and beauty, fashion, electronics, groceries and home and lifestyle.

Tips to succeed with your CNY digital marketing in China

With this in mind, here are some of our top tips for your digital marketing campaign in China – just in time for Chinese New Year, which falls on 5th February 2019.

Stand out

With so many Western brands now entering the Chinese market, it’s essential to stand out online when launching your Chinese New Year digital marketing campaign. Think outside of the box for innovative ideas that tap into the Chinese buyer’s love of fresh new experiences, fun and engaging content. For example, many brands have successfully created digital ‘Hongbao games’. Last year, Tencent QQ users could share branded digital Hongbao branded with Kenzo, YSL Beauty, Ferrari and more.

Consider creatives

Chinese New Year is a huge family celebration, so brands can successfully use creatives that invoke that sense of family values, emotion, connection and warmth. Singaporean telecommunications company, Star Hub, launched a great advert last year which touched on these elements perfectly. As with Christmas in the West, sentimentality can hit the mark for this special festival.

Enjoy the timing

The Chinese New Year period actually spans around three weeks, when Little Year preparations and the concluding Lantern Festival are factored in. During this holiday time, logistics tend to struggle as businesses will close. This means that many high-end consumer brands actually tend not to ramp up their marketing efforts.

For Western brands seeking to gain exposure online at this time, this offers a chance to place advertising in front of new prospects and to engage with existing companies. Those companies which may be less oriented around the season can then enjoy lower costs whilst accessing premium online advertising space.

Prepare to get social

Last year, more than 700 million Chinese people travelled home for the holiday or went overseas to see family. This also led to growth in bookings for international holiday destinations, especially long-haul flights. Huge numbers of Chinese consumers live streamed their holiday and aired views on the service that they received (including issues!).

As a Western brand operating in China, it’s vital to use this period to engage with your audience on Chinese social media. Create your targeted content in advance and choose the right platforms (remembering that the largest ones, such asWeChat and Weibo). Remember too that user-generated content is a huge growth area, and if you can excite your audience with a topic / hashtag that goes viral, you will hugely benefit from brand exposure without needing to generate the content yourself…

Offer value

Providing quality and unique content that offers your Chinese market real value is more important than ever. Remember that Chinese New Year involves a lot of preparation and can be stressful. It’s like Christmas, but bigger! So if your brand can offer content that helps to make the lives of your audience easier, now is the time to share it. Create online video tutorials, digital how-to guides and other useful top tips which will place your brand favourably in your customers’ minds as one that really understands them.

Decorate!

For CNY you can decorate your website for the occasion in the same way that Chinese homes will be decked out, with beautiful red and gold accessories. Add Happy New Year greetings in Chinese characters, create your Hongbao contests (remembering that Chinese customers love gamification), include carefully chosen colour and beautiful images of traditional Chinese paintings. It’s time to celebrate and this applies to your visuals too!

Optimise for mobile

In previous years, Chinese New Year has led to a spike in mobile purchases. You should ensure that your website is optimised for mobile and consider an app (even if you plan it now for the next big Chinese marketing period and have it ready for next CNY).

Remember your KOLs

Key Opinion Leaders can be vital in delivering a successful digital marketing campaign in China. There is still time to book the right KOL for your brand and offer if you work quickly. A Chinese marketing agency can help to identify the right KOL and facilitate the commercial arrangement in time for your branded content to be shared and promoted.

Pick your language

Chinese New Year is filled with ritual and tradition – exactly like Christmas in the West! The use of wording is particularly important here, and language with negative connotations should be avoided at all cost – even words such as ‘break’ or ’empty’. Don’t jinx your campaign by falling foul of language taboos. Keep regionalism in mind here too. As one example, the word for ‘apple’ in Mandarin, sounds like ‘died from sickness’ in Shanghainese!

Get in touch

Happy New Year, and hopefully a happy digital marketing campaign for your brand too. Remember that the experts at Market Me China are here to help you launch the right marketing campaign for your brand. From planning to delivery and post-campaign analytics, we will ensure that you enjoy the ROI that your digital campaign needs in China. Please get in touch to discuss your needs with us and we will be delighted to assist.

The post How to succeed at digital marketing in China for Chinese New Year appeared first on Market Me China®.

Hongbao stats for Chinese New Year 2016

Companies had some pretty big expectations when it came to using Hongbao as part of digital marketing in China plans. Ali pay had 800 million yuan to give away, while $.10 platforms planned to distribute a combined 200 million yuan in digital Hongbao. It was anticipated that consumers would be equally generous as well. Last year, WeChat saw 1 billion Hongbao sent during the lunar New Year period, and expects that the year of the monkey will be welcomed amid a flurry of 10 billion Hongbao. Chinese users sent 2.3 billion in digital lucky red envelopes to celebrate the beginning of 2016 (source: Xinhuanet).

Companies are quickly cottoned on to the vast potential of Hongbao marketing. It gives them away to generate excitement and engagement with their brand, while tying in to a high profile event. Let’s take a look at some more ways companies used Hongbao marketing in order to celebrate Chinese New Year 2016.

The Chinese government

The Chinese government’s Organisation Department found a great way to use president Xi Jinping’s New Year address to build a social following for the Communist Party of China. In the run-up to New Year they created a WeChat account, those who watched the presidents New Year greetings would be able to use key phrases from his speeches to unlock Digital Hong Bao. The government distributed ¥300,000 over the festival period. Regional governments at some of China’s largest cities also got involved with similar promotions (source: Cnanhui News).

WeChat in Times Square

As part of their Chinese New Year 2016 celebrations, WeChat ran a campaign which involved billboard advertising and their messenger app. WeChat users who were in Times Square between 4 and 9 PM on the first, second, seventh or eighth of February could shake their phone in front of the digital billboard for their chance to win hongbao of ‘lucky money’. The campaign used WeChat shake feature, which lets users find others nearby to talk to (source: Nasdaq).

Is Hongbao marketing finished in till 2017?

Chinese New Year may see the largest volume of Hongbao sent and received, but there are many other celebrations for which it is relevant, making it a useful tool when digital marketing in China. 500 million Hongbao was sent on children’s Day, while the Chinese Valentine’s Day saw 1.4 billion Hongbao exchanged, while 2.2 billion digital red envelopes were gifted during the mid Autumn Festival (source: Nasdaq). So if Hongbao marketing seems a good idea to you, you have plenty of opportunities over the coming year to put it to good use.

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

The post From governments to Times Square: Hongbao marketing for Chinese New Year 2016 appeared first on Market Me China®.

Take the Hongbao, for example. Traditionally, red envelopes containing small amounts of money were gifted to friends, family members, and in particular children. They are still highly popular in China, but thanks to leading tech companies such as Tencent and Alibaba and , they’ve gone digital.

A review of 2015 Hongbao marketing for Chinese New Year

Digital Hongbao were incredibly popular during the last year’s Chinese New Year celebrations. Messaging apps and social networks such as WeChat and Weibo saw huge uptake in their virtual Hongbao features, which allowed users and companies to electronically gift money.

The number of electronic Hongbao sent on WeChat alone on Chinese New Year’s Eve in 2015 was 200 times greater than in 2014. Users sent each other over 1 billion RMB (£110 million), while Alipay users gifted 240 million RMB (£26 million) and Weibo users exchanged 101 million RMB (£11 million) (source: China Internet Watch). Alipay, the mobile payment option offered by Alibaba, ran a Hongbao-grabbing competition which engaged 100 million people (source: Global Times).

Both Alibaba and Tencent ran Hongbao lotteries, with Tencent giving away the equivalent of £85 million and Alipay handing out £67 million in virtual red envelopes (source: Daily Mail).

But how are brands in China celebrating Chinese New Year 2016? Here’s what some have got planned.

Alibaba hopes to capitalise on Single’s Day sales success

eCommerce giant Alibaba has launched a new shopping festival in the run-up to Chinese New Year. The company, often credited with popularising the idea of Single’s Day (with incredibly lucrative results), has been issuing vouchers in the Hongbao format, as well as teaming up with global brands to increase penetration of their products into rural areas in China (source: Retail Analysis).

Burberry makes Hongbao their own for Chinese New Year 2016

In partnership with WeChat, luxury brand Burberry have implemented features that will allow users to send personalised envelopes to family and friends in honour of Spring Festival 2016. Using the platform, fans of the brand will have the chance to win some physical Burberry Hongbaos, specially created and packaged for the Lunar New Year (source: Fashion Times).

Coca-Cola sticks to time-honoured strategy

This year’s Lunar New Strategy for Coke involves bringing back two favourite characters. The cartoon characters, inspired by Chinese folk figures who symbolise good luck during festivities, will once again adorn Coke bottles and their online and mobile campaigns. Emoticons of the figures, animated to depict activities associated with Chinese New Year, were previously downloaded on WeChat 12.2 million times. The characters are credited with generating a 9% rise in sales of Coca-Cola (source: Ad Age).

How your company can benefit from Hongbao marketing for Chinese New Year 2016

Like any campaign tied into a special event, your Chinese New Year marketing needs to be seen as something more than attempt to capitalise on popular festivities. You need to have a deeper engagement with Chinese New Year, and show your fans and target market that you are getting into the spirit of the event. Hongbao and other promotional items are a great way to promote your business during the Spring Festival, but make sure you build stronger connections to the celebrations than just seeking sales.

(Image source: Image created by Tanya3597 | www.freedigitalphotos.net)

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If you want to attract Chinese tourists in the New Year, showing them what London has to offer could be a major selling point. So let’s have a look at just how Chinese-friendly the UK is with a rundown of the planned 2015 New Year celebrations.

Chinese New Year this year takes place on the 19^th of February. Considering most people in London won’t have the time off to celebrate mid-week, the city’s celebrations will take place the following weekend, on Saturday the 21^st, and Sunday 22^nd, of February. People and businesses across the capital will be taking part in themed celebrations, offerings, and parties. The two main focusses of the celebrations will be Trafalgar Square and – unsurprisingly – Chinatown!

Chinatown events

It won’t come as a shock that the majority of the New Year events will take place in Chinatown. Near Leicester Square, Chinatown will have plenty of New Year offerings, including parades, traditional Chinese entertainment, music, dragon dancers, food and craft stalls, and special themed menus in its 100 plus restaurants. Most of this activity will take place on Sunday 22^nd of February, although there will be a small ceremonial celebration on Saturday 21^st (source: Timeout). The event is popular with both Chinese and English people, showing just how easy it can be to embrace other cultural events and customs.

Official Opening Ceremony

Taking place at Trafalgar Square, the Official Opening Ceremony kicks off the celebrations with a host of special guests. A stage will be erected in the square and visiting Chinese performers and artists will lead the celebrations with music, performances, and dragon dances, all under the watchful eye of Lord Nelson and his lions. Over 300,000 people congregate to celebrate Chinese New Year across London (source: Londontown.com), so Trafalgar Square will likely be packed full of happy revellers enjoying some true Chinese entertainment.

Attracting Chinese tourists to London in the Year of the Sheep

Many Chinese use the New Year holiday period to travel abroad. We already know that the Chinese are some of the biggest spenders in the world, making them a prime market for retailers and holiday providers across the country. Chinese tourists like to know that their needs are catered for, as they often worry about the language barrier and culture gap. Using your marketing to show the wide range of events happening in the UK for Chinese New Year is the perfect chance to put their fears at rest.
According to the Zodiac, people born in the Year of the Sheep are clever, kind hearted, polite, and wise. What characteristics do you hope your marketing will have in 2015?

(Image source: “Dragon Ornaments” | www.freedigitalphotos.net)

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Adding some timely cultural touches to your marketing in China shows you are making an effort to fit in. It helps to win customer loyalty by showing that you care about what is important to them. Here are some Chinese New Year traditions you could try incorporating into your Spring Festival marketing.

Hongbao

The Hongbao (红包), or red envelope, is traditionally filled with money and given as a gift to children, friends, family, and business partners. With companies running special promotions, discounts, and freebies throughout the New Year period, Hongbao have become a common theme for marketing in China.

As a Western company, there is an obvious culture barrier. The big global companies that have failed to gain a foothold in the Chinese market have often done so because they did not adjust their offerings for Chinese consumers. Using the Hongbao in your marketing shows your customers that you understand and value their traditions. You can also use the symbol ‘Fu (福)’, which is often displayed upside down to express good wishes of fortune to others.

Chinese New Year Dinner

Over a billion people in China travel to be with family or friends over the New Year period. With many family members living away from home, this meal will be a major family reunion. Fish is normally served, and dumplings are an important dish in northern China; both of these things signify prosperity. These are two more elements that can be incorporated into your marketing to China, and messages that signify and enforce the value of the family unit, and of staying in to enjoy some time together, will be particularly well-received.

Shou Sui

‘Shou Sui (守岁)’ means to stay up late or all night on Chinese New Year’s Eve. According to Chinese mythology, ‘Nian (年)’ or ‘Year’, is in fact a mythical creature or beast. On the night of New Year’s Eve, the ‘Year’ comes to bring harm to people, properties, and animals. It was discovered that the ‘Year’ was frightened away by the colour red, and by loud noises such as fireworks. People traditionally stay up past midnight on New Year’s Eve to ensure that Nian stays away.

Your marketing in China may not centre around scaring away terrifying monsters. In the UK we have no real reason other than to celebrate for staying up past midnight and watching a firework display. In China these things have a grounding in mythology and tradition, and knowing this can help you to lend significant credence to the tradition.

Little touches can make a big difference. A small gesture of understanding can go a long way towards earning the trust and loyalty of Chinese consumers.
(Image source: “New Year Ornaments” | www.freedigitalphotos.net)

The post What New Year traditions you can use when marketing in China appeared first on Market Me China®.

Just like the animals of the zodiac, your marketing in China needs to demonstrate certain traits. You might not find all of these on zodiac animals, but you will find them on winning campaigns.

Let’s take a look at what your marketing needs to be in 2015.

Organised

Many people market in bits and pieces. This could be because they have no strategy, or just because they feel they haven’t got the time to plan out their marketing. This kind of haphazard approach makes it difficult to get significant results.

Having a plan of action will make marketing your business much easier. Knowing what you have to do and when allows you to get on with it, rather than wasting time figuring out what to do next. Having a plan also keeps you on schedule: useful as posting and updating your content and marketing messages regularly gets the best results.

Sympathetic

You need to understand the wants and desires of your target market in order to market to them effectively. They want different things to your western consumers, and failing to realise this will make gaining a foothold in the China market difficult, if not impossible.

Take the time to understand what your Chinese customers want. What features of your product or company will really appeal to them, and how can you tailor your offering to get the best response?

Patient

No matter what kind of marketing you are undertaking, good results take time. People often expect an instant return on their marketing. Powerful marketing takes time to develop and implement. This time is used to become well established and create a strong relationship with potential customers.

Marketing that offers instant gratification may seem attractive in terms of getting your money back, but it won’t work in the long run. Only a planned and implemented long term strategy will give you a constant return on your investment. Get it right, and one marketing campaign could continue to provide strong returns for a very long time.

Adaptable

One of the strengths of a great marketing campaign is the ability to adapt depending upon what is working and what isn’t. You may find that a certain area of your marketing is vastly outperforming other aspects. This is what you want to focus on.

Your marketing should be able to adapt to focus on its strengths. You’ll find these out by testing and measuring its performance. Over time you’ll see what is getting the best results, and will be able to focus your efforts on those areas.

Marketing can be a complex science, but if you start with the basic principles you will be able to create solid and successful campaigns to help you gain some foothold in the China market.

(Image source: “Chinese Lanterns” | www.freedigitalphotos.net)

The post What characteristics should your New Year marketing in China have? appeared first on Market Me China®.

As of July this year China had 632million mobile internet users – more than double the entire population of the USA. While growing at a rate of 14million new users each year, figures are suggesting a slow down in smartphone growth with Q1 figures of 2014 being around 25% lower than the same period in 2013. This is not bad news, however, as with 83% of Chinese netizens accessing the internet through their phone, the slowdown simply means the number of non-smartphone users is naturally getting smaller and smaller (source: Market Watch).

There are plenty of Chinese mobile internet users, and here’s what they like doing during New Year and what you need to consider mobile marketing in China.

Advertisment clicks and App Downloads

During Chinese New Year, many people travel home to be with their families, or abroad to take advantage of the time off work. As well as being able to check train, bus, and flight times and keep up to date with the traffic, Chinese smartphone users are also looking for ways to alleviate the boredom of long journeys on public transport, or waiting in airport terminals.

The highest number of app downloads took place before the New Year holiday period, with smartphone users preparing for their trips. The number of smartphone users clicking on advertisements increased by 51.6% during the January 16^th – February 6^th period. After the initial surge in app downloads, the rate steadily declined over the actual Lunar Festival period, ending up 28.7% lower at the end of the Spring Festival than at the start. This is likely down to poor internet speeds or lack of WiFi whilst travelling or at home in rural areas. WeChat was the most popular app by far in terms of advertising clicks, with the other most popular types of app in terms of advertising clicks being arcade style games, productivity, and entertainment apps (source: The Next Web).

Gifting

A well established tradition for Chinese New Year is to give hongbao to friends, relatives, and business partners. These red envelopes contain money. For this year’s celebration, the number one instant messenger app in China, WeChat, introduced a new service which made hongbaos (red envelope) digital. App users could send up to €12 in a digital red envelope to their contacts. It proved very popular, with five million people sending out 20million cyber hongbao in the first two days of Chinese New Year (source: Mercis). Envelopes, particularly red ones (red being the colour of prosperity and fortune in China) are a powerful and tradition symbol; worth bearing in mind when planning your marketing to China during the Spring Festival.

(Image source: “Cropped Image Of Man Displaying Smart Phone” | www.freedigitalphotos.net)

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