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Marketing
Communication
WHAT
Active does
China
is a unique market with its own political, cultural and social
characteristics. It is therefore essential to devise a suitable
marketing approach to combine the local elements with international
appeal and consistency at the same time. For introducing and launching
your products; strengthening sales; raising your company profile
or sustaining a good customer relationship in the Chinese market,
Active can plan and implement the ideal marketing strategy to
achieve your business objectives with you
HOW
Active does it
Marketing
Research
- Primary
research: focus groups; questionnaires; telephone or face to
face interviews
-
Secondary desktop research
- Database
procurement and maintenance
Public
Relations
-
Event organisation
- Press
conference organisation
- Identification
of appropriate publicity vehicles to raise your company’s
profile
- Newsletter
creation to target a Chinese audience
-
Speaker services
- Visit
planning and organisation
- Accompanied
visits where applicable, with travel, interpretation and introductions
as part of the service
Advertising
- Media
selection to maximise the power of advertising for your specific
product or service.
- Typesetting
and design to resonate with a Chinese audience.
Marketing
is a different challenge in China
TV,
press and online advertising within the country’s prosperous
media industry present an image of marketing maturity in China.
The truth, however, is that there are complications facing marketers
that simply would not require consideration in other countries,
eg How do you approach the distinct regionality of China when
communicating a national campaign? How do you compete with thriving
and established local brands who understand their customers in
the local business context? How do you even identify the 10% of
China’s population that are likely to be able to access
or afford your product?
Most
Western marketing strategies can be adopted for use in China,
they are however, incredibly difficult to plan and unconventional
methods are often required to implement them. ‘Direct mail’
is a very appropriate example. Issues you would face when developing
a direct mail campaign in China include:
DATABASE Commercially
available databases are rarely of satisfactory quality. Building
a database from scratch is effectively the only way of ensuring
that the data is of a high standard. In the face of this gruelling
and complex task, an increasingly popular solution is to borrow
data from a company who has successfully composed their own database;
reputable brands will generally share their data if there is the
potential for the contribution to be mutually beneficial.
COUPON INCENTIVES
The coupon redemption infrastructure that allows Western brands
to make offers that can be redeemed on the high street simply
doesn’t exist in China. Generally, a brand may only offer
a voucher as an incentive if they are both the issuer and the
redeemer, for example a restaurant or a retailer.
OFFERING PRIZES There
is a substantial restriction on the value of a prize offered as
part of a marketing promotion. Usually a company can only offer
a prize with its product or service if it is worth less than 5,000
RMB (approximately £350).
ILLEGAL MAIL Chinese
marketing laws are vague and differ between cities. Legally, in
Shanghai, mailing individuals is prohibited without first obtaining
their permission to do so. But to ask for their consent, you have
to mail them! Unsurprisingly, this law is often ignored but remains
a risk. In the absence of understandable government direction,
the China Direct Marketing Association continues to lobby for
internationally accepted guidelines for direct mail in China.
Copyright
© 2008 Active. All rights reserved.
Designed
by Louise Yau www.louiseyaudesign.com
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