China is a fastest rising consumer market and more and more companies throughout the world are looking for ways to develop their business over there. Digital marketing has also been taking off in China for the last 5 years and there doesn’t seem to be any slowing down.
One of the biggest trends that have been shaping in e-commerce in China is the rise of mobile commerce (M-commerce). According to the CNNIC, there are currently 591 million Internet users in China and 460 million Internet users access the Internet via mobile devices. This is expected to grow over the next few years and the m-commerce numbers are already showing amazing growth. The Integration of Digital into Outdoor Advertising is the latest, if not the most fascinating of popular trends in China. The concept was to integrate a mobile app into an outdoor campaign and the results were incredible.
As far as the video marketing is concerned, China seems to be a step ahead from the rest of the world in terms of marketing spend. As the “low-hanging fruit” for 2012, video can bring marketers plenty of eyeballs and help the marketers to reach the younger demographics, many of which do not even own TVs. Despite the rising cost of online video advertising, it still remains a more cost-effective medium than television in most markets with up to 80 per cent lower per view. As new TV regulations also benefit online video advertising, it can be expected that the trend will continue to gain momentum among advertisers.
In mobile marketing, while Western countries are slowly going from desktop to mobile device use, in China many didn’t experience the PC era and jumped right into the Smartphone craze; this implies many differences for brands regarding their marketing strategy. When brands in Western markets struggle to interact with their audience through e-mails and count their fans on Facebook, those in China know they connect directly with their followers. This is mainly due to the wide use of applications such as WeChat, which allow brands to communicate very precisely with their target market. The growth of the mobile demographic is, predominantly an Asian trend that is very evident from the current situation in China. As opposed to targeting mass mediums, marketers are focused on building direct customer relationships via mobile and online platforms to encourage brand loyalty.
A Recent Report by Data Center of China Internet (DCCI) shows that the Chinese advertisers continue to favor social media platforms with Weibo, Wechat, QQ&Qzone dominating the social channels. The Chinese market is very important for such brands and they invest a lot in it. They need to be sure to get a return on this investment and therefore need to hold consumers’ attention. Brands in China have understood this and with the country’s massive number of Internet users, the results can be amazing. Brands are gradually integrating that insight into their content strategy and opt more often for co-creation with their customers leading to the creation of more sophisticated and integrated marketing campaigns.
