ภาพโดย By Ctny (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Right now, everyone is looking at the Chinese market. With its huge population and enormous purchasing power, if you can enter it, the growth opportunity is high. But that does not mean this market is easy to enter. Let us hear from AVG Thailand, a major digital marketing player from China.

It seems easy, but not everyone can do it

As mentioned above, with a population of more than 1 billion people, China represents a massive opportunity if you can sell to people in the country. However, language barriers, cultural differences, and marketing strategies that differ from Thailand mean that even those who know Chinese well cannot simply open a company to sell products to China and expect to succeed.

This is precisely why digital marketing companies helping organizations in Thailand have been emerging rapidly, because consumers in China now mainly use online channels to search for information and choose products. If a Thai brand or service can secure a presence there, the chance of success increases.

Chadakorn Tanasuwankasem, Chief Executive Officer of AVG Thailand, explained that entering the Chinese market can in fact be divided into three forms: marketing to the general population, marketing to investors, and exporting products from Thailand specifically for sale in China.

Chadakorn Tanasuwankasem, Chief Executive Officer of AVG Thailand

From Display Ads to Official Accounts

“Digital marketing in China is quite clearly different from Thailand, such as the greater difficulty of buying display ads, restrictions on foreign companies opening official accounts on various platforms, and the fact that China is so large that using only a few influencers is not enough to communicate product or service information widely.”

Marketing to the general population can be divided into domestic Chinese residents and FIT tourists (Foreign Independent Tour), or independent travelers. For the first group, marketing should focus on building the product brand and target secondary cities such as Kunming, Chengdu, and Tianjin rather than Beijing or Shanghai, because this group has become more interested in Thailand.

For FIT tourists, online marketing should begin with building awareness of products and services through display ads, followed by creating interest through official accounts on social networks, building consideration through influencers, and closing the sale through conversion, such as sending purchase locations or hotel information.

Success or failure is measured by the total solution

For the investor segment, many property developers and industrial estate companies are currently entering the Chinese market to attract Chinese investors into Thailand, whether to buy condominiums along BTS lines or in central Pattaya, because Chinese buyers see them as worthwhile and not too expensive compared with prices in China. But this group truly requires staff to answer questions.

“Chinese people like to talk. If you use bots or rely only on display ads, it will not improve anything. Sansiri invested in setting up an office in China specifically to create as much interaction as possible with investors there. As for traders who want to export products to China, there are now various channels available, including cross-border sales, meaning products do not have to be shipped out in advance.”

For AVG Thailand itself, it currently supports this type of work, and with its parent company having been based in China for around 10 years, it has become a partner of Weibo and WeChat, enabling Thai companies to open official accounts for communication. It also has a display ads network covering hundreds of thousands of websites in China, along with more than 1.3 million influencers in the system, making it a total solution.

Summary

Marketing in China may seem difficult, but it is not that difficult if you have a good business partner. Currently, there are about three or four players in the market, and in 2018 there will be even more digital marketing agencies for the Chinese market. Businesses therefore need to choose carefully which provider to use in order to enter the Chinese market as effectively as possible.

AVG Thailand is a subsidiary of the YDM Thailand group, a joint venture between Yello Digital Marketing of South Korea and Adyim of Thailand. The Yello group also holds AVG in China. AVG Thailand currently has three clients because it was only established in the middle of this year, and it aims to have 30 clients next year.

Thank you
Source: Brand Inside Online