How to reach Chinese consumers effectively in North America?

By now, it’s no surprise that Chinese consumers offer a major marketing opportunity for brands and businesses in North America. Research shows that almost 1.2 million Chinese residents in Canada account for $61 billion in consumer spending. 

The question is — what is the most effective way to capture the Chinese audience? It is important to understand their purchase behaviours and media usage. A deep understanding of the nuances of Chinese culture, the language, and the media platforms is key to the success of your marketing strategy. 

Here are some tips for your brands to target Chinese consumers in North America:

1. Social media is an extremely powerful tool 

Image via Ecommerce China

Our most recommended channels include WeChat, Sina Weibo, Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book), TikTok, and online forums. These platforms hold most of the opportunities for your business to raise awareness and create leads with engaging marketing strategies.

WeChat is king for the Chinese audience, not Facebook or Instagram. Your brand should have a WeChat official account, acting almost similar to a traditional website. It offers a place for your business to post content, receive messages, build your brand, and create loyalty.

Weibo is often called the “Chinese Twitter”, and is a good mix of Facebook and Instagram. Xiaohongshu combines features of Amazon, Pinterest, and Instagram that allows its users not only to share lifestyle or product experience, but to purchase branded products. TikTok is a video-sharing platform with genres like dance, comedy, and education. 

Image via Walk the Chat

2. Offer information in Chinese and adapt your messaging 

Image via Hypebeast

This group prefers to consume content in their ethnic language. Chinese-language informational materials, such as printed messages, signs, and videos are more likely to be noticed and appreciated. 

Reaching this demographic requires more than just translation. They identify themselves mostly with Chinese culture. One of the most effective ways to promote your brand is to integrate Chinese traditional cultural elements into your marketing content.  

3. Work together with the local community

Image via JingDaily

Another effective marketing method is to create a group chat for gathering information and generating discussions on WeChat. 

Brands can also consider working with local Chinese KOLs (Key Opinion Leaders). They are influencers who are able to demonstrate and highlight products, giving more confidence to future buyers.

4. Understand tastes and preferences

Image via Barron’s

China's luxury market has proved unstoppable. They have shown to be high purchasing, especially in luxury retail. Reports show that the majority of Chinese, about 70 per cent, prefer their luxury spending overseas.

Doing adequate research into the styles, trends, and interests in the target demographic will help in tailoring the message (and products) to the Chinese audience. As well, understanding the mentality behind status and exclusivity can help drive marketing efforts.

At Spotlight West Communications, we help agencies and brands reach the large Chinese consumer market through websites and digital platforms. Experienced in identifying potential customers, trends, and purchasing habits, our team helps in developing online and offline marketing strategies. 

Connect with us at info@spotlightwest.ca or follow our social media accounts (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) to find out more about Chinese social trends or marketing tips!

The Complete Guide for your Mid-Autumn Festival marketing

Symbolizing the Chinese celebration of harvest and reunion, the Mid-Autumn Festival appears to be extra special this year — with China’s National Day and Golden Week all aligning at the same time. 

Having previously talked about the various traditions of the festival on our #SpotOn blog — we want to take time in 2020 to look at some intriguing examples of Mid-Autumn marketing ideas, from popular global brands.

Let’s start with Netflix’s collaboration with Pearl Studio and Lady M, the world-renowned luxury dessert brand, on an initiative to promote the upcoming animated musical Over the Moon. Fusing both Eastern and Western elements, the collaboration offers a limited-edition mooncake gift box housed in a lantern-shaped package, with a light-up feature and paper cutting details depicting scenes from the highly anticipated film. 

It’s a perfect balance of creative ideas, while showcasing the initiative and truly reflecting on the festival spirit.

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Netflix’s Mid-Autumn collaboration with Pearl Studio and Lady M

Branded gift boxes are indeed a great approach to secure publicity in a timely manner, while offering customers a memorable experience that’s closely associated with brand identity. 

Last year, mooncake packages from Loewe, Louis Vuitton, Tiffany & Co. and Fendi all made it into Weibo’s trending list, with their exquisitely designed gift boxes.

Loewe

Louis Vuitton

Tiffany & Co.

Fendi

American chocolatier Godiva also recently debuted their immersive pop-up at Fashion Zoo, an annual fashion exhibition in Shanghai. Featuring a golden colour palette that gives off some major autumn vibes, the photogenic space highlights their latest mooncake collections, which are artfully decorated with patterns of full moon and peony.

Godiva's Mid-Autumn Pop-up at Shanghai Fashion Zoo

Apart from branded gift boxes and pop-up activations, content creation also plays an extremely crucial role when it comes to engaging the Chinese market — especially with the younger demographics (mainly the millennials and Gen Z) who are always hungry for unique experiences and ideas. 

Luxury automobile companies such as BMW and Audi have all become skillfully adept at incorporating relevant Chinese trends into their marketing messaging — but no brand has come close so far to the trendsetter reputation that Durex China has established, with the mind-blowing creativity they continue to demonstrate each year.

Mid-Autumn Poster by BMW

Mid-Autumn Poster by Audi

Mid-Autumn Poster by Durex China

Feeling a bit inspired by these ideas? Are you trying to plan out marketing strategies for the rest of the year, to engage with more Chinese customers? Great news — we can help!

Talk to us about Chinese traditions, fun social media trends, or marketing tips to reach your desired Chinese demographics — just drop us a message at info@spotlightwest.ca, or say hello on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn!

Navigating COVID: How the fashion industry is adapting

Across Europe, China, and North America, fashion brands are having to come up with creative solutions in an attempt to stay relevant during these challenging times. Take Bottega Veneta for example.

With efforts to limit in-person shopping by enhancing the at-home experience, their team sent editors and influencers a projector for an immersive display of their menswear film — a gesture that goes beyond simply posting the video on their social media. 

Brands are also focusing on how to continue capturing the Chinese audience. Since China has rebounded earlier from the pandemic than other countries, luxury brands are depending on Chinese consumers and their domestic shopping habits, especially with international travel still limited.

For Burberry, sales in Mainland China grew more than 30% in June but fell 20% worldwide. To ride the momentum, the British label is partnering with Chinese tech giant Tencent to open their first “social retail” store in Shenzhen.

With rewards that can be unlocked through WeChat mini-games and an in-store cafe, the idea is to merge interactive experiences with conventional shopping to appeal to the tech-savvy younger generation in Shenzhen. 

Shanghai was the first major fashion week to experiment hosting the event completely virtual, as they live streamed in late March through Alibaba-operated e-commerce website Tmall. This allowed viewers to instantly purchase items as it rolled out the runway.

In June, London Fashion Week was also virtual. Despite fashion houses’ efforts to put on a full production, the three-day spectacle was met with 55% less social media engagement than London’s other 2020 shows in January and February.

Even Jacquemus’ physically distanced outdoor show with select friends and family in attendance received only half of its earned media value compared to a year before.

Although transitioning to digital events and scaling down shows produced less than optimal results, brands are not shying away from this opportunity to continue showcasing new collections while supporting their staff and teams.

Upcoming shows in Copenhagen and Stockholm are on track to be completely virtual and some fashion houses are eager to present to small, physically distanced audiences. Luxury brands are more open to redefining strategies within the fashion industry regardless of the tepid response and low numbers. 

Perhaps this new normal only needs some getting used to.

What Is Singles' Day and Why It's Bigger than Black Friday

November is here, which means Black Friday is coming up! But while you’re busy going over that mile-long shopping list, did you know that a similar-like day in China has already become the world’s biggest online shopping spree?

It all started in the 1990s, when the Chinese society started seeing a surplus in the male population as the consequence of the one-child policy. Many believe that the origin was at Nanjing University, where a group of college boys would gather every night to talk about how to get rid of the single status.

Eventually, they decided to start an initiative that celebrates being single, choosing the 11th of November to be the Singles’ Day (or the “Double Eleven Day”) because of the number’s resemblance of single stick figures.

Then, there came the era of digital marketing, where companies and brands were looking for every way possible to maximize consumption.

The chairman of China’s biggest e-commerce company Alibaba Group, Jack Ma, who was listed by Forbes as one of the top 20 richest people in the world, wanted to launch a shopping promotion revolving around a day that was already nationally celebrated. Drawing inspirations from the American Black Friday tradition, Ma launched the first round of promotion on November 11th, 2009.

The company targeted single people in the country and catered to the mentality of “treating yourself better”, which would supposedly make up for the loneliness of staying single. It didn’t take long for other businesses to catch on.

In 2011, more than half a billion dollars was spent on Singles’ Day. Last year, the Chinese netizens topped their previous record with $24.2 billion spent on just that one day — which is practically equivalent to a smaller European country’s gross domestic product.

According to Bloomberg, “more than twice as much merchandise is sold over the 24-hour period than during the entire five-day U.S. holiday-buying spree” (from Black Friday through Cyber Monday). Last year, Alibaba even hosted an opening gala event for Singles’ Day, with guest appearances by top-tier celebrities such as Nicole Kidman, Scarlett Johansson, Jessie J and Pharrell Williams.

With more and more international brands offering massive deals and extensive options specifically for Singles’ Day, the celebration is not only for those who are single but has become a global phenomenon.

There has even been a new trend created in December — the “Double Twelve Day”, just so businesses would have another chance to benefit from another round of rapid consumption and e-commerce.

Shoot us a message at info@spotlightwest.ca or follow our social media accounts (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) to find out more about Chinese social trends, or WeChat marketing tips!