Year of the Pig is just around the corner! For any brand looking to establish a reputation or achieve sales and marketing goals with Chinese consumers, the Spring Festival is definitely an important time of the year.
Figuring out customer patterns under a different cultural background is exhausting, not to mention that there are so many cultural elements or implications to be aware of for Chinese New Year. We’re here to help!
1. The Essentials — What’s the most important element of Chinese New Year?
There are some who compare Chinese New Year to Christmas. Apart from the same shopping fever and decorating pressures, Chinese New Year focuses more on the idea of family and reunion.
This has to do with the fact that family values are an extremely important part of Chinese culture, and have been emphasized throughout history.
Numerous brands take this value into crafting their marketing messages to encourage reliability to the Chinese consumers, usually by showcasing family reunions in their campaigns. But is it enough?
2. Add Seasoning — What else do Chinese people like to spend time on?
There’s no better time than the New Year to indulge in Asians’ obsession with food. In fact, you may have underestimated the significance of their food culture. There’s an old proverb “民以食为天” which can be translated to “People consider food to be the primary need”.
Instead of “How are you?”, many Chinese people today still prefer the old-fashioned greeting, “Have you eaten yet?” After all, it’s not common to have eight different types of cuisine specific to one country — which makes it perfectly understandable that so much pride is taken in food.
3. Dig Deeper — Show that you’ve done your research
Painting your products red or simply slapping a zodiac animal sign on top of your logo doesn’t work anymore. To truly relate to the audience, show that you’ve actually invested time and done research.
Think about these questions: What do Chinese people like to do in their spare time? What TV shows do they watch? What are the hottest online trends on Weibo? What’s the latest popular sing-along song on Tiktok? What common phrases do they say these days?
Find that element which not only resonates with the generation you’re targeting, but also represents your brand voice.
4. Ask Locals — Identify and connect with relevant influencers
With a current population of 1.4 billion, China holds significant value to any brand or company. Although the country has prohibited access to western social media sites, such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (you can only access using VPN tools), this has certainly given rise to a flooding number of Chinese social media sites.
Major global brands like Chanel, Adidas, Estee Lauder, Shiseido, have all been adept at taking advantage of the massive KOL resources in China — and the results have proven to be very successful. Jing Daily has also suggested working with more niche mid-tier and micro KOLs, to reach your core target audience.
5. No Hard Sell — Don’t make everything about your brand
We get it. You have amazing products, and you believe it will be a huge hit in the Chinese market. But let’s face it — nobody likes hard sells, no matter how great the product or service. When it comes to reaching audience from a different culture, we suggest taking baby steps. Focus on showcasing their culture first, before working your way to engaging them with your product.
To learn more about Chinese traditions, social media trends, or marketing tips to reach the Chinese community — drop us a message at info@spotlightwest.ca! You can also reach us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn!