Common Mistakes in China’s Global Marketing

China’s global marketing aims to increase the sales of China’s products or service through promotion and advertisements in international markets. Like any marketing strategy, it is important that China’s global marketing strategy must be effective. A Chinese company also needs to understand its target markets in order to sell its products globally. It means that a global presence is crucial for any China’s business and it should be accompanied with a creative strategy and an understanding of world markets.

When companies’ marketing executives try to expand China’s products or services globally, a few mistakes may stand in the way of global success.

1. Not specifying countries

Chinese marketers tend to think about overseas markets in vague regional terms (e.g., “We’re shifting our focus to Asia,” or “We’d like to double our growth in Europe”), but this oversimplification is problematic. If you ask people what they mean by “Europe”, you’ll get widely varying answers, from Western Europe, the European Union, to the euro zone… Chinese marketers need to remember that every country has its own local laws, cultural norms, forms of currency and payment, and unique business practices.

2. Not paying enough attention to internal data

Developing a global market entry strategy requires more complex and specialized market research. Large amounts of data can help Chinese marketers figure out the best markets. The most important aspects of the data: 1) How many potential opportunities are there in your target market? 2) How difficult will it be if your company starts business in that market? 3) How many successful cases have you got in that market already?

3. Not using the most appropriate sales and marketing channels

Chinese marketers need to change and adjust their marketing channels according to the audience behaviors of each market, and this can vary across regions even within the same country. In Brazil, a marketing campaign might be more successful with promoted messages on Facebook due to the popularity of this social network there. While in other Latin American countries, Twitter might attract a larger audience more quickly, and thus be a more effective marketing tool.

4. Not letting local teams lead the way

One of the most disappointing mistakes that many Chinese companies make is that they hire highly competent, intelligent local people to serve their overseas markets, but then fail to consider their ideas when making strategic decisions.

5. Not considering about the global logistics

Chinese marketers use some software which could enable them to publish content on their website, send out emails, publish social media updates, and carry out other key marketing tasks. But the same tool doesn’t always support every market. For example, perhaps the software you use to conduct webinars only supports five languages, while your marketing automation software allows you to market in dozens of languages. Maybe your payment solutions only work for a few countries, yet your CRM is filled with contacts from more than 100 countries.