In short, manually translate all key pages into Mandarin Chinese written in Simplified Chinese script, the universal language used across the mainland. Make sure your language is concise and persuasive – good copy matters just as much in China as it does in the West!
Besides just translating, make sure to adjust the content of your website for Chinese users. Learn what they want, then add or edit content that addresses their concerns.
Nearly 20 years ago in January 1999, Starbucks opened their first store in Beijing basically introducing coffee culture to China. However, twenty years later China and its consumers have changed and competition has blossomed – so, where does Starbucks now stand on the Chinese market?
Google is reportedly in the process of re-entering the Chinese market. The American tech giant has been developing a search engine for China and it has led to speculation over how a Google re-entry, and its fight with local rivals, might play out.
Did you know Chinese tourists are now the hottest demographic in the global travel industry? Why? Two reasons: China's millennials (ages 18 to 35) make more trips abroad and spend more than all American tourists combined!
"Chinese tourists are the most powerful single source of change in the tourism industry," said Taleb Rifai, secretary general of the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), as reported in the South China Morning Post.
Here's a list: KFC, Nike, BMW, Apple, Levi's, Microsoft, and Starbucks; what unites them? Not only are they examples of western brands in China who have managed to win both Chinese consumers' hard-earned yuan, but also, significantly, their hearts (though not all of them achieved this without issue… more on that later).
Google is blocked in China, and there are several locally-grown search engines that took its place.
Baidu (百度) is the clear market leader with over 78% of the overall market.
If you ever wondered if it’s possible to promote your products in China using channels established by other people, then the answer is: yes, it is possible. There are two ways to make it work; option one is working with KOLs (Key Opinion Leaders) – which we talk about here. Option two is affiliate marketing, which, in China, means working with an affiliate network, similar to a popular affiliate called LinkShare used in Western countries.
Of the Western companies that contact us with questions about search engine marketing in China, it seems about 95% of them are only thinking about Baidu. But Baidu isn't the only search engine in town. In fact, we've had some killer campaigns on Qihoo's 360 Search (360搜索) as well.
Douyin (抖音 or Tik Tok) is the short-video app everyone seems to be talking about in the recent months- especially in China. In September 2017, the app celebrated its first birthday and in the first quarter of 2018, it became world’s most downloaded app for iOS (Google Play is blocked in China hence there is no accurate data for Android). In Japan alone, the app has been downloaded more times than Facebook.
Some time ago we decided the pictures on our website deserved a makeover – they hadn’t been changed for years. Over time we all got even prettier, so why not show it to the world, am I right? ;-)
