Just like in the West, doing digital PR in China can help improve brand image and reduce advertising costs, particularly for the B2B sector.
How to expand our reputation and gain consumer trust? How to save on advertising and get conversions? How to effectively reach the target? How to localize your marketing strategy in China?
There is a solution to all these questions: digital PR.
As in the West, doing PR (public relations) in China can help improve brand image. But not only. PR campaigns also contribute to the promotion of the company, particularly if it operates in the B2B sector. Another important advantage? In terms of costs, digital PR is the cheapest way to advertise effectively and in a targeted manner in the immense Chinese market.
PR in China = Cost-effective promotion
China is a large market, potential customers are billions and competition is high. This entails extremely high “standard” costs for advertising on the major social platforms, often inaccessible for medium-sized businesses. The probability of wasting thousands of euros on advertising and obtaining an unsatisfactory return is therefore very high, particularly when you want to quickly reach a very specific segment of consumers.
In terms of costs, digital PR in China continues to be one of the most efficient methods to make your company known in a short time. It is possible to select the type of newspaper and online platform with which to collaborate based on your budget, the sector you belong to and the chosen target.
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Digital PR increases company trust
In China, the news media are considered among the most reliable channels for obtaining information and forming opinions. As a result, when companies adopt this marketing tool, readers tend to trust the brand much more. This explains why many B2B companies, such as those in the cosmetics industry, use PR a lot in China.
The publication of press releases on the most important online platforms also increases the authority and official nature of the company’s presence in China.
PR in China optimizes rankings on Chinese search engines
Altro punto di forza del digital PR in Cina è l’ottimizzazione del posizionamento del brand e i risultati ad esso correlati sui motori di ricerca cinesi come Baidu.
Quando un utente vuole ottenere informazioni su un brand, la prima cosa che farà sarà cercare il suo nome sui motori di ricerca. Se tra i risultati non compariranno notizie interessanti ed attendibili su di voi, con molta probabilità perderete l’interesse di tanti potenziali clienti o partner. Inoltre, nel peggior dei casi, le poche informazioni su di voi saranno oscurate dalle notizie dei vostri competitor, influenzando così le vostre attività in Cina.
La comparsa tra i risultati di ricerca di articoli sulla vostra azienda realizzate da testate ufficiali e riconosciute, non faranno altro che aumentare l’autenticità del brand ed incentiveranno i lettori a contattarvi.
Collaborate with industry experts
When we talk about digital PR in China we are not just referring to the collaboration between the company and large newspapers. Another type of partnership that falls within this scope is in fact that with vertical platforms, social channels or very influential individuals in their reference sector. These usually have a very loyal, well-defined following that has great confidence in their opinion.
In the B2C context, we mainly talk about influencers or KOLs. In the B2B sector, however, we refer to content created by professionals in the sector (PUGC: Professional User Generated Content). These are not concerned with “putting a face on it” but with explaining a product in a very detailed and technical way, with the final aim of promoting it and making it more visible to new potential partners or distributors.
Localize the content
The biggest difficulty in effectively doing digital PR in China is creating articles in Chinese. But not only. It is also necessary that the articles created comply with specific criteria required by each platform. In addition to the language barrier, in China, there are also issues and “sensitive words” that must not be present in any type of communication. Consequently, it is best to send Chinese journalists an almost perfect communication right away, which only needs small adjustments. In this way, there will be a high probability of the article being published. Otherwise, your press release will be rejected.
Another major obstacle concerns the management of relations with Chinese journalists and experts in the sector. These are indispensable for the start and success of your PR business in China. Without a native Chinese-speaking partner, who can manage relationships and understand media requests, it will be almost impossible to create and publish content on official Chinese platforms.
The power of online PR in China
As with offline PR, with online PR the objective is to advertise a product, company or event to a large audience or a targeted target. We have seen that current digital PR methods include both collaborations with journalists, but also with influential personalities and social channels in certain sectors. Digital PR allows for exploiting the visibility and traffic of already well-known platforms and also allows you to simplify the analysis of the impact of this type of digital action. However, to carry out this type of promotion it is necessary to have the support of a team that can initiate and maintain relations with the Chinese media.
Value China boasts a large network of the most important national and sector newspapers in China. Contact us to start digital PR actions for your business! info@valuechina.net