The Latest B2B Marketing Guide to China for 2023

14 Nov 2022 |  Shy L & Lorrie Y  | 4 min read

China is more important than ever in many multinational B2B marketing business plans. It’s a great time for foreign brands to expand into China and establish loyal audiences of customers. Furthermore, iiMedia estimated the cross-border B2B e-commerce market in China to be close to $3 trillion in 2019 and to increase to $33 trillion by 2025.

However, it is not straightforward for international businesses to break into the B2B market in China due to the persistent cultural disparities, language barriers, and distinctive digital marketing platforms between East and West. Also, remember the incredibly competitive field for companies of all sizes. So, how can a B2B marketer perfect their B2B marketing strategies to succeed in China?

In this guide, we’ll take a deep dive into:

By the time you reach the end, you will know how to reach your ideal B2B clients in this burgeoning marketplace.

What should you learn before planning your strategy?

• Planning and Searching

Before international enterprises enter the Chinese B2B market, you must thoroughly examine the distinctiveness and dynamic environment, especially the Chinese culture when conducting investigations.

Cooperating with specialists that specialise in local marketing is essential and efficient to understand the dynamics of the China market. Furthermore, they will assist the businesses in assessing the risks associated with carrying out a series of decision-based actions and choosing the appropriate market segmentation and targeted customers.

• Traditional B2B Marketing Strategies  V.S. Digital B2B Marketing Strategies

First, let’s talk about traditional strategies. Although the tension has been focusing on digital marketing recently, companies should continue to pay attention and invest adequately in targeted specific regions. In addition, offline presence demonstrates a company’s long-term commitment and gives customers a sense of security.

Moreover, offline B2B marketing techniques, such as exhibitions or conferences, could be seen as opportunities to meet potential clients and a prospective interaction of moving forward fast with B2B customers.

However, with the recent pandemic, it has been challenging for western companies to travel to China. So, it would be best if you found an alternative way to carry out these activities, such as pointing to a local agent. So please speak to our team and get help!

For the digital side, understanding the market environment is the first step any company must take before entering. The digital landscape is significantly different from the western one. For example, China bans popular western sites like YouTube, Twitter, Google, Facebook, etc.

The big difference between B2B Chinese customers is they rely heavily on online sources, including social media, blogs, and websites of other parties, rather than salespeople.

In fact, according to statistics, almost 70% of B2B customers prefer to research independently online without the help of salespeople. Customers would like to engage different brands and control the whole process.

• Carry out a customised digital marketing strategy

The new Chinese B2B customers expect a similar B2C-style buying experience during the whole process. The main criteria for B2B vendors in China are personalisation and your competitive advantage. The more you match the high expectations of Chinese B2B buyers, the more successful you can achieve in your business.

For your digital marketing strategy to succeed you must emphasise delivering websites such as:

Optimise your website for Baidu rather than Google: Baidu is a China Search Engine with its own distinct search algorithms that affect your website ranking. Therefore, to get a high ranking in Baidu, you will need to tailor your website to fit Baidu.

Match the language to your target audience: In China, it’s extremely crucial to use the local tongue so buyers can easily understand and believe your words. In addition, it demonstrates your commitment and respect for this market.

Design a responsive and mobile-friendly website: Since 98% of Chinese internet users access the website through mobile devices, developing a mobile-friendly website is essential. Also, it results in increasing brand awareness and potential customers.

Steps that you need to TAKE for B2B marketing in China

1. Branding is everything, you should build your brand awareness in China

Your reputation or financial resources abroad may give you a leg up. However, whether you are a multinational corporation or a start-up, fully comprehending Chinese customers and their purchasing habits is challenging for both.

Focus on building your brand awareness and boosting your visibility across multi-platforms in China is essential. In addition, Chinese consumers choose brands to show their social status. Therefore, the more famous you are, the more Chinese customers will pay for your brand.

2. Sourcing to have a local partner to guide your business

Finding the right local partner can make a huge difference to your business. Collaboration helps businesses in every way possible by combing your knowledge, technology, ability, consumer research, and so much more!

Enlybee provides complete consumer analysis tailored to your target audience with full reports on different platforms in the best strategies. We have also the right MarTech and local team to help you with the resource you need to crack the China market.

3. Adjust your strategy to suit your target audience

The strategies you adopted for the western market might not suit your target audience in China. Therefore, you must reconsider which approach you should adopt or adjust for your customers.

4. Measure your result with metrics and analytics

Before selecting which metrics could impact your business, remember to determine which
goals you are reaching. Is it to increase sales more than last season or increase brand awareness?

Once you set your strategy and goal, how do you know it is effective for your target audience? Collecting your outcomes and results may give you the insights you need. Knowing what you need to work on is an effective way to understand how you can get better at moving forward.

Once you have the correct road map in your head, marketers can measure, analyse, and plan their journey.

Top platforms for B2B businesses in China

WeChat

Do you know that WeChat is China’s largest social network and instant messaging service? WeChat is the primary communication method, which is an irreplaceable marketing channel. Moreover, it has over 1.15 bn active users and only slightly fewer users than the major league of messaging apps like WhatsApp and Messager.

Although WeChat is a social media network where users can only see postings from friends and accounts they follow, brands may still have individualised interactions with subscribers and other businesses.

Especially for sharing long-form informative material with the subscribers. Such as email newsletters or blogs. Also, businesses should build brand awareness with a close relationship with their subscribers/potential customers and identify leads.

In fact, it allows customers the option to connect to over 80,000 more apps, letting them shop online, communicate with video calls and pay their bills, and so much more.

As a result, marketers gather consumer insights to create detailed customer profiles and
target them with the most significant amount of relevancy.

Want to know how to utilise WeChat to help your business? Here are some articles to master WeChat: The best guide to WeChat advertising in China, WeChat Marketing : Top Strategies Revealed

Baidu

Baidu is renowned for having a better algorithm for understanding the Chinese language than any other search engine. However, since you want your brand to be seen and rank high in the search engine, you must know how to play the game.

That being said, it’s not too difficult to attain an organic search engine since your content is already tailored and localised to your audiences. Remember to use Chinese-targeted keywords throughout your pages, including the title and meta description, without looking too intentionally.

As a result, it should come naturally for you to increase your search authority and ranking. However, compared to Google, high-quality websites are wary about giving out links, so do not expect it to be as easy as western places.

Here are the some tips for the on-page Baidu SEO in the following picture:

Here is some beginner guide to Baidu : The Best Guide to Baidu SEO Marketing in China 2021, The Best Beginner’s Guide to Baidu Advertising Marketing in China 2021 , Baidu SEM (PPC) VS Google Ads: Which is Better for Your Brand

Top 3 challenges of B2B marketing in China

• Lack of knowledge and time

Your team has yet to explore the market, and you have no idea whether partners are available in China. Also, you could not spend months investigating which local distributors you need to find. Therefore, penetrating a brand-new market might be harder than you expect.

• Regulations enforced by China

Lacking knowledge of the regulations might affect your business in every aspect, including the market, distributors, and your goods.

• Different regions have different personalities

Don’t assume China’s markets are experiencing similar difficulties. Regional differences exist in every country. However, given the strategic significance of the Chinese market and the rising level of domestic competition, an understanding and awareness of regional variations within China will establish more specialised branding strategies.

Expanding your business in China without comprehending these difficulties can be a barrier in the long-term succession. Therefore, doing your market and customer research is essential.

What’s next?

You have now gained insight into the China B2B market. However, it takes time, commitment, and exploring this market. We know that stepping into a new market is scary because you must avoid many potential traps.

That’s why you need a local partner to help you avoid those challenges and give you a clear direction in the long journey.

Join our community to explore how we might assist you in developing your China B2B marketing plan if you are considering entering the Chinese market.