You probably attend a lot of online meetings and trade events in China if you’re thinking about starting or expanding a B2B business there. All of this is excellent, especially in a nation like China where establishing strong commercial links depends heavily on relationships and trust.
You may even already have a specialized sales team in place. But sending your sales staff or you personally to China without the backing of a strong online presence is like sending firefighters to a fire without a firetruck and hose.
Without the right equipment, you and them will only be able to make it so far.
Essentials of having an online presence
Before making a purchase, about 80% of consumers look up information online, and about 95% of industrial consumers utilize the internet to find suppliers. You, therefore, need a knowledgeable and expert digital presence to support you to provide you and your team with the best possibilities for generating a favorable impression.
Here are just a few benefits of developing a significant online presence for B2B marketing in China.
You’ll have total control over your brand
When commerce is performed solely on a person-to-person basis, nuances may inadvertently be lost in translation due to the personal experiences and backgrounds of the participants.
However, with a strong online presence, you have total control over your messaging and branding, allowing decision-makers to form their own opinions about you and your business.
It’s quite simple to update
When operating in the global B2B Marketplace, it’s crucial to have current materials with the most recent information about your accomplishments and products when dealing with businesses to demonstrate your cutting-edge status to potential customers and business partners.
Of course, you could update your printed materials and brochures each time you have something to share, but doing so would be expensive, time-consuming, and wasteful.
However, it’s simple to keep your clients and partners informed of all of your activities with a website and a social media presence, ensuring that they always have the most recent information available to them.
With Chinese buyers, it fosters trust
Would you conduct business with someone whose website and/or social media presence lacked a professional appearance? I’m assuming that the response is no since you would (very logically) have skepticism regarding their veracity and seriousness.
You’re showing clients that you have a stake in the outcome and that you take your work seriously just by making the effort to build a solid online presence.
Additionally, if the website is in Chinese, as it should be, you’ll demonstrate your dedication to the Chinese market and ensure that Baidu, China’s most prominent search engine, indexes your website.
It works well for generating web leads
Social media and your website are more than just tools for raising awareness. If done properly, they can be effective lead generation tools. You may collect highly relevant leads and save your sales team’s time on the ground by developing downloadable content that targets your client’s pain points. Such as e-books, whitepapers, or how-to manuals, then gating this content behind landing pages.
Another strategy to produce highly relevant leads is to get your SEO optimized. This will help you rise in the rankings of the Chinese B2B platform and further build your trustworthiness.
You can potentially reach a larger audience
You can choose only digital marketing if you’re having trouble growing your business or corporate sector. It will make you reach a wider audience and steadily raise sales and profit for your firm by using digital marketing methods and techniques.
With digital marketing, you can target everyone who is computer savvy and uses smart devices like smartphones, desktops, and laptops for daily tasks. All of this is not feasible with traditional marketing. Digital marketing broadens rather than reduces the reach.
You have the chance to get more done with less
You have the chance to instantly grab the attention of millions of people with the aid of digital marketing. The finest feature is that it doesn’t require a lot of time or money.
As a digital marketer, all you have to do to maintain gaining customers is to continue refining your marketing methods. Digital marketing is far more convenient and cost-effective than offline activities, as you will discover if you compare the two.
Both large and small enterprises operating in the Chinese market benefit most from digital marketing. Small businesses lack the resources to invest heavily in marketing strategies and take on major brands.
Conclusion
To conclude, it’s crucial to support yourself with a strong online presence. It presents your business in the best possible light when it comes to B2B marketing in China.
A prominent, regionally targeted, and optimized website, along with a polished and interesting social media presence, will help you start your business partnerships out on the right foot.