MARKETINGBLATT

China has established itself at the top of the hot list of worldwide sales markets. As a result, companies invest a lot of money to set up locations in Beijing, Shanghai or Shenzhen, recruit local staff and expect success to be coming quickly. 谈何容易 (tán hé róngy) is the Chinese proverb that we...

Have you ever canceled a purchase because the payment method did not work for you? No company wants to lose potential customers at the finish line. Due to the enormous market penetration of WeChat's payment service, this hardly happens in China: The smartphone has become a wallet.

Anyone who thinks WeChat is simply the Chinese counterpart to Facebook has not quite grasped its power: Thanks to the countless miniprograms that run on the app, it permeates the daily lives of its users in an unparalleled way.

Trade fairs are still very important in the Middle Kingdom. Particularly in B2B marketing, they form an important entry point for customer communication - especially when it comes to generating WeChat contacts.

Although they are somewhat known in Western societies, they are far from popular: QR codes. This is different in China. The popular WeChat app uses QR codes for various functions, making them indispensable for companies active in the Middle Kingdom.

Foreign companies that want to enter the Chinese market successfully have to be familiar with local privacy regulations and adapt to them. This includes the Cybersecurity Act, which came into effect in June 2017.

More and more companies are looking for ways into the Chinese market. Establishing a successful business in China today involves the immensely popular mobile app WeChat. However, a simple company profile on the app does not suffice. Successful WeChat marketing requires professional H5 pages.

Social media are very popular in China. However, both Facebook and Twitter have been censored since 2009. Hence businesses marketing their services in the middle kingdom have to turn to the many local platforms. Sina Weibo is one of China's most popular social media services.

Although the Internet seems to have made the world a global village, there are still large local differences. Google is by no means the first address for search queries in Russia and China. Facebook is blocked in the Middle Kingdom: WeChat dominates here. If you want to be successful in China,...