56K is a Stockholm-based agency helping companies to increase their online presence by optimizing Google SEO, doing ads with Google SEM, and other paid media on social platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, etc.
It’s always fun to meet other companies in the “same” industry.
What we talked about
We went through the differences between Google and Baidu, concrete examples, trends, and what is important to consider when working with digital marketing at Baidu.
Thank you 56K for inviting us! We meet a welcoming office, a great team, interesting questions, and dialogues!
The shopping event “The Singles Day” has for many countries been a completely unknown phenomenon. But like many other trends and influences from China, Singles Day is starting to become part of “our” “shopping calendar”, at least if you look at Europe.
China’s shopping festival, Singles Day (often referred to as 11.11 or double 11), is China’s largest shopping event. And with record numbers, year after year, China’s Singles Day has also become the world’s largest shopping event.
This year, the major e-com players such as Alibaba and JD have been relatively low-key when it comes to sharing their sales figures.
But, if we look at shopping- and marketing trends, even before 11.11 kicked off, you could clearly see new trends when it comes to digital marketing, customer behavior, and product categories.
NBH will share our outcome of this year’s Singles day, but also share some background on The Singles Day and why it can be important to keep track of it, even though you may not participate.
Chinas Shopping Festival: Singles Day a.k.a. 11.11 and double 11
The shopping festival The Singles Day has its official day on November 11, hence the event is often referred to as 11.11 or double 11. China likes to refer to lucky numbers or to name various events after numbers. Therefore, there are many explanations for exactly 11.11, but we leave this outside of this insight. 😉
Singles Day is today an unofficial holiday in China. The holiday was created in response to “couple holidays” such as Valentine’s Day.
On November 11, 2009, on Singles Day, Alibaba launched a 24-hour shopping event with discounts and various offers. The goal was to attract a younger target audience.
The shopping event was a big hit and quickly other e-com and social media platforms, brands, and physical stores followed the trend and participated.
Have China’s shopping festivals become the trendsetters for digital marketing?
For the past decade, China has been at the forefront when it comes to digital trends. Digital trends such as live-shopping events, metaverse, and meta-influencers, to name a few, are some of the digital trends that have flourished precisely from these types of shopping events. Read our Insight about Metaverse here.
Many brands and e-com giants choose to test new forms of digital marketing during these events. The goal is no longer just to compete for the best sales figures, but also to showcase new technologies and innovations.
With that said, if you work with digital marketing, China’s shopping festivals are therefore interesting to keep an eye on!
Singles day 2022
Singles Day is not only today a 24-hour shopping event. The e-com platform JD, for example, opened its sales on August 31 until midnight on November 11.
Before this year’s festival, there was great uncertainty among both customers and retailers. The Covid-19 pandemic and shortages in the supply chain have affected the global market and many parts of the world are in a downturn.
Even so, the numbers that have already been released have indicated that 2022 will at least match 2021’s numbers (952+ billion RMB). Among other things, as many as 70,000 new brands have participated for the first time.
The Swedish luxury fashion brand Filippa. K is one example of a new brand to participate in this year’s Singles Day. They chose to launch their brand on Alibaba Tmall just in time for 11.11.
“The Chinese market is too big and too important and too influential to ignore,” said Filippa K’s CEO Rikard Frost.
NBH has listed the most important scouts from 2022’s singles day
Metaverse
Metaverse has quickly become a new reality in China and interest is constantly increasing. Ahead of this year’s Singles Day, more companies have chosen to work with virtual idols and KOLs. With this, they mainly want to reach a younger and more digital generation that prefers to make their purchases online.
Before 2023, market research firm Forrester estimates that up to a fifth of all companies will use collaborations with virtual KOLs. Read our Insight about Chinese KOLs here.
Another trend linked to the metaverse is that online stores are starting to look more and more like physical stores that you enter through an avatar. Alibaba, for example, has digital accessories digital so you can try them on in 3D.
Try on your accessories and clothes with virtual shopping at Tmall. Image: Alibaba Group
Robots for delivery services
Another trend that we saw already last year was that robots have started to be used for home delivery to customers. This year, Alibaba had as many as 700 robots that were used in the transport chain out to the customer. That is twice as much as last year.
JD reported in its trend report on November 12 that health products had an upswing. Customers tended to stay longer on the platform to compare different products and services, where quality instead of price was important.
More than 1600 nutrition brands doubled their sales volume. Pet-care products increased and bookings of various health services increased by 7 times. JD also reported that sales of “life-related” services increased 30 times.
Search terms that increased drastically on JD.com during 11.11 2022, were “organic”, “green”, “low-carbon” and “energy-saving”.
The increased demand for climate-friendly products has increased in China. In May of this year, JD launched the “Green Impact Initiative,” an initiative that involves labeling environmentally-friendly products.
More brands and platforms are also encouraged to choose a more environmentally friendly logistics transport option.
“China-Chic”
A trend that has been booming among Gen-Z is “China-Chic”, a phenomenon named after the increased demand for cultural value.
This shows not only the demand for domestic products but also that international brands need to get better at adapting their marketing to China.
To summarize….
Brands that engage more with the customer in the form of live shopping, videos, influencer collaborations, and customer service tend to increase their sales.
Technologies in the form of transportation and metaverse continue to develop and environmentally friendly products continue to play an increasingly important role when consumers make their choices.
We are very happy to announce that our team is growing, and so are our offices, not only in the Nordics but also in Shanghai! The NBH family is getting bigger, with different skills to deliver the best to our clients.
Our largest team is located in Shanghai, where our colleagues consist of everything from copywriters, graphic designers, account managers, and PR, to SEO -and SEM specialists. Our NBH family in Shanghai has now moved to our very own office, centrally located in the Jing’an district.
We look forward to receiving visits from our clients in China and soon also Europe! A warm welcome to our office in Shanghai!
If China is an important market for your company, then Baidu should have the same priority as your Google strategy.
Baidu can easily be described as “China’s Google”, and if you take a quick look, there are many similarities, partly in appearance, but in terms of search engine, SEO and SEM there are a lot of differences.
In China, whenever you want to search for something you “Baidu it”, and to reach the top of the search result, your Baidu strategy is fundamental.
Are you aware of how you and your competitors appear in searches on Baidu?
This guide will give you deeper insight into succeeding with Baidu SEM. We will answer questions such as the difference compared to Google and what’s important to think about when it comes to Baidu SEM.
We’ll give some figures to understand the usage and importance of Baidu in China.
Baidu No. 1 search engine in China
Although China is one of the most important markets for many companies, Baidu is still relatively unknown to many.
Many people think that a Chinese-language website is enough or that the google strategy works as fine for Baidu, but this is not the case. You have to adapt your digital marketing strategy for China, and including China’s No. 1 search engine could be a very good first step.
Investing in Baidu SEM will get you:
Impressions
Clicks
Directs leads
More understanding of your China market
Baidu SEM (PPC)
Baidu SEM (Search Engine Marketing) can also be referred to as PPC (Pay-Per-Click) or ads on Baidu.
Baidu PPC can be a cost-effective way to get a higher, or perhaps top result on Baidu. These kinds of Baidu ads can also be added with images, such as product pictures or special campaign images.
Most importantly is that you adapt the ads for your targeted audience in China and perhaps market yourself with the right timing. This should be included in your marketing content plan.
Example of Baidu PPC ad including promotional images.
SEM and SEO, are all about keywords. What will the potential customer search for and what would be your keywords in China?
Once you have your ad live, and the user searches for related keywords, they will find your ad in their search result, and hopefully among the top results.
CPC (Cost-Per-Click)
Every time someone clicks on your ad there will be a CPC (Cost-Per-Click). The cost of the keywords (the CPC) depends on the bidding of the keyword, in other terms, how competitive the targeted keyword is.
Market your landing page
In order to get a good first impression, why not market your landing page in search results?
Take the chance and market your webpage according to your brand guideline and targeted audience in China. Show your products and services in a tasteful and “want to know more of” way!
Example of a Baidu ad, promoting their landing page and products
Directs communications with your costumers
One popular and beneficial function that Baidu SEM has is to add a contact form directly in the ad. The consumer can in quickly way leave their phone number and company name. You can then easily return to the client and answer their questions.
This service is very appreciated among Chinese consumers because it offers the possibility to get in touch with you in a fast and more personal way. It is a very effective CTA (call to action) because it encourages the consumer to make a quick decision to get in contact with you.
Baidu ad with contact form
Track your performance with Baidu SEM
As with all marketing, it is essential to be able to measure your results. No matter what marketing activities are being done for a company, data is the key to getting knowledge about your performance.
Knowing your performance will take you one step ahead in optimizing your digital marketing in China.
NBH believes in transparency and we always want what’s best for our clients. Please read more about how NBH works with data tracking: Data tracking in China.
How NBH can help you with Baidu SEM?
NBH has years of experience creating ads (SEM) so that companies easily can be recognized, creating relationships, and direct leads.
We develop your Baidu SEM strategy and make you competitive in the market. We create a tailor-made keyword list for Baidu and create ads aligned with your brand and specialized for your Chinese audience. To be competitive, we do the daily operation of Baidu SEM, including bidding keywords.
We also offer monthly reports in English in order for you to take ownership of your digital marketing in China.
Book a free consultation meeting with one of our sales representatives. Together we discuss your specific needs and get to know more about how we can help you use Baidu SEO and SEM in your marketing strategy for China! Book a meeting, here.
Alibaba is one of the biggest eCommerce companies in the world, owning eCommerce sites such as Tmall and Taobao, with millions of users every day. This week, on the 13th of September, Alibaba held its summer event in Germany to give the latest insights into digital marketing and eCommerce in China.
NBH always wants to stay ahead when it comes to digital marketing in China and NBH had the chance to attend the event.
During the event, Alibaba gave insights into:
New developments
Alibaba ecosystem
New trends within consuming and digital marketing
… And much more!
Alibaba gave up-to-date insight and knowledge of new trends within live shopping, metaverse and so much more! The tech industry is really moving fast and the creativity and possibilities have no limit.
Also, we had the chance to meet interesting people, network, and exchange knowledge about business in China!
“Thank you to Alibaba Group, Tmall Global, and especially to the Tmall Global BD team! Also, big shoutout to April Zhong that held a great speech about the advantages for global brands on Tmall” said, Max Twisselman, Business Developer at NBH.”
Max Twisselman, NBH Business Developer, togteher with April Zhong, Tmall Global
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