Chinese online users have different habits and experiences when it comes to how they use the Internet so there is no doubt that online marketing in China is different compared to Western countries.

Therefore it is recommended to involve an online marketing agency as a partner that is used to the desires of Chinese online users and has profound experience with online projects in China to run a successful online business there. 3digitalminds is such a full service Internet marketing agency with a focus on web process design, performance marketing, online brand building and online marketing consulting, that Asian e-Marketing would like to introduce you to.

The company has long-lasting experience in managing keyword advertising campaigns and could be useful if you plan to start your search engine positioning in Greater China, offering their services in English, German and Chinese. Their argument why you should deal with search engines is simply because the majority of purchasing decisions are influenced by the Internet, even if the purchase itself takes place in a local store. Search engine marketing (SEM), also known as keyword advertising, Pay-per-click (PPC), or paid search, is a quick way to place your product or company strategically in the wide network of online information.

At first glimpse, keyword advertising seems to be easy - open an account, insert keywords, and enter click prices. In fact, the management of keyword advertising campaigns is based on a long-term approach and requires a lot of knowledge and especially experience. So don’t setup a campaign, enter some keywords and click-prices and then never touch it again.

3digitalminds emphasizes keeping two phases in mind for doing proper keyword advertising:

Phase 1: Set-up keyword advertising campaigns

In the set-up phase a thorough keyword research is done, the bidding strategy is thought over, initial text ads are created and the campaign gets started. After the set-up phase, the keyword advertising campaign should go smoothly over to constant optimization.

Phase 2: Constant optimization of keyword advertising campaigns

Constant optimization is the key to a successful search engine marketing campaign as it is where the wheat gets sorted from the chaff. 3digitalminds can help you in managing your campaigns on a day-per-day basis, continuously optimizing it by changing parameters, and doing some trial-and-error, in case you are not familiar with Chinese online users.

Let me introduce you, at this point, to the three digital minds that are running the company:

  1. Stefan Schneider is founder and Managing Director of the Taiwan based company. His specialties at 3digitalminds are digital strategy consulting and online performance marketing as he has already worked in the field of online marketing and web development for more than 10 years. He held positions such as Digital Director Taipei/Taiwan of Saatchi&Saatchi, has been the founder and recognized operator of a German online finance portal and a Chinese Internet platform for binary trading, e-business coordinator at the German car component supplier ZF Sachs AG, as well as e-commerce manager at German TeamBank AG where he supervised the business unit Online Marketing and the bestselling product easyCredit before he undertook the position of Marketing Director at a Shanghai based web agency.
  2. Oliver Hickfang was engaged in several executive positions in global corporations, medium sized enterprises and business associations. His specialties at 3digitalminds are consulting and strategic communications. He has been responsible for marketing and strategy development as Senior Manager at Allianz China Life in Sichuan, China and represented the company as a board member at the European Chamber of Commerce in China. He was liaison manager for the German Chamber of Commerce in China, established a publishing house for travel literature and taught as associate professor at Sichuan University. In Germany he worked as head of department marketing and distribution at the German Association for IT Companies BITKOM, developing strategies and campaigns with marketing and sales executives from several companies and has been for many years head of marketing and communications for the global management consultancy BearingPoint.
  3. Zhou Ying is founder and associate of CGYC (Chinese German Ying Chuang) Public Relations Ltd. and Chinapublic, based in Chengdu, the business hub of West China/Sichuan. Ying`s specialty at 3digitalminds is Media, PR, and event communication, as well as advisory services for the China business. Ying originates from a long-established Chinese journalist family and worked for many years as a German based foreign correspondent for several Chinese media in print, radio and TV. With her agency, and as a coordinator of a broad Chinese network of freelancers, she supports media companies in China in their cooperation with Germany.

3digitalminds has developed a deep understanding of how the Internet works in China and what Chinese website visitors expect, due to the many years of experience running projects in China, both for Western and Chinese customers. They have developed into a full-service Internet marketing agency in the course of time, today offering the whole online value chain:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The company provides consultancy on how Internet marketing in China can best fit into your marketing strategy and how it can contribute to your marketing goals. Cross-channel marketing, performance marketing (SEO and SEM), blog marketing, web 2.0 marketing models and online brand building are procedures they are familiar with and they are able to analyse their clients' Chinese internet marketing activities, which is a core factor for successful online marketing in China.

According to 3digitalminds, big growth rates can not only be expected from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou anymore, but also from Tier 2 and 3 cities like Dongguan, Wuhan, Tianjin, Shenyang, Chengdu, Chongqing, Qingdao, Nanjing, etc.

Their online marketing offers comprise search engine optimization (SEO), keyword advertising (SEM), affiliate marketing, banner and rich media campaigns, electronic direct mailings, web 2.0 marketing, blog marketing, mobile marketing. In addition, constant optimization of online campaigns, in particular, are an essential part of their consulting services, as the company puts high value on optimizing return-on-investment (ROI) for online marketing budgets and has good experience in performance marketing and online awareness building. According to them, successful online businesses rely on the regular monitoring and optimization of their web presence and online marketing activities. Other services they offer are website heatmaps/eyetracking, focus groups, A/B tests, dropout rate / funnel analysis, clickpath and navigation analysis, which supports you in finding out what users in China think about and how they perceive your products and services.

By Daniela La Marca