stephen's blog

I don’t think every B2B company needs digital marketing. 

If you are in the niche industry and only targeting several accounts…

The truth is you probably don’t need any B2B digital marketing campaigns.

You just need a company website.

You should put more resources into your sales team.

On the other hand, if you are expanding to any new market segments… 

Where many potential clients don’t know you or you don’t know exactly who your potential clients are.

B2B Digital marketing campaigns will come in handy. 

Sales is all about follow-up.

Not only sales but marketing is also the process of follow-up.

They are just in different forms.

Sales is a one-to-one follow-up.

Marketing is one-to-many follow-up.

You will need both forms to build up the trust with clients.

More importantly, whether sales or marketing follow-up, you all need to do it more than once…

Probably much more than once.

Your price is high…

When you enter the new international market.

What can you do? 

There are typically four ways to solve this problem:

1. Lower your price

One thing I wish I had known before… 

I started to outreach B2B potential customers in China.

This method almost guarantees 100% delivery and open rate.👇

What is the primary digital channel to discuss business online in China?

It is not email, text, or Zoom. 

It is WeChat.

Why?

In China, people value convenience more. 

It is more convenient to do everything in one app. 

That is how WeChat becomes a super-app. 

People in China put their personal life and professional life all in WeChat.

Harsh truth here.

Some LinkedIn users only engage with you when seeking new opportunities.

If I don’t have a relationship with them, I am not eager to help them.

Online networking is like offline networking.

It takes time to build a relationship.

So…don’t be active on LinkedIn only when you have needs.

It is too late.

Spend time having a conversation with your contacts regularly.


The best time to network is when you don’t need to network.

PERFECT is a NASDAQ-listed leading global SaaS provider. It specializes in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Augmented Reality (AR) solutions for the beauty and fashion industry. 

Due to the global IT strategy, the website is centrally managed from its headquarters in Taiwan, adding complexity to Baidu SEO and PPC optimization efforts. To boost online visibility within Mainland China, PERFECT adopted a strategy involving Baidu SEO and Baidu PPC for online promotion. 

I don’t think selling on Alibaba is worth the effort.

It might be worth doing it 10 years ago.

But not now…👇

I generally don’t suggest selling products on Alibaba right now…

The platform is saturated.

Unless you are willing to compete with tons of similar businesses.

Or you have enough budget to promote your products on Alibaba.

I will go with these two channels:

1. LinkedIn - Find and attract my buyers directly.
2. Company website - Use PPC or SEO.

Why?

Don't make this business mistake when designing a B2B website.

We all want our B2B websites to be beautiful and sexy.

The truth is "beautiful and sexy" is the last concern..why?👇

Before you design a B2B website, you should always ask yourself two questions:

1. How to make potential customers find our website online?
2. After potential customers visit the website, how to make them want to contact us?

If you have the answers to the two questions…

You will build a b2b website that can help you sell.

Are you using Google Analytics as your primary web analytics tool?

If you are serious about Baidu SEO, you must try this!👇

Use Baidu Tongji (Baidu Analytics) as a primary analytics data source for Baidu SEO and PPC.

Regarding product features, Baidu Tongji is less powerful than Google Analytics.

But what we need is data accuracy. 

Since Google is blocked in China, the traffic data is less accurate than Baidu Analytics.

It doesn’t mean you can’t use GA to analyze your China website traffic.

An SEO/PPC mistake avoid at all costs in Greater China.

The approach differs in Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and Mainland China.

Here are the reasons…👇

Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan use Google and Traditional Chinese. 

Mainland China uses Baidu and Simplified Chinese. 

Regarding vocabulary, each place has specific usages in a specific industry. 

So...understanding the subtle difference in Greater China among… 

1. Internet environment
2. Industry jargons
3. Language version