SinoTech Group speaks at SMX Nanjing
Dr Mathew McDougall from SinoTech Group (www.sinotechgroup.com.cn) was speaking at the SMX about Search Marketing in China. At the event, the talk was focused on the positive growth in Internet users in China. Collectively, the speakers were promoting that it is now right for marketers to take the plunge and launch digital campaigns in China (search, social etc) The various speakers outlined positives and negatives for search marketers in China. These positives and negitives were nicely consolidated by Chris Sherman in his post on Search Engine Land. (Listed below for convienience).
Positives:
- China is of the largest markets in the world, with the most online users of any country (~250 million and counting)
- Increasing use of search engines by Chinese internet users
- Comparatively inexpensive options for search marketers in relation to other markets in the world
- Relative lack of sophisticated competition; relative ease of capturing top positions in both organic and paid search result listings
Negatives:
- Relative complexity of Chinese language (and multiple dialects) requires sophisticated knowledge and/or strong partnership with local marketing experts
- Lack of transparency on the part of market leader Baidu requires good relationships with company reps or agencies with good connections
- Lack of maturity in E-commerce poses challenges for direct-response or retail oriented search marketers
In the presentation by Dr McDougall, he spoke about companies now establishing search marketing campaigns in China and increasing looking to expand their budgets and the number of keywords being managed. He used a case study to highlight how one consumer electronics brand is now doing campaigns that have tens of thousands of keywords and there for needs tools and technologies to establish, bid, manage and monitor results/campaigns.
Overall, a great indication that search marketing is alive and well in China. If anyone else was at the event then would be interested in your views and comments.
Tags: China, search marketing, SinoTech Group, smx
