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Q. What 3 digital marketing channels & tactics will you emphasize in next 6 months?

As I sat sipping my caffè latte in Starbucks this morning, I looked around and noticed the new Chinese middle class. Although there were ex-pat’s and odd tourist sharing a Sunday coffee, the locals out numbered us by at least 3:1.  Chinese are not known as coffee drinkers but this new demographic almost use this habit as a proxy in showing that they have entered this ‘middle-class’ club.  So over my cooling coffee, I started to think; would my digital marketing advice to reach this demographic change over the next 6 months?

This ‘wealthy‘ demographic is a relatively new phenomena in China (only really emerging in the past 4-5 years and the rate of new members into this group seems to be accelerating).Most are well dressed, 30 (years) something’s with family groups … I am guessing they are professionals, educated and clearly have disposable income… Starbucks in China is not cheap for a brew.. (28RMB for a middle size cup)

So if companies are cutting costs as well as looking for creative, high impact and accountable marketing what can I offer them? What is the best channel and tactic for reaching this new ‘Generation W’  (w for wealthy) Chinese consumer? I jotted down some of the channels that I can leverage.. then I ranked them.  Interestingly, some slight change in rank from the last time I did this was about 6 months ago… Here is the list I put together outlining the various channels (minus the rank)

• Blogging (QZone)
• Microblogging (Twitter/Fanfou)
• BBS ( Xici, Tianya )
• Search engine optimization (SEO)
• Search engine marketing (SEM)
• Social network participation (Douban, Kaixin, 51.com Xiaonei)
• Email marketing
• Social media monitoring & management (SinoBuzz)
• Blogger relations
• Video marketing (youku, tudou)
• Social media advertising

Before I provide you with my ranked list, I thought it would be interesting to do a poll and get your feedback on what you though are the top three channels for this next 6 months? (I know that this changes dependent on campaign/objectives/resources  etc etc but generally speaking). Also, would there be any other channels you would add?

I’d love to read your feedback and comments. We have some great digital marketers reading this blog and look forward to hearing your thoughs and getting your perspectives. As always, be great to chat to you on twitter: @sinotechian