A Digital Marketer’s Perspective of China

Shanghai China

I recently spent nine days in China, touring Chinese businesses, meeting local professionals, learning their culture and visiting tourist destinations. From the moment I stepped off the plane and entered the Shanghai airport, I was enamored with the Chinese use of technology and marketing opportunities. I was surrounded by LED lights and video billboards. I was receiving text message advertisements from Chinese cell phone companies and directions on how to use Chinese Wi-Fi. Everywhere I turned, I was completely amazed by the Chinese use of technology and the marketers that took full advantage of it.

Here are some of my perspectives of China as a U.S. digital marketer.

Internet opportunities. Everywhere I went in China, from Shanghai to Xi’an to Beijing, people were accessing the Internet. Some accessed it through laptops in new Internet cafés, while others used their cell phones to find information in karaoke bars or on the Metro.

According to Internet World Stats, China has the most Internet users in the world with over 360 million. With only a 27% Internet penetration, the growth opportunities for any Internet company in China are huge. China has one of the fastest-growing middle classes on Earth. Many of these people are accessing the Internet for the first time. According to DoubleClick, three of the top 12 visited sites in the world are Chinese. With an Internet usage growth projected over 1500% in 10 years, investors and global digital marketers are licking their lips at the possibilities.

Chinese on their mobile phones on the Great Wall of China

Mobile is everywhere. Today, China has the world’s largest number of mobile phone users with over 500 million. While I walked along the Great Wall in Beijing and visited the Terracotta Museum in Xi’an, I noticed many Chinese people using their cell phones to take pictures and send them to their friends via email, social networks or mms messages. There were calls to short messages on billboards, buses and taxis. And, as I mentioned earlier, there were text message advertisements sent right to their phones.

Local businesses rule. As in most international markets, businesses that are located locally have achieved success because they know the culture, and they know how to deal with the business entities within the country. China is no exception.

Only a few years ago, Chinese products were seen as cheap knockoffs, but with the Internet revolution, young Chinese “returnees” began producing close imitations of successful U.S. dot-coms and tweaking them with local traits that no American company could get exactly right. These Chinese transplants, many founded by American venture capitalists, have developed uniquely Chinese copies of Google, eBay, MySpace and Amazon that have surpassed their American influences.

Technology is the future. Everything is bigger in China! While in China, I visited the second largest building in the world, drove across the world’s longest bridge to see the world’s largest seaport, toured one of the world’s largest motor factories and two different steel manufacturers that “claimed” to be the world’s largest. Challenges such as income inequality, strict government regulations, air and water pollution, unprofitable state-owned enterprises, social instability, lack of financial transparency, complex requirements for foreign investors, and the lack of enforcement against makers of counterfeit goods have not stopped China’s technological growth or the willingness of international venture capitalists to invest in a Chinese company.

As important as history and culture are to the Chinese, the future may be more important. Technological growth is the key factor in this future. Entrepreneurs, scientists and innovators are extremely important to the Chinese government. This can be seen by the special treatment that some of these businesses and individuals receive, such as the laws that are looked over or the special grants that are handed out. I saw this in some of the businesses that I visited, some of which had their own government-funded museums and the less than steller working and environmental conditions of their factories.

Human rights and limited access. As much as the huge skyscrapers in Shanghai resemble those of the West, their ideals and culture are still uniquely Chinese. I quickly learned that our Western ideas of freedom and censorship are still foreign to many Chinese. The government still has a strong hold on what information their people can and cannot access via “The Great Firewall.” As I also learned, there are certain things you just don’t talk about in China, like the Tiananmen Square Massacre and the banned religion of Falun Gong, for example. Even visitors to China had restricted access to information. While I was there, I couldn’t access sites like Facebook or Twitter; instead, I had to use an RSS feed from my Google Buzz account to post photos and updates to these social networks.

Final thoughts. My visit to China was amazing. During my time there, I learned that the Chinese people are extremely resilient, knowledgeable and tech-savvy. Talking with local businessmen and other Chinese residents, I realized that the Chinese truly believe in their government, and they believe the future of their country is bright. Lastly, the Chinese love the Internet and their mobile devices, and the digital marketing opportunities are nearly endless.