I am helping a store called Shine Marketplace to do marketing recently. It is the first Chinese streetwear store in the U.S. How to effectively help brands to be recognized in the U.S. is the hardest question that we need to figure out.
The biggest obstacle that brands are facing nowadays is that the unstable relationship between China and the U.S., and trade war and uncertain oversea funding environment. The common question of Chinese companies is whether they should positively speak for themselves or keep a low profile. According to the manager of PR Newswire Wei Xiao’s research, the better choice for Chiese brands is to speak for themselves actively and positively instead of waiting for the reports from oversea media.
According to Wei, 67% of audiences abroad would know about Chinese companies by the press, and 12% of audiences abroad would accept the information leaked out by the companies. Therefore, Chinese companies should pay more attention to the press, and this is part of the branding.
According to the Cision 2019 report, the press release is regarded as the most trustworthiness sources, while social media is only trusted by 4% of the audiences. It reminds us of the fact that though social media is increasingly popular and important nowadays, its reliability still cannot compete with the traditional press.
As part of the Chinese company that is willing to help Chinese brands to go abroad, it is inspiring for me to understand the importance of creating good content and win the media coverage. The following is the insight that I have summarized of four practical methods to help the company go abroad.
- find the UMP of the brand, and emphasize it
- connect the brand to the public interest
- understand the positioning of the media and the need of the media before pitching the brand story to them
- create events that are good for spreading ideas
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