With a population of 1.3 billion, and a land mass approximately the size of Europe, marketing your travel brand efficiently in China can be a daunting task. This is where a targeted, well executed PR strategy as part of a wider marketing plan comes to the fore. At Guanxi we would love to help you devise your PR strategy, but to kick things off, we have listed below four practical things you might like to think about, followed by a shameless plug!

1. Regional variations in the Chinese press
In Beijing, state owned media is very powerful, but outside the capital private media companies have an important voice. Make sure your PR strategy stretches across both different ownership models and takes into account the regional variations across Chinese ‘tier one’ cities. As in the west, there are different travel publications with journalists specialising in leisure, business, meetings and incentive travel; you, or your Chinese PR agency, should target relationships with travel journalists accordingly.

2. Think digital media
If you ride the Beijing subway, you will see very few commuters reading traditional print media, but you will see plenty of eyes glued to screens. Importantly this doesn’t just apply to newspapers but to magazines as well. The Chinese are more advanced than the west in their adoption of online media.

3. Integrate social media
Use Chinese social media (not Facebook or Twitter which are blocked) to provide a regular drip of newsworthy items to keep your brand top of mind. Social media plays a more important role in travel choice than in the west, with travellers very ready to follow recommendation from friends, family bloggers and other online influencers. Bragging rights are also an important dynamic which shouldn’t be ignored – particularly if your product has appeal to high net worth Chinese travellers. Speak to us about which are the right social media for your product.

4. The power of Chinese celebrity
If you have the budget, celebrity endorsement of your product is a great way to instantly get your brand profile. Guanxi has a great network of Chinese movie stars and other celebrities and we would be delighted to talk to you about who might be a good match for your product.

5. The Shameless Plug!
As you might have guessed, we have PR travel specialists in China waiting to help you. Meet Kathy Chen, our Director of PR. Kathy is a former travel journalist, who also has ‘client side’ experience, having joined Guanxi from Tourism Ireland. Kathy therefore has a wealth of knowledge on the Chinese travel PR scene and a smart phone brimming with contact details of Chinese travel journalists.

For more information of how Guanxi can help you with your Chinese PR strategy (or any other marketing and representation matter), please contact [email protected].