China Market Memo Jan 2012

There are several ways who think and come up idea of Marketing Strategy like me to go into China.

1, PR and Marketing support
2, Media business
3, Merchandise products like food and drink or consumer appliance.

I think above 3 are important aspects have to be related and run altogether in terms of making profit.

I am in the Media business so I need to pivot three from Media business perspective. I think important aspect of Media is to give better information to what people are looking for and provide for better business opportunities for partners most of sense advertisers. The company where I belong runs web media and all contents are free so almost all of revenue relayed on advertisement. That is relating to marketing support. More and more clients, require to best match to their target audience that they don't want to waste penny for ad. We have to provide more precise and better ROI that means the ad result should be prospered in clear numbers that give selling to them. So the contents of media means to attract more number of attractive audience. Site power means not only the number of people has visited but if there are  quality audience. Quality audience has purchase power of at least influence decision to purchase. How many people who affects casting vote is also important factor. Those people are usually read predominantly quality "papers".  Is there quality website? Sure it is.  Quantity and quality both there serious aspects for site business.

This is what we are going to aim at in Japan. How we can implement site business strategy when we go into China?  I am not even sure that what we do here works there. But anyhow fundamental of media role is to release quality information to readers and provide best matching opportunities for clients.

And as of contents business from Japan, fashion design, Anime, and manga kind of things Chinese people are interested the most. And Manga publisher like Shueisha is sponsors Manga artist contest to attract local audience and many fashion design publishers are providing magazines for local people. Those have more possibility than other contents like literature, business, politics, and economics and business stuff.

Messaging is first step but not enough. We have to come up how to endorse way of revenue. Find client who advertise is one way, but when the site is start up we can't support enough inventory and result for advertisers. Probably good way to support is to sell something on our own like food or consumer products. Again, Chinese people are attracted Japan's design and quality of many things, so we can sell some package food and drink. One good model is that The New York Times is selling their members selected 6 bottles of quality wines every month for $100. The member of wine club gets wines which NYT selects every month. I think audience of NYT trust what they choose and actually it's easier for audience not to have to select. I think this can be tied up media with some quality liquor brands. This way subsidise the way revenue from ad. It could be branded rice, any product is fine.