10 Winning Marketing Strategies For Financial Services in China 

This article will give you the Cut Edge solutions to promote Financial Services to China.

1. Develop a Budget, and KPIs
2. Bet on a Digital Strategy
3. Website clear and Optimize for Chinese Audience
4. Maximize your Visibility.

OVERVIEW OF THIS USD 45 TRILLION MARKET

We are witnessing a huge boom in the financial and investment industries in China, fuelled by an increasing level of wealth and a growing number of affluent investors in the finance sector. China’s financial services industry has grown rapidly over the past five years with greater product offerings, a wider pool of talent, and the proliferation of sales channels increasing the scale and quantity of investment in this industry. The financial sector continues its transformation into a more mature and complex market that will both welcome international investment and invest overseas.

GROWTH OPPORTUNITIES FOR FINANCIAL SERVICES IN CHINA

China has been a dominant economic force in the Asia-Pacific region for centuries. One person in every five on earth lives in the People’s Republic of China, and its massive GDP makes it a focal point for expansion by many banks, insurance companies, and asset managers looking for international growth. Moreover, the country’s rapid urbanization process has spurred the growth of a large middle class.

Approximately 225 million households earned between $11,500 and $43,000 a year—a group rivalling the size of the entire U.S. population of 323 million.

Although its economic expansion over the next few years is expected to be more moderate than in the recent past, China is still expected to contribute a significant portion to global economic growth. China is in the midst of its 12^th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development, a state initiative that emphasizes a shift from export-led investments to domestic consumption. This change in priorities can be a catalyst for faster growth in many sectors of the economy, including financial services.

China’s financial sector is estimated to be worth $45 trillion in 2018.

Bloomberg Economics estimates that foreign banks and securities companies could grab profits of more than $32 billion a year in China by 2030.

China is the second-largest retail banking market in the world by 2015, with an annual revenue pool of around $280 billion by 2020.

CHINA’S FINANCIAL SECTOR IS SET TO OPEN UP TO THE WORLD LIKE NEVER BEFORE

• People’s Bank of China said that it would within a few months erase limits on foreign companies’ ownership of local banks and asset management companies as well as permit foreign banks to set up local branches within China.
• Among other reforms, China would also raise limits on foreign ownership for securities, futures and insurance companies to 51 percent in the coming months, with that cap to be removed entirely after three years.
• Earnings at foreign banks are set to grow by more than 10 times by 2030.
• Foreign-backed securities ventures’ profits are forecast to almost quadruple as their share increases fivefold by 2030.
• Life insurance is the one corner of China’s vast financial sector where foreign firms have done pretty well, with market share by premiums advancing for six straight years.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR FINANCIAL SERVICES IN CHINA

China is the world’s most digitalized country

Internet penetration rates in China are striking: as of December 2017, China had 772 million internet users or more than the entire population of Europe. And yet, that figure represents only 55.6 percent of China’s population. Perhaps most significant of all, more than 95 percent of China’s internet users—or 772 million people—access the web via a mobile device.

In addition, China’s consumers have rapidly adapted to a lifestyle of digital purchasing via either traditional e-commerce or a smartphone. Around 89% of respondents to a 2015 Cisco survey in China said that they use independent shopping apps on a smartphone at least once a week, versus just 34% for a like survey conducted by a software company in the US.

A survey from iResearch determined that mobile third-party payments in China are projected to reach a hefty $5.5 trillion for 2019 or around 50 times that in the US, where e-commerce purchases account for just 9.1% of total retail sales, as of the third quarter of 2017.

That leads to the EXPLOSIVE growth of FinTech in China

The huge amount of Chinese netizens, their eagerness, and fast adaptation when it comes to new technologies along with an increasing number of small and micro enterprises hungry for financing are among key drivers behind the explosive growth of the Fintech industry in China.

• Last year, the amount of financing pumped into China’s financial technology reached US$7.7 billion, while in the United States it was US$6.2 billion.
• China’s investment in financial technology far exceeds that of the United States; in fact, it leads the world.
• The 2017 Financial Technology Adoption Index released by Ernst & Young shows that China’s financial technology adoption rate index is the highest, reaching 69%, while the United States is at 33%, and the global average is 33%.
• In other words, China’s fintech adoption rate is already double that of the United States and also twice as much as the rest of the world.
• In 2017, five of the top 10 global fintech companies were from China, including renowned brands such as Ant Financial, Lufax (Shanghai Lujiazui International Financial Asset Exchange Co.), Zhong’an Online P&C Insurance, JD.com, etc.

In a highly competitive market where banks and asset managers are battling with e-commerce companies and other fintech start-ups, traditional financial services companies must build a stronger presence online and a stronger connection with their customers.

Marketing strategies for Financial Services in China

Chinese millennials want to do business with financial companies they trust. Trust comes from establishing remarkable brand awareness, building digital experiences young people will use, and getting endorsements from well-known celebrities. Especially in China where people turn to social media, Internet experts, and search engines for information and advice, generating a positive reputation and strong online presence are top priorities for financial services companies.

1) A quality Chinese website: the beginning of your client Journey 

Your website needs to be not only well-organized, professionally designed, and informative but also optimized for Baidu (China’s No.1 search engine), hosted on a local server with a .cn domain. Creating a quality Chinese site is integral for ‘face’, the concept of a strong impression and image in China.

2) SEO – Search Engine Optimization, Organic Results are ALWAYS the best 

Once you have created your Chinese website, the next step will be to become visible on the most powerful Chinese search engine: Baidu which dominates 82% of the Chinese search engine market in Finance.

Here it will be very beneficial if your company is one of the top search results. This can be complemented through advertising with PPC, banner ads, and paid links. Customers need to see that you are a legitimate and established company in China. A high ranking on Baidu is the ultimate proof of this. This approach can take time but thanks to the right keyword optimization strategies, you can increase your visibility in a cost-efficient way.

You can increase your Baidu ranking by utilizing a number of techniques:

• Producing quality, original content
• Sharing and dissemination of content
• Keyword optimization
• Backlinks campaign
• Weblinks and referrals
• Chinese hosted server
• Chinese, Mandarin optimized website
• Chinese domain/URL

Once you have developed your ranking, you will be seen as a valid business. The mistake many companies make is that they try to apply the SEO strategy that they use in Western markets. China has a different digital landscape. Baidu’s intelligent system called the ‘Spider’ prioritizes Chinese-specific elements such as a Chinese domain/URL, Chinese servers, Chinese content…

3) Financial influencers: Use the aura of these Gourou 

Work with influencers to reach new audiences and make your brand cool. Managing your financial life – with all its idiosyncrasies, complex financial options are a complicated business. In such a complicated world of financial well-being, influencers can distill your message and turn it into something relatable.

• They can help you reach out to millions of Millennials who don’t believe in financial products.
• They can help you acquire new customers and energize your existing ones.

Millennials don’t care about big brands in the financial area – they only care about what their friends do. They care about what their favorite personalities care about. There are respected figures in this industry with the connections and influence to grow your brand awareness and trust.

So reach out to them. With some accounts having millions of followers, it’s a sure-fire way to make sure that your company gets the exposure that it so desperately needs to survive and grow.

4) Maximize your visibility in financial news ….  because your Clients read news 

Chinese PR is the number one method for raising awareness and reputability in the financial sector. Specialized Chinese publications will only publish quality and interesting news from reputable sources. Chinese consumers trust their official news agencies because they know what they read is strictly regulated by the Government.

This is why it is important to develop a reputation and Financial buzz in China’s PR world.

5) Engage your Prospect through Wechat 

One way to engage with your users is to build an online community on Wechat and provide them with accurate and relevant content in Chinese. The most popular social media platform in China to build a community is WeChat with over 750 million users. This is a highly engaging community with Chinese users spending on average 1.5 hours per day on this single application. On your Wechat official account, you can talk about new trends, industry insight, financial consultation, investment news… to attract a new audience as well as maintain current ones.

The Chinese financial sector is a fascinating area for growth and investment with huge technology developments continuing to transform its landscape and pose new opportunities as well as challenges. For financial services which want to gain the trust of Chinese consumers, the right digital marketing strategy is crucial. In China, the social media game is for every industry。

Our Finance in China Case Studies

FenixMarkets is a Forex trading firm in Australia and wanted to target Chinese Private investors.

GMA has helped this finance Firm to develop its database of Chinese prospects

CAMPAIGN OVERVIEW

1. Maximize the Chinese new user registrations
2. Acquire high-quality Prospects
3. Create from scratch the brand awareness and the Reputation

• TARGET AUDIENCE

  Chinese Private White collar  interested in financial products.

CAMPAIGN STRATEGIES

• Lookalike

Build a lookalike audience Business strategy

1. Re-targeting + display on Site Ads
2. Re-marketing leads to bringing them back into the conversion funnel
3. Re-target Cold Traffic

OUR AGENCY: A PURE DIGITAL PLAYER FOCUS ON RESULTS 

We are a digital marketing agency specializing in lead generation, and we know quite well the finance industry in China.

• If you have a project in mind, don’t hesitate to contact us for an in-depth discussion with our Specialist
• 30min of free consulting and One Coffee if you come to meet us in Shanghai
• Feel be free to ask about our case studies & credential (you will be surprised!)
• We do not have Standard Pricing, we create tailor-made quotation according to our client’s target & Plan