Are you looking for ways to market and advertise your business in Taiwan? Taiwan’s continuous high economic growth has made it one of the most developed economies in the world. Taiwan now offers plenty of business opportunities and has become a promising country to make investments in Asia. But, entering the Taiwanese market doesn’t seem as easy as you might think. To succeed in Taiwan, you’d need tips and strategies from experts in Taiwan.
Local experts know this market better than anyone. They know the Taiwanese consumers’ behaviors and purchasing habits. For one, 91% of the Taiwan population are internet users, while 89% are social media users. One of the top reasons why the Taiwanese use the internet is to research products to help in their purchase decisions. Knowing this type of information can help businesses in planning their marketing and advertising campaigns.
This data can give you a headstart, but it’s not enough arsenal to succeed in Taiwan. Lucky for you, we curated the best tips and strategies a business can use in entering this foreign market.
In this article, we asked the founders of AJ Marketing for their 7 best practices in marketing and advertising in Taiwan. These tips and tricks will be a great tool to jumpstart your business in this developed market. Let’s take a look!
7 Best Tips for Marketing in Taiwan
- Make your message come through: Consider the language barrier in Taiwan and make sure your message is understood
- Enhance brand recognizability: Make sure you have a solid brand identity that the audience can remember
- Aim for the first page: Make efforts on Google search optimization and aim to appear on the first page
- Be one tap away: Fit in with the digitally-oriented and tech-savvy consumers of Taiwan
- Give your consumers a voice: Be consumer-oriented and make efforts to create user-generated content
- Foster authentic relationships: Gain the Taiwanese market’s trust by collaborating with influencers
- Find someone who knows Taiwan by heart: Find a local marketing agency in Taiwan that can best help you in your campaign
Tip #1: Make your message come through: Consider the language barrier in Taiwan and make sure your message is understood
No matter how appealing your brand’s visuals are, it will serve no purpose if the message is not clear and understood by your target audience. Taiwan has relatively low English proficiency, ranking 48th in the world. Most of the population are either Mandarin speakers or Taiwanese speakers. If you want your brand to get noticed, you have to make sure that the audience is not simply hearing you – they must also be listening to you with full intent.
Making your message come through does not mean mere translation. It also means understanding the nuances in their language and researching idiomatic expressions. It means knowing their humor and tapping its potential. Not paying attention to the language barrier may cause cultural misunderstandings and may damage a brand’s image.
This does not mean you can’t use English completely. Using English taglines may be beneficial and may catch the audience’s attention. Just remember that it should be short, simple, and easily understandable. Take this example from Lancome Taiwan.
Here, Taylor Hill spoke in English phrases that are short, simple, and clear. Meanwhile, the text in the commercial containing the benefits of the foundation was all written and translated into Taiwanese. This gave Lancome a localized, yet still regal and international feel.
Tip #2: Enhance brand recognizability: Make sure you have a solid brand identity that the audience can remember
When you see an apple with a bite on its right side, what do you think? How about when you see a store whose interior is all white, clean, and sleek? The first thing that will come to mind is the brand Apple. How did they do this? It’s because of their solid, consistent, and memorable brand identity. Because of this, Apple has always topped Taiwan’s Top 100 Brands List from 2019 up to the present.
Taiwan may be known for its manufacturing industry, but brand identity and reputation is equally important to its consumers. A strong brand identity can make your business memorable. One outstanding color or logo can inculcate your brand into the Taiwanese consumers’ minds. Branding also builds trust because consumers prefer brands with established and professionally-made designs.
Taiwan houses thousands of businesses, and a new brand needs to do everything to stand out. You must think of ways to make your brand unique–ways to make it something the Taiwanese won’t forget.
Ask yourself, “Who would my brand be if it were a person? How would my brand dress and accessorize? How would my brand interact with other people?” You must think of your brand in a human perspective, and not treat it as a mere object. This way, it would be more relatable to your audience.
Tip #3: Aim for the first page: Make efforts on Google search optimization and aim to appear in the first page
Google and Yahoo are the most visited websites in Taiwan. Also, one of the top reasons Taiwanese use the internet is to research and find information. With this alone, you’d notice how important it is for a business to optimize its search results on popular search engines.
Search Engine Optimization or SEO has tons of advantages, especially for brands that are just entering the Taiwan market. When you do SEO, your business gets 24/7 online promotion which, in turn, can generate high conversions.
SEO also improves your credibility and fosters trust among your audience. The Taiwanese would more likely trust what they see on the first page of Google rather than what they see on the second and later pages. It’s also very cost-effective as it would not really cost you anything. You just have to know the right keywords and the consumers’ search intent. This makes SEO one of the non-negotiables for businesses entering Taiwan.
Tip #4: Be one tap away: Fit in with the digitally-oriented and tech-savvy consumers of Taiwan
The Taiwanese population is tech-savvy and digitally oriented from the very beginning. This fact, along with the onset of the pandemic, dramatically increased e-commerce in Taiwan. All businesses in this country know the importance of shifting their service digitally so that the market can access them with one click or tap.
63.8% of the Taiwanese population purchase products and services online. This data shows that by making your business adjust to the comfort of this market, you increase your chances of revenue growth.
The Taiwan government has even made efforts so that businesses shift to online e-commerce platforms. In 2020, the government offered subsidies to businesses that will adopt e-commerce by covering the costs for setup, marketing, logistics, and order processing.
Undoubtedly, digitally transforming your business in Taiwan would increase conversions, brand visibility, and online presence.
Tip #5: Give your consumers a voice: Be consumer-oriented and make efforts to create user-generated content
Would you rather buy something you saw from a billboard, or buy something you saw a trusted colleague post on Instagram? The Taiwanese are now progressively choosing the latter. Digital marketers in Taiwan today have made the promotion of user-generated content (UGC) a top priority with many noteworthy campaigns.
User-generated content can be in the form of videos or photos the consumer themselves take and post in their social media accounts. It can be in the form of testimonials or even hashtags. These UGCs are proven to be better at converting leads than studio content. UGCs are also financially preferable for a business because it’s cost-effective. Most importantly, UGCs provide social proof that your products and services are well-liked and used by ordinary people.
Just take a look at the hashtag #ZaraTaiwan on Instagram and you’ll see thousands of Instagram posts from ordinary people. These people post their outfits of the day and use this hashtag or tag Zara’s account. It’s basically free exposure for Zara!
If you make your content consumer-centered and if you launch creative online campaigns, your business can definitely gain traction using UGC.
Tip #6: Foster authentic relationships: Gain the Taiwanese market’s trust by collaborating with influencers
Taiwanese consumers are increasingly relying on influencers and word-of-mouth in deciding which products to purchase. Influencers are followed and trusted by the market because of their credibility and familiarity. So, if you are a new business in Taiwan, make sure you are introduced by an influencer who has already won the market’s heart.
The top social media platforms in Taiwan are Line, Facebook, and Instagram. 23.7% of Taiwan’s population also follow influencers and experts on these social media platforms. Finally, social media is one of the top areas where customers discover new brands. Thus, collaborating with influencers who the Taiwanese already trust is the best way to do social media marketing.
Look at this example by Taiwanese influencer Kerina Hsueh on Instagram. Kerina has over 400K followers and has helped numerous brands gain online presence in the Taiwan market. In this post, she shared about the Starlight bottle of L’Occitane and how she uses this essence after washing her face. This post gained almost 2,000 likes and numerous interactions from her audience.
The reason why this campaign was successful is that Kerina’s image fits the values of L’Occitane. This brand is all about beauty, simplicity, and purity, and Kerina’s online identity fits the bill. A business has to take these things into consideration before choosing an influencer.
Influencers can be on various platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. They can also be of various niches, and you cannot just blindly choose the influencer you want to work with.
The founders of AJ Marketing emphasized the importance of carefully curating the influencers a brand chooses to work with. They believe that in-depth research must first be made, and insider information is highly beneficial. To do this, a business must seek the help of a local marketing agency.
Tip #7: Find someone who knows Taiwan by heart: Find a local marketing agency in Taiwan that can best help you in your campaign
When you go to an unfamiliar place, you’d need a map or even a tour guide. You’d need someone who already knows how to navigate the area and who will tell you which is the right path. The same goes for marketing in Taiwan.
As a foreign business entering the Taiwan market, you’d need someone on the ground, living amongst your target audience. You’d need insider knowledge to make sure that your campaign is acceptable to the population. This makes the process of attaining success speedier, easier, and more efficient.
AJ Marketing believes that it can be your best local partner in Taiwan. AJ Marketing has great English-speaking support so communicating with your business will be a piece of cake. It has a local office in Taiwan, the people in who already know the current trends of the market.
Conclusion
Taiwan’s digital economy opens big opportunities for international businesses to enter the market. However, Taiwan also houses thousands of other companies, making competition tight and intense. Thus, a business entering Taiwan must make itself stand out, must make itself relatable, and make its brand memorable for the Taiwanese consumers.
We hope that these 7 best marketing and advertising tips can help your business succeed in Taiwan. You can put these strategies up your sleeves to help in your business expansion and introduction to this foreign market.
If you are looking to expand your business in Taiwan, check the AJ marketing blog for information about local Taiwan market trends.
Follow Techdee for more!