Can A Brand-led China Marketing Strategy Be Effective?
Matt Bowen • September 23, 2020
Recently published reports in the B2B marketing world have spoken of the power of brand marketing, creativity and storytelling. But for a China marketing campaign or brand strategy does the same hold true?
Here at Brandigo, we have always believed in the power of stories. We blogged in December about how B2B marketing professionals should be incorporating brand experiences that allowed them to tell their story in an engaging, authentic way into their brand strategy. More recently, we discussed how leading-edge sales enablement technology like Showpad helps brands http://blog.brandigo.com/brandigo/using-the-latest-marketing-technology-to-tell-your-story.
A study published earlier this week in Marketing Week
based on research conducted by the magazine and our e3 Network colleagues, The Marketing Practice, brings the topic of B2B marketing and storytelling into focus again, largely drawing the same conclusions we did, that B2B marketers need to invest in creativity and storytelling just as much as our B2C cousins.
But for marketers tasked with implementing an engaging and effective China marketing strategy, a unique, diverse, dynamic environment that can challenge the usual thinking on most business issues, does brand-led marketing have the same impact?
This is the question I have been asking around the office for the last couple of days. And as you’d expect from the Brandigo team, the opinions might differ slightly but they are all equally well thought out and reasoned.
One interesting viewpoint came back from Kadri, one of our talented Senior Account Execs. She said, "B2B advertising is often rational rather than emotional. From what I've experienced so far, modern B2B marketing in China still means trade fairs, freebies and good old guangxi. Of course, it's very digital, but the storytelling aspect seems to be an afterthought.” One of the reasons for this that Kadri posits is that local managers don’t always have enough organizational power to lead a bold, local agenda.
For what it’s worth I completely agree with Kadri that a lot of China marketing continues to be more ‘traditional’ B2B. But as Mike, our China President noted, this also represents an opportunity. He commented’ “I think B2B marketers have known all along that it is great stories and emotion that connect people - whether they be consumers or an R&D specialist inside a hardcore B2B operation. Here in China, there is an incredible opportunity for brands willing to be contrarian and stand out in their markets - they just need to take that bold step.
“One critical takeaway from recent research is that B2B brands should send half of their spend on brand building, and the other half on activation - such as lead generation. Emotions and differentiation are an incredibly important part of B2B decision making.”
The point that Mike is making isn’t just theoretical either. A case in point is a recent Brandigo project for the UK Government’s Food is GREAT
campaign which took the bold step of creating a series of experiential activations in China that told the story of UK Gin. The campaign attracted a whole new audience of Chinese F&B professionals, buyers, influencers and decision-makers who had previously little to no experience of UK craft gins but who bought into the stories and heritage of the brands involved and really engaged with Food is GREAT initiative as a whole.
So is brand-led marketing and storytelling important? Obviously yes. Is this true for China marketing? The answer to that is yes as well. Are all B2B marketers in China trusting in their creativity and taking advantage of this for their own brand strategies? Not yet but here at Brandigo will keep pushing the agenda and making sure that we add maximum value to our clients’ China marketing spend by looking at long-term brand building as well as short term sales gains. We do love the journey as well as the destination!
Tesla's recent struggles show how controversies can damage a brand. CEO Elon Musk's recent controvercial decisions have alienated a significant portion of Tesla's eco-conscious customer base. The fallout has been severe: Stock Decline: Tesla's stock dropped 36% in Q1 2025, erasing $460B in market cap. Sales Impact: Vehicle deliveries fell 13% year-over-year in Q1 2025, with market share in Europe and Germany plummeting. Customer Trust: Favorability among Democrats dropped 23% from January to July 2024, while Tesla's brand consideration score halved since 2021. This highlights a key lesson: brands risk fallout when taking sides on divisive issues, and this is particularly true in politics. It highlights how important it for brands to remain focused on their core mission, establish authenticity, and earn trust from the market. You may be asking yourself, well hold on, how is this any different that what other brands like Ben and Jerry’s have done over the years. The key difference is that even though they may express views that some may find divisive, these views didn’t counter their core brand essence, in fact it enhanced it. Conflicts Hurting Brand Performance Brand Value Losses Tesla experienced a hit to its brand value following statements from its CEO that many perceived to be divisive or off-brand. Survey results showed that 45% of respondents viewed the impact as "negative," while 40% described it as "extremely negative" [2] . Customer Trust Breakdown Tesla's favorability ratings have sharply declined, particularly across political affiliations:
B2B marketing is a high-stakes game, data is everywhere—but insight is rare. One of the most powerful yet underutilized sources of marketing intelligence is a clear view of your brand’s health. Not vanity metrics, but a deep, diagnostic look at how your brand is perceived at every stage of the buyer’s journey. With perceived being the key word here. This kind of insight doesn’t come from your CRM or website analytics. It comes from targeted audience research that maps how each buyer persona perceives your brand at every key touchpoint in the funnel: awareness, familiarity, consideration, usage, and loyalty. When done right, it’s like getting an X-ray of your entire marketing engine—and your competitors’ too. Think how useful this is for a marketing and revenue team. Defining Brand Health: Perceptions Across the Funnel Brand health isn’t a single number. It’s the sum of how well your brand is performing in the minds of your target audiences—at every step of the funnel: Awareness – Do your ideal customers even know your brand exists? Familiarity – Can they describe what you do and how you’re different? Consideration – Would they include you in their shortlist when making a purchase decision? Usage – Are they choosing you and experiencing the value you promise? Loyalty – Do they stay, recommend, and grow with your brand? When you understand how each of your target personas perceives your brand at these stages, you can pinpoint the exact points where your marketing is working—or where it’s leaking leads and losing revenue. Why You Can’t Rely on Internal Data Alone Here’s the reality: most internal dashboards can only tell you what people do. But they can’t tell you what people think. And what they think determines whether or not they’ll engage with you in the first place. The only way to measure brand health accurately is through targeted audience research—surveys and qualitative insights gathered from your actual buying personas (or those of your competitors). This research reveals how each group perceives you at every stage of the funnel, uncovering blind spots and opportunities that performance data alone can’t provide. The Strategic Power of a Brand Health X-Ray When you can see brand health perceptions by funnel stage and by persona, you unlock powerful advantages for both marketing and revenue teams: Focused Strategy If awareness is high but familiarity is low, you know your messaging isn’t landing. If consideration is weak, you may need to clarify your value proposition or address trust barriers. This enables marketing to focus efforts where the funnel is breaking down—no guesswork. Smarter Budget Allocation Instead of spreading your budget evenly or betting on assumptions, brand health insights show you exactly where to invest to get the highest return. No more overspending at the top of the funnel when the real issue is mid-funnel conversion. Competitive Benchmarking When you include competitor data in your brand health assessment, you can see how buyers perceive your rivals at each stage of the funnel. Are they winning on awareness but losing on loyalty? Are you the most considered, but not the most chosen? This is the kind of clarity that drives smart positioning. The Business Case: Stats That Matter Companies that monitor brand health regularly are 60% more likely to exceed revenue goals. Consistent brand presentation can increase revenue by up to 20%. Brands with strong funnel-wide perception outperform competitors by up to 3X in customer retention and advocacy. To get started, B2B marketers should: Identify Key Personas – Who are your target buyers? Define them clearly. Map the Funnel Stages – Customize the funnel stages to match your sales cycle. Launch Targeted Research – Use surveys, interviews, or brand assessment tools to gather perception data. Analyze and Benchmark – Compare across personas and against competitors. Act on Insights – Use findings to adjust messaging, content, media spend, and sales enablement. Marketing teams are under more pressure than ever to prove impact. By measuring brand health through the lens of funnel-stage perceptions across key personas, you equip your team with the clarity to act with precision—and avoid wasting time and budget on the wrong problems. It’s not just about knowing how your brand is doing. It’s about knowing why—and what to do next. Want help setting up a brand health assessment for your organization? DM me and let's talk about how to build your own X-ray view of your brand and your competitors.