What are the Channels for Intelligent Marketing in China?

China intelligent marketing industry refers to an industry that uses advanced computer technology, data analysis, artificial intelligence and other technical means to manage and optimize marketing activities intelligently and accurately to achieve corporate marketing goals. Intelligent marketing technology can help companies quickly identify potential customers, track consumer purchasing behavior, and improve conversion rates and customer satisfaction. The core of the intelligent marketing industry is to use advanced technology and data analysis methods to integrate, analyze, model and optimize information from different channels and data sources, thereby improving marketing efficiency and effectiveness.

The scale of China's intelligent marketing industry

In 2022, the scale of China's intelligent marketing market is expected to reach RMB 327.2 billion. With the continuous penetration of AI technology in the marketing field, the market size will grow at an astonishing rate in the next five years, and is expected to reach RMB 1,142 billion by 2027. This means that the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of the market size will reach about 25.5%, bringing huge business opportunities and potential benefits to enterprises. This growth trend is mainly due to the lightning-fast entry of AI technology into the marketing field and advertisers' deep belief that AI technology will help them occupy the high ground in the marketing battlefield.

China's intelligent marketing industry classification

At present, China's intelligent marketing can be divided into search engine marketing, social media marketing, content marketing and e-commerce marketing according to different application scenarios. Among them, search engine marketing can accurately locate the target audience, but the cost is relatively high; social media marketing has a large number of users and diversified traffic, but the traffic cost is relatively high; content marketing has low cost, long-lasting effect and wide coverage, but it requires long-term accumulation and it is difficult to quantify the effect; e-commerce marketing can promote and sell products on e-commerce platforms, increase brand awareness and product sales.

China Search Engine Marketing

Search engine marketing refers to enterprises using the advertising platform of search engines to bid for keyword ads, so that the company's website can get higher exposure and click-through rate on the search engine's search results page. It mainly includes two forms: keyword ads and display ads. The advantages of search engine marketing are that it can accurately locate the target audience, pay on demand, and has the advantage of cost control. The disadvantages are fierce competition, high costs, and the effect is easily affected by external factors.

China Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing refers to the activities of enterprises using social media platforms for marketing and promotion. Typical social media platforms include WeChat, Weibo, Douyin, Kuaishou, etc. Enterprises can publish marketing content on these platforms, interact with fans, and enhance brand influence. The advantages of social media marketing are the large number of users, diversified traffic, high accuracy, and strong communication effect. The disadvantages are information overload, low user stickiness, and high traffic costs.

China Content Marketing

Content marketing is to attract and maintain the attention of target audiences and convert them into potential customers and loyal customers by creating and sharing valuable and attractive content with marketing purposes. Typical content marketing includes articles, videos, pictures, audio and other forms. By creating, publishing and sharing valuable content, companies can attract the attention of target audiences and enhance brand influence. The advantages of content marketing are low cost, long-term effect and wide dissemination. The disadvantages are that it requires long-term accumulation and the effect is difficult to quantify.

China E-commerce Marketing

E-commerce marketing refers to the activities of product sales and marketing promotion through e-commerce platforms. Typical e-commerce platforms include Taobao, JD.com, Tmall, etc. Enterprises can promote and sell products on these platforms to increase brand awareness and product sales.

Characteristics of China's intelligent marketing industry

China's intelligent marketing industry is showing a rapid development trend. With the application of advanced technologies, the application scenarios of the intelligent marketing industry will continue to expand and the scope of application will become wider. The competitive pressure faced by the intelligent marketing industry will continue to increase, and leading companies need to improve their core competitiveness through technological innovation, service upgrades, market expansion and other means. The user portrait of the intelligent marketing industry shows the characteristics of youth and digitalization, which also means that the intelligent marketing industry needs to continue to innovate and change to adapt to the needs of young and digital users.

1. Business Model

The business models of China's intelligent marketing industry are mainly divided into two models: software and services.

The software model refers to the intelligent marketing conducted by enterprises through independent research and development or the purchase of third-party software; the service model refers to the purchase of technical support and services by enterprises from intelligent marketing service providers. According to data, in 2020, the scale of China's intelligent marketing software market was 12.8 billion yuan, accounting for 31.5%, and the scale of the service market was 27.8 billion yuan, accounting for 68.5%. It can be seen that the service model occupies a dominant position in the market. With the continuous development and maturity of intelligent marketing technology, the software model will gradually become a must-have option for enterprises, and the service model will continue to occupy a market advantage.

2. Competitive Environment

The competition environment in China's intelligent marketing industry is becoming increasingly fierce, and there are numerous companies and brands in the market.

According to data, in 2020, the top five companies in China's intelligent marketing industry are Alibaba, Baidu, Tencent, JD.com and Huawei, with market shares of 34.9%, 18.4%, 17.4%, 6.4% and 4.2% respectively. It can be seen that the top five companies in terms of market share hold nearly 81% of the market share. In addition, the entry threshold of the intelligent marketing industry is relatively low, and there are still many entrepreneurial companies in the market. With the continuous expansion and development of the market, the competitive pressure in the intelligent marketing industry will continue to increase, and leading companies in the industry need to enhance their core competitiveness through technological innovation, service upgrades, and market expansion.

3. User portrait

The users of intelligent marketing services involve multiple industries, such as retail, finance, education, medical care, and tourism. Each industry has its own unique needs and preferences when applying intelligent marketing services. Intelligent marketing services play an important role in different industries, providing enterprises with personalized and precise marketing solutions. In the retail industry, intelligent marketing helps enterprises improve conversion rates and customer satisfaction and increase sales revenue; the financial industry uses intelligent marketing to achieve customer behavior analysis, credit assessment and risk control, improve customer acquisition effects and reduce marketing costs; the education industry uses intelligent marketing to conduct precise customer segmentation, personalized course recommendations and learning effect analysis to improve student satisfaction and renewal rates; the medical industry uses intelligent marketing services to achieve patient management, medical resource optimization and epidemic prevention and control, and improve patients' medical experience and medical service levels; the tourism industry uses intelligent marketing to conduct customer portrait analysis, travel product recommendations and public opinion monitoring to improve customer satisfaction and the proportion of repeat customers. With the growing demand for intelligent marketing services in various industries, the market size and potential are huge.

4. Supply and Demand

With the continuous maturity and application of intelligent marketing technology, the number of industry suppliers is also increasing, and market competition is becoming increasingly fierce. The demand for China's intelligent marketing market continues to grow, especially in the fields of new retail, new manufacturing, and new finance. According to data, the market penetration rate of intelligent marketing services was only 14.7% in 2019, and the industry has huge room for growth. However, the entry threshold of the intelligent marketing industry is relatively low, and there are many entrepreneurial companies in the market. Therefore, intelligent marketing companies need to continuously improve their technical strength and service quality to cope with increasingly fierce market competition.

The development history of intelligent marketing in China

Germination period 2000~2010

In its early stages, the intelligent marketing industry was mainly based on advertising marketing on traditional media, including television, radio, magazines, etc. With the rapid development of the Internet, Internet advertising has also begun to emerge. At this stage, the technology and applications of the intelligent marketing industry are not yet mature, and the market size is also relatively small.

Start-up period 2010~2015

In the rising stage, with the development of mobile Internet and big data technology, the intelligent marketing industry began to rise gradually. The intelligent marketing industry began to get involved in mobile terminals, using the advantages of mobile terminals to place advertisements. At the same time, big data technology also began to be applied to the intelligent marketing industry, providing strong data support for the development of the industry. During this stage, the intelligent marketing industry developed rapidly and the market scale gradually expanded.

Maturity period 2015~2023

At the current mature stage, the intelligent marketing industry has become one of the important means of marketing. The technology and applications of the intelligent marketing industry are gradually maturing, and the application scenarios are constantly expanding, including search engine marketing, social media marketing, content marketing, e-commerce marketing, etc. At the same time, the intelligent marketing industry has also begun to apply new technologies such as artificial intelligence and big data, providing new impetus for the development of the industry. At this stage, the market size of the intelligent marketing industry continues to grow, and competition is becoming increasingly fierce.

Analysis of China's intelligent marketing industry chain

The industrial chain of China's intelligent marketing industry mainly includes upstream: technology providers and data suppliers. These companies provide key technologies (such as artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing, etc.), data resources and infrastructure platform support for intelligent marketing;

Midstream: Intelligent marketing software and solution providers. Solution providers integrate upstream technology and data resources to customize intelligent marketing strategies, tools and services for customers;

Downstream: End users of intelligent marketing, namely advertisers and brands. These companies use intelligent marketing solutions and services to achieve marketing goals and increase brand awareness and sales performance.

Upstream of the industry chain

The overall market situation in the upstream of China's intelligent marketing industry is relatively concentrated, mainly composed of Internet giants, professional technology companies and data service companies. According to data, the scale of China's digital advertising market will reach 63.8 billion yuan in 2021, of which the three major Internet giants Tencent, Alibaba and Baidu have a combined market share of more than 70%, showing a clear trend of market concentration. According to a report released by iResearch Consulting, China's digital advertising market is expected to maintain steady growth in the next few years. In addition, with the advancement of digital transformation in various industries, the application of intelligent marketing in retail, finance, education, medical care and other fields will continue to expand, further driving the development of the upstream industrial chain.

Midstream of the industry chain

The midstream of the industrial chain of China's intelligent marketing industry mainly includes creative production, advertising, media purchase and other links. Midstream enterprises are mainly responsible for the specific implementation of intelligent marketing plans, and transform the technology and data services provided by the upstream into actual marketing effects. Specifically, creative production: In intelligent marketing, the creative production link is responsible for formulating attractive and targeted advertising materials based on the company's marketing goals and strategies, combined with data analysis results. Professional advertising agencies, creative studios and independent advertising creatives participate in the competition in the midstream market ; advertising delivery: The advertising delivery link is responsible for accurately delivering the advertising materials completed by creative production through various advertising platforms to achieve the marketing goals of advertisers.

Downstream of the industry chain

The downstream of the Chinese intelligent marketing industry chain is composed of advertisers and brand owners from all walks of life. From the perspective of the industry distribution of Chinese advertisers, the fast-moving consumer goods industry accounts for the highest proportion, reaching 23.4%, followed by the Internet service industry, accounting for 20.7%; the retail industry accounts for 10.5%; the automobile manufacturing industry accounts for 7.8%; and the financial services industry accounts for 7.2%. These industries have a relatively high status as advertisers in the intelligent marketing industry and have a strong demand for intelligent marketing services.

There are two important industry chain development trends in China's intelligent marketing industry, namely technology-driven innovation and cross-border integration and cooperation.

(1) Technology-driven innovation: With the continuous development of technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data and cloud computing, companies in the intelligent marketing industry chain will continue to launch more advanced and efficient solutions and services. For example, by leveraging deep learning and natural language processing technologies, advertising content can achieve a higher degree of personalization and intelligence.

(2) Cross-border integration and cooperation: In order to better meet market demand, enterprises in the industry chain will actively seek cross-border integration and cooperation. For example, technology providers and data suppliers can cooperate with enterprises outside the industry chain, such as media and e-commerce platforms, to achieve data sharing and expand technology application scenarios, thereby improving the effectiveness and influence of intelligent marketing.

China's intelligent marketing competition landscape

leaders in the industry by relying on their vast data resources, rich channel networks and strong user base.

Specifically, From the strategic perspective of the leading companies in China's intelligent marketing industry (represented by Alimama, Tencent Advertising, and Baidu Marketing), the three have jointly built an advantageous fortress for market competition, empowering advertisers with innovative technology and rich scenarios, and continuing to lead the development of China's intelligent marketing industry.

(1) Alimama relies on big data-driven precision advertising: In an online shopping event held by Alibaba in 2021, Alimama used advanced AI technology to analyze user behavior and achieved highly precise advertising. According to statistics, during the event, the average return on advertising for participating merchants increased by 25%, while helping merchants save advertising costs and further improving marketing efficiency.

(2) Tencent Advertising's one-stop marketing service with the help of social networking platforms: During the 2021 Spring Festival, Tencent Advertising provided a unique advertising display platform for brand merchants with the help of WeChat red envelopes' scenario-based marketing. Through targeted delivery and precision marketing, it successfully helped brand merchants increase their participation in the event. The advertising exposure of FAW-Volkswagen brand doubled during the event, maximizing the brand effect.

(3) Support from Baidu Marketing's powerful search engine and information flow advertising: In 2021, Baidu Marketing launched a product called " Short Video Marketing " , which relies on Baidu's search engine technology to intelligently identify user interests and behaviors to accurately push short video ads. In a short video advertising campaign of a certain mobile phone brand, the click-through rate of ads increased by 40%, greatly optimizing the effect of advertising.