How to Brief a Chinese Digital Marketing Agency: What to Expect
Most briefs we receive are missing the same three things. After 200+ campaigns for tourism clients, I can spot a weak brief in the first paragraph. It costs time, money, and usually the first month of the campaign.
What a good brief actually contains
A brief for a Chinese digital marketing agency is not the same as a brief for a Western agency. The platforms are different. The buyer journey is different. The content format is different. Your brief needs to reflect that.
At minimum, a solid brief includes: your destination or property, your target Chinese traveler profile (independent FIT or group, first-time or repeat visitor, which city in China), your budget range, your timeline, and one clear KPI. Not five KPIs. One.
Clients who skip the traveler profile end up with content that nobody clicks. Chinese tourists from Tier 1 cities (Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen) travel differently from tourists from Chengdu or Wuhan. A campaign targeting honeymooners looks nothing like a campaign targeting family groups. Your brief needs to pick a lane.
What agencies need from you in week one
Once you sign a contract, the onboarding sprint starts. Here is what we ask for in week one, every time:
- Brand assets: logo, photography, brand guide if you have one
- Access to any existing Chinese digital presence (WeChat, Xiaohongshu, Ctrip listing)
- 3 to 5 competitor properties you want to benchmark against
- Your direct booking incentive for Chinese travelers
- One internal contact who can approve content within 48 hours
That last one matters more than clients expect. Content approval delays kill campaign momentum. On Douyin, the window to post at peak hours is tight. If your approval chain takes a week, we miss it.
From the field: a Kenyan safari lodge that got it right
One of our clients, a small luxury safari lodge in the Masai Mara, came to us with a brief that was one page long. It said: “We want more Chinese guests. They currently represent 4% of bookings. We want 15% in two years.” That was it.
Simple objective. Clear baseline. Real number. We could work with that. We spent the first two weeks building out the brief together: traveler profile (high-income, 35-50, interested in wildlife photography), platform priority (Xiaohongshu first for discovery, WeChat for conversion), and one KPI for the first quarter: 50 qualified inquiries from Chinese travelers.
Twelve months later, Chinese guests were at 11% of total bookings. Not 15% yet, but the direction was right, and the client knew exactly why. Because the brief was clear, the reporting was clear too.
What we got wrong at first
Early in the agency, we accepted briefs that had no budget range. “Let’s discuss after you show us a proposal,” clients would say. We spent hours building proposals for budgets that did not match. One client wanted a full Xiaohongshu and Douyin campaign with KOL activations. Their budget was $1,200 per month. We did not ask early enough. That cost us two weeks of work and the client a wasted month of expectations.
Now our intake form has a mandatory budget range field. No range, no proposal. It sounds harsh. It saves everyone time.
What our briefing process looks like now
Our onboarding process now always includes a 45-minute brief call before we write a single line of strategy. We cover:
- Business context: What does the property sell, at what price, in what season
- Chinese traveler history: Have they had Chinese guests before? What worked, what did not
- Platform audit: What Chinese digital presence exists today
- Budget and timeline: We confirm both before anything else
- Campaign scope: Platforms, content volume, KOL or no KOL, WeChat or not
- Approval process: Who signs off on content and how fast
- KPI agreement: One primary KPI for month 3, one for month 6
This takes 45 minutes. Clients who skip it usually ask for a “reset” call six weeks in. We have stopped offering resets. We do the call upfront instead.
Brief quality checklist
| Brief element | Why it matters | Common mistake |
|---|---|---|
| Target traveler profile | Drives content tone and platform choice | Too broad: “Chinese tourists” |
| Budget range | Defines what is possible | Omitted or unrealistic |
| Primary KPI | Gives the campaign a direction | 5+ KPIs with no priority |
| Timeline | Sets delivery expectations | “As soon as possible” |
| Competitor references | Helps set content benchmarks | None provided |
| Approval contact | Keeps campaign on schedule | No named person |
| Existing Chinese presence | Avoids duplicate work | Not checked before starting |
Need help with your China campaign?
If you are starting from scratch or want to review your current brief before engaging an agency, we can help. Visit our contact page to talk through your project, or check our services to see what a full campaign looks like.
About Alex: Project manager at Chinese Tourist Agency, Shanghai. 10 years running digital campaigns for tourism clients. Has seen 200+ briefs. The good ones all start the same way.
