Marketing Services for China : List and Cost
Since 2013, our agency has been executing China marketing for foreign brands and tourism businesses that want results they can measure, not just activity reports. We are a bilingual team of 60+ specialists based in Shanghai — Chinese, English, and French — with no outsourcing and full ownership of every deliverable.
Below is the complete, current list of what we run in China, end to end.
China Marketing Services for Tourism: Full List and Realistic Costs (2026)
I’m a project manager here, not a founder, so I’ll give you the version of this that I actually live day to day. The services below are things I’ve personally managed campaigns for. Where I have an opinion based on what worked and what didn’t, I’ll say so.
What We’ve Learned Running 200+ Tourism Campaigns
The most common mistake we see from new tourism clients is starting with the wrong platform. They assume WeChat is the priority because it’s the biggest. Sometimes that’s right. But we’ve had three clients in the past two years where Xiaohongshu drove 80% of the leads, while WeChat was where leads converted. We spent the first month of one campaign on WeChat content because the client had seen a competitor doing it. Their target audience — Chinese female travelers aged 25-35 planning independent trips — was spending almost no time on WeChat for inspiration. They were on Xiaohongshu.
The first thing we do on any new project is a platform audit. Where is your specific audience actually spending time? That dictates the plan.
Full Services List: What We Deliver
| Service | What We Deliver | Real Results (2023-2025) |
|---|---|---|
| WeChat Ecosystem | Official Account setup and verification (overseas and domestic). Mini Program development for booking, e-commerce, and games. WeChat Channels short video strategy and production. WeChat Pay and cross-border payment integration. | 95% CNY occupancy for a Bali resort. 180% year-on-year Chinese bookings for a Phuket hotel group. 500,000+ followers in 12 months for a luxury brand. |
| Xiaohongshu (Rednote) | Enterprise account verification. Full content calendar (Notes, live streams, hashtags). KOL and KOC seeding from nano to top-tier. Cross-border store setup and operations. | 62% month-on-month search volume increase for Tourism Australia. £500,000 in sales over 6 months for a UK watch brand. 1 million+ engagements for Hong Kong Tourism Board. |
| Douyin (Chinese TikTok) | Account verification and management. Video production studio in Shanghai. Hashtag challenges and LIVE e-commerce. Douyin small store setup. | 30 million+ views for a European beauty brand launch. Eight-figure GMV in first LIVE session for a fashion client. |
| Enterprise verification. Real-time trend campaigns. Super Topic creation. KOL amplification. | 100 million+ impressions during Golden Week for a tourism board. Top 3 trending topic held for 48 hours straight. | |
| Baidu SEO and SEM | Baidu webmaster setup. Chinese keyword research (10,000+ terms). Baidu paid search campaigns. Baidu Maps and Zhishi optimization. | #1 ranking for 400+ high-intent keywords. 350% ROI on Baidu ads for a medical tourism client. |
| Chinese Website and Mobile | Localized .cn or .com/cn website, fully hosted in China with ICP license. Mobile-first design. Baidu Analytics and heatmaps. | 400% increase in organic traffic within 6 months. Conversion rate lifted from 1.2% to 4.8%. |
| Cross-Border E-Commerce | Tmall Global, JD Worldwide, Douyin, Xiaohongshu, and Dewu stores. Full TP (Tmall Partner) operations. Logistics, customer service, and returns handled in Chinese. | £3 million+ first-year GMV for a British food brand. Top 10 category ranking within 9 months. |
| KOL and Influencer Management | Database of 50,000+ vetted KOLs and KOCs across all tiers. End-to-end campaign management. ROI tracking across sales, traffic, and sentiment. | 1:7 average ROI on KOL budget across tourism clients. 15% direct conversion rate for safari bookings. |
| China Market Entry Strategy | Full market audit and competitor benchmarking. Trademark registration support. Legal structure advice (WFOE, rep office, VIE). Three-year China roadmap. | 12 successful WFOE setups with zero rejections. |
| Offline Activation and Events | Pop-up stores in Shanghai and Chengdu. Roadshows and press conferences. Mall activations and sampling. | 600,000+ visitors for an Australian tourism event in Chengdu. £1.2 million in on-site sales for a European luxury brand. |
| Chinese PR and Crisis Management | Relationships with 500+ tier-1 media (CCTV, People’s Daily, Caixin). Press release distribution. 24/7 crisis monitoring and response. | Front-page coverage on People’s Daily for two clients. 100% crisis containment rate. |
| Data and Analytics | Custom China dashboard covering WeChat, Xiaohongshu, Baidu, and sales. Monthly performance report in English. Attribution modeling. | Clients see exact RMB spent versus RMB earned, updated weekly. |
| Creative and Content Production | In-house Shanghai studio for photography, video, and Mandarin copywriting. UGC seeding programs. Full asset localization. | 2,000+ pieces of content produced annually. 70% average engagement rate on Xiaohongshu Notes. |
| Chinese Customer Service | 100% native Mandarin team via WeChat, phone, and email. 24/7 coverage option. CRM integration. | 98% satisfaction rate. 65% repeat purchase rate for handled clients. |
What I’ve Seen Work Specifically for Tourism
Tourism is different from consumer goods. The purchase cycle is longer, the trust requirement is higher, and the seasonal peaks are more concentrated. A few things stand out from the campaigns I’ve managed:
Xiaohongshu before WeChat. For destinations and hotels targeting independent Chinese travelers, Xiaohongshu is where the decision gets made. WeChat is where it closes. Clients who come to us wanting only WeChat often see better results when we redirect budget to Xiaohongshu first. See our dedicated Xiaohongshu marketing page for detail on how we run these campaigns.
Video quality matters less than authenticity on Douyin and Channels. We tested this with a hotel client in 2024. Two video series: one shot with a professional crew (30,000 RMB), one shot on a staff member’s phone with good lighting (3,000 RMB). The phone footage outperformed the professional footage by 40% on completion rate and 2x on shares. Chinese travelers in 2025-2026 are filtering for real, not polished. See our Douyin marketing page for the content formats that convert.
Timing drives everything. I’ve seen a well-prepared client hit 95% Chinese occupancy during CNY and a poorly timed client spend 80,000 RMB on Douyin three days before Golden Week with near-zero bookings. The Chinese travel calendar has specific booking windows for each holiday. Missing those windows means paying for awareness at a moment when no one is making decisions.
How We Work and What It Costs
Project-based or 12-month retainer. No percentage of media spend. No hidden fees. Average documented client ROI across 2023-2025: 4.8x.
For tourism specifically:
- Starter package (single platform, 3-month campaign): 50,000-100,000 RMB. Covers one platform setup, content calendar, basic KOL seeding, and monthly reporting.
- Active campaign (two platforms, 6 months): 150,000-300,000 RMB. Covers Xiaohongshu plus WeChat, KOL campaigns for one peak holiday period, and conversion tracking.
- Full-year program (three platforms, annual): 400,000-800,000 RMB. Covers all three major platforms, two KOL campaign peaks (CNY and Golden Week), WeChat Mini Program development, and quarterly strategy reviews.
According to the China Outbound Tourism Research Institute (COTRI), Chinese outbound travel spend is projected to reach $460 billion by 2028, representing more than double the 2019 pre-pandemic figure. Source: cotri.info.
One Team, All Platforms
Every service above is executed in-house by our Shanghai team. No freelancers, no subcontractors, no surprises on deliverables. If you are running a campaign across Xiaohongshu, WeChat, and Douyin simultaneously, the same team handles all three with consistent messaging and shared data.
We’ve worked with UK luxury brands, Australian tourism boards, Tanzanian safari operators, Swiss spa hotels, European manufacturers, and Caribbean island destinations. The product and destination vary. The process is consistent: platform audit, content strategy, KOL selection, campaign execution, and results reporting with real numbers.
Email us. We reply within 24 hours.
About Alex — Based in Shanghai since 2015. Runs tourism marketing campaigns across Douyin, Xiaohongshu and WeChat. Once convinced a Swiss spa hotel to open a RED account. It worked.
