In one of my previous post, I have explained that western marketers can learn from a content-based, technology-friendly strategy that is often practised in China’s mobile-first culture. To zoom in and focus on the China-Australia context specifically, in this podcast I share the conversation with Jessie Ji, a digital marketing specialist based in Melbourne. Working in Australia, she has helped many local brands to engage with the Chinese consumer market.
Along the way, a cross-cultural mindset and a sense of “in-betweenness” emerge, becoming an organic part of her professional life, where she learns to harness the power of cross-cultural communications. Listen to the episode and leave a comment. I am sure you would find out some useful tips that might help you in your job too!
- Transcript
Credit for background music: The Upbeat Corporate. Royalty free music/no copyright music. YouTube Channel: Infraction – No Copyright Music.
Mark Chen – 00:01
Hi, welcome to the Cross-cultural Sparks podcast. Here we exchange ideas on cross-cultural marketing and communications. I’m your host Mark Chen.
Today we have a special guest, Jessie Ji. She’s here to share some insights about the cross-cultural marketing industry with a focus on China and Australia.
Mark Chen – 00:25
Thank you so much for joining me for the podcast today, Jessie. So, before we start, would you please give us a brief introduction of yourself?
Jessie Ji – 0:34
First, thank you Mark for having me. And my name is Jessie and I’m currently working in a Melbourne-based ad agency as a digital specialist. So, my daily role is kind of focusing on a cross-cultural marketing (aspect) because our clients are mostly based in Australia and my job is helping them to target Australia-living Chinese.
Mark Chen – 0:57
That sounds very interesting. And I guess it’s exciting as well. Part of your role is to facilitate cross-cultural communication between Australian brands and the Chinese market in Australia. So, what do you find the most exciting about working in a digital agency?
Jessie Ji – 01:14
For me, like you mentioned before, it’s kind of like a more cultural thing because it’s a huge cultural difference between Australian brands and Chinese audience. And I find it very interesting to help the local brands to communicate with our Chinese customers; like explaining to them what they like, what they don’t like, and what our cultural custom(s) is and help(ing) them to do niche marketing strategy to target Chinese customers.
Mark Chen – 01:40
So, as the bridge between cultures, what kind of strategies do you often use to help Australian brands?
Jessie Ji – 01:49
That’s a very great question because it’s kind of relate(d) to our day-to-day job. We kind of do a regular routine. We’ll do a social listening to monitor what’s the heat(ed) topic, or what’s the trendy thing on Chinese social media platforms and offer some recommendations and suggestions about the issues we’ve noticed.
Mark Chen – 02:09
I guess this is something that us as cross-cultural marketers should do, because you have to know what kind of topics or things that Chinese customers are talking about in order to tailor your content and your strategy. So, I guess my last question is: what is the No.1 tip that you would give to Aussie brands if they wish to untap the Chinese market?
Jessie Ji – 02:31
I will recommend the brands not to take everything as (for) granted or not to presume anything because like, for example, you know, like every Chinese New Year or Lunar New Year, all the luxury brands will do something like Lunar New Year limited editions, this kind of thing, like specially designed for the Chinese audience. They just assume Lunar New Year equals red (colours). So, we’re going to wrap the red element in all of our designs (in the agency).
I think a few of our clients, there are retailers as well. They kind of do this very well. One of our clients is like a huge retailer and plan (and present) their Lunar New Year theme designs to us prior half a year. So, they ask our team for recommendations and suggestions and offer some visual plans, like plan A and plan B. I think that shows the respect and shows the efforts they are trying to make to actually please the customers, to actually know them (about) what they like and what they prefer.
Mark Chen – 03:30
I think that’s a really interesting case. Brands need to make an effort and need to be patient at the same time as well. Thank you for Jessie today for your sharing and your insights towards this cross-cultural marketing industry in Australia.
And thank you so much for listening to the podcast today. I hope you have some takeaway from this podcast and till we meet next time.
Mark Chen 