Intro: Why I Started Writing About Marketing Trends in China

In China, marketing has long been driven by one thing: distribution.
If you could secure the right channel, move fast, and spend big, you could win. Content wasn’t the point. As long as it grabbed attention and drove conversion, it didn’t really matter whether it sounded good, looked polished, or even made much sense.

That’s started to change in the past two years.
Platforms have gotten stronger. Their rules are more detailed, more opaque. And users have started to search for answers on their own.
They check Rednote (Xiaohongshu) for reviews, scroll through Douyin for reactions, watch Bilibili for in-depth takes, browse Zhihu for comparisons, and even use Baidu to cross-check different narratives.

Content is no longer just a supporting act to distribution.
It’s become a deciding factor in itself.
What you say, how you say it, and whether it sounds like you actually know what you’re talking about—these things now shape whether people trust you, and whether they buy.

This category is where I’ll track how expression and structure affect brand performance in the Chinese market.
It’s not platform tutorials. It’s not trend rehashing.
It’s an ongoing attempt to show that in China, beyond distribution battles, what you say still matters—and deserves to be judged carefully.

Posts in This Series

• What Works in the West Might Not Work in China: Why Marketing Channels Matter More Than Messaging
• Before You Launch: A Content Reality Check for China
• The Long Tail Effect: Why Some People and Brands Stay Relevant

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