Lunar New Year Marketing

In Australia, the Chinese community make up the third largest group of migrants. Lunar New Year marketing presents an opportune time for businesses to connect with this demographic at a deeper level where there’s emphasis on shared values and ideals — including diversity and inclusiveness.

For many people with East Asian descent, many of our team members at Red Queen Marketing among them, the festivities surrounding the Lunar New Year has deep, underlying meanings that emphasize a time of hope, transformation and renewal.

People reflect on the past and look forward to new beginnings. This season is traditionally centered on the family and on personal growth in the spiritual, physical, intellectual, relational, and financial aspects.

Before embarking on your marketing campaigns, here are some pointers to staying authentic throughout the festivities.

Respect customs and traditions

Beyond sponsoring dragon dances and giving away hongbao (red envelopes) with chocolate gold coins inside for good luck, learn Chinese customs and traditions and their meanings first. 

Consult with the community and their leaders to ensure your marketing activities around this time of year are respectful and not offensive in any way.

Craft relevant Lunar New Year campaigns 

Create marketing campaigns that reverberate the values attached to the festivities. Put emphasis on attaching your brand, product or service to the deeper meaning of the season.

Get to know some key phrases and symbols better:

• Xin Nian Kuai Le. It means “Happy New Year”.

• Gong Xi Fa Cai. A greeting exchanged which means, “I wish you abundance and good fortune”.

• The color red. It’s all over the festivities as it evokes a feeling of high energy and vitality which are said to attract good luck.

• Fish. Red and gold fish decors are hung everywhere to invite abundance.

• Firecrackers. The crackling and noise firecrackers make are believed to drive away evil spirits and bad luck.

• Dragon dance. This is performed to demonstrate power and strength, and to drive away bad luck. As per custom, the longer the dragon, the more powerful it is.

Cultural relevance is at the heart of effective Lunar New Year marketing. Discern which of the symbols and meanings attached to it most closely resemble your brand identity and speak what your team values. Refrain from running a marketing campaign just to take advantage of the occasion. Keep it respectful, inclusive, and authentic. 

Use visual storytelling

Bridge cultural barriers and communicate your value proposition beyond just words. Deliver lasting impressions by weaving in visuals into your campaigns. This festive season is dominated by vibrant reds and bright golds. Align your Lunar New Year marketing campaign by using these as the dominant colors in your palette.

Have a play with symbols for bringing good luck, wealth, health, and love. Make sure to show your messaging and final marketing designs to someone who’s adept with the Lunar New Year customs and traditions.

Think about how you can visually convey how your brand resonates hope and growth ushering in the new year.

Localise Lunar New Year Marketing for Australians

Don’t just make it culturally relevant for communities that observe Lunar New Year. Make sure that any promotions and exclusive offers you hold in line with the festivities are relevant to the locality where you run your business.

Go beyond your physical and online store. Think about getting involved in community events centered around Lunar New Year in your area. Other than taking advantage of promotional opportunities and the highly likely free media and publicity, use this to network with like-minded brands as well.

Engage audiences on social media

Optimise your campaign for distribution across your social media channels. Find ways to gamify your promotions to simultaneously invite involvement from your audience.

Create online contests that will elicit deeper involvement. For instance, ask people to submit a short video narrating their most unforgettable Lunar New Year experience. You may also improve attendance to your popup store by giving away tokens and prizes for the best snaps taken with your booth in the background and shared on social media.

Measure campaign success

Decide on the metrics that matter most to your Lunar New Year marketing campaign. If your goal is to increase brand awareness, you should measure audience engagement. Gauging the average mood of audience sentiments will also help you learn what worked and what needs improvement.

If your goal is to increase sales during this season, you should devise ways to monitor which channels lead to qualified leads, and how many conversions you achieved across channels. To further gauge how much more sales you made during this season, compare that across previous quarters, or even the total sales you made in past Lunar New Year marketing campaigns.

At the end of the day, think about what matters to you and what’s important to your business.

Lunar New Year: When hope and opportunities spring

Will your business benefit from implementing a Lunar New Year marketing campaign? If the demographics of your target customers include those from East Asian descent — you should. Even your target clients who don’t have such family history but are genuinely interested in the festivities can be won over.

Present your value proposition in connection with the principles attached to the occasion and keep it real. Earn trust and good reputation, and don’t just ride the bandwagon for profit.

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Source:

Country profile – People’s Republic of China. Australian Government. Department of Home Affairs.