As Chinese families choose a school, they make use of many different online channels for research.
Reaching these potential students can be daunting due to cultural differences and the complexities of the Chinese digital landscape. We simplify this process for you.
With over 15 years of experience, we offer comprehensive marketing services to help universities and other higher education institutions build trust and drive growth in China.
Your One-Stop Solution for Higher Education Marketing and Sales in China
With us as your strategic partner, you instantly gain access to an all-inclusive Chinese marketing and sales team that will seamlessly integrate with your global marketing and admissions team, handling high-level communications and hands-on marketing efforts.
In short, this means you’ll have a higher chance of succeeding and the ability to grow faster.
But what does this mean for your school in practical terms? Let’s break it down.
Reach an Optimal Strategy Faster
Our approach involves taking your existing strategy, refining it to align with Chinese market dynamics, and implementing it effectively.
Using a lean process, we will work together with you to continuously improve your strategy based on real market feedback.
Drive Attention With Targeted Advertising
Using highly targeted ads on major Chinese platforms such as Baidu, WeChat, and Xiaohongshu, you’ll attract students and parents early on in their decision process.
This will help you build a well-targeted following of potential students eager to absorb more information about your school.
Launch a Chinese Website That Works
One problem with many schools’ websites is that they don’t load quickly in China. The “Great Firewall of China” throttles incoming and outgoing Internet traffic.
We’ll create a Chinese website that looks similar to its English counterpart. Check out this example of Cambrian College, a smaller sister site to their original website.
Earn The Trust of Your Future Students
Choosing a school to attend is one of the most major decisions in life. Students and their parents begin the decision process years ahead of time, and you need to be there for them throughout the entire process.
We’ll “transcreate” your English source content into articles, images and videos, then publish on your Chinese website, the super-app WeChat, Xiaohongshu, Bilibili and Zhihu.
We create entertaining and insightful content that receives 3X the engagement rate of other schools.
Convert Inquiries to Enrollments
Our teams include not online marketers, but full-time education agents.
But, while agents will try to sell students on four schools, we will sell them on only your school.
The result is a higher conversion rate.
Enjoy Crystal-Clear Communication
You’ll get:
- Visual reports with data from all platforms and your website.
- Weekly video meeting availability.
- Efficient planning on ClickUp (project management tool).
- Slack or WeChat group chats.
Case Study: Cambrian College
Cambrian College is one of 24 public colleges in Ontario, Canada. In 2019, Cambrian College had no brand presence in China and contacted Nanjing Marketing Group to change this. Their goal was to create a strong and solid brand presence in China and to increase the number of applications from Chinese students.
Our strategy for Cambrian College
- Creation of Chinese social media accounts, content development, and management: WeChat and Weibo
- Targeting prospective students and their parents (decision-makers)
Our results (2019–2021)*
- Increase enrollment of Chinese international students by 600%
- More than 1.1 million impressions across channels
- Publication of 113 WeChat articles with 2,000 views on average per month
*During the global COVID-19 pandemic, which was a difficult period for international student recruitment.
“NMG is a productive team to work with. They provide professional marketing services to us, which is essential for us to build our branding in the Chinese market.”
– Becky Xu, International Manager, Cambrian College
Case Study: Emory University School of Law
Emory University School of Law is a top-ranked US law school and a national and global leader in legal education with a world-class faculty and a diverse student body. However, a 2021 decision to reach more Chinese students was the beginning of their partnership with Nanjing Marketing Group.
Emory Law’s goals
- Increase the number of applications and enrollments of Chinese students
- Establish a connection between the school and potential students
- Raise its brand awareness in China.
Our strategy for Emory Law
- Creation of a Chinese website (localization and adaptation of the international website to suit Chinese user preferences and search habits)
- Creation and running of Baidu ads
- Setup, content creation, and management of social media accounts: WeChat, Weibo, Zhihu, Bilibili
Our results (2021–2023)
- 111 applications from Chinese students within eight months of online marketing.
- 1,000 new followers on Zhihu within the first six weeks.
- 400 new followers on Bilibili within the first six weeks.
Case Study: Conestoga College
Conestoga College is an established and leading polytechnic education college in Canada. They have been successfully working with a global marketing agency and tasked Nanjing Marketing Group with providing the Chinese-language part for the global campaigns in 2017. Conestoga College has capable Chinese officers and needed an effective way to reach Chinese students on Chinese platforms.
Our strategy for Conestoga College
- Development and running of campaigns on WeChat, Weibo, and other Chinese social media
- Helping students and their parents (decision makers) to get to know the College better
Our results for Conestoga College (2017–2020)
- Increase of WeChat followers from zero to 1,225 through organic marketing methods only
- More than 8,000 weekly post views
- Hit the target for Chinese international student admissions
“Nanjing Marketing Group’s service is 5/5 stars. We appreciate their professional content planning, online event organization and social marketing for us.”
– Ryan Du, China Program Officer, Conestoga College
Case Study: UNSW Global
UNSW Global provides a pathway program for international students to enter the University of New South Wales, Australia. In 2013, they hired Nanjing Marketing Group to help them enter the Chinese market.
Our strategy for UNSW Global
- Set up, content development, and management on Chinese social media accounts: Weibo, QQ Group, and Tieba.
Our results for UNSW Global (2013–2016)
- Establishment of a huge social media following—more than 50,000 followers on Weibo
- Among the first foreign universities on Weibo
- Generation of more than 400 inquiries per month (on average)
Chinese Higher Education Marketing FAQ
Most of the industry is not heavily restricted in China. However, K12 promotions (referring to kindergarten through 12th grade) are strictly prohibited. Additionally, your promotional materials cannot feature minors as spokespersons, nor can they include claims of guaranteed academic advancement or promised results. You also need to ensure that your landing page does not feature children.
Firstly, K12 advertising is prohibited and can only be promoted through organic marketing.
For other educational sectors, if you want to advertise on Baidu, you must provide a digital version of your business license (certificate of incorporation) and a screenshot of your bank statement (transaction amounts can be obscured using mosaic). For WeChat advertising, only overseas institutions recognized by the Ministry of Education can advertise, which means that high schools, middle schools, kindergartens, and language training centers are not allowed. For advertising on Xiaohongshu, only a business license is required.
You also need to ensure that your landing page does not feature children.
It’s unlikely you need to be concerned about your website being blocked. Even If you use Google Analytics on your website, it also will not have a problem.
There is a chance your website loads slowly in China. We will help you check. If that is the case, we will recommend one of several options such as modifying your website, creating a new Chinese website, or using a landing page hosted by Baidu.
If your guidebooks/videos are on a major Western platform such as YouTube, they certainly will not load in China.
Yes, Chinese users’ choice of destination relates to the countries where they plan to work. See our research in this blog and white paper to better understand the preferences of Chinese students. This does not mean your country has no market; instead, tailor your promotional target audience and strategies based on the preferences of students and parents.
From the decision to start to the start of promotion, it can take as little as two weeks, but more commonly takes a month. The first step is to reach out to us and have a meeting. After that, we normally respond with a quote in two work days.
In 99.9% of cases, you need a Chinese website. Even if your target audience speaks English, a Chinese website (Google Translate does not count) will enhance their experience. Additionally, the Chinese content used on the website might also be repurposed for use on WeChat, Xiaohongshu, or other platforms. Furthermore, since you are in the education industry, your website cannot feature photos of children.
Around 80% of our clients have this problem, and hiring a Chinese admissions officer right from the start is not cost-effective. Our bilingual team members will learn about your business, communicate with your clients in Chinese, and provide real-time feedback in English. When your business grows to the point where it’s time to hire a full-time Chinese admissions officer, we will help train this employee to prepare them for the role.
You provide us with the English content in any format, and we will adapt it for use in China. For companies in the education sector, whitepapers and videos are essential, as is the basic information about the schools or institutions.
If you don’t yet have it on your English site, it’s also great to gather information about the neighborhood. Chinese students care about the school environment, surrounding transportation, extracurricular activities, and social opportunities. Conversely, their parents care about the quality of education, school safety, post-graduation employment prospects, teacher qualifications, and the institution’s reputation. We will ask you for this information. If you provide it, you’ll find you get more inquiries from potential buyers.
We will share a visual report of the previous month’s promotional results with you every month and set the promotion plan for the following month together. Quarterly, we will review and brainstorm ideas for where to concentrate our efforts. Of course, in the early stages of your project, communication will be more frequent, with weekly meetings or daily messages via WeChat, Slack, and email.
We have significantly boosted enrollments for Cambrian College by creating and managing their official profiles on WeChat and Weibo. Within the first three months of our collaboration, we achieved a substantial increase in brand recognition and engagement. From 2019 to 2021, during the pandemic, we helped increase Cambrian College’s enrollment of Chinese international students by 600%.
First, contact us to have a meeting with a strategy consultant. We will learn more about your current situation and goals. We can usually provide guidance to you in that meeting. Then, if you want a proposal, we can create one in two work days on average (slower during busy periods). Once everything is ready, you can start your China market promotion.
Most commonly, our clients in the education sector have us handle everything from project initiation to implementation and strategy. If you want to be more involved or need to control accounts, we also welcome it.
We also offer services as simple as account setup and one-time consulting.
Contact Us for a Free Consultation
Whether it’s through email, chat, or a scheduled video meeting, we’re here to help.
We’ll identify the potential obstacles hindering your expansion in China, and we’ll recommend the best course of action based on your individual needs.
If you think we’re a good fit, you’ll receive a proposal within a week.