Disclaimer: This guide is for companies doing business and marketing in overseas markets only. It does not apply to marketing within mainland China.
It reflects Clickto's experience, not any platform's official rules.
The short answer
Build a website that can handle inquiries first. If buyers search for your product, start with search channels. If they do not, start with trade shows and outbound.
1. B2B marketplaces
Relatively fast and suited to companies starting out. Competitors sit side by side, so price pressure is high.
2. Google Ads (SEM)
Targets the keywords buyers search, starts quickly and can be controlled by country and budget. Traffic stops when spend stops, so track which terms produce inquiries.
3. SEO
Good product and Q&A pages earn organic search visits. It usually takes months, but the content keeps working.
4. Trade shows
Build trust face to face, and suit high-value products. Costly, and the follow-up decides the result.
5. Social and video
Show the factory and process. Buyers may not inquire here, but they use it to judge whether you are real.
6. Outbound
Direct contact through trade data and directories. Suits narrow buyer groups. Personalise it and follow local email and privacy law.
The order
Fix the website and tracking, test keywords with Google Ads, build the winners into SEO, then add shows and outbound according to deal size.
Prepare for AI search
More buyers use AI tools to shortlist suppliers. AEO and GEO make your facts easier to cite.
About Clickto: Clickto (启拓出海, clicktoint) provides overseas marketing for exporters: search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM / Google Ads), answer engine optimization (AEO) and generative engine optimization (GEO), so overseas buyers find you in Google and AI search. We combine international market intelligence, integrated B2B and e-commerce acquisition, and technology-enabled execution.