As competition increases and production costs rise, China B2B suppliers must continuously evaluate their marketing strategies to attract new customers, according to a recent report by Analysys International. The report recommends that enterprises select a strategy that utilizes two or more marketing channels in order to generate the most effective buyer inquiries.

With the current financial crisis curtailing demand, reducing orders and closing export factories, enterprises are paying more attention to the effectiveness of their marketing strategies. In a strong economy, they may tolerate receiving a large number of buyer inquiries and converting a low percentage into orders. But during an economic crisis, the quality of inquiries has greater impact on the bottom line -- resulting in either extra costs for processing numerous irrelevant inquiries or additional sales revenue from successful inquiry-to-order conversions.

China's B2B service providers offer four main types of marketing channels: websites, trade shows, print publications and pre-screened private meetings. Some providers offer all four channels, while the majority focuses on a single channel or just a few channels.

Analysys International Survey Findings:

Results from the March survey of more than 200 China enterprises indicate that those who use multiple marketing channels convert more inquiries into orders. And whether they are used alone or together, offline channels are much more effective than websites.

While all channels have strengths and weaknesses, it is clear that pre-screened private meetings, trade shows and print publications generate more effective inquiries in terms of relevance and conversion. Websites are at an obvious disadvantage for inquiry quality.

While all four channels are valuable, it is only possible to achieve a balance between quality and quantity of inquiries by using a multichannel strategy. Enterprises using more than one channel, particularly a "high-value" channel, receive more relevant and successful inquiries.

In fact, 75% of respondents currently utilize two or more marketing channels, and only 25% utilize one channel. All surveyed enterprises are active users of China's four leading B2B service providers: Alibaba, Global Sources, Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) and Made-in-China.