Korea

42
Country starter pack
Sales & marketing in Korea
CASE STUDY
Tourism Australia
Scott Walker, Korea Country Manager
If there is one thing crucial to successfully marketing
your product to Koreans, it is your online presence.
That is, having a website in the Korean language and
a proactive social media campaign.
“You could have the greatest website in English, but
if it is not in Korean, and therefore doesn’t come up
on the leading Korean search engine Naver, then you
essentially are irrelevant to the Korean customer,”
emphasises Scott Walker, Korea Country Manager
for Tourism Australia.
Tourism Australia is the No. 1 travel and leisure brand
in Korea on the Kakao platform, and has more than
60,000 regular Facebook users taking part in its
online competitions and events. It credits its strong
social media presence and recently relaunched
Korean website with a 12.4 per cent increase (year
to date) in Korean tourists to Australia. Online
marketing will also play a major role in Tourism
Australia reaching its Korean market target of $2.8
billion by 2020.
Kakao, although originally an instant messaging
service, has transformed to encompass apps, games,
chatrooms, calls and news sharing. Similar to WeChat
in China, the Korean business community uses Kakao
for conference calls, with advertising and product
reviews also an element of the social media platform.
Australian businesses entering Korea need to
appreciate the influence of marketing via social
media, and the need to be mobile friendly. Nine
out of 10 Koreans accessing social networks do so
on their mobile phones, giving Korea the highest
number of mobile phone social networkers (as a
percentage of population) in the Asia-Pacific.
To tap into all of these online marketing options,
user-friendly websites and apps are critical. “A
comprehensive marketing strategy for Korea should
include in-depth research and gaining insights to
what your customer wants, what competitors they
currently use, what are the latest trends in the media
and on social media outlets, as well as customising
your content to the market,” says Walker.
“Identify what your Korean customers need – don’t
presume that all of your content on your Australian
page is going to be relevant or captivating on your
Korean website.”
Engaging a local Korean website designer or
advertising company can help with this, particularly
with developing a “fashionable” website and
predicting upcoming trends.
Other forms of marketing that may be useful for a
Korean market entry strategy are trade shows and
celebrity endorsements of products. “Celebrity
marketing or product usage on TV shows not only
gets your product out to the Korean market, but
often also other markets in Asia such as China and
Indonesia through the regional popularity of Korean
celebrities,” highlights Walker.
Trade shows can also be a vital tool for launching
products in Korea. But with countless trade shows
operating in the market, Australian businesses need
to carefully research which one to take part in,
depending on your product or service type.
Walker suggests: “Investigate which are the most
popular trade shows for your industry, which are
your potential business partners and customers
going to, and don’t assume that an annual trade show
is necessarily the most prevalent. It is also important
to ensure the program has opportunities for casual
networking events to allow you to meet people and
broaden your group of local contacts.”
www.australia.com