Marketers in Korea, understand that marketing to Koreans and people living in Korea is a comprehensive process. In a way, you can say that customers in Korea tend to be spoiled and companies need to incorporate a particular strategy to capture their attention. Since COVID-19, Koreans are staying indoors more than ever. As more and more Korean consumers spend time at home, cancel trips, and shop online, companies need to create the right kind of content to grab their attention. Remember, companies in Korea are now aggressively looking at digital marketing which means more competition.

When targeting potential customers in Korea, content should focus on five main factors. The five main factors are awareness, trust, sales, repeat, then recommendations. Customers in Korea can end up being your top source of sales. Content created should not only attract consumers in Korea to buy your product or service but also become loyal fans who will promote your business to their friends and families.

5 Tips for Developing Content for Customers in Korea

1. Awareness

In order to create the right content, you must be aware of what your customers are looking for. At this point, customers do not know your product or service. Therefore your first job is to create content that grabs their attention. Remember, all forms of content need to be in KOREAN! The cheapest way to do this is through Naver Q&A which answers your target customer’s question. You want to have a presence on Naver and Google showing that you are the go-to experts in regards to your industry. Make sure you have active social media channels. In Korea, it is vital to have Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter accounts. Companies need to invest at least 3 months in creating content as well as a content calendar to upload the content at the right time.

2. Trust

So now you have some presence online through articles and social media posts. Now you need different types of content that are focused on building trust. Customers in Korea rely a lot on trust. The more they trust your company, the more likely they’ll make a purchase. There are a lot of scams going on in Korea and customers are very cautious about buying from unreputable companies. Therefore the content you need to focus on will be success stories, positive reviews, and most importantly ads on reputable channels that Koreans trust like Kakao and YouTube. Korean TV ads on SBS, KBS, etc will offer the highest level of Trust but will cost too much money.

Start out small. Connect with local groups in your industry and let them try your product or service. Ask them for real feedback and let them generate the buzz for you.

3. Sales

The content that you create now needs to show just how much better your product or service is than the competition. This is how you will be able to differentiate yourself which will lead to sales. Some good content is comparison articles or videos, offline seminars, and customer stories. Depending on your product or service, it might be helpful to create content related to guides. These customer kits, quick start guides, and user manuals should be freely available online via all your channels.

Customers in Korea are very tech-savvy and are willing to do the research themselves. They do not like having to deal with customer support, so make sure any questions or issues that might arrive can be answered online. YouTube is the perfect platform to offer these seminars, guides, and tutorials.

4. Repeat

The point is to keep customers in Korea happy and have them come back again and again. In order to do this requires high-level content. At this point, your business should have some sales and it will be very important to reinvest. Think about creating a customer-only newsletter to keep them up to date on the latest news, solutions, and special offers. Koreans love special deals and promotions but also being appreciated. The high-level content should focus on VIP memberships or deals that are strictly targeted to your existing customers. In addition, a personalized email asking them for an honest review would also go a long way.

Getting real feedback from customers in Korea goes a long way in building that trust we spoke about earlier. Koreans like hearing about other people’s experiences before making a purchase. In fact, why not have them on your YouTube channel and interview them? This is easy, low-cost, content that is very genuine.

5. Recommendation

If a friend or family member recommends a product or service, it is highly likely they will try it for themselves. The whole point of creating all this content is not only to get customers but to turn those customers into referral clients. Therefore you need to build processes and campaigns that make it easy for customers in Korea to refer to your product or service. Think about offering gift certificates or loyalty points every time they refer someone. Find your most loyal customers and feature their stories in your future marketing campaigns. Make sure all this content is easily shareable on social media channels.

Once all your content is now up online, it will be easier for you to optimize your existing content instead of creating new ones. This will save you a lot of money in the long run. Many companies in Korea constantly produce the same content instead of going back and repurposing older content. A great example would be to take old Naver blog content and turn them into educational videos on YouTube or articles on Google. Furthermore, you can even re-publish previous well-performing content to give it new life by adding additional up-to-date content. Creating content is very time-consuming, however, mapping it all out will make it easier for your company in the long run.