对话：从“井口争水”到“源头注水”品牌全球化需要重新认知全域营销

This article breaks down the core shift in marketing logic as Chinese brands go global: from chasing short-term traffic to building long-term brand equity. It offers actionable business insights and transferable strategic takeaways for general readers.

1. Adopt a long-term asset mindset instead of fixating on immediate returns. Paid traffic is a variable cost that disappears the moment spending stops; mindshare and trust that drive active user choice and repeat purchases are durable assets that withstand market cycles. The most straightforward test of whether a business or brand has built long-term moats is whether customers skip price comparisons and choose it directly.

2. Avoid fruitless zero-sum competition in saturated existing markets, and learn to build incremental growth upstream. For example, rather than fighting over limited traffic at the bottom-funnel search and conversion stage, brands should cultivate user goodwill through early content touchpoints to reduce future conversion costs. When evaluating outcomes, look beyond immediate single-investment returns to focus on core dimensions: incremental user expansion, reputation accumulation, long-term value, and full-funnel efficiency.

3. Real-world cases illustrate practical growth paths. Shokz achieved growth by aligning with channels where its target users are active, engaging its core user base, and expanding into precise niche communities; a maternal and baby brand expanded its customer base by tapping into overlooked incremental segments such as fathers who participate in parenting purchase decisions.

This article outlines full-funnel marketing logic for the global brand-building stage, mapping out a practical playbook for brands to shift from a transactional sales mindset to long-term brand equity building, with a core focus on escaping low-price competition and building durable competitive moats.

1. Shift marketing spend from zero-sum traffic competition, or “fighting for water at the wellhead”, to upstream full-funnel positioning, or “filling the reservoir at the source”. Instead of allocating the entire budget to bottom-funnel search ads, reserve a portion for upper-funnel scenarios including streaming, content marketing, and in-feed ads to nurture user mindshare, lower overall customer acquisition costs, and capture brand premiums and organic repeat purchases. Measure brand ad performance against four core metrics: new customer share, branded search volume, customer lifetime value, and multi-touch full-funnel conversion impact.

2. For channel strategy, first identify where target users actually make purchase decisions. For example, when Shokz first entered the Japanese market, it initially underperformed by copying its U.S. playbook of selling through offline sporting goods stores; sales only gained traction after it shifted to Amazon online and consumer electronics brick-and-mortar locations.

3. For user operations, first anchor your core initial user group, build word-of-mouth by engaging them through relevant scenario-based campaigns, and tap overlooked incremental segments when hitting growth ceilings. For example, a maternal and baby brand expanded from a “mom-focused brand” to a “family-focused brand” by targeting fathers involved in parenting purchase decisions, delivering tailored messaging to each segment to reposition its offering.

This article addresses the widespread pain points cross-border sellers face today—rising traffic costs, declining ad ROI, and immediate traffic drops once ad spend pauses—by outlining clear transition paths and actionable growth opportunities.

1. Risk warning: The old playbook of chasing keyword rankings, competing on low prices, and fixating on short-term ACOS fluctuations is increasingly ineffective. Under this buy-it-and-lose-it traffic model, sales can cliff-dive as soon as ad spend stops, trapping sellers in long-term low-price competition with no durable moat.

2. Actionable, replicable strategies: Shift from a pure traffic mindset to a brand equity mindset. Do not pour the entire marketing budget into bottom-funnel search ads to compete for saturated existing traffic; allocate a share to upper-funnel scenarios such as content and streaming to nurture user demand early. Abandon last-click conversion as the sole measurement metric, and instead track four core indicators to evaluate long-term ad performance: new customer acquisition share, changes in branded search volume, long-term user repeat purchase value, and multi-touch attribution.

3. Incremental growth opportunities: Even independent site sellers without Amazon storefronts can leverage Amazon Ads’ full-funnel capabilities to drive incremental growth—for example, using platform shopper signals to drive traffic to independent sites, leveraging Prime’s trust endorsement to boost conversions, and using marketing cloud tools to cross-match users and reduce redundant ad spend. Day-to-day operations can follow the playbook of brands like Shokz: first identify users’ actual purchase channels, engage core user groups to build word-of-mouth, then expand into incremental segments to reach broader audiences.

This article highlights the clear trend of cross-border brands shifting from transactional selling to brand building, providing direction for product design, channel layout, and business development for manufacturers looking to launch private labels and expand into global markets.

1. For product design and demand matching, move beyond the惯性 of focusing only on core consumer groups, and tap into demand from incremental stakeholders involved in purchase decisions. For maternal and baby products, for example, do not only target core mom segments; also cater to fathers who participate in parenting purchase decisions and prioritize technical specifications. Tailor product messaging for each group: highlight hard-core technical features for fathers, premium quality for high-net-worth users, and hassle-free usability for core customers.

2. For business partnership opportunities: As outbound traffic costs continue to rise, brands are increasingly demanding supply chain flexibility and product differentiation. Manufacturers capable of supporting brands with niche segment customization and rapid co-branded product development will win more partnership opportunities. For example, Shokz’s celebrity co-branded model in Japan sold out within a week of launch, a result that required fast, responsive supply chain support.

3. Digital transformation takeaway: When launching private labels overseas, factories should avoid falling into keyword bidding wars and price competition from day one. Instead, first identify target users’ actual purchase channels, engage core user groups to build word-of-mouth, then gradually expand reach through content marketing to accumulate long-term brand equity.

This article clearly maps development trends in the cross-border marketing services sector, identifying core pain points for outbound brands and corresponding directions for service innovation.

1. Industry trend: Chinese outbound brands have moved past the early transactional selling stage into a global brand-building era. Marketing demand has shifted from pure search ad buying for short-term conversions to full-funnel, end-to-end brand equity building. Marketing measurement logic has also evolved, from focusing only on single-campaign ROI and last-click conversions to prioritizing long-term brand value and full-funnel efficiency.

2. Core client pain points: Outbound brands universally face rising traffic costs, climbing ad ACOS, sharp sales drops when ad spend stops, and entrapment in low-price competition. Many hold misperceptions about full-funnel marketing: for example, they assume e-commerce platform ads only serve in-station search traffic, lack the know-how to measure upper-funnel brand ad performance, and do not have the technical capability to match users across platforms to cut redundant spend.

3. Solution directions: Service providers can leverage AI user profiling and marketing cloud multi-touch attribution technologies to help brands build end-to-end marketing systems spanning upper-funnel content audience building, mid-funnel user nurturing, and bottom-funnel conversion, paired with an evaluation framework covering new customer share, branded search interest, customer lifetime value, and multi-touch attribution. Providers can also help brands identify overlooked incremental segments, develop tailored communication assets for different groups, and improve overall marketing ROI.

Drawing on first-hand insights from the Amazon Ads team, this article clarifies the service upgrade direction for cross-border e-commerce platforms amid the global brand building wave, and identifies core levers for platform merchant recruitment and operation.

1. Latest platform service capabilities: Amazon Ads has evolved from a single in-station search ad tool into a full-funnel marketing network covering top-tier sports events, streaming video, game livestreams, and smart hardware interaction endpoints. Leveraging user-authorized shopping data, content interaction data, and smart device interaction data, AI and marketing cloud tools can generate granular, precise audience tags to help brands reach target users in the decision window, while supporting multi-touch full-funnel conversion attribution.

2. Merchant and client expansion direction: Beyond serving sellers with in-platform storefronts, the platform’s ad system now offers incremental services to three additional client groups: DTC and independent site brands, high-ticket durable goods enterprises such as automakers, and local services apps spanning finance, travel, and lifestyle. Different client types can be matched to relevant marketing scenarios: for example, independent sites can use platform shopper signals to drive traffic and leverage Prime to lift conversions, while durable goods brands can build awareness through large-screen content and capture high-intent leads.

3. Platform operation guidance: Platforms should guide merchants to shift from a pure paid traffic sales mindset to brand equity building, avoid chaotic zero-sum competition concentrated solely on search ads, and encourage merchants to invest in upper-funnel content marketing to earn long-term organic traffic through brand building. This should be paired with a robust performance measurement system to help merchants quantify the value of long-term investment.

This industry dialogue highlights multiple new trends, challenges, and emerging business models amid the phase transition of China’s cross-border sector, providing vivid practical samples for cross-border industry research.

1. New industry trends: Chinese outbound companies have generally moved past the “selling goods abroad” stage to enter a high-quality development phase focused on building global brands. The underlying business logic has shifted from traffic competition—fighting for keyword ad slots and competing on price—to brand equity competition centered on building user mindshare and trust to capture brand premiums and organic repeat purchases. The core metric for measuring global brand building success has also evolved beyond short-term ROI, to include whether users actively search for brand names and whether brands appear in mainstream recommendation lists on generative AI platforms.

2. Emerging industry challenges: Outbound brands universally face growth bottlenecks including rising traffic costs, declining ad ROI, and immediate traffic drops after ad spend pauses. Most brands still hold misperceptions about marketing, equating e-commerce platform ads solely with in-station search bidding. They lack scientific indicator systems to measure the long-term value of brand investment, and widespread cross-platform redundant ad spending leads to budget waste.

3. New business models: Cross-border platform ad services are evolving from single-function in-station traffic tools into full-funnel marketing ecosystems that integrate shopping data, content scenarios, and smart hardware endpoints. Serving clients across industries even without platform storefronts through an open network model, these ecosystems form an end-to-end marketing service loop covering “audience building – mindshare nurturing – conversion harvesting – equity accumulation”, positioning platforms as long-term service partners for global brand building.