How to Do Marketing in Korea: 3 Perfect Campaigns

Published in

AJ Marketing Blog

7 min readMar 29, 2020

South Korea is an incredibly diverse country in Asia that’s buzzing with excitement. It’s not only famous for powerhouse companies like Samsung and BTS, but it’s also the 5th largest e-commerce market worldwide. The local consumers in Korea are lightning-fast in adopting new products and technologies, making it the perfect playground for brands to expand their businesses into the Asia-Pacific region. It’s a land of endless possibilities!

Now, let’s talk about the challenge of succeeding in Korea. Trust us, it’s no walk in the park. The market here is fiercely competitive, packed with affordable products and top-notch customer service. You’ll find Korean versions of almost every popular global brand out there. Amazon has its match with Coupang, Google bows down to Naver, and WeChat meets its match with Kakao. But here’s the thing: if your brand can conquer Korea, you can conquer the world. Korea is the perfect springboard to global success, just like everywhere else!

Korea Marketing Dilemma

We’re talking about IT, mobile games, fashion, e-commerce, and consumer goods industries from Asia-Pacific, North America, and Europe. What’s interesting is that all these brands are grappling with the same dilemma in Korea.

You see, they’re not willing to take risks and go all out with their marketing campaigns. Instead, they’re playing it safe, with limited advertising and shoestring budgets, only to end up disappointed. But let us tell you, marketing in Korea is all about setting trends and capturing the consumer’s attention. It’s a game you can’t afford to take lightly if you want to succeed. Take a cue from Netflix and TikTok — they’ve invested millions of dollars to carve out a significant share of the Korean market.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. Spending millions of dollars on marketing campaigns is a privilege reserved for the likes of ByteDance and Netflix. It’s out of reach for most medium-sized brands. But fear not, because we’ve got the solution right here. We believe in generating new consumer trends without breaking the bank. With just a few thousand dollars, we can create unique and viral marketing campaigns that will set your brand on fire!

In this article, we’re thrilled to share with you three real-life examples of campaigns we’ve crafted for brands across completely different industries. Get ready to be inspired!

1. E-Commerce Platform

Imagine a platform where you can get your hands on incredible, wallet-friendly goodies from around the world. It’s a global sensation, loved by savvy shoppers everywhere. But here’s the twist: it hasn’t quite hit the jackpot in Korea… yet.

But don’t you worry, because we’ve got the perfect solution to turn the tides. Our secret weapon? Influencer marketing! We’ve teamed up with YouTube creators, Instagram influencers, and gave Instagram a serious boost. Together, we’ve crafted a campaign that will blow the socks off Korean consumers.

We’ve reimagined this brand as more than just an online shopping destination. We’ve made it a place where shopping is an absolute blast and a treasure trove of unique, affordable products. We’ve completely transformed the perception of global online shopping in the minds of Korean millennials and Generation Z.

2. Wedding Dress

Let us tell you about this incredible campaign we worked on for a premium wedding dress brand. It’s made by a renowned Israeli designer and it’s already a sensation in the United States. Now, it’s ready to conquer the hearts of Korean brides. The dresses are absolutely breathtaking, turning brides into real-life Amazonian princesses. It’s pure magic!

So, how did we tackle the Korean market? Well, we had a master plan. We knew we needed a brand ambassador who could capture the essence of elegance and sophistication. And who better than a high-profile Korean actress? We sealed the deal and made sure her star power shone brightly, putting the brand in the spotlight and making brides-to-be swoon.

But that’s not all. We knew that word-of-mouth is pure gold in the world of weddings. So, we tapped into the power of YouTube creators who have a huge following and influence in the wedding community. These creators became our allies, showcasing the brand’s beauty and sharing their genuine excitement.

Now, let’s talk about our target audience. We had our sights set on women in their 30s, because we knew they were the ones dreaming about their fairytale weddings.

3. Project Management Software

Let‘s move on to this game-changing brand that’s revolutionizing the way teams work together. They’ve come up with the ultimate solution to boost productivity and efficiency. Imagine having all your communication channels, from chats and calls to video conferences, task scheduling, and cloud storage, seamlessly integrated into one powerful platform. It’s like having Slack on steroids. This brand is taking collaboration to a whole new level!

With COVID-19 shaking up the world, remote work has become the new norm. And guess what? This brand has become the knight in shining armor for teams everywhere. Their product is a lifeline, enabling seamless collaboration even when working from the comfort of home. It’s a game-changer in the era of social distancing.

Now, onto our marketing strategy. We didn’t hold back. We knew we needed to make a splash and get the word out to every corner of Korea. So, we teamed up with YouTube creators, the true stars of online content. They became our partners in crime, spreading the message far and wide through captivating videos and engaging content. But that’s not all. We didn’t stop at YouTube. We crafted a comprehensive content marketing plan, showcasing the brand’s capabilities and highlighting success stories from leading Korean companies.

We understood the power of influence, so we made sure to partner with top-notch Korean companies. By showcasing these success stories, we inspired other business leaders to jump on board and adopt our client’s solution. After all, nothing speaks louder than real-life examples of businesses thriving with the help of this incredible platform.

We positioned this brand as the ultimate savior for Korean companies, universities, and organizations during the challenging times of the pandemic. We showed them that they could overcome any obstacle, embrace remote work, and come out stronger than ever before.

Influencer marketing on YouTube and Instagram works well to create marketing value worth millions with just several thousand dollars. Depending on brand needs, we also do mobile advertising, Korea SEO, celebrity partnerships, and more.

5 Tips When Doing Marketing in Korea

To sum up, to build a successful market entry strategy, we recommend brands to follow these 5 principles:

Do your homework — research about local consumer tastes and competitors.
Find local partner — Korea is not possible to navigate without one. Language, network and trust are key factors.
Do it right way or do not do it at all — listen to the advice of market experts. Their local insight is worth millions of dollars.
Use budget wisely —instead of doing paid advertising, focus on standing out, generating word-of-mouth, and feeling authentic.
Do not give up — Korean consumers have their own unique taste. It may take a few trials to find strategy that works. Persistence will pay off.

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info@ajmarketing.io

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