Typical setup 4-10 weeks · platform fees confirmed in writing at kickoff
Enter China with the plumbing done right.
A site that loads inside the firewall, channels run natively in Mandarin and Cantonese, and every lead landing in the CRM your global team already reads. Infrastructure first, campaigns second.
Is China entry the right move now?
Two minutes of honest self-assessment before the paperwork starts.
A good fit if…
- ✓You already see Chinese demand: enquiries, distributor interest, or traffic that converts nowhere
- ✓You sell B2B with a real ticket size, so a built channel pays for itself
- ✓Someone on your side will own the China pipeline once it is live
- ✓Native channels in Mandarin and Cantonese, not a translated brochure
- ✓Platform-side deposits and fees before the first click arrives
Probably not, yet
- ✕You expect a translated version of your existing site to do the job
- ✕Nobody can answer a Chinese lead in Chinese within a day
- ✕You want campaign results before the infrastructure exists
- ✕The budget cannot cover the platform deposits, let alone the media
The parts nobody puts on the brochure.
Want these lines added up for your setup?Run the cost estimator
- ✓Hosting and ICP route: in-country when you qualify, honest alternatives when you do not
- ✓Search advertising account opening, documents and translations handled
- ✓WeChat official account and WeCom set up for marketing and sales
- ✓Landing pages written natively in Simplified Chinese
- ✓Leads wired into your global CRM with source attached
- ✓PIPL-aware data flow, mapped and signed before launch
| Decision | How we handle it |
|---|---|
| Entity or no entity | With an onshore entity we file ICP under your name. Without one, we run the entry route through regional offices and licensed partner infrastructure, with an upgrade path when your entity lands. |
| Ad account costs | Opening deposit roughly RMB 6,600-7,000 by office, service fee ~RMB 1,000, annual verification ~RMB 600, designated-agency translations ~RMB 1,000-2,000. Platform-side fees, quoted to you at cost and confirmed at kickoff. |
| Languages | Simplified Chinese in Mandarin for the mainland. Traditional Chinese and Cantonese for Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area. English for the reporting your HQ reads. Written natively, not translated after the fact. |
| Speed inside China | Cross-border sites crawl. We host where your buyers are, measure from inside the firewall, and treat load time as a launch gate. |
Your paperwork decides the on-ramp.
Both routes end in the same place: native channels feeding one pipeline. They start from very different paperwork.
The full stack in your own name: ICP filing, in-country hosting, search and social ad accounts, WeChat official account and WeCom, all owned by you from day one. Slower to assemble, strongest to stand on.
The entry route: cross-border ad accounts opened through regional offices, landing infrastructure on licensed partner hosting, and honest notes on what this route cannot do. Everything migrates to your own entity when it exists.
Infrastructure first. Campaigns second.
Entity route, hosting, ICP and account paperwork sequenced in parallel, so the slowest piece never blocks the rest.
Baidu search, WeChat official account content and Xiaohongshu presence written natively in Mandarin, with Cantonese for the Greater Bay Area where it earns its keep.
Every enquiry lands in the CRM your global team already uses, with source and language attached, so China reads like any other region in the Monday report.
Entity route agreed, documents collected and translated, hosting chosen.
ICP filing in motion, site live in-country, ad and social accounts approved.
Channels live, leads flowing into your CRM, spend reported against pipeline.
Going the other direction?
Taking a China-built business global is the other half of our work.
Mandarin and Cantonese, written natively.
China is not one language surface. We produce for each one on purpose, and translation after the fact is the one thing we refuse to sell.
Mainland search, WeChat official account content and landing pages, written for how buyers on the mainland actually search and read.
Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area read and speak differently. Campaigns there get their own voice, not a converted script.
Reporting, dashboards and every decision document in the language your leadership reads, so the China market never becomes a black box.
Plan your China entry this month.
A short audit of your demand evidence first, then an entry plan with the real costs and the real timeline in writing. If the numbers say wait, we say wait.
Frequently asked questions
Do we need a Chinese legal entity to start?
Not to start, but it decides your route. ICP filing for a China-hosted website requires an onshore entity (a WFOE, joint venture or sponsoring partner). Without one, we start on the entry route: cross-border ad accounts opened through regional offices, and landing infrastructure hosted on a licensed partner setup. When your entity lands, everything migrates onto your own paperwork.
How long until we are live?
A typical entry runs four to ten weeks end to end. The long poles are ICP filing (usually two to six weeks once documents are complete) and ad account approval (roughly two working weeks with translated documents in order). We sequence both in parallel so neither waits on the other.
What does the ad platform setup actually cost?
For a direct foreign-company search advertising account, plan for an opening deposit of roughly RMB 6,600 to 7,000 depending on which office opens it, a one-time service fee around RMB 1,000, an annual verification fee around RMB 600, and document translation through designated agencies at roughly RMB 1,000 to 2,000. These are platform-side fees, not ours, and they move: we confirm the current figures in writing at kickoff.
What about PIPL and customer data?
China-side lead data comes with real obligations under PIPL, including where it is stored and how it crosses the border. We design the flow so consent is captured at the form, transfers are deliberate rather than accidental, and your compliance side signs the data map before campaigns start. We design around the rules; your counsel confirms them.
Can leads flow into the CRM our global team already uses?
Yes, and that is the point of hiring us rather than a pure media agency. China-side channels write into the same pipeline your HQ reads, with source attached, so the China market shows up in the Monday report like any other region.
Platform deposits, fees and filing timelines on this page are typical figures as of 2026, drawn from platform and industry documentation. Chinese regulations and platform policies move; every figure is re-confirmed and put in writing at kickoff, and legal questions go to your counsel, not to a marketing agency.