Is working with a digital marketing agency a good idea for every business? The answer is ‘no’, but if it is, the medium to long term rewards can be great. If you’re trying to break into a new market in a country where you are not 100% familiar with the culture, a local digital marketing agency can add plenty of value to your digital marketing strategy. As Japan has a famously unique (business) culture, having a local partner who knows all the ins and outs on the ground can take a lot of the challenges out of the equation of entering the Japanese market. Let’s have a look at what working with a digital marketing agency in Japan can mean for your business.

Entering or Enlarging Your Japanese Market

Because of the sheer size of the Japanese population and economy, Japan offers tremendous opportunities for many types of businesses. Whether you are trying to sell products or services, chances are that you can turn a profit in Japan, and it is worth researching whether your product or service may sell in Japan. It may even be that you are in a niche market whose customers can especially be found in Japan.

Once you have a firm idea of who your market is, it is time to start thinking about a (digital) marketing strategy. Just like in most of the rest of the world, digital marketing is taking over TV marketing and other traditional forms of marketing. This means that it is important to know which types of social media are used in Japan, and how to best use paid search engine ads in the Japanese market. You will also need to localize your website’s content, meaning that it won’t just need to be translated, all text and images also have to make sense in the context of Japanese culture. These are all tasks that a digital marketing company can help you with.

What Does a Digital Marketing Company Do

Digital marketing companies are not only strategic partners who can help you employ different forms of digital marketing such as social media marketing, web-based video marketing, SEO & content marketing, and media planning. They are also required to stay on top of any trends in the fast developing field of digital marketing. Because the field constantly changes, companies who are using a digital marketing agency would often be behind on the facts if they would try to do their own digital marketing. Knowing how to use the latest digital strategies and SEO insights can put you way ahead of the competition.

A digital marketing company can also help you get in-depth insights with their advanced tools and their social media management and analysis. Furthermore, because they are an objective partner, an agency will be able to give you a fresh perspective on aspects of your business that you might have not seen because you are too close to the fire. If you are trying to enter or enlarge a market in a country where you are not familiar with the language and culture, a digital marketing agency can offer additional services like translation and localization, and give you access to their network of local professionals you may need.

Who Needs a Digital Marketing Agency

First, let’s go over who would not be better off hiring a digital marketing agency. If you are a very small company or a solo freelancer and you are not looking to scale up much, it may make more sense financially to put in the time and effort to create and carry out your own digital marketing strategy. Also, if your company currently doesn’t have a strong foundation you would be better off first creating that foundation before spending money on a marketing campaign that can’t come to full fruition because of issues in the company’s base operations.

So who are the companies that can get maximum benefits from a collaboration with a digital marketing agency? If the company’s foundations and general business aims are developed and the infrastructure is ready to go, it is a good moment to think about acquiring outside expertise to help you reach your sales goals. Even if you already have an in-house marketing team, adding the specialist knowledge of a digital marketing company will make sure you have access to the latest insights and instruments that are available in a fast-developing field. Another benefit is accountability of the digital marketing experts. If a marketing campaign doesn’t perform as well as you expected, they will dive into it and make necessary tweaks to make the campaign a success. Because they know what to look for in the large amount of available data, the agency can come up with tested and tried fixes quickly.

Digital Marketing Agency in Japan

So you’ve decided that you want to place your product or service in a part of the Japanese market, and you’re working for or owning the kind of company that would benefit from the expertise, experience, and network of a digital marketing agency. Then it makes sense to look for a digital marketing agency that is specialized in Japan, and that is perfectly bilingual. Because Japan is such a specific market, finding an agency that knows the market inside and out, has experience setting up and running digital marketing campaigns in Japan, and has a network of trusted service providers is paramount. Besides coming up with the best strategy for your specific marketing needs, they can also localize your content and provide customer support on social media in Japanese. Moreover, because of their language skills they can ‘listen’ to what is being said about your brand on various social media and adjust your company’s response to that if necessary. This way, you will always be right on top of new developments surrounding your industry and brand in Japan.

Your Digital Media Partner in Tokyo

Hashi Media is Japan’s go-to content marketing and social media company. If you are planning on entering the Japanese market and don’t know where to start, we’ve got you covered.

• Content creation
• Social media management
• Digital marketing strategy
• Brand localization

If you enjoyed what you read today and found it valuable, contact us today and let’s talk about your project.