How to choose your China marketing agency
China is one of the hardest markets to vet a partner in, because most of what an agency tells you is difficult to check from outside the country. These are the checks we would run if we were hiring an agency ourselves.
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01
Ask a lot of questions
Ask how they will run your account day to day, who will work on it, how they report, and what happens when something goes wrong. A good agency welcomes the questions and answers them specifically. Vague answers early on usually lead to vague work later.
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02
Study their methodology
Ask them to walk you through their process from audit to reporting. Every agency should be able to explain how they decide what to post, who to target and how they measure results. If the process changes depending on who you ask, there probably isn’t one.
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03
Study the founder
An agency usually reflects the person who built it, so the founder should be publicly searchable. Look up their background, how long they have worked in China and what they have said publicly. If you can’t find them online, that tells you something too.
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04
Check the leadership team
It is now too easy to put up an AI-generated agency website. A real agency’s About or Team page shows individual profiles of its leadership, with names, photos and backgrounds you can verify on LinkedIn. If there are none, treat it as a red flag.
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05
Understand their structure
Many agencies have no full-time employees and rely entirely on freelancers. That can work for a one-off project, but an always-on account needs people who know your brand month after month. Ask how many full-time staff they have and exactly who will be on your account.
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06
Check their business registration
Company records are public. Look up the agency’s registration, and for a Chinese entity check Qichacha or Tianyancha for pending lawsuits and court enforcement records. It takes a few minutes and can save you a year of problems.
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07
Verify the accolades
Fake awards and made-up accolades are more common than you would expect. Every real award has a public record, usually a winners list on the organizer’s website. If you can’t find it, ask the agency for the link.
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08
Read their press
A healthy agency has press coverage that shows it is still relevant. They should be identifying and setting marketing trends rather than following them, and that usually shows up in interviews, bylined articles and speaking slots. Check that the coverage is recent and in publications you recognize.
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09
Verify case studies, clients and testimonials
Case studies should come with results you can ask questions about. Current clients should be real and still working with them, and testimonials should come from people you can find on LinkedIn. All of it should be verifiable.
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10
Expect transparency
You should see the numbers behind your account, not just a summary slide. Ask whether you get access to the platform data, who owns the accounts and the content, and whether the agency ever buys followers or engagement.
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11
Have confidence in your partner
After all of the above, you should feel sure about who you are working with. If something still doesn’t sit right, keep looking. Your agency becomes the voice of your brand in a market you can’t easily watch yourself.
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12
Question everything
China is an opaque market, and unfortunately there are some bad eggs. Most agencies are honest, but the cost of choosing the wrong one is high, so check every claim, including ours.
Everything we claim is on the public record.
We were founded in Shanghai in 2013 as Metric Design Studio and rebranded as MDS Collective in 2024. Our awards are listed on the organizers' own winners pages, our coverage is collected on our Press page, and our clients speak for themselves on our Testimonials page.
Our full process is published on our Methodology page, and you can meet the people behind your account on our Team page.
Let's begin the conversation.
Not sure where to start? We're here to help. Every brand challenge is unique, and our role is to help you find the right direction. Reach out with any questions, or if you're ready to get started, book a free consultation with MDS today.
Still deciding? Play a game while you think about it
Still deciding? Play a game while you think about it