CTMON: With over a decade of experience in B2B digital marketing, CTMON helps factories manage overseas inquiries effectively.

The most frequently discussed topic among foreign trade business owners in the past two years is probably that " shows are becoming increasingly expensive, Alibaba International Station is receiving fewer and fewer inquiries, and the number of old customers is " . We've been listening to this for over a decade, and we've been doing this for over a decade. Today, we want to clarify some of the realities on this matter.

Who are we?

CTMON was founded in Shenzhen in 2013. For more than ten years now, it has only done one thing: help Chinese foreign trade factories and manufacturing companies build up business website traffic and inquiries overseas.

It's not about broad international expansion, nor is it about DTC brand solutions. We're targeting B2B – factories and integrated manufacturing and trading companies that have products and production lines, but whose online lead generation is unstable.

Over the years, we have served more than 1,300 Chinese manufacturing companies, including over 50 listed companies, spanning 23 vertical sectors such as machinery, electronics, home furnishings, and chemicals. Among our clients, the average number of inquiries increased by 210% over six months. We have helped clients achieve 23,457 target keywords ranking on the first two pages of Google search results, with a single client achieving a record inquiries growth of 310% (in the machinery and equipment industry). Our annual renewal rate is 83.73%—a figure that surprised even us, indicating that most clients genuinely found our services effective and renewed their contracts.

Five lines, how to coordinate them so as not to waste money?

B2B export marketing five-tier service framework: business website, Google SEO, Google Ads (SEM), international social media, GEO/AI SEO

Our services are divided into five parts: B2B export website building, Google SEO, Google Ads (SEM) advertising, social media (Facebook / LinkedIn / YouTube) , and AI GEO (generative search optimization) .

Many people immediately ask which " they should work " . Clients are generally in a hurry these days, and AI search and social media are major trends. Our advice is straightforward: if you're eager to get traffic, prioritize GEO lead generation, or start running social media ads to generate inquiries—get the momentum going first.

Some service providers immediately advise users to focus on SEO and gradually nurture their " " , which sounds like a safe bet. However, the current traffic benefits from AI search and social media are far more significant. For clients who can't afford to wait, we recommend starting with GEO or social media ads to build lead generation. The success of GEO depends on the clarity of your content—clearly stated in your website's FAQ and application scenarios on your product pages are crucial for effective AI recommendations. This isn't just icing on the cake; it's about securing your lead generation entry point right now.

Several projects we actually ran

To give you a very direct example, in June of this year, we took over a brand new Meta account . The client was in the polymer marble paint (a type of floor coating) business and had never run overseas ads before, starting with zero data. Their target markets were Europe, America, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. Two weeks later, the account generated 254 inquiries, a 38% effectiveness rate, with a cost of 36.12 yuan per inquiry. That same week, over a dozen samples were shipped out—not just impressive numbers on the backend, but real, growing business.

Facebook Ads backend results: 254 potential customer leads in half a month, with a cost of 36.12 yuan per lead.

Another jewelry display case manufacturer had a thin Facebook page and weak fan engagement, making it difficult to build trust with overseas clients. We switched to the " public page to increase trust, and continued the same strategy as " on WhatsApp, testing ad groups by region, and focusing on application scenario images and factory photos in the creative materials. The result was an average of over 500 inquiries per month and a single-month order of 1 million.

How to coordinate social media and a business website? A flooring materials manufacturer doing international marketing for the first time gave us the answer. We didn't wait for the website to be completed before promoting it; Facebook ads went live to attract customers first. The customized business website officially launched a month later, with all materials and the homepage linking directly to the official website. Within just one month of launch, the website was consistently generating several qualified inquiries per week, including clients who had directly placed sample orders and contractors discussing bulk agency agreements.

Let me tell you another example from GEO. A small industrial cooling fan manufacturer, their website already had product pages and technical articles, but the content stopped at " showcasing product " , without answering buyers' questions about AI. We shifted their focus from product-related content to user-question-based content, building a three-part content matrix encompassing products, technology, and applications. Comparing two Semrush reports from early June and mid-July: the number of pages cited by AI increased from 207 to 248, brand mentions increased from 2 to 7, and Google AI Overview citations increased from 23 to 40. Brand exposure expanded from only the US to Indonesia, Spain, and other regions.

Comparison of AI platform reference page distribution: From June to July, the number of AI Overview reference pages increased from 23 to 40.

Finally, let's talk about something easily overlooked—technical troubleshooting. One client's website saw its organic search impressions drop from about 4,000 per day to just over 1,000, while the number of indexed pages actually increased. Upon investigation, we found that both robots.txt and the Sitemap were abnormal, coupled with a mismatch between old and new product URLs; the old addresses were still there, and some were returning 404 errors. We compiled a list of 14 product categories and 1097 sets of old and new URL mappings, implemented 301 redirects one-to-one, and the data started to recover in mid-February. This illustrates that when traffic drops, don't rush to change the content; first, check if the technical configuration is causing the problem.

What makes us different from other overseas digital marketing companies

Most of our peers talk about " " four-piece suite: website building, SEO, advertising, and social media. We'll take a different approach: helping businesses build a long-term, reusable international lead generation system, connecting everything from website fundamentals, keyword strategy, content structure, ad campaign management, to inquiry conversion into a cohesive whole.

The most crucial aspect is " " -on support, not a one-time delivery. Many clients don't lack websites; what they lack is someone to continuously evaluate and optimize them. We work with businesses to analyze product selling points, market opportunities, content direction, and conversion paths, allowing the team to gradually develop B2B digital marketing capabilities. This is something traditional website building companies and pure agency operations find difficult to achieve.

Our Shenzhen-based team ensures seamless communication and rapid response. We localize the English content, avoiding direct translations from Chinese—overseas buyers can immediately tell if it's written by industry professionals.

In conclusion

Over the years, we've changed our methods several times, and our tools have evolved from the earliest B2B platforms to the current AI search. The only constant has been our focus on " inquiries " result. We don't make unfounded promises, nor do we use tactics like " guaranteeing a spot on the homepage " .

If you're also struggling with international lead generation—your website has traffic but no inquiries, you're spending money on ads but getting no results, and AI can't find your company—let's start with a free diagnostic. We'll help you identify the problem, and then we'll discuss how to solve it.

CTMON (CTMON) · Shenzhen · Over a decade of experience in B2B digital marketing · Official website ctmon.com