After years of serving businesses, one thing has become very clear to us: the questions our clients ask have changed. A few years ago, everyone wanted to know how to climb Baidu rankings or when their website would be ready. Now, more and more business owners ask whether they can be found in AI search, whether anyone answers inquiries at midnight, and why lead costs on feed ads still won't come down. Behind these changing questions lies a fundamental restructuring of the entire customer acquisition environment. Yunxuan Network Technology serves small and medium-sized enterprises across all industries nationwide, working with clients in different regions every day, so we feel this shift very directly. In this article, we share what is happening in the industry from a service provider's perspective, and how businesses can respond.
1. Traffic Entry Points Are No Longer Concentrated: The Single-Channel Approach to Digital Marketing Has Failed
For a long time, online promotion followed a default path: build a website, bid on Baidu, and once rankings stabilized, inquiries would come. This logic worked well in the PC era because when users looked for suppliers, their first instinct was to open a search engine. But things are different now. A user might see your factory video on Douyin, then search your brand name on Baidu, or simply ask Doubao or DeepSeek which engineering company is reliable. The decision path has become scattered and jumpy, with more touchpoints but declining weight for each one.
The direct impact on businesses is this: guarding a single channel inevitably leads to declining traffic. We have worked with many clients who only did Baidu promotion. It worked well a few years ago, but in the past two years, click costs have clearly risen while conversions have slowed. It is not that Baidu has become useless; rather, users' time has been fragmented. When we talk about digital marketing now, we cannot focus on just one platform. We need to consider where users appear and in what form.
Yunxuan Network Technology's approach is to first help clients clarify who their target customers are and where they are active, then decide on the channel mix. Search engines, feed ads, short videos, local life platforms, and AI Q&A platforms are not mutually exclusive; they are combined based on industry and budget. For example, engineering project companies still need search promotion because demand is clear and order values are high. For retail and trade businesses, short videos and local platforms may be more efficient for driving traffic. The key is not which channel is hot, but which channel matches your customers.
2. AI Search Has Arrived: GEO Optimization Becomes a New Frontier for Brand Promotion
The word we have discussed most internally this year is GEO, or Generative Engine Optimization. Simply put, when users used to search keywords, search engines returned a list of web links. Now when users ask AI, AI directly gives an integrated answer. If your brand information has not been captured and learned by AI, you essentially do not exist in this new entry point.
What does this change mean for brand promotion? Previously, SEO aimed to rank web pages at the top of search results. Now, GEO aims to get AI to cite your content and mention your brand when answering questions. The underlying logic of both has similarities, relying on quality content, clear website structure, and authoritative information sources, but GEO places more emphasis on whether content is understood and trusted by AI models.
When we help clients with GEO optimization, we start from several levels. First, the website's underlying architecture must be adapted for AI crawling. Many corporate websites have redundant code and chaotic information hierarchy, making it difficult for AI crawlers to read, so they are naturally unwilling to cite them. Second, content should be written around real user questions rather than keyword stuffing. AI models prefer to cite content that directly answers questions. Third, build consistency of brand information across multiple platforms so AI can verify the same information from different sources, increasing credibility.
Currently, AI platforms like Doubao, Qwen, and DeepSeek are iterating rapidly, and GEO optimization rules are also changing. Our strategy is to keep tracking and testing, distill effective practices into standard processes, and then apply them to client projects. There is no one-time solution, but companies that lay the groundwork early will see increasingly obvious brand exposure advantages in AI search.
3. AI Agents: Turning Passive Waiting into Proactive Engagement
Many businesses have a pain point in promotion: traffic comes, but they cannot catch it. Website visitors leave after a glance, short video comments asking about price go unanswered, and nighttime inquiries are lost entirely. Traffic bought with promotion budget suffers greatly reduced conversion rates because the engagement stage fails.
AI agents solve exactly this problem. The enterprise-specific AI agents we build for clients can be embedded in websites, official accounts, Douyin direct messages, and other scenarios to provide 24/7 automated reception. When customers ask about price, service scope, or cases, the AI agent can give accurate answers based on the enterprise knowledge base while guiding them to leave contact information. Complex issues are then transferred to human follow-up.
One engineering client saw a clear increase in lead capture rates for nighttime inquiries after launching an AI agent. Previously, inquiries after 10 p.m. basically went unanswered, and when they followed up the next day, the customer had already found another company. Now the AI agent responds immediately, captures the customer's needs and contact information, and when sales follows up the next day, the customer still remembers the interaction. This change may seem small, but its impact on inquiry conversion rates is very real.
Another benefit of AI agents is data accumulation. What questions customers asked, what they care about, what hesitations they had—this information is difficult to record systematically under traditional customer service models, but AI agents can automatically organize it. This data can in turn guide promotion strategies and content optimization, forming a closed loop.
4. Website Development Is Not Just a Storefront—It Is Customer Acquisition Infrastructure
When it comes to website development, many businesses are still at the stage of thinking a website is enough. But from our experience serving clients nationwide, the role of the official website is shifting from a display window to a customer acquisition hub. Especially for companies promoting nationwide, the official website is the core landing page for search traffic, feed traffic, and AI search traffic.
A website that can support customer acquisition must achieve at least three things. First, mobile experience must be good. Most traffic now comes from phones, and slow loading, messy layout, or unclickable buttons will make customers close it immediately. Second, content must answer the questions customers care about: product specifications, service processes, case displays, and common questions. This content is for customers as well as for search engines and AI models. Third, there must be conversion components: online chat, form submission, click-to-call, and AI agent entry points, so customers can contact you whenever they want.
When we develop custom websites for clients, we incorporate the underlying needs of SEO and GEO, such as URL structure, page loading speed, structured data markup, and content update mechanisms. These details may not show a difference when the website launches, but once promotion starts running, the gap becomes clear. With the same promotion budget, companies with stronger website engagement capabilities can achieve significantly lower customer acquisition costs.
5. The Trust Cost of Brand Promotion Is Rising: Content Must Be More Substantive
Customers now generally do more homework before making decisions. They check the official website, search the brand name, browse short videos, and ask AI before deciding whether to contact you. This means brand promotion cannot rely solely on advertising exposure; it also needs enough content to support trust.
We have observed that clients with high-quality inquiries often do solid work on content. Their websites have detailed case breakdowns, their short videos show real production or service processes, positive information appears when searching the brand name, and consistent evaluations can be found in AI answers. These content pieces may seem unremarkable individually, but together they reduce the customer's trust cost.
When Yunxuan Network Technology helps clients with full-network brand promotion, we plan a content matrix. On the search engine side, we focus on keyword coverage and authoritative information publishing. On the short video side, we focus on scenario-based displays and real people on camera. On the local platform side, we focus on reputation and review management. On the AI search side, we focus on Q&A-style content development. The content formats differ across channels, but the core information must be consistent, so the brand impression is reinforced repeatedly throughout the customer's multi-touchpoint journey.
6. The Difficulty of Nationwide Customer Acquisition: It Is Not a Lack of Traffic, but a Lack of Matching
In serving clients nationwide, we have noticed a phenomenon: many businesses do not lack traffic; their traffic is just not precise. They invest in nationwide promotion, and inquiries come from all over, but few can actually convert in terms of region and industry. Money is spent, but results do not appear.
The root cause is that targeting strategies are too broad. Nationwide promotion does not mean casting a nationwide net; it means targeting based on the company's service capabilities and target market. For example, some companies have high product transportation costs, so customers too far away are not profitable even if acquired. Some companies require on-site service, so beyond a certain radius it is not cost-effective. These constraints should be considered when setting up promotion, not filtered after customers arrive.
Our approach is to align with clients on target regions, target industries, and target customer profiles before promotion begins, then filter through keywords, targeting packages, and landing page content. At the same time, we use AI agents for initial reception and intent assessment, filtering out clearly mismatched inquiries so sales only follows up with high-intent customers. This may reduce total inquiry volume, but the proportion of valid inquiries increases, and overall customer acquisition efficiency is actually higher.
7. Bid Management and Performance-Based Customer Acquisition: Spend Budget Where It Counts
Paid channels like Baidu promotion and feed ads remain the main customer acquisition method for many businesses. But platform rules are becoming more complex and competition more intense, making self-operation prone to pitfalls. We have taken over many client accounts and found that the common problems are always the same: keyword matching is too broad, resulting in many clicks but few conversions; landing pages and ad creatives are disconnected, so customers click through and find it is not what they wanted; bidding strategies are unreasonable, and high-priced keywords do not convert at all.
The value of bid management is not just adjusting bids and writing creatives, but systematically reviewing the entire chain from account structure, keyword strategy, landing page optimization, to conversion tracking. We develop a promotion rhythm based on the client's industry characteristics and budget scale, regularly review data, cut ineffective spending, and amplify effective channels.
The core of performance-based customer acquisition is calculating the numbers clearly. How much was spent on each channel, how many inquiries were generated, how many customers converted, what the average order value is, and what the profit is—these data points must be trackable and analyzable. Many businesses run promotion as a vague account, knowing only the general effect but not which specific step has a problem. Once we connect the data, optimization has a basis.
8. Under These Trends, What Kind of Service Provider Do Businesses Need?
With the industry changing so quickly, it is too costly and unrealistic for businesses to build their own teams to follow every channel. Partnering with a service provider is a more efficient choice, but choosing one also requires care.
First, the service provider must understand both technology and marketing. Understanding only marketing but not technology means website and AI tool implementation will fail. Understanding only technology but not marketing means what is built looks good but does not convert. Yunxuan Network Technology has walked on both legs of technology and marketing for 20 years, from website development to full-network promotion, and now to GEO optimization and AI agents. Our service chain is connected.
Second, the service provider must have cross-industry and cross-region service experience. Clients across the country have different industries, market environments, and problems. We have served clients in engineering, manufacturing, trade, local life, and other fields, and this experience helps new clients avoid detours.
Finally, the service provider must be willing to take a long-term view with clients. Digital marketing is not a one-time deal. Promotion strategies must adjust as platforms change, content must be continuously updated, and AI tools must be iteratively optimized. We have worked with many clients for years, from early website development to later search promotion, and now GEO and AI agents, following their needs all along. This kind of long-term relationship is more valuable than a single project collaboration.
9. What Yunxuan Network Technology Can Do for Clients
Back to our own services. Yunxuan Network Technology positions itself as a digital marketing and full-network promotion service provider. Our core business includes several parts:
- GEO generative engine optimization: content optimization for AI platforms such as Doubao, Qwen, and DeepSeek to help businesses secure a position in AI search.
- Custom website development: adapted to brand image, balancing PC, mobile, and the underlying architecture for AI indexing.
- Full-network brand promotion: precise traffic acquisition across short videos, search engines, local platforms, and more.
- AI agent development: enterprise-specific Q&A, reception, and customer acquisition intelligent digital assistants that automatically handle customer inquiries.
- Full-service digital marketing managed solutions: one-stop closed-loop services for website building, promotion, AI tools, and GEO optimization.
- Local life and physical store customer acquisition: customized customer acquisition solutions for physical stores, engineering, and trade businesses.
These services are not isolated; they are combined according to the client's stage and needs. Startups may build a website first and then promote. Businesses with some foundation may focus on GEO and AI agents to improve conversion efficiency. Companies targeting the national market need multi-channel combined promotion while using AI tools to handle traffic.
We serve clients nationwide. No matter which city the business is in, the cooperation process and service standards are the same. From initial needs communication, solution design, execution, data review, to continuous optimization, every step has a dedicated person following up. Office location does not affect service scope; online collaboration is already sufficient to support nationwide projects.
10. A Few Practical Suggestions for Business Owners
Finally, based on our experience serving clients, here are a few suggestions for business owners who are doing or preparing to do online promotion.
First, do not put all your budget on one channel. Search engines, feed ads, short videos, and AI search each have their value, and a combination is more resilient.
Second, keep investing in your website and content. Promotion buys traffic; the website and content receive traffic. If the receiving capability is poor, buying more traffic is a waste.
Third, lay out AI search and AI agents as early as possible. These two directions are still in a bonus period with less intense competition, so early action brings early benefits.
Fourth, track data clearly. The effect of each channel and the conversion at each step must be supported by data. Making decisions by feeling easily goes off track.
Fifth, choose a service provider for the long term. Digital marketing is a process of continuous optimization. Choosing a service provider willing to take a long-term view with you is far more important than choosing the lowest quote.
The industry is still changing, and customer acquisition methods will continue to iterate. Yunxuan Network Technology will keep tracking these changes and apply effective practices to client projects. If you are struggling with customer acquisition, or want to learn how to use new tools like GEO optimization and AI agents, feel free to talk with us. We serve enterprise clients nationwide.