444In recent years, with the rapid development of emerging content dissemination forms such as short videos, live streaming, and self-media, global users’ demand for high-quality video shooting equipment has surged. As one of the core tools for video creation, handheld stabilizers have gradually moved from professional fields to the mass market.
It is against this backdrop that many brands have seen development opportunities.Zhiyun, a brand from Guilin, Guangxi, is one of them.The company realized the vast potential for handheld stabilizers in overseas markets, and through technological innovation and targeted overseas strategies, quickly rose in the international market, becoming a typical case of Chinese smart hardware going global.
Reportedly, in 2021, the brand’s total revenue reached 1.997 billion yuan; in 2022, its total revenue broke the 2 billion yuan mark, reaching 2.06 billion yuan.
Image source: Zhiyun
Seizing Industry Opportunities: From Zero to Global Brand
According to reports, Zhiyun is the stabilizer brand under Guilin Zhishen Information Technology Co., Ltd., founded in 2015 and headquartered in Guilin, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China. It is one of the world’s leading gimbal brands.
At the early stage of the rapid development of short videos and social media, Zhiyun keenly captured the market demand for stable shooting equipment and quickly laid out its strategy. In 2014, the brand’s founder, Mr. Liao, led the team to start developing handheld stabilizers in an office space of just over 30 square meters. With a solid technical foundation, the first product received positive market feedback upon launch.
Since then, Zhiyun has continued to invest in R&D, successively launching five major series with a total of 18 different models, including SMOOTH, CRANE, WEEBILL, and others.
By 2020, Zhiyun’s products were selling well in more than 90 countries and regions and were used in many important occasions. For example, Zhiyun stabilizer equipment was used in CCTV’s live broadcast of the 2016 Rio Olympics and the Guilin sub-venue of the 2017 CCTV Spring Festival Gala.
Image source: Zhiyun
Social Media Marketing: Precisely Reaching Overseas Users
In overseas markets, social media is the core channel for brands to communicate with users. Zhiyun realized this early on and actively established a presence on platforms such as TikTok and YouTube, using content marketing to get closer to consumers.
1. TikTok: Showcasing Real Usage Scenarios
As of now, Zhiyun’s official TikTok account @zhiyun_global has 403,300 followers and 1.9 million likes.
Image source: TikTok
Like many overseas brands, Zhiyun’s video content does not use hard promotion, but focuses on real shooting scenarios. Most of the brand’s videos show users filming daily life with the stabilizer, highlighting the product’s anti-shake effect and ease of use to attract potential users’ attention.
Image source: TikTok
In addition, Zhiyun has cooperated with many tech influencers on TikTok, attracting more potential users through their influence.
TikTok influencer @matt_tin, who has 212,400 followers, shot a video using a Zhiyun stabilizer to film while running on a mountain road. Despite the rugged terrain, the footage was very smooth. The video eventually garnered over 1 million views and 43,200 likes.
Image source: TikTok
Many users responded enthusiastically to the video, expressing their amazement. Some users who were convinced by the product even commented directly below the video: “I will buy the Zhiyun Smooth 5 for my next shoot!”
Image source: TikTok
2. YouTube: Professional Reviews + Tutorial Content
On YouTube, Zhiyun chose another operational route: collaborating with professional tech influencers to establish a professional brand image through in-depth reviews and tutorials.
Tech blogger Otto Julian, who has 79,800 subscribers, is one of the brand’s partners. He produced a detailed tutorial for Zhiyun’s SMOOTH Q3 stabilizer.
So far, the video has reached 170,000 views. In the video, he explains step by step how to set up the device and optimize shooting effects, helping users get started quickly.
This type of content solves consumers’ practical problems and helps them better understand the product’s features and advantages.
Image source: YouTube
“This is the best and easiest to understand video I’ve seen about this stabilizer! Well done!”
“I watch your videos to learn photography and videography on the stabilizer.”
“Thank you. This is by far the best demonstration of how to operate this stabilizer.”
From the comments below the video, it’s clear that users really love it!
Image source: YouTube
Independent Website + E-commerce Platform: Dual Strategy to Expand the Market
In addition to social media marketing, Zhiyun also adopts a “double insurance” strategy for sales channels, entering major e-commerce platforms such as Amazon while building its own independent website.
1. Leveraging Amazon to Quickly Open the Market
In 2017, one year after officially entering Amazon, Zhiyun sold 2 million devices.
In 2018, the brand’s sales on Amazon reached $35 million, accounting for 60% of the stabilizer category market share. Models such as Smooth Q and Smooth 4 repeatedly topped the best-seller lists on Amazon US and Germany.
The traffic and mature logistics system of e-commerce platforms helped Zhiyun quickly cover consumers worldwide.
Image source: Amazon
2. Independent Website Strengthens Brand Control
Meanwhile, Zhiyun also established its own overseas independent website.
The advantage of an independent website is that it creates an autonomous and controllable marketing platform for the brand, allowing it to independently set pricing systems, promotional activities, and logistics solutions according to its own situation, responding more flexibly to market changes and business development needs.
In addition, the brand can fully grasp key business data through the independent website, such as traffic, conversion rate, and user preferences. These data provide strong support for continuous product optimization and service improvement.
It can be said that building an independent website is another key move for Zhiyun to deepen its overseas market layout. With an independent website, Zhiyun’s overseas strategy is not only more flexible, but also gradually establishes the brand’s tone.
Image source: Zhiyun
Inspiration: A Feasible Path for Chinese Brands Going Global
In summary, the case of Zhiyun shows that for Chinese brands to succeed overseas, they cannot rely on a single advantage, but need a combination of technological accumulation, market insight, and channel innovation.
Currently, the global consumer market is shifting from pursuing cost-effectiveness to technology empowerment, and this transformation brings huge opportunities for Chinese brands.
Zhiyun’s development history has proven that as long as the product can solve user needs and the strategy is clear and forward-looking, even a startup from a small city like Guilin can stand firm and succeed in the international market.
For more Chinese brands aspiring to go global, now is the perfect time to actively lay out their strategies!
