Wen Xiaoting, chairwoman of Guizhou Hengfeng Zhicheng. (Photo by Yang Jun/For China Daily)
For one, cooperation agreements with media were forged to broadcast news, information and other forms of content about the club. For another, automobiles and radio became publicity vehicles. Advertisements at strategic locations like airports and host grounds created brand awareness.
That's not all. Twice a month, fans of Guizhou HFZC were invited to the home stadium. When the games ended, Wen would show up with the club's mascot.
In May 2016, a contest was held for fans to write the team song. The winner was awarded 10,000 yuan ($1,477).
The same year, the club has designed its team jersey for the fans. Earlier this year, she hired anchors to broadcast the team's games live.
"By constructing football culture, I expect to make more locals watch a weekend game, whether they love football or not," she said. "What I'm doing is attract more fans to the ground. With crowd support, players will feel encouraged to play to their full potential."
She also rationalized spends on players and expenses. "There is no superstar in our team. The salaries of club members are similar to that of other China League One clubs. The highest annual salary was several million yuan," she said. "We didn't pay tens of millions of yuan to hire players like others did."
For all of Wen Xiaoting's relentless efforts, Guizhou HFZC is yet to ring in profits.
About 200 million yuan were spent on operations last year, which included players' wages, bonus, brand promotion bills and routine expenses.
The club earned only 10 percent of that, mainly from in-stadium advertisements and sales of team-themed merchandise like apparel, footwear, accessories, she said.
"Receipts from ticket sales were low. Most of the tickets were given away free of cost to the fans, particularly primary and middle school students."
In China, owning a football club is more of a hobby and nonprofit activity than business, she said. Many Chinese football clubs exist because of their supporters' enthusiasm.
But Guizhou HFZC wouldn't burn money blindly, she said.
That nous comes from family background. Her father heads China Guizhou Hengfeng Real Estate Development Co Ltd, which focuses on the sale, rent and property management of high-end commercial real estate.
She graduated from the University for the Creative Arts in the United Kingdom before joining Harper's Bazaar China, a fashion magazine, in 2011.
