One of the biggest hurdles to success as an online business in China is that you need to be successful offline, too.

It’s a challenge that Airbnb is trying to address as the home-sharing service ramps up its Chinese operations, and one that has bedeviled other foreign internet companies that have tried to crack the market. Success comes not so much from the usefulness of a company’s app or website but from the elbow grease and shoe leather of physical-world marketing and support.

The...