The most-liked answer on Zhihu: How are marketers made?

Today I saw some people who can analyze the supply chain involved in the design of a product from its outer packaging;

From the design of a shelf, analyze the reasons for doing so from the perspectives of profit margin, consumption rate, and traffic flow ;

From a rainbow candy, analyze why there are only 5 flavors designed and why these 5 flavors were chosen.

I am so fascinated by this and would really like to know if there are any books on this subject, or could you tell me what specific subject this is?

Who doesn’t want to quickly grow into a business veteran, gain insight into the essence, and quickly seize business opportunities? Most of the 249 answers to this question list thinking models and business book lists . However, I don’t think this is the best way to learn.

So I wrote this answer to give a different suggestion from everyone else.

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Brother, the business analysis ability you need is one of the scarcest and most difficult to obtain abilities in this society. It is difficult to cultivate skills just by reading books and posts, and it is easy to be misled.

For someone who has never started a business , the efficiency of absorbing knowledge from books is very low. Especially in the era of best-selling books, various concepts such as "hunger marketing ", " Internet celebrity economy" and " viral communication " emerge in an endless stream, and business novices can easily be confused. Some best-selling authors exaggerate the power of their ideas in order to sell their books and their personal brands.

What I have seen is that many college students and newcomers to the workplace are misled by theories and make wrong career choices. They want to pursue financial freedom, but unknowingly live a life of hard work and waste their youth. I will give specific examples below.

You “really want to know if there are any books on this subject”, so I will give you a list of books first.

● "Today I saw some people who can analyze the supply chain involved in the design from the outer packaging of a product;" The outer packaging of products is a very mature process. Common materials for outer packaging are kraft paper, PET//PE, NY/PE, etc.

You can find out by talking to the bosses of a few custom packaging manufacturers. You can also read "An iPhone's Global Journey", which details the process of mobile phone design, component manufacturing, assembly, transportation, sales, smuggling, and resale.

● “From the perspective of shelf placement design, analyze the reasons for doing so from the perspectives of profit margin, consumption rate, and traffic flow.”

Humans have a long history of opening supermarkets. Foreigners have done a lot of research on shelf visits. Paco Underhill wrote a book called "Why Customers Buy". He led his team to track and observe shoppers in shopping malls and grocery stores, analyze the game relationship between purchasing behavior and consumer psychology, and spent 20 years studying how to arrange the store environment.

Procter & Gamble also built laboratory-type supermarkets to study customer purchasing behavior, which is already a mature discipline.

● “From a piece of rainbow candy, analyze why there are only 5 flavors designed, and why these 5 flavors were chosen.” In fact, it is very simple. If this businessman has sold 18 flavors of rainbow candy before, monitored the sales data of each flavor, and conducted in-depth consumer research, he will know clearly what flavors customers like.

Mature marketers don’t rely on predictions; they make decisions based on research and testing. You can read "Shi Yuzhu's Autobiography: My Marketing Experience" to find out that Melatonin was not advertised nationwide on the first day. Instead, it was gradually promoted after being successfully proven in several small cities in Jiangsu.

After reading these books, can you really master business analysis skills? cannot. It can only add to the conversation at the dinner table.

Truly powerful business analysis skills are like this: Lao K, the owner of a private hospital in Guangxi, used to make money comfortably, but suddenly he opened a competing hospital, invited third-tier celebrities to endorse it, placed a large number of outdoor advertisements, decorated the hospital magnificently, and the service staff dressed and provided services like flight attendants.

As soon as this hospital opened, Mr. K's performance dropped by 20%. He lurked in the rival hospital as a spy, observed the location and area to evaluate the rental cost, observed the number of medical and service staff and job configuration to calculate the salary cost, investigated the rival's advertisements to calculate the promotion cost, and after a series of investigations, he calculated that the rival's break-even price was 6,800 yuan per project.

The other party's current pricing is 7,800 yuan, so he lowered the price to 6,600 yuan. He will make a profit at this price, but the other party will lose money, because he judges that the other party's "environment and personnel configuration are too high." There is a large number of customers in Guangxi who "pursue cost-effectiveness." He changed the advertising content, promotional language, and adjusted the advertising media specifically to target his competitors. As soon as the 6600 campaign was launched, the performance really began to stop losing money and recover.

I think this is what we call business analysis ability. Profit and loss, life and death all depend on one or a few decisions. For entrepreneurs , this is not a "fascinating" quality. There is no time to think about whether it is fascinating or not. This is the ability to save oneself and get ashore in the stormy waves.

Everyone can talk about business in Moments . I forwarded Jack Ma ’s speech on “New Retail” and made a summary. I also forwarded Joker Xue’s H5 and predicted the trend of new media content marketing . I worked as a manager and executive in a company and cooperated with some first-line brands. I felt that I was very professional and understood business very well. But if you leave the corporate system, what can you sell? Do you really understand business?

The standard for measuring business analysis ability is not to see who can speak eloquently and come up with new and interesting ideas continuously. Rather, it is about who does the better business, who makes more money, and who can make money sustainably and healthily.

If you agree with this standard. I want to tell you that the best way to exercise this ability is not to read books or posts——

You have to do business yourself.

The business doesn't have to be big. You can resell some local specialties, such as seafood and honey-glazed chicken wings. You can also operate a WeChat public account on behalf of others, or create a big self-media account yourself. It all depends on your talents and strengths.

In this process, you must spend money, spend money on purchasing goods, spend some money on advertising, hire a few part-time employees, and do business seriously. You may lose a few hundred or thousands of yuan, but you will have a new understanding of business.

Who doesn’t know how to comment on Jack Ma and Wang Jianlin ? When you want to take out the money in your bank card to invest , everything changes. That is your hard-earned money, and you don’t want to lose a penny. You start to get serious and nervous, and there's a sense of oppression that forces you to think about the essence of business. Just the thought process of preparing to do business can take your business thinking to the next level.

If you don't believe me, I'll walk with you.

▊First you have to choose the product.

You definitely want your product to sell well, so the first principle is to follow the trend and not go against it.

Consumption upgrading is a very obvious trend. The middle class is growing, information is becoming more widespread, healthy and high-quality products are selling better and better, and the share of cheap and harmful products is shrinking.

For drinks that both cost 5 yuan, which one is better, soy milk or milk tea?

It must be selling soy milk. The 5 yuan means that milk tea can only be mixed with creamer, and more and more people don’t like this substance that is harmful to health. If you look at the financial reports of Wahaha and Master Kong in recent years, they are horrible.

Aging is also an obvious trend.

As the average life expectancy of our people increases and the fertility rate decreases, let's look at another set of data that reflects the changes: the proportion of China's population aged 65 and above in the total population was 4.9% in 1982, 5.6% in 1990, 7.1% in 2000, 8.9% in 2010, and 10.1% in 2014. China's aging population is accelerating.

The World Health Organization predicts that by 2050, 35% of China's population will be over 60 years old, making it the most aging country in the world.

Can you analyze any business opportunities based on this public information?

The fact is, while Internet companies in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen are fiercely competing for the market among young and middle-aged people, savvy businessmen in a southern province have been enjoying the benefits of the elderly market all year round. Set up a pharmaceutical factory, mix some Chinese herbs and make oral liquid, which is harmless to the body.

We went to small radio stations in third- and fourth-tier cities and booked a talk show to praise the oral liquid, saying it can help improve sleep, relieve pain, and replenish qi and blood. The elderly felt that the radio station was authoritative and the effects were attractive. A box sold for more than 100 yuan, which was not expensive, and if you bought 5 boxes, you would get 2 boxes for free. This marketing method has been successfully replicated in more than 20 cities, generating tens of millions in sales each month.

The second criterion for selecting a product is the ability to copy and paste.

Suppose you are an experienced graphic designer who is good at drawing and editing.

Would you start an advertising agency? Or be a cartoonist?

If you open an advertising company, you will find that in this business, you can only receive money for each order you complete. If you want to collect money from 5 orders, you have to put in the effort for 5 more orders. If the customer wants to change, you have to stick with him to the end. When you have no customers, you still have the chance to look for them and talk to them, but you may not be able to succeed. Although the unit price of a job is high, I have to work every day and unknowingly become a life of hard work. The fatal thing is that your product cannot be copied and pasted.

If you want to be a cartoonist, it will be very hard in the early stage, and you can only accumulate fans on Weibo and WeChat Moments, but once you gather a fan base, the rewards will be huge. You can sell your comic book as a book or as an APP download, or sell many copies of one comic book. As your fans grow, your works will sell more and more, and you can make money without doing any work. This business can be copied and pasted.

Similarly, a five-star chef sounds great, but he won’t make much money even if he works every day. Takoyaki, milk tea, and take-out sushi are dishes that chefs look down upon, but they are actually the ones that can make a lot of money.

Because you can create a model brand, sell brand design, decoration templates, and kitchenware to earn franchise fees, and you can also sell food raw materials to earn cash flow. Every year there are a large number of people who have saved some money, are tired of working, and want to start a business and live a "free life". They are the ones who pay the bill. Search for "chain franchise" on Baidu, and you'll see a long list of promotional results that prove how big this market is.

A successful businessman only needs to sell templates in bulk and earn franchise fees - there is no need to cook any dishes.

▊The second step in doing business is pricing.

Price is a very sensitive and critical number. It determines the customer's purchase cost and also determines your profit.

When it comes to pricing, many people talk about the price tricks in "Freaky Psych".

"Sam, the TV salesman, for example, used the same tricks we did when he grouped the TVs for display:

36-inch Panasonic $690

42-inch Toshiba $850

50-inch Philips $1,480"

The author believes that when he deliberately sets one high and one low price, most customers will buy the seemingly cheap middle price of $850.

But when you actually start doing business, you will find that the scope of application of his theory is very narrow. If you sell it for $850, the customer will immediately go online to check, "How much is a 42-inch Toshiba?" If other stores online sell it for $820, the customer will leave without even a second thought.

Another possibility is that the customer has a friend who works at Gome or Suning , or has in-depth research and purchasing experience on televisions. He will suggest, "Don't be silly, a domestic 42-inch TV is only 680 yuan, and the quality is similar!" Then the customer will not fall for your 850 yuan trap.

When you do business, you will find that weird psychology is useful, but it is not that magical unless the customer has no other place to compare prices and can only buy from you.

The truly useful theories come from a seemingly boring book - "Marketing Management".

★ “Demand determines the upper limit of a company’s product price, and cost is its lower limit.”

★ “The price elasticity of demand in different markets is different. The higher the elasticity, the greater the sales volume generated by a 1% price reduction. If it is elastic, sellers will consider reducing prices because lower prices can generate higher total revenue.”

★ "A comprehensive academic review of 40 years of price elasticity found that the average price elasticity across all markets, products, and time periods was 2.62."

★ “The price elasticity of durable consumer goods is higher than that of other products, and the price elasticity of products in the introduction and growth stages is higher than that in the maturity and decline stages.”

Many small and medium-sized business owners set their prices based on Philip Kotler's words:

★ "First, you should consider the price of your closest competitor. If your product has features that your competitors don't have, you should assess its value to consumers and add it to your competitors' prices."

To put it bluntly, if my product has an advantage over my competitors at the same level, I can be slightly more expensive; otherwise, I will be slightly cheaper.

If you don't do this, no matter what price tricks you play, there will always be consumers who will educate you by saying "Why are yours so expensive? So-and-so's is only XX yuan!" The data on falling sales will also tell you this. This rule applies to most competitive markets.

▊The third step is promotion.

When it comes to promotion, many people will talk about Durex , Xue Zhiqian H5, the comprehensive coverage and linkage communication of outdoor, video and audio media of top 500 brands, and the expansion of influence by internet celebrities KOL .

Many marketers will also write these suggestions into their plans, since they don’t have to pay for the promotion anyway.

But once you have to spend money on promotion yourself, you will find that the game is different. Those Fortune 500 Internet companies will spend millions without blinking an eye, but you don’t want to waste a penny on advertising. It’s best to invest in some free channels . If you spend money, you’d better make back 5 yuan for every dollar invested.

When the company is small, there is no need to think about viral marketing or 100,000+ hit articles. It is unrealistic. The only reliable way is to find a strong selling point and choose a precise channel to deliver the product.

Just like my friend reselling Wakin Chau tickets. King Zhou has retired for many years, his influence is not as great as before, and tickets are not selling well. My friend easily got the purchase price at 70% off. He was thinking: Which channel is most likely to sell the votes?

The people who listen to Wakin Chau's songs must not be young, at least they must be born in the 70s, 80s, or even 60s, and they must have a certain economic strength. So he selected two channels: the owners of high-end real estate and the high-end car clubs with a stable image. He gave some red envelopes to the group owners as a reward, organized a group welfare activity, and eventually sold more than 100 tickets, including 10 top VIP tickets.

Another friend who runs a custom T-shirt business hangs out in celebrity fan groups every day, cares about fans’ daily lives, praises their idols, and can also get orders for custom idol T-shirts. When a company is in its small stage, the accuracy of its promotion channels is the most important.

When your company is a little bigger, don't try to follow the 4A companies' approach of "360-degree integrated communication" and try to achieve full media coverage and linkage. It sounds impressive, but in reality it will only burn money and lead to your death faster. In the early stages of development, many companies rely on single-point breakthroughs and devote all their efforts to thoroughly understand newspapers, radio, Weibo, and public accounts . They focus on that single point and maximize ROI. Only when they have no worries about survival will they consider investing in other media to enhance brand awareness and reputation. If this order is reversed, it is likely to lead to a collapse.

You see, when it comes to running a small business, there are many ways to do it, not to mention supply chain optimization, brand asset management, customer service management, etc. after it becomes bigger. And you will find out what is meant by one thing leading to another. For example, in promotion, if your advertising selling points are not strong enough to sell products, or if you exaggerate too much and raise customer expectations too high, a lot of complaints will be directed to customer service.

The theories or concepts in books are not as magical as they are said to be. It is not reliable to start a business solely based on reading. You must handle and balance multiple links at the same time.

As long as you work as a small business owner for half a year, you will find that your way of thinking has changed in the following ways:

★The people around you used to be employees, but gradually they became bosses, albeit small bosses. You start getting more and more information about starting a business.

★When you are chatting with people and they throw out a business concept, whether it is hunger marketing or growth hacking , you can quickly and accurately know which category of product, promotion, pricing, channel it belongs to, and how it will affect cost, sales and profit.

★When you go shopping, your thinking dimension changes from consumer to producer. When you see a milk tea shop, you used to only think about its price and taste, but now you will think about its rent, raw material costs, monthly turnover and promotion channels.

★You used to like bestsellers, but now you start to read academic books. The business idea that once excited you may now seem full of holes. You start reading big books like "Marketing Management" and "Principles of Economics".

★You become calm. You begin to read without any emotions or likes or dislikes. You will read some books by authors you don’t like, as long as they inspire you. You will also find loopholes in the theories of authors whom you once liked or even admired.

★You no longer forward what Jack Ma says, and you no longer discuss with others what Wang Jianlin thinks. What you care about is what I should do? How can my business do better?

★You have become stingy. You used to scold your boss for being stingy, but now that you become a boss you won’t be very generous either. Don't pay a penny that you shouldn't pay.

★You spend more time thinking independently. If you run a small business, you will also hear a lot of confusing advice. Some people want you to lower your prices, while others want you to raise them. You realize that you are responsible for all problems, bearer of all risks, and beneficiary of all profits.

The person who makes the suggestion can just say it and walk away, but you can’t. You will feel lonely. You start asking for other people's opinions less often, and you start to think independently for long, quiet periods of time. I can spend 2 or 3 hours thinking about a problem alone.

So this is my suggestion - instead of spending hundreds of dollars a year on buying books, watching the money pouring down and reading books being like pulling threads, and actually not gaining much from the books you read, it is better to lose a few hundred or a few thousand dollars to start a business, establish a clear and preliminary business perspective, and recognize your own strengths and weaknesses in business capabilities. This will most likely be a painful and helpless practice, but it will definitely be the most cost-effective learning experience in your life.

Think about it, will the 8 changes I just mentioned happen to you if you only study and don’t do business?

Maybe someone can make 100 million yuan by trading stocks through simulated trading, but is the probability high? So what if you make money? Is it meaningful?

All the important talents in the world come with a price, it’s just a matter of whether we are willing to admit it or not.