3 “Antidotes” for “Flow Anxiety”

Nowadays, those who work in marketing suffer from " traffic anxiety" to some extent. On the one hand, there is a general worry that there is not enough traffic, and on the other hand, there is a worry that the traffic will not bring the expected business conversions. As an e-commerce marketer, I can feel everyone's anxiety and confusion.

To this end, based on my own long-term experience of serving major first-line brands and contacting e-commerce platforms, this article will share three "antidotes" for "traffic anxiety", which can also be regarded as a self-work summary at the end of 2019. I hope this can be helpful to everyone!

1. Chained operation of brand crowd assets

Robert Woodruff, the legendary president of Coca-Cola, said: Even if all the Coca-Cola factories were burned down, give me three months and I can rebuild the entire Coca-Cola.

Why does this president dare to make such a bold statement? I think the most important thing is that Coca-Cola has strong crowd assets behind it.

What is crowd asset? In the past, this concept was actually very vague, and it was difficult to calculate how much crowd assets a brand had.

But with the development of digital marketing today, we can basically quantify the brand’s online crowd assets. The most widely used and relatively rigorous model now is Alibaba’s “OAIPL” crowd asset funnel model .

If someone still doesn't understand this model, I can give you a brief introduction:

• O stands for "Opportunity", which refers to potential groups that have not yet been reached by the brand's advertising content;
• A stands for "Awareness", which refers to the people who are reached by this brand advertisement;
• I stands for "Interest", which refers to those people who develop further relationships after being touched by brand ads (such as following the store, receiving a trial, adding to cart, etc.);
• P stands for “Purchase”, which obviously refers to those who have purchased the brand’s products;
• L stands for "Loyalty", which refers to those who become brand members after purchasing.

All these crowd assets will be deposited in the brand’s Data Bank account at Alibaba .

Friends who are not familiar with the Alibaba ecosystem may ask: But this model only accumulates the part of the brand within the Tmall/Taobao e-commerce domain, how can it cover the brand’s online non-domain crowd asset data (especially in the OAI link)?

Yes, it is possible. Let me explain the Alimama omni-media ecosystem that Alibaba has integrated to create " Uni-Marketing ". It can be divided into three parts :

The innermost ring is of course the well-known domestic channels such as Tmall, Taobao, Juhuasuan, and Maochao; and the second ring is some overseas media or platforms acquired or invested by Alibaba, such as Youku, UC Browser, Amap, Ele.me, Hema, etc., and even includes some offline resources, such as the interactive bar sample machine and Intime commercial large screen.

The brand’s crowd assets in these environments in the first two links can be directly deposited into the data bank. However, this is not enough. Alimama is now also working hard to cooperate with more media platforms outside the domain, such as Weibo, Douyin, Xiaohongshu, Bilibili, etc. The crowd assets gained from the placement on these media through the Ali Uni Desk delivery workstation can flow back to the data bank, and then secondary reach can be made within the domain later.

Okay, after introducing the model of brand crowd assets in the digital age and the general operating mechanism behind it, let’s talk about its most important role in our marketing: making brand crowd assets a chain of operations .

In short, for people at different positions in the chain, the brand uses corresponding communication content and channels. The ultimate goal is to achieve efficient flow of the chain: let the "O group" be transformed into the "A group" as soon as possible, let the "A group" be transformed into the "I group" as soon as possible, and so on. Imagine that your brand has countless "L" groups of people, you should no longer have to worry about doing business badly.

So, how do we implement chain-based operations of brand and crowd assets?

First, we need to analyze the data bank account: What problems exist with the brand’s current “OAIPL” population assets?

For example, the number of "A crowd" is too small compared to competitors, or the turnover rate from "I crowd" to "P crowd" is too low, or the proportion of "OAIPL" crowd in the brand flagship store itself is too small compared to other C stores...

Then, you can adopt the appropriate solution strategy for the specific problem in the link.

For example, to address the problem of too few "A population", we can completely integrate the resources of the brand marketing department to carry out advertising and attract new customers. With traditional media advertising, after the media is launched, the media company will give the client some communication data, such as how many exposures and clicks there are. However, if these media use Uni Desk for advertising, the user data reached can also be matched with Alibaba's Uni ID and deposited in the data bank to become new "A population".

For another example: Regarding the problem of too low turnover rate from "I population" to "P population" in the link, it means that the store currently lacks a sales conversion mechanism. The approach is to first divide the "I population" into different groups according to labels. Some of them may be sensitive to promotional discounts, so you can use Diamond Ads to push store discount information to them for harvesting; some are pulled in through celebrity activities, so perhaps you can use some celebrity-related products to attract them to make the next purchase.

The above is what I want to talk about. The first thing that is worth practicing for marketers is: chain-based operation of brand and crowd assets . In fact, it is not only Alibaba that has its own crowd asset link model. Jingteng and Toutiao are also improving or establishing their own models. Today, when traffic costs are getting higher and higher, this is one of the indispensable practices to make efficient use of marketing resources to promote "brand-effect synergy" . In the next 1-2 years, it should become the norm.

2. Use the "goods bring goods" model to do marketing

I believe that many people have been informed of McDonald’s “vegetable basket” and “burger” activities in recent days. These are joint products launched by McDonald’s and designer Alexander Wang, which we in the e-commerce industry call “top products” . Obviously, the biggest role of this hot product is not how much sales it brings itself, but that it can attract a lot of user attention and natural traffic, thereby driving the sales of other products.

I call it the "goods bring goods" marketing model, and in comparison it is the "communication bring goods" model that we often used in the past: first attract user attention or interaction through a series of communication methods such as social topics, content H5, viral videos, etc., then guide users to the store, and finally try to make them buy. A typical case is the series of destiny-changing communication activities that SKII carried out in the early days, such as the advertisement "She finally went to the blind date corner", which caused the sales of SKII Facial Treatment Essence to surge by 50%.

However, I don’t know if you have the same feeling as I do, that is, the “goods bring goods” model has been used more and more in the past two years. For example, brands have begun to be keen on launching cross-border, celebrity/IP co-branded models, and various gimmicky online celebrity items or gift boxes, while the cases of traditional “communication and sales” are becoming less and less .

What this actually reflects is that marketing is increasingly returning to the product level . The reason why I say "again" is because the USP theory in the early days of marketing was based on the unique selling point at the product level. Later, as product selling points became increasingly homogenized, ESP (emotional selling point) came into being, which is to give brands/products emotional value through communication.

But after going full circle, we are now back to product-level marketing. The only difference is that now the product-level marketing is not about selling points of physical functional properties, such as "Robo Pure Water 27-layer purification", but is more based on the unique experience value that the product can bring , such as White Rabbit lipstick, Ruiao cocktail, Kindle instant noodle combination, IP co-branded T-shirts, etc.

Why is this happening? Why does marketing return to product-level marketing after a period of development?

I have summarized two reasons:

First of all, I think it is because the communication method is actually more focused on creating buzz rather than selling goods . Because it is difficult to form a good marketing closed loop. To put it bluntly, consumer Awareness or Interest is easily disconnected from Purchase. For example, the 4.27-meter-long picture of Pechoin has a great communication effect, but how much traffic will flow into your store? Even if users enter the store, they will not place an order when they see that the products sold have nothing to do with the long picture. That’s why there are 30 million readings but a sales conversion rate of 0.00008 (4 zeros after the decimal point).

The biggest advantage of "goods bringing goods" is that the traffic is based on the goods themselves from beginning to end . Users come because they see the goods, and they can also buy the corresponding goods after entering the store. For this reason, the "spreading and selling goods" model appears to have a lower ROI (return on investment) .

The second reason is due to changes in consumption motivations . Everyone knows that those born in the 1990s and Generation Z have become the main consumers. Compared to those born in the 1970s and 1980s who consume for the brand value established by communication, they are more willing to buy for the unique experience value of the product itself .

For example, in the McDonald’s example above, according to the previous “spreading and selling goods” routine, they might tell you various heartwarming stories about Christmas burgers and young people, and then a call for action button will ask you to collect the coupon and place an order. But McDonald's knows that young Generation Z would prefer to buy special products rather than "castles in the air" brand stories.

Another example is the SKII example we mentioned above. Why doesn't it release stories like "She ended up at the blind date corner" anymore, but instead creates various limited edition bottles through bottle design? For example, it collaborated with the emerging Australian artist Karan Singh to launch the "SK-II 2018 Youth Dew KARAN Limited Edition", playing with pop art (POP-ART); Youth Dew was launched in three versions at once, red, purple and blue, with countless colorful dots paired with large blocks of red, purple and blue, and the bottle was surrounded by bright totems and geometric blocks of color; when Dou Jingtong was just announced as the spokesperson, the limited edition "Decision" bottle was launched. This is the only white-bottled fairy water in SK-II's 37 years. The pure white bottle plus the colorful graffiti declaration is even cooler and more artistic than the previous cherry blossom bottle; and this year, Ayase Haruka & Dou Jing & Behati & IMMA (Asia's first virtual model) broke the boundaries of the second dimension and danced on the same screen on the street to launch the Japanese traditional comic limited edition bottle... All of these mark the beginning of SK-II's steps to get closer to young consumers.

The above is what I want to talk about. The second thing that is worth practicing for marketers is: using the "goods bring goods" model to do marketing . Because compared to the traditional "spreading and selling goods" model, it avoids the situation where traffic acquired at high cost ends up with low conversion. But this requires many marketers who are good at disseminating knowledge to cultivate two qualities: developing sensitivity to the popular elements of cutting-edge products, and planning the overall product structure between cutting-edge products and follow-up products .

3. Transform consumers into users to create long-term value

I have previously read an article written by the marketing self-media person Xunkong titled "What is the difference between Coca-Cola consumers and Taobao users? 》I think it is well written. Coca-Cola is a consumer product. You only have a relationship with it when you want to drink it, that is, you buy it. Taobao is a platform where you may buy a piece of clothing this week, want to buy a pair of shoes next week, and buy a computer next month. In addition to buying things, you may also open Taobao to watch live broadcasts and check out recommendations for good products. In short, users will always have a relationship with the brand .

Obviously, with traffic becoming more and more expensive today, we want to have more than just consumers like Coca-Cola, because this is a one-time transaction, and we will need paid traffic to reach them next time. What we want more are users like those in Taobao because they have greater long-term operational value .

You may ask: The biggest reason why Taobao can retain users is because it has endless products that can meet users' comprehensive shopping needs for food, clothing, housing, transportation, and entertainment. But for non-platform brands, can they also turn consumers into users with long-term value? What to do?

The answer is of course yes. We mentioned above that the greatest impact of users on brands lies in their long-term operational value, so conversely, brands also need to provide long-term value to users, so the question becomes: How can brands provide long-term value?

Platform brands, such as Taobao, JD.com, Red Star Macalline, Dianping, etc., have natural advantages. However, for non-platform brands, they can also provide long-term value from two other dimensions, turning consumers who disappear after purchasing into users with long-term value. These two dimensions are: service and content.

Let’s talk about the service dimension first.

Why did Nike launch the NIKE+ running app? Because in this way, even if no purchasing behavior occurs, the brand can still establish a relationship with users and retain this group of people for a long time.

Is Apple just a company that sells hardware? Of course not. It also provides services such as APP Store and iCloud in order to bind users to its ecosystem and make online purchases from time to time. And when you want to change to another mobile phone brand next time, you will give up the idea when you see that all the data is stored in these online spaces.

So, based on this level, what we can consider is: In addition to selling products to consumers, what other long-term related services can we provide them with?

Let me give you an example of a case I have personally experienced. It was a brand of baby diapers. We had an insight at the time: since diapers are a rigid demand, mothers would stock up on large quantities during big sales. However, there were also two problems: these stockpiled diapers took up a lot of space at home and were easily expired. On the other hand, babies grow relatively fast, and the size S purchased now might not be wearable in a month or so.

Therefore, we launched an online application called “Diapers Treasure”. Mothers can store the diapers they stocked up during the big sale in their personal accounts in this application. Just like the concept of Yu’e Bao, the diapers stored here will earn interest. For example, after a few months, the number of diapers will increase. And when you want to take it out, you can choose the baby's current size for delivery. The purpose of making this app is, on the one hand, to dispel mothers’ concerns about stockpiling goods, and more importantly, to turn these consumers into users, thereby increasing their stickiness and loyalty to the brand.

Of course, the examples I gave do not mean that in order to turn consumers into users, brands must privatize the Internet and develop an online application software. In fact, many brands do this, wasting a lot of resources and ultimately ending in failure. For example, some maternal and infant brands learn from maternal and infant media to create a general parenting knowledge content platform or tool in an attempt to bind these mothers.

The reason for failure is actually very simple, that is, your starting point is misplaced . Mothers have a need to acquire parenting knowledge, but most of them go to professional parenting websites or KOLs to learn, and rarely go to content platforms created by businesses.

Therefore, when brands provide long-term service value, they must pay attention to two key points: first, the strength of the connection between this service and the brand/product itself; second, from the user demand side, whether this service is dispensable to them.

After talking about the service dimension, let’s talk about the second dimension in which brands provide long-term value to users: content.

When many people think of content, they think of it as regular push notifications to fans through channels such as brand public accounts, Weibo, Weitao, etc. Yes, that's part of what I'm talking about here. However, most of the content pushed by these channels not only fails to provide long-term value to users, but instead creates information spam for users. In the long run, they will be unfollowed, or even no longer like the brand.

Why? The reason is simple: this content is useless to users. I think there are two important points to consider when it comes to content that can truly provide long-term value to users:

One is to push content that interests users based on their different tags. Some people like promotions and discounts, so we can even set up an event welfare group and regularly push event information to it, so that the brand provides long-term value to this group of users. For example, I know that Ele.me has many takeaway red envelope groups. All the records in them are information about users sharing takeaway red envelopes. Before ordering takeaway, these users can receive 2-3 yuan red envelopes in the group.

The second is vertically based on the different links that users are in (refer to the OAIPL model discussed in the first part of this article), pushing information that can prompt them to flow to the next link . For example, some users have added our products to their favorites but have never placed an order. Obviously, these are our "I group". They may be waiting for a price reduction during an event. At this time, if we can accurately push a coupon to them, it may be very likely that we can turn them into the "P group". In fact, Tmall’s brand accounts can currently push content based on this model.

The above is what I want to talk about. The third thing that is worth practicing for marketers is to transform consumers into users and build long-term brand value . Because once consumers become users, they have long-term operational value. There are two dimensions to building long-term brand value: service and content.

Summarize

Friends who have carefully read all the above content should find that this article is not about how to get more traffic. Instead , it tells you how to pay more attention to user operations and improve traffic efficiency when the cost of traffic acquisition is getting higher and higher .

Finally, let’s summarize the three “antidotes” in the article:

• First, chain operation of brand and crowd assets . By solving the problems in the current links, the brand's overall operational population assets can be expanded and the circulation of links can be accelerated;
• Second, use the "goods bringing goods" model to do marketing . Return to the product level to create "top products" to avoid the situation where the traffic obtained at high cost in the "spreading and bringing goods" model ends up with low conversion;
• Third, transform consumers into users and create long-term value . Through the two dimensions of service and content, we help brands turn consumers into users with greater long-term operational value.

Author: JS Planner

Source: JS Planner