How to do low-cost marketing?
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No matter whether your business or brand is big or small, low-cost marketing may be a "must-have". You are definitely not alone in taking the "shortcut". But I have to say: sometimes, even the cheapest marketing is a waste! Sometimes, even the highest budget is “low cost”! How to fully understand "low-cost marketing"? How to reasonably implement “low-cost marketing”? 1. How to understand "low-cost marketing" When it comes to "low-cost" marketing, the first thing that usually comes to mind is the brand's own communication media - official self-media . Going a step further is to try your best to catch up with the hot spots or make yourself a "hot spot". Alternatively, simply don’t do any paid “hard advertising” or even “soft advertising” and directly conduct promotional activities to increase sales. But have you ever thought about: Sometimes, any marketing effort that costs little or nothing is a waste—a waste of energy! In particular, low-cost and low-effect communication also wastes the time cost of brand promotion. Let’s see how many brands’ self-media (official WeChat accounts) can truly play a key and leading role in marketing? How many brands that only blindly "follow hot topics" can gain the attention and response of fans? Many small brands dream of being like big brands, where any slightly innovative move will become the focus of people's attention. If you are a brand with limited budget and insufficient influence, I have no objection to the thinking of "small (cost) to achieve big (effect)", or even the marketing of characters and events with "out-of-the-ordinary" actions to attract attention. I can only say that becoming famous this way is like "winning the lottery", and the chances are not very high. On the contrary, although big brands have sufficient budgets, in many cases, it is easier for them to achieve big things with little money by relying on their own influence and resources - just like the celebrity effect, people always instinctively pay more attention to well-known brands. This is the "brand effect." Sometimes, any high budget is a “low cost” because the relative return will be higher! Marketing requires "wisdom + courage". Courage is about budget investment. No matter whether it is a big brand or a small brand, no matter whether it is a lot of money or a little money, you should spend within your means and spend what should be spent. Wisdom refers to how to get the best value for every penny spent in terms of strategy and tactics, as well as marketing professionalism. If a small brand wants to grow quickly, it sometimes has to dare to spend a lot of money and exchange money for time. Didi, Kuaidi, and UBER all provide "subsidies" of 1 billion to 2 billion yuan. Although these amounts seem huge, every penny is spent accurately and effectively. At this stage of the market, it can be said that if you don’t dare or know how to spend money, opportunities will soon be lost. Big brands, by investing large amounts of money in key strategies or marketing nodes, will also receive much higher returns than usual. Before JD.com’s 618 and Tmall’s Double 11 big promotions, they will definitely “shout” on almost all media outlets to compete with their competitors in terms of volume and attract online traffic. As a result, not only will sales surge during big sales, but the platform’s overall traffic will also surge. I once summed it up in one sentence: Marketing is the science and art of spending money. Because the same money can be spent by different people with different ideas and methods, and the results may be completely different. In a nutshell, low-cost marketing has nothing to do with the size of your brand or the size of your budget. Its essence should be high "cost-effective" marketing. Therefore, it seems more accurate to call low-cost marketing "cost-effective marketing". So, how can we improve the cost-effectiveness of brand marketing and carry out "low-cost marketing" in the true sense? This article attempts to provide six dimensions for thinking. Some of them are related to "cost", while some are not directly related to "cost" but are related to goals and strategies. However, they may be the key to determining whether every investment in marketing is effective. 2. How to achieve “low-cost” marketing? 1. Different stages, different goals The difference in development stages between big brands and small brands determines their different marketing goals. Therefore, it is difficult for small brands to achieve results by blindly learning marketing from big brands. Many people believe that the smaller the brand, the more realistic and pragmatic it should be; strategy is the business of big brands, and tactics are what small brands should pay attention to. I believe that no matter how big or small a brand is, it should have strategies and tactics. In terms of communication, big brands should be more "pragmatic" while small brands need to be more "ideological". Why? 1) Big brand, low cost to achieve small goals The strategies of big brands have long been clear and widely recognized, so they will focus on tactical marketing. Unless there are major adjustments to the strategy, strategic advertising will be carried out. The brand has become a star in the industry or category and has no lack of recognition and attention. It just needs to be "activated" at the appropriate time to achieve short-term "tactical" goals. For example: Tell people that I will give you a “higher price” on a certain day, please pay attention! The second largest brand in the industry will immediately follow suit. On that day, I will also "raise the price". Come to me to get more! 2) Small brand, low cost to achieve big goals The strategies of small brands are either not very clear or are rarely recognized, so more efforts need to be made in “strategic” communication. Therefore, you should tell others more about your ideas and concepts, how you implement your ideas, and finally what more distinctive and better things you have produced. Because, if you, as a small brand, start shouting about how great my products are, this kind of "Wang Po selling melons" will probably be difficult to be accepted by people because there is a lack of trust. In addition, small brands or new brands and new products should pay attention to "experience" while focusing on the output of ideas and concepts. For example, free tasting, free trial and so on. 2. The quality of strategy is better than the quantity of communication Strategy determines the "quality" of marketing, while communication solves the problem of "quantity". If the “quality” is not right or high enough, no matter how much or how low the “quantity” is, it will be useless. The low-cost effect generated by the right strategy itself is far more effective than clever publicity planning in the long run. In the early days, the Nike brand mainly targeted the professional sports market with its product technology, functionality, and other appeals. Although it also carried out countless publicity, it soon encountered a development bottleneck. It was not until it started targeting the non-professional sports market and developed appeals based on the "progressive" culture that it really began to grow explosively. In 1998, in order to open up the couple and wedding banquet market at a low cost, Xizhilang launched the "Crystal Love" jelly, directly giving the "jelly" a romantic imagination of "Crystal Love", and transformed the product's appearance from the traditional small bowl style to a heart shape, and gave each color of jelly a different meaning, such as green: I really want to see you, purple: I want you to hold me tight, etc. It is precisely because of the successful positioning in the "love and marriage" market that it provides a clear direction for subsequent products, channels and promotions. If your brand strategy is problematic, no matter how much or how little you invest, it will be meaningless. 3. Make your communication elements more effective Communication elements include brand name, logo, slogan, various visual elements, etc. Excellent communication elements will reduce the cost of brand recognition, memory and love. Because, perhaps with just the right amount of communication, rather than excessive communication, a brand can better reflect its differentiation, be more thoughtful, and increase attention and memory. Nongfu Spring or Robust, which name do you think is better? If Coca-Cola has always been called "KeKe Cool Wax", will anyone still buy it? BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Revlon...these excellent foreign brands also have the best Chinese names. The logo is an important carrier of brand concept and image, and is the "face" of the brand. Brands can also better express themselves and achieve marketing communication purposes through visual elements such as character symbols, auxiliary graphics, and brand images. A good brand slogan, whether it reflects the functional demands of the product or expresses ideas and emotions, can leave a lasting memory, trigger strong resonance, and stimulate imagination and desire to buy. for example: "Put 1,000 songs in your pocket." "Charge for 5 minutes, talk for 2 hours" "The vivo phone is so fast that it makes you fly" 4. Focus your attention and create topics Conducting marketing around product attributes and advantages is what most brands do. The ability to think beyond product thinking and do marketing is the reason why many of the hot spots we see emerge. The purpose of creating topics is to provide people with topics to express their emotions and opinions, and to allow brands and products to subtly enter their minds. In this era, a poster, a slogan, and a photo. Any of these may become the source of a topic and lead to an incident. The following angles for creating topics can be used for reference: 1) Present distinct values Abstract values such as focus, quality, naturalness, environmental protection, excellence, innovation, etc., combined with specific and unique symbolic words, deeds and events, are likely to become hot topics. In 1985, Haier CEO Zhang Ruimin asked his employees to smash 76 defective refrigerators with sledgehammers, which became a major event in the industry and established the company's "quality" brand. Roseonly advocates "giving gifts to only one person in a lifetime". Once this concept was launched, it aroused strong resonance and response. Vancl and Jumei’s “I represent myself” also fall into the category of value-added topic marketing . 2) Inspire compassion and empathy Everyone has compassion, empathy, emotions and feelings, which can easily resonate and become topics of discussion. “There should be at least two impulses in a person’s life, one is a reckless love, and the other is a spontaneous trip.” “Sorry, I only live 1% of my life.” “ Where you go is not important, what’s important is to go.” “The world is so big, I want to see it.” …. The effectiveness of these well-known and popular quotes in stirring emotions is obvious to all. Being a hero or a weak person is also an effective "weapon" to incite emotions. To become a "hero", you must either be brave and injustice-seeking, or inspire positive energy. In 2008, the sales volume (Wanglaoji) increased from 4 billion to 15 billion. He only did one thing, which was to donate 100 million to the May 12 earthquake, and became a "hero" admired by people all over the country. The reason why Chu Orange has become a hot topic is most importantly the inspirational effect of Chu Shijian’s “old horse still waiting to be stable”. In order for the “weak” to win sympathy, they must be good at “making enemies” and creating contrasts and conflicts. Back when Apple was still small, Jobs put Apple in the position of a disadvantaged group and challenged and protested against IBM, so the "1984" TV commercial became a "major" event. In 2010, 360 and Tencent QQ fought a protracted war. 360, as a "weak party", stood on the moral high ground, which can be said to have greatly enhanced its brand. In the brand competition with Guangzhou Pharmaceutical for many years, Jiaduobao has repeatedly "shown weakness" to win the society's active and widespread attention, making consumers angry because Guangzhou Pharmaceutical had taken away their favorite brand and instead support Jiaduobao. The planning of "Minions buying bananas and encountering urban management" in 2015 fully mobilized people's sympathy for the weak. 3) Create entertainment high points Entertainment topic marketing does not need to involve values and emotions. The key is to arouse curiosity and attention in various ways. Active communication and passive attention are the major dividing lines between entertainment marketing and traditional marketing. Before the release of the movie "The Taoist Goes Down the Mountain", a still photo of Fan Wei and Sister Zhiling sleeping in the same bed was released, and then the media and self-media went wild. So some people say that this poster brought in at least 20 million in box office revenue. Around the time when JD.com went public in 2014, a series of publicity campaigns were carried out to expose Liu Qiangdong’s relationship with “Milk Tea Sister”, which was also a typical entertainment topic marketing campaign. The series of “One-click Call XX” activities launched by UBER in 2015 continue to inspire people’s imagination and stimulate the public’s entertainment nerves. The focus of topic marketing is storytelling, which should have a clear theme, protagonist, conflict point and emotional point. 5. Mobilize all available low-cost resources Many times, resources are opportunities. When the opportunity comes, companies or brands that have resource reserves or abundant resource reserves are more likely to become the pig that flies first. To achieve even a “small” goal of 100 million yuan as Mr. Wang, the richest man in China, said, you may not have money, but you must have the resources to achieve this goal. 1) What are your unique resources? Behind business competition is a competition for resources. The reason why some new brands can grow rapidly is because of their ability to integrate resources, including back-end industrial chain resources and front-end marketing resources. This integration ability can be said to be a brand’s “talent”, and it is also part of the brand’s core competitiveness. Roseonly is a high-end flower brand. Its founder is very familiar with the entertainment industry and many celebrities have helped to post their orders and show their support, so it has quickly become a hot brand. Why did Chu Orange become a hot topic in the e-commerce war in 2012? Because Chu Shijian is a man with a story, and because the team that operated and planned this event came from well-known media, Chu Orange instantly became a widely-told story. Sometimes the founders themselves are the lowest-cost marketing resource. Jack Ma, Lei Jun , Luo Yonghao, these people first create their own "halo" and then radiate it to the brand. Therefore, the story of how Jack Ma created the Alibaba brand through early speeches once became a case study at Harvard Business School. Why is it said that the success of many people and brands is inimitable ? It is because of their ability to integrate resources that they have a high starting point. 2) Are free resources fully utilized? Today, media can be divided into three categories: "Owned Media", "Paid Media" and "Earned Media". Of these, both owned media and “earned media” are free. If a startup lacks marketing funds, it should first make good use of free media resources. However, in reality, many brands do not pay enough attention and professionalism when operating free media, and most of them are still at the "sales" level of thinking. 3) Try cross-border resource sharing Joint marketing is not a new term. The core of cross-border cooperation is to complement and share resources based on a common target market. Last year, Uber can be said to have taken cross-border joint marketing to a certain extreme. I believe that any brand can discover and find such cooperation opportunities. In addition to "cross-industry" cooperation, joint marketing can also be carried out based on the brand industry chain itself. For example, Intel chips have "implanted" brand communication into their industry chain partners and have achieved a long-term monopoly in the market. 6. Broaden your thinking on leveraging opportunities At present, "taking advantage of the situation" marketing can easily be narrowly understood as chasing hot spots. If "low cost" is not considered, leveraging can also include various sponsorship marketing. But we should also focus on improving brand credit potential and competitive strategy potential, and learn to leverage momentum at a higher level. 1) Follow hot spots Today, following hot topics seems to have become a kind of marketing norm. But this may just be an illusion: if you like to read articles from various public accounts, you will find that most of the hot topics are just public accounts with media attributes. Here I still want to remind you: Don’t follow hot topics blindly, you must first be clear about your goals, and especially don’t follow your competitors’ hot topics casually. Regarding how to do "hotspot" marketing correctly and scientifically, I just wrote an article not long ago: "How to say goodbye to "copycat" marketing, use a scientific marketing perspective, and master the correct posture of "chasing hot spots"? ”, those interested can follow the “Brand Academy” official account for further reading (or click on the blue text link). 2) Enhance brand credit potential You can use the recognition, certification and awards from external third-party organizations to strengthen the quality advantages of your products and services. You can also participate in ranking activities to win trust by ranking high or even leading in certain aspects. If your brand already has certain certifications, you should be bold in showing them off. For example, in recent years many brands like to use the signs of design awards such as "Red Dot" and iF to make people feel that their products are very high-end. Advertisers and advertising companies also like to participate in various award activities to prove that they are excellent or even the best. 3) Seize the opportunity The greatest potential energy is the situation and trend. Technological development, changes in social concepts, consumption upgrades, new channels, new media ...these factors are crucial to the survival and development of a brand. Many originally small brands "rose to fame overnight", and many originally "big brands" fell overnight, all of which were related to misjudgment of the situation. If you seize the right opportunity, you will naturally achieve twice the result with half the effort at extremely low marketing costs. For example, brands like Xiaomi and Three Squirrels, which started out as "e-commerce" brands, do not have much differentiation in terms of products alone. Their success is mainly due to the fact that they have grasped the major trends of channel changes, new media technology changes, and changes in people's consumption habits. Xiaomi's early success was the result of various trend-setting "innovations": community ( social group ) operations , category gaps (cost-effective mobile phones), rapid growth in the category market, and the first e-commerce channel to be the main battlefield in the category. Coupled with the power of the founder’s own strong IP. But the “trend” and sense of innovation a few years ago no longer exist today. Therefore, it is normal for Xiaomi to be confused today. Conclusion 1. Marketing is the science and art of spending money. Low-cost marketing is essentially marketing with high “cost-effectiveness”. 2. Big brands should be “pragmatic” and achieve small goals at low cost. Small brands should "focus on the abstract" and achieve big goals at low cost. 3. If your brand strategy is problematic, no matter how much or how little cost you invest, it will be meaningless. 4. Excellent communication elements will reduce the cost of brand recognition, memory and love. 5. Be able to think beyond product thinking when doing marketing, and focus on communicating values, emotions, and entertainment topics. Be good at telling stories. 6. Mobilize all available low-cost resources, whether free, unique, or cross-border. 7. Taking advantage of the situation is not just about capturing hot spots, but also about leveraging the momentum to enhance brand credibility and seize the big opportunities of society and the times. Mobile application product promotion services: ASO optimization services Qinggua Media information flow The author of this article @Brand Academy Zhang Binggang compiled and published by (APP Top Promotion). Please indicate the author information and source when reprinting! |
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