How to build a product operation strategy? Just 3 steps!

Recently, I have seen many articles online that disassemble major well-known products from the perspective of product architecture. The purpose is to teach everyone how to develop operational strategy methodologies for their own products. It is always a good idea to learn more ideas in your spare time; but we should know that behind a good product there must be the support of a large or sophisticated operation team.

Why, after reading so many articles and methodologies, I still can’t apply/improve my own products?

In fact, most people ignore the well-known product cases that can be shared. Behind these cases are the brainstorming and collaboration of various departments, large and small, such as marketing, user research, design, brand, channel, product, and operation. But your team only has a few people and scattered resources. Everyone has their own responsibilities. When you encounter problems, you have to look for advice in various groups. This is the problem/gap.

There are many models and methodologies, but you haven’t mastered the core team.

Therefore, when we formulate an operational strategy plan (annual/quarterly) for a project product, I think the basic premise is that you should clearly know: What is the operational strategy?

An operation strategy is not an operation/promotion plan that is immediately formulated after conducting research and analysis on your own products and market competitors. Only by stepping out of the situation and understanding it from a higher level can we better develop strategic thinking and implement our plans.

For example, the following points:

1. What is the current environment of the industry? policy or capital direction;
2. What is the distribution tier and market positioning of competing products, and how are their operations performed? (Including collecting information about what external channels are being promoted, what internal activities are being done, etc.)
3. Which tier of the market your product is currently in, how does your team size compare to competing companies, what are the differences in product resources and channel capabilities compared to other competitors, what part of the market your product is currently positioned in, etc.

I think it is only possible to formulate subsequent operational actions and plans after we establish awareness and then sort out the direction .

In fact, for the cognition and understanding of the above content, some classic books are worth reading repeatedly, such as Trout's "Positioning", "Business War", "Category Strategy", etc. When it comes to workplace books, there are actually many books that are worth reading repeatedly. First, by understanding them again, you can deepen your cognition. Second, reading them in conjunction with current problems can strengthen learning and application. I hope you don’t be too greedy. Good books are worth reading.

I also read the above books in one go in recent months. Below I will spend three to four articles to briefly summarize the main themes and summaries of the three books (including references to excellent online book reviews and personal notes). Among them, I will use my own products as an example and analyze them. It is better to talk about your own operation strategy than to analyze well-known product cases. I hope it will inspire you.

1. Why do product positioning?

The current Internet industry is in an era of APP explosion. The only hope for a product to succeed is to be selective and focus on niche markets.

Here are some examples:

1. Excessive dissemination of information

Go to the supermarket to buy water, mineral water, soda water, distilled water, lemonade...

Social products: voice, workplace, face, fun, culture, couples, location...

Faced with so many products, no one can remember them all. When it comes to specific products in a certain category, we can usually only remember the top three or four.

2. Mental disturbance

Suppose you have two posters in front of you. In the first poster, the pictures and words only convey the word "safety"; the second poster expresses six or seven groups of words - "safety", "comfort", "luxury"...

Take down the poster and recall what you saw. Which one impressed you most?

We are now faced with a huge amount of information harassment, and we will instinctively become defensive and automatically block and reject most of the information. Secondly, people’s mental choices will match their existing knowledge/experience. For example, if I have never used or heard of this brand, my psychological barriers to downloading and purchasing will be very high. Once mental defense is formed, other information will be difficult to change.

3. Mental Oversimplification

In order to defend against the overwhelming amount of information, the human mind has become oversimplified. The ordinary mind is like a dripping sponge, filled with information. Existing information must be squeezed out to make room for new information.

We have always believed that Bawang is a shampoo, and now we have produced Bawang herbal tea. Do you want to drink it? Even though the manufacturer has repeatedly claimed that Bawang can be an extremely delicious herbal tea, when you buy a bottle and drink it, you still have the illusion that you are drinking shampoo.

Therefore, only by simplifying product positioning, simplifying user cognition, and developing marketing methods that are in line with customer mental characteristics can we stand out from the chaos.

2. What is the product positioning?

Positioning can be a product or a service, such as: a hot product in e-commerce, an in-depth content of a content product, a high-demand function of a SAAS product, a membership trial card of a tool product, etc., all of which can be taken out separately and positioned to attract external traffic.

A product and a person have their positioning, but the positioning is not centered around the product but around the minds of potential customers. In other words, this positioning slogan is not for yourself, but to position the product in the minds of potential customers.

Positioning : How to differentiate yourself in the minds of potential customers.

Simply put, your business or your brand must occupy a place in the minds of consumers.

For example: when we talk about coffee, the first thing that comes to mind is Starbucks; when we talk about cola, the first thing that comes to mind is Coca-Cola; when we talk about air conditioners, the first thing that comes to mind is Gree; when we talk about mobile phones, the first thing that comes to mind is iPhone; when we talk about search, the first thing that comes to mind is Baidu...

These products have left a deep impression on consumers, and they come out of their mouths without thinking.

For example: If you feel tired and sleepy, drink Red Bull; if you feel a little hungry or sleepy, drink some Xiangpiaopiao; if you use your brain frequently, drink more Six Walnuts; if you are afraid of getting a sore throat, drink Wanglaoji. These are all brand slogans with strong vitality, giving consumers a reason to choose it.

First, accurately predict the needs in the minds of customers; then, through advertising, when customers have this need, they will actively purchase the brand. Another example: the theory of “one word occupies the mind” . Volvo uses the word "safety", BMW uses "driving", FedEx uses "overnight delivery", Crest uses "mothproofing"...

You have to sharpen your message so that it penetrates the human mind.

3. How to position the product?

Don't try to create some new or different food, but manipulate the existing cognitions in the mind and reorganize the existing related cognitions.

In other words, you need to associate the product you want to promote with something that customers are already familiar with and understand so that people will remember it.

For example, once "Accidental Art" came to Wuhan for promotion, and I asked them what they mainly did? The person in charge spoke a lot and finally said, you can understand it this way, the role of our public account is similar to "Logical Thinking". "Logical Thinking" teaches everyone left-brain knowledge, and we teach everyone right-brain knowledge. We only do one thing: tell you that art is not that difficult to understand.

For example: Bole’s men’s socks are sold like subscribing to magazines, which is easy for everyone to understand. Oh, it turns out that socks can be subscribed for an entire year and socks can be bought in this way.

Jianshu: The product positioning has changed from "writing and reading platform" to "a high-quality original content community", a content-based sharing community where anyone can exchange stories and communicate ideas. Let users be more focused and form small tribes one after another.

Three ways to enter the mind: leader positioning, follower positioning, and repositioning the opponent.

Let's explain them one by one:

1. Leader Positioning

Positioning arises from the violence of choice. There are so many choices in each category. For example, when buying mobile phones, there are Apple, Huawei, Xiaomi, OPPO, VIVO, etc.

Miller, a psychology Ph.D. from Harvard, believes that in each product category, consumers can only remember up to seven brands. The author of this book believes that in fact users can only remember up to two.

For example, in the soft drink category, the ones that users most easily think of are Coca-Cola and Pepsi. This is the "binary rule" of positioning theory. As long as you are among the best, you will not be drowned out in the minds of customers.

Teacher Gudian also mentioned the head effect in "Leap".

In a system, the top brand attracts 40% of the attention, the second is 20%, the third is 7%~10%, and everyone else shares the remaining 30%. Being at the top will bring more attention and brand influence, which will increase the premium of your abilities and bring you higher returns.

So how can we establish the image of a leader in the minds of potential customers?

That is to keep repeating your positioning and get into people's minds first. You must constantly emphasize and repeat to strengthen the leader's recognition so that everyone can remember you.

For example: "I won't accept any gifts this year, the only gift I'll accept is Melatonin." After carpet bombing and brainwashing, this slogan successfully established the function of "gift giving" and "Naobaijin". Let the target consumer group have an understanding: "What is Melatonin used for? It is used as a gift." When they are choosing gifts, they don't have to spend more time and thought, they will naturally choose Melatonin.

Let’s talk about Pinduoduo’s advertising song, “The more you work hard, the more you save. If you have to work hard, you must work hard on Pinduoduo. Work hard anytime, anywhere every day. Pinduoduo!” This is a new brainwashing song. You will basically know it after listening to it once. You will hum along with it several times every day. The constant repetition makes it become a sound symbol. In this way, it can be quickly distinguished from many shopping apps and enter the minds of consumers.

If you are already a leader, here are two ways to stay in that position:

• The first one: continuous repetition method. The main reason for establishing a leadership position is to enter the minds of consumers first. To maintain a leadership position, it is necessary to continuously strengthen the concept that initially entered the minds of consumers. For example, Coca-Cola, as the first in the category, still invests a large budget in the advertising market and continuously strengthens the concept of "authenticity". When the word "Coke" is mentioned, consumers will think of it.
• The second type is interception action. When leaders face emerging competitors, they must respond quickly and successfully block them before they take root in people’s minds. However, they should avoid random brand extensions, which will weaken the strong attributes of the brand.

2. Follower Positioning

If there is already a leader in your industry, you should not launch a head-on attack. Instead, you should use reverse thinking and become a follower. Try to find a new gap and connect with people's existing cognition in this new field so that people will remember you.

Common vacancies include the following:

The first type: space vacancy

When the Beetle entered the market, its body was short, wide and ugly. Volkswagen relied on the strategy of “thinking small” and promoted the smallness as its positioning, thus seizing the cognitive position of small cars. Although it is not the first small car on the market, it is the first in the small car category in the consumer's mind ladder.

This is hard to understand, so here's a simple explanation: For example, some tool products may offer a three-day free trial or only three trials a day. In that case, you can try to set the product to a five-day free trial or five free trials a day. Suppose someone is asking for advice and someone says: This one is free for five days! The advantages/highlights of your products will stand out and be remembered the fastest.

The second type: high-priced vacancies

Emma is the leader in the industry. Yadea Electric Vehicle did not follow suit, but instead proposed the positioning of "higher-end electric vehicles", which increased the brand awareness and reputation. It went public in 2016 and became China's first listed electric vehicle company.

The third type: low-priced vacancies

When Xiaomi smartphones first came onto the market, they relied on their low prices to enter the market, and they captured the concept of value for money in the minds of consumers. Another example is MINISO. When physical stores were in a slump, MINISO took the low-price and cutting-edge route and carved out a niche for itself, with consumption in its stores reaching 300 million people a year.

But sometimes you may find that not only does my field have a leading brand, but all the gaps in every corner have already been occupied by others, and I really can’t think of any brand gaps. What should I do at this time?

3. Reposition your competitors

At this time, you need to reposition your opponents, avoid your competitors' strengths, analyze their weaknesses, and find your own position.

For example, BMW positioned itself as “driving” and took full advantage of Mercedes-Benz’s weakness (inconvenient mobility) while being strong (prestige) in the minds of customers. As a result, it transformed itself from a brand on the verge of bankruptcy to a strong brand that is popular all over the world.

Pepsi also took advantage of Coca-Cola's strength (it is the "authentic" inventor of cola) but its weakness (it has a long history and is also drunk by grandparents) to define its own new generation of "young people's cola". Yunnan Baiyao Band-Aid repositioned the strategic disadvantage of the strong brand Band-Aid (no medicine) by claiming "it gets better faster with medicine", thus becoming the leading brand.

For example, 7-Up used the "non-cola" positioning strategy to break through, standing opposite to Pepsi and Coca-Cola, and became another choice for users. The cola ladder can be divided like this: the first level is Coca-Cola, the second level is Pepsi, and the third level is 7-Up.

The above three parts are about the direction and thinking cognition of product positioning. Next, I will use our own products to analyze how we position our products for growth.

4. Product Positioning Practice Case Analysis

1. About Us

Our project team has previously developed a game accelerator, which is a tool-type product that mainly provides network optimization support for domestic players playing overseas games. (Explain yourself clearly in one sentence)

2. Industry Analysis

Before we entered this red ocean, there were already dozens of similar products in the market, and the distribution ranking was roughly as follows: first-tier products such as Xunyou, NetEase, and Tencent, second-tier products such as Thunder, Dolphin, and Panda, and several third-tier products.

Here is a little tip for research and analysis: How to know the distribution of product volume in the market?

1. You can check third-party industry data reports or financial reports if the company is listed;
2. However, I think the easiest way is to estimate the data by looking at the number of fans and article readings through official channels such as WeChat public accounts and Weibo, and referring to industry standards.

(The picture shows a part of the accelerators, sorted according to official or third-party published data, and the ranking is in no particular order)

3. Competitive product positioning analysis

Through the previous step, we have gained a thorough understanding of the market situation and the distribution of various products. Next, we need to refine and summarize them, understand their product positioning and operating methods, and find space for our own products.

In Figure 2, we can see/extract the key words: easy-to-use, stable, fast, low latency, zero packet loss, etc. These keywords are the core functions of an accelerator, and they are highlights that meet user needs, so everyone is using or covering these words.

The picture shows a team storming session to find product positioning.

(Figure 2: Market product positioning and promotion)

From Figure 3 we can see that the price distribution of product market has also formed three levels: high, medium and low.

(Figure 3 Market product price distribution)

4. Product positioning analysis

At this point, we can combine positioning theory to find opportunities for our own products. At this time, the context/ideas will be very clear:

• The first-tier leaders have already emerged and have strong market resources (listed companies, strong channels);
• The second-tier followers also have several products and have stable technical support and traffic share (have been well-known in the market for more than three years and have stable users);
• The third echelon mostly harvests long-tail traffic at low prices, and the competition is fierce. (A new product launched about a year ago, grabbing the opportunity at a low price)

After that analysis, it can be seen that there are only three opportunities left: high price/low price division or repositioning.

At this time, we need to combine the team's strengths to conduct a positioning storm:

(1) High-price positioning

The price is higher than that of well-known products in the market, occupying the term "accelerated high quality", which can attract senior or medium to heavy game enthusiasts. There are market users with willingness and ability to pay, but a certain number of technical teams and budget resources are needed to support the reputation. Our project team is small and we cannot enter this field due to limited manpower and budget.

Note: A few months after our product was launched, a certain product in the market underwent a strategic upgrade: from an accelerator to an e-sports accelerator, focusing on high quality, using compensation for members when disconnected to support its reputation and harvest high-end market traffic. I also agree with this strategic positioning.

(2) Low-price positioning

The current lowest price in the market is 18 yuan per month (Tencent Accelerator), which harvests long-tail traffic (i.e. student users, users with weak consumption power or poor willingness to pay, etc.). This type of user is equivalent to users screened out from the high-end and mid-range. The requirements for acceleration quality are average, and they pursue cost-effectiveness. It is suitable for early products or small teams with low overall team budgets.

Reposition yourself: Avoid your competitors’ strengths and analyze their weaknesses to find your own position. Through the analysis of the above competing products, it can be seen that the market product game coverage is more than 100, and the maximum free trial is three days before charging.

1. They go big and comprehensive, we go small and refined.
2. They offer a three-day free trial, so I'll give it a five to ten-day free trial.
3. The charging model can be reshuffled, open for free (we can learn from 360, but we haven't thought of the three-stage rocket product model yet, so we won't be impulsive) or keep the market price floating at the lowest level (similar to Suning's fight against JD.com, this model is more suitable for us)

At this point, the direction of product positioning has basically come out. How to achieve it in the product specifically needs to be combined with the innovative elements of the Internet market and reflected from four directions:

1. New technology: Use new technology to subvert or improve product models in traditional and existing markets;
2. New market: Enter a new market segment through the existing technology level and product model in the market;
3. New product: something that did not exist before, the product divides society into a new state;
4. Micro-innovation: It is to add innovative functions to the existing mature products in the market, so as to attract users; or it can be understood as existing mature products, satisfying the ever-changing appetite of users through micro-innovation.

The article is a bit long here, so I will not break it down any more. I will start another article to break it down at the end. The general operation plan is as follows:

(Figure 5 Early first version of the official website promotional introduction)

• Technically: Focus on the top 5 mainstream games in the market, such as PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, and ensure the quality of technical acceleration, which can attract 60-70% of game players. Later, the game categories can be gradually extended to meet the team's existing personnel strength and cost control.
• In terms of products: we focus on a small, simple, and green UI style, provide a good experience in product interaction and details, and enhance product features.
• In terms of operation: the early cold start adopts a free appreciation form to attract low-price users. After the subsequent charging, a free trial of up to 7 days is provided, and the lowest price in the market is maintained. At the same time, paid activities incorporate new market trends such as group buying, bargaining, team lottery, etc.
• In the business closed loop: after the profit margin of membership fees is compressed, it can be expanded, such as incentive videos, game malls or new products (high frequency and low frequency), etc., which will not be elaborated here.

The above is the idea behind the positioning of our project products and the formulation of operational strategies. Whether this analysis is clearer than the analysis of well-known cases still needs your feedback after reading it. Finally, there is one more positioning rule (also known as a baseline or warning line) that everyone needs to remember.

5. Three rules of product positioning

(1) Law of Focus

It means that companies should concentrate on doing one business well so that they can have a certain concept in the minds of customers. Once a company takes the lead in this regard, it will be difficult for others to surpass it because customer perceptions are difficult to change. IKEA is a company with accurate positioning. Breaking away from the practices of traditional furniture stores, IKEA focuses on young consumers around the world through its positioning as "self-service home". Positioning theory cannot simply copy the successful path of the company with the largest market share, but rather it is necessary to find one’s own differences.

(2) The Law of Sacrifice

That is to say, there is gain only when there is sacrifice. Leaders should constantly strengthen their own positioning and guard against being so arrogant as to think they can do any business well. Deng Delong used the example of the failure of the fifth season to remind Chinese companies to beware of the "fifth season trap."

The fifth season is a brand that Jianlibao Company once vigorously promoted, and gave it a fashionable, avant-garde and self-characteristic to impress young people. Not only that, the company also hopes that the youthful and popular elements of the fifth season can inject vitality into the long-dormant "Jianlibao" brand and change its "aging image."

Unfortunately, due to excessive diversification and inaccurate positioning, Season 5 was quickly drowned in the market. Without a clear positioning, it is impossible to truly build a brand.

(3) Extension rule

Trout is against diversification, but doesn't mind expanding on existing strengths.

For example: Coca-Cola has developed into bottles, cans, Coke Zero, etc. based on Coke. This still maintains the inherent advantages of Coca-Cola, but avoids random brand extensions. For example: Don’t make an Evergrande Ice Spring. Consumers will not be able to establish an effective connection between Evergrande and mineral water.

There is also the Gree mobile phone. Gree clearly represents air conditioners, but suddenly it came out with a mobile phone. When consumers enter the store and ask: "Do you have Gree's?" "Do you want an air conditioner or a mobile phone?" Will this dilute the brand awareness in users' minds?

Summarize

Before understanding positioning, we must first understand the three characteristics of human mind: limited capacity, easy to simplify, and difficult to change. This is the basic principle of positioning. Only by understanding the principles can we fully understand the scientific nature and effectiveness of positioning:

What is positioning?

Positioning is an action, which means putting something in a certain position, because the battlefield of product competition is not in the market but in people’s mental space. Therefore, the location where this is placed can only be the mental space. In this space, positioning is accomplished by firmly occupying an advantageous position for the brand and establishing a fixed perception and image.

How to position the business?

There are three main methods of positioning: leader positioning, follower positioning and repositioning of competitors. According to the position of the brand in people's minds, choose the appropriate method to firmly occupy your own position and give the brand long-term vitality.

Positioning is not only a powerful tool in the business field, but also a brand’s moat, helping us to simplify things and emerge as a butterfly.

Author: Mao Li

Source: Operational Growth