New Brand Marketing Model-Reflective Marketing Thinking

In marketing work, we often encounter the following situations: the planning is very logical, but when asked about the expected results, the company talks about this and that, but in fact it is not clear.

When it comes to positioning, at first glance, it seems that the market is well grasped. But when asked about the specific basis, the answer is vague. After talking for a long time, it turns out that it is ultimately based on intuition.

Talking about the concept, the packaging is white with a hint of red, and the design is brilliant, but whether it can effectively connect with consumers is hard to say.

This is the problem faced by planning, but the problem faced by actual marketing promotion is even more serious, as shown below:

The promotion budget and target audience are well planned. But if you want to ask about the effect of the promotion, there is no answer. The wide range of numbers is the best answer.

The new product has been developed, but I don’t know whether it will sell well in the market. I don’t know if there is a market for it. The marketing staff just gave you an answer, but looking at the pitifully small supporting data, do you dare to believe it? I dare not.

There are many and complex questions like these, and you will find that modern marketing is a fuzzy science. There are no specific results and they can only be verified by action.

In fact, we hope that marketing is as precise as possible. It cannot be like a math problem where 1+1=2. We also need to have a roughly accurate result like an interval function. But the truth is very disappointing. Plans are often brilliant, but the endings are often tragic, and many people give up halfway. Faced with such a situation, we hope to have a way to verify our plan from the side, work backwards from the preset results, and work backwards from the results to see whether the actions taken by the development end are necessary and correct, so as to ensure the accuracy of marketing. This kind of thinking is the new idea I want to introduce – reflective marketing strategy and marketing that is as quantitative as possible.

Reflective Marketing: Point, Wall, and Network Thinking

In the 1930s, the former Soviet psychologist Bekhterev proposed reflexology, the well-known psychologist Pavlov conducted reflex research in different directions, and later Descartes made further progress. Based on Zhang Dali's own love for psychology and inspired by this point of view, I found that these classic academic achievements are very suitable for application in modern marketing.

With respect for generations of scholars of reflexology, I combined it with modern marketing and proposed a new set of thinking. I introduced proprietary marketing terms such as reflection points, reflection walls, reflection networks, as well as vortices, nodes, and supports. I borrowed some academic achievements from traditional psychological reflexology and incorporated some unique techniques. It doesn’t actually matter what it is called. What is important is that this new thinking can tear a hole in the entire process chain, allowing you to insert a testing mirror and check whether all operations are correct. You can check and judge from multiple aspects, or simply verify the entire marketing plan.

Nothing can exist in isolation in space. Where there is projection, there must be reflection. It’s just that the intensity and degree of the reflection are different. Therefore, in reflective marketing, as long as a product has marketing behavior, it will be accompanied by reflection. This requires you to focus on the other party's reflection intensity. When studying products, you must think about the reflection of the product at the consumer end; when studying channels, you must study the reflection loss of channel nodes; when studying media placement, you must consider why the target population will be attracted by the advertisements and trigger reflections.

In short, when studying marketing, start by considering the reflector and ask more questions, can it reflect? Is there any reflection intensity? Asking this question continuously will form a reflection chain, which can make vague marketing problems as precise as possible and try to make sure there is a feasible basis for them. At the same time, you can also check in reverse, check the reflection point from different directions to see whether the reflection conditions are met. From then on, the marketing verification is completed.

Each reflection point does not exist independently, but is connected through reflection lines, thus constructing a network called a reflection network, which is closely related and interconnected.

Most of the time, the reflection point is not just one. For example, the reflection of a product to the target audience is a group of people. This group of people forms what is called a reflection wall. Whether a product is good or not and whether it has a market depends on how strong the information reflected back by the reflective wall is.

This information can reach the consumer end through word reflection, sound, smell, color, taste and touch to trigger behavioral reflection, and then quantify the reflection results through specific word tools, judgment statements, node support, etc., so as to check the reflection degree of the reflection wall and judge the feasibility of the marketing plan accordingly. Terms like these have been explained in previous articles of Zhang Dali Channel’s official account. Those who are interested can go and check them out.

The core of point, wall and network in reflection marketing is reflection, and the core requirement of reflection is consistency of properties. Maintaining consistency of reflection properties is the guarantee for achieving marketing success. How do you understand it? For example, the message conveyed by a product is low price and high quality, and what consumers receive is low price and high quality. After using or witnessing it, the message reflected back by consumers is high price and low quality, and there is serious homogeneity. Then the nature of this round of reflection has changed, the reflection is not valid, and therefore the marketing cannot be successful.

The five components of reflective marketing

Reflective marketing consists of five parts at the reflective level, namely, consumer reflection layer, competitor reflection layer, production and circulation reflection chain, sales scene reflection chain, and value communication reflection chain. These five parts constitute a reflection network, which contains reflection points and reflection walls.

All marketing concepts and marketing methods of modern marketing are suitable for this theory. This theory is highly inclusive. From the perspective of concept planning, this reflective marketing thinking can also be called a positioning partner, or a positioning verification officer; it can be called a pain point theory and pain point creation partner, or a pain point accuracy verification officer; it can be called a private domain operation partner, or a private domain traffic strategy verification officer; it can be called a new retail partner, or a new retail effect verification officer. You see, as long as you are willing to combine with these theories, they can have their own value. Why are they all called verifiers? Because this theory is all about interlocking verification, which can be done forward or reverse. Because every reflex has a basis and they are all linked together, we can quantify it as much as possible and avoid doing things based on intuition.

The consumer reflection layer includes two parts: behavioral reflection and verbal reflection.

The biggest difference between humans and animals in the world is language. In reflective marketing thinking, language is broken down into a variety of psychological cues and behavioral instruction combinations.

For example, the role of high-frequency words in marketing is to arouse your immediate cognition, or to put it bluntly, resonance. You are familiar with the word, so you agree with it or take action based on it;

For example, if your name is a high-frequency word, if someone calls you while you are walking on the street, you will definitely stop, regardless of whether you know the other person or not. Judgment statements are common sense in our lives. Your subconscious cognitive judgment may not be the language you speak, but if the other party mentions it, you can immediately take a position;

For example, a street shop puts up a sign saying that the goods are due to expire and are being sold at 20% off. At this time, your judgment is "taking advantage". Taking advantage is your judgment statement and life experience. As for whether to go in or not, it is directly related to your impression of the store before the sale. If it is high-end, you must go in; if it is low-end, you skip it.

Reflective marketing has conducted research and summaries based on these small details. These small details are the big issues that need to be supplemented in modern marketing. We cannot stay at the framework marketing stage. They are full of marketing terms but are clueless about the details. This is why we cannot carry out marketing more deeply and why we cannot predict marketing results.

Reflective marketing has five major components, and each component has evolved into several small problems. Due to space constraints, I will not explain them in detail for the time being. I will slowly explain them in the form of cases in the official account in the future, just like the previous dozen articles have given a relatively comprehensive introduction to the consumer reflective layer. The articles will be gradually produced in the future, combined with cases, for a better understanding.

Reflective marketing thinking is not a difficult theory. You can master it with a little understanding, and once you have mastered it, you can apply it in practice. This practical application is a big problem. Many theories cannot be used after learning, which is a universal phenomenon. However, reflective marketing thinking is different. It can be used after learning. How to use? Where is it used? Reflective marketing can be used for product development. It is a good verification tool that can investigate the needs of target consumers as much as possible and sort out the relevant logic. Reflective marketing theory can be used as a tool for the growth and advancement of copywriting experts. A good copywriter must understand the psychology of the target audience. What impresses them is not witty remarks, but judgment sentences, high-frequency words, and node reflection support. The most important application of reflective marketing is of course marketing promotion and sales execution. Observe the opponent's reflection, process reflection, channel nodes, two-dimensional reach, and three-dimensional substitution. These are the detailed support that reflective marketing needs to provide.

Two Ultimate Highlights of Reflective Marketing

The two ultimate highlights of reflective marketing strategic thinking are brand building and virality. One of the points that reflective marketing strategic thinking has always emphasized is the "vortex theory". What is a vortex? A vortex is caused by the convergence of flow due to huge reflection effect. Due to the large amount of flow convergence, super fission is formed. The phased, cyclical and planned creation of small vortices is the process of brand building.

Super fission has nothing to do with monetary interests, and super vortex formation has nothing to do with monetary rewards. The little people's patriotism, national pride, sense of fairness, sense of justice, and heroic dreams are all the emotional cornerstones for forming a super vortex. Igniting emotions can trigger a reflection of all of them. The continuous increase in the reflection of all of them can become a super vortex, drawing in everything nearby and forming a storm of public opinion. For example, the Meng Wanzhou incident has attracted continuous attention for 1,000 days and has been on the hot search list several times.

Brands need constant reflection and reinforcement. Without reflection, there is no brand. Without the production of periodic small vortexes, no strong brand will be born. From the perspective of reflective marketing, brand growth can be understood as a process in which the reflective network continues to expand. The network becomes smaller and smaller, and the nodes become fewer and fewer. As a result, naturally no brand is born. In reverse operation, the network becomes larger and larger, with more and more nodes, and more and more things are deposited in the five components of reflective marketing. The denser the network, the more reflective links cross, and the stronger the memory. With multiple reflections, multiple touches, and multiple layers of endorsement and proof, the brand gradually emerges. The thing called inertial choice and low-risk consumption will come to this product, which can be translated as the process of brand building.

Well, this is Zhang Dali’s introduction to reflective marketing. There is so much content that I can only select some of its features to explain to you. It will be gradually produced in subsequent public accounts. Reflective marketing thinking is a kind of marketing that can do reverse verification from preset results. Small thinking has a big effect. Reflective marketing can safeguard the feasibility of planning; it can check the accuracy of positioning for the second time; it can find more market basis for product differentiation; it can deeply sort out logical relationships for product development; and it can accurately cut the resonant frequency for media communication.

Author: Zhang Dali

Source: Zhang Dali