List of 7 essential promotion skills for operators!

Promotional methods + operational knowledge = improved product data!

1. Promotion skills

For operations personnel, whether you are doing user operations or community operations, you will promote to users or other people. When you are conducting activities, you need to contact channels or internal products to promote products. Therefore, promotion skills as an important skill of operation skills naturally have their importance.

2. What are the promotion skills?

Promotion refers to a means of making your products, services, technology, culture, deeds, etc. known and accepted by more people and organizations through media (newspapers, radio, television, the Internet), so as to achieve the purpose of publicity and popularization.

In simple terms, promotion means: promoting and packaging products through widespread advertising to improve the data of the product itself.

Many people may want to know what promotion skills are. We can simply divide promotion into two categories: free and paid:

1. The free category mainly uses social media and platform communication
2. Paid advertising is more about spreading through advertising coverage and accuracy

The main forms of paid promotion include PPC ( pay-per-click advertising ), DSP (demand-side platform), media advertising, and resource advertising. Each type of advertising has its own uniqueness and availability. Depending on the platform, form, and target population, each type of product has different choices when it comes to promotion.

1. PPC (Pay Per Click)

It refers to a pricing model in which payment is made based on the number of users who click on the advertisement. Specific advertising platforms include Baidu search keyword bidding, Baidu image bidding, Sogou keyword bidding, 360 keyword bidding, etc.

The important thing about PPC is that it is promoted and advertised based on the platform's natural traffic , and relies on targeted advertising to accurately deliver ads, but its accuracy is determined by keywords and is of a general level.

As shown in Figure 1:

Figure 1 Baidu search keyword bidding

1. DSP (Demand-Side Platform)

It refers to a demand-side platform with precision marketing as its core concept. It mainly delivers precise advertising through a large number of advertising suppliers in DSP. Such platforms include Tencent Guangdiantong , Baidu Wangmeng Promotion, and Rising Sun Pioneer.

The importance of the DSP platform lies in its reliance on platform resources or supplier resources to carry out refined management and delivery of advertisements, and its traffic is no less than that of traditional media.

If Tencent Guangdiantong places advertisements, it will have tens of millions of users, but in the end no company will place advertisements directly without making any settings. Instead, they will use DSP's precise delivery to filter the crowd according to the crowd, time, location, environment, consumption ability, education level, network environment, etc., and provide this function to the majority of companies, effectively and quickly meeting the company's or operation's needs for precise promotion.

As shown in Figure 2:

Figure 2 Tencent Guangdiantong

1. Media Advertising

It refers to placing advertisements through news, media platforms, and information streams , mainly utilizing the large traffic of media platforms for advertising space or information stream advertising . Specific platforms of this type include WeChat public accounts , Toutiao , Yidian Zixun, etc.

The importance of media advertising lies in its powerful traffic and diversified delivery methods, which can directly help other media or information products.

As shown in Figure 3:

Figure 3 Toutiao advertisement

1. Resource Advertising

It refers to placing advertisements in the form of commercial advertisements or offline advertisements, mainly utilizing the user groups of platforms or products to directly place banner ads or location ads, which will directly help users with the same target groups. Specific platforms of this type include Bitu.com, B2B websites, industry websites, etc.

The most powerful aspect of the resource platform is that it has a precise target group. It can directly drive traffic to products of the same target group and has a very high conversion rate, which is unmatched by ordinary platforms.

As shown in Figure 4:

Figure 4 Bitu.com advertisement

The above are mainly paid promotions . Free promotion is more of a way of internal publicity and traffic diversion through a certain platform or product. Although there are some means that do not rely on the platform, the effect is poor. However, free promotion is also very necessary for early product exploration or long-term brand publicity and promotion, so free promotion skills are also an essential skill in product promotion skills.

The main free promotion methods include SEO , business cooperation, etc. These free promotion methods are common and effective.

Each free promotion method will produce different promotion effects depending on the promotion platform, content, and promoter. Therefore, free promotion is more difficult than paid promotion in terms of detonating traffic and requires mastering certain promotion skills.

(1) SMO (Social Media Optimization)

SMO refers to a set of methods for achieving public communication through social media, online organizations and community websites.

SMO now not only represents blogs, forums or RSS, and sharing components, but also represents social promotion methods such as WeChat , QQ, Weibo, and communities. This method has been used from 2015 to 2017.

SMO is a very mature and effective way of rapid communication. It uses social communication and event communication on large traffic platforms such as QQ and WeChat to help products gain the attention of a large number of users in a short period of time. However, the planning cost is relatively high, and it is necessary to study the preferences of general users within the product and then plan the subsequent processes.

The sharing component is shown in Figure 5:

Figure 5 Sharing component

(2) EDM ( Email Direct Marketing )

Although it has been used less and less frequently in recent years, EDM’s status in the promotion field has not declined, because operators still choose to use email as a low-cost and efficient method when maintaining users or promoting products.

The promotion method of EDM mainly needs to consider the content of the email and how to attract users to open it. Moreover, most email boxes now have built-in spam blocking functions, which is also a major problem facing EDM.

The EDM advertisement is shown in Figure 6:

Figure 6 EDM advertisement

(3) SEM ( Search Engine Marketing)

It means taking advantage of the opportunity when users use search engines to retrieve information to deliver as much marketing information as possible to target users . Currently, this promotion method is the most commonly used, such as Baidu Knows, Baidu Wenku, Baidu Encyclopedia , SEO ( Search Engine Optimization , which refers to the promotion method of improving the ranking on search engines by optimizing the website inside and outside), etc.

The biggest advantage of these SEM promotions lies in the coverage and accuracy of user searches. In certain behaviors, users searching for this keyword means that users need corresponding content support. This promotion method helps companies and products to intercept large-scale traffic in search engines.

However, promotion methods such as SEM require long-term use to accumulate results before they will be effective, otherwise the effect will be minimal.

1. Business Cooperation

It refers to the way of cooperation and promotion by exchanging resources and channels with corresponding enterprises.

This method is similar to paid resource advertising, and both use the platform's traffic to direct traffic and promote for us. The difference is that business cooperation also requires us to direct traffic and promote to the other party. This is a mutually beneficial promotion method, and at the same time reduces the promotion costs of both parties.

In this way, a large amount of traffic and user-verified PMF can be obtained in the early or early stages, which is a great advantage for enterprises. They can quickly adjust product direction and grasp market conditions and user needs.

These are all the more commonly used promotion skills at present, and they are very important for operations.

Whether it is paid promotion or free promotion, it will play a very critical role in operating certain fields and applications. Sometimes these two types of promotion methods are used interchangeably. For example, SMO self-promotion through Guangdiantong is the cooperation direction and development direction of the two types of promotion methods. Different promotion combinations will also bring different promotion effects and user quality. Being good at analysis and research will help improve the proficiency of promotion skills.

In fact, the strong demand for promotion skills in operations is mainly due to the need to solve problems encountered during operations or the needs of the enterprise. Because in the operations industry, no matter what operations position you are in, it will be directly linked to promotion skills. One of the indicators for corporate operations assessment is the amount of users or self-media attention obtained.

Therefore, if you want to operate for a long time, you must understand and learn to use promotion skills.

3. How to combine promotion with operation

Most operations positions require promotion skills, but many people only do some preliminary operations work and don’t know how to promote in the later stages.

Free SMO promotion in promotion tests the operation’s understanding and integration of promotion.

SMO promotion is mainly carried out on various social platforms such as QQ, WeChat, blogs, etc. QQ group advertising and micro-business in the circle of friends can be regarded as SMO, but the same promotional method combined with different operation intensities will lead to different effects.

Maybe you wouldn’t click on an ad about selling shoes with a discount even if someone posts it 10,000 times in your circle of friends. But if the ad he posts is a picture of a user trying on shoes and the user’s comments, would you have the slightest thought of buying it?

Don't rush to deny.

If this micro-business owner is just posting advertisements, you may never buy shoes from her. But if one day she sells you shoes after chatting with you for a long time, and proves to you that there is no problem with the shoes through a short video, which method is more likely to make you pay for the shoes?

What is reflected in this process is not only the problem of promotion, because promotion is simply choosing a channel for promotion, while operation is to optimize this channel and choose an appropriate way to promote. If the promotion effect is not good, it is necessary to analyze the promotion process and elements, and change the promotion method or optimize the promotion channel by optimizing the path. This is the combination of operation and promotion, which was called flexible promotion in the earliest stage.

EX:

Many people know Pinduoduo. Pinduoduo’s main method of promotion is viral marketing through SMO, which has excellent results.

Other similar e-commerce platforms are not as successful as Pinduoduo. It can be found that Pinduoduo's entire process from users clicking on promotional pictures to successfully purchasing products has only four steps, while most other e-commerce platforms take more than seven steps to complete the corresponding services.

For operations and promotions, every extra step means a greater probability of user abandonment. If users abandon, it is equivalent to a direct loss of users for the promotion and the corresponding user costs must be borne, resulting in an increase in total costs. A shorter user behavior path can greatly reduce user thinking time, increase the probability of user payment, and reduce costs.

As shown in Figure 7:

Figure 7 Pinduoduo screenshot

There are many points of integration between promotion and operation. For example, Tencent's Guangdiantong does not just place advertisements, but more involves operations. Operations staff are required to provide information on the target group characteristics, environment, atmosphere, etc. of the event or product, and to filter advertisements and produce materials for Guangdiantong. The continuous adjustment and optimization of materials in the overall advertising promotion process also requires the cooperation of operations.

In fact, there are many areas where operations and promotion can be combined, but many operations personnel are not aware of this. Anyone engaged in operations should learn how to combine operations with promotion to carry out their work.

4. How to promote more efficiently

According to the Pinduoduo case mentioned above, more efficient promotion refers to the effect produced by the high degree of integration of operation and promotion.

How can we effectively promote using SEM promotion methods ? If you just promote and advertise aimlessly , the effect will naturally be minimal. However, if you analyze the keywords that the group is likely to search for and promote on Baidu Knows, Baidu Wenku, etc., will it be more effective than just advertising aimlessly?

So how can we promote it more efficiently?

First, operations personnel need to break down the target groups of the products or activities to be promoted and analyze the main covered population and regions. At the same time, they need to provide information on user preferences and active range, and combine existing channels to analyze effective promotion channels and methods. Then, they begin to promote and publicize the products or activities, and continuously adjust the promotion process based on channel feedback and product/activity feedback.

During the entire process, the cost of promotion and publicity can be reduced and the user accuracy can be improved, and accurate users can be acquired in a low-cost and high-efficiency manner. This is also the benefit of combining operations and promotion.

In fact, it can be simply understood that operations can provide more scientific and user-oriented data and content, and using data and content to carry out operational promotion can not only maintain the accuracy and scientificity of operations, but also reduce promotion costs and improve promotion efficiency.

EX:

I personally once worked for an e-commerce company and did DSP advertising. At that time, due to incomplete operational knowledge and no relevant user data, I promoted the product, which resulted in a monthly consumption of 10,000 yuan.

15,000 clicks, 3,000 users, and 50 orders, the ratio is quite disastrous.

In the following two months, I applied for a transfer to the operation department, where I continued to understand and learn about operation knowledge and the product’s user profile , product features and positioning. I placed DSP ads again, and ultimately generated 8,000 yuan in monthly consumption, 11,000 clicks, about 4,500 users, and 1,843 orders.

The final effect of combining operations with promotion will far exceed the promotion itself. Low-cost and more accurate promotion will be the advertising effect that a company and its products want to achieve . In fact, many operators are now facing a situation with 0 resources and 0 budget. The essence of solving such problems requires the combination of operations and promotion to help operators achieve the results they want.

EX:

An e-commerce website once carried out a roulette activity. From the overall perspective of the activity, the promotion and early effects were very general, but in the middle period, the website traffic and the number of participants suddenly increased.

When I asked them how they did it, the operations staff told me that they spent the first 10 days collecting and testing ads, and in the middle and late stages they began to make extensive use of the results of the early tests to optimize promotion channels and ads, which reduced overall advertising costs and improved user acquisition efficiency.

Operational testing, user profiling, user behavior and other skills can be combined with promotion skills to help reduce promotion costs and improve efficiency. Similarly, when carrying out promotional activities, operations should be combined to make the promotion more efficient and accurate, and reduce unnecessary waste and expenditure.

5. 6 steps to combine promotion and operation

1. Analyze product positioning and situation;
2. Identify the target user groups of the product and analyze user behavior;
3. Formulate channel and material planning;
4. Conduct promotion;
5. Continuously optimize promotion channels and materials according to promotion;
6. Optimize operational product paths.

Source: Zheng Wenbo