4 steps for brands to promote live streaming

When brands become immune to entertaining and sensational brand advertisements, means that can sell goods seem to be more convincing in the business of communication!

This is also the reason why live streaming e-commerce has been able to rise rapidly and be favored by brands. Because for most brands, especially those with physical products or service products, selling goods is a hard demand. No matter how the environment changes or how the communication form changes, this hard demand will never change.

With the various explosions of live-streaming e-commerce and the gradual improvement of public awareness, private domain execution has become increasingly difficult. The demand for brands to sell goods seems to be increasingly unable to be met by advertising. In particular, the rise and prosperity of new consumer brands has made many traditional brands worried about the "selling of goods".

Because the core model of many large brands nowadays still relies on dealers. On the one hand, brands often encounter situations where dealers force them to lower their prices. After all, a strong dragon cannot defeat a local snake. If a brand wants to deeply cultivate this region, it must please the dealers in this region.

Secondly, there are many regional brands that cannot penetrate. Regions want to protect their own local brands, and competitors may also be eyeing that region, making it even more difficult to open up new markets.

Therefore, the new consumption model has attracted the favor of many traditional brands. However, when the new consumption boom has passed, the market is left with only the myth of the rise of the rich. Then various rumors follow one after another, and public opinion is in a mess. The new wave of wealth creation has not yet emerged, and many marketers are also confused. How should this product be sold?

01 Limited edition/joint-branded models are still a big gimmick

It has to be said that in the current market environment, limited edition/co-branded products are still very popular in terms of sales. Especially those models with very unique designs that require drawing lots. For example, Nike’s new shoes always use this routine. It can be said that it is a veteran player in hunger marketing.

Of course, not all limited editions/joint-branded items are very popular. There are several key factors:

The first point is to have endorsement. If a mediocre small brand announces a collaboration with an unknown brand, the audience it can influence will only be fans of the two brands. Some products may indeed sell, but compared to the influence outside the circle, these few products cannot be considered an unexpected surprise.

For example, the collaboration between Liushen and Rio can be said to be a classic cross-border case. Both brands have a certain degree of popularity, and the gameplay is very eye-catching, so everyone has seen the final effect. It has become very popular and in short supply.

If it is difficult to establish brand endorsement, then you can use the platform's power to break through. For example, there will basically be Tmall gift boxes in Tmall's S-level projects every year. If you can cooperate with this gift box, it will be a good endorsement. Of course, for most small and medium-sized brands, if they don’t have the budget to cooperate, then they can participate in more activities such as Little Black Box and Youhaohuo.

In short, the core is two points. One is to rely on big brands, because big brands are well-known, and if the gameplay is eye-catching, it can better add value to the brand. The second point is to rely on platforms, because platforms have traffic. When doing this, don’t pay too much attention to the sales volume at the time. After all, the core purpose of this method is to increase brand awareness and recognition, and rely on the long-tail effect to increase sales.

02 Fancy application of low-price strategy

If the sales cycle of a hot-selling product is long, then the low-price strategy is an effective way to achieve it quickly and efficiently. Many people think that low price means discounts, free gifts, etc.

This is indeed correct, because this is indeed the underlying logic of various major promotional activities, but what I want to share with you today is not this direct and rough method, but a beautified and packaged method, which is both a sugar coating, beneficial and interesting, and a cannon, allowing everyone to spread it spontaneously + promote consumption behavior.

The most common one is the anniversary celebration. Many brands have a lot of complicated rules and regulations for their anniversary celebrations, and the benefits themselves are not very attractive. Instead, they turn a good promotion opportunity into a brand’s self-entertainment.

Here is an excellent example. On its anniversary, Shede Wine Industry launched a limited edition VIP wine. It was bottled in 2019, with an aging age of about 9 years. Moreover, the price is much cheaper than the same wine of different years on the market.

So what is specifically good about this case? The key word is "VIP". This wine is sold exclusively to members, so you have to become a member to be eligible to purchase the wine. This not only attracts new members, but also stimulates consumption and purchases by old members, killing two birds with one stone.

Secondly, why would people buy this wine? Because it is aged wine, the taste is better than new wine, and it is limited in time and quantity and cheap. This endorsement and the reason provided to users are attractive enough. In essence, they are all discounts, but with a little bit of packaging, the effect will be immediately different.

Of course, there is a prerequisite here, that is, the welfare discount must be large. It does not necessarily mean that you will get a free mobile phone if you spend a certain amount of money, but at least the user must feel that his consumption behavior is well earned and worthwhile.

03 Deep cultivation and layout of private domain

Although private domains or communities have become the norm, and the constant flow of messages every day has gradually made users feel tired, this channel is still a good way for brands to bring goods and realize cash.

When it comes to private domains, many people’s first impression may be Perfect Diary. First of all, I have to say that not every brand can learn from Perfect Diary’s approach. Some of them can be used as reference, but some are not necessary. The key is to see what the core goal of the private domain is.

For example, some communities are mainly for communication, some communities are for users to receive coupons, and some communities are for users to come in and complete transactions at relatively affordable prices, etc. Different communities have different modes of action, so brands should clearly understand the core purpose of their private domain operations.

Let’s talk about selling goods through private domains, which is generally divided into direct selling and indirect selling.

The most typical example of direct sales is Luckin Coffee. There will be corresponding channels on the App for users to join the group, and then a coupon will be sent to the group every morning. One meaning is to remind users whether they want to have a cup of coffee during this period to wake up their brains and refresh themselves. Another meaning is that I have given a reason that cannot be refused, a big discount, and you have to act quickly.

There are many applications of indirect sales in the education industry. For example, when selling courses, people will enter the group in the form of fission posters. After sharing some guiding content, they can get a free trial class. Then they will be guided on the key points of the trial class, such as "subsequent courses require membership to learn" and similar words, to achieve indirect sales.

In fact, the essence of private domain sales is to make users profitable. Regardless of whether it is long-term private domain operation and maintenance, or a one-time transaction after users join the group, the key is for brands to clarify the core goals of doing private domain business, rather than simply copying other people's models in a completely formatted manner. After all, the private domain operation methods for products with high average order values ​​and products with low average order values ​​are really different.

04 Content-driven, brand self-broadcasting becomes a normal practice

I believe that everyone should be able to see many brand live broadcasts on major platforms. The number of online viewers is actually not particularly large, but why do brands keep doing it?

Some people may think that brand e-commerce live streaming is the same as Weibo and Weibo, at least at the brand level it can make the public aware that the brand is still very active on major social media platforms. There is nothing wrong with this understanding, but for many people within the brand, they clearly know that this is an excellent way to bring goods.

Because the number of people watching live broadcasts is small, but a large proportion of them have real needs. When we look at the live broadcast data of many celebrities, we can see hundreds of thousands or millions of people online at the same time, but the proportion of people who actually place an order is actually very small, because a large proportion of users are there to watch and join in the fun.

But it is different for brand self-broadcasting. First of all, if users can stay in the live broadcast room, it means that they do have the intention to buy. After all, there are no stars or gimmicks in the live broadcast room. It is all about explaining the products. There is nothing to watch at all.

Therefore, anyone who stays in the live broadcast room can be regarded as a potential user. So how to induce potential users to place orders? This requires a certain level of welfare stimulation, either low prices or value-added services. Therefore, for brands that have a self-broadcasting system, although the traffic is not very large, the sales volume in one night is indeed considerable.

Regarding how brands bring products, in essence, they still rely on marketing to attract traffic, and then use different degrees of interest incentives to guide users to place orders. The underlying logic remains unchanged. The key is how the brand optimizes packaging based on this logic.

Those who believe in the brand-only theory may think that it is necessary to make an emotional blockbuster, while those who believe in the sales-only theory may think that it is necessary to hold a large-scale promotional event. These are not in conflict. The core is the clever integration of tactics and strategy. After all, there is really no distinction between high and low means. The core is still the hard truth: no matter whether the cat is black or white, a cat that can catch mice is a good cat!

Author: Community Marketing Research Institute

Source: Community Marketing Research Institute