Three lines of underlying thinking in brand marketing

There is a clichéd saying that you and I both know: Why do we know so many truths but still cannot live a good life?

An extension of this is: Why do we have so many brand marketing ideas, but our company brand is still so weak?

I have an insight to share with you:

Every person and company has three completely unrelated lines within them: the idea line, the decision-making line, and the execution line.

Note that these three lines are completely unrelated. There is no correlation between them.

1. Idea Line

Let’s talk about the first one: the idea line.

The idea line is often the most active line for an ordinary person or an ordinary company.

These ideas may be insights, or they may be creativity, discussions, thoughts, opinions... It is the source of the word "whimsical", it is our resource package and ammunition depot, and it is certainly better to have it than not to have it.

But it has a side effect, it gives people the illusion that having more ideas means success. More ideas seem to lead to more success. However, that doesn't matter. Ideas are just ideas.

🌰 For example: Recently I have received a lot of information about the new coronavirus vaccine, and a large number of self-media and community propaganda are talking about the vaccine.

I even invested time in researching the differences between the three types of vaccines, and found out which of my friends had received the vaccines, and even knew all of the various side effects of the vaccines.

I am such an expert on vaccines!

So every day I think about whether I should get vaccinated. It turns out that this idea has been circling in my mind for several months.

Take time every day to think about this "idea".

cough! I'm really too free.

The same is true for brand marketing.

Knowing the principles, creativity, various awesome cases and how other companies operate of many brands are all things in this line of ideas.

It is good to know so many things and have many ideas, but don’t fall into the complacency of this “knowledge and ideas”.

Sometimes, most of the time, ideas themselves are useless.

2. Decision Line

Let’s talk about the second line: the decision-making line.

The decision-making line is a line that some great people or a highly effective company value.

They are good at making decisions, know how to do subtraction between indecision and "wanting everything", understand the meaning of "strategy is subtraction", and once they make a decision, they seldom hesitate or deny themselves.

At this point we can't help but ask: Why are people unwilling to extract the key points from many ideas and make decisions?

The answer is simple: unwillingness to take responsibility.

Make any decision, even as small as which restaurant to choose for takeout? Is it okay for a company to position its brand here? Everyone needs to take responsibility.

Once the results are not good, the decision maker will experience frustration and blame (including self-blame).

Therefore, most people don’t like making decisions. It is called: choice difficulty.

In fact, not making a decision is also a decision. This kind of decision is called: I decide not to make a decision. If you keep putting it off, everything will fall through.

🌰 Back to the vaccination issue: This week I finally made a decision, which is to get the vaccination as soon as possible. After making this decision, I felt like I had cleared a piece of my to-do list.

happy!

The question arises again: I actually regarded the “decision to get vaccinated” as the end of the matter!

Once the decision is made, the matter is over. So, in the next few days I happily enjoyed the refreshment brought by the "decision". Little did I know that this was of no use to my body.

The same is true when making brand marketing decisions.

Many companies feel that they need a precise positioning and organization of their brand. However, during the positioning and organization process, they are reluctant to cut off some things and cannot reduce others. The final compromise is still a chaotic and unclear "middle-of-the-road" conclusion.

In my opinion, such a decision is itself a delay.

Decisions are decisions, and someone needs to take the risk. If there is no risk, it is not a decision.

At work, when I’m anxious, I often urge clients to make decisions, and sometimes I even shout: If there is a problem with this decision, it’s my fault!

Little did they know that they also understood very well that I could not really bear any consequences, but when it came to a professional field like brand marketing, someone needed to step forward and take responsibility, which would make everyone feel relieved, so the decision was made quickly.

3. Execution Line

We have reached the third line: the execution line!

The execution line, this is a completely different third line. Many very powerful people or companies are actually more developed in this area.

This leads to a phenomenon: we often feel that a person or a company is mediocre and their ideas are not outstanding, but they are surprisingly successful and profitable.

Why? Doesn’t this world welcome smart people anymore?

No, it’s because these seemingly ordinary people or companies have one amazing thing about them, which is that their execution lines are particularly developed.

What's so difficult about execution? It’s so difficult to execute! ! !

🌰 After I decided to get the vaccination, it has not been successful yet.

My body and time are completely out of control. I always feel that many things have a much higher priority than vaccination. Wait a minute, I need to take a call! Wait a minute, I want to eat! Wait a minute, I need to see someone! …There’s always a lot of waiting.

Finally one day, I pushed through all the problems and resistance and came to the place where the vaccination was given.

A call was received 50 meters away from the injection site. When I hung up the 30-minute phone call and walked to the injection site.

The notice at the door clearly stated: Injections will end at 15:00 p.m.

The time at that time: 15:20.

Oh my God!

You see, this is execution. These are the various problems that arise during implementation.

This is just my own execution, not to mention the collaborative execution involving a group of people!

Similarly, similar situations also exist in the execution of brand marketing.

We had clearly made a strategic decision on brand marketing, but during the implementation process, things turned out to be completely different from what we had imagined.

A well-made decision, once it reaches the finance department, the technical department, the legal department, and all the priorities, immediately becomes something that is postponed indefinitely.

As time went by, things finally fell through. Or you can compromise, a little here, a little there, until you have compromised with all departments.

This decision has long since become unrecognizable.

I have experienced some companies competing with each other at the brand marketing execution level. They had to beg for help from everyone to get resources to get things done. They made constant compromises in the process, and the executors became more and more discouraged. In the end, even the ambitious executors gave up.

A good decision came to nothing due to internal resistance.

Many companies have a magical ability in this area of ​​execution: I cannot stop this matter unilaterally, but if multiple departments work together, this matter can be delayed.

Whenever this happens, I always think of Mr. Drucker’s thought-provoking words: culture can eat up strategy.

After reading this, you may think that this mediocre article has nothing new to offer and is nothing more than the old-fashioned argument of “unity of knowledge and action”! In fact, I used to think so too.

The unity of knowledge and action is common sense, there is nothing to interpret about it.

wrong.

Seeing this, you should be able to see that this article is sharing a methodology:

That is to consciously divide the work into three completely independent lines from the heart: thinking, decision-making, and execution.

When they are independent of each other, you will find a magical phenomenon: you will find out which line you or this matter is on at this moment.

One conclusion is:

Any idea or decision will be in vain if it is not finally implemented resolutely.

Author: Li Qian talks about brands

Source: Li Qian talks about brands