Are brands like Apple and Zhong Xuegao no longer attractive?

We have all heard the story of eating steamed buns. When you are hungry, the first steamed bun you eat can bring you the greatest satisfaction. Each subsequent time you eat one more, the sense of satisfaction will diminish marginally. Until the fifth steamed bun is eaten, the sense of satisfaction will decrease to 0. Although the actual value of the first steamed bun and the fifth steamed bun is the same, people's perception is very different.

Iphone4 is the first smartphone. At that time, the fluency, system operation and other experience of ordinary Android phones were extremely poor; in comparison, the iPhone 4 brought a disruptive improvement. In fact, compared to iPhone 4, the performance of today's mobile phones has improved by more than 10 times, but in our actual experience, it has improved by less than 1 times. Because our appetite has been oversatisfied by the fourth and fifth steamed buns, our threshold has been raised.

What is threshold? Simply put, it is the critical point that people perceive and feel. For example, funny moments, tearful moments, and peeing moments. Points above the threshold will trigger feelings of crying, laughing, or peeing; while information below the threshold is not painful and is easily ignored.

For example, Zhong Xuegao , which once sold a stick of ice cream for 66 yuan, has begun to enter the high-end dumpling market. It can be seen that this dumpling named Utopia has copied the strategy of the sky-high priced ice cream. For example, the "Chicken Shredded Matsutake" dish is made with chicken carefully selected from free-range chickens that are raised on brown rice and drink mineral water, and the Matsutake is Shangri-La's unopened Matsutake. It's obviously old Versailles at first glance. The price is also very high, 98 yuan a bag, which contains 16 dumplings.

But I think this product is doomed to fail. The reason is simple. The sky-high priced ingredients that Zhong Xue Gao regards as its core differentiator may not be perceived by consumers at all!

No matter how top-notch the ingredients are, they will be chopped up and used as stuffing. Let me ask you, which young lady would be willing to show off such a stuffing? Even if they are willing to show it off, who can tell whether this piece of stuffing is worth 98 yuan or 9.8 yuan? What’s worse is, have you ever seen any socialite eating dumplings at a party?

How can such a brand be considered high-end when it lacks both high product value and high social value?

When a company takes great pains to make a good product that impresses the user, it is completely beyond the user's threshold. What's the problem? Perhaps they have never thought about this question: What kind of value does marketing create?

For example, what kind of value should an audio product create first? Is it perfect sound quality, or perfect user enjoyment? The answer from Japanese national treasure designer Naoto Fukasawa is: Designing user perception is far more important than designing the equipment that produces these feelings.

When he designed MUJI's wall-mounted CD, he used a unique pull cord as a switch. When people pull the cord of this player, it will bring back the memory of repeatedly pulling the cord to turn lights or fans on and off during childhood. At that moment, my heart was like expecting a ray of light to light up and a gust of fresh breeze to blow on my face, and the sensory organs all over my body became sensitive. This delicate feeling makes the music people hear more beautiful.

Bad marketing makes the value perceived by users far less than the real value of the product; good marketing can always accurately penetrate the user's threshold point, making the value perceived by users far greater than the real value.

Since finding the user's threshold critical point is so important, how do we find it?

Let’s open up our imagination and imagine a proposition: if you wake up and find yourself traveling back to one or two hundred years ago, and you happen to only have one product of modern civilization with you: a small tube of toothpaste. May I ask, how did you change the history of ancient people not brushing their teeth by promoting toothpaste and reach the peak of your life?

01. Reading a thousand copywritings is not as good as reading Hopkins once.

I guess the easiest method that comes to mind is intimidation. For example, tell the ancients: If you don’t brush your teeth well, you will have a mouth full of rotten teeth at a young age, you won’t be able to eat or sleep well, and be careful of early death... Or, you might seek professional endorsement, invite Xu Xian from Chang'an Street to give a lecture, and jointly establish a dental prevention group with Tongrentang to educate people on the scientific prevention of dental diseases. However, do these marketing methods work?

When toothpaste was introduced in the United States 100 years ago, all products promoted in this way became unpopular. Only one person, with bare hands and just a pen, made the beautiful people develop the habit of brushing their teeth every day. Who is so awesome?

Many years later, when Ogilvy mentioned his name, he still spoke in a fanboy tone: All Ogilvy people must have read Hopkins's book...

As a top marketer among top marketers, Hopkins is well aware of human nature. He believes that value appeals such as preventing dental diseases are just correct nonsense, just like telling people to go to bed early, get up early, exercise more and smoke less. Because these seemingly correct things have one thing in common, which is that the value feedback is very slow. If you act immediately, there will be no obvious benefits in the short term; if you delay, there will be no obvious harm in the short term. How to break it? Next, here is the most amazing thing about Hopkins.

In one copy, he said: "Lick your teeth with your tongue! You will feel a layer of dental film. It makes your teeth look dark in color and causes tooth decay." After reading this copy, Wang Yangming would call him an expert!

Wang Yangming has a famous saying about the philosophy of mind: "Before you see this flower, this flower and you are both in silence; when you look at this flower, its color suddenly becomes clear." This is completely consistent with the core of Huoxue. When you don't pay attention to the layer of dirt on the surface of your teeth, it doesn't exist; but once you follow the hint and feel the existence of the dental membrane, the once abstract and distant dental health problems suddenly become imminent troubles.

In another copy, Hopkins continued to mobilize people's eyes and let them see the value of white teeth for themselves: "Have you noticed? There are so many people around you with beautiful teeth. Millions of people are using new methods of tooth cleaning. Which woman wants to have a dark film on her teeth? Whitespeed can drive away the film!"

According to the "pregnant woman effect", once people start paying attention to pregnant women, they will find that there are pregnant women all over the world. Once people start paying attention to other people's beautiful teeth, they will find that, my God, many people have beautiful white teeth! As the saying goes, people who smile more beautifully than you brush their teeth more diligently than you. Who can stand this!

In addition to sending visual and tactile signals, peppermint oil and lemon essence were also added to toothpaste for the first time. These ingredients don't make the toothpaste better, but they make people feel that it works better. Let me repeat the important things again. These ingredients will not make the product more valuable, but they will make people feel a cool and stimulating sensation in the mouth and smell a sweet breath, making people believe that the effect is super good.

Did you find it? Hopkins, who earned $1 million from a toothpaste, has all his marketing secrets here - people cannot judge the true value of things, they need some peripheral clues, some concrete and tangible signals, to perceive the brand value.

Based on these signals, Hopkins established a complete user-perceived value system for Pepsodent toothpaste.

Do you want to be a marketer like Hopkins and influence the user's perceived value? If you think about it, then you at least have a maternal bonus, as today's technology has revealed most of the secrets of human perception. (If you don’t even dare to think about it, how can you write a copy with this little bit of ambition?)

All human feelings come from two major perception systems. One is the physiological sensory system, which receives information stimulation through vision, hearing, taste, smell, and touch; the other is the perceptual perception system, which interprets sensory stimulation to form a certain physical state or certain emotions in the mind.

Starting with these seven perception signals, we have mastered ten weapons to hit the user's threshold. Come, let’s talk about them one by one.

02. Visual signals, the strongest perceptual signals on the earth

Visual cues are probably the most widespread and mature use of marketing promotion.

From the composition point of view, the visual signal can be a logo, such as a bitten apple, Nike’s hook, McDonald’s Golden Arches, the hottest goddess Lao Gan Ma… I just typed these words, but you have “seen” them, right?

Visual cues can be products, for example, Zhong Xue Gao in the shape of Chinese tiles, San Dun Ban like a film box, the curvy bottle of Coca-Cola, the red soles of Christian Louboutin, and so on.

The visual signal may be a color. For example, the red-faced Guan Gong, the white-faced Cao Cao, the black-faced Zhang Fei, and the little blue pill, little brown bottle, little black dress, red can of herbal tea that everyone on earth knows.

A visual signal can be an image, such as the Marlboro cowboy, the Colonel Sanders, the Disney princess, etc.

Even, it could be a word or a core concept. For example, Apple overwhelmingly occupied the word prefix "I": Ipod, Imac, Iphone, Icloud... When Obama ran for president, he almost monopolized the word "change".

Want to create powerful visual signals like these successful brands? There are two important principles and techniques here.

One is seeing is believing.

Seeing is believing, and consumers do not really need to trace the product’s origin or visit the factory. We can use pictures and texts to let consumers "see" the production site and "hear" the most authentic stories from the producers, so that they can understand the production process of the product and have a sense of credibility of "seeing is believing".

For example, Nongfu Spring once invited photographers from "Planet Earth" and "Beautiful China" to go to Changbai Mountain and use the most realistic lenses to record the rare animals that are like elves and the free and pure snow country. When the line "What kind of water source gives birth to what kind of life" appears at the end of the film, the brand's philosophy and goodwill are silent and convincing.

Precious sable

The most convincing method is always to let people see it with their own eyes. But seeing is believing is not the same as a simple demonstration. For example, many clothing anchors will try on clothes when selling them. But such a display is actually difficult to solve a confusion that most girls have: "I don't have the model figure like the anchor, can I pull off this kind of clothes?"

When a TikTok anchor was promoting a skirt, he shot a series of short videos, and each video revolved around a question: Can XXX wear this skirt? For example, "Can short girls wear this skirt?" She found four girls whose heights were 162, 158, 155, and 152, making it easy for all the short girls who were watching to understand the topic. In order to illustrate that this skirt can be worn by people of all heights, weights and body shapes, she even made a funny theme for an episode, "Can boys wear this skirt?" Then she invited science and engineering men, literary men, introverted men, muscular men and others to try it on in turn. This idea is really impressive!

She reminds me of Tom Dixon in that blender ad. This guy is really a short video fanatic. Every time he challenges a theme: Can this thing be crushed? Then, everything will be crushed. Lighters, flashlights, ice hockey pucks, and even iPhones... I have to say, watching an iPhone spinning and exploding in a blender is really exciting.

So what does seeing mean? If you sell clothes, you need to make people imagine: "How would this look on me?" If you sell blenders, you need to make people believe: "If I use this to blend something, it should also work well."

After talking about the technique of seeing is believing, you also need to master another technique of visual signals: borrowing the sense of picture.

What is visual copywriting? For example, "extremely comfortable cushioning", which is completely unnoticeable. The copywriter must think about what the cushioning feels like.

If you watch it in slow motion, when you step on the ground, most of the force is absorbed by the shock-absorbing layer, and you will feel soft and extremely comfortable. Then, the absorbed force will be released quickly, making you bounce more powerfully as if you were electrocuted. This feeling is like...

"The feeling of stepping on shit"!

Yes, that's the feeling. When you step on it, it feels soft and extremely comfortable, but you will quickly react: shit! Then your body will instinctively bounce back.

Next, the description of "comfortable and soft, good sleep" is terrible. Think about it, what kind of feeling does bedding bring? Like clouds, like a psychologist’s sofa, like a lover’s embrace... You might as well use your imagination to imagine it.

IKEA's copywriter said it was like a bottle of top-quality anti-aging cream.

If you still think it’s not enough, imagine if you were to write the copy for a mini power bank, how would you write it? It’s simple. I will transform each product feature into objects or scenes visible to the naked eye.

To sum up, the brand visual signals that users can perceive usually come from these five forms: logo, product, color, image and core words. If you want to write visual copy, there are two techniques: one is to see is to believe; the other is to use concrete objects and scenes.

Next, let’s talk about auditory signals, which have the second largest application range after vision.

03. Auditory signals, register in the user’s ears

Marketers all know a famous saying: It’s better to sell the sizzle of steak than to sell the steak. Because sound can occupy people's senses, sound has an incredible effect on stimulating desire.

If you think that sound is a means of producing images, then you need to re-understand auditory signals.

Many products have their own auditory signature. For example, Jackie Chan once described to us that his hair would sound like duang duang. Ogilvy demonstrated: the carriage at a speed of 90 km/h is so quiet that you can hear the ticking of the hour hand. Lengshenling has demonstrated that when teeth are hurt by acid, they will make a "hissing" sound in pain. The ding of a microwave, the ticking of a watch, the sound of a car door closing, the sound of chewing potato chips, the sound of pouring sparkling water, the sound of cosmetics whooshing into the skin... these sounds can easily evoke our imagination or recall our memories.

Many products will consider using a song or a melody to make people addicted. For example, many years ago, Song Hye Kyo endorsed the BBK music phone, and the advertising song used was "I Caught a Cold in That Corner", which was popular in the streets and alleys at that time. Until now, it is still full of youthful memories.

Not only BBK, these brands have installed a play button in your brain. With just a few simple Chinese characters, you can start the melody in your mind echoing with one click.

McDonald's: ba~ba~bababa~ ~

Intel: deng~dengdengdengdeng~

Dicos: To be happy, you need to eat crunchy food

Even more and more brands are considering their own sound effects starting with naming. For example, Kodak (the sound of a camera shutter), Dangdang (the sound of a cash register opening), Didi, Dingding, Qiaqia, Boboye…

The battle for auditory signals is everywhere. When you want to invoke auditory cues to hit a user’s threshold, there are at least three approaches: finding onomatopeia, having a catchphrase or a line of dialogue, and writing dialogue.

1) Find onomatopoeia

What sounds might a product make throughout the entire process from manufacturing to use?

For example, Yili’s classic copywriting. With only three onomatopoeias, it takes you to the green grassland where the cows live. Hear the clear stream, the melodious birdsong, and the happy mooing of cows.

What sound do people make when they drink milk? Just by listening to the sound of drinking big gulps, you can imagine the taste of rich milk, and you will still be wanting more until the last drop.

What if people don't drink milk? What warning sounds do bones make due to calcium deficiency?

From the place of origin, drinking experience, to the calcium supplement effect after drinking, these three groups of onomatopoeia copywriting make people feel like they are in the scene and convince people of the good quality of the product.

Let me give you another example. The typical summer sounds are captured beautifully with a series of onomatopeia: click, sizzle, buzz, whir, hiss, bang, etc., which make people feel moved and their hearts beat, and immerse themselves in the beautiful moments of the long summer.

Click!
Cut the crispy watermelon in half,
The first bite is the peak of happiness.

“Sizzle~”
A handful of cumin ignites the passion of the squid and the sleepless nights of summer

“Huh~”
The puffed up white skirt is selling the breeze

"Buzz~"
The fan was shaking and her eyelashes were trembling slightly.

"Bang~"
The sound of clinking glasses of cold beer makes the days echo

2) Have a catchphrase or a special line

Have you ever been to the most stupid internet-famous pickled fish restaurant on the planet? When you walk into the restaurant, the waiter will say a very strange line: "Eat fish and save the world!" Compared to the conventional "Welcome", this line is so unique, it's like he is saying a secret code to us!

This is not the end yet. When serving the dishes, several guys would shout out the restaurant’s signature dish in unison and with great vigor: “Here comes the sauerkraut that tastes better than fish~!” It not only conveys a strong and slightly silly brand feeling, but also makes people remember the product features deeply.

When you walk out of the store after having a full meal, you will hear the slogan again: "Welcome to visit us next time!"

From entering the store to leaving, the whole process is full of marketing strategies, firmly grasping three important links: the first impression when entering the store, the peak experience when the dishes are served, and the peak-final experience when leaving the store. A unique line is carefully designed for each link to convey the brand concept and establish a unique auditory symbol.

Just like when people take photos, they will shout "Tian-Qi-", this is Tianqi toothpaste's effort to bind to daily high-frequency scenes and establish a unique auditory symbol.

Just like Li Jiaqi always says "O MY GOD" and "Buy it" during every live broadcast, his catchphrase is his auditory symbol.

The closer the exclusive lines and catchphrases are to spoken language, the easier it is to establish a brand's exclusive imprint and register in people's ears.

3) Create a sense of dialogue

Of course, there is a simpler and more powerful way of copywriting that allows people to "hear" the voice through paper, and that is dialogue. Use dialogue to set up a conversation scenario, a mini-drama, and let the product be re-enacted in front of the user.

For example, when George Louis promoted a vodka, he let the bottle speak for the men who dared to take risks and drink mixed drinks.

Vodka: "Hey, a delicious red tomato. If we put the two of us together, we can make a Bloody Mary. I'm different from the others!"

Tomato: "I like you, Wolfschmidt, you do have flavor."

Week after week, various fruit "ladies" took the stage one after another, making Wolfschmidt the embodiment of masculinity and fun.

Vodka: "I am a man of taste. I want to discover your 'inner beauty' and make you famous. Come over here and kiss me."

Orange: "Who is that bitch I saw you with last week?"

It can be a dialogue, or it can be a question. Basically, humans are a species that grows up relying on curiosity. When people see a question, it is easy for them to have a strong sense of involvement, start thinking in their own minds, and start trying to answer it. A silent conversation began.

For example:

"Why do people live?

Six months of preparation, 13 days around the island, 1,139 kilometers, from north to south, from night to day, just for a simple reason."

——“Dream Knight” by Taiwan Public Bank.

"What happened in the world in the past ten years? Scientists discovered 12,866 asteroids, 300 million people were born on Earth, the tropical rain forest decreased by 6,070,000 square kilometers, heads of state signed 6,035 diplomatic memoranda, Internet users increased 270 times, 5,670,003 stray dogs found a home, Jordan made three comebacks, 96,354,426 couples got married, 25,457,998 couples divorced, people drank 7,000,000,000,000 cans of carbonated drinks, and their average weight increased by 15%. We raised a bottle of good wine." - Great Wall Red Wine

"Does losing weight have to be so hard? What if your calves get thicker from running? Wouldn't it be more fun to go to a nightclub? You'll understand after running!" - Nike

"Why……?"

"how……?"

"what happened?"

"What would you do if...?"

People have no resistance to this kind of problem.

Therefore, good copywriters know how to serve first, throw out a question, and start a conversation in the user's mind.

04 Conclusion

The article is very long. Congratulations, having read this far, you have completed another high-quality thinking. Many people say that copywriting is important, but few people really analyze it carefully. If you have read this article carefully, you will have mastered at least one more knowledge point: how to find value perception signals, break through the consumer's threshold critical point, and thus awaken demand.

But actually, I'm only halfway through talking to you. The other half also includes five value perception signals and two advanced copywriting skills, which I will continue to share with you next week.

Author: Panda Copywriter

Source: Panda Copywriting