18 Practical Marketing Experiences from Advertising Mad Man Ye Maozhong

Are you worried about how to improve your brand and sales?

In addition to segmented marketing, did you know that you can also do horizontal marketing?

What is the difference between brand marketing and product marketing?

How to advertise better?

…….

Last week, the editor read "Ye Maozhong's Experience in Rapidly Boosting Brand and Sales" written by Ye Maozhong Marketing Planning Agency. It was very down-to-earth and talked about a lot of real insights and countless practical experiences at the forefront of the market.

Speaking of Ye Maozhong, he is a master of domestic marketing planning and is also known as a "genius" in the advertising industry. He has carried out integrated marketing communication planning for more than 200 companies. However, many people say that his marketing plans are all similar, indecent, and very low-level.

In fact, Master Ye has said before: It’s not that he can’t do elegant work, but he believes that no client has ever approached an advertising company for the purpose of making professional and elegant advertisements. They have only one need for advertising - to sell their products successfully.

I personally think that, just like in the film and television industry, when evaluating an actor, we should not look at his or her beauty but at his or her works. Besides, complaining doesn't bring any value, it's better to analyze it.

Speaking of his works, Master Ye's record is really a bit scary. He is everywhere and has contributed a large number of cases, each of which is enough to brag about for a lifetime.

What makes him so great is that he can accurately understand the needs of any industry and find key breakthroughs. for example:

Everyone on earth knows

Men should be tougher on themselves.

Wash more healthily

How can you catch a cold at a critical moment?

Heilan Home, men's wardrobe

For nutrition, steamed ones are better

Ganji.com has everything

You have washed your hair all your life, but have you ever washed your scalp?

……etc

They are all from his handwriting.

Do you think this result is acceptable? I admire you very much. Some people like to say lightly, it’s bullshit, it’s all made with money, well, those who like to complain can continue to complain, anyway, there are so many companies willing to spend money, I don’t think many of them can do it.

As for me, I like something practical. So, today I will share with you some of Ye Maozhong’s experiences that I read in this book last week.

01

Once you have selected your market and competitors, don't just follow others. Instead, you must go the other way in marketing thinking. Don't try to be better than your competitor, but be different from him.

In the milk market, there are original flavors, various fruit flavors, fruit-containing milk, jam-containing milk, sugar-free milk, low-fat milk, etc.

In the shampoo market, there are anti-dandruff, nourishing, smoothing, split-end-free, resilient, anti-hair loss, etc.

There are even more in the cosmetics market. In terms of functions, there are moisturizing, whitening, freckle removal, and anti-wrinkle. In terms of uses, there are face creams, eye creams, hand creams, foot creams, and skin care creams for the whole body. In terms of form, there are essences, lotions, pastes, masks... and so on.

This marketing method of deeply cultivating and further segmenting the market to find a unique market space for products and brands is called vertical marketing . In the primary market where there is sufficient space, vertical marketing is invincible and has established one successful category and subcategory market after another.

But to what extent can segmentation continue? See below.

We also need to learn horizontal marketing, break, break, and break again.

When a large market is constantly divided and divided into countless small markets, it becomes quite difficult to find profitable market segments. At this time, innovation must be carried out at the market level and marketing mix level.

For example, giving old products new functions, finding new ways of using it, occasions of use, groups of people who use it, time of use, or selling it in new ways, new channels, new pricing systems, new promotional methods, new concepts, etc. This is an application of horizontal marketing.

To put it another way, horizontal marketing is about breaking down the boundaries of product functions, breaking down the boundaries of target consumer groups, breaking down the boundaries of usage methods, breaking down the boundaries of usage occasions, breaking down the boundaries of usage time, breaking down the boundaries of channels, breaking down the boundaries of prices, breaking down the boundaries of promotions, breaking down the boundaries of marketing mix methods, etc. The various breakthroughs may sometimes overlap with each other. For example, by breaking the functional limitations of houses and cars, we have RVs.

In short, horizontal marketing explores innovation in the breadth of products, markets and marketing mix elements, while vertical marketing is more about exploring the depth of products and markets.

04

For a product to be successful in the market, it needs two distributors: one is the logistics distributor, who helps the company get the products in front of consumers.

One is a heart-stealing distributor who helps companies spread their products into the hearts of consumers, and the brand is the PASSPORT to enter the minds of consumers.

05

Brand has five values:

1) Brand is experience - it is impossible for consumers to understand each product one by one, so they can only rely on past experience or learn from the experience of others. And branding is one of those experiences.

2) Brand is the basis - Consumers' pace of life is getting faster and faster, and they don't have time to study unfamiliar things carefully, so brand is the best basis.

3) Brand is a contract - In this era with too many uncertainties, consumers are most concerned about whether the product is of good quality and reliable when purchasing it. And peace of mind is the greatest benefit a brand brings to consumers; it is a kind of contract.

4) Brand means identity - in the eyes of the public, people who drive a Mercedes-Benz and people who drive a Xiali are two different levels of people. Sometimes when buying things, the enjoyment of the material thing is secondary, and the brand means much more to them than the product itself. Here the Mercedes-Benz brand is a symbol of success.

5) Brand is personality - the kind of brand you use basically reflects the kind of person you are. So the brand is you. If you can integrate the brand and consumers, the brand will definitely be successful. For example, Levis represents freedom, rebellion, and character.

06

How can small and medium-sized enterprises rise quickly?

The first are market gaps, such as regional gaps and consumer gaps. When a company is able to enter this market gap first, it can often achieve great success.

It is particularly important to note that competing between products and competing between products and categories are two completely different things. When doing marketing, you must do everything possible to understand the gaps in product categories in the market. This should be what is called dimensionality reduction attack in "The Three-Body Problem".

Another point is that a single point breakthrough can often establish a company's competitive advantage in the short term. For example, if you have an advantage in only one aspect, such as communication, channels, regions, prices, promotions, etc., you may still achieve significant success. Even if you are not doing well in other aspects, you must play your best card.

Material goods cannot just have good performance and reliable quality, they must also enable people to associate scenes and conceive of the world.

This scenario is fictionalized in the consumer's mind, in which he can freely imagine his identity, occupation, appearance and even feelings. At this moment I am a hard-working white-collar worker, and the next moment I may be the leader of the martial arts world. Due to different needs and fantasies of identity, the same person can create any number of consumption scenarios.

NIKE is always creating a scene where people dare to think and act and never compromise. It gives consumers more than just the concept of sports equipment. It also allows consumers to feel the same spiritual scene of "first" as Jordan, Liu Xiang and others.

DIOR shows off the beauty of an extremely luxurious life to women, and no woman can resist the temptation of such a scene. They would rather tighten their belts and spend most of their income on it.

Why do you say that you need to make consumers fall in love with your brand? Because products are used to exchange with consumers, while brands are used to communicate with consumers emotionally on a spiritual level.

If there is a problem in emotional communication, the product exchange process will not be smooth.

Consumers rely more on cognition when making purchasing decisions, and only acknowledge the facts they think are true, rather than the facts that your company, marketer or advertiser knows.

Those companies that complain that consumers don’t understand their products really need to find a place to have their brains cleansed. Marketing or advertising communications must be based on consumer perception and start from the consumer’s perspective.

What does it matter if adults don’t like advertisements that are shown to children?

What does it matter if men don’t like advertisements that are meant for women?

What does it matter if city people don’t like the advertisements that are meant for farmers?

What does it matter if elegant people don’t like an advertisement that is meant for vulgar people?

What does it matter if experts don’t like the advertisement that is shown to laymen?

This set of parallel sentences is used very smoothly.

When consumers buy a product, they are actually buying two things:

1) What kind of practicality does this product bring to me? In other words, what are its material benefits? This is the most fundamental reason for consumers to buy.

2) What kind of spiritual enjoyment does this product bring me? This spiritual benefit is exactly the added value provided by the brand.

Therefore, market competition also has two levels: one is product competition, and the other is brand competition.

1) Product competition is a material and technical competition, which includes taste, packaging, style, color, function, price, etc.

2) Brand competition is a competition at the spiritual and psychological level, which includes psychological feelings, emotions, concepts, attitudes, and clearly defined added values.

We compare creativity to a match and the target audience to a candle. The match can only light the candle if it lights itself first.

Therefore, creative people must first let good ideas ignite themselves before they can ignite the audience. If they themselves cannot be moved by ideas, they should throw them out of the window as soon as possible.

Discovering a concept that best suits a brand from a pile of text is a complicated and painful process. Too many temptations, too many distractions, too many choices, too many trade-offs, too many deep or shallow, near or far tests, and risks that have to be taken - creativity itself is an attempt, it is to take risks bravely.

If you want to be a safe person, you can only follow the rules forever and be buried in the sand of time forever.

Dan Schultz, a famous American advertising expert, said that the role of advertising is like a fog, which slowly penetrates into the hearts of consumers and leaves a lasting and deep impression in their minds.

This impression may not always appear in people's minds, but once consumers face the product, they will develop a sense of familiarity, a kind of joy similar to meeting an old friend whom they have not seen for many years.

No matter who you are, you are born with varying degrees of insecurity. Successful advertising lies in its ability to eliminate this sense of insecurity, break down unfamiliarity and barriers, and make consumers feel friendly and at home when they come into contact with the product.

A successful advertisement should be able to stand out from the crowd of information, attract people's attention and interest, and stimulate consumers' sense of participation, turning their desire into purchasing action, thereby achieving the goal of promoting sales.

The brand name can be mentioned three times in a 30-second ad, and it would be better to mention the brand twice in a 15-second ad. If there is narration, it would be better to add subtitles for greater security. In addition, the voice should be loud, and it is better to scare people than for them not to hear it.

Some silly ads that loudly mention the brand five times in a 30-second ad are successful; some ads with exquisite pictures and multiple awards but only mention the brand once fail.

To build a brand, you need to understand psychological cues and be proactive in providing them. In marketing, a very prominent feature is that you said it first and promoted it, and the effect produced by this suggestion belongs to you. It is useless if a second person says it.

For example, Robust promotes the slogan of 27 layers of filtration, and this is the effect it has. Many manufacturers say: "We have 30 layers of filtration." But even if you have 60 layers, it is useless. The psychological suggestion to consumers is not about facts but about effects, so you must get ahead of others.

Products have three attributes: core products, physical products and peripheral products, which is the most basic concept in marketing. But in Ye Maozhong's hands, it was used in various places and achieved unexpected results.

First of all, the core product refers to the benefits that consumers pursue when purchasing a certain product. It is what customers really want to buy. Therefore, it is also the most basic and most important part in the overall concept of the product. Taking cosmetics as an example, what is sold to girls is beauty, youth, and an illusion.

Secondly, the physical product is the form in which the core product is realized, that is, the image of the entity and service provided to the market, which is reflected in the product's quality level, appearance features, style, brand packaging, etc.

Finally, peripheral products are all the additional services and benefits that customers get when they purchase tangible products, including free delivery, installation, after-sales service, additional benefits, etc.

The core requirement for building a strong brand is: unification and re-unification. A brand requires all people and all actions to work in the same direction, so that every brand behavior contributes to the accumulation of brand assets, and every bit of communication action becomes the accumulation and precipitation of brand assets.

Any dispersion is a waste of resources. No matter how good the idea is, if it does not conform to the communication theme, it will weaken the integrated communication effect. Any behavior that does not conform to the brand concept will harm the brand.

Propose the core value of the brand - accurately communicate it to consumers through various channels - continuously repeat and accumulate - establish clear brand associations in the minds of consumers.

In short, whether it is marketing or advertising planning, bold ideas and creativity are needed, and more importantly, insights into the industry and consumers are needed, so as to be targeted rather than fanciful.

Don't pursue creativity for the sake of creativity, marketing for the sake of marketing, or communication for the sake of communication.

If it is divorced from the market context and the actual situation of the enterprise, and if it cannot help the enterprise create miracles in brand and sales, then the advertising itself loses its meaning.

Advertising is actually a life-and-death war. Learn from Master Ye!

Author: Mumu Old Thief

Source: Mumu Laozei