Themes of digital marketing in 2021

In 2020, as the offline industry suffered a blow, many companies realized the importance of digitalization and accelerated the pace of digitalization. Now that we have entered 2021, digitalization remains an extremely important topic for the marketing industry. The author of this article summarizes and looks forward to digital operations.

Twilio conducted a study of 2,500 companies and found that 97% reported that the pandemic had accelerated their digital transformation. On average, it accelerated by 6 years.

This marked the division of digitalization into two worlds. Before 2020, digitalization was mainly used in the retail sector, including e-commerce platforms and new retail; after 2020, the main battlefield of digitalization will be traditional brands and agents.

The six-year acceleration of digitalization mainly refers to the digitalization of brand owners. The combination of marketing and digitalization has given rise to a new term: MarTech.

MarTech=Marketing+Technology

The digital technology in the retail field is called Martech 1.0, which has realized the customization of retail to different individuals, as well as marketing automation and refinement; the digital technology in the brand field is called MarTech 2.0, which will realize the full chain of thousands of stores and thousands of strategies, as well as market breakthroughs in marketing and the comprehensive integration of traditional marketing and the Internet.

What does this evolution of digitalization mean?

Remember this: In an uncertain business world, digitalization is the only certainty. Also remember one thing: the sudden acceleration of digitalization can quickly widen the gap between you and the leaders. It is also important to remember one thing: the digitalization of brand marketing is different from e-commerce and new retail. It is a deep integration of the Internet and traditional marketing. The boundary between tradition and the Internet will disappear from now on, and all companies will become Internet companies.

1. Marketing Digitalization: Summary and Outlook

The theme of marketing digitalization in 2020 is "Digital New Infrastructure", with 7 keywords:

1. New digital infrastructure
2. Channel Live
3. Marketing digital infrastructure architecture
4. New digital organization
5. BC Integration
6. MarTech 1.0
7. Omnichannel

2021 will be the year for digesting and deepening the results of marketing digitalization and entering digitalization into operations. Therefore, the theme is "Digital Operation MarTech 2.0", with 7 keywords:

1. CDP (Customer Digital Platform)
2. Full-chain digitalization B2B2C
3. One Item One Code 4.0
4. MarTech 2.0
5. War Commanded by the Squad Leader
6. Visual Digitalization
7. Data Analysis Officer

2. 2020 Keyword: Digital New Infrastructure

The digitalization of e-commerce platforms and new retail has already started, which is determined by the online characteristics of e-commerce and new retail.

Marketing digitalization mainly refers to the digitalization of brands and agents, including four major sections: digital R&D, digital communication, digital distribution, and digital management. Among the four major sectors, the most core one is channel digitalization, that is, full-link digitalization.

Digitalization includes four aspects:

1. Digital enlightenment: A large number of digital conferences, forums, trainings, and articles together constitute the digital enlightenment of marketing;
2. Digital organization construction: establishment of new digital organizations;
3. Digital system construction: purchase of system software and hardware;
4. Basic actions of digital marketing operations: for example, one item one code is used to send red envelopes;
5. The new digital infrastructure has laid the basic framework for the digitalization of traditional enterprise marketing.

3. 2021 Keywords: Digital Operations MarTech 2.0

The theme is the soul of a year's work. When I asked for opinions, someone recommended CDP (Customer Data Platform) and EBC (Enterprise Business Capability).

2020 has laid the basic framework for marketing digitalization. So, 2021 will be the operational year for marketing digitalization. Otherwise, the digital system will become a decoration. What is the core work of digital operations? I think it is MarTech 2.0.

The new digital infrastructure in 2020 was accelerated by the epidemic. But it also brings new problems: traditional companies are at a loss when faced with digitalization. The epidemic suddenly accelerated digitalization, and digitalization became known to everyone overnight, but everyone knowing about it does not necessarily mean that everyone will use it.

I once used an analogy: It's like buying a car but not having a driver.

This phenomenon has already appeared in the second half of 2020: a digital organization has been established, but apart from buying a system, no one knows what to do; a digital system has been purchased, but apart from "distributing red envelopes", no one knows what to do. Not only do application companies not know how to operate, most companies that provide systems are also at a loss.

Currently, the question I am thinking about and practicing is: How to make digital organizations and digital systems operate normally and play a huge role in marketing? The word MarTech comes to mind.

This is a term that has been popular in the technology world for many years, but is rarely seen in the marketing world. This term was originally popular in the traditional and retail sectors, but was not used by brand owners.

Because full-link digitalization is the focus of marketing digitalization, and MarTech2.0 is the key to leading full-link digitalization (B2B2C), and it is also the key to the comprehensive integration of traditional marketing and the Internet.

4. What is MarTech?

MarTech=Marketing+Technology. If you look at the composition of this word, you will think that it is naturally related to marketing and digitalization.

The concept of MarTech was proposed by Scott Brinkerd around 2010. Unlike the Chinese who rely on experience and wisdom to solve problems, the West is better at using technology to build a system to solve problems, and Internet technology provides the technical tools.

For example: With the same discounts and points, the traditional membership system is relatively passive, but in the Internet environment, it is possible to use online means and AI technology to automate marketing, interact and communicate with users in real time, and provide marketing tools that are tailored to each individual.

Of course, the biggest application scenario of MarTech in its early days was “precision communication”.

MarTech is composed of two words: Marketing and Technology. Currently, its main users are in the Internet technology industry, and even some people in the marketing industry are not aware of this term.

Therefore, we only see Technology but rarely Marketing. The reason is that, in addition to precise communication, early digitalization was mainly focused on retail scenarios, and it is more appropriate to call it retail digitalization.

An important feature of marketing digitalization in 2020 is the extension from e-commerce and new retail to traditional brands and agents. This is the integration of the last bastion of traditional marketing with the Internet.

If we want to distinguish between MarTech 1.0 and MarTech 2.0, I think that in addition to the commonality of digital communication, the following statement may be more concrete:

• MarTech1.0= Marketing (Communication + Retail) + Technology. The link is B2C, which solves the problem of retail digitization.
• MarTech2.0= Marketing (Communication + Distribution) + Technology. The link is B2B2C, which solves the problem of channel digitization.

Of course, there are many application scenarios for MarTech, I will just illustrate the main scenarios.

5. MarTech 1.0: “Thousands of Faces for Thousands of People” and Retail Automation

MarTech 1.0 technology applications have the following characteristics: users are online; B2C links, mainly suitable for e-commerce platforms and new retail. MarTech1.0 has three major application scenarios: precise communication, intelligent recommendation, and user operation.

Mass communication is indiscriminate coverage, and even niche communication is still indiscriminate coverage in specific scenarios; precision communication is achieved by locking in the target object through user profiling.

Smart recommendations are widely used in e-commerce platforms and new retail scenarios. Because there are massive users and massive SKUs, how to achieve accurate matching of user IDs and product IDs requires smart recommendations.

Alibaba has realized intelligent recommendations several years ago, thus achieving the transition from digitalization to "digital intelligence". Some people divide the evolution of e-commerce into four stages: category browsing → product search → intelligent recommendation → human recommendation.

User operation: This is a set of algorithms to realize the user lifetime value based on the AARRR (attract, activate, retain, revenue, recommend) model.

Please note that AARRR is the user lifetime value model from a retail perspective. A new user is not only activated (contracted) and repurchased (retained), but also recommended new users. All stages of the above links can be programmed using MarTech1.0 models and algorithms, and then automatically distributed to users.

There are three basic skills in the application of MarTech 1.0: user profiling, personalized tailoring, and marketing automation.

1. User Profile

User profiling is the process of labeling users based on their attributes and behaviors. User portraits can be complex or simple as needed. Without user portraits, marketing automation is difficult to achieve. Only with user portraits can automatic matching be achieved.

2. Thousands of people have different faces

With user portraits, sales strategies can be determined based on user tags and their stages, and vary from person to person and from time to time. This is why it is called "one thousand faces for one thousand people" and "one thousand faces for one thousand people" has become the label of MarTech1.0.

3. Marketing Automation

E-commerce and new retail are aimed at massive C-end users, and are real-time online and require instant responses, making manual services difficult. Therefore, it can only be distributed automatically through a set of algorithms, namely marketing automation.

6. MarTech: From B2C to B2B2C

So far, MarTech 1.0 is mainly applicable to B2C, and its application scenarios are mainly Communication and Retail. The protagonists of MarTech1.0 are platform e-commerce and new retail companies.

In digital marketing, the main players are brands and agents. If retail digitalization is short-link B2C, then marketing digitalization is full-link digitalization, that is, the link is B2B2C.

B2C is short-link digitization, and B2B2C is long-link digitization. In 2020, the concept of BC integration was accepted by a large number of traditional enterprises, opening up B2B2C - this is a signal that traditional channels are fully integrated into the Internet.

In BC2 digitization, the touchpoint is a single C-end; in B2B2C digitization, the touchpoint includes not only 2B and 2C, but also BC-related data. BC integration, MarTech's marketing role includes Communication and Distribution, so single-store breakthroughs and regional marketing breakthroughs for B-end operations and C-end are its important features.

7. MarTech: From Refined Marketing to Marketing Breakthrough

The core value of MarTech1.0 is precision and fineness, which bring two marketing results: first, improved marketing efficiency; second, user lifetime value.

Although the traditional marketing system also emphasizes the lifetime value of users, it is difficult to quantify. MarTech1.0 achieves the phased conversion of users through technical means, which is the technical guarantee for the user's lifetime value.

But as some marketing experts have commented, if marketing numbers stop here, such digitalization is "a luxurious dead end." The environment faced by marketing digitalization is different from that of retail digitalization, and has the following characteristics:

1. Low online rates for B-end and C-end

Some people say that only online digitalization is digitalization, which is a digitalization concept "customized" for e-commerce platforms and new retail. Especially for fast-moving consumer goods, the value of each product is low and it is difficult to trade them online.

2. Full-chain digitization will gradually become possible

As a classic case of brand digitalization in 2020, I recommend Zhengzhou Taikoo’s possible full-link visual digitalization, which has achieved: first, full-link digitalization B2B2C; second, full-domain digitalization of production, distribution, delivery, and promotion; third, visual digitalization;

In this environment, the core of marketing digitalization is not precision and precision, but achieving marketing breakthroughs through digitalization. First there is a single-store breakthrough. When the single-store breakthrough forms density, it forms a regional breakthrough.

For large products that have already achieved comprehensive channel coverage, perhaps the efficiency improvement brought by MarTech 1.0 is enough. However, for a large number of small and medium-sized brands, as well as new products of big brands, what is more needed is to use Internet technology to achieve marketing breakthroughs. MarTech2.0 is the technical tool to achieve marketing breakthroughs.

8. MarTech 2.0 Marketing Breakthrough: BC Association

There are two major prerequisites for MarTech2.0 to achieve marketing breakthroughs: one is BC correlation numbers; the other is the comprehensive integration of online and offline, with no boundaries between traditional marketing and the Internet.

BC association numbers are an important feature of BC integration. There are multiple technical paths to achieve BC digital association. What is BC association?

The user code is generally called C code and the terminal code is called B code. BC association means that the B code and the C code correspond one to one. This not only allows us to know to whom the B-end sold the product (the C-end), but also guide the C-end users to purchase at a specific terminal (the B-end).

BC data association has important marketing value, which is what we often call double leverage. There is a leverage effect from end B to end C, and there is also a leverage effect from end C to end B.

1. One-to-one BC data association

There are many forms of codes for one item, one code, such as anti-counterfeiting, channelling, etc.; BC association code, that is, C code (user code) and B code (terminal code, area code) are associated.

2. BC data association based on LBS

As long as the user is online, the C-end can be guided, and based on LBS positioning, it can be guided to specific B-end consumption.

3. BC data association of cloud store logic

The logic of cloud store is different from that of WeChat mall. WeChat mall is based on B2C logic and short chain path; cloud store is based on B2B2C logic and long chain path. Of course, all cloud stores are online, with both B-end and C-end online, and a natural connection between BC.

At the same time, there is another technical path in the cloud store logic, namely the social technology path. Through Internet technology, the technical path for B-end, KOC and C-end communication in the community can be obtained, thereby empowering both BC ends.

In the new marketing operating system, we have also introduced another factor with leverage effect: KOC. KOC has an amplifying effect in the channel, but the use of KOC must be coordinated with offline scene experience, which is something that MarTech1.0's online automation cannot accomplish.

MarTech 1.0 involves a single dimension of the Internet, also involves the social dimension, and uses digital technology to drive growth. MarTech 2.0 extends to three dimensions (offline, social, and online), promoting digitalization through marketing breakthroughs and marketing through digitalization. It is a comprehensive integration of the Internet and traditional marketing.

In the MarTech 1.0 logic, contacts are formed at the front end, and the middle end completes marketing automation through MarTech technology; in the MarTech 2.0 logic, contacts between the B-end and the C-end are formed offline, and the middle end uses MarTech technology to connect to the C-end and empower the B-end.

9. MarTech 2.0: Thousands of stores, thousands of strategies

If MarTech 1.0 solves the "thousands of faces for thousands of people" problem facing the C-end, then MarTech 2.0 solves the "thousands of strategies for thousands of stores" problem facing the B-end. "Thousands of faces for thousands of people" solves precise and detailed problems and locks in C-end users; "Thousands of stores, thousands of strategies" solves terminal marketing breakthroughs, activates the B-end, and locks in B-end problems.

The problem for the C-end is precise matching and lifetime value; the problem for the B-end is incremental and existing; the empowerment of the B-end depends on whether there is incremental; the activation of the B-end depends on whether the existing stock is released.

Thousands of stores, thousands of strategies, including three parts:

1. Accurate and meticulous management of 2B

Unlike 2C, which is completed online, 2B is provided to frontline sales staff online and completed offline, including the following:

1. B-end portrait and value analysis: For example, some B-ends are good at promoting new products, which is B-end portrait and value analysis;
2. Real-time management of the B-side: such as real-time sales data of the B-side;
3. B-end customer relationship management: B-end customer relationships are more often conducted through offline interactions rather than online methods.

2. 2C traffic diversion

There are three ways to divert 2C traffic:

1. Offline traffic diversion: online transactions. This is a combination of online and offline, and the traditional and the Internet;
2. Platform diversion: For example, brands cooperate with Tencent to guide traffic;
3. “User operation” of brands.

Different from the user operation of retailers (policy and transaction-oriented user operation), the user operation of brands is cognitive operation. As long as there is user cognition, transactions are the result. Moreover, now is an era in which cognition, transactions and relationships are integrated.

3. B-side activation

Activating the B-end is to release the existing stock, as long as the C-end forms potential energy or can provide incremental empowerment. Then, by cooperating with offline strategies, we can activate the B-side and release the existing stock.

Thousands of people have different faces, which are ultimately expressed as algorithms in MarTech 1.0. Otherwise, it is not called MarTech. Different systems have different algorithms; thousands of stores have different strategies, which also require algorithms as well as "routines" (models) that are combined with offline. For example, in the BC integration we practice, offline experience adds points to MarTech 2.0.

10. MarTech 2.0 includes MarTech 1.0

As mentioned earlier, MarTech 1.0 is more suitable for online automation of a single object. The B2B2C link includes 2B, 2C, and BC associations.

2B and 2C are the digitization of single objects, which can be automatically distributed online in the form of algorithms according to the marketing automation logic of MarTech1.0. This is the model that MarTech.0 excels at. At the same time, the digitization of BC association is no longer a single object, and is no longer just an online behavior. "Thousands of stores, thousands of strategies" is more complex than "thousands of faces for thousands of people."

11. MarTech 2.0: The dual role of digital salespeople

MarTech 1.0 is purely online marketing automation and has nothing to do with traditional marketing. The marketing breakthrough of MarTech2.0 must be coordinated with traditional channels, which is determined by the B2B2C link characteristics of MarTech2.0.

As mentioned earlier, the characteristic of MarTech 1.0 is automation, which is automatically distributed to the C-end through algorithms. But visualization is also needed for decision makers and managers to understand the overall situation of the system.

MarTech 2.0 is the integration of offline and online. Therefore, front-line sales staff assume both offline and online roles, and the efficiency of offline roles can also be reflected online.

In the MarTech 2.0 environment, salespeople have two split roles: they are both “riders” trapped in algorithms and digital “analysts”.

Because the salesperson’s behavior and results can be represented as “efficiency analysis” in the algorithm, and leaders in all management chains can be visualized in real time.

At the end of 2020, when we observed the marketing digitalization of Zhengzhou Swire Cola, they had completed the full-link visual digitalization. The work efficiency of all personnel was presented in real time on the system, and they could be ranked in real time based on efficiency.

From this perspective, the salesperson has become a "rider trapped in the algorithm"; from another perspective, the agent, terminal and user data are also presented to the salesperson in a visual way. The salesperson can also be a "data analyst" who can adjust online and offline strategies in a timely manner, which also provides space for improving efficiency.

12. MarTech 2.0: War Commanded by Squad Leaders

Thousands of stores, thousands of strategies is the basic logic of MarTech 2.0, with a single store as the basic business unit. Marketing breakthroughs include single-store breakthrough, small-region breakthrough, large-region breakthrough, and national breakthrough. The prerequisite is to solve the single store breakthrough problem.

The density of single stores constitutes a breakthrough in a small area; the connection of breakthroughs in small areas constitutes a breakthrough in a large area; the connection of large areas constitutes a national breakthrough. Whether it is a single-store breakthrough or a regional breakthrough, the basic organizational form is "war commanded by the squad leader."

The basic characteristic is: let those who see the artillery fire on the front line command the war. The person who sees the gunfire is the "squad leader"; the organizational structure is a small front desk and a large middle desk. There are not many squad leaders at the front desk, but the resource organization system of the middle desk is strong.

There are two basic requirements for a war commanded by a squad leader:

1. Visual full-link data analysis

1. The team leader at the front desk is a data analyst, who mobilizes middle-office resources based on the data to achieve breakthroughs in a single store or region.
2. Efficiency analysis of each touch point in the entire link.
3. Visual decision making and management.

2. Accurate resource support from the middle office

1. The background is based on LBS or region-based precise communication.
2. Discover and utilize KOCs.
3. Traffic diversion based on LBS
4. LBS-based C-end blasting

For brand owners’ marketing digitalization, the logic of marketing breakthrough is determined by BC correlation, while the intensity of marketing breakthrough is determined by marketing technology.

Author: Liu Chunxiong

Source: Liu's New Marketing (ID: liuchunxiong1964)