9 marketing strategies for 2021 and 5 exclusive ideas

The marketing circle in 2020 is full of gimmicks, new tracks, new brands, new content, new technologies, new models, new users... These new changes are driving the accelerated iteration and upgrading of the marketing circle's gameplay. Facing the year 2021, how can we unravel the chaotic and complex marketing phenomena? How to capture new marketing trends?

Today, the editor of Tezan will analyze the hot cases in 2020 for brands one by one. Contribute the "big picture" and tone to the 2021 brand marketing plan.

Trend 1: New consumption, the transition from “explosion” to “maturity”

In October 2020, Perfect Diary officially announced that Zhou Xun was its first global spokesperson. This also means that Perfect Diary, which has always focused on private domains, retention, and conversion, has officially entered a period of brand transformation.

The “Brand Champagne Tower” nicely summarizes the marketing strategy of most brands. Perfect Diary, which has been very popular, is now launching the next stage of its brand marketing planning from the bottom up.

Trend 2: Short videos are booming, where is the differentiated strategy?

In November 2012, Kuaishou transformed into a short video community. In September 2016, TikTok was launched. With the popularization of smart phones and the reduction of traffic costs, short videos have become the most popular content form among users in recent years.

In the second half of 2020, Taobao announced a revision of its homepage, greatly increasing the weight of short video content. This decision also forced many brands that were still on the sidelines to enter the short video market. And in invisible places, video accounts based on WeChat communities are also expanding quietly. This series of changes ultimately turned the "short video strategy" from a bonus in brand marketing into a must-have.

As short videos show a blowout trend, the early bonus era is gone forever. In 2021, how brands can stand out from the massive amount of homogeneous content will be the core focus of the next level.

Trend 3: Increasingly “heavy” content: virtual idols, TV series, and self-made PC games

To promote the newly released Fall 2021 fashion collection, Balenciaga launched "Afterworld: The Age of Tomorrow" on its official website on December 6, breaking the ground by moving the show into the game.

From upgrading from flat IP to virtual IP, from brand promotional videos to brand series dramas and variety shows, from h5 mini-games to self-made PC games, in 2020, the marketing content output by brands showed an increasingly "heavy" trend . There are two main reasons for this.

On the one hand, it is becoming increasingly difficult for brands to truly and effectively occupy the minds of users in today's world of information explosion and time fragmentation. Brands must seek higher-quality content formats to achieve self-expression and brand building. On the other hand, in order to establish a deeper level of attraction and connection with young people, brands are willing to invest high costs in content formats favored by Generation Z, such as animation, TV series, and games, to achieve iterations from cross-border collaborations to original self-made content.

However, this type of "content-heavy" gameplay has a high entry threshold and is more friendly to high-end luxury brands at this stage. Small brands can consider developing low-cost animations and light games.

Trend 4: Branding style: Upgrading the value economy

For a long time, although "appearance" has been one of the elements of brand marketing, with the prevalence of the appearance economy, its weight has been increasing and it has gradually become a key indicator for users' purchasing decisions.

The application of the appearance economy is currently manifested in several aspects: new logos, new products, new packaging, and new styles. Especially in terms of style, different brands have their own style. The Japanese style of Yuanqi Forest and the Chinese style of Huaxizi have left a deep impression on consumers and become brand memory points. How to deepen the brand's own style and accelerate the iteration of product/packaging appearance is what the brand needs to focus on planning and thinking about.

Trend 5: Clearing away the fog, "value marketing" emerges

As Generation Z, who are individualistic and focus on self-expression, gradually become the mainstream of public opinion, value marketing becomes increasingly important.

At the beginning of 2020, Neiwai, which focuses on underwire-free products, successfully gained a group of loyal female fans with its value declaration of "NO BODY IS NOBODY". But values ​​can lead to success or failure. At the beginning of this year, Quanmianshijie encountered a public opinion storm due to an advertisement that allegedly insulted women. Coupled with wrong public relations decisions, its reputation plummeted.

Values ​​are not a means, but are rooted in the brand culture and the blood of the operation team. Maybe you don’t want to chase this marketing trend, but your marketing content can no longer escape the judgment of the public.

Trend 6: National trend promotes the rapid development of traditional culture

China has a history of more than 5,000 years and is rich in traditional cultural resources. With the rise of national trends, traditional culture has gradually become an important source of creativity and content for brand marketing.

At the 2018 New York Fashion Week, China's three major brands, Li Ning, CLOT and PEACEBIRD, made a stunning appearance on the international stage with the feature of "Chinese originality", attracting all the attention.

For consumers, shopping is no longer just a way to obtain life solutions, but also an expression of attitude. Some products that incorporate traditional Chinese elements have become "national trend hits", proving that brands with Chinese cultural heritage are winning the respect and recognition of more people. Behind the rise of national trend marketing is the confidence and identification of the new generation of young people in traditional national culture.

Trend 7: Not only "She Economy" but also "It Economy"!

Looking back at 2020, women and pets have become the two major mainstream groups in an unstoppable manner.

Regarding "her economy": "Nothing But Thirty" and "Sisters Riding the Wind and Waves" have set off waves of public opinion. Since "She Economy" was included in the list of new Chinese words officially announced by the Ministry of Education in 2007, its market vitality has never diminished.

In 2020, many brands took advantage of the trend of female marketing and received good market feedback. It is foreseeable that in 2021, this economic train will only move faster and faster and become a popular choice for brand marketing.

About the "pet economy": Compared with the market boom of the "she economy", pet marketing in 2020 is still in its infancy. At the end of last year, Bear Claw Coffee unexpectedly became a hot topic and became a celebrity check-in spot. The bear paw sticking out of the cave to deliver coffee left a deep impression on many people. If we are careful enough, we will find that pet-themed content has almost occupied all major mainstream social platforms. Whether it is pictures or videos, they appear frequently and people love them very much.

Trend 8: Investing in Bilibili = Investing in Generation Z

In the past two years, with the launch of a series of high-quality content such as the "Redefined New Year's Eve Party", "Rap New Generation Variety Show", and the "Hou Lang", "Into the Sea", and "Happy Reunion" trilogy, Bilibili has transformed itself from a "small broken station" to a "large platform that cannot be ignored" at an almost crazy speed.

Behind this is also an important signal that Generation Z is moving towards the mainstream of society. If Douyin and Xiaohongshu can help brands win in the present, then occupying Bilibili means winning the future for brands.

Trend 9: New species of content technology enter the market

In the new era of content marketing, technology has enabled content production to become more diverse and intelligent. Tezan once summarized an overview of content technology, which included many content technology phenomena in 2020. We have also observed that more content technology practices focus on the production and delivery links, and the systematic construction of "content technology" infrastructure has just begun. We look forward to more new species to make marketing more intelligent and digital!

5 "good ideas", the brand is worth buying!

• Space Culture: Breaking Out of the Earth and Into the Universe

Contemporary brands are already looking beyond Earth’s boundaries! With the rapid development of the national economy and the aerospace industry, the combination of business and space culture has become a new opportunity for many brands to discover: recently, Jindian and Amul have teamed up to perform a series of good shows in the mysterious "Photo Studio"; in previous years, there was also Juhuasuan's "Space Plan", Zhihu's cross-border cooperation "Ask the Whole Universe" human plan, etc. Brand x space culture, how to take a small step?

• Color IP: Give the brand a colorful personality

Images are the basic components of vision, and we appreciate and create a world of countless images. Color has been a key element of design since ancient times, and the design, cultural, and psychological attributes behind it are increasingly attracting attention. In addition to the PANTONE color cards, Tmall has also launched e-commerce color cards such as "Geilihong" this year to guide the visual direction of the new year. So how do you turn color into IP?

Guo Hao and Li Jianming, "Traditional Chinese Colors: Color Aesthetics in the Forbidden City"

The author extracted colors from the cultural relics in the Forbidden City and consulted a large number of Chinese and Japanese documents to verify the names of the colors. For example, the “Cang Cang” in the Wanli-style blue-glazed and white-flowered tripod furnace comes from the “Cang Cang with light” in the “Records of the Grand Historian: Book of Celestial Officials”.

• Electronics, sports, games: The rise of the "straight male economy" (?)

In recent years, more than 90% of the growth in areas such as electronic products, sports peripherals, and e-sports live broadcasts has come from men, proving the huge consumption potential of the "straight male group." Games are the "lipstick" for straight men. Many boys exaggeratedly mocked themselves: "I can skip meals, but I can't skip playing games." Cheng Hang, the founder of Hupu, said in 2020 that the price-to-earnings ratio of men's brands in the secondary market is actually higher than that of women's clothing, because men have high brand loyalty and customers are easy to be targeted.

For new brands, the existing users have been firmly occupied by the original brands, and it is not easy to poach users. If you want to find the fulcrum to leverage the growth of the "straight male economy", building user loyalty around "sticking to the uniqueness of the brand IP" is a good choice.

• Sound Economy: Marketing Opportunities Hidden in the Ears

Today, Chinese people listen to an average of 132 minutes of audio content every day, and the medium itself has huge stickiness. Audio usage habits are gradually maturing, and with the upgrading of content consumption, podcasts are bound to become a new choice for audio content. In 2017, CHANEL created the brand podcast program "3.55", which became an important communication medium for the CHANEL brand.

The recent popularity of Clubhouse is based on its understanding and construction of voice social scenarios. Starting from voice, it is worth pondering how cross-border, IP and other gameplay will be followed up.

• Brand word: micro battle, light gameplay

Last year, Ele.me launched the theme of "Ele.me takeout, not only delivering food, but also delivering everything", and posters were copied 10,000 times along the subway line: "Have your customers made you angry?", "Have you died as a box when you landed?", "Are you no longer single?"... How can brands integrate user value into marketing actions, from marketing to culture, and penetrate into the minds of users? Is Ele.me's homework for you to copy?

Author: Black Zebra

Source: Black Zebra