How to formulate a promotion plan?

Many times, the process of formulating a promotion and marketing plan is the process of overcoming brain errors. When you find that you are wrong, you are often already half right.

Have you ever had such doubts: "I have mastered many marketing methods and copywriting skills, but the plans I have made are still full of loopholes" "Even if I have just learned a certain method, I still make the same mistakes when using it"... In fact, it is not that we do not have enough methods. One of the important reasons for the above situation is that: “We did not eliminate interference factors when thinking.”

Please think about this question: What is the biggest difference between a master chess player and an ordinary chess player when playing chess?

Many people may answer: Grandmaster chess players are able to consider more steps when playing chess.

Well, that’s the answer from most people.

However, an experiment on the "expert-novice difference" conducted by psychologist De Groot (1965) tells us that this is not the case: he tested the thinking processes of chess masters and relatively weaker players at the same time and found that the number of possible steps considered by master players and ordinary players when playing chess is roughly the same.

However, the time they spend thinking about each move is only 1/4 to 1/8 of that of ordinary players.

The reason for such a big difference is that it is easier for grandmasters to eliminate interference factors and choose the best steps when playing chess.

Moreover, De Groot found in subsequent repeated experiments that the ability accumulated by a chess master after years of training is more reflected in his recognition of situation patterns rather than considering more possible steps.

Because better identification of situation patterns can help them eliminate interfering steps and choose the best solution.

Yes, since human intuition is inherently full of loopholes, the process of designing a solution is more like a process of overcoming loopholes and eliminating interfering factors.

As a result, we have seen a lot of copywriting that has not successfully overcome the "interference factor":

"Innovative life, ultimate experience"

There are countless words like "simple", "imagination", "extreme", and "excellence" that the authors hope users can have beautiful associations from, but in fact, users can't imagine anything.

One of the important reasons why this kind of self-congratulatory copywriting comes into being is that we only imagine the consumers' feelings based on our intuition.

We assume that users can understand the advantages of the product and have good associations with it. Often, this wrong premise becomes a interference factor when we design a plan. Accurately identifying such interference factors and eliminating them often determines the ultimate effectiveness of the plan.

Having said so much, what kind of interference factors exist in our intuition when designing marketing plans?

There are two main points:

1. False assumptions based on intuition;
2. The “illusion of analysis” is based on the brain’s reward mechanism.

1. Wrong assumptions based on intuition

In the previous article, I mentioned that countless self-congratulatory copywriting like "innovative life, ultimate experience" often originates from the premise assumptions generated by our intuition, and many times the user feelings we assume do not exist.

But why are assumptions based on intuition so often wrong?

One of the important reasons is that it is difficult for us to go back to the state before we understood the product.

For example, I once saw a copy like this on a crowdfunding website:

"Growing vegetables. Fairy box"

I believe that you, like me, find it difficult to understand what this sentence means after seeing it.

For a crowdfunding product, if consumers cannot quickly know "what you are" and "what it does" within 1 second, few people will continue to read the subsequent details page copy.

After spending nearly 5 minutes to understand it, I realized that this is a product that allows you to grow vegetables at home. So why didn’t they just say “You can grow vegetables at home” when designing the copy?

Even if the copy is not moving enough, it can at least allow consumers to understand it quickly.

In fact, the reason why this kind of copy is written is that the copywriter himself already knows the product very well, so it is difficult for him to imagine what his state was like when he "did not understand the product" - and this is exactly the state that consumers are in now.

It’s like you already know the truth, but you force yourself to forget it and go back to your previous state. This is a very painful thing, and our brain will actively avoid thinking.

This is where the interference factor of intuition comes in.

How to avoid it?

In fact, when designing marketing plans, we often fall into this trap: thinking about the customers.

There is nothing wrong with "thinking about the customers" in itself, but only thinking about the customers from your own perspective often leads to mistakes.

So we think from our own perspective that "customers will understand after watching it", "the advertisement provides so many selling points, it will definitely impress users", "the product is so good, customers will definitely like it"...

Yes, everyone is thinking about the customers, but invisibly, too many wrong "pre-assumptions" are generated.

The correct way to eliminate interference factors is not to "start from your own perspective and think for the customer", but to "think from the customer's perspective"

Previously, when I was choosing a new office address for my company, I met many enthusiastic sales consultants who were very good at "considering customers". After learning about my needs, they would send me a lot of office space information on WeChat. Among them, factors such as "area, price, geographical location" and so on are all taken into consideration very clearly.

But what’s the problem with this?

They are only "thinking about me but not from my perspective".

I have to handle my own work every day and contact more than one sales consultant to compare property information.

So when they throw all the properties they think are suitable for me to me, a new problem arises - how do I go to see them?

Different properties involve different selection factors, whether it is price, area or location, I have to compare these factors one by one, but when faced with a large amount of property information thrown by each sales consultant, I don’t have the extra experience to organize this information.

So, I explained my pain points to one of the sales consultants and suggested that he list each property listing according to different dimensions, present it on a PPT and send it to me together. The information would be clear at a glance, so that I could compare and choose more quickly.

After learning my suggestion, the salesperson was very surprised and exclaimed, "It's such a simple thing, why didn't I think of it before?"

Therefore, the method to eliminate this interference factor is actually very simple. Don’t just consider the customers from your own perspective, but reshape the consumers’ real life scenes and think from the customers’ perspective.

2. The “illusion of analysis” generated by the brain’s reward mechanism

Most people will encounter such a problem in their studies:

When we see useful information sharing and open classes by big names on the Internet, we often feel an urge to download it immediately.

So, when the information is downloaded and quietly stored in our computer, it feels like we have just digested the knowledge.

It also means that these materials will never be opened by us again.

“Well, the information is there, and it feels good and reassuring.”

This is a signal from our brain.

However, sadly, we often don’t realize that we have fallen into the “illusion of knowledge”.

This is a psychological phenomenon known as the "foreknowledge effect."

When a person's brain imagines doing something, even if he doesn't actually do it, he will have a feeling that he has already done it.

It’s like you fantasize that you have caught up with your goddess, but you didn’t catch her. However, the dopamine in your brain will be secreted, making you feel that it has really come true.

Therefore, when we download a lot of e-books online, even if we haven’t finished reading them, we will feel like we have finished reading them after downloading.

Similar to the "illusion of knowledge", we also have the "illusion of analysis" when designing marketing plans.

Today, almost any marketing student is proficient in using "SWOT Analysis" and "Boston Matrix". The so-called advantages, disadvantages, opportunities, and problems are widely used tools, especially in entrepreneurial competitions or graduation theses.

The reason for this is very simple: they all have one biggest characteristic, anyone can easily fill in these four boxes and find an "illusion of analysis" - feeling that they are analyzing the problem and producing results. Otherwise, look at that full grid.

However, this often fails to address the essence of the problem: “accurate product positioning”, “user-oriented services”, “inadequate team resources”…

These observations are based on the program itself and do not solve any practical problems.

On the contrary, this illusion of "results having been produced" will interfere with our thinking about the real essential issues.

How to avoid it?

In fact, whether a solution is good or not is not determined by how the solution itself is optimized, but by what questions it answers.

For example, most people who make computer goggles start from the surface attributes when designing marketing appeals: anti-radiation, anti-blue light, and prevention of eye fatigue.

So we see that Taobao is caught in homogeneous product competition.

However, the question some people ask themselves is: Why do people need goggles at all?

Yes, what needs do computer goggles meet? What other needs can be met?

Later, marketers found this insight:

For the target groups who use goggles, such as "game lovers" and "TV drama fans", they hate being interrupted when playing games or watching TV. The eye soreness from staring at the screen for a long time will cause them to feel guilty and force them to stop.

So, there is such a marketing appeal:

• xx goggles, which allow you to play LOL for 6 hours straight without your eyes getting sore;
• xx goggles will allow you to watch "Ode to Joy" continuously without feeling sore eyes.

Similarly, if you were asked to design a rag doll, what would you do?

Many people will start from the design itself and list the criteria to determine whether a doll is good or bad: cartoon image, material quality, comfort level, etc.

Looking at the full set of analysis results, we then developed a cuter, better-made, and more comfortable doll. However, this is essentially an optimization of the surface of the solution based on the "illusion of analysis."

But another group of people ask themselves this question: Why do children need dolls? What needs did the dolls satisfy?

Re-asking these most fundamental questions can often lead to better answers.

So, the Barbie Doll Company answered the question again, and they found that what little girls need from dolls is not companionship, but to see their adult selves in advance.

Therefore, Barbie developed an adult doll for the first time, meeting the most essential needs of the target market.

Therefore, re-questioning the solution rather than just filling the analytical tool with answers that make you comfortable can help you break out of the "illusion of analysis."

3. Conclusion

Many times, the process of developing a marketing plan is the process of overcoming brain errors. When you find that you are wrong, you are often half right. In this article, we pointed out two common "intuitive interference factors" we encounter when making marketing plans: incorrect assumptions brought about by intuition; "illusion of analysis" caused by the brain's reward mechanism; and gave methods to eliminate interference factors. However, the interference factors actually encountered may be far more than the above two, which will be analyzed in detail in later articles.