10 marketing misunderstandings and 10 opportunities in 2020 (Part 2)

For marketing, 2020 was a year of challenges, but also of rare opportunities and dividends.

In the past six months, we have seen the huge role and social influence played by Internet companies in public emergencies during the epidemic;

We have seen the powerful driving force of marketing on business, from Kuaishou to DingTalk to Bilibili, driving the increase of daily active users and stock market value;

Seeing the continuous screen refresh, not only new players have frequent highlights, but also traditional companies like Lao Xiangji can shine;

I have seen countless positive and negative PR events, swordplay and saber-rattling: Haidilao, Jiang Fan, Fengchao, QQ Music…

Many companies have tightened their belts, but some have also increased their investments: online education, mobile phones, fast-moving consumer goods, and domestic fashion...

We have seen the new battlefield opened up by live streaming, the forging of a strong ecological chain and the eager players to try;

…

This year’s opportunity is very special and worth writing about.

The first part mainly talks about risks, and the second part talks about opportunities, which are:

1. Human Heart

2. The dividends of traditional media

3. Price Sensitivity

4. Stay in the circle

5. Cross-border: From marketing to business

6. Weaknesses

7. Play games with users

8. The Imagination of Live Broadcasting

9. Gang Model

10. Reshape

The whole article is very long warning! ! ! !

1. Human heart

Putting people's hearts first is because: the essence of marketing is to compete with people's hearts. The real opponent is not the competing products. The key to winning lies in whether you can win people's hearts.

This is also the most interesting part.

There are many variables this year, from industrial economy to social ecology to personal life, but the biggest change is actually people's hearts. Individuals' emotional sensitivity is enhanced (including empathy and transference), the infectiousness of emotions is significantly amplified, and they are more easily influenced by mainstream voices and opinions, and even become more extreme. When it comes to marketing, the power of these emotions cannot be ignored.

Some changes are noticeable:

Great sentiments and small happiness coexist : national pride, patriotism, compassion for the world, and the emotions of speaking out for justice and for vulnerable groups have expanded unprecedentedly. At the same time, the epidemic has also allowed us to spend more time with our families, pay more attention to our families, cherish the little beauties of a peaceful life, and yearn for stability, warmth, and companionship.

Self-pity and compassion for others : The general environment is not easy. A generation, a type of people, or a kind of people, facing the same difficulties and predicaments, can easily trigger emotional resonance. At the same time, the epidemic has made us pay more attention to the various aspects of life, pay more attention to the cries from afar, and have more empathy for the plight of others.

Belt-tightening and instant gratification : Even the same group of people may have both tendencies, hoping to live within their means and store up a sense of security, but also unable to resist pleasure, especially as a way of self-compensation and stress relief.

There are also some emotional tendencies that are quietly growing:

Under the influence of insecurity, public opinion seems to have become more critical and more easily influenced by mainstream public opinion; more sensitive to goodness and more hostile to evil;

Outward exploration and curiosity fade, more attention is paid to oneself and the inner self , tending to be stable, and more averse to risks;

During the epidemic, everyone stayed at home and now they have to be cautious about their jobs. They can't help feeling aggrieved, but they can't show it outwardly. What can be manifested is strong rebelliousness, especially the swelling rebellious psychology towards public events.

For marketers, these are all treasures: finding emotional resonance points from the connection between product business and consumers, leveraging the infectious power of emotions in content marketing, and adding hooks that touch people's hearts in the promotion of goods and services. If you hit people's hearts, you'll hit the vital point, making it possible to achieve a great result with little effort.

2. The dividends of traditional media

The television ratings have skyrocketed this year. In 2018 and 2019, very few shows had ratings over 2. In the first half of this year, if the ratings were less than 2, it would be embarrassing to say so. However, the corresponding advertising fees have not increased proportionally (perhaps traditional media are not as responsive). There is certainly no loss in advertising, but if it is combined with more innovative content or forms, it will undoubtedly have greater power, such as the combination of big ideas + big platforms - the advertisements of Kuaishou and Bilibili were released after the news broadcast.

Here comes a question:

Why are seemingly expensive projects such as television (including sponsorship and advertising) actually cost-effective?

"The most expensive advertisement is the cheapest, and the cheapest advertisement is the most expensive - Duan Yongping"

Let us first understand why TV advertising is expensive? (And it cannot be diverted directly)

The reason why it is expensive is, first of all, the user's attention concentration on the content. Good content has a significant effect on attracting user attention. The difference in attention concentration between watching TV and reading news on mobile phones is huge. Many brand owners buy product placements instead of hard advertising because during the hard advertising period, many viewers just turn on the TV and focus on other things (so for TVC, sound is even more important than picture).

More importantly, this part of advertising fees not only purchases the advertising space, but also purchases the exclusivity of the advertising in a unit time period. This is fundamentally different from short video platforms such as Douyin and Kuaishou:

People's acceptance of information in a unit of time is limited, and this is even more true for advertising information. For variety show placement, generally only one placement segment can be guaranteed within 5 minutes. In other words, these 5 minutes belong to this brand, including the acceptance and digestion of information. What follows is often the content, not the next advertisement. But when you watch short videos or watch information streams, you will obviously encounter more than one advertisement within 5 minutes. Your attention is distracted and diluted by several advertising information, which will reduce the impact and conversion rate.

The same goes for live streaming. Some people say that live streaming is not only for selling goods, but can also be used as brand advertising, and it is very cheap. But the reality is that during the live broadcast of selling goods, the products are displayed one by one, and the order is immediately guided after the product is mentioned. After the people who want to buy make a purchase, the memory is immediately cleared and they move on to the next product. In the tight pace, everyone is overwhelmed, and the space for cognition and memory is squeezed, so it is difficult to form an exclusive memory and good impression of a certain brand or product (unless an order has been placed). Therefore, if live streaming is used as brand advertising, the CPM cost is very low, but the effect is not good.

In addition to television media, the benefits of outdoor advertising are also worthy of attention. Prices have dropped a lot now. With the increase in travel in the second half of the year, it is also quite cost-effective to place an order at a low price to reserve a spot.

3. Price sensitivity

The overall environment is not good, everyone is more sensitive to prices and is busy saving money.

This is certainly a challenge for businesses, but also an opportunity.

Just because consumers are eager to save money doesn't mean they will make rational decisions.

Therefore, for businesses, it does not mean that they have to compress profits to cater to the demand.

On the contrary, because of the price-sensitive signal, it also provides marketers with clear pointers:

Take advantage of free and low-cost Magic Pack Hook products and services;

High cost-effectiveness and high utilization rate can be powerful weapons of persuasion;

Impulse sales methods such as discounts and promotions are more likely to stimulate impulse buying;

…

For example, we launched a new product in May - Xiaodu Education Smart Screen, which is a smart screen for children. It costs 699 yuan, which is higher than previous similar products, but it sold well after it was launched. Because it gives parents a reason to save money:

Xiaodu Education Smart Screen, a six-in-one device (integrating the functions of early childhood education machine, reading machine, repeater, tablet, etc.), is a fighter among learning machines. It means that you spend 699 yuan and don’t have to buy other more expensive devices, and you can even save enough for an LV.

4. Stay in the circle

In many marketing campaigns, everyone is trying to go beyond the circle and trigger wider discussion and attention, thereby increasing the premium of communication.

However, going viral requires very high overall brand awareness, creativity, and media combinations, and sometimes it is something that can only be achieved by chance.

On the contrary, launching a saturation attack and full penetration on the circle and extending the time dimension is an easier way to operate and has a more stable effect. This part of the budget does not require much, the targets are more precise, and can continuously create splashes in a pond.

This approach is also more likely to succeed for advertising and creativity because it targets a more specific group of people. What are they thinking, what are their worries and pain points, what are their concerns and expectations. Which topics spark discussion and which words stimulate reactions are easier to capture.

In fact, not being in the circle is also an opportunity to stand out. If we create a chemical reaction that is big enough in a relatively narrow field, it is possible to attract the public to watch and participate in the discussion.

5. Cross-border: from marketing to business

The cross-border trend has been blowing for a long time. In 2017 and 2018, there were many classic cases.

The following is the view of Mr. Cat, a senior cross-industry person:

What can cross-border bring? The marketing department of Party A, who has little money but wants to stir up trouble, is banding together for warmth? 】

It's not just a joke, especially recently I saw some classmates understand that cross-border marketing means issuing joint posters. I think it is necessary to explain my understanding and definition:

1. The essence of cross-border marketing is that both parties have common target users and then jointly launch a social movement based on insights into a certain scenario.

2. Successful cross-border marketing cooperation will definitely bring positive long-tail effects to the business growth of both parties.

3. Cross-border marketing is a relatively advanced way of thinking for marketers, which must be based on a certain understanding of one’s own brand boundary breakthroughs, user characteristics, and business logic .

4. How to leverage cross-border partners? Recently I had the honor of attending a very valuable training session. One of the highlighted sentences in the training session was enough to illustrate the key points: emotion is more important than intelligence, and strategy begins with altruism .

Cross-border cooperation, first of all, can update the brand image. Therefore, the first batch of players are traditional brands such as Liushen and White Rabbit. By actively crossing borders, they have broken through the original limitations and shackles of their brand image, brought new ideas and attracted younger users. It also contributed to topics and discussions.

Of course, this effect can also be achieved through product upgrades, spokesperson updates, and brand renewals, but on the one hand, the cost is higher and the execution is more difficult. On the other hand, the significance of cross-border operations lies in doing both. For existing brand users, it will not cause too radical changes and will still have a familiar taste. At the same time, new users can be attracted through cross-border products or packaging.

In terms of contributing to the topic, brand cross-border business is also a low-cost and high-return business. Good ideas have low replicability, but cross-border business can be carried out in batches and in a modeled manner, constantly attracting attention and discussion. Heytea is a player that has reaped the benefits.

This year, cross-border collaborations, brand CPs, and love-hate relationships are emerging in an endless stream.

But the risk is that when everyone is doing it, the premium will be less.

Therefore, this year's cross-border cooperation should shift its focus from pure business to business itself, and realize mutual exchange through cross-border cooperation:

Product complementary cross-border: Cross-border products that are used together have natural advantages, especially in improving the conversion rate of bundled sales, such as biscuits and milk.

Cross-border partners with complementary users : The users of each other happen to be potential users or new target users, and they can achieve a win-win situation by attracting each other's users to convert to each other through cross-border cooperation, thus saving the cost of channel promotion for both parties; for example, Shu Uemura and Onitsuka Tiger, which were just officially announced.

Channel complementary cross-border partners : Cross-border online and offline channels is also a good choice, which can expand channels and user touchpoints more effectively at a lower cost (user attributes convergence), such as the recent hot competition between Meituan and McDonald's

IP cross-border introduces third-party players : Pure IP cross-border may be riskier than the first two categories, because it is necessary to pay IP cooperation and profit-sharing fees, and most IPs themselves do not have purchasing channels.

At this time, the best practice is to find value-sharing parties . For example, e-commerce platforms need IP to cross-border attract attention, and live broadcast or content platforms need IP to create content. These platforms share the value of IP and provide communication and promotion channels, which can achieve a win-win situation for all three parties (the brand can also make up for the cost of buying IP).

6. Weaknesses

In recent years, with the deconstruction of authoritative media and the development of Internet social methods, brands have gradually stepped down from the altar and become flesh-and-blood "people". Communication methods such as equality, sincerity, speaking human language, and self-deprecation have become popular and have gained a wave of goodwill and support.

This year, I think we need to go a step further:

It’s not about self-deprecation, but facing your weaknesses

Because when we talk about differentiation, we often emphasize the advantages over competitors, but don’t forget that weaknesses are also the most essential differentiation of products or services.

The existence of weaknesses can better illustrate strengths.

Brands keep talking about how great they are, but users have become immune to it and don’t like to hear it; what about making fun of themselves? (Most of the time they just criticize insignificant things), and everyone is tired of this routine.

At this time, choosing to face your weaknesses will make people feel more sincere.

For example, some healthy snacks are not so delicious (not sweet, not strong in flavor), but fitness people are more assured;

Some functions cannot be used, which is inconvenient for adults but a protection for children.

Some products have few functions and unsophisticated packaging, but the price is correspondingly low;

…

There is gain only when there is sacrifice. Products and services cannot meet all the needs of everyone. They must have weaknesses to have characteristics. In marketing, being sincere enough to face weaknesses, or even extracting weaknesses and actively communicating with users, I think is an approach worth trying.

In fact, many brands have already done this:

——Taobao’s low-priced version emphasizes its visual ugliness, which actually makes people feel more assured about the price (but it still has too much marketing connotation and lacks sincerity);

——Burger King recently launched a "moldy burger" poster, which is intended to emphasize its freshness;

——Yu Xiaoge, the big-eyed shop owner I have been following, has always evaluated his own products from an objective and demanding perspective: "Until we find better raw materials, you can just eat as much as you want for now. The quantity we make is not too large." This actually makes people feel reassured.

When you are having a brainstorm recently, think about what the biggest weakness of your product is, which may bring you unexpected surprises.

7. Play games with users

This idea is not new. But it’s still worth mentioning this year. Because it is also a low-cost marketing method.

How to play games with users?

The first method is to attract users to purchase by participating in games

The second method is to use games to attract existing users to play, create content, and spread it through social platforms to attract new users.

The first type is actually done a lot in offline service industries, such as collecting cards, challenging the big eater, etc. Physical products or services can also be used in the form of games to blur or reduce consumers' decision-making costs. Similar to the betting operation of Vatti, consumers are allowed to participate in a gamble; IKEA's early pregnancy test paper reaches the target group more accurately; and there are also examples of offering a privilege or interesting service for free while selling products.

The second method is to use existing gaming methods (game interactions between users and products and services) to attract new players. This method is also very common. Short videos and live broadcasts can amplify influence and self-propagation, such as eating Oreos in various ways, unlocking hidden milk tea menus, and manually DIY furniture. For products or services, if you design a unique interactive game, it will not only attract the public's attention and interest, but also create valuable exclusive content and continue to attract new customers.

8. The imagination of live broadcast

Finally I have written about live streaming, this hot topic.

Some time ago, live broadcasts by bigwigs and celebrities were all over the screen, and there were also several articles saying that the B-side of live broadcasts (cheating, fake orders, and gray industry) were widely circulated in the industry.

The role of live streaming in selling goods has been mentioned in the previous article: human-shaped Juhuasuan, large-scale group buying, store traffic diversion and clearance, improving e-commerce rankings, etc., so I will not go into details here.

What is more worth talking about is how live streaming, as a form of brand promotion, can transform the benefits of industry attention into real promotion benefits?

In the live broadcast room where the host is selling goods, it is very difficult to make users remember the brand in such a intensive rhythm. Especially for top anchors, brands cannot interfere with their speech and wording, let alone setting highlight content. If you want to gain memorability and favorability, the usual practice is to invite a spokesperson to the live broadcast room to strive for a longer period of time and more sparking communication. If there is no spokesperson, you can only invite the boss and executives in to deepen the impression.

Going a step further, if we take into account both entertainment and watchability, we can treat live broadcast as an event, as content and as advertisement. It requires careful design, otherwise the chance of success will be very low if you just buy a spot.

Currently, many brands are trying to make live streaming more content-based and more imaginative. We are also trying, and here are some of our experiences:

Live broadcast design and advertising content planning are not the same. People watch live broadcasts instead of videos because they are real and interactive. Therefore, these two factors need to be regarded as the most important factors in the planning process. However, the difficulty lies in that realism and interactivity come from the fun brought by uncertainty, but uncertainty is precisely difficult to design in advance.

So, what is the solution?

First, ensure realism while making it watchable - by creating conflict:

1. Put people, things and objects that may conflict in one space and wait for chemical reactions;

2. Prepare conflicting events and highlights, such as a minor upset or unexpected behavior (bold challenge, criticism, telling the truth), and wait for subsequent reactions (of course, public relations must also be prepared)

Second, make interaction part of the content of the live broadcast, rather than simply holding a lottery or asking questions.

For example, content that guides interaction and is highly relevant to the content:

——Working in children's education, answering elementary school students' homework questions interactively

——Beauty-related, beauty product knowledge test (design funny answers from straight men to spread them again)

——For those who are taking diet food, please report your height and weight bravely (you can embed celebrities weighing themselves on the spot to enhance the comparison)

Of course, in addition to the above-mentioned live broadcasts with strong topics, you can also consider live broadcasts with strong companionship. The former is driven by curiosity, creating interesting gimmicks to attract viewers, while the latter is a long-term accumulation. Now when we think of the brand position, we think of Weibo and Douyin. In fact, live streaming is also a good choice for operating social media positions. For example, brands can accompany users in live broadcast rooms at regular intervals and with specific themes.

9. Gang Mode

I have recently communicated with some market people, and they generally feel that this year has particularly tested reaction speed and the ability to adapt flexibly, including judging changes in market conditions and people's hearts and minds, predicting dividends or risks, and dealing with various sudden situations.

There was a saying before called "from gang to team", which means more formal and orderly. But now it seems that the marketing and public relations team, as a group, is more flexible and mobile, and more adaptable to the environment.

What is a gang? A small group of people who gather and collaborate temporarily under the drive of interests. They interact closely and collaborate closely, but their collaboration is temporary and there is no strict mechanism to constrain and regulate them.

The essence of a group lies in its temporary nature, because business goals and marketing activities have too many variables under the current circumstances. In the past, the team division of strategy, operation, copywriting, and media adapted to the corresponding standardized marketing activities, but there are more comprehensive, complex and innovative projects, more opportunities and challenges. Such a division of labor (sticking to one's own position or even defining one's own territory) is difficult to adapt to the trend of change because of inherent thinking and interest limitations, and lack of motivation to achieve collective goals.

However, the temporary groups are gathered together for specific tasks. They have a high degree of identification with each other and can cooperate quickly to break the limitations of division of labor and charge forward to achieve current goals. After the goal is achieved, you can gather freely and flexibly according to the next goal.

This is a way of gathering troops that can fight tough battles.

Some people say, what is the difference between this and a cross-team combination? In the actual operation process across teams, it is difficult to fully form a synergy due to differences in reporting relationships and goals, but in a group, the group's goal is the most important goal for everyone at the time. It’s easier to motivate everyone.

The gang model also helps to achieve the survival of the fittest. In the process of forming gangs, because it is a dynamic selection mechanism, the leader of each gang hopes to gather the strongest people to achieve the goal, thereby automatically achieving the survival of the fittest in the selection.

The gang model can not only exist within the organization, but also form a gang of Party A, Party B, and partners in a short period of time.

10. Reinvention

The previous one is more realistic

The last one may be a bit vague, but I think it is indeed the biggest opportunity this year.

Before discussing this opportunity, I would like to talk about the issue that gives market people the most headaches - marginal utility.

If you have worked on a business or product that has grown from scratch, you will know that if the product or service proves to be recognized by the market, there will be a period of rapid growth (the so-called high-speed growth that you can even laugh in your dreams), and word of mouth will allow for rapid breakthroughs and surges among the target population. But unfortunately, this period may not be very long. On the one hand, there are competitors trying to get a piece of the pie, and on the other hand, the target market is gradually becoming saturated (in other words, the easiest group of people to be washed have already been washed). We find that the cost-effectiveness of the investment has decreased, but we have to invest, otherwise the brand popularity will drop even more sharply and we will face cannibalization by competitors. This period of stagflation, which brings about diminishing marginal utility, is the most uncomfortable.

At this time, the effect of optimization will not be particularly obvious, and reconstruction is the most important way to save yourself.

Reinvention is not only about launching new products, new businesses or services, but also about mental repositioning, whether it is innovating the original value proposition or entering a new track in the industry .

Because new products are still aimed at users who are aware of the brand or have purchasing behavior, although they can increase repeat purchases, the capacity of non-high-frequency products is still limited; people who are not interested may never be interested unless there is a huge compromise on price. But the significance of reshaping is to make users who were not yours originally become new users because of the makeover screen [from skin to core].

For example, Victoria's Secret's reshaping of its values ​​(not necessarily successful), DingTalk's reshaping of its brand image, and Heytea's segmentation and reshaping of its target groups.

Why this year is a good time to reinvent, especially for brands with a certain reputation

First, due to the influence of the overall environment, the key to revitalizing the economy lies in domestic demand. There is still a gap between us and overseas brands in terms of industry structure and consumer awareness, but the demand education on the consumer side has been cultivated, and the minds that were originally harvested by overseas brands have shifted to domestic brands. In addition, due to the impact of the economy, the number of new brands has decreased (the risks are high and fewer people dare to start businesses), which has created an excellent opportunity and space for mature brands and even growing brands.

Second, the segmentation of consumption, the rise of subcultures and the formation of circles. In the post-epidemic era, differences in consumption capacity and willingness have further intensified. At the same time, niche cultures and subcultures have begun to grow, and circles based on economic life and culture have accelerated their formation. For brands, it means more opportunities for reshaping and increased security because they can first separate themselves from existing businesses, such as entering a specific consumer group or a new circle.

Third, operating costs are reduced. Whether setting up new businesses by oneself or through purchases (acquisitions), costs have dropped significantly, and the corresponding market launch and promotion costs have also been lower than before.

So, how to reshape yourself (new business, new track), specifically at the marketing and public relations level, what changes and what remains unchanged.

What remains unchanged is the hard part, which is the trust foundation formed by the original products and services themselves. This part of trust will be continued in terms of function, quality and service, including emphasizing team, standards and consistent capabilities.

This part is accomplished through public relations and in-depth communication.

What changes is the soft part, in terms of brand image, emotional communication and personality shaping, because it targets different people, different images and ways of expression are needed to deal with them.

This part is reflected in VI, brand advertising, content marketing, topic and event marketing.

Here is another thought

When entering a new track, do you mainly adopt the strategy of targeting a certain group of people? ——That is, expand the boundaries of services around the target users of core services.

This principle seems to be correct, but in practice both large and small factories have encountered difficulties. For example, in 2014, everyone was doing social networking, but big companies failed to succeed. For example, QQ Group tried to target the middle class and provide cultural and material consumption, but ended up selling its e-commerce business. For example, Tencent and Toutiao, one was doing short videos and the other was doing social networking, but they still failed to succeed even if they used all their own products to attract traffic (existing users).

The reason is that existing users cannot be regarded as traffic that can be diverted from one hand to the other. Every new business must have its own value in order to achieve mental recognition. This part of recognition depends on real value - relying on the company's differentiated advantages in technology, channels, and ecological layout.

This is also the meaning of reshaping: leveraging existing core advantages to target new groups of people (rather than deriving new businesses around existing groups of people) has a high chance of success.

The topics of marketing are:

1. Package the core capabilities of the enterprise into brand power and create a trustworthy business card for entering new markets;

2. Create new and effective ways of communicating with new groups of people.

This article took me a long time to write because I have been very busy and stressed recently.

Most of the ideas I write down come from painful practice.

For market people, part of the source of pain is that many times it is like doing experiments and crossing a river by feeling the stones. However, experiments require tuition fees and therefore bring tremendous psychological pressure. Therefore, experience is important, but the market is unpredictable and existing experience may become invalid at any time.

Therefore, you have to accumulate the ability to understand people's hearts and the world, and you have to invest and absorb new information every minute and every second.

But this is also the charm of marketing itself.

It's worth our best efforts.

Author: Lan Lan

Source: Taro and Cat Talk ( taro_cat ）

Related reading:

2020: 10 marketing misunderstandings and 10 opportunities (Part 1)