Marketing strategies of 5 emerging domestic brands!

This article mainly analyzes the success of five brands, namely PMPM Global Formula, Stream Source, HBN, Dr. Alva and HELIUS, from the perspectives of brand style, brand positioning, visual presentation, key promotion channels and how to increase sales.

Recently I saw a hot content that was widely circulated on the Internet: People's Daily and Lao Luo began to join forces and prepared to conduct live streaming sales of domestic products on Douyin.

On May 10, Tmall launched the New Domestic Products Awards, which made everyone feel that various platforms have begun to vigorously support domestic products.

Together with Perfect Diary, the popularity of Hua Xizi also proves that Chinese people are becoming more and more accepting of domestic products.

Because the brand I am currently working on is also positioned as a domestic product, I recently took the opportunity to conduct a comprehensive analysis of several newly emerging domestic brands in China.

During analysis, we found:

• PMPM, which is quite popular now, officially started operation in March this year, and the sales of its official store in April exceeded 1.2 million;
• Ximuyuan was officially launched in January this year, and by April the sales of the entire brand had exceeded 2 million;
• HBN’s Tmall store officially opened in July 2019. As of the time of statistics, its cumulative sales in the past 10 months exceeded 50 million.

Various data show that domestic products are beginning to usher in their own spring.

How to harvest abundant fruits from this fertile soil becomes extremely important.

I decided to look for the answer from a few brands that have been on the rise recently.

A total of 5 brands were analyzed this time, namely PMPM Global Formula, Streamwood, HBN, Dr. Alva, and HELIUS. The analysis is mainly conducted from the angles of brand style, brand positioning, visual presentation, key promotion channels, and how to increase sales.

Of course, there is also a little easter egg, which is the discovery of several high-quality influencers on different platforms who have been reinvested by brands and have great data results.

1. PMPM Global Formula

The brand core of PMPM Global Formula is to start with the open formula X+Y+Z. X is a global natural ingredient, Y is a star scientific research ingredient, and Z is a patented synergistic technology. It uses multiple effective extracted ingredients to solve skin problems. This brand's appearance belongs to the clean macaron color system.

The first impression is that it is similar to a large number of DTC categories abroad, such as Drunk Elephant (above) and Medature (below).

Compared with the packaging and visual presentation of existing domestic products, PMPM's overall packaging is still relatively innovative. I placed an order for their No.1 product "Glowing Dough", and both the suitcase-like outer packaging box and the after-sales cards inside were very thoughtful.

But there are no gifts given away, which can be slightly improved compared with other domestic products.

PMPM officially started operations in March this year, and the official store’s sales in April exceeded 1.2 million. By tracking their sales and traffic sources for the past 30 days, I found that Taobao's sales accounted for more than 65%, which means they have some external channels for shipping and are promoting their products.

So I took a look at mainstream sales channels such as Xiaohongshu, Douyin, WeChat official accounts, Bilibili, Kuaishou, etc., and soon discovered that PMPM's promotion was mainly concentrated on Xiaohongshu and Kuaishou.

More importantly, it was found that their direct sales were brought by Kuaishou live streaming, and the sales of Kuaishou live streaming in the past 30 days were estimated to be around 1 million. The main celebrities are "Xuanmai Meir it (chewing gum)", "Uncle Dai (high-level troll)" and "Wang Doudou's Childhood".

Key points:

• In the public's perception, Kuaishou is an image that sells low-priced products, and its products are relatively rustic. However, from the case of PMPM, we can see that Kuaishou is now a large enough pool that can grow brands of various styles.
• From the brand's perspective, never give up any channel that you think is inappropriate, but make judgments based on actual tests.

2. Ximuyuan

Ximuyuan also started promoting its brand this year, and its main concept is global natural plant extracts. The overall style of the brand is natural, and the colors are taken from the colors of the corresponding extracted plants.

There are currently two product series, one is the higher-end CBD hemp extract series, with an average price of around 250 yuan.

The other is the camellia extract series, which is relatively more affordable, with an average price of around 100 yuan.

This brand was officially launched in January this year. In April, the sales of the entire brand exceeded 2 million, and the growth rate was very fast. Currently, sales are concentrated in two stores, the Ximuyuan official store and the Ximuyuan flagship store.

My analysis below will mainly focus on the official store of Ximuyuan. The sales of this store in the past 30 days were 1.46 million, of which Taobao's transactions accounted for 44%, and the conversion rate exceeded 50%. This broke my previous understanding of Taobao's basic conversion data. However, the repurchase rate of their old customers is 15%, which shows that their product strength is relatively good.

Comparing with several mainstream external channels for selling goods, we found that they have almost no content on Douyin and Kuaishou, but the volume of Xiaohongshu is relatively large, especially in February and March of this year, with an intensive delivery. In April, the store should have achieved stable traffic and conversion data, so it began to reduce delivery and maintain stability.

Bilibili is their main sales channel, and more than 80% of bloggers have placed Taobao purchase links.

The use of celebrity materials (Shu Qi) by public accounts is also a major way to directly convert Taobao customers. The reading volume in the past 60 days has reached 640,000. Excluding those who directly jump to the mini program to make a deal, it is estimated that about 40% of the conversions are made through Taobao links.

Key points:

• As a treasure trove of traffic that has not been deeply explored, new brands can make more attempts in Bilibili.
• Although public accounts have been harvested by brands over and over again, there are still opportunities. Try more and find a marketing strategy that suits your brand.

3. HBN

The HBN brand was established in 2018. It is an ingredient-oriented brand that adheres to the concepts of "no additives" and "visible effects". Each product is compounded with multiple highly effective ingredients. Taking the star product “Luminous Water” as an example, its main function is brightening and whitening.

The product contains the most popular and effective whitening ingredients on the market (arbutin + vitamin C + licorice root). The packaging style is similar to Aesop (right), laboratory-style, the type preferred by ingredient-focused brands.

HBN opened its Tmall store in July 2019. Prior to that, the Taobao store had been established for a year, and its annual sales are expected to be close to 2 million.

However, the sales of Tmall stores began to exceed 15 million in March this year. As of the time of statistics: Tmall’s cumulative sales in the past 10 months have exceeded 50 million. By analyzing their sales traffic data for the past 30 days, the main sales are also from Taobao, accounting for 51%, live broadcast accounts for 7%, and Taobao paid sales account for 9%.

We also looked for its main Taobao affiliate sources. In the past month, there were 15 Douyin accounts that sold products through videos and 75 live broadcasts. The most powerful influencer was "Achun is a counterfeit tester", who brought sales of 308,000 to the brand in a single broadcast.

Of course, they also do live broadcasts on Kuaishou, but not very often. The top live streaming celebrity who has been effective in selling their products is Yu Wanwan, who can bring in around 130,000 in sales for the brand in a single show.

HBN has also increased its investment in Bilibili this year. It should be that it has found a suitable point for increasing its volume on Bilibili. Judging from its promotional content, there are also relatively many direct sales links. Brands that want to place ads on Bilibili in the future can pay more attention to HBN’s path and logic.

HBN’s sales conversion on the official account is mainly achieved through two methods: distribution cooperation and direct jump to mini-program sales. However, the accounts chosen for cooperation are all large accounts. In the past 60 days, 58 ads have been released, mainly focusing on fashion, beauty and skin care, life, and emotions. The reinvestment rate of the accounts is around 10%, which shows that they have successfully screened out accounts that can bring goods through preliminary tests.

With the opening of the Tmall store, HBN’s investment in Xiaohongshu is also on an upward trend.

Key points:

• Many times when we make an investment, we don’t necessarily need to explore so many cooperation channels at the same time, but rather we can base it on our own brand tone and needs. For example, whether it is for selling goods or brand promotion, then the channel selection should be carried out rhythmically.
• After choosing your own channel, you should choose the promotion influencer. Should you start with the lower-tier influencers or directly look for the top influencers to cooperate in selling products? Think clearly about your needs before spending money, and you will get twice the result with half the effort.

4. Dr. Alva

Dr.Alva is a brand founded by Freda in June 2018. It is a skin care brand that uses the most concise and effective formula to reduce irritation to the skin while enhancing the skin's self-healing ability and accurately repairing skin problems. The brand style is mainly clean blue and white with a sense of technology.

Although it was founded in 2018, it was officially launched on Tmall in April 2019, and formal operations began in July 2019. As of the end of April 20, cumulative sales exceeded 50 million.

I still conducted research based on their Tmall store sales and traffic sources in the past 30 days: Taobao customers accounted for 48%. Like the previous brands, they all drove sales through a large number of direct sales channels, repeat purchases from old customers accounted for 15%, and search transactions accounted for 20%. These are the better performing brands among these brands, with good product strength and brand potential.

The following figure shows the advertising campaign of Tik Tok in the past month. Although the number of influencers involved is not large, they are all top influencers. There are many live broadcasts, and it is estimated that the sales of goods on Douyin in the past 30 days are about 2.5 million. The main contribution to its sales comes from the live broadcast of the celebrity "Achun is a counterfeit reviewer".

In the past month, Kuaishou has produced about 60 pieces of content and 12 live broadcasts, with sales estimated at around 1.2 million, mainly from seven mid-level celebrities. The average sales per game is between 50,000 and 150,000. The main celebrities are as follows:

Dr. Aire's advertising on Bilibili is the largest among these brands. As of May 7, a total of 586 pieces of content have been posted.

The figure below shows the advertising data for campaigns with more than 50,000 followers. On average, there are campaigns every month, and the amount of advertising has increased this year.

Consistent with the rapid growth pace of Tmall’s sales, in addition to content promotion, some up-loaders on Bilibili also include purchase links in the comments, which is the same as HBN’s operation.

Dr. Aire has not invested much in WeChat. In the past 30 days, it has had 23 promotional pieces of content, most of which were mainly transactions redirected to Tmall via Taobao affiliates.

But the operation of their official Xiaohongshu account is quite interesting. It is not operated from the perspective of a brand; instead, it is operated as a personal account that understands skin care, clears minefields for everyone on a daily basis, and shares some content points that target users care about on a daily basis. This approach makes the brand more vivid and rich.

They don’t put out a lot of content on Xiaohongshu marketing like other brands do. The following figure shows the number of bloggers this brand has on Xiaohongshu. Basically, more than 90% of influencers have promoted more than two pieces of content, which also proves that influencers have a strong sense of trust in the brand and are willing to cooperate multiple times.

Key points:

• Dr. Aire did not adopt a widespread marketing promotion approach, but instead cooperated with celebrities in large and central China, which helped to consolidate its own brand potential while selling its products.
• Of course, it is also because of the brand’s endorsement and the attractiveness of the products that these collaborations were achieved.

5. HELIUS

HELIUS is also a high-end domestic brand that has emerged in the past two years. Its style is simple and high-end, and its brand positioning focuses on personalized anti-aging skin care based on genetic technology. However, in actual operations, there is no personalized customization content, but this does not hinder the rapid growth of this brand.

Their brand Tmall store opened in January 2018, with annual sales of 330 million yuan in 2019. In the first four months of 2020, the cumulative sales have exceeded 120 million yuan.

Similarly, by looking at Tmall’s sales and traffic in the past 30 days, we can see that Taobao Live’s sales account for more than 70%. The following figure shows HELIUS’s data on Taobao Live in the past 30 days.

There are 2,686 related live broadcasts and 411 related anchors. The top anchor is Li Jiaqi, creating a hot-selling effect, which then reaches more anchors and ultimately forms the HELIUS delivery structure.

The brand has some promotional content on Douyin, but judging by Taobao sales data, the effect is average.

Kuaishou has basically no promotional content; Bilibili has about 70 evaluation and recommendation contents centered around Li Jiaqi’s recommendation as a marketing point. Xiaohongshu’s strategy is similar to that of regular brands. You can read my previous article about Cemoy’s Xiaohongshu campaign. Can Xiaohongshu advertising bring results? How to evaluate it?

Key points:

• HELIUS has achieved its current size mainly by deeply binding with Li Jiaqi, connecting with Taobao Live, and then covering all anchors from the top to the bottom.
• Of course, this brand's packaging, positioning, and products also have certain advantages. For example, its cleansing honey is better than the amino acid cleansers currently on the market in terms of both appearance and content.

VI. Conclusion

1) As domestic products are accepted by the public, they will get rid of the impression of "low price" and become mid- to high-end products;

2) When promoting a brand, you need to think clearly about the stage and purpose you are in, whether you are focusing on brand promotion or product sales. Different purposes will lead to very different follow-up strategies.

3) If you want to improve the efficiency of your own product operation rhythm and are worried about wasting time and money, the best way is to look at the operation paths of your competitors or peers, analyze them, and then formulate strategies based on your actual situation;

4) Because the quality of influencers varies according to the platform’s rules and policies, if you are not particularly sure, you can conduct a small number of tests on multiple channels and test out the following through data feedback:

• Which of your products are more likely to be a big hit?
• Which platforms are more suitable for your promotion?
• What kind of copywriting is more attractive and has a high conversion rate?
• Which celebrities have good data and can provide long-term and stable cooperation?

Once these are clear, you can focus on the channel and increase the volume to achieve the best results. After one channel is established and stabilized, expand to the next one.

5) Kuaishou is no longer the low-end product display platform as everyone imagines, but now has more possibilities. Bilibili is no longer a place where brands need to wait and see before placing ads. Brands can place ads and ask influencers to purchase links.

6) All of the above must be based on your own products, with good packaging, contents and efficacy. Otherwise, it will only be a one-time thing and you will not be able to have long-term cooperation with influencers, nor will you be able to retain users, let alone convert them to other products in the future.

If you want to do your work well, you must first sharpen your tools.

I dedicate this sentence to myself and everyone.

Author:Sally

Source: Sally