The "Martial Arts Secrets" of Advertising and Marketing

If someone asks, is there a "martial arts secret book" about marketing in the advertising industry?

Looking back on the past, I think the only one who can bear this honor is him - "Positioning", which is known as the "father of positioning" Jack Trout and Al Ries wrote the "secret book" for all advertisers. Its unique positioning theory has guided the development of various industries to a certain extent.

The Art of War says: "The best strategy is to attack the enemy's plans, the next best is to attack their alliances, the next best is to attack their soldiers, and the worst is to attack their cities." Positioning can be said to be the advertising industry's first theory of "attacking the enemy's plans and attacking their hearts."

In 1972, Advertising Age, the most influential marketing magazine in the United States, published a series of articles entitled "The Coming of the Positioning Era", which made positioning theory officially enter the center of the world marketing stage.

In 1980, the book "Positioning" was published in the United States, becoming the "industry standard" in the marketing field and was rated as "the most influential concept in American marketing in history."

In 1991, Positioning published the first volume, Advertising Psychological Warfare, in mainland China.

In 1993, the two masters jointly launched "22 Business Rules", summarizing the essence of positioning theory into 22 simple and clear laws.

The most important contribution of "positioning" is that it points out in the history of marketing: marketing competition is a competition of minds, and the ultimate battlefield of marketing competition is not the factory or the market, but the mind. The mind determines the market and also determines the success or failure of marketing.

So, what are the core points of positioning theory? How is positioning theory applied in practice? What are some effective cases?

From product marketing to user marketing, the positioning theory of mind focus

Earlier we mentioned the "USP theory" that focuses on products and the "brand image theory" that studies images. In the 1970s, with the development and evolution of market conditions, product homogeneity became increasingly serious and product differentiation was difficult to highlight. In 1969, two young Americans, Trout and Rise (Trout·J & Rise·A), proposed the Positioning theory. The Positioning theory emphasizes that with the intensification of competition, product homogeneity and similarity are becoming increasingly serious. Companies need to occupy a position in the minds of consumers and strive to create psychological differences, personality differences, etc. Xiangpiaopiao has found its niche as a “slightly hungry and slightly sleepy” brand; Robam range hoods have found their niche as a “strong suction” brand; Fotile – a leader in high-end kitchen appliances; Guazi used cars – no middlemen making a profit from the price difference;

Each user has a limited memory of categories. For example, when you buy a new mobile phone, the first social software you install is "WeChat" instead of QQ. In this case, WeChat is a kind of "brand imprint" for you. In addition to WeChat, you also like short video apps such as Douyin, Kuaishou, Bilibili, and Xigua Video. These short video apps constitute the "category ladder" of the video category. What brands need to study is how to make themselves the first App installed on users' mobile phones, which is what positioning refers to as the "first place."

Leader positioning: seize the beachhead and land on the user's brain ladder, either be the first or the only one!

Metaverse is a hot topic recently

Zhang is a current short video celebrity

You are an advertising person who often works overtime in the office building

Xiao Wang is the funniest person in our circle of friends.

Liu Yan is the female star with big breasts and hard work

Head & Shoulders is the originator of anti-dandruff shampoo in our impression...

The leading position gives it an absolute overwhelming advantage in brand competitiveness. "History shows that the first brand to enter people's minds often occupies twice the long-term market share of the second brand and three times the third brand..." In the book "Positioning", the author used the classic confrontation case of Coca-Cola and Pepsi as an example - no matter how fierce the marketing war is, Coca-Cola will still be the winner in the end, because in the minds of the public, when it comes to the cola category, Coca-Cola is undoubtedly the first, because before Pepsi, it has already captured the minds of prospective customers and climbed to the first level of the small ladder in the minds of prospective customers. Therefore, becoming the first in the industry naturally firmly established the brand.

Follower positioning: cut into the "no man's land" and find the most suitable gap to fill

Look for gaps. This “no man’s land” is not a detour. Give up competing in areas where big brands excel, and instead look for an area that a big brand has not yet entered. Then become the number one in this “no man’s land” and directly occupy the mind of the “number one” in this field. Volkswagen is an example of finding a gap in size. Faced with the massive number of sleek, stretched-car manufacturers in the United States in the 1990s, the emergence of the Volkswagen Beetle was not initially favored by mainstream aesthetics. But Volkswagen changed its marketing idea: "Think Small." Once this strategy was introduced, although micro cars had already appeared on the market, Volkswagen was the first brand to establish its position in micro cars. It found this gap and filled it with itself, and successfully created a strategic positioning for itself as the number one micro car.

Reposition competitors: In terms of internal competition methods, we should remain constant in the face of ever-changing situations and be responsive to intercept competitors.

Trout pointed out that creating and dominating a category and making the brand the representative of a category in the minds of customers is the key to winning minds and the way for companies to win in the market. With so many products in each category, how can companies use advertising to get them into people’s minds? The most basic marketing strategy must be "repositioning competitors". Because there are so few empty niches, companies must create them by repositioning competitors that already occupy people's minds.

Procter & Gamble Group maintains its leading position by adopting a multi-brand strategy to intercept the markets in various industries, such as Tide, Crest, Head & Shoulders, Pampers, and the popular soap brand Ivory in the United States.

In order to help everyone learn better, the "Father of Positioning" summarized the six-step positioning method so that we can fully understand it and not get lost.

The first step to think about: Do you have a positioning?

Positioning needs to start with potential customers, recognize your current situation, and associate your products, services and concepts with the existing cognition in the minds of potential customers. For example, 7-Up recognized from a macro perspective that when it opened up the market, the brand was in an era dominated by cola drinks, so it successfully proposed a "non-cola" strategic positioning instead of simply promoting the concept of "lime drink".

The second step is to think: What kind of positioning do you have?

Determine your "first" direction. If you want to satisfy everyone, you will accomplish nothing. So you must find your own direction, focus on your expertise to the fullest and strive to become the best in this field.

The third step is to think: Who do you have to surpass?

Find your competitors, avoid head-on attacks, know yourself and your enemies. In the dynamic development process, you cannot only consider your own positioning from your own perspective, but also need to spend time understanding your competitors.

Step 4: Do you have enough funds?

Capturing minds requires financial support. The economic base determines the superstructure. How much money and resources are needed is the basis for subsequent planning. If there is not enough money, the author points out that "focus on one city and do it thoroughly, rather than expanding across the country right away." When funds are limited, it is also critical to find the right place/channel to start the funds.

Step 5: Can you stick with it?

The author believes that positioning is a cumulative concept, a thought that focuses on the long-term characteristics of advertising. For example, the cowboy image of Marlboro cigarettes has remained unchanged for decades. We must be cautious about changes, embrace our original intentions, and be firm in our beliefs, rather than follow the crowd. Occupying a position in the mind is like owning priceless real estate.

Step 6: Do you fit this position?

Creativity itself is worthless. Only creativity that serves the positioning goal is meaningful. Constantly summarizing and reflecting on yourself, and paying close attention to whether your positioning has deviated during development, are the final steps to ensure that the positioning rule can be effective in the long term.

Application of positioning theory:

Xizhilang Jelly: Seizing the Brand Awareness

Before Xizhilang entered the market, there were already many jelly brands on the market, but there was no recognized representative jelly brand. Xizhilang was the first to speak out and launched advertising campaigns on CCTV and other media: "I want Xizhilang jelly", which established brand awareness for the jelly category in people's minds for the first time and successfully occupied more than 50% of the market share.

Moutai: Positioning as the “National Liquor”

Since 1981, Moutai’s marketing began to revolve around the “Panama Gold Award” and “state banquet wine”. Later, it simply called itself the “national wine” and applied for the “national wine” trademark many times (many times rejected). Then, for decades, the marketing has been centered around the core concept of "national liquor". In the end, the Chinese people no longer know whether these concepts and stories are true, or they no longer care. Moutai has successfully positioned itself as the "national liquor" and captured the minds of the Chinese people.

Wanglaoji: Surpassing Coca-Cola in 6 years

Wanglaoji Herbal Tea’s annual sales volume once hovered around 100 million yuan for several years. In 2002, it successfully expanded from Guangdong to the whole country with the help of the positioning concept of “fear of getting angry”. In 2008, its sales volume reached 12 billion yuan, successfully surpassing Coca-Cola’s sales volume in China.

Great Wall Motors: Focusing on product categories to build China's SUV leader

Great Wall Motors, which started out as a pickup truck manufacturer, decided to invest heavily to enter the larger sedan market and launched its first sedan in 2007. However, the market response was lukewarm and the company's sales and profits both declined. In 2008, with the help of positioning theory and by studying the future trends and opportunities of various categories, Great Wall determined the strategy of focusing on SUVs. The new strategy drove Great Wall to regain its competitiveness. Haval defeated Japanese and Korean brands and regained the championship throne of SUV in the Chinese market. In 2011, Great Wall Motors achieved growth against the market trend, with its sales growth rate and profits ranking first among domestic automakers.

Dong-E-E-Jiao: Market value increased 15 times in 5 years

In 2005, the growth of Dong-E-Erhu stagnated and the company's market value was around 2 billion yuan. With the implementation of Dong-E-Erhu's positioning as "three nourishing treasures" and the development of a multi-brand positioning strategy based on this, the company has returned to the path of rapid development, with a market value of over 30 billion yuan in 2010.

Zhen Gongfu: New positioning creates the leader of Chinese fast food.

Zhen Gongfu, a Chinese fast food brand that started out by selling steamed rice, has gradually fallen into a development bottleneck after entering Beijing, Shanghai and other places, with an increase in problematic stores and sluggish growth. With the help of positioning theory and by studying the differentiation trends of fast food categories, Zhen Gongfu clarified its best strategic opportunities, focused on rice fast food, established the "Rice University", created "Pork Rib Rice" as its representative item, and used "fast" as its positioning to guide internal operations and store location selection. The new strategy has enabled Zhen Gongfu to regain its competitiveness, widen the gap with its competitors, and further consolidate its position as a leader in Chinese fast food.

Guazi Used Cars: Used Car Direct Sales Network

It created the category of used car direct sales network and then accurately named this category. Enhance market penetration, increase brand awareness, and use the slogan "No middlemen to make a profit from the price difference" to tell users that our platform has no intermediaries and does not charge agency fees. Buyers spend less money and sellers make more money, achieving a win-win situation. This directly hits the user's pain points, and combined with advertising investment, it captures the user's mind, and traffic will naturally flow in continuously.

Summarize:

With the development of society and the continuous iteration of modern marketing methods such as integrated marketing, the positioning theory is no longer what it used to be in the minds of advertisers, just as the author himself admitted in subsequent editions that some of the theories he once predicted were wrong. But we can still see in new cases that positioning theory can help the development of many brands or individuals. History has repeatedly proved that the more revolutionary an idea is, the longer it takes for people to recognize its value. Therefore, we should not despise so-called "outdated" theories, but be cautious about changes, and change is not the only way to keep up with the changes.

Author: Creative Awakening

Source: Creative Awakening