How to operate live streaming with branding!

In the past year or so, the concept of live streaming sales has been hyped up. During the epidemic, live streaming sales has become the savior of many brands facing black swans. This has also made the marketing departments of many companies increasingly anxious. The brand promotion that was originally carried out according to the rhythm of their own marketing departments has also been disrupted, and they have been forced to enter the unfamiliar field of live streaming sales.

There are many benefits to live streaming sales. It can maximize the visualization of products online, quickly increase sales, and make the input-output ratio clearer. So live streaming is a perfect marketing method?

A few days ago, I saw an article titled "Only incompetent marketing departments are keen on live streaming sales." From the title, you can tell that the article has a negative and contemptuous attitude towards live streaming. As a marketer, I have no prejudice against live streaming. I believe that practitioners should study all new and effective marketing methods on the market. Sticking to existing skills and not keeping up with the times is not the attitude of an open marketer.

But after the research, you need to understand which ones are suitable for you and which ones are not. It is not a rational marketer's attitude to just do whatever is popular.

01 Distinguish the difference between live streaming with goods and live streaming with brands

Zhao Yuanyuan, the person in charge of Taobao Live, has said on many occasions that live streaming sales is actually TV shopping.

According to this statement, the essence of live streaming sales is sales promotion, which promotes the rapid sales of goods through methods such as loud shouting, price cuts, and buy-one-get-one-free.

In the television age, TV shopping is of course a form of live streaming sales, which uses passionate shouting, exaggerated body language, and exaggerated discounts to guide consumers in front of the TV to make impulse purchases. After several rounds of "screams" and "rock-bottom price cuts", a commodity worth tens of thousands of yuan can often be sold for as low as a few hundred yuan.

TV shopping and current live streaming sales are almost the same in form, with passionate shouting, exaggerated body language, and low-discount promotions, which allow consumers to place orders in a short period of time.

There are two core factors that make this business model possible.

Low unit price: The price of goods cannot be too high, otherwise it will not promote impulse purchases. Most of the goods sold by Wei Ya are priced between 19-99, a small number are priced at several hundred, and even a few are priced at several thousand or tens of thousands. Wei Ya has sold houses and cars before, but there was basically no effect.

High discounts: Products must have high discounts, otherwise consumers will have no reason to buy them during the live broadcast. For example, if a bag of potato chips that costs more than 30 yuan is discounted by more than ten yuan to 19.9 yuan, it will trigger a large number of users to make impulse purchases.

Without these two conditions, live streaming will have little effect. For example, you have basically never seen well-known brands participating in TV shopping, because these brands have already paid a high cost for advertising, and they will definitely lose money if they offer high discounts. Therefore, those that participate in TV shopping are almost all brands that you have never heard of. There are also products with too high unit prices, such as houses, cars, etc., which basically cannot be sold in this way.

So, does it mean that these products that are not suitable for live streaming cannot participate in this new marketing method? This brings us to another way of live streaming, which is not about selling a lot of goods quickly, but about achieving brand exposure and promotion, which is similar to the purpose of advertising. To distinguish it, I will call it "live streaming with branding."

In the past few years, some companies liked to do live broadcasts, inviting a group of KOLs and ordinary consumers to visit their factories. Companies like Great Wall and Mengniu have done this kind of marketing. Their purpose in live-streaming factory tours is not to sell products, but to let the audience know that their factories are advanced and the products they manufacture are safe, thereby enhancing the brand's image in the minds of consumers. This is what it means to promote a brand through live-streaming.

Those who know Tesla know that Tesla now often does live broadcasts, whether it is official or store sales. During this epidemic, Tesla started live broadcasts online on the third day of the Lunar New Year.

But if you think Tesla is doing this to bring in goods, you are wrong. First, the unit price of Tesla is at least around 300,000 yuan, and it is unlikely that someone would impulsively place an order after watching the live broadcast. Second, Tesla implements a unified pricing strategy. No matter where and when you buy it, it will not be a penny cheaper. In this case, how can live broadcasting bring goods?

Tesla’s live broadcast is for brand promotion, allowing people who don’t know Tesla to learn about Tesla’s various functions, black technologies, etc. by watching the live broadcast. Through long-term live broadcasting, a brand impression can be established in the minds of consumers, promoting their future purchasing behavior.

The following picture is summarized based on my many years of marketing experience. It shows the differences between the four marketing methods in terms of brand promotion and sales promotion.

The functions of TV shopping and live streaming are similar, which are more for promoting sales in a short period of time. The certain difference is that today's live streaming has a certain proportion of brand promotion. Especially for top anchors like Li Jiaqi, Wei Ya, and Luo Yonghao, the proportion of brand promotion will be even higher.

The role of live streaming with branding is similar to that of advertising. Instead of vigorously promoting sales through a single marketing campaign, it aims to establish brand influence in the minds of consumers through this long-term marketing method and influence consumers' consumption decisions in the long term.

02 Not all brands are suitable for live streaming

As mentioned above, brands that want to sell products through live streaming need to meet the conditions of low unit price and high discount. Live streaming is not a marketing method that is entirely beneficial. If some brands that do not meet the conditions for live streaming are forced to sell products through live streaming, it will bring some problems.

• Low price effect reduces brand power

Live streaming sales have created the impression that goods are low-priced and highly discounted, and almost everyone who watches the live streaming comes for the low prices.

If your products are rarely discounted under normal circumstances, but you give a relatively large price reduction after participating in a live broadcast, then it sends a signal to the market: your product prices are usually too high, and the price in the live broadcast room is worth this price.

Once the products sold through live streaming leave consumers with the impression that they are low-priced, it will be very difficult to increase the brand power.

During Luo Yonghao’s live broadcast on April 1, Xiaomi 10 was basically sold at the original price. This choice is relatively wise. Xiaomi 10 has just been launched. If it is sold at a discount this time, consumers will always wait until the price is lower than this before making their next purchase.

By the same token, high-end goods such as luxury goods are absolutely not suitable for live streaming sales. Luxury goods are one of the categories with the strongest brand power. Once they are sold at a reduced price for live streaming sales, the foundation of their high-profit brand power will be shaken.

The purpose of business operations must be to make profits. If live streaming with price cuts fails to make profits for the products, but instead reduces the brand power, then this method is obviously not worth the cost.

• Exaggeration and exaggeration bring the risk of rollover

Live streaming is an amplifier that can quickly increase the exposure of products and quickly achieve large-scale sales, but it can also expose the defects of products to the greatest extent.

Many anchors can’t help but exaggerate and magnify the efficacy of products during live broadcasts. Take cosmetics for example. Most anchors will turn on beauty filters during live broadcasts. How real are the so-called beauty and whitening effects based on this?

At the same time, many broadcasters arbitrarily use stories and data during live broadcasts, making consumers believe them. When they actually get the goods, they find that they are far from what the broadcasters said, which inevitably forms a negative impression of the brand.

There are also some new brands that have not yet established a complete supply chain and product system. If they go live when they are not fully prepared, they may encounter problems such as slow delivery and defective goods, which will affect the impression of the goods on consumers.

Every time a product comes into contact with consumers is an opportunity. A good contact can make consumers become fans, while a bad contact may make consumers hate the brand for life.

The China Consumers Association released the "Online Survey Report on Consumer Satisfaction with Live E-Commerce Shopping", which showed that 37.3% of consumers had encountered consumption problems in live shopping. Some consumers believed that problems such as "exaggeration", "too many fakes", "a mixed bag", and "mismatched goods" were relatively serious.

(Image source: Online Survey Report on Consumer Satisfaction with Live E-commerce Shopping)

On April 1, Luo Yonghao live-streamed the sale of Xinliangji crayfish. Luo and his partner turned into food broadcasters, making consumers in front of the screen drool. However, many netizens later revealed that the product was produced in June last year, and that the product packaging had problems such as bloating and leakage. These problems were exaggerated because of Luo Yonghao's halo, which had a negative impact on the brand.

• Most live streaming cannot bring brand loyalty

Can live streaming bring brand loyalty? I find it difficult. If it is a well-known brand, you will often buy its products even if it does not live broadcast. If it is an unknown brand, many people buy its products because of its low price. Once it returns to its daily price after the live broadcast, it will no longer be attractive.

Viya and Li Jiaqi sell thousands of products every year. In addition to the brands you already know, how many products can you still remember and buy?

Another reason is that products with strong brand awareness do not need to rely on a live broadcast to enhance their brand, while products that lack brand awareness will not do much to enhance their brand in the future even if they gain a lot of exposure in a short period of time through live broadcast. Without a brand, there is no question of brand loyalty.

Live streaming does not bring brand loyalty, but it does bring anchor loyalty. Most users know that buying things from Li Jiaqi and Viya is cheaper, and they are their fans, but not fans of the products they sell. This is just like every Double 11, the biggest winner is not any merchant but the Taobao platform itself.

• Can't solve continuous traffic

Andy Warhol said that everyone can be famous for 15 minutes. In the era of mobile Internet, it may not be difficult to be a celebrity for 15 minutes, but what is difficult is to be a celebrity for a longer time.

An unknown brand that appears on a live broadcast by an internet celebrity is like becoming a celebrity for 15 minutes. Within these 15 minutes, the brand gets huge exposure and sales soar. It's like a dose of stimulant that makes people reach the peak quickly, but what happens when the effect wears off?

If you don’t have a solid product and don’t build a brand that consumers will remember, it will be difficult to sustain sales. The result of a live streaming sales event is “I thought it was the beginning, but it turned out to be the peak.”

03 Live streaming with branding is the norm

Live streaming with goods is not suitable for all brands, but live streaming with branding is suitable for almost all brands. With the advent of mobile Internet + 5G, live streaming with branding should be considered a routine marketing operation.

For example, Haidilao’s live broadcast plan of the kitchen allows anyone to see the kitchen environment, ingredients and production through live broadcast before eating. Through this live broadcast, Haidilao has established a brand image of safety, hygiene and trust in the minds of consumers.

Xiaomi was the first to hold an online press conference after the epidemic. Xiaomi 10 was released through online live broadcast, which is also a typical live broadcast with branding. This method is likely to become more and more mainstream in the future.

Some time ago, LV conducted a live broadcast, and its earthy style was criticized by many netizens. This was incompatible with its innate sense of luxury and also ran counter to the positioning of a luxury brand. From a brand perspective, this live broadcast has dealt a heavy blow to brand image.

But if LV changes this live broadcast into a brand live broadcast, builds a high-end live broadcast platform, and holds a high-end product exhibition, then even if there are not many sales on the spot, it will definitely be of great help to the brand.

Nowadays, if you open Taobao and enter a well-known flagship store, you will see "Shopkeeper is broadcasting" in the upper right corner. If you click on it, you will indeed see the shopkeeper live streaming the products (actually it is a recorded broadcast), but the prices are not cheaper.

This method does not count as live streaming selling goods, but rather as live streaming selling brands. Consumers learn about products and brands through live streaming, and ultimately purchase them when they find them suitable. This method is currently considered a regular brand marketing, and is what every brand should do. Every brand should conduct such live broadcasts whenever it has new products or new activities.

This also represents a change in the conventional marketing of e-commerce. At first, flagship stores only had pictures and texts, but now short videos have become a routine operation. Gradually, more and more brands have begun to use live streaming.

04 Luo Yonghao’s live broadcast includes brand elements

Let’s talk about Luo Yonghao here. Luo Yonghao has already conducted two live broadcasts. Although Luo Yonghao can be generally regarded as a live broadcast to sell goods, he is different from most anchors who simply sell goods.

In terms of understanding and promoting brands, I think there is still a Lei Jun between Wei Ya + Li Jiaqi and Luo Yonghao. Luo Yonghao's understanding of brands, from his early days in English training to the development of the Hammer smartphone, is definitely a big step ahead of the industry, so he also has more brand promotion elements in his live streaming sales.

Luo Yonghao does not pursue absolutely low prices when doing live broadcasts. For example, there are no discounts during the live broadcast of Xiaomi 10. On the contrary, because Luo Yonghao and Zhu Xiaomu are both insiders, their introduction of the various functions and brand of Xiaomi 10 has allowed more people to get to know Xiaomi. Looking at the way Luo Yonghao live streams Xiaomi, I think the live streaming is more about branding than selling goods.

Similarly, Luo Yonghao’s sales of Great Wall Motors cannot be considered live streaming to sell goods, but rather live streaming to sell the brand, because there are only 10 half-price cars, and the purpose is obviously not to achieve quick car sales, but to give Great Wall Motors’ brand greater exposure through this live broadcast. This is actually an advertisement.

Luo Yonghao once talked about the issue of low prices in live streaming when he was interviewed by Tencent News: We only pursue the lowest price from manufacturers every time, but we don’t actually pursue a much lower price. We hope that users of the live broadcast room can always buy at the lowest price, but we don’t want manufacturers to lose money and gain publicity.

If the price of a product is not much cheaper, then you cannot vigorously use cheapness as a promotional point during the live broadcast, and it cannot be considered as "live broadcast with goods" as we define it. Also, because cheapness cannot be used as the main promotional point, more space will be devoted to introducing the brand and products. In this case, it should be regarded more as a live broadcast with branding.

If Luo Yonghao really does this in future live broadcasts, he can create a differentiated brand as a live broadcast host. After all, his personal star effect is something that most hosts do not have. In fact, according to Luo Yonghao, brand promotion business currently accounts for more than 50% of his company's business volume.

05 Summary: Live streaming brings brands more than live streaming brings goods

Finally, to summarize, live streaming as a marketing method is very popular today. Most people think that live streaming is just about selling goods, but in fact there are two types of live streaming.

The first is live streaming sales, which is mainly aimed at promoting sales, but this method is not suitable for all brands. Brands with high unit prices, hoping to build a high-end brand image, brands with high brand premiums, and new brands with imperfect products and supply chains are not suitable for live streaming sales. Typical examples include houses, cars, luxury goods, etc. Forced live streaming may bring negative effects.

The second is live streaming with branding. This method will become a trend in e-commerce marketing and will gradually become a routine marketing operation.

Author: Xunkong's Marketing Revelation

Source: Xunkong’s Marketing Revelation