In 2020, beware of suffering from "traffic anxiety"!

With the disappearance of traffic dividends, the problem of "traffic anxiety" is becoming more and more serious. What is traffic anxiety? How to deal with "traffic anxiety"? This article analyzes and introduces the typical symptoms and treatment plans of "traffic anxiety disorder". Friends who are also anxious about traffic, come and take a look!

A few days ago, I was undergoing due diligence by an accounting firm for a client who was preparing to go public. A question from the due diligence person (a pure layman) caught my attention. He said: "Is traffic getting more and more expensive now? Will XX company invest more and more money in brand marketing every year? I see that many companies are very anxious about traffic now!"

This question really shocked me on the spot. Even a layman who has nothing to do with brand marketing knows that companies are now anxious about traffic; this shows how serious the problem of "traffic anxiety" is.

01 Typical symptoms of “traffic anxiety”

1. Traffic is getting more and more expensive, and budgets are getting smaller and smaller: invest? Still not voting?

During the epidemic, although many factories stopped production, the cooperation prices of many KOLs did not drop much; the prices of traffic purchasing on platforms such as Douyin and Xiaohongshu also remained almost unchanged. Faced with limited budgets and a huge number of KOLs, brand marketers are reluctant to take action. Who should I choose? Who to choose? Who to choose? Should I choose the one with more fans? Or should you choose one with strong selling ability? Or you can just not choose it and do a live broadcast and promote it yourself, is that ok?

In the dilemma of "not being able to choose" or "not being able to choose", some companies have begun to set aside a small portion of their budget to test the waters by placing orders into so-called mid- and low-tier accounts, hoping to obtain vertical "precise traffic". But what about the effect? The money was wasted again.

2. One-time consumption of traffic

I have seen many companies’ attitude towards traffic is not “steady stream” but “one-time consumption”.

For example: If you see that your product is not selling well, then invest in a KOL; if you hear that a certain KOL has good sales ability, then follow the trend and invest in him. The result was: a certain amount of sales conversion was achieved by luck, and the brand awareness was improved to some extent.

But where can we find the next wave of traffic? Are you still cooperating with them? Will this wave of “traffic dividends” come to an end with the final payment to the KOLs? Is there no room for continuation?

3. Desperate and desperate: Private domain traffic has become the savior of the "traffic world"

Private domain traffic has become even more popular because of the epidemic. We see that almost everyone in the retail industry is private . For example: the boss forces employees to post company sales information on WeChat Moments, conduct store live broadcasts, and form groups to sell products, etc.

Some reports also indicate how amazing the effect of private domain traffic is. What a success! We achieved a year’s worth of sales in just one month during the pandemic. Please note: This is just an individual case! If private domain traffic is really so magical, why are people still lamenting the bad economic situation?

We have seen some companies complaining: I sell products on WeChat Moments every day and organize various promotions in groups, but not only am I always embarrassed and have no sales conversions, some of my original fans have even deleted me.

So, how do we treat "traffic anxiety"?

02 Treating “traffic anxiety”

Medicine 1: Brand is a reassurance

I have seen some people call the "brands" that have risen rapidly because of seizing the traffic dividend "traffic brands" .

I think this is a false concept. Can companies really build brands by trying every possible means to find traffic pools every day?

A brand is never born in the so-called traffic pools , it is born in the hearts of users. It is a brand only when users think it is a brand. A brand is a kind of "mental traffic", and only a brand can enable a company to achieve compound growth in traffic (I really want to write this sentence three times).

As I write this, I recall a chat I had with a very experienced traffic operator a few days ago. I admire his skillful traffic management skills, but I disagree with one of his points. He said: "I don't understand brands. I only know that if there is sales volume, there is a brand; if there is no sales volume, there is no brand. Sales volume explains everything." At first glance, this seems to be correct. Otherwise, why would the slogan "xx has maintained the leading sales volume for xx consecutive years" pop up from time to time?

However, if you really want to build a brand (rather than making quick money), the brand is born from the moment you plan your product. Because you need to make it clear what the value proposition you want to communicate with users for a long time in the future? (This is also your real "differentiation")

For example: Case Oatly. Founded in the 1990s, this plant protein beverage company has always been committed to making healthy food that is beneficial to the environment and advocating sustainable development. So, all of its products you see will not deviate from this value proposition.

What’s more, it is precisely because of the brand value that these companies have been able to achieve sales leadership “for XX consecutive years” instead of just being popular for a short time.

Of course, there is nothing wrong with relying on traffic manipulation to increase sales; the prerequisite is: you must have a keen enough sense of smell and constantly change the "traffic track".

However, if it were me who made the choice, I would rather not be so rushed and focus on building the brand. In my opinion: brands are the most lasting and reliable source of traffic. Therefore, when companies are struggling to find traffic, I suggest that they think about: What value proposition does your brand uphold? Will you compromise for traffic?

For example, during the epidemic, everyone paid close attention to the "cloud-listed" company: Liangpin Shop, which has been emphasizing its "high-end snack strategy" in recent years. "High-end" is the brand value that Bestore insists on. The "high-end" here does not mean "high price" from the perspective of the enterprise itself (after all, no matter how expensive snacks are, they cannot be luxury goods in the absolute sense), but "high quality and good experience" from the perspective of consumers.

We all know that: Unlike Three Squirrels, Bestore did not enter a specific snack category, but instead developed a full range of snack categories. But you won't see it sacrificing its brand value of "nutrition, health, freshness and deliciousness" in order to grab traffic and cater to the snacks that the audience of a certain traffic channel particularly likes.

The company should do whatever it should do. For example: Last year, Liangpin Puzi further made the research and development of healthy snacks an important strategic direction. It believes that although snacks are aimed at the mass market, the mainstream trend under the "difficulty in satisfying everyone" is the "four reductions" - reducing sugar, fat, preservatives and salt. They call it the "third generation of snacks", which means snacks tailor-made to meet the different needs of different groups of people (pregnant women, postpartum women, children, the elderly, fitness enthusiasts, etc.). Recently, Bestore has launched a series of spring outing snacks including health-preserving instant drinks, nutritious dried fruits, etc.

If you do these, traffic will come naturally; instead of being led by traffic. (This also explains to a certain extent why there are so many century-old companies in countries like Japan, but there are almost no century-old companies in China in the true sense.)

I looked at the performance of Bestore after its listing: it has been hitting the daily limit for 15 consecutive days since its listing, with a market value of 26.1 billion yuan, ranking first among domestic snack brands.

In fact, in an industry like snacks, which has a particularly low threshold to entry, where is the differentiation? Ultimately, it’s about brand differentiation. A brand is a symbol of trust. For example: When people buy snacks from Bestore, they are buying trust and a commitment to "high quality and high experience".

Therefore, when you have the most powerful "mental traffic" of brand, you can take the initiative of traffic into your own hands.

Pharmacy 2: Contents are prescription drugs

Why is traffic expensive? Many companies believe that the polarization is caused by the Matthew effect of the KOL ecosystem on major platforms. That is: the more expensive the KOL, the more fans they will have, and the cheaper KOL that no one follows will disappear.

However, when companies choose KOLs to work with, do they really only consider the number of fans? Or when this KOL promotes “other people’s brands”, how does “other people’s brands” benefit? If this is true, I suggest that your company set the educational requirement of "primary school only" when recruiting for media positions next time, because all they need is the ability to compare the size of numbers.

When companies choose to cooperate with KOLs, they must have the mindset of “content is king”. What kind of content do your target users want to see? What can make them happy? For example: What made them feel comfortable during the epidemic? Remember: the medium is not a microphone. Even if the traffic depression has bonuses, without the nourishment of content, the depression will become a barren land.

Yesterday, Bestore held a “Cloud Spring Outing” live broadcast on Taobao. Through aerial photography, ground photography, host explanations and online interactions, netizens can "watch" the beautiful scenery of the blooming cherry blossoms in Wuhan.

In fact, this brand marketing campaign was planned since the end of last year. The original intention was to focus on the "Cherry Blossom Season" and use the outing scene for live broadcasts and the promotion of new products.

After the outbreak of the epidemic, Liangpin Puzi felt the users' mood after the lockdown and their need for companionship, and decided to continue the live broadcast, but changed it to a "Cloud Spring Tour" to allow netizens across the country, especially those in Wuhan who are still trapped at home, to see the blooming cherry blossoms "immersively", feel the spring that has arrived as expected, and this city that is gradually recovering its vitality.

Compared with a single live broadcast of promoting sales, this live broadcast by Bestore brought a more interesting content experience.

The live broadcast lasted for 2 hours and was jointly presented by travel blogger "Alasu" and Wuhan lockdown recorder @小宇航拍. Wearing a helmet-mounted GoPro, Arasu transformed himself into a "cloud tour guide" and enjoyed the flowers in one of the three largest cherry gardens in the world: the East Lake Cherry Blossom Garden, from an immersive first-person perspective with real people. The cherry blossoms are still blooming as promised. Netizens can interact as "tourists", take screenshots to take a photo with the beautiful cherry blossoms, follow the host for a romantic picnic under the cherry trees, and pray online. The "cloud tour guide" will select lucky "tourists" and help them hang prayer cards on the cherry blossom trees in East Lake to give them surprises.

While admiring the flowers and chatting, in this content scene, this year's new spring limited edition cherry blossom season products: snacks such as cherry blossom flavored cakes in collaboration with Japanese art master Tatsuya Kondo and Japanese "godfather of pastry" Takao Araki, have become a wonderful element in this content scene.

Look: Doesn’t this embody the idea that “media is content, content is product, and product is marketing” ? If these three can become one, will traffic come naturally? Therefore, whether it is live streaming or short video traffic generation, each content planning is like prescribing a prescription for traffic.

Recipe 3: Private domain traffic is a medical examination instrument

If your private domain traffic is just tirelessly posting sales information in the circle of friends, or constantly creating groups for flash sales; then, "congratulations", your users will move further and further away from you.

The essence of private domain traffic is the relationship between operators. By building a private domain traffic system, companies can conduct a comprehensive examination of the quality of their products and services - are you really user-centric?

During the epidemic, starting from February 1, Bestore's own anchor team started Taobao's continuous live broadcast of "President of Bestore Food Club" at home with relatively simple equipment, with the number of views ranging from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands. Instead of constantly shouting about selling goods, more often they are chatting with fans, answering questions about express delivery, recommending snacks, etc.

Community group purchasing is also a new attempt by Bestore during the epidemic period. At first, due to the need for epidemic control, some stores suspended business and some stores only accepted take-out orders. However, takeaway staff is limited. Many store managers have received requests for help from old customers: "We are out of snacks at home" and "My child wants to eat snacks." The store managers try their best to satisfy this feeling of being needed, and they are happy to drive or walk to deliver the goods to the customers’ homes.

Therefore, for a brand, private domain traffic can sell goods and is of course an important platform for building word of mouth. As Huang Hai of Frees Capital said,

"The traffic bonus will gradually disappear. If you can get users to spread your product spontaneously, you can live well regardless of whether there is a bonus or not."

In other words, do you think private domain traffic is centered on "people" or "goods", which determines whether you need to do private domain traffic?

Back to the beginning. So, when I was working with the accountant on due diligence that day, when he, a layman like him, asked me this question, I said : insist on building the brand; insist on creating good content; first diagnose whether you are suitable for private domain traffic, and then go straight to the essence and do it systematically - if you have done all these, what does it have to do with you whether the traffic is expensive or not? What are you still anxious about?

I hope that in 2020, brand marketers will not really suffer from “traffic anxiety”.

Author: Xiaoquan Pear

Source: Xiaoquanli (ID: xiaoquanlisocial)