Analysis of the elements and channels of online promotion plans!

Today we are going to talk about "How to choose promotion channels to maximize the reach of the people you want?"

By the way, I would like to share with you what misunderstandings you need to avoid when it comes to online channel promotion, and how to build promotion channels at different stages of a product.

The article content is structured as follows:

First of all, we must make one thing clear: traffic is a prerequisite for conversion and monetization. After all, only when people come to you, know you and understand you, subsequent use and purchasing behavior can occur.

So before that, what we need to consider is, what kind of channel should be built to guide everyone over? This is actually a skill that Internet market and operations workers must possess, and it is also a problem that everyone will face after switching careers and entering the Internet industry.

To sum it up in professional terms, it means choosing the right channel, creating traffic entrances, and guiding target users to your products. To make it easier to understand, you can simply and roughly equate channel = passage, traffic = crowd, and the product can be the official account, website or APP you operate.

But does this mean that the more channels the better? Is it better if the channel covers a wider area? Does operating all popular platforms mean success?

Not at all! You will find that sometimes we work hard to attract a lot of people, but the actual benefits generated are not high, the input is greater than the output, and we lose money.

What we really need are channels that can bring in large amounts of effective traffic.

Effective traffic, corresponding to the website, may be visitors who stay for more than 10 seconds and make actual browsing actions, rather than visitors who close the page immediately after clicking; corresponding to the marketing perspective, it refers to people who may make purchases.

1. Three major misunderstandings about channels that need to be avoided

1. Equating marketing channel knowledge with marketing capabilities

In order to gain traffic, many people will focus their energy on expanding promotion channels, and even equate knowing many channels with strong marketing capabilities.

The purpose of marketing is to bring value to the company. This value can be profit or user reputation, provided that it brings effective traffic. But in fact, there is no direct relationship between effective traffic and channels.

It doesn't mean anything how many channels we have used. What we should value is how much effective traffic we can dig out . This requires us to do our work in depth and fully understand the traffic digging method of a specific channel.

Having too many operating channels will not only distract your attention, but also mean continuous consumption of your energy and increased operation and maintenance costs. For example, you have been operating Weibo for half a year, but the results are mediocre. It would be a pity to abandon it, but you don’t have a good way to continue operating it. What should you choose?

2. Follow the crowd and do whatever channel is popular

In 2011, Sina Weibo was very popular, and many people lined up to open official accounts; in 2014, WeChat became popular, and everyone started to create public accounts...

The question is, have you verified that this marketing channel can actually help your business? Just because this channel is popular, does that mean it’s related to you?

The answer is “not necessarily”.

It is understandable that popular channels attract a lot of attention and also bring together a variety of users. What you need to think clearly about is what kind of channels and exploration methods are needed for your business? Forum marketing is no longer popular today, but it is still popular in some specific business areas. For example, forums for pregnant mothers and game forums are still active.

There is no one channel that is necessarily helpful to your business. Only data testing can give you the answer.

3. Use brand promotion methods in the early stages of the product

What everyone likes to do most is to comment and brainstorm the brand slogans of certain big brands, as if the essence of marketing lies in this "creativity". However , during the business development stage, it is more practical for us to evaluate the marketing effects.

The subway has tens of millions of passengers every day. You would think that placing advertisements on this channel would be effective, but there is no way to monitor the specific traffic and conversion rate, nor is there any way to know how many audiences have seen your ads and actually made payments.

Therefore, in the early stages of the product, you should choose marketing channels that can monitor the effects. This way you can adjust the product and marketing content based on the data, figure out the user's behavior as quickly as possible, and realize profitability as soon as possible.

The above three points are the most common misunderstandings in channel selection. The reason for the wrong views is that the marketing thinking and methods are not mastered.

In fact, the process of selecting promotion channels is a process of qualitative publicity effects . In simple terms, it means making sure that publicity on a certain channel will ensure profits. Of course, the premise is that your marketing content has been tested and is good.

The entire qualitative effect process can be divided into three stages, as shown in the figure:

2. How to build promotion channels at different product stages

1. Product embryonic stage

Focus: Shop - Choose multiple channels for testing at the beginning

Goal: Quickly filter out the channels that are most likely to obtain effective traffic

Focus: multiple channels, user quality, data collection, quick results

① Select multiple channels for testing

Because at the beginning we didn’t know which channel would bring better results.

During this period of time, there is no need to test too many dimensions. You only need to choose a specific content form in a specific channel and then you can start.

The focus here is on user research. Conducting a large number of user surveys in the embryonic stage of the product will tell us through which channels users follow us. User surveys are the basis for channel selection.

② Focus on user quality

Acquiring high-quality users is the core goal of marketing work. Here you can understand high-quality users as effective traffic. So how do you judge? You can see whether the user has paid. The quality of a marketing channel is not only determined by how much traffic it brings to you, but also by its conversion rate. Only if the traffic is vertical enough and brings in target users can there be a good conversion rate.

③ Get feedback by collecting data

The results of user payment will be fed back to you in the form of data. The data will tell you which channel the user comes from and what the conversion rates of different channels are.

④ Perform cost accounting and quickly see the effect

How much money was spent, how much advertising was done, how much traffic was brought in, and how much of it generated actual payment... You should have a grasp of the data on costs and benefits.

Guided by the above thinking, we can come up with the following specific methods:

• Method: Select 3-4 channels for quick testing
• Time: 15-20 days
• Dimension: Combination of free channels + paid channels
• Fee: RMB 3,000 or less
• Goal: Quickly select 1-2 channels that are most likely to obtain effective traffic

⑤ Specific operation steps:

1) Select 3-4 channels based on the product population.

There are three points to grasp:

Communicate with users, find channels from user feedback, and know where users find you, which is very helpful for us to choose channels. Of course, if you are well aware that there are a large number of user groups in certain mainstream channels, then there is no problem in choosing them. (such as Weibo and WeChat)

Among the selected channels, how to tap into your target users is the key point. Both free and paid channels are acceptable.

3-4 channels simultaneous testing, here means testing the effect of content + channel combination

2) Set KPIs and clarify what your channel goals are.

Once you have a goal, you can work more effectively. At this time, paid and non-paid products should be viewed separately.

For example, for paid products, the goal is obviously to make a profit, so the goal is to ensure that the profit model can be run through these channels.

For non-paid products, such as social products, your goal is likely to be user activity - user stay time, growth rate, etc.

3) Recycle data.

If you find during the testing phase that the revenue generated by some channels is greater than the expenditure, it means that there is a lot of room for optimization and it is worth your further exploration in the later stage. This is our goal.

2. Product development stage

Focus: Specialization - Find a few promotion channels with good results and tap into all the target traffic from these channels

Goal: specialize in a few channels to bring you continuous and effective traffic

Focus of thinking: core channels, user quality, stable traffic flow, and continuous effectiveness

① Focus on core channels

Blindly expanding operating channels is a mistake that many operators often make, which will lead to distraction of attention and there will be no core channels to provide you with continuous and stable channels.

② Stable drainage

Let core channels bring you continuous and stable traffic so that users can continue to consume the content you provide.

③ Continuous effectiveness means continuous conversions

Guided by the above thinking, we can come up with the following specific methods:

• Method: 1-2 channels to specialize in mining traffic
• Time: 1-2 months
• Dimension: Combination of free channels + paid channels
• Cost: The return is greater than the cost, you can spend unlimited money to acquire users
• Goal: Continue to bring in effective traffic and streamline the workflow

④ Specific operation steps:

1) List all the work that the selected 1-2 channels can do

This is actually the process of breaking down your goals. Before you start working, you can take out a piece of paper and list all the things you can do.

Taking Weibo and WeChat as examples, you can try the following methods.

2) Establish a testing cycle for each specific method within the channel

We need to have a plan to achieve a result within a certain period of time, and we need to know whether different traffic mining methods are good or bad.

Taking Weibo Fans as an example, we can test different accounts, for example, testing which one is more effective between an open class account and a marketing celebrity account. Of course, you can also test it from the account’s geographical dimension, content dimension, etc. We need to test which dimension among these combinations is the most cost-effective for promotion.

3) Recycle data and invest money in the most effective promotion channels

Let’s take Weibo Fans Channel as an example. On the same day, we spend the same amount of money to promote accounts of different dimensions, assuming that they are region, interest, and content. After one day, through the data we will know the effects of these three dimensions and which one has the best conversion and traffic effect.

This is a process from qualitative to quantitative. First, determine the goal, then break it down, and finally test the results and spend money on the channels that will produce the best results. Then start new testing work.

3. Product maturity

Focus: Specialization + Expansion - Not only to build good channels, but also to expand them

Goal: Maximize marketing effectiveness

Key points of thinking: multiple channels, user quality, stable traffic, and continuous results

When there are many channels that bring stable traffic to products, they will form a matrix and our business will be more stable. At the same time, we must also pay attention to user quality, stable traffic, and continuous results.

① The specific methods we can derive are as follows:

• Method: Continuously test and optimize the delivery of determined channels
• Time: Continuous
• Dimensions: Free channels + paid channels + brands
• Cost: The return is greater than the cost, you can spend unlimited money to acquire users
• Goal: Seek change while maintaining stability, dynamic marketing (discover new sources of traffic while optimizing existing channels)

② Specific operation steps:

1) Test new channels and optimize old channels

Testing new channels is actually the same work that is done when a product is in its infancy.

Regarding the optimization of old channels, we need the data of the channels that are already in operation and adjust your delivery based on the revenue. This is a dynamic process.

2) SEM and banner hard advertising test

When we have run through the entire business process and confirmed that the pages and conversion paths are well set up, we can adopt a more stable and scalable way to obtain traffic.

Channels including SEM Baidu bidding ranking, banners, and online alliances are all tested based on the proven product conversion capabilities. During the product maturity stage, more hard advertising that can recover data can be carried out.

It should be added here that hard advertising does not necessarily have to be launched when the product is in the mature stage, it depends on the specific business model. For example, online training for civil service examinations is in particularly high demand in a certain month of the year. If hard advertising is carried out at this time, it can achieve immediate results.

3) Conduct branded content testing

Brand content testing can be carried out during the product maturity stage. We know that brand content data is often unable to be recovered, so we need to look at overall data such as monthly profits, quarterly profits, and even annual profits to see whether the brand placement is effective.

Above, we have summarized the thinking and methods that should be used to establish marketing channels when the product is at different stages. If you are an Internet marketing or operations worker, you can analyze the products you are responsible for, position them at different stages, use the above thinking to guide your actions, find channels suitable for your products, and achieve efficient delivery.

Choosing the right channel is not enough. Good operations also require early user surveys, content production, and later data feedback, adjustments and optimization. Only when these five points cooperate with each other can a virtuous cycle be formed and work can be pushed forward. This is the marketing thinking that Internet market and operation personnel should possess.