Marketing promotion ineffective? These two things were not done well!

Before discussing marketing, there is a very important issue, which is to first understand what marketing is, that is, to give a definition of marketing.

Only by defining marketing scientifically and accurately can we correctly grasp the research direction of marketing.

What is Marketing?

Simply put, marketing is about managing valuable customer relationships.

The purpose of marketing is to gain returns by creating value for customers. The basic method is to develop new customers by promising excellent value and to retain and develop customers by creating satisfaction.

The above is the definition in the book. I remember that I mentioned in the previous article that the basic logic of an enterprise’s existence is that you must be useful to customers (create value) and be able to make money (obtain profits). Both are indispensable.

Therefore, from the perspective of creating value for customers, it is easy to find that many people’s understanding of marketing is too narrow and one-sided, so that marketing is often still understood as a gimmick, advertising or promotion.

Management guru Peter Drucker said: “The purpose of marketing is to make selling unnecessary”

Excellent marketing is not necessarily about creative planning or wonderful advertisements and slogans. Many times, we are deeply attracted to a brand or product not because of its good promotion, but because the product itself is good.

For example, a company like Tong Ren Tang has hardly ever advertised, but that does not prevent it from becoming the nation's number one pharmaceutical brand. The reason why many century-old brands have been able to continue operating for so many years is mostly due to the advantages of their products.

Imagine, can a company survive by following trends and keeping up with fashion? Of course not. Even big IPs like Angry Birds and Peppa Pig cannot maintain their popularity for more than ten years, let alone those hot spots that change every day?

Therefore, if an enterprise wants to obtain customer value, the underlying logic must be: discover the real needs of customers and meet them through excellent products .

This is a process of value exchange, and the key lies in value.

Therefore, marketing is defined as the process by which an enterprise creates value for customers and establishes solid relationships with them in order to obtain benefits from customers.

Philip Kotler summarizes the marketing process into five steps:

Understand market demand → Design customer-oriented marketing strategy → Build integrated marketing plan that delivers excellent value → Build profitable customer relationships and create customer delight → Gain value from customers to create profits

From the above five steps, we can see that in the first four steps, companies are working hard to understand market demand, create customer value and establish stable customer relationships.

The last step is that it is by creating value for customers that the company obtains value returns from customers in the form of sales, profits, and long-term customer rights.

It is not surprising that many companies are poorly managed and cannot sell their products, because they have not even done the first step: understanding market demand. Naturally, what they do afterwards will be half the result with twice the effort, because many products do not understand and solve customer needs at all, such as refrigerators with TVs and toilets that can play music.

Just like when you want to pursue a girl you like, without knowing what she is thinking, no matter how much you give, in the end you will only get a reply saying, "Thank you for your efforts, but you don't understand me."

It is very important to have a thorough understanding of market demand. What customers need is never a drill, but a hole in the wall, right?

Once a better solution is available, even the best drill will be replaced (Kodak is the best example). To understand this problem, companies should clarify the direction of their efforts.

Judging from today's automobile development trends, developing electric vehicles is definitely more reliable than developing gasoline vehicles, because no matter how good gasoline vehicles are, they will decline due to the depletion of resources.

Therefore, marketing starts with understanding market demand.

1. Understand the market and customer needs

We talk about market demand every day. What exactly is market demand?

First of all, the market is composed of individuals or organizations, and market demand is the collection of the demands of individuals or organizations.

The market consists of actual and potential buyers of a product.

When defining customer needs, Kotler specifically mentioned the process of demand generation: needs are the basis for the generation of needs, human needs come from instinct, and are a natural state of a person. For example: a person has needs for food and clothing, needs for security, needs for expression, needs for social interaction, etc. (refer to Maslow's need theory).

Desire is a manifestation of need. A person needs food and clothing, so he will have desire when he sees delicious food; if he has sexual needs, he will have desire for beautiful people of the opposite sex. Needs and desires are instinctive reactions, and these reactions can only be transformed into demands under certain conditions.

How does demand arise?

When desire is backed by purchasing power, it turns into demand.

I think it is necessary to talk about this definition because a scientific definition is a prerequisite for market analysis.

Let's assume that a medical device company is going to launch a high-end health bracelet that is specifically designed to detect various health data of the elderly. It is convenient and accurate, and the price is 10,000 yuan.

Where is our market at this time? Are they all the old people? Of course not, because as we said before: need or desire only turns into demand when it is supported by purchasing power.

This group of people who form demand constitutes our target market.

Is it simple? Simple. But in real life, we often see how marketing teams that do not pay attention to research needs perform ineffective marketing all day long.

For example: Cars are flooded with calls from various mortgage lenders every day. Yes, cars can be used as collateral for loans. However, the number of car owners who have a demand for mortgage loans will not exceed 5%. Although the vast majority of car owners have purchasing power, they do not have the need, so the demand cannot be formed.

So should we promote loan services to college students who are starting their own businesses? They are people who really need loans.

Not really, because although college students need loans when starting a business, they cannot get support from purchasing power (lack of collateral) and cannot form demand.

Only when you understand what the needs are can you know how to meet them.

Consumer needs and wants are satisfied through market offerings, including both tangible and intangible products. Tangible products are easy to understand, but intangible products have a broader scope. Generally speaking, all non-tangible products that can meet consumer needs are intangible products, such as services, experiences, and information.

Nowadays, the competitiveness of many brands lies in brand experience rather than tangible products, such as Haidilao's service, JD.com's ultra-fast logistics, Patek Philippe's brand connotation, etc.

When analyzing market demand, Ye Maozhong's conflict theory is also a tool that can be used. Ye Maozhong determines market demand by understanding the conflicts between emotion and rationality, and between ideal and reality in customers’ consumption and life, and even creates unique selling points for products by creating conflicts (Ziyuan: You have washed your hair all your life, but have you ever washed your scalp?).

2. Design customer-oriented marketing strategies and plans

The research questions of marketing strategy are the underlying logic that connects brands and customers.

Therefore, brands must understand and answer two most important questions, namely: which customers do we serve (who are our customers) and how to provide them with better services (our value proposition).

Marketing management is also customer management and demand management. No brand can serve all customers, so companies select target customers and determine the market scope by combining their own advantages and market segmentation.

Many companies treat all consumers as target customers, believing that this will maximize the applicability of their products and not waste any potential customers. Is there a problem with this? There is a problem!

Because the larger the customer base, the greater the differentiation. Your product cannot cover all market demands. For example, for mobile phones: some people need large screens, some need small screens, some care about taking pictures, some value performance, some want safety, some care about battery life, some care about price, and some want to buy scarce products...

If you satisfy the needs of one type of customers, you will inevitably lose another type of customers.

Market segmentation is a topic that can be discussed separately, which we will discuss later, but it is important to note that the scope of choice of the target market should be neither too large nor too small. If it is too large, it will lose focus, and if it is too small, it will have no future.

Once you have decided on the customer group you want to serve, you must spare no effort to gain recognition and purchase from your target customers. However, there are so many similar companies in the market competing with you, why would customers choose you?

This requires you to have a more attractive value proposition. Howard Schultz, the founder of Starbucks, once said: You have to make consumers realize that you are standing by something.

Of course, this value proposition is not just a slogan. It comes from the company's mission, vision, and values, and is reflected in all aspects of products and services.

For example, for Qiandama, the best way to convey the brand’s value proposition to customers is through products. Qiandama’s slogan is: Don’t sell overnight meat. So how do you communicate and deliver the brand’s value to customers?

The auntie starts offering discounts at 7pm every night, and increases the discount by 10% every half hour until she starts giving away meat for free at 11:30pm, proving to customers in the most direct and powerful way that her meat is the freshest. These actions are the operational support taken by the company to deliver its value proposition, which continuously highlights and strengthens the uniqueness and value of the brand.

I often wonder, why can't so many industries that are criticized use this method to promote their own value propositions and advantages?

For example:

Taxi (don’t take a detour, for fear of getting lost)

Hotels in tourist attractions (honest people, no cheating)

Pharmaceutical companies (trying their best to cure diseases and make money with a clear conscience)

Entertainment places (no ladies, but there are young ladies)

Hospital (high medical skills, good attitude, few tests, affordable drugs)

The value proposition is both the connotation basis of brand differentiation and the reason for customers to buy. So ask people all over the world why buy Toyota? It’s basically one sentence: “Because it’s strong and durable.”

Marketing strategy describes the customers a company wants to serve and how it will create value for them.

Next, marketing managers need to develop a detailed implementation plan to deliver the planned value to customers.

Specific plans are often developed around 4P (product, price, channel, and promotion), and value is continuously communicated to target consumers through a series of scientific and detailed plans and marketing combinations.

In short, companies use the above marketing mix to convey brand and product value to consumers in order to establish valuable customer relationships with them.

Understanding market demand, selecting target markets, clarifying value propositions, formulating marketing strategies, and designing marketing plans are what companies should do in the early stages of marketing. The main task is to complete a series of preparations before a value relationship is established between the brand and customers, in preparation for winning customers.

In summary, marketing should start before there is a product concept, rather than thinking about marketing after the product is mass-produced.

If you wait until the missile is airborne before you start aiming at the target and adjusting the angle, how confident are you that you can hit the enemy?

Related reading:

1. How to plan product portfolio strategy for marketing promotion?

2. Marketing promotion: How does fission marketing achieve market “fission”?

3. Brand marketing promotion, 6 common psychological effects!

4. Crisis and challenges of marketing promotion in the first half of 2019!

5. Marketing and promotion skills: turn the masses into a “mob”!

6. Marketing and promotion skills | The marketing of Uniqlo’s co-branded T-shirts that were snapped up!

Author: Li Xiaozhang

Source: Li Xiaozhang (ID: liguowei1987)