Brand promotion: If you don’t have a strategy, don’t flood the screen!

When the market is selling various screen-swiping methodologies, can we reflect on why we need to swipe the screen? I think so.

The problem facing the industry now is that the highest standard for all brand communications is to flood the screen. Regardless of whether it should be done or not, flooding the screen is equal to being awesome . This is a huge misunderstanding of brand communication, and I don’t want to be an accomplice to this fallacy.

When any creative idea is proposed now, the most common question is: Will it be popular? Can I swipe the screen? Instead of: Is this right? Does it fit with the brand values?

Another problem is that a large proportion of brand communication behaviors nowadays have no prior measurement standards. Whoever makes the decision often takes the blame, and the responsibility is reported upwards one level at a time until it reaches a leader who can take the blame. Then the leader has no criteria and can only rely on his feelings and make decisions on a whim.

If it still doesn’t go viral afterwards, just find a marketing account to write an article titled “Why did XX go viral?” God knows why. This case became popular by chance, and the outside self-media was promoting it vigorously. The project leader took the opportunity to produce a screen-sweeping formula. The original price was 99 yuan, but now it only costs 9.9 yuan.

Today, I advise everyone not to blindly swipe the screen, and also provide a standard for decision makers on how to measure what should be done and what should not be done.

There’s really nothing special about swiping the screen, and it’s not that important.

1. Pick up the strategy first

It is said that when the Mongols conquered the world, they won several battles easily, and then gathered in a tent to hold a meeting to discuss where to attack next, should they attack west to Europe, or east deep into Asia? In the end, there was no conclusion, so the Mongolian Khan slapped his thigh and said, let's attack from all sides, fighting Europe and the Song Dynasty together. Thus, the Mongolian cavalry occupied the Eurasian continent.

The Mongols had no strategies or military tactics, but they were still able to conquer the world because they had the best of time, place and people, and were so powerful that they did not need any strategies.

This is very similar to the Chinese economy in the past few decades. It began to develop rapidly after the reform and opening up, with countless blank markets and huge growth dividends. It is easy to succeed in anything you do. Exposure will lead to conversion. For those who do brand communication, doing anything blindly will also be effective, and no strategy is needed.

But now, it’s time to pick up the strategy and think seriously about how to build a brand.

The purpose of strategy is to think clearly about what should and should not be done, what is right and what is wrong, and to draw a circle for creativity. At this moment, for this brand, it is right to do things within this range. As for whether it can go viral, that is not the point. A brand that never goes viral can still become stronger and bigger. Going viral once at a critical moment is much more effective than going viral at any time.

In one of my former companies, before a project was launched, they would always spend a lot of time together to discuss ideas and strategies until they had thought things through and reached a consensus. Then they would quickly organize a team and execute the project. People outside always think that they have strong execution capabilities, but in fact, I think it's because everyone understands what to do and how to do it.

Next, as a strategist, I will talk about how to set strategies and how to sort out brand strategies. A strategic scope is defined from the two dimensions of spatial location and historical logic, and ultimately a guide for action is given.

Below, enjoy:

2. Spatial location

Knowing where you are is an important basis for judgment . Whether it is a brand, an individual or a company organization, it should objectively judge its current position in the overall environment.

For example, if you are one of the fish in a pond, first you need to figure out how big the pond is, how many fish are in the pond, what the food chain is like, and finally figure out what position and role you are in, and what position and role you want to evolve to.

How to establish the brand’s coordinate system in the market?

First, you need to understand how big the market space is and understand the market environment. If you are targeting the Chinese market, you need to first understand how big the Chinese market is, then look at how big the global market is, then look at the role and position of the Chinese market in the global market, and then look back at the position of this brand in the overall environment.

Let’s take the advertising industry that we are familiar with as an example.

When I entered the industry many years ago, I was a forum writer and the first generation of Weibo editor, but I hope to be better. I need to know what the advertising world is and how big it is.

There were 4A advertising companies in the Chinese market back then. They were basically at the top of the food chain, all international foreign companies. The earliest 4A creative directors could date celebrities. Then there are some local advertising companies, divided into big, small, old and new; on another dimension, there are public relations companies, also divided into international and domestic, and also divided into big and small; at the bottom of the food chain are those of us who do online marketing, who are basically unscrupulous, and the small copywriters of 4A are also great gods to us. Above 4A are legendary international hot shops such as W+K, and at the top of the advertising companies are strategic consulting firms such as McKinsey and Accenture.

This is the market of the advertising industry, and it is the same for other industries.

Therefore, the first thing to do after receiving a strategy brief is to find out how big the market for this brand is and what brands are available.

The second step is to partition and classify all brands in this space. Who is the best in this market, who is the worst, who makes the most money, who is the most respected, what methods are used to make short-term profits, and how to build a sustainable long-term brand.

I won’t analyze the advertising industry. I will just categorize and rank all the roles in the market, and then put myself in there. You will basically be able to determine your position.

Determining the spatial location means determining where I am, and then we need to talk about a vision, which is where I want to go.

In a three-dimensional coordinate system, from what position to what position. Want to be the most profitable? The most respected? The biggest? Small and beautiful? Which path is easier and more suitable? Which path is more risky but more rewarding?

What strategists need to do is to lay out all these paths, and decision makers need to make the final decision: which path to take, what to become, and whether to take risks. Thereby establishing your own brand vision and values.

To sum up, the first step in making a strategy is to analyze the market and draw conclusions, find out the market position and role of the brand, and help decision makers think about what they want to grow into and establish brand vision and values.

During the development of a brand, its position may change at any time and the market structure may also be turbulent, so it is necessary to adjust its objective position according to the market environment.

3. Historical Logic

If spatial position is the cross-sectional position of the brand in the larger environment, then historical logic is the vertical position of the brand on the timeline.

Historical logic is to determine the current stage of the brand through the past stages of brand growth and the destination to be reached in the future, and ultimately determine what should be done now. Pay attention to the word "logic". Brand growth is progressive. Past decisions affect the present, and the present affects the future.

The problem in the industry now is that people think that being on the screen is awesome, without considering historical logic or how to achieve progressive and sustainable growth. Instead, they act in a parallel or even disorderly manner, just doing anything as long as it can expose the brand. This is a huge disrespect to the industry.

So, how do we find our own stage and position from the logic of history?

We need to think about the history of the industry, how many years it has existed, how big a scope it covers, and what the situation is like in China. Find out what this brand has done before and what its vision for the future is, and write it down.

How to get from the past to the present is clear, and the destination of the future is the vision, which is also known. What we need to do now is to fill in the road from the present to the future and plan it out. Is it a straight line or a detour, how many mountains need to be climbed, how many opponents will be encountered, plan a road, and then move forward along this road. Of course, in the process of moving forward, this road will change. Only the road that has been walked can be considered a road. Adjust the future road at any time according to the road that has been walked.

To sum up, after determining the spatial location, we need to sort out the brand logic. Based on the history of the industry and our own brand, combined with the current trends and brand vision, we need to determine the brand’s current historical stage and position. We then need to plan the brand strategy from the present to the future. What path should we take in the future and what should we do?

4. Strategy scope

By now, the brand’s current cross-sectional position and vertical historical stage and position have all been thought through clearly. The next step is to give the brand strategy direction and scope. Note, it is direction and range.

The feasibility and fault tolerance of the strategy. A strategy that is easy to implement is important, and a strategy with a high fault tolerance is important.

First of all, we need to divide the brand strategy into stages, from the present to the future vision. There may be a big strategy, but it needs to be implemented in several steps. The first thing to think about is where the first section of the road will go? That is to say, set a small phased goal and think about what to do within this small goal.

Let me give you an example. For example, the brand Momo’s big brand vision is “connecting people who should be connected”, and the first small goal set is “making Momo visible”.

In small goals, there is no need to distinguish between communication logics, as long as it meets the requirements of this goal. We also need to plan the core work within this small goal, such as holding an offline event for 100,000 people, inviting 100,000 Momo users to gather offline, and forming a huge ICON content that can represent the image of Momo. We may also do some cross-border collaborations to make Momo's brand truly appear in life, and there may be some other messy things, but the core is to meet the small goal of "making Momo visible", and this small goal may be completed in one year or three years. We are one step closer to our grand vision, and we will plan the next small goal, which may be a multi-scenario, multi-relationship social form, breaking through the form of male-female social interaction, and ultimately achieving a stranger social collaboration system to "connect people who should be connected."

This is just a personal opinion, it may not be correct.

What I mean is that the strategy ultimately needs to be thought out and a conclusion must be drawn, with the path to the brand vision to be planned and divided into small goals. Give creativity a scope, point out a direction, and do the right thing.

After all of the above has been sorted out and thought through, it will be compiled into an internal company document and shared with all relevant personnel. This is a clear guide for doing things. People who can understand strategies can decide what to do and what not to do. From now on, we will say goodbye to the situation where everything has to be approved by each level and the boss has to make decisions on the spur of the moment. Without a clear strategic direction, the boss is actually confused.

With a clear guide to action, whether to flood the screen with ads, or to settle down and operate users, whether to make a big exposure to grab territory, or to break down the circles one by one, there are generally standards. Everyone has reached a consensus, and everyone knows what is right, so flooding the screen is no longer the highest requirement.

5. Screen swiping guide

Earlier we talked about how to plan the right things and determine the standards for doing things, rather than doing things blindly or using screen-swiping as the standard.

Does the right thing include scrolling?

There are two kinds of screen swiping, one meaningful and one meaningless. Countless things have been done and they are just done. If they amount to 100,000+, they are just 100,000+. It does not produce any meaning and will not make any difference to the future. In fact, most of the current screen-swiping cases are meaningless, and only a mess is left after the carnival. (Not to offend anyone, no examples)

There are two types of screen swiping that I advocate. The first type is that everything is ready, except for exposure. Issues such as how to take over the traffic after the screen swiping, how to convert it, and whether the conversion path is clear have all been solved. With one swipe, the brand can be progressively upgraded to a higher level. The second type is regional screen swiping, cognitive dome-style screen swiping, customizing content for precise groups of people, and improving conversion rates.

Let’s talk about the first type first. Most of the cases I have seen in the market basically have exposure (screen swiping) as the ultimate goal, and those who talk about conversion are just talking nonsense. In fact, exposure is an entrance. Exposure is above the water surface, and more work should be done below the water surface. Whether it is the "What's Peppa Pig" style of active screen swiping or strong media placement, what is ultimately gained is exposure.

Then, how to convert and follow up is more important than exposure.

For example, for Internet products, are there activities, benefits, attractive content, and content that can receive a lot of exposure within the product? How to establish a path between the product and the big exposure, keyword search, jump button, QR code, or something else. Having a path, being able to take over, and finally being able to convert, this is the purpose of screen swiping. You have to let the traffic flow and finally flow to your home. Isn’t screen swiping essentially exposure? Not all brands or products are suitable for exposure. For example, for a nationally renowned brand, pure exposure is worthless without incremental information.

To sum it up concretely, before notifying everyone to enter the village, we first tell everyone what they can get, and then pave the asphalt road and make good road signs. The so-called screen-sweeping is just a matter of shouting.

Let’s talk about the second type. It is a media concept I mentioned before called the “cognitive dome”, which means that although all information on the Internet is transparent, everyone has cognitive limitations. No one has a God’s perspective, and no one can understand everyone’s pain. This extends to circles. Each group has its own cognitive limitations, so it is possible to create a cognitive dome for a precise group.

For example, contemporary industrial workers - office white-collar workers .

This group represents the most valuable traffic for most brands. They are young, anxious, have a little money, and are eager to succeed. The most important thing is that they have the right to speak in public opinion on the Internet. If this group of people say it is good, then everyone will say it is good. They are actually very concentrated, just in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and parts of Hangzhou. Their residential and working areas are also very concentrated, and their Internet tracks are just those few. From offline to online, use hard advertising and soft articles, use all means, land, sea and air, but be precise, let every individual feel the screen-sweeping feeling, let this group feel overwhelming, they will drive the entire public opinion to be overwhelming.

Another example is the young people in small towns .

They are a spiral of silence. They go crazy in towns and villages across the country, but there is no reaction at the public opinion level until they become giants. Only then does the area within the Fifth Ring Road suddenly wake up. Take the growth trajectory of Pinduoduo and Kuaishou as an example. So you have to wait for the right time to swipe the screen. It is also possible that it will grow silently first until it becomes a gray rhino and finally drop from the sky to the CBD, which will scare them.

Of course, there are many more small and precise circles. The significance of swiping the screen within the circle is that brands can talk about topics that are more in-depth in their lives, users can empathize, and accumulate high-quality user reputation. Or perhaps, these precise groups of people are the signposts for mass users.

So it’s not that you can’t flood the screen with messages, but you need to do it in a premeditated and meaningful way . You should flood the screen when you should, and resist the urge to flood the screen when you shouldn’t. You have to know that flooding the screen is nothing big. What’s big is to make the brand you serve truly powerful and respected.

6. Summary

This article is a bit long. It discusses systematically how to sort out strategies and plan screen swiping within the strategies.

The current screen-swiping cases are just like chasing hot topics, which are like buying lottery tickets, betting 10 yuan a day, hoping to win 5 million someday, and hoping to have a return of 100,000+%. Is this reliable?

I hope practitioners can pay more attention to strategies and think things through before taking action. It doesn’t take much time and doesn’t cost much money. Strategists are very cheap now, and the money that brands spend on “lottery tickets” is enough to figure out strategies. The first half of Chinese brands is over, the huge growth dividend is over, and throwing money at it no longer works. The next step is to compete in strategy to see who has greater strategic determination and can create sustainable growth and expansion. Sustainability is an issue that all brands face.

In today's brand market system, it is necessary to sort out the brand, create a set of solutions and measurement standards, and do the right thing.

First, find out the brand's position in the space and understand its position in the market.

Then, we can sort out the historical logic in the time dimension, figure out what stage the brand is in at the moment, and then sort out the brand's development logic based on this;

Finally, a phased strategy is determined, including what goals should be achieved and what should be done in this phase;

Next, we will create creative ideas based on this framework. The created ideas will be placed in this framework. Those that can be placed in are correct, and those that cannot are incorrect, at least they are not suitable for this brand at this moment. Therefore, there is no need to create ideas that cannot be placed into the strategic framework.

With this brand strategy combing framework, first of all, there is no need to make screen-sweeping the top priority. Just do the right thing and do it at the right time. Secondly, the boss does not need to make decisions on creative ideas on the spur of the moment. With a consensus on the strategic framework, all participants can make decisions on whether the idea is right or wrong as long as they understand the framework. It can also greatly improve communication efficiency and work efficiency. Everyone collaborates within a framework consensus, and everyone will be more confident in their work at the moment.

Branding is a job that combines technology and art, sensibility and rationality. It is not simple.

If you don’t understand, just remember one thing: apart from exposure, if you don’t understand why you should do something, don’t do it.

above.

Source: Yang Buhuai (ID: yangbuhuai01)