Brand Marketing: How to build a brand from 0 to 1?

2018 marks the end of the golden age of entrepreneurship, so from now on, perhaps it is the beginning of solid branding . Brand recognition and consensus will become the product’s strongest moat.

Last year, I thought that after working in brand communication for so many years, I had always listened to the client and my boss, and my own ideas could not be fully realized. If you have the opportunity, create your own brand and use your own methods to build the brand. It may not necessarily become very big, but it will definitely give you a sense of accomplishment. I still haven’t figured out what brand I want to create, but I am thinking seriously about how to build a brand from scratch right now.

Maybe it is immature, maybe it has loopholes, and certainly it is not comprehensive. This time I wrote down what I thought, and we can discuss it together and inspire each other. the following:

1. Current Situation Insight

Before thinking about how to build a brand, you need to first understand the current situation and gain insight before making a strategy. Next, I will briefly summarize my insights into the current situation from three levels: first, the solidification of circles, second, the shortening of consumption paths, and third, the gray rhino of public opinion.

2. Ring layer solidification

This point has been mentioned in the previous article. The truth of contemporary life is the circleization and cognitive cocooning, and most people are not aware of it. They think that what they pay attention to is what the whole world pays attention to, and what they see is what the whole world sees. As long as you broaden your vision a little, you will find that your world is very barren and the real world is very vast.

For example, Douyin has 500 million monthly active users. Logically, this is a very large circle and the content should be very diverse. But as long as you persist for three days and spend two hours on Douyin every day, you will find that the content you see in these three days is almost the same. There is serious homogeneity. Douyin users believe that the whole world is watching Douyin. But if you just close TikTok and look at others, you will discover a vast world.

The solidification of circles and cognitive cocoons are objective facts. They are neither positive nor negative, but a matter of personal choice. The question that marketers need to think about is, in this environment, how to reach the audience, what language to use, and how to communicate with them?

This is the first insight into the phenomenon - the solidification of circles.

3. Shortening the consumption path

I mentioned this insight when writing about product-effect integration. The current consumption path has undergone fundamental changes. In the past, from seeing an advertisement to purchasing a product, one had to walk a physical distance of hundreds of meters, kilometers, or even farther. Now, thanks to the improvement of Internet infrastructure, social networking, search, e-commerce, O2O, etc., most of our lives are concentrated on a smartphone.

When I discovered that some young people born after 1995 don’t have PC computers; when I found that I use my mobile phone screen for more than 6 hours a day, I came to a conclusion that all paths are within the palm of your hand. There is no distance, only speed. After 5G, there will not even be the concept of network speed, everything will be instant.

Therefore, the current consumption path is: see - (search) - act, and the search can even be omitted, or the search is part of the action, a necessary part. Today, "product" is scattered. If you see brand information anywhere and are impressed, you will immediately pick up your phone and take action. The action may be to open the App Store, Xiaohongshu, Taobao, follow a public account, etc., and then buy, experience, follow, etc. to complete the brand-effect conversion.

First, there is no need to put a QR code, just tell the entrance. Second, there is zero delay, you can take action immediately as long as you are interested. The moment people are touched is when their desire to act is the strongest. If they cannot act immediately and have to wait a while, this desire will decrease and disappear. All consumers need, "I want it now."

This is the second insight into the phenomenon - the conversion path is shortened, with almost zero attenuation from product to effect.

4. Gray Rhino of Public Opinion

It has been difficult to find a word to describe this matter, so I can only use the term "gray rhino of public opinion." To give a typical example, in the early stages of its development, Kuaishou had no voice in public opinion, and no media or self-media within the Fifth Ring Road reported or discussed it. A behemoth with over 100 million users and extremely active users remained silent, and public opinion turned a blind eye to it. Is this a gray rhino in public opinion?

We need to understand the nature of public opinion. Public opinion does not necessarily exist just because there is a certain amount of dissemination. Let me tell you another thing. When Weibo first became popular, an old joke that had been circulating for a long time was forwarded over a million times and spread widely. I also accidentally forwarded it to my Weibo and casually added the topic #XX体# (various styles were popular in those years). It was only forwarded about 2,000 times. The next day, more than a dozen city newspapers reported it. On the third day, Baidu Encyclopedia had more than 100,000 views. At the end of the year, it was counted as the annual buzzword. This illustrates the nature of public opinion very well. The amount of dissemination is not equal to public opinion.

This insight into the phenomenon can be viewed in reverse. A product that silently accumulates users and spreads silently without disturbing public opinion. Done well, this will be a good strategic hiding period. This strategic concealment period gives the product and users enough breathing space. When it becomes a gray rhino, it will surface like an explosion. Just imagine that scene; it will be spectacular.

This is the third phenomenon insight—the gray rhino of public opinion.

5. Build a brand from 0 to 1

Next, let’s talk about how we can create a new brand in the era of mobile Internet based on the above three insights and what are the steps. First, understand what a brand is. A brand is the consensus reached between Party A and consumers. It is a proposal made to consumers, and when it gets enough recognition and a consensus is reached with consumers, it is a brand. So the question is, how can Party A gain more recognition from consumers and reach a broader consensus?

Step 1: Circle consensus

In the past, when launching a new product, we targeted everyone from the beginning and hoped to reach a consensus with everyone from the beginning. This strategy was feasible in the early Chinese market, where there were many blank markets, media discourse power was concentrated, and consumer word-of-mouth could not be networked. Although the voice of various trends that have emerged in recent years is not as concentrated, they have still opened up some blank markets, so they are still partially effective. The only change is that consumer word-of-mouth has been connected to the Internet. In early markets or blank markets, the time window is important, and it is important to gain enough market share in a short period of time.

The current situation is that there are fewer and fewer blank markets, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to create mass brands. More new brands are segmented vertical brands, iterative brands in mature markets, rather than new brands in blank markets. In this situation, the work of seizing the market is not urgent, but it is very important to reach a consensus within the circle first.

Since circles are solidified, it is theoretically feasible to reach a consensus within the circle without alarming public opinion. The consensus among circles is divided into two parts: selling goods within the circle and accumulating circle consumer reputation.

There are two reasons why we need to reach a consensus among circles. First, if we cannot grow naturally in the core circle and cannot achieve a 90-point brand, we need to make timely adjustments or iterations, or even terminate operations. The second is related to the consumption path. First, build a good reputation within the circle and achieve a 90-point brand. Then, when you promote it to the public, it will be a 90-point brand promoted to the public. On the contrary, if there is no consensus in the circle and it is pushed to the public right away, the score is uncontrollable. It may be a score of 90s or 10 points.

For example, Heytea opened its first store on Jiuzhong Street in Jiangmen City, Guangdong Province, a remote corner of China. It was followed by Dongguan, Foshan, and Huizhou, and it was not until three years later that it entered the provincial capital Guangzhou. Before entering the public eye, Heytea spent enough time in the regional market (circle market) to collect feedback and polish its products, maintaining natural growth through trial and error, and finally becoming an Internet celebrity brand when it entered the public eye. Imagine if Heytea’s first store was opened in Sanlitun, Beijing, would it still be the Heytea of ​​today?

Another example is Pinduoduo and Kuaishou. Before entering the public eye, they accumulated enough users underground and emerged as gray rhinos. For example, many e-commerce hot-selling products are often already hot-selling products among a niche circle before becoming popular among the general public.

Therefore, it is more reliable to reach a consensus within the circle before entering the public eye.

Step 2: Public Tone Setting

In the past, the most important thing for a brand was positioning. Now, positioning is important, but setting the tone is even more important. Many brands have overlooked this step. In addition, the right to set the tone of some brands has been seized by mass media or KOLs, which has become negative, resulting in a very heavy price.

Let’s talk about two examples to explain what setting the tone is. The first is Kuaishou. The biggest failure in Kuaishou’s development history is that it did not have the power to set the tone for the public in its own hands. Kuaishou came into the public eye with the article "The Cruel Story of the Lower Class: China's Rural Areas in a Video Software" by the self-media "Dr. X". It was because of this article that the tone of Kuaishou was established as low, cruel, and lower-class. It is precisely because Kuaishou is pinned on the countryside that Douyin also has the opportunity.

Think about it, if there had not been that article by Dr. X, and instead another image of a short video platform had been created, even if it was a neutral platform image, would TikTok have risen?

In the first season of the American TV series "House of Cards", there is a very impressive example. When Frank was promoting the education bill, it triggered a teachers' strike, during which someone threw bricks at Frank's house. Frank discussed with Claire and Doug in the back garden how to set the tone for this incident. Claire said a word called "unorganized labor". As a result, there were no respected teachers, only unorganized laborers. This word frequently appeared in various media, turning the striking teachers into unorganized laborers, which ultimately led to the failure of the teachers' strike and the passage of the education bill. A brick and a word that gave Frank victory in the struggle.

Therefore, the second step in establishing a new brand is to “set the tone among the public.” When a product has gained a good enough reputation in the core circle and has achieved beautiful natural growth, and has become a good niche brand, it is necessary to consider how to appear in public opinion. The announcement of this tone-setting may not necessarily be in an official form, it may be in the form of third-party public relations, but it must be handled personally by Party A.

When is the right time? There are two parts here. The first is to pay close attention to public opinion. If a negative tone similar to "The Cruel Story of the Bottom" appears, either communicate with the blogger in time or make timely corrections if there is a positive tone. The other is that public opinion has not set the tone for the brand, and the rhythm can be controlled by the brand. The stage of circle consensus has been completed and natural growth has slowed down. It is time to start setting the tone for the public, break down circle barriers, and enter the mass space.

The consensus of the circle is the basis for the public to set the tone. If the brand does not score 90 points within the circle, the public’s tone cannot be set. Once the public opinion is successfully set, the brand will gain attention and discussion. At this time, consumers will definitely search for the product to see whether the public opinion is true. Looking back at the search, if the brand has a very good reputation in the circle and scores 90 points, then the brand tone can basically be determined, and a new round of growth will be formed, while also bringing about a broader brand consensus. At this point, a niche brand can successfully enter the public eye and have the potential to become a mass brand.

Step 3: Mass Communication

We have seen too many screen-sweeping products that were popular for only a month, such as Xiaokaxiu, Faceu, and the face-pinching product from a while ago (maybe Bullet Messenger?), etc. Therefore, in order to prevent the brand from becoming a short-lived hit, it is necessary and important to make continuous investments in mass communications.

The previous work is just the foundation. When a new brand is launched, if you indulge in the pleasure and achievement of being on the screen, within a month, the brand will be silent, and after a while, the company may go bankrupt. There are many lessons from the past that can be used as reference. After successfully setting the tone for the masses, the next step is to build on the success and consolidate the victory. Update products, popularize, continue to innovate, and keep doing things to maintain the freshness of a new brand for a long time.

Why do we need to do so much up front before we start mass communication? One is for effect conversion. The conversion path we talked about earlier has almost zero attenuation, so you can take action immediately when you see it. Now when we do mass communication, consumers see it, then go back to search for word of mouth, read user reviews, and see the attitudes of big Vs and the media. If it is positive, they are likely to place an order. If there is no reputation in the circle and no public tone, users will not be able to search for anything and the possibility of placing an order will be much smaller.

Second, it is for the brand. The brand is no longer the client’s wishful thinking. It is not about popularity or influence, but a consensus between the client and the user. The purpose of building consensus among the circle and setting the tone among the public is to form a brand consensus.

If you understand it in a more abstract way, after completing these two steps, a complete brand with products, reputation, tone, and consensus will be there, but the scope is relatively small. When doing mass communication at this time, what people see is a brand, not a product. This will rapidly expand brand consensus, making the brand consensus wider and wider and becoming a real brand.

6. Summary

Today we are talking about new logic. It is complicated and simple at the same time. Let me try to summarize it.

Everyone must have seen a funnel logic before. The top level is attention and seeing, then interest, then desire, and finally purchase, and then conversion to word of mouth and so on. This is a crowd screening principle. When we make a product and push it to the mass market, we advertise it as widely as possible, tell everyone, and then screen the people who are interested in it in the big funnel. Maybe 100 million people saw it, and finally 100,000 of them became consumers. The usual logic is this.

The current environment is different. First, all consumers are Internet users. If 100 million people see that 100,000 people make a purchase, and if 500,000 people complain on the Internet because they hate the product, the remaining 95.5 million people will see these 500,000 people's complaints, which may lead to failure. Today’s consumer word-of-mouth is networked, with timely feedback, and public opinion is uncontrollable. A product only has one chance to be marketed, and once the tone is set, it is difficult to reverse.

Second, the dissolution of authority. In the past, we believed in authoritative media such as CCTV, but now the public only believes in the public, or even only believes in the small groups around them. Therefore, exposing 100 million people at the beginning without a mass base will result in an extremely low conversion rate and is very likely to lead to a negative tone, which is somewhat dangerous.

So, when a new product is launched, don't go to the public right away and don't give everyone the opportunity to criticize you. This will be dangerous. First try, modify, trial and error in the core circle, polish it into a 90-point niche brand, and reach a brand consensus with users in the core circle.

Then the public will set the tone. This step is very critical. The right to set the tone by the public is best held by Party A. Do not let the media or KOLs take the lead, because once this tone is recognized by the public, it will affect the brand image for a long time. Think about Kuaishou and the price Momo paid.

Finally, it will be disseminated to the public. After the public has successfully set the tone, it will usher in a period of rapid growth. However, this explosive stage is the most dangerous, as it is easy for the product to suddenly become outdated. Therefore, it is necessary to strike while the iron is hot and carry out mass communication to maintain the brand freshness for a long time until the brand has leapt over this round of rapid growth and entered a period of stable and normalized growth. At this time, the tone and growth rate of a new brand have tended to stabilize, and it is considered to have passed the death zone and is ready to get on the table.

Wang Xing once said, "Meituan is always only six months away from bankruptcy." I quite agree with this statement. In my career, almost all the projects I have worked on are full of uncertainty, and I have been walking on thin ice every time. I am not trying to sell anxiety. In the ever-changing communication environment, no methodology is necessarily effective. There is no definite sunny road, only an uncertain single-plank bridge.

Source: Yang Buhuai