Advanced planning guide: 3 theories to solve product, user and competition problems

I think most planners have heard of theories such as USP, brand image, and positioning theory, but when it comes to actually writing plans and making strategies, they are still confused and at a loss...

How to use the theory? What do these theories talk about? What are the similarities and differences between them?

Faced with a specific plan and the actual situation of different customers and industries, which theory should we use to think about and solve the problem?

When should a company promote its product features and USPs? When should we focus on brand image? When should you position your brand?

As a planner, if he can understand these issues clearly and deeply, he has already advanced.

Before starting this article, there are two points I want to emphasize:

First, theory does not provide specific methods, but rather thinking tools and logical frameworks.

The value of theory is to guide practice and solve practical problems. But theory is not practice, we cannot apply theory mechanically to actual work.

Theory is not a method, but it teaches you how to come up with a method and what principles and directions to use to think and solve practical problems.

This means that it is more important to understand the logic behind the theory than to remember what the theory itself is talking about.

If you study a theory but not the logic of the theory, but only remember a few new terms and concepts and memorize the key points of the theory 1234...

Sorry, the workplace is not a school. No one will give you a test paper and then you can get full marks just by reciting the theory from memory.

If you cannot help your clients improve their brand image, but only memorize a few theories about brand image and brand assets very well, you will still be unemployed.

Second, no theory is omnipotent.

As long as it is a theory, it has its own logically consistent boundaries.

This theory is only valid if certain conditions and categories are met. Once this boundary is exceeded, the theory becomes invalid.

Newton's three laws of motion are so awesome that they can explain various mechanical phenomena on Earth and the laws of motion of planets in the universe.

The edifice of classical mechanics is built on the basis of Newton's laws.

But when it comes to the microscopic world inside atoms, Newton's classical mechanics fails and the building collapses, so we have quantum mechanics.

So, this is the theoretical boundary of Newton's classical mechanics: it is applicable to macroscopic, low-speed moving objects, not applicable to microscopic particles (electrons, protons, atoms, molecules), and cannot be used to deal with high-speed motion problems.

No theory is omnipotent, not even Newton's.

So if a marketing guru tells you that his theory can explain all business phenomena, no matter what problems the company faces, this theory can be used to solve them.

Sorry, this is xie jiao.

Cut off the feet of the world's brands to make them fit the shoes of their theories.

This is a disease and needs to be treated.

Okay, now let’s clear up each theory one by one.

As I said before, strategy is about solving problems.

There are thousands of problems that a company may encounter in the market, but in the final analysis, the problems only exist at three levels: product problems, user problems, or competition problems.

In fact, all kinds of theories also start from these three levels in order to solve problems at the three levels of products, users and competition.

1. USP

In the 1950s, World War II had just ended, and the United States was recovering and business was gradually prospering. At this time, if a company wants to sell its products, the easiest way is to tell others what benefits your product has and what problems it can solve for users.

So the theory that was born at this time is called USP, unique selling proposition.

There are three key points in the USP theory:

1. Every advertisement must provide consumers with a proposition to let them know what benefits they can get by purchasing the product in the advertisement;

2. The proposition must be unique, something that competitors do not have or cannot do, or something that competitors have but have not said;

3. The proposition must be sales-oriented and focus strongly on one point to impress and move consumers.

To summarize, advertising needs to convey a unique, single, and marketable product feature proposition and selling point to consumers.

It solves a problem at the product level.

Only products with differentiated functional value can win the market's favor in the long run.

If you use your brain frequently, drink more Six Walnuts .

To relieve greasiness, drink Jiulongzhai.

These are all typical applications of USP theory.

2. Brand image

But by the 1960s, competition was becoming increasingly fierce, and the number of companies producing similar products on the market was increasing, which inevitably led to a problem - product homogeneity.

After products become homogenized, companies can no longer find their own USP. At this time, companies have no choice but to find other ways out.

The same is true for consumers. For example, I want to buy a bottle of beer, but there is no difference between beers produced by different companies. The taste, quality and price are similar.

So how do I choose?

Just pick up any bottle, or buy whichever one looks good to you.

In more professional terms, this is called:

Product homogeneity causes consumers to make decisions mainly based on emotion rather than rationality.

Therefore, portraying the brand image is much more important than emphasizing the specific functions of the product.

Since there is no differentiation in products, let’s differentiate in image and emotion.

So at this time the famous BI - brand image theory was born.

Ogilvy 's brand image theory talks about:

The primary goal of advertising is to shape the brand image rather than short-term benefits.

Every brand and every product should develop an image, and every advertisement should be a long-term investment in the brand image.

What consumers buy is not just products, but also psychological satisfaction. Advertising should give emotions to the brand.

There is no difference between Pepsi and Coca-Cola in terms of products, so Pepsi creates a younger brand image.

Marlboro is no different from other cigarettes, so let’s create a cowboy image.

There is no difference between Youlemei’s milk tea and Xiangpiaopiao, so let’s create an image of romantic love.

3. Positioning theory

By the 1970s, competition was unprecedentedly fierce and product categories were constantly differentiating.

Not to mention what your USP is or what your brand image is, it’s difficult for consumers to even remember who you are.

So at this time, the most important thing for companies is to give themselves a simple label and occupy a position in the minds of consumers.

This is the theory of positioning.

The main points of the positioning theory are as follows:

Business is a war, it is competition-driven, not demand-driven.

Business war is a war of minds. Consumers’ minds are extremely simple and they are afraid of trouble. You have to tell consumers who you are in one sentence.

For a company to either be the best or be unique, there is no other choice.

The core of positioning is consumer cognitive management, and a successful brand must become a representative of a category.

Companies determine the nature of their strategies based on their position in the minds of users: defensive warfare, offensive warfare, flanking warfare, and guerrilla warfare.

I have talked about positioning in detail in the article "10 minutes and 49 seconds to understand positioning" . Positioning is a theory that is highly dependent on categories.

If a company considers positioning theory, it must consider whether the category it is in has sufficient recognition and influence. If the category you are in is obscure, there is no point in positioning yourself.

For example, the catering brand Xibei was initially positioned as a northwestern cuisine brand, then changed to a lamb cooking expert, and then changed to Youmian Village. Why are repeated adjustments unsuccessful?

The reason is that your product category is niche. So what even if I know that you are a leading brand of Northwestern cuisine? This category is too small, and consumers have no idea about eating Northwestern cuisine. What are the Northwestern dishes? Why should I eat Northwestern cuisine?

The same problem exists with oat noodles.

Cooking lamb is another issue. Although lamb is a large category, it has obvious advantages and disadvantages in the minds of many people.

Another major feature of positioning theory is its simplicity.

The advantage is simplicity, the disadvantage is too simple.

All you have to do is tell consumers that you are the leader in XX category. All you have to do is spread a word and label yourself.

You can understand the theory of positioning as soon as you hear it, and you can use it once you understand it. It is most likely to mislead entrepreneurs, especially small and medium-sized business owners who lack theoretical knowledge.

But if you talk to them about brands, blue oceans, and competitive strategies, they will definitely be confused.

The positioning of the consumer mind is also very simple.

In the eyes of positioning, the consumer's mind is probably a hundred-item cabinet with drawers (categories) on it. When each drawer is opened, there are neatly arranged cards (brands) inside.

Whatever product you want to buy, just open your inner drawer and pick a card.

From a psychological perspective, positioning is at most user perception management rather than experience management. It only wants to be remembered by consumers, and does not care whether the information it conveys is compelling or whether it can enhance user experience and goodwill.

Therefore, the message conveyed by positioning is very simple and crude. It relies heavily on repetition and repeated hammering to drive the positioning nail into the minds of consumers.

Therefore, successful cases of positioning theory usually involve huge advertising costs.

For example, Jiaduobao , Xiangpiaopiao, and Guazi used cars have advertisements everywhere, repeating the same sentence over and over again. Of course, they will be remembered by consumers and will make you feel very "successful."

But if you want to imitate , you need to have enough money.

Blackboard to highlight the key points

These are the three basic theories that are often used in brand strategy and communication strategy. USP thinks about problems from the product perspective, brand image from the user perspective, and positioning theory from the competition perspective.

The USP theory emphasizes the need to spread the product's functional claims to get consumers to pay for it;

The brand image theory emphasizes winning the favor of consumers through shaping the image and conveying emotions;

Positioning theory emphasizes the need to differentiate oneself from competitors and become known to consumers through labeling and occupying product categories.

As for competitive strategy and blue ocean strategy, they are more related to marketing issues, which we will discuss in the next article.

So when should we use which theory to solve the problem? In fact, the answer has been given above.

If a company's product is brand new, it is different from any product on the market.

At this time, you should apply USP, spread the product selling points, tell consumers who you are and why they should buy from you.

If you are facing fierce competition and your product is not much different from your competitors.

At this time, you have two options: one is to establish a brand image, and the other is to talk about positioning.

How to choose depends on whether it is easier to impress consumers, the emotional tree image or the labeling category.

In this sense, the slogan “If you don’t want to get a sore throat, drink Wanglaoji” when Wanglaoji was first launched was not positioning, but USP.

Because at that time, consumers across the country had no idea what herbal tea was, and the herbal tea category did not exist in the minds of consumers. Wanglaoji has no competitors at all (every beverage may be a competitor of Wanglaoji, so there are no competitors).

Therefore, if Wanglaoji claims to be the “leading brand of herbal tea” at this time, it is actually useless because no one knows what herbal tea is.

What Wanglaoji needs to do at this time is actually to tell consumers why they should drink herbal tea (Wanglaoji) and give people a reason to buy it - fear of getting a sore throat.

By the time Jiaduobao and Wanglaoji separated, advertising had been running for many years, consumers were already aware of herbal tea, and the herbal tea category had matured.

At this time, Jiaduobao emphasized that it was "the herbal tea brand with the highest sales volume in the country, and seven out of every ten cans of herbal tea sold in China are Jiaduobao."

Seize the leadership in the herbal tea category through sales volume.

Wanglaoji emphasizes that it is "the originator of the herbal tea brand, with an exclusive secret recipe handed down for 185 years."

Seize the position of leader in the herbal tea category through history and authenticity.

That’s positioning.

Let’s talk about Jiulongzhai. Jiulongzhai’s initial USP advertising was to relieve greasiness.

Because sour plum soup is a very niche category and there are so many types of beverages that consumers can drink while eating, Jiulongzhai wants to tell consumers why they should drink sour plum soup. Drink sour plum soup after eating big fish and meat, because it can relieve greasiness.

Later, Master Kong launched a new series of traditional drinks, which also included sour plum soup.

Therefore, Jiulongzhai began to position itself, emphasizing that it is the authentic sour plum soup and defending its position as the leader in the sour plum soup category. Its supporting points include: natural, boiled with rock sugar, and old Beijing flavor.

This is a pretty standard response, but I think it lacks creativity.

Because no matter how much you emphasize that you are the leader in the sour plum soup category, sour plum soup is, after all, a very small category. Even if all the market share is taken by Jiulongzhai, it will not be much.

For Master Kong, sour plum soup is just a handy thing; one more and one less won’t make much. Even if it doesn’t sell well, it doesn’t matter because it still has the big category of orange juice. So even if you use the authentic method to attack Master Kong, you can’t hit its weak spot.

Many years ago, I proposed another strategy to Jiulongzhai.

If Master Kong attacks you with sour plum soup, you can use sour plum soup to attack its large fruit juice category (because fruit juice is the lifeline of Master Kong).

My positioning for Jiulongzhai is:

More natural and nutritious juice.

Compare it to a larger category and tell consumers that drinking sour plum soup is better than drinking fruit juice. More natural, more nutritious and tastier.

This could potentially deal a heavy blow to Master Kong.

On the one hand, expand the entire category and grab market share from a larger category (juice).

On the other hand, authenticity cannot arouse consumers' appetite or desire to drink. But natural nutrition can.

But, I don’t need it.

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