The underlying logical understanding of marketing planning!

Maybe we all have encountered this problem:

Why do this?

What is the purpose of doing this?

What will be the final result?

After careful analysis, you will find that the answers to these questions are all part of our daily work.

Looking back, it is true! Whether as individuals or companies, we are actually striving for one thing, which is to compete for the "first position" in different event cycles.

Why are we all competing for first place?

You often see this scene: the little ones are shouting hard in front of the adults: "I want to be in front, I want to be the first." Yes, “I want to be number one” is the most common phrase children say. It is a child's nature to be first. This is the primary expression of genetic genes and one of the ways that human evolutionary genes display themselves in the face of survival. To survive, you have to be the first, the first to fight for food, the first to control supplies, and you must be the first in everything. Being the first is a basic survival skill.

In the eyes of a child, he must be first, and gaining the right to dominate everything is an innate nature and has nothing to do with being spoiled. Being the first in a small range is so important, as being the first represents dominance.

Company culture is the first principle. As long as you are related to the first, you will get good benefits. In addition to high efficiency and good work, other firsts are also valued, such as the first to report to the new leader; the first to support the team leader's suggestions; the first to block the wine for the leader; the first to give a little care to the newcomer, and you will receive corresponding rewards.

Life is the first thought. If you are in the second position, you should also think about whether you can be the first in other fields. You must be the first so that you have the right to communicate with the person who is the first. If everyone is the first, there will definitely be resonance in a certain field. The first is the right to communicate and respect.

The first person to land on the moon was American Armstrong. His words, "That's one small step for me, one giant leap for the world," became world-famous and won global attention. The first Chinese person to land on the moon was Yang Liwei. The myth of Chang'e flying to the moon has a wonderful sequel, which has won the attention of the Chinese nation. From number one in the world to number one in China, the impact on different groups of people is different, but it is equally exciting. The first is influence.

Okay, now we have roughly concluded that the first is a relative first. One must be the first in a relative field to have the opportunity to gain dominance and achieve substantial development. This is even more true in the business field. The first thinking is the underlying thinking. In a market where supply exceeds demand, the underlying logic of any marketing plan is the first thinking. Without first, there is no future.

Why do this? What is the purpose of doing this? What will be the final result? In a nutshell, do it for the sake of being first. First is the goal, and the result is to be first. If you can’t be the absolute first, you have to be the relative first; if you can’t be the first in the same track, you have to be the first in different tracks; if you can’t be the first in the same scene, you have to be the first in different scenes.

The first thought of market positioning

Positioning science was once very popular in China, and the name of Trout, the father of positioning, is also well-known. The essence of its theory is to allow a company or product to occupy a position in the minds of consumers, giving users a priority right of choice in the stage of fierce competition and large supply, thereby intercepting users from the consumer thinking end.

Examples of successful applications of this theory in China include “Drink Wanglaoji if you’re afraid of getting a sore throat”, Wanglaoji is positioned as a brand that is afraid of getting a sore throat, and it has taken the lead in occupying the “positioning of people who get a sore throat from eating spicy food”; “Nongfu Spring is a little sweet”, Nongfu Spring has taken advantage of consumers’ experience of the sweetness of spring water, resonating with it in your existing memories and occupying it. Look, the purpose of positioning is to occupy the first place, to occupy what others have not said, to occupy what consumers have experienced in their hearts, and to occupy what consumers have needs. The underlying logic of positioning is the first thinking.

The key to a hit product is to be the first

Before, "hot products" was an exclusive term for e-commerce operations. Doing e-commerce was equivalent to making hot products, and making hot products was the basic skill of e-commerce. Without hot products, there would be no meaning for businesses to exist. The purpose of e-commerce hits is to attract super traffic, because consumers can only flip to three pages at most when shopping. In this very limited "SKU display space" similar to that of offline stores, it must be front, front, and front again.

A hot product is the method, and a hot product is the source of traffic into the store. A hot product represents sales volume. In order to achieve a hot product, one must do everything possible, including exchanging low prices for volume, exchanging volume with high-frequency products with strong demand, exchanging volume with through trains that spend money to occupy space for volume, exchanging volume with fake orders, exchanging volume with seeding and attracting traffic. All possible tricks are used, short-term investment in exchange for traffic, achieving a hot product, and creating a phenomenon. This is a hot product, which is also equivalent to the stage-first thinking.

There are too many cases. In the early days of Zhong Xuegao's listing, it dared to spend the huge amount of capital invested. Since the money was not its own, the inner pressure was much less. Without the inner conflict, it could roll up its sleeves and work hard, driving a large number of people to attract attention and become a hit, taking the first place. Others such as Sandunban Coffee, Ramen Says, and Bama Rice Noodles all used capital to expand their territory, occupy the first place, create hit products, accumulate data in the short term, and create momentum, build momentum, and then create momentum again. A hot-selling product can accumulate more potential energy by being the first in the short term. There are the intentions of capital, the difficulties of data, the following trends of consumers, and the hype of the media. The purpose of a hit product is to be the first. There are different stories behind the first one.

Channel strategy is to be the first

This is an old topic. Channels have been discussed for many years. No matter how great the product or model is, it is inseparable from channels. Whether it is direct supply from the factory, traditional agents, or WeChat business communities, they are all forms of channels. Wahaha has grown from a first-tier city to a sixteenth-tier city in China, and its products can also be found in remote villages. More than two decades of marketing accumulation have established a high enough barrier to entry. With such high barriers, is there no way for other brands to survive? The reality is that there are still too many beverages in China. If you can’t be number one in the country, you can at least be number one in a local market.

When I was sorting out documents some time ago, I found a document mailed by a customer, and Zhang Dali’s name was still very eye-catching. Shenshanxiu is a juice brand from the small city of Xiuyan, Liaoning. This place is not big, but Xiuyan jade is quite famous and the business atmosphere is quite strong. Within a radius of 100 kilometers of Xiuyan, Shenshanxiu basically monopolizes rural restaurants and convenience stores. Relying on regional sentiment and strong channel capabilities, its annual product sales have exceeded 10 million.

There are various forms of channels. If you can’t be the first in a large region, then be the first in a small area. To be the first in a small range, you must maintain one or several capabilities such as sales promotion, display, promotion, animation, and binding sales to maintain your first position. The first is to narrow the channel coverage. Without being the first, there would be no such thing as deep channel cultivation.

Category segmentation means being the first

As the world changes, there are not too many products, but too many of them. Add in old wine in new bottles and you have a sea of ​​them. If there are more people, you have to rank them based on seniority, you have to compete for resources, and you have to occupy people's minds. But these are still not enough. The market is so small, what should we do? The big track is divided into small tracks, and the small tracks are further divided into A, B, and C groups. This is euphemistically called category segmentation.

Look, the purpose of this category segmentation is to rank first in a small track or group, or to occupy the first place. Give the product a dream for the future and give investors a high enough ceiling.

The competition in the coffee industry is fierce, so I decided to become the number one cold brew coffee brand and make Sandunban Coffee a success. The competition in the hotpot industry is too fierce, so I opened the first store selling hotpot ingredients, specializing in hotpot ingredients. Guoquan Shihui became popular, and we opened thousands of stores across the country. There are too many similar cases. Category segmentation aims to be the first in a small track. There is no absolute first, only relative first.

The same is true for other marketing concepts

Be the first without ambiguity

The pain point and selling point theories, including new marketing theories proposed by more marketers, such as Ye Maozhong’s conflict and the reflective marketing strategy proposed by myself, Zhang Dali, are essentially first-line thinking, but they focus on different details and nodes.

The general trend of the world is one trend, and all major theories follow the same idea. The good or bad lies in the details and the ability to implement them. Standing on the shoulders of our predecessors and doing business at a higher level, this is our current portrayal. To be the first, you must know how to take advantage of the situation!

How to be first

Final Words

In life, whether you are working for others or starting your own business, your first thought should be to strengthen, reinforce, and strengthen your first area of ​​excellence, and then you will become an expert. If you are not good at technology, you must be good at marketing. If you are not good at marketing, you must be good at business. If you are not good at business, you must be good at management. If you are not good at your main business, you must be good at a side business. No matter which field you are in, be it calligraphy, painting, history, Buddhism, or Yijing, you will be on an equal footing with the best person, because you also have things that are best in you, things that make him envy you. Only when you have found them all can you communicate, and only with communication can there be intersection.

The same is true for people and products. If you can't be number one in a large category, then you have to be number one in a sub-category. If you don't have a chance in a sub-category, then think about whether you can be number one in the channel. If not nationwide, then try number one in the province. If not in the province, then try number one in a small town. If you think this way, you will definitely have a chance to be number one. If you are not the first, there is no chance of being the second. You must create and strive to be the first.

In short, all marketing actions and all new marketing terms are about first-class thinking, which, in turn, is the method of how to be first. Based on corporate resources and product characteristics, you can find one or several points in order to be the first from positioning, hot-selling products, pain points, category segmentation, matching with consumer habits, channel strategy, online publicity, innovative concepts, functional attributes, endorsement credentials, etc. What success may require is a complex of multiple firsts, coupled with repetition to strengthen the first one, and use repetition to deal with the probability given by God called luck.

Now see how many items you or your product can take first place in. Make a table to make a statistics. Once you have a clear view, work hard and fast to implement them. If you are not sure of first place, don’t do it!

mutual encouragement!

Author: Zhang Dali

Source: Zhang Dali