Ramen’s Marketing Strategy

Whether it is an old brand that has quickly become popular by seizing the communication methods of the current era, or an emerging brand that is well versed in the consumption habits of young people and quickly occupies the market, they all have their own communication logic and marketing methods, which have become the magic weapon for brands to occupy the market.

01. The “breakthrough” and “trapped” of new domestic ramen

Home culture, single economy, new consumption... all these trends have pushed forward a new staple food brand " Ramen Say ". It does not have the Internet celebrity gene of Heytea, nor the sharp breakthrough of Yuanqi Forest. This seemingly gentle staple food brand has brought growth surprises, but also brought many doubts.

How can the unpopular “staple food” sector grow rapidly? How to maintain the imagination of products and brands? How to break the scene dependency? Where can we get the larger increase from?

1. For growth experts, can their secrets be sustained?

Ramen Says is positioned as "high-end ramen". During the Tmall Double 11 in 2020, Ramen Says exceeded 10 million sales in just 1 hour and 45 minutes. Ramen Says is also the only instant noodle brand to enter the TOP10 of Tmall's fast-moving consumer goods category in 2020.

The confidence and rapid growth are inseparable from the catalysis of capital. Since 2018, Ramen Says has started to raise funds crazily and has completed six rounds of financing in five years. In addition to Challenger Capital and Jiacheng Capital, Ramen Says' investors also include well-known capitals such as Zhen Fund, Sequoia Capital, and Ziniu. More than 10 capitals stand behind Ramen Says to "support" it.

With enough "ammunition", Ramen Shuo is also very aggressive. Such rapid growth is largely due to the support of the live broadcast trend.

2. Innovation and Breakthrough Points

What is the differentiating force of Ramen? It's subversive. In the field of convenience food, there is indeed a lack of such a product that is both good-looking and tasty. With the original intention of targeting Japanese ramen with high customer unit price, Ramen Says has fulfilled the dream of foodies that what you see is what you get for instant noodles. Rich ingredients, exquisite packaging, simple to become a chef. It also uses some black technology, using "space freeze-drying technology" to ensure the flavor of the ingredients.

But the price is also very high-end. Currently, the discounted price of a single pack of Ramen on the e-commerce platform is 19.9 yuan per pack. You know, if the average customer spending is more than 20 yuan, you can order a good takeout.

It is undeniable that there must be reasons why Ramen can break through the siege, but whether it can soar to the top depends on another kind of hard work.

Embracing innovation is valuable, and every new consumer brand is constantly improving the definition of "new domestic products." Only after climbing over mountains and crossing rivers, stepping on landmines and filling pits, can we achieve perfection and continue to grow. Driven by the dual-circulation engine, more game changers are on the way.

02. Use youth marketing to connect different user circles

At the same time, for brands, young people of Generation Z are a consumer group with different preferences and habits. If brands want to expand their influence and effectively reach young groups, they need to meet their needs through more diversified marketing forms and personalized marketing methods.

1. Youth-oriented marketing, efforts from multiple dimensions

Starting from the living habits and preferences of young people, equal communication between brands and consumers is established, which naturally realizes communication between brands and users. Making good-looking products a marketing tool for brand communication is Ramen Says’ way of communicating with Generation Z, and it is also an effective means to enhance brand communication.

Ramen Says is well versed in the communication methods of cross-border marketing, and through diversified cross-border marketing methods, it gives the brand different cultural connotations. By relying on joint ventures to expand brand awareness and achieve a surge in traffic, cross-border collaborations can also create a sense of freshness that can attract users. While capturing the minds of users, it also helps the brand cultivate its own fans.

2. Multi-touchpoint marketing to connect different user circles

In addition to the brand's efforts to capture the minds of users through a younger approach, Ramen Says has also opened up user circles through a multi-platform and multi-format layout. Circle marketing is characterized by high-end and niche, and has the effect of quickly delivering brand information and improving experience.

Ramen Says leverages the influence of KOLs on various platforms to reach more user audiences, gradually converts KOLs' fans into its own audience through endorsements, deepens users' impression of the brand on multiple platforms such as Weibo, Douyin, Kuaishou, and official accounts, and rapidly increases the brand's exposure and reputation.

3. Seize the hot spots of the times and increase brand exposure

Marketing strategies change with the times. Ramen Says keeps up with the characteristics of the times and drives sales for the brand through live streaming. By adopting multiple marketing strategies to build brand awareness, Ramen Says has quickly grown into a new consumer brand of today's era. It has successfully won traffic and sales for the brand while achieving coverage of different circles.

In this era of scarce attention, any brand that wants to quickly attract users, get them to pay attention to or participate in the brand's marketing, and thereby expand its influence. It is necessary to break through its original circle, reach more circles, and cover more consumers.

03. For emerging brands, how to quickly break the circle?

Speaking of breaking the circle, many brands should be familiar with this term. Since the birth of this term, it has always been a hot word in advertising, public relations, communication, and marketing circles. Many brands even go straight to breaking the circle when doing communication, which shows how high the status of "breaking the circle" is in the minds of marketers.

In the opinion of Dark Horse, there are mainly the following points on how new brands can quickly break through the circle:

1. Maximize [demand x benefit]

The needs here refer to the needs of users, and the benefits refer to the benefits provided by the brand to users. The reason why both parties are allowed to pursue maximization is to essentially make the conflict more intense, because the more intense the conflict is in the early stages, the greater the subsequent impact will be.

Of course, there are still two key points. One is to have a sufficiently accurate insight into user needs. This may not necessarily be the needs of a certain group, but may also be the needs of highly representative individuals, because once a common event is expanded, the group will naturally discuss it.

The second point is interest, which is the solution to the needs. There can be many kinds of solutions, but in essence, we still have to focus on a series of emotional perspectives such as beauty, touching, resonance, sympathy, etc. at the human level. Only in this way can we arouse people's identification from the bottom of their hearts.

2. It is necessary to spread the information with the help of resources

Nowadays, brands that engage in social media operations or social communications are accustomed to using hot topics to increase popularity, and the same is true for large brand communications.

Although the view that "good wine needs no bush" is still heard from time to time, if you really want to achieve a screen-sweeping level breakthrough, in addition to the basic operation of maximizing demand and benefits, taking advantage of the situation to add fuel to the fire is the process of constructing points into surfaces.

3. Realize self-propagation with the help of user UGC

In addition to the above two points, there is actually another key factor that exists in the users themselves to truly break the circle, that is, user self-propagation, which is also called fission in the field of brand growth.

With precise demand and interest points, as well as the help of external forces, although it can cause a greater volume of dissemination within a certain range, if you want to truly achieve the goal of brushing up ratings and breaking the circle, you still have to rely on users' self-propagation.

Because the first two steps are controllable in some aspects. As long as there are no strategic errors in the initial communication points, all dissemination can be controlled through public opinion. Although this can avoid certain risks, it is more of a limitation for brands pursuing a larger dissemination volume. If you want to break through the limitations, you must inevitably move towards the "person-to-person" dissemination method.

Nowadays, high-end operations that break the circle must have the right time, place and people. First of all, the basic insights must be accurate enough, the values ​​​​conveyed must be positive, and there must be external influential forces to add fuel to the flames during the dissemination. The content itself must be exciting enough and resonate with users, promoting the spontaneous occurrence of the "human-to-human" phenomenon among users.

Although breaking the circle is what every brand pursues, the greater the influence, the greater the responsibility. We cannot just enjoy the praise the brand receives after breaking the circle. Brands should focus more on products, services and corresponding social responsibilities. Only in this way can we dare to break the circle.

Author: Dark Horse Brand

Source: Dark Horse Brand