Brand Growth│Brand Launch Guide

Products play a vital role for a start-up brand. Users' perception of a new brand is generally based on products. Products are also a key part of brand growth. For brand people, product strategy is the biggest brand strategy. This article summarizes the brand product launch guide, hoping to inspire you.

In this article, we will introduce the "Doing a Good Job in Product Launch" part of the "2023 New Brand Growth Methodology". Let's call it the "Brand Product Launch (Product Development) Guide", but in fact it revolves around "products" and introduces all the contents of the product section in detail.

I originally wanted to write about the practical operation of product development and pricing, but then I thought that since it was for practitioners, it would be better to introduce product knowledge in a systematic way. In this way, I wrote it intermittently for almost a week. Because the content is long, I also deleted a lot of cases and illustrations.

The full text has 23,335 words. Please forgive any typos. It is recommended that you save it and read it again to avoid losing it.

The previous article "The Quick Guide to Brand Building" introduced a quick method for brand strategy from positioning to visualizing brand positioning. In the first chapter "Brand is a Way of Thinking", it is said that the growth paradigm that takes brand as the core driving force of corporate strategy is: corporate strategy Σ brand strategy Σ marketing strategy. Brand strategy supports corporate strategy upward and determines the vision, mission, and values ​​of the company itself; it makes decisions on the company's marketing strategy downward. All products, advertising, communications, and channels are determined by the brand strategy.

In Michael Porter's book What is Strategy, the implementation of strategy is divided into three levels: positioning, trade-offs, and matching. The so-called strategic matching is to break down the brand strategy into the brand's product, price, channel, promotion, promotion and other strategic systems, and even organizational management and employee behavior, to define the direction and standards of the company's marketing and communication activities, so that the abstract concept of brand strategy can be implemented in the brand's business activities.

Well, in addition to brand strategy, the most important thing in the strategy system is product strategy. It is very simple. Product is the most important. Drucker said, "The essence of an enterprise is to solve problems for society. A problem is a business opportunity." He also said, "The purpose of an enterprise is to create customers and meet customer needs."

What is the opportunity? It is to meet user needs and help users solve problems. Then it is necessary to create user value that users can perceive, and products are the core carrier for creating perceptible user value. User value is reflected through products. Brands can only seize opportunities through products.

What is crucial for a start-up brand is that users' perception of a new brand is generally based on the product. Without the product, there is no brand. The product is the carrier of the brand and the basis for the brand to be called a brand. The product has the material attribute of use value. The materiality of the product, such as quality, design and service, is also the most basic and direct factor for consumers to form judgments on the brand.

Therefore, for brands, products are the most important part of brand growth, and for brand people, product strategy is the biggest brand strategy.

First, it is the core implementation carrier of the brand strategy, inheriting the brand strategy from above and connecting to the market implementation from below, and is a direct reflection of the brand strategic positioning; secondly, in competition, the realization of brand differentiation requires product differentiation; most importantly, the core value of the brand also needs to be realized through the product as a carrier. Only when the brand becomes a real-world product that users can perceive and purchase, the brand is not just a fantasy theory.

The above understanding is especially important for start-up brands.

1. What is the product?

Choosing a growing track with bright prospects is just hitting the so-called trend. Only products are the starting point of brand growth and the main engine of sustained growth. So what is a product?

Products not only refer to tangible physical entities, but more importantly, they satisfy the needs that people get from purchasing them. Therefore, in a broad sense, products refer to tangible products and intangible services provided by the market to attract attention, acquisition, use or consumption, and to meet certain needs or desires of users. They include physical objects, services, places, facilities, thoughts, ideas, and even planning, or a combination of the above.

Kotler defines it as "market offering", which can be translated as "market offerings" or "market supplies", specifically products or services, or a combination of products and services. It covers everything that brands deliver to users to obtain value and that users obtain value through monetary means.

The overall concept of a product includes five levels: core product, tangible product, expected product, additional product and potential product. Any product can be broken down into these five levels, the only difference is the emphasis and proportion. Usually when planning a product system, we also polish these five levels to plan different products, and plan product combinations or structures on this basis.

The first layer is the core product. It refers to the utility and benefits that the product can provide to users. It is the essence of why users buy products. This requires answering what users really buy.

It should be noted that the core product does not refer to the physical entity of the product, but to the core benefits that users pursue to solve their problems. It is more like the brand's value proposition in the previous article (the ideological product value is the brand value). When planning products, it is to answer the question of "who am I and what do I have", and it is also a matter of "how to say and what to say".

For example, when it comes to cosmetics, users are not buying a bottle of chemical substances; they are buying “the hope of beautifying or nourishing the skin, and youthful health”. Therefore, the product needs to provide the value or benefit of “the hope of beautifying or nourishing the skin, and youthful health”.

The second layer is the tangible product. It is also called the form product, which can be understood as the physical product. It is the appearance characteristics and internal quality aspects of a product that can be directly observed and recognized by users. It includes product packaging, brand, features, design and quality. It is the manifestation of the core layer of the product. The core layer of the product needs to be realized by the form layer. It is also a sign of product differentiation and a different way to meet the same user needs.

The third level is the expected product. It is a set of attributes and conditions that users expect when purchasing a product. For example, when buying a washing machine, users expect the product to be able to wash clothes easily and labor-savingly, without damaging clothes, with low noise, convenient water intake and drainage, beautiful appearance, and safe and reliable to use.

The fourth layer is additional products. It refers to all the additional services and benefits that consumers get when they buy tangible products or intangible services. Such as installment payment, free delivery, quality assurance, after-sales service, and also includes brand knowledge such as training and guidance. These are all additional products.

Additional products require a comprehensive and multi-level study of user needs. We must face up to the user's overall consumption system, and also pay attention to whether the user is willing to pay for the increased costs that come with the addition of additional products.

In addition, it is also important to note that the ideas, lifestyles, knowledge values, etc. represented or presented by the product are also added products. In other words, brand value = product value + additional (emotional value + spiritual value). The latter two are what people usually understand as the value connotation of the brand.

The fifth layer is potential products. This refers to the content that can be added and enriched in the future, usually through additional products. Generally speaking, even if the core benefits are the same, but the additional products are different, users will regard them as two different products.

Generally speaking, when doing product planning, you must first determine the core interests that users pursue in order to solve problems. Secondly, construct a physical product around the core interests of the product. It is necessary to build the product's features, design, quality, brand and packaging, and combine these elements together to convey the core value of the product. In addition, you need to find ways to expand so that you can construct additional products around the core interests and physical products, provide users with some additional benefits, and create user value and the most satisfactory user experience.

There are many ways to classify products. For example, products and services, durable goods and non-durable goods, consumer goods and industrial products. Here we introduce a special classification: perceived quality classification. Although the perception of product quality is not as difficult as that of services, it can still be classified based on the degree of perceived difficulty. Products can be divided into three categories based on the degree of perceived quality difficulty:

Search products refer to products whose quality can be perceived before purchase, that is, products whose quality can be perceived by looking or touching. Such products are more sensitive to price;

Experience products, products that users must taste and use to perceive the quality, such as food and beverages. For this type of product, letting users experience it is an effective marketing strategy. Branding and detailed product descriptions can convert some experience products into search products, but experience products usually have little price elasticity;

Credible products refer to products or services whose quality is difficult or impossible to determine even after use, such as the mineral content of mineral water, psychological treatment, health products, planning consultation or some medical services. Such products generally use authoritative institutions, historical culture, patented technology, and user reputation to establish their quality image.

2. What is service?

Since service is also a product, how should we define it accurately?

Kotler clearly stated that "service is an intangible supply that does not involve any transfer of ownership and is relatively independent or bundled with the product."

Here we point out that there are two forms of service: relatively independent or bound to products. Just like the two ends of a line, if the left end is the product and the right end is the service, they are relatively independent; then the middle is not so purely independent products or services, but products and services are bound together, it is nothing more than the proportion of services.

The proportion of services can often determine a brand's competitiveness, business model, and even economies of scale. However, since services are generally free of charge and supported by product gross profit, the brand's competitive advantage and growth path need to be considered when designing services. Whether the brand is pursuing high unit prices, market size, or user lifetime value, the proportion of services will be different.

However, as products become more and more homogeneous, services are no longer just "value-added services" that are lying quietly, because services are also a very important means to create brand differentiation. Drucker once said: "All companies have only one industry, which is the service industry, and the ultimate goal is to solve user problems."

When products and services are deeply integrated, some new and interesting business models will emerge. For example, the DTC brands that have been popular in recent years do not just provide material products, but truly provide solutions to users’ needs.

3. Product Portfolio

For brand or product people, there is another set of important concepts, which is also the most important part of product strategy - product portfolio.

Product mix refers to the combination of all product lines and product items of a brand, also known as the combination of product varieties. The "product layer must determine the business scope and structure of the brand" mentioned in the previous article refers to the planning of product planning and product mix.

For a brand, product planning is to form a series based on product positioning and core values. Thinking about product portfolio is to plan different products and how to match them to better meet user needs.

A product line usually refers to a product category, a group of closely related products in the product category. A product item refers to specific products of different varieties, specifications, quality, form, color and price within the same product line.

The product portfolio includes four dimensions: width, length, depth and correlation. Width refers to the number of different product lines; length refers to the total number of product items included in the product portfolio. Determining the length of the product line is the most important product line decision; depth refers to how many specifications and varieties of each product in the product line there are; correlation refers to the degree of close correlation between each product line in terms of final use, production conditions, channels, etc. Generally, consistency must be pursued in terms of correlation.

For example, a daily chemical brand has shampoo, skin care products, and laundry detergent. There are 2, 3, and 3 product brands under shampoo, skin care products, and laundry detergent respectively. We can think that the brand has 3 product lines, the width of the product portfolio is 3, the length is 8, and the depth is 2, 3, and 3 respectively.

Product portfolio planning is related to whether the length and width of the brand's product line are complete, and also to the brand's penetration and control over channels. Because even for the same brand, there are still slight differences within the user group, with different purchasing power and purchasing channels, and different products are needed to match. Therefore, the product portfolio is not only a visible brand profit and loss statement, but also a brand development roadmap. By studying the SKUs under different brands, you can almost determine the brand's development intentions.

Therefore, different product portfolio strategies are formed, mainly in three categories: expansion, reduction, and product line extension. There is also a product line modernization strategy, which actually corresponds to the digitalization of production. Expansion and reduction are easy to understand, that is, filling the product line. It should be noted that overfilling may result in conflicts between product items, confusing users.

Product line extension is a bit special. First, it is aimed at a certain product line. Second, it only extends the original grade and designs multiple variants. Downward extension means producing low-grade products, which are generally used to fill market gaps and seek higher growth rates in the low-end market. Generally speaking, it is easy for high-end brands to extend downward, but it is not easy for low-end brands to extend upward.

The above product portfolio concept is mostly used within the enterprise, and due to its high complexity, it is generally only suitable for group brands like Procter & Gamble. For start-up brands, there are not so many product lines. In product portfolio planning, you only need to consider the product structure, let different products play different roles, and achieve the best possible product structure to achieve the maximum brand profit.

Generally speaking, product structure can be divided into four categories according to the two indicators of "sales growth rate" and "relative market share", namely, regular-selling products, traffic-generating products, profit products, and image products, so that each product can undertake a clear strategic task.

Best-selling products are the cornerstone of a brand’s performance, which means meeting the basic needs of the majority of users, rather than just a niche group, in exchange for a higher relative market share.

Traffic-generating products have to shoulder the task of blocking competing products. The goal is not sales and market share, but to attract potential user groups. In addition, traffic-generating products must be related to the other three products.

Profitable products are responsible for profits. Although their sales volume may not be as good as that of popular products, their profit margins must be very considerable. They are usually upgraded versions of the products in terms of functions, quality, and services.

Image products are the image of the brand. Their main purpose is to build product potential and help establish brand image, rather than profit.

Generally speaking, image products are usually the upgrade of profit products, which is equivalent to the upward extension of the product line, improving the grade, just like in the mobile phone industry, there is the concept of top-end configuration; usually, the functions, quality and even materials of top-end image products need to be upgraded, otherwise they cannot be regarded as top-end image products.

The purpose of product structure is to give the brand's products structural power to help the brand better adapt to the fierce market competition. When developing products, you must have such structural thinking and habits.

You can't just produce any product you want or as many as you want. The product portfolio should consider how to present each product, including the product line, in the product architecture with clear logic. When planning products, you must keep in mind that each product needs to be aligned with user demand, consumption habits, and market characteristics.

Of course, there are other product combination logics, the only difference is the factors considered.

For example, if we consider the match between products and market demand, that is, products that meet user value demands can form different product compositions, but in reality, few brands can do this, because different value demands almost form a market segment, which is large enough to support multiple brands.

For example, from the perspective of product functionality alone, the product portfolio can be divided into basic products (core products), value-added products (added additional products), enhanced products (enhancements and upgrades of basic products), and extended products (the image products mentioned above).

From a competitive perspective, an airplane-shaped product portfolio is generally formed: head products (the products with the highest price, the most powerful functions, and the highest-end brand image, whose product goal is to represent the brand image and provide an overall positioning for all products), fuselage products (the main selling products, which are the main source of sales and profits, similar to the core products and basic products mentioned above), two-wing products (products developed to cope with competition and block competing products), and tail products (referring to reserve products, usually angle products, developed by the brand for the next generation of product reserves).

In his latest book, Kotler divides the product portfolio into: lighthouse products, which are the head products mentioned above; core products, which are the body-type products mentioned above; value-added products, which are the value-added products mentioned above; special products, which are usually developed to supplement core products or occupy shelf space, or are launched with marketing activities, such as cross-border collaborations and special channel specials; traffic-diverting products, which are traffic-generating products; competitive products: products specifically used to block competing products.

I think all of the above are pretty much the same. They can be divided into four categories: "image products, profit products, regular-selling products, and main-selling products." There's no need to make it too complicated. But one thing is that you must consider the brand's representative items, that is, the products that best represent the brand, which are usually the products that users think of when the brand is mentioned.

4. Product Strategy

As mentioned at the beginning of this article, product strategy is the most important sub-strategy in the strategy system for implementing brand strategy. When formulating a strategy, a brand must first clarify what kind of products the brand provides to meet user needs, that is, to solve the product strategy problem.

The so-called product strategy is a series of specific measures and means related to the product itself. It includes product positioning, product combination strategy, product differentiation strategy, brand strategy, new product development strategy, etc. Let's briefly introduce them respectively:

1. Product positioning

For example, brand positioning is to identify the brand's value system, and the essence of product positioning is to identify the product's value system. Only in this way can the product's personality and characteristics be shaped and target users be able to understand and recognize the product.

In real work, the most important content of product positioning is product value positioning. A product often has many values, and it is necessary to find the most accurate, most representative of the brand, and most differentiated user value. This is the most important content.

Other tasks include product functional attribute positioning, product selling point positioning, product line and product structure positioning, product design and packaging positioning, brand strategy positioning, and subsequent marketing strategy positioning... Although the word "positioning" can be included, there is no need to understand that positioning at all.

Many people tend to equate the word "positioning" with the positioning of the positioning school. The positioning of the positioning school essentially refers to the category position. Usually, when we talk about positioning, most of the time we mean "definition".

For example, product positioning is about what kind of value the product provides to the market; market positioning is about what kind of market it is targeting and where the market is; and population positioning is about what kind of target user group it is targeting... These are all the products of thinking under the STP framework and the result of market segmentation.

It should be noted that brand value and product value are the same, and the ideological expression of product value is brand value. For example, Nongfu Spring’s “We don’t produce water, we are just nature’s porters” is a branded expression of Nongfu Spring’s product value.

Review the composition of brand value in the previous article: functional value + emotional value + spiritual value.

Functional value is based on the functional benefits brought by the product's technology, materials, and craftsmanship, reflecting what problems the product can directly solve for users and what benefits it can bring to users; the last two layers are also called psychological value or manifestation value, which is also the core of brand value. It solves the user's self-worth needs, including emotions, concepts, attitudes, and spiritual belonging, which all belong to psychological value.

It should be noted that users need to pay money to exchange for products, so we also need to think about the "monetary value". Can it reduce the user's costs and risks? The so-called user perceived value is the difference between the cost paid by the user and the total benefits obtained, of course, it also includes the comparative value with competing products, that is, substitutes.

Understand the multiple levels of user value. When positioning products and brands, you need to systematically examine your products and services to see what kind of value they can create for customers. If all the values ​​of a product are listed, there will be a lot of values, and these values ​​are the reasons why users buy the product.

But it is not enough. Maybe your value is similar to that of many competing products. The value that all products in the same industry must have is called the POP point, which is the average value. If you can't reach it, you can't win the trust of users. If you reach it, it can only mean that you are passing. Just like mobile phones, everyone has a camera function, but you don't, which means you can't even reach the threshold.

Therefore, we need to further find POD points, that is, values ​​with obvious differentiation advantages, but there are still too many, and it is too laborious to promote them later. Of course, it is okay to introduce these points one by one on the product details page, but usually, we do not have such opportunities and scenarios for product details pages in our promotion.

Therefore, a more refined and efficient expression is needed. At this time, we need to find one or two value points from these POD points and call them Super POD, that is, the value of monopoly advantage. The logical process of refining POP, POD and Super POD one by one is called positioning.

If it is unique to a product, it can be directly called product positioning, and if it is ideological, it can be called brand positioning. The purpose of both is to show the outside world: Who am I? What do I have?

Under the growth strategy that takes brand as the core driving force and competitiveness, product positioning must be centered around brand positioning. That is, product value is the implementation of brand value on the carrier of the product. Of course, there are also brands that first have products and then brand them.

2. Product portfolio strategy

As mentioned in the product portfolio above, startup brands must clarify their product structure. Compared with the product portfolio, the four products in the product structure are real products that are to be launched to the market and can be perceived by users.

3. Product portfolio optimization

When a brand reaches a certain stage of operation or in market competition, it is necessary to optimize and reconstruct the four dimensions of the product portfolio to achieve the best product portfolio, that is, to ensure that the qualitative combination and quantitative ratio of various products can adapt to the market and maximize profits.

Evaluating and selecting the best product portfolio is not an easy task, because there are usually many choices for evaluation criteria. Generally speaking, the analysis will be based on several indicators such as product sales growth rate, profit margin, market share, etc., and the methods generally include ABC analysis, Boston matrix, General Electric matrix, product profitability evaluation method and critical revenue evaluation method.

4. Product differentiation strategy

It is the most important part of brand differentiation. If you are familiar with Porter's competition strategy, there is actually only one strategy among the three major strategies: differentiation strategy.

It should be noted that product differentiation strategy is a general term for measures, means, and tactics. There are many specific ways to achieve product differentiation. Generally, it can be achieved from the aspects of "core value, product characteristics, performance quality, consistency quality, durability, reliability, form, style, and customization".

Although there are many nouns above, they are actually based on the definition of the product.

Core value refers to the core benefits and utility provided by the product; product characteristics refer to the value differences between different tangible products; performance quality refers to the quality and amount of value; consistency quality refers to the uniformity of product quality standards, even if there are differences in grades;

Form is to change the physical existence of the product, such as size, shape, color, etc.; style is the design language of the product internally, and refers to the sensory experience formed by users when they see the product and related parts externally. The style should be unique and consistent with the brand image and value connotation; customization does not necessarily require the production of completely new products. Customization is a specific marketing strategy, which can be applied not only in the production of niche customized products, but also in product packaging.

Differentiation strategy is no longer considered a special means of competition, because no brand can win without differentiation in products and services.

5. New product development strategy

Refers to the general term for strategies and tactics related to new product development.

New products can bring new demand satisfaction solutions and diversification into users' lives, and are also an important source of brand growth. The growth of many brands mainly depends on new products. As human society has developed to this day, the product life cycle has become shorter and shorter. Product updates and iterations can be said to be inevitable, which is related to the survival of the brand.

5.1. First of all, we need to understand what new products are. Kotler calls new product development "launching new market supplies". The so-called new supplies are new products or services. In a broad sense, new products include not only brand-new products produced by technological development (such as mobile phones and the development of communication technology), but also:

From the perspective of the brand, a product that has some changes in function or form, that is, changes in the five major aspects of the product, is different from the original product, and is a new product; even a product that has entered a new market from an old market can be considered a new product, such as a foreign brand entering the Chinese market. From the perspective of the user, it refers to a product that can enter the market and provide new benefits or new utilities to users and is recognized by users.

According to the research and development process, new products can be divided into: brand-new products, imitation products, improved products, new products that form a series, new products that reduce costs, and new products that reposition the market.

Although it may seem dazzling, just remember that there are only two types of new products: one is a completely new product brought about by technological development, and the other is a relatively new product that is an innovation or change in any part of the five major levels of the product. For most brands, the so-called new products refer to the latter. There is nothing new under the sun. Different products are essentially the same in solving the same needs.

Therefore, for a brand, a new product is a newly developed product, an improved or adjusted (iterative) product, and one that enters the market as a new brand.

5.2. Therefore, different brands will form their own new product development strategies. The new product development strategy is composed of the dimensions of the new product strategy, which is composed of "product competition field, new product development goals, and measures to achieve the goals". Different strategies are the result of trade-offs among the three dimensions.

The competition area of ​​new products is to focus on competitors. The goals of new product development include market share, profit, and brand image. The measures to achieve the goals, that is, different goals, will lead to different directions of product development.

There are four types of new product development strategies: risk-taking or entrepreneurial strategy, aggressive strategy, follow-up strategy, and defensive strategy. Let me give you a brief introduction so that new brands don’t have to consider it so complicated.

The risk-taking strategy is obviously not suitable for small and medium-sized brands, as it requires high risks, high financial pressure, high technical requirements, and strong marketing and operation capabilities;

The risk of aggressive strategy is relatively small and suitable for most enterprises. New product ideas generally come from the improvement of existing product usage, function, art, and marketing planning. Of course, new technological innovation is not excluded.

The follow-up strategy is easy to understand. This is the case in the domestic mobile phone industry. The focus is on the products of competitors to determine their own products. This is usually done to maintain and increase market share, and there are no requirements for technology.

A defensive strategy refers to maintaining or sustaining a brand's existing market position and targeting competitors' new products. Generally, the brand decides what new products to launch based on what new products its competitors launch, but it often lags behind its competitors.

5.3. New product development requires corresponding organizational matching. After all, it is an innovative matter. The organization needs to make new product development fast and efficient. Generally, it is composed of multiple departments, or the roles of multiple departments participate in forming a project team, but generally includes: marketing department, brand department, product department, R&D department, etc. Different companies have different organizational forms and names.

However, the trend is that since the goal of the brand is growth, many organizational structure designs in the past are not in line with the requirements of the times. For example, in the past, many companies had the marketing department responsible for sales, the brand department only responsible for providing ammunition, the product department was dispensable, and the R&D department might not even exist.

The future brand organization should have only one department, the Growth Department. The functions of the Growth Department cover brand, sales, operations, and experience. It must also be able to understand and capture new market opportunities at any time, which also means that it is responsible for the development of new products, new markets, and new user groups.

Of course, many brands are only responsible for the product planning part at most, and the actual product development work is often outsourced or purchased directly.

6. Product Lifecycle Strategy

The product life cycle refers to the entire process from the product being put on the market to its final exit from the market. The process generally goes through four stages: product introduction, growth, maturity and decline.

At different stages of the product life cycle, the product's market share, sales, and profits are different.

During the introduction period, product sales grow slowly and there is no profit to speak of; during the growth period, sales increase further and profits begin to be generated; after a period of rapid growth, sales gradually stabilize and remain at a certain level, and profit growth is also stable, which means that the product has entered its maturity period; when sales decline rapidly and profits also decline rapidly, the product enters its decline period.

The above is a typical product life cycle form, showing a curved bell curve. However, in modern times when the life cycle is so short, when thinking about the product life cycle strategy, you must include the product development cycle. Product development requires timing and time. Maybe your product is being developed, and other brands of similar products have already entered the market. As a result, other brands may quickly occupy the market, and your brand can only lag behind.

Another major purpose of thinking about the product life cycle is to develop marketing strategies that match different stages. For start-up brands, the introduction period is a very important stage.

The so-called introduction period is the initial sales period when a new product is officially launched. Generally, only a few innovators and early adopters buy it, and the sales volume is small. At this time, the proportion of various costs is very high. The direction of brand marketing at this stage is to directly invest marketing to the most likely buyers, that is, the innovators and early adopters of new products, so that these two types of leading consumers can accelerate the expansion of new products and shorten the introduction period.

The specific strategies that can be chosen include quick skimming strategy (high price and high intensity promotion), slow skimming strategy (high price and low intensity promotion), quick penetration strategy (low price and high intensity promotion), and slow penetration strategy (low price and low intensity promotion). These specific strategies are closely related to the "pricing" later.

7. Brand strategy

This is also called branding decision, which is actually the "whether to build a brand, what kind of brand to build, whether to use someone else's or create your own, what the brand portfolio strategy is, and what categories of products the brand will extend to in the future..." mentioned in the previous article. Just simply understand it.

8. Product design and packaging strategy

Product design here refers to product appearance design, user experience design, functional design, and product packaging design. Complete product design includes all content including product planning, that is, the framework of designing the overall product to "create value, deliver value, and communicate value", including product positioning, product differentiation, product combination, product design, product packaging, etc. In general, product design refers to "delivering value".

In a visually oriented culture, it is crucial to convey meaning and positioning through design. As vision is the largest medium of perception for people, good design can change the user's perception and help differentiate the product from other brands. Through design, the product can propose clear usage scenarios, provide core values, and enhance the interaction and experience between consumers and it.

Given the creativity of design itself, there is no widely adopted method, but there are some common methods for design process, such as the "Double Diamond Model", which generally has three keys: insight discovery - prototype conception - test implementation. Just like the service design mentioned below, the thinking process, tools and methods are similar. If you are interested, you can search for "A Complete Guide to Physical Commercial Experience Design".

However, a good product design should have the advantages of both function and aesthetics to attract users' rationality and emotions. It can be easy to produce and sell for brands, and it takes into account both use and sensibility for users. Only in this way can the product better demonstrate the brand value.

Here I will introduce design management, referred to as DM. Any word with the word management is to manage affairs, resources, goals, and processes. Therefore, the meaning of design management is: a work procedure that controls the design process to achieve design goals and improves design execution capabilities, including design goal management, design strategy management and design resource management. The basic content can also be divided into three levels: design project management, design organization management, which includes internal design organization and external design organization, and innovative management at the strategic level, such as brand image planning, brand design strategy, brand visual design, product design and product image.

How to make this design management easier? My suggestion is that the biggest role of design management is to standardize the brand's design language, and all design activities are carried out according to the design language. For example, everyone can easily feel the design language of Apple, whether it is product hardware, software, packaging or visual materials.

As a key part of product design, the part that users can actually perceive, packaging design is an important part of product strategy. Good packaging can attract users' attention and encourage users to choose. In fact, packaging can serve as a "five-second commercial" product, and some users are even willing to display some products' packaging at home.

Packaging refers to the container of the product. It should be noted that it is not just the layer that wraps the product when the factory comes out. There may be many layers of product packaging in circulation, one or more of which require different from competitors, and can attract users' attention and enhance user perception.

For example, Davidoff perfume is contained in a blue rectangular bottle with a white brand logo inside the blue; in the blue outer packaging with a white brand logo, it is then shipped in a corrugated carton, and the corrugated carton also has a large white brand logo.

As the most direct and effective marketing tool in product content, packaging bears an important attractive part of product strength, transmits and communicates product and brand value. The reason why packaging is important can be explained from the following points:

To bear the static sales force of products in terminal sales is that a bunch of products are placed there like a supermarket. Effective packaging can undertake sales tasks: attract attention, describe product functions, create user confidence, and leave a good brand impression.

Humans are visual animals. The appearance of the product and better packaging help users choose; it also helps users identify brands instantly; unique or innovative packaging can bring huge benefits and brand profits to users. Some toiletries packaging enables them to be inverted in the bathroom, and some food packaging enables them to be eaten.

For example, traditional instant coffee is either long strips or bags, or glass bottles, while Sand and a half are made of small cylindrical coffee cups. In contrast, the packaging of the latter is more productive.

When formulating packaging strategies, the functions of packaging need to be coordinated with aesthetics. Functionally, the balance between packaging elements and coordinated with pricing, advertising and other elements; aesthetically, it involves the size and shape of the packaging, materials, colors, text, graphics and other elements of the packaging.

Among them, colors are particularly important. Different colors can convey different feelings to people. For example, red represents vitality, passion, excitement, and also has a festive meaning in China. White symbolizes purity, innocence, and cleanliness, etc.

Similarly, packaging updates and designs occur frequently in order to keep the brand younger, and of course, bad updates can also have adverse effects.

Any design work needs to be tested, and packaging also needs it. Generally, packaging tests must go through the following: engineering test, in non-violent situations, product packaging protects the product; visual test: confirm that all elements on the packaging are clear and easy to read, and the colors are harmonious; dealer test: dealers think that the product is designed in such a way is easier to sell; user test: whether the user likes it, and only when the user is satisfied can they make a positive reaction.

When designing products, you should consider the product combination or product structure. Generally speaking, there are the following types of packaging strategies: similar packaging strategies, using the same or similar identification of various products, which can reduce costs, but if the grades of different products are too large, it will have a negative impact; the grade packaging strategy adopts different packaging according to the quality level of the product; supporting packaging strategies do not often appear, usually referring to a series of products being packaged together and sold, which can be understood as a cosmetic gift box. Of course, there are other messy strategies, such as placing other gifts or gifts in the packaging container, and packaging strategies for different containers, such as Coke having glass bottles, plastic bottles, and aluminum cans.

In addition, there is another important design that usually appears in the hands of users along with the product, called a tag or a card. It can be called a card anyway, either big or small. Just like a small card handwritten by a takeaway merchant and hanging on a clothes tag, it is also a type of label.

Labels can be simple additional annotations or carefully designed cards, which may only have brand logos, or there may be a lot of brand information and product information. Labels have similar functions: such as identifying products or brands, describing and introducing the product itself and product usage knowledge...

9. Service Design

Service has been introduced above. Service design was first created by LynnShostack in the 1980s. Since its first paper proposed service design in 1982, service design can be regarded as a design discipline, with a series of tools such as service blueprints, double-diamond models, etc., and there are also many service design consulting companies.

9.1. Service Design

It refers to improving the user's brand experience by designing, adjusting and optimizing the operation of the organization, thereby better supporting the user's journey. Specifically, service design is an activity to plan and organize business resources in order to improve and enhance the user experience.

How to design services? Friends who are interested in this question can try to search for the training courseware "The Complete Guide to Physical Business Experience Design" I have produced. Although it is for physical business, it mentions the ideas, concepts, tools and methods of service design.

Including "user experience journey, contact point management, MOT moments, user-centered, optimized contact point management, service blueprint" and so on...

There is a basic principle, which is to find a core, which is brand positioning and core value. Focusing on this core, we should think about where we should surpass, retain or surpass.

9.2. Service Marketing

In fact, there is no better word to describe it, because it is a bit of a means rather than a necessary element.

A brand that can continuously deliver excellent services must focus on three aspects: internal marketing, external marketing and interactive technology.

External marketing refers to treating a service as a product, so you need to think about how to show it to users, from the content of the service, tangible, to pricing, to what expectations users can expect from the service, and what value users will gain after serving users.

External marketing defines the connotation, characteristics, value and expectations of services for consumers. The corresponding internal marketing is what kind of service concepts should be integrated into our personnel recruitment, service delivery, and personnel training to improve internal service awareness, service culture and service capabilities.

Because service is composed of a series of contact points between people and users, machines and users, it requires you to have what kind of qualities and service concepts and what kind of qualities you have, so you can deliver what kind of services.

In addition to the above two points, excellent services also rely on new technologies and the quality of interactions managed in customer touchpoints. Because our services and consumers’ feelings are composed of a series of interactions and interactions. So today, many artificial intelligence robots, big data self-service services, service SOP standardization processes, etc. will be introduced, all to manage our interactions, because interaction constitutes actual services. Therefore, internal marketing, external marketing and interactive capabilities constitute excellent services.

9.3. Service quality management and monitoring

Service management, looking at each customer's touchpoint from the visualization of service processes, and then improving services and giving users a better experience. Monitoring of service quality is also important, and the service quality is managed by understanding the effectiveness and impact of each service touchpoint.

There is a model for service quality called the "Service Quality Gap Model", also called the 5GAP model. The first half of the model involves phenomena related to users. The desired service is a function of user-oriented communication, personal needs and word of mouth. In addition, it is also affected by corporate marketing communication activities. The service with actual experience is called perceived services in the model, and it is the result of a series of internal decisions and internal activities.

Service quality can be divided into absolute quality and relative quality. Absolute quality includes reliability, responsiveness, credibility, and empathy and service facilities in the service process; relative quality refers to the difference between user expectations and reality. The result is positive and satisfactory, and when the result is negative, it will be dissatisfied. This is entirely subjectively judged by the user. However, when designing services, corresponding management should be carried out to help users establish correct expectations. Management expectations is to manage absolute quality.

Since we want to manage service quality, we need to use services as a constituent factor of brand performance and introduce relevant brand performance indicators for evaluation and consideration, such as satisfaction indicators, net recommendation value, etc.

V. New product development

For start-up brands, Kaipin is a real development of new products. The driving force comes from new markets, new technologies, new processes, and new consumption scenarios that drive enterprises to open products. At the same time, Kaipin also follows a series of development processes:

1. New product development process (NPD)

The early definition of the new product development process originated from the eight stages of chemical product development. In the 1960s, NASA proposed the "stage evaluation process", and after Boss, Allen and Hamilton designed a six-stage process (exploration-screening-business evaluation-development-test-commercialization). After the 1980s, Cooper and Aiget proposed the gate management process stage-gate, which is the gate management system in Kotler's book. Lean development, agile development, design thinking, PACE method, etc. are also applicable to product development.

Generally speaking, new product development includes the following eight steps, also known as the NPD process: product conception - concept screening - concept development and testing - marketing strategy formulation - business analysis - product development - marketing testing - commercialization.

Open product concept: systematically search for a new product design concept, that is, the concept of a possible product. The sources of concept include external concepts, internal concepts and crowdsourcing models.

External concepts refer to the use of external resources, such as suppliers that can provide new concepts, new technologies and new materials; distributors are closely connected with the market, and they better understand the user's problems and the feasibility of new products; and other concepts such as those derived from market research institutions, interview experts, business magazines, as well as business laboratories, brand communities, user communities, and even inventors.

Internal concept refers to analyzing user questions and complaints through internal resources of the company, such as research on users by R&D departments, sales personnel, and marketing personnel, finding new products that can better solve user problems, or directly inviting users to share suggestions and ideas.

At the creative skills level, there are also quite a few tools to refer to: such as "attribute enumeration method, forced association method, morphological distribution method, reverse hypothesis analysis, new situation method, thinking graph method"...

Ideological screening: A lot of inspiration from various sources need to be left behind and good ones need to be removed from bad ones. Of course, a standard needs to be formulated for screening. Usually its description indicators include: product concept plan, value proposition, target market and competitive conditions, market size estimates, product price, development time and cost, and production and manufacturing costs.

It is necessary to verify from three perspectives: first, is it based on real needs? That is, whether there is real demand for this product, whether it can meet the needs, and whether users will buy it; second, are there any advantages? Are there any resources to successfully develop and operate this product, and whether the product has a lasting competitive advantage; third, is it worth investing? Can sufficient potential profits be generated and whether it is in line with the brand's development strategy.

Concept development and testing: Developing a valid concept into an effective product concept, and testing and evaluating a new product concept. The product concept is different from a product concept. The former refers to a concept described in the user's language from the user's perspective; the latter refers to a possible product concept that the brand hopes to provide to the market. The product concept is the concretization of product concepts, and a variety of product concepts are usually proposed based on the concept.

Concept development is to translate the concept of a new product into several product concepts, so that after testing, we can select the best one from them, that is, the one that is most attractive to users; concept testing refers to testing the concept of a new product with the target user to see which one is better.

How to see which one is "better"? First, look at the user's opinions from the perspective of meeting demand, and second, look at market competitiveness based on user opinions. Further refinement includes "the dissemination and credibility of the product concept, the level of demand, the level of gap, the user's perceived value, the willingness to purchase, the user's goals, the use scenarios and the frequency of use, and the basis of this is the purchase frequency".

What we need to test this step is conceptual description. In terms of qualitative description, we need to clarify the five major levels of the product. At the same time, we also need to prepare to convert qualitative descriptions into quantitative parameters, namely product design specifications, and specifications for manufacturers.

The formulation of marketing strategy is easy to understand, which is to push this concept to the market design of a preliminary marketing strategy, which includes describing the target market (target user), value proposition, expected sales volume and market share, and long-term profit goals, of course, it should also include price, channel distribution, and marketing budget.

Business analysis is to analyze whether running this kind of product is a good business. To evaluate whether it is a good business, you must fully consider the sales volume of the product. This is of course a prediction data. Generally, a maximum sales volume and a minimum sales volume are determined through the sales volume of similar products or similar products in the market. On this basis, the cost and profit of the product can be predicted, and then the cost of marketing, R&D, operation, financial and financing can be evaluated, and finally the financial attractiveness of new products is analyzed. There is a general model for sales forecasting: Crawford and Diberideto: ATAR (cognition-experiment-availability-repeated purchase) model.

Of course, this step and every step before, we must consider laws and regulations. Which laws and regulations have an impact on the product? Will it affect its manufacturing and marketing? Does the company have the ability to control these aspects?

After the previous step is passed, the R&D department or engineering department needs to transform the product concept into real physical products. This is the part that fully tests resource investment. The work effect will determine whether the product concept can be converted into a commercial or technically feasible product. Of course, this process involves product design tools, design specifications, etc., which belongs to the field of industrial production. Development of the industry needs to undergo a series of tests, which are generally carried out within a specialized organization and brand.

Market testing, also known as marketing testing, is to place products and marketing plans in a more realistic market environment before large-scale production, including target market selection and product positioning strategies, pricing strategies, advertising strategies, packaging strategies, channel distribution strategies and budget levels.

Generally, during testing, we will focus on trial status, first repurchase, adoption process, and purchase frequency.

In reality, today's consumer product brands hardly do this test, which requires brands to have a very detailed understanding of market conditions and competitors. Therefore, when consumer product products are almost homogeneous and more innovative around brands and marketing, marketing is generally not conducted. Perhaps it is precisely because of the abandonment of marketing testing, and the emergence of many consumer product brands is a flash in the pan.

Commodification is easy to understand. Products entering the market are called commodities. So commodification refers to the formal putting products into the market. Generally speaking, first, we must determine when to go public, and secondly, we must determine in which market to launch new products, including the geographical market (where) and the target population market (who), and what methods to use to introduce them into the market, which is the optimization and implementation of the initially designed marketing strategy.

Simplify the above process, which is the development process management in Kotler's book "Marketing Management". The corresponding process is: creativity (concept, screening) - from concept to strategy (concept development and testing, marketing strategy formulation, business analysis) - from development to commercialization (product development, market testing, commercialization).

This process is the "device management framework". In fact, most brands and institutions apply models similar, and they are nothing more than adding, deducting and refining on this basis.

Let me talk more about it here. No matter what the model is used, the last step is commercialization. Generally, in real work, another model, Go To Market, is used, referred to as GTM, which refers to the process of how the product enters the market. Many brands will also set up such a position, and the person in charge of GTM is usually called a trader.

GTM's responsibilities are similar to those of marketing operator CMO. GTM also represents a comprehensive action strategy, but it emphasizes that all the steps needed to be taken before the product is launched at the product level are refined and implemented. GTM strategy can better implement the user and market goals of the product through a series of plans.

Generally speaking, product strategy, price strategy, channel strategy, and marketing strategy GTM must participate, which revolves around marketing and planning before and after the product is launched and the entire life cycle. From the beginning of the product, it is necessary to participate in the formulation of GTM strategies.

There are generally several keywords in GTM strategy: PMF, that is, product and market fit, which means that the product meets the needs of the target user group; integration, this integration refers to the integration of various departments or the integration of responsibilities related to the product. Products are often divided into different departments in the organization, such as the R&D department is responsible for R&D, the product department is responsible for product planning, the brand department is responsible for ammunition, and the marketing department is responsible for market insight and sales. The product life cycle is the entire marketing plan from product research and development, listing to delisting.

There is not much difference between the process of formulating GTM strategies and the process of formulating marketing strategies. It is nothing more than that GTM specifically emphasizes products: market and competition analysis, target market selection, product planning (including positioning), pricing, marketing planning, sales goals, budgeting, and forming a GTM plan timetable, and finally execution and update adjustments.

2. Manage new product development

This process cannot be sloppy. The development of new products must be user-centered. Whether it is "development" or "research and development" in the first place, it is driven by "development". That is, starting from the user side, establishing a user-centered product development logic.

The user-centric product development logic emphasizes finding new solutions around user needs while creating a better user experience. It all starts with understanding user needs, finally solving user problems, and getting users involved.

Therefore, when developing products, we need to think about it, including "Is it solving the main problems of users? Can users be directly involved in the product development process? And whether new products have unique value propositions?"

It is particularly important to note that you should not be too obsessed with the perfection of the product. The more you pursue perfection, the more you will ignore the real needs of users.

For a brand that is growing continuously, continuous innovation is the minimum requirement, which includes product innovation. Therefore, product development must be systematic rather than fragmented.

Brands should establish an innovation management system that belongs to the enterprise to collect, screen, evaluate and manage new product ideas, incorporate internal and external ideas into it, and establish a reward system to encourage excellent creativity and ideas. Of course, this also includes the product's functional team, that is, organizational issues. As mentioned above, I will not repeat it, but the basic core idea is co-creation.

3. New product acceptance and user adoption thinking

Product acceptance is also called adoption rate. Usually, the following five aspects of product characteristics are particularly important for increasing the adoption rate of innovation, namely: communication degree: the degree to which users can observe or describe their advantages to others after using a new product; degree to which they can be divided: the degree to which new products can be tried in smaller units or at a cost; degree to which complexity: the difficulty of understanding and using a new product; degree to which the degree to which the new product meets the values ​​and experience of potential users; relative advantages: the degree to which new products are better than existing products.

In the later communication of brands, in order to convince users to adopt new products, they generally introduce the characteristics of new products in the above five aspects. Each item corresponds one by one: clarity corresponds to the degree of communication, trialability corresponds to the degree of division, complexity corresponds to the degree of complexity, applicability corresponds to the degree of matching, and relative superiority corresponds to the relative advantages.

The process of adopting new products can be divided into five stages: cognition-interest-evaluation-trial-adoption. The adopters of new products can be divided into five categories: innovators-early adopters-early Volkswagen-late mass-backwards. Generally speaking, in the period of new product introduction, users generally come from innovators and early adopters.

The above thoughts on the entry of new products into the market and acceptance of users come from the innovation diffusion model created by Rogers in 1995. The charm of the comprehensive discipline of marketing lies in the fact that as long as it is useful, the innovation diffusion theory can be used in the development of new products, but also in the marketing strategy of new products.

6. Four paths to new product development ideas

First, it is to have insight into user scenarios and tasks. User scenarios are also called product application scenarios. Products can only reflect value in the corresponding user usage scenarios. Users experience and feel the product based on specific scenarios. Only when the product usage scenarios are in line with the user's actual usage scenarios, the product is what the user needs, otherwise it will be eliminated by the user and turn to select competitors. Tasks are also called user tasks. They are the goals that users want to achieve or the improvement they expect in their actual usage scenarios.

Considering it together, it means what kind of task the user completes in what kind of task scenarios. This task includes functional tasks and emotional tasks, which is the real needs of the user. Only by deeply understanding and analyzing the user's usage scenarios and tasks can we deeply grasp the user's real needs and develop products that are more suitable for users than competitors, that is, products that are more productive, which determines the product's monetization ability.

Scenarios create demand and promote users to purchase, so the scene also needs to be designed to find moments and occasions that allow users to fully feel the value of the product. When describing user usage scenarios, they generally mainly describe them from five aspects: time, time, place, character, behavior, and psychology: to understand them with models, that is, "who, what, when, where, how/how and why", users create problems in such scenarios, which then transform them into demand.

Among them, describing psychological conditions is the most realistic and reasonable. It is precisely because feelings are the most real. The experience that the product can bring to users during use is very important, which comes from the sensory experience brought by the product, and secondly, what the product can bring to consumption in terms of emotions and spirit.

When developing products, we must also fully consider the scene triggering effect. Many products are not so recalled because the usage scenarios are too limited. Although no product can meet all the scenarios of users' lives, efforts to improve the applicable scenarios of products determine the degree of demand. The so-called scene triggering is when and where users need the product and how often they use it.

Generally speaking, individual users’ decisions are divided into two core models: cognitive decision-making and habitual decision-making. Focusing on the former, cognitive decision-making is usually divided into five steps: causing demand - searching for information - evaluating alternatives - purchasing decision-making - purchasing behavior, which is also a refinement of the “stimulus-response” of user behavior.

As mentioned above, "need" is that users discover problems in life based on internal and external transmission. External transmission is external stimulation, which is also a focus of particular concern for enterprises. It should be understood from the perspective of "user scenarios" and the understanding of user needs will be deeper. Naturally, the development of products can be user-centered.

The second is to understand the deep needs of users. How to understand and pay attention to the deep needs of users? User needs begin with needs, that is, various problems arising from users in their lives, but not all problems will be determined and selected, let alone transform needs, sorting out the problems that users have the ability and desire to solve but have not said, and giving priority to those problems that can be solved and have a relatively high importance weight.

The third is to focus on those unique users, referring to the most differentiated people among customers, those who use large amounts, those who use frequently, and those who use in inexplicable aspects, they often bring some new points of attention to differences.

Fourth, cross-border horizontal thinking, referring to cross-border thinking and cross-category thinking.

7. Product planning practice

1. Product strategy

Whether it is a startup brand or a brand that has been participating in market competition for many years, products cannot be avoided. For brand people, product strategy is the top priority. Generally speaking, put aside the above theoretical knowledge, in actual operation, the core thinking of product strategy is the following:

What products are launched by brands to occupy the market? What is the product structure? Specifically within the brand, what is the length and width of the product line? What is the head product or the main product? What is the core value provided by the product, that is, the reason for purchasing? What is the design and packaging of the product? How to convey the core value or brand positioning of the brand? In the product structure, the angle and task of each product? The order and rhythm of product launch? How does the product occupy the shelf display? How does the product mediate the product in terminal sales?

When planning a product system, it is generally necessary to plan from the following aspects:

Product development. The essence of product development is to plan a strong purchase reason for product planning based on brand positioning and brand core value. The origin is the realization of user value and must not deviate from this core. Therefore, to handle the relationship between product positioning and brand positioning well, products must not deviate from the brand framework.

The relationship between a brand and a product is like a person's inner and outer, soul and body. Between the brand and the product, the brand can exist beyond the product. What users are loyal to is the brand rather than the product. Of course, the brand also has the function of guiding and empowering the product.

Therefore, product value or product selling point is the specific presentation of brand value in the product. The product is the carrier that carries brand value, and the product cannot be completely different from the brand.

The essence of the product development process is the process of value discovery and value definition, which is the process of carrying brand positioning with the product as a carrier, planning and designing "creating value, transmitting value, and spreading value". If product development is creating value, then product design and packaging are transmitting value, and the marketing of products involves terminal product shelves display, etc., which is to spread value.

When selecting products, you need to consider: those that best express, convey or strengthen the brand positioning should be cut off if they are inconsistent with the brand positioning; products that have strong product strength, that is, products that are highly attractive to users; products that have strong relative advantages compared to competitors; products that are extremely perceptible to users and can observe or describe their advantages to others; products that conform to user values ​​and experience.

The positioning and design of the product value layer, this step is actually the process of product positioning, from the process of POP-POD-Super POD.

However, in the practical process, it is also necessary to explore based on the difficulty of users' perception. From this perspective, value can be divided into five levels: obvious superficial value, targeting the explicit pain points of users, that is, seizing the obvious value in the industry. An interesting phenomenon should be noted that although similar value is similar to industry products, if others do not express it, you will be yours; the value below the surface is more obvious pain points; the value that is ignored, such as those that all peers know, but ignore it; the value that needs to be explored deeply hides very deep and difficult to discover; the value that needs to be reconstructed is restructuring and recreation, which is also the conventional practice of many brands, but in fact they are just the knowledge of expression.

Clarify the product line from the perspective of product structure: that is, the product portfolio design mentioned above also includes optimization and reconstruction. The general practice will be divided into: image products, profit products, regular sales products, and drainage products. Generally speaking, the value design of different products is slightly different. The product line composed from low to high determines the product's ability to enter different channels and covers the user group.

Hot products: The so-called hot products can also be called large single products or representative products. They usually refer to the core main products or super products of many brands. They require that they can not only support brand profits, but also represent the brand image to a certain extent.

In the market, almost any successful brand cannot do without this representative product, and often presents the following characteristics: being able to represent the brand, becoming a powerful representative and expressing carrier of brand value, is also the best way to establish a brand; being able to guarantee brand profit requirements and driving the sales of other products; in terms of operation, resources are almost focused on this product...

When screening hot products, we should generally pay attention to the following: In terms of user needs, is it real demand? In terms of frequency of use, is it a high frequency of use of products; in terms of usage scenarios, does it enter the user's life scenarios and meet user tasks; in terms of market competition, is there a competitive gap that can be occupied; when looking at the frequency of consumption, high frequency often means high repurchase; in terms of user perception: Is it easy for users to observe and describe the advantages of products to others? Is the product in line with the user's values ​​and experience? Will the user be too advanced and the user is unwilling to accept it? What are the product concepts, product packaging, and user experience? In terms of product services, is the service simple and easy to use or too complex; looking inward at resource matching, brand capabilities and resources, not all brands can take the path of hot products; whether the price has an advantage, price is the most important factor affecting user decision-making...

In summary, the selection of hot products must meet the four dimensions of demand trends, market opportunities, own resources and fully considering competition. This part of the work has been fully introduced in terms of "track selection and crowd selection". If you are interested, please refer to the "2023 New Brand Growth Methodology".

The so-called popular product planning is to maximize the product strength, communication power, and the expressive power of the product itself. Product strength is the inner foundation of the product, communication power is the self-dissemination ability of the product, and expression power is the external image of the product.

The product development process has been fully introduced in the above article, but in reality, the work process is different from the brand department. In addition to conception and screening, the work process is still different. Generally, the product plan is proposed first. The plan must determine the product's competitive advantages, the core value of the product and the translation into product selling points, including marketing strategies and plans; after passing, the product design and proofreading will be carried out; after this step is OK, the product packaging, sales terminal matching design, and large-scale production will be put into the market. In the market, channels, advertising, promotion, grass planting, and activities must be implemented one by one.

Product packaging, product packaging is the most susceptible part of users. It is not just about designing and choosing what container to hold the product. Product packaging needs to visually express the product value, which determines whether the product is on the shelves. Even if the product is lying quietly there without doing mobile phones, does the product have the so-called static sales force?

Static sales force refers to not doing advertising, promotion or other promotions. It can attract users' attention and purchase behavior by relying solely on the product itself (brand, name, packaging, purchase reason, etc.). It is usually determined by the product's packaging. Of course, it is also related to the visualization of price, terminal display, and selling points. Usually, the visualization of selling points can also be implemented on the packaging.

2. General process or method

2.1. Product Structure Planning

First of all, the planning of the product portfolio. Start-up brands do not have the optimization and reconstruction of the product portfolio, that is, as long as the strategic tasks of each product are clarified to form a product portfolio, it has been explained above that the conventional practice is divided into: image products + profit products + regular sales products + drainage products; or: basic products + added value products + enhanced products + extended products.

Generally speaking, in terms of profit requirements, the product structure of most brands will form triangles, diamond shapes, trapezoidal shapes and other forms according to gross profit requirements. Of course, this is different from the brand development stage.

For mature brands, that is, brands that have developed for a certain stage, many product life cycles may have ended and the product lines are wide and long. Then, the original product lines need to be analyzed and then optimized.

Usually, the Boston Matrix, which is mentioned above, is divided into four different types from the two indicators of "sales growth and market share": star products, double highs, are generally the main products and popular products, which are usually retained; Taurus products, with low sales and high market share, are generally products that the brand will focus on in the future; there are also problematic products and dog products.

There are also four different strategies for product structure: development, maintenance, harvesting, and giving up. According to the requirements of gross profit, we will give up problem-based lean dogs with high input and low output or even zero, eliminate those with low input and output ratios, and replace new products to improve input and output ratios; maintaining high gross profits will also add new structural sections to supplement the product structure that may be insufficient, so as to further improve profit performance.

The second is to price the product portfolio. Once the product structure is formed, the brand’s product marketing portfolio will be very rich and diverse. The company’s image products may be just conceptual products, and the main products may not be best-selling products, but may also be image products. Therefore, the product portfolio must be priced. (This part of the content is placed in the next article)

Then manage the product life cycle, especially the life cycle of key products in the product structure, manage existing products according to the rules presented by the product life cycle and launch new products in subsequent operations. This is because different products themselves undertake different tasks. In addition, these products also need to be verified by the market, just like the brand's product structure is set to be a regular product, and the products that the brand believes should be successful may fail quickly in entering the market, etc. Therefore, adjustments need to be made based on the product life cycle.

The general approach is to first determine whether the product is best-selling after it is launched into the market. If the product is judged to be a failure, it must reduce the quantity and price reduction in time; if the product is judged to be a best-selling, it can be guided to become a hot product and increase resource coverage; products that basically meet expectations, that is, moderate performance enter daily sales. When the product grows, basic products generally pursue sales maximization, while hot products pursue profit maximization and traffic maximization; when the mature period gradually enters a recession period, hot products and best-selling products must enter the iteration period and develop new products, while products that have entered the recession period must be reduced as soon as possible to handle inventory.

Finally, we will finally determine the competitive product portfolio and determine the length, width and depth of the final product line, including the degree of correlation. In the later stage, especially the degree of correlation is the key, and consistency is required. That is, the degree of close correlation between each product line in terms of final use, production conditions, distribution channels, etc.

It should be noted that the product structure must not deviate within the brand value framework, and under the same brand asset framework, in this way, the brand can fully and effectively establish a brand (accumulate brand assets) and empower the product when new products are launched in the future.

2.2. Create a good product

The above talks about the relationship between brands and products. At the beginning of their birth, brands need to convey and communicate brand value through products. After the brand matures, the brand can exist independently of the product.

A brand exists higher than a product. A brand can give the product soul and vivid vitality. It can be the formation of the commonality of all products of the brand and the parent body of all products.

A brand can transcend the product and connect with users. This connection can be the tool value of the product function, or the media value of the brand helps users express their own media value. This includes the empathy of emotions, the resonance of ideas and attitudes, or the community value of spiritual belonging and identity.

Therefore, when developing products, we first have a brand concept and then develop products, that is, we first have a soul and then shape the body. Therefore, the origin of developing products is brand positioning and the core value of the brand.

After brand strategy and brand positioning, the first thing is to plan the product structure. In addition to the above-mentioned gate management system, then it is necessary to plan the product, especially the core products. Here planning refers to polishing product strength for specific products from the inside out.

As mentioned above, brand value = functional value + psychological value (emotional value + spiritual value), so in reality, creating products is divided into two directions: functional value-driven products and psychological value-driven brands.

2.2.1. Functional value-driven products

The core of this type of product lies in its functional interests, which requires the translation of functional interests into a language that users can understand, that is, to create a selling point of the product.

Generally speaking, a specific product has six external angles: product name, packaging color, symbol, main vision, packaging type, and core value proposition. The internal support is the USP selling point of the product and the FABE rule of the USP selling point - attributes (features), functions (interests), benefits (advantages), and testimony (proof).

The product name is the same as brand name. The product name requires that it can highlight the core functions or characteristics of the product, strengthen the first impression of the user, and the best way is to solve the problem of the product name directly.

In addition, there is a phenomenon of minor meaning. More and more brands will give their products a nickname or nickname. In the past, nicknames were given by users, but brands can actually give them a bonus, which is very conducive to the dissemination of products.

The packaging color is mentioned above, not mentioned here, but it is generally required to fully represent the tone of the brand.

Symbols. Generally speaking, the product will use brand symbols directly, but product branding can create unique symbols for the product, that is, the same brand but different identifications. For example, Nestlé, although each product is a Nestlé brand, it uses different identifications.

Although the main vision is flat vision, it is not the same as a product poster. It can be regarded as a further highly refined based on the e-commerce product details page. It is rich in information but highly concise, and requires it to capture the user's attention and display product selling point information.

Packaging type mainly refers to the packaging container itself, which involves materials, shapes, etc. The packaging requirements are also mentioned in the article. It must be noted that the packaging container type can be patented, and the unique container form will become the brand feature. For example, the three-ton-and-a-half coffee pack, the classic curved glass bottle of Coca-Cola...

The core value proposition, as mentioned in the previous article, can be used as an advertising slogan, communication slogan, or promotional slogan.

I will not introduce the specific USP and FABE to use (in fact, it is deleted, but if you don’t delete it, the content of the article will be too long). You can also learn about USP and FABE from books or other authors.

2.2.2. Psychological value-driven products

The core of this type of product lies in the shaping of brand value. The expression requirements of brand value can arouse emotional resonance in order to establish psychological identity - brand is a psychological phenomenon.

Functional value is limited, but psychological value is infinite. Coca-Cola, buying happiness sharing at parties; buying Mercedes-Benz, buying identity symbols... The selling point of functional value ratio, and psychological value ratio is expression.

The essence is to amplify the user's perceived value and realize the user's value surplus. The so-called premium is the part outside the functional value, which is the user's value surplus.

Generally speaking, psychological value-driven products can also include six external angles: product name, aesthetic attributes, symbols, main vision, selling points, and core value propositions. Inner support is emotional interests and the development of emotional interests - interests, support points and brand personality.

Psychological value-driven products need to be driven by brands, so the emotional and spiritual interests of the brand are very important. Behind it is driven by concepts, culture, aesthetics, art and other humanistic connotations. I especially recommend "From Brand to Icon, a book on Cultural Brand Marketing". I suggest you take a look if you have time.

This is not to say that functional value is not important, but functional value needs to highlight the quality and symbolic significance of the product. In terms of quality, it often requires the fulfillment of promises from beginning to end. Whether it is the selection of raw materials, production process, or even the organizations and personnel behind the brand, of course, it also requires the proportion of service and service quality.

The symbolic meaning is very simple. In fact, the user image of the product is in line with the target user portrait. Only in this way can the brand represent the user.

2.3. Terminal policy

Most products still need to enter various retail channels, so terminal strategy is also a part that brand people need to consider. This involves terminal display, that is, they require that their products be highlighted on the shelves. Of course, product packaging also has an impact.

Generally speaking, we should pay attention to the overall layout and scale of product packaging. To put it bluntly, we should treat the shelves as part of the product packaging. Different product stages will choose different types of shelves, make good use of shelf materials, and interact with terminal sales, which naturally includes clear and appropriate prices.

There is another common thing. When people are shopping in supermarkets, a certain product may have unique displays, floor stickers, advertising flags, etc., which are also something that brand people need to pay attention to. Although it usually only exists during marketing activities, it involves the user's shopping process, display props and arrangements, as well as appropriate products, and requires retailers to cooperate, and naturally, including advertising and promotion.

In fact, the user image of the product is in line with the target user portrait, so that the brand can represent the user.

From conception to commercialization, products are transforming conception into a real business. Therefore, in this process, it is not just the product itself, but a business. Here are two must-read books, "Precise Entrepreneurship: Growth Thinking of New Startups" and "Agile Innovation"...