Is it difficult for a brand to break through the bottleneck? The boss’s cognition is the fundamental problem!

Brand growth requires founders to improve their cognition, break through bottlenecks, attach importance to content assets, accurately target audiences, create high-quality content, and distribute it through multiple channels.

In today's rapidly changing market environment, brands face many challenges in their continued growth and development. However, an often overlooked but crucial factor is the brand founder's level of cognition. The brand founder's vision, insight and ability to respond quickly to market changes directly affect whether the brand can break through development limitations and move towards a broader path to success.

1. Bottlenecks in brand development

Brand development bottlenecks are a common and complex problem that can hinder a business’s growth and limit its market potential. For founders, identifying and resolving these bottlenecks is key to moving your brand forward.

1. Market saturation

Market saturation is usually manifested as fierce competition, fragmented market share and slower growth. In this environment, consumers have more choices and brands compete more fiercely to attract the same consumer groups. Founders need to find new growth points through market segmentation, positioning and innovation.

For example, a mature beverage market may already have dozens of competing brands. In such a market, brands can find new life by developing new products with unique health benefits or customized beverages for specific consumer groups. Which brand can you think of?

2. Lack of innovation

In today's rapidly developing technology, innovation is the driving force for the sustainable growth of enterprises. Not only product innovation, but also service innovation and business model innovation are key factors in promoting brands to break through bottlenecks. Founders need to establish a corporate culture that encourages innovation, invest in research and development, and seek solutions to problems from different angles.

For example, by leveraging artificial intelligence and big data analysis, brands can understand consumer behavior more accurately, thereby providing more personalized products and services, enhancing user experience and brand loyalty.

3. Brand image aging

As the market environment changes, some once popular brand images may no longer be attractive to consumers. Updating the brand image and repositioning can help the brand regain market attention. This includes updating the brand's visual elements such as logos and packaging, as well as redefining the brand's value proposition and market information.

For example, a brand that has long been known for its traditional image may need to attract younger consumers through modern design and updated products. White Elephant Super Fragrant Coriander Noodles is a successful example.

4. Rapidly changing consumer demands

Consumer demands and expectations are constantly changing, especially in the areas of fast-moving consumer goods and technology products. It is critical for founders to understand and anticipate these changes. This requires founders to have keen market insights and the ability to respond quickly to market changes.

For example, in 2023, "ingredients" continued to be popular. According to data from Xiaohongshu, the number of readings on skin care ingredients in one year was more than 27.4 billion, with a reading growth rate of 46%. More than 130 million active searches recorded Xiaohongshu users' persistent pursuit of "ingredients".

2. Improvement of founders’ cognition

In order to break through the bottleneck of brand growth, founders must adopt effective strategies to improve their cognitive abilities.

1. Enhance market sensitivity

Market sensitivity refers to the founder's ability to accurately and quickly perceive market changes and consumer needs. This sensitivity allows the founder to respond and adjust strategies before the market has fully formed a clear trend, thereby keeping the brand competitive.

For example, by regularly attending industry conferences, paying attention to industry reports, and communicating directly with consumers, founders can continuously update their market understanding and better predict and respond to market changes.

2. Respond quickly to new trends

Emerging technologies such as AI and emerging marketing combinations such as KFS have a profound impact on brand development and market strategies. Founders should have the ability to quickly learn and apply these new trends in order to more effectively optimize operational efficiency, improve user experience, and even open up new business models.

For example, using the “crowd reverse funnel model” can help brands more accurately target users and personalize marketing.

3. Keep learning and communicating

In order to systematically improve the founder's cognitive ability, continuous learning is essential. This includes attending relevant courses and seminars, as well as constantly updating knowledge through reading and self-study.

In addition, communication with outstanding talents in the industry is also a valuable learning channel that can provide new perspectives and solutions and help founders broaden their thinking and vision.

4. Adapt to new marketing strategies

With the rise of digital marketing and social media, traditional marketing methods have gradually failed to meet the needs of modern consumers. Founders need to constantly learn and experiment with new marketing strategies, such as content marketing, influencer cooperation, etc. This requires not only an understanding of technology and tools, but also an open and innovative mindset, willing to accept and try new things.

3. Emphasis on brand content asset construction

In the digital age, brand content assets have become an important part of brand value. Content assets can not only attract consumers, but also establish a brand image in the minds of consumers, thus having a profound impact on the long-term development of the brand.

1  .Determine your target audience

Brands must identify their target audience before creating content. Understanding the needs, preferences, and consumption behaviors of the target audience is the basis for developing content strategies. Through market research, social media analysis, and other means, brands can gain in-depth insights into their target audiences, thereby developing more accurate and effective content marketing strategies.

2  . Create high-quality content

The quality of content directly affects brand image and consumer response.
High-quality content should be informative, educational, and entertaining, and should be able to arouse the interest and resonance of the target audience. In addition, the innovation of the content should not be ignored, as it can make the brand stand out in a highly competitive market. Brands should build or cooperate with professional content teams and use a variety of media (such as videos, articles, images, etc.) to enrich the expression of content.

3. Utilize multi-channel distribution

After content is produced, it is equally important to distribute it effectively. Brands should use multiple channels to promote content. Different channels can help brands reach different audiences and expand their influence. In addition, brands can also consider cooperating with other media or brands to increase the exposure and influence of content through cooperation.

4. Reaching and attracting young consumer groups

Young consumers should be the focus of brand founders.

Their consumption behavior, the formation of brand loyalty and their sensitivity to emerging market trends all directly affect the brand's market strategy and development direction.

1. Driven by brand values

Young consumers tend to seek distinctive consumption experiences and highly personalized products. They obtain information through social media and are influenced by online opinion leaders and trends on social media platforms. This group usually has high expectations for brands’ social responsibility and sustainability, and brands are more likely to gain their trust and loyalty when their values ​​are consistent with their personal beliefs.

2. Effectively reach young people

To effectively reach and attract young consumers, brands need to adopt innovative marketing strategies. Here are a few effective ways:

Social media and digital marketing: Use platforms such as Xiaohongshu and Douyin to connect with young people through visual and video content. The dynamic content and interactivity of these platforms can help brands spread quickly and build closer relationships with consumers.

Influencer collaboration: Collaborate with highly influential KOLs (key opinion leaders) to leverage their credibility and influence among target groups to promote your brand. Choosing KOLs that match your brand image can increase the authenticity and effectiveness of your marketing campaigns.

Experiential and participatory marketing activities: Organizing online and offline activities, such as brand experience days and interactive competitions, can effectively enhance consumer participation and brand impression.

3. Pay special attention to Xiaohongshu

As a platform that integrates user-generated content (UGC) and e-commerce functions, Xiaohongshu has a great influence among young consumers. Its main advantages include:

• High-quality users: Xiaohongshu has a large group of young users, especially female users, providing brands with a platform to directly reach potential consumers.
• Market influence: Through UGC and KOL strategies, Xiaohongshu helps brands build trust. Users’ real reviews and recommendations can significantly influence other consumers’ purchasing decisions.
• Marketing can be implemented: Brands can publish original content on Xiaohongshu or cooperate with KOLs to use various content forms such as tutorials, reviews, storytelling, etc. to increase brand visibility and engagement.

In summary, the cognitive level of the brand founder plays a decisive role in whether the brand can break through the development bottleneck. The founder should actively improve his or her market sensitivity, learn new marketing strategies, quickly respond to emerging technologies and trends, and constantly broaden his or her horizons and update his or her knowledge in order to lead the brand to adapt to the changes of the times and maintain its competitive advantage.

At the same time, in the digital age, building brand content assets and reaching young consumer groups through content platforms such as Xiaohongshu has become the key to brand development. Brand founders should fully realize the importance of content marketing, establish close ties with young consumers through high-quality content and interactive marketing, and enhance brand influence to achieve all-round growth.

Author: Brand White;

Source public account: Brand Laobai (ID: 1075014)