Brands are closing down one after another, what is the way out? Save these 9 suggestions!

It is not uncommon for brands to go bankrupt due to poor management. This article proposes 9 brand marketing suggestions based on the practical experience of business operations, and analyzes how to do good marketing for brands from multiple perspectives such as content operation and user operation. It is recommended for students who are interested in brand operation.

Hello everyone, I am Nan Zebei, the founder of Qiqixuan.

As the saying goes, outsiders watch the excitement, and everyone has seen it - "Moutai and Luckin Coffee, Li Jiaqi and Huaxizi, Dong Yuhui and Dongfang Selection"

However, few people pay attention to a phenomenon that cannot be ignored: countless brands have left the market in disgrace .

Just last week, 55 brands that had been operating poorly for a long time, or even had gone bankrupt, been deregistered, closed down, or had lost the ownership and use rights of their registered trademarks, were removed from the list of China's time-honored brands; 73 brands with poor operations and declining performance were required to make rectifications within six months.

Emerging brands are also in dire straits. According to incomplete statistics, at least 20 emerging brands, including Gu Xiao Gu, Mo Ran, and Ji An Te, have collapsed in 2023.

We are fortunate to grow with some brands, and our service customers cover beauty, education, clothing, finance, home, pets, maternal and child, beverages, government affairs and other fields. In the face of the successive closures of brands, I have summarized 9 practical suggestions based on my actual operation experience for your reference.

1. Recognize the form

Many of the clients who consulted me were still as optimistic as ever. Optimism is good, but we should not be overly optimistic.

This year, everything changed.

Judging from the feedback from some of the brands we have contacted or cooperated with, the business environment will be more severe this year and even in the next few years.

Global economic growth has slowed down and consumption has downgraded; platform traffic growth has been sluggish and customer acquisition costs have increased; competition has intensified and price wars are prevalent, there is no profit and people are barely surviving; live streaming sales have also entered a bottleneck period and anchors can no longer sell goods.

When the wind is blowing, there is gold everywhere and opportunities are everywhere, but the wind cannot always be there.

In the past, when there was no cash flow, we would just draw a pie in the sky and take a PPT to look for investors. Now, all investors have changed their careers.

In the past, when products could not be sold, people would look for anchors to promote them. Now, there are only a few anchors who can sell products. Many anchors with millions of fans can no longer promote products, so they have switched to selling courses and teaching people how to promote products, thus making some money.

In the past, when there was no traffic, we would simply max out the campaign or look for channels to clear out the stock. Now, there is no budget for campaigns, and the suppliers have all run away.

The environment has changed, the needs have changed, the market has changed, everything has changed. The strategy must be updated and iterated in a timely manner. If you are still using past experience, this year will be really difficult and you may fall behind.

Second, be rational

Many people outside the circle have been fooled by various big Vs who sell courses, and they really believe that the Internet dividends are rolling in. Ordinary people can easily earn millions a year, and small businesses can easily have a GMV of hundreds of millions.

The reality is that the dividends of the Internet are gradually disappearing and we have entered the stock era. New media has also gone from the wild growth in the early stage and the content-oriented mid-term to the full commercialization now, entering the era of business-oriented, and it is still iterating.

We all need to be rational. You should just treat the sales of hundreds of millions as entertainment news. It makes people think that it is really easy to make hundreds of millions.

You see Hua Xizi and Li Jiaqi, but what you haven’t seen is that Gu Xiaogu, Mo Ran and others have all fallen, and you haven’t seen that countless millions of big Vs can no longer sell goods and have started to switch to selling courses.

Some people may be admitted to Tsinghua University with just one effort, while others may never succeed in their entire life. Accept yourself, face your own abilities and resources, and profit is king. Be rational and don't blindly compare yourself with others.

3. Have a rhythm

Good business management means doing different things at different stages.

If you keep thinking that you can eat a big fat man in one bite, you are bound to choke to death. You must be able to resist all kinds of temptations, although this goes against human nature, but it is a fact.

Sometimes, taking things slow is the most effective approach.

Let me give you an example of a client who has consulted us. He had never done online business before, but one day he suddenly found that the traffic of his competitor across the street suddenly increased sharply and continued to be popular. After asking around, he found that the competitor brought in traffic through the operation of Xiaohongshu. So, he found us online, with basically no budget, but still hoped to help him quickly develop Xiaohongshu.

We analyzed our competitors' layout on Xiaohongshu and found that they have been doing it for more than four years. In addition to operating their own accounts, they also hired amateurs and junior influencers to promote products, and have accumulated hundreds of promotion notes.

I gave feedback to the client, saying that it was unlikely to be completed in one month without a budget, but the client didn't listen and repeatedly asked why others suddenly succeeded. In fact, the client understood that others had been investing for more than four years, but was unwilling to admit it.

We must not accept customers who do not understand the platform at all.

Another client that left a deep impression on me was a client who consulted us two years ago about a wine product that was a niche category in the wine category. When we consulted him, he had just started the business and said he wanted to benchmark Jiang Xiaobai and hoped that after cooperating with us, the GMV would reach several billion per year. I was really shocked and did not accept the offer. The wine project of the client that consulted us at that time also seemed to fail later.

Many people see Jiang Xiaobai's success but ignore the investment behind it. Many people think that Jiang Xiaobai succeeded by writing, but writing is only a boost for him. Millions of offline powerful supplier channels across the country are his moat. If it were a copywriting, many people could write it, and even write it better than Jiang Xiaobai.

Behind every business success is often huge effort at different stages, and what we see is often just the tip of the iceberg.

4. Most fission is just a gimmick

Bosses all like to hear about fission and viral spread.

But I want to pour a bucket of cold water on everyone.

You want to stand out through group fission, activity fission, distribution fission, card and coupon fission, group buying fission, and lottery fission.

But have you ever thought about whether your benefits are more attractive than those of banks? Whether your cards and coupons are more attractive than those of Meituan? Whether your group buying activities are more attractive than those of Kuaituan?

Even if they are wealthy and powerful and invest real money, it is difficult to make a splash in the fiercely competitive market, let alone a small shrimp with a limited budget.

If you want to take off by fission, just listen to it and don’t take it seriously.

In addition, don't imagine that customers attracted by activities can be easily converted. In most cases, these customers are general customers who come for benefits, not real loyal users.

The essence of fission is still human nature, everyone wants to take advantage.

5. The data is more inaccurate than expected

There are many unreliable operators and even more unreliable influencers. The data are flying high, and only the brands are kept in the dark.

Many people who seek cooperation with us often ask why others can guarantee a certain amount of followers, readings, playbacks, etc. during the cooperation period, but you can't. Sometimes, I will ask the customer, do they promise how many conversions you will get in the end? At this time, the customer usually says that they can't promise conversions.

Many people exaggerate their abilities and achievements, promise overly high results, and attract customers with low prices, but the actual results are not satisfactory.

No matter which channel you choose, the effect cannot be guaranteed. A professional team can help customers reduce costs, increase the possibility of success, and maximize relative value, but operations are not omnipotent and cannot save lives.

But there is no way, the truth is hard to hear and no one is willing to admit that reasonable results are normal.

Except for Xiaohongshu, which has relatively strict control over data falsification, the data on other platforms is really inflated. For example, on the hottest short video platform, you can buy millions of views and tens of thousands of interactions for less than 100 yuan. This is why we will no longer accept business from this platform this year, because data is the bottom line. We don’t make promises and don’t falsify data, but others falsify 200,000 or 500,000 interactions at any time, which is really unmatched.

In fact, the core of content is not the number of fans, but the content. This is a very difficult thing to do, but many people are more confident and think too simply, isn't it just writing a few hundred words? The front desk can write it. Then they are slapped in the face.

6. Pay attention to content marketing

The environment is not good, fission is not good, and the data is very inflated, so what else can we do?

I think content marketing is a good way out.

Good products are the basis, but "good" is a difficult word to quantify. What is good? And the most important thing is how consumers can feel this goodness.

The bridge between products and consumers must be through content. This is why Xiaohongshu has been besieged by giants such as ByteDance, Tencent, and Alibaba for many times, but has never been defeated and has become stronger and stronger. Because its core is UGC, that is, user-generated content. When it comes to planting grass, everyone thinks of it first.

For brands that want to stand out in the current market environment, content marketing is a must, but too many people in the industry are not doing it well. Many people still simply think that content marketing is just "finding influencers + publishing content."

If you don’t understand content marketing now and are not willing to learn, you can really give up.

But the disadvantages of content production are also obvious, that is, it is not fast, unlike live broadcasting, which brings about strong hormone secretion and growth like a trickle of water, which accumulates little by little and eventually becomes a big river. Many brands hope to get rich overnight, so we return to the second point of "expectation".

Even if I give you a pen, you still can't become Romain Rolland, nor can you write "Jean-Christophe". But if you work hard, maybe you can become Guo Moumou and write a best-selling book.

Doing content marketing well requires time, creativity, skills and internet sense.

7. Focus on target users

In the eternal theme of attracting new users and repeat purchases, private domain management has become a crucial link. However, the premise of operating private domains and serving old users well is to have precise target users, rather than a general user group.

If your boss doesn't appreciate you, but you keep smiling, it's not polite, it's overly flattering. Similarly, if the brand's service targets are not accurate users, then it's like licking the dog, and in the end you'll have nothing.

Accurate user positioning is the core of private domain operations. Brands need to have a deep understanding of the needs, interests and behavioral habits of target users in order to provide more targeted products and services. Over-reliance on general users may cause brands to lose the targeting of their services, and ultimately face user loss and a decline in brand value.

Therefore, unless your account has tens of millions of followers, don’t expect everyone to be your customer. The monetization ability of 10,000 followers is not necessarily worse than that of 1 million followers.

8. Enterprise management is a combination of punches

The operation of an enterprise and the establishment of a brand are systematic tasks, and the products, marketing, team and culture are coordinated with each other. We cannot just attribute the success to the marketing.

However, many brands, desperately trying all means, regard marketing as a lifeline. However, it is only one link in the operation of an enterprise. The success or failure of an enterprise is the result of the combined effect of many factors.

They always want to harvest from traffic, that is, to sell goods. They also want to be quick and easy, and want to create a brand and tone, but in the end, they fail to sell anything, and the tone does not meet user needs.

In addition, you should always remember that sales are not the standard for measuring a brand. A brand is a reflection of the user's mind, and sales are only the result. Especially when you are desperately trying to make sales look good, you may actually be losing money, which is unnecessary. In any track, you are not facing one opponent, but a group of opponents. If you run out of bullets, there will be more new opponents pouring in.

9. It’s useless if the money is not received

In the early days of our business, when large companies or other Fortune 500 companies approached us for cooperation, we were very happy and felt very awesome. We agreed to whatever the other party asked for and cooperated unconditionally.

As a result, for some projects, the team had already started working hard for several months, but the payment was still going through their internal procedures. Some projects still had long payment periods. One central enterprise even wanted us to work first and settle the bill after the one-year cooperation period was over.

At that time, I accepted some unequal conditions for some projects, thinking that the clients I worked with were great and would give me some endorsement. But it was useless because most of them had signed confidentiality agreements and integrity agreements, and they could not be used as case studies. As for the quotation, I did not increase it just because it was a famous company, but just charged according to the normal standard.

Later I saw Mr. Hua Shan say that they have two principles in their business : "If you pay me, I am the boss; if you don't pay me, it has nothing to do with me."

We understand. If you work hard and make all kinds of demands, but are stingy with your payment, then it will be useless to us no matter how strong you are.

Many customers went bankrupt because they could not collect payments and their cash flow was cut off. For example, when Evergrande went bankrupt, many downstream suppliers also went bankrupt.

So, it’s very simple, you work for whoever pays you.

Of course, many big brands need to go through a payment period and advance payment, but some have to compromise for various reasons such as resources or long-term cooperation. This ultimately depends on your own choice.

For most companies, in addition to external payment collection, the same principle applies to internal promotion.

From the 0-1 stage, the budget must be spent wisely. You can do things that don’t make money, but you must never do things that lose money.

Author: Nan Zebei