20 trends and thoughtful suggestions for brands in 2023

2023, the new year's brand forecast is here! The social background has changed dramatically, and the epidemic situation has been relaxed. What impact will it have on corporate brands and personal brands? This article from the author's in-depth forecast is worth reading~ Brand people and marketers should not miss it. I believe that the 20 trends and heartfelt suggestions will inspire you.

You must be wondering what will happen to companies and individuals in 2023. This is a unique prediction from a brand perspective. From the hindsight of the past few years, at least 80%-90% of the content has indeed come true.

Therefore, the annual "article" is here again! It has become a work habit for me to predict what changes will happen in the field of corporate branding and personal branding at the beginning of each year, and this year is no exception. But this year's prediction is not easy to make. Why?

Previous predictions basically showed that companies and brands were developing in a linear trend, but with the rapid changes in the social background and the huge impact of the three-year epidemic on people's material and spiritual levels, many things may not be easy to predict rationally. Social media may seem lively on the surface, but we have seen many people remain silent. Therefore, it is becoming increasingly difficult to guess what everyone is thinking and what motivations they have for their behavior.

But what is certain is that the past brand growth methods have become history, and people's understanding of brands has gradually entered the right track. The saying of "not building brands but focusing on sales" and the era of blind growth have officially come to an end. Business stories in the consumer sector that rely on traffic and sales are gradually evolving into versions of profits and brands.

Under the pressure of profitability, SaaS companies will face their first real brand test period. Internet model innovation is approaching its peak, and the second curve of human commercial activities has begun to turn to energy, food, medical care and other tracks related to their own destiny. Brand heroes will also emerge one after another. For each individual, the direction of individual brands points to "digitalization" and "connection". How to use digital tools and thinking to enhance individual influence, and how to connect with people in the process, this will become the next important proposition for individual brands.

This year's trends and suggestions are still in the same style as before. No fancy words, no grand narratives, no bluffing, no nonsense, no examples (put in the live broadcast on the eighth day of the Lunar New Year). Everything is in order to give some inspiration and help to entrepreneurs, managers and marketers who really do things.

1. Top 10 trends and suggestions for corporate brands

01 The decline of internet celebrity brands

Over the past few years, people have gradually seen through the truth about internet celebrity brands.

The money was quickly spent to create a "phenomenon" that attracted a large number of people, but what was overdrawn was people's "curiosity" about this matter. Once the mystery of curiosity was revealed, the continued development of this matter became extremely difficult. The core of consumer goods is repurchase and profit, and Internet celebrity brands have nothing to do with these two things. The popularity of Internet celebrity brands is the success of social media marketing companies, not the success of enterprises.

Investors and entrepreneurs are gradually realizing this. A few days ago, Mr. Liu Chunxiong joked: "Internet celebrities are like crabs, they die after becoming popular", which also reveals the essence of "Internet celebrities". The parabola of influence is the unchanging law of Internet celebrity brands.

Don’t ever think that live streaming and internet celebrities are the whole of marketing and sales in this world. Here’s another statistic: sales on the Internet, including live streaming, only account for 20% of China’s total retail sales. The other proportion is 15% in hypermarkets, and the remaining 65% is in traditional retail stores.

There are two reasons for the decline of influencers: First, the number of participants who rely on the three tricks of attracting attention to play marketing is increasing, and consumers are tired of reading and burning. Second, marketing ultimately failed to land on the brand, and longevity is not sustainable, and it is not cost-effective to calculate the accounts carefully. Making profits and repeat purchases will become the top priority in 2023.

02 The rise of “white label”

In contrast to the fact that Internet celebrity brands are popular but not profitable, white-label brands are rising and making a lot of money. Some people think that the rise of white-label brands means the disappearance of brands. On the contrary, what white-label brands reflect is the influence of channel brands. Product brands and channel brands are competing secretly in a way that is not easy to be discovered.

People must have a reason to trust in their purchases, either trust in the brand itself, or trust in the endorsement of the channel, personal IP, and platform. Behind all marketing behaviors that seem to be independent of brands, trust is used. Whether it is community group buying, online channels, offline chains, or Li Jiaqi's personal endorsement. There is no white label that can be exchanged for money out of thin air. They are a partnership between good products with good quality and low prices and brand channels.

Channel brand is a subtraction of brand mind. As the number of single products increases exponentially, it is increasingly difficult for brands to occupy the minds of users. The channel party/IP party/platform party assumes the function of credit intermediary. Traditional stores lack this awareness and are more like "landlords", earning money from renting venues and worrying about property management.

If channels/platforms really want to build brands, they must be able to assume the function of "credit intermediary", and Internet platforms have done a good job of demonstrating this. Next, online channels will be segmented, offline chain channels will rise, and channel brands and "white labels" will take off together.

03 Cross-border cooperation based on first principles has become the norm

Musk's success has given entrepreneurs new inspiration: study experience and mobilize all resources to break it. Things that are different are often because of their large span. Such things seem extremely complicated on the surface, such as launching a rocket, but they are actually simpler than imagined.

Starting with electric vehicles, innovations in some large fields and industries (such as agriculture, machinery, energy, manufacturing, elderly care, etc.) will be launched one after another in the future, and brands will also need greater imagination to do things that have never been done before. Generations of newcomers enter various traditional fields with knowledge, thinking, and new ways of presenting brands, raising questions that are both naive and valuable one after another.

It has been said before that any industry is worth redoing. Or another way of saying it is that in any field, new brands with new perspectives will emerge. This kind of standing out is the most distinctive value of a brand.

04 The pursuit of profit is based on the premise of gathering brands rather than traffic

The saying "do not build brands but focus on sales" and the era of blind growth have officially come to an end. The sign that it has become ineffective is that it is no longer profitable to just focus on sales. All companies either make high-end, high-premium products or sell white-label products through channels. Both of these prove the company's reliance on brands.

The premise of pursuing profits is to own a brand or "borrow" a brand from others. "To make sales, you must make profits, and to make profits, you must first build a brand." In the course of business operations, companies certainly need traffic and sales, but without a correct understanding and implantation of the brand, only focusing on traffic and sales is the least cost-effective, and that is called selling goods.

The first purpose of attracting traffic is not to sell goods, but to gather brands. Gathering brands relies on culture, characteristics and values. Understanding brands has become a standard for managers. In the end, we will find that the smaller the scale, the more we like to study the opportunities at that time, and the bigger and better companies study brands and cycles.

05 Knowledge is king, the era of self-operated content by enterprises has arrived

The situation where brands set up their own "editorial department" has become a reality. The editorial configuration has also gradually changed from the earliest "public account editor" to a team of content experts. The last golden age of corporate content was when real estate was in full swing. It is said that the best real estate copywriting came from the hands of poets who were once active in the 1980s.

Today, corporate content will be reorganized in a new form. The "Chief Knowledge Officer" within the company will organize and accumulate the structured knowledge within the organization, and corporate brand magazines will become more and more popular with brands. Everything is to organize and present a company's "content system".

The advent of the digital age has gradually transformed experience into knowledge and even tools. The brand itself has also become a tool to reach users with brand knowledge.

Let us wait and see how these content positions emerge in enterprises (or possibly be outsourced).

06 Brand becomes a tool to reduce costs and increase efficiency

Cost reduction and efficiency improvement is the hottest management term in 2022. Interestingly, the implementation of cost reduction and efficiency improvement often turns into layoffs and cost saving. Blindly compressing is not to increase efficiency, but it is likely to reduce efficiency. What is the real cost reduction and efficiency improvement? It is to think it through thoroughly. However, the process of making strategies in the past has been interpreted by many companies as making plans. They want the same things, but the support they give keeps decreasing.

It’s time to try using brand as a method to “reduce costs and increase efficiency”! Brand strategy is to see what a company should and should not do from an external perspective. Once the brand strategy is passed, costs can be reduced and efficiency can be increased immediately. Marketing and market actions are one part, and internal alignment of cognition and reduction of management costs are another part. If you add the two parts together, you will be surprised if you do the math. Last year, one of our customers once lamented that if this thing had been done a year earlier, at least 20 million in costs could have been saved.

For some things, it is better to use an external perspective than an internal perspective. Be fair and optimistic, and avoid falling into blind optimism and one-sidedness.

07 “Hot-selling product marketing” upgraded to “brand operation” for targeted groups

The term "screen swiping" is slowly becoming history. Nowadays, no matter how big your brand news is, it is difficult to shock everyone at the same time. Don't try to use "hot products" to increase corporate visibility. Focus on operating relationship brands.

Who is the person you want? What do you want to do with him/her? How does he/she view you? Where is the tacit understanding between you? There are still not many companies that can answer these questions. In 2023, focus will become the second element in producing content. Ambiguous content has no market, and it is even more impossible to convey the brand's proposition.

The brand is hidden in its attitude and proposition, rather than in eye-catching blockbuster products.

08 Membership system and brand community work together to create opportunities

How many brands have you become a member of so far? What have you done to become their member? After the end of the "scan code to become a member" race, the operation of members has become the next headache. In addition to getting the user's mobile phone number, what else does the company get? Behind all membership systems, the logic is to build a brand's private territory.

There is a threshold for real membership, whether it is a financial threshold or a value threshold. In short, "screening" and "operation" are the core of membership. The current "pseudo-membership logic" for the purpose of obtaining mobile phone numbers will enter the deep cultivation stage in 2023. The first step of deep cultivation is to join hands with brand communities. Only by screening members again can we build operational actions. Can the person who bought your car be willing to come to the scene to help you sell the car and become your non-staff sales? This has already happened to a certain car brand.

Getting someone's phone number is just another way to harass them. Getting someone's heart is the key.

09 Brand profitability test: SaaS brand test period has arrived

Make money, make money, make money! In 2023, all SaaS companies are under a tight rein. With the charging model in place, all brands have turned to profit-oriented. How to develop and balance brands in the pursuit of profits is a life-or-death test for SaaS companies. The real judge of whether the service provided by the tool is good or not is money. Everyone praises free tools, but flees as soon as they are charged. Such an embarrassing scene may happen in 2023, especially when peer giants can use it for free.

How can the value of SaaS be conveyed through branding, and how can we prevent the "deterioration of relationships" caused by charging? Profitability is a challenge for enterprises and a test for brands. Once this hurdle is passed, the SaaS industry can breathe a sigh of relief. Currently, SaaS companies as a whole have not yet realized the importance of branding, and marketing and branding are mixed. Among them, the sooner the company sorts out the problem, the sooner it will stand out.

Branding phenomenon occurred in more than 10 industries

As mentioned above, other important industries besides the Internet have been undergoing continuous changes, such as energy, manufacturing, agriculture, and medical care. These traditional industries that used to be unknown have begun to usher in opportunities for innovation, and cross-border enterprises have not only brought new business models and cross-border connection thinking, but also brought new branding methods.

Therefore, the phenomenon of no well-known brands in these industries will be broken. We will soon be able to talk about brands engaged in energy storage, digital medical care, modern agriculture, etc. "Branding" not only happens in the field of consumer goods, but also in some offline chain fields, such as "restaurant chain". China's restaurant chain is developing rapidly, and brand competition will officially start in 2023. Brand changes and innovations will also occur in the fields of home furnishing stores and offline space operations.

2. Top 10 Personal Brand Trends and Suggestions

01 Status is the most important engine of personal brand, and status determines success or failure

Does your personal brand seem to lack a clear direction after the epidemic? Are you all a little lazy and uninterested? That's because your state has not returned. At this time, the person who recovers first will gain the upper hand. State is the engine. The state you use to infect others determines the effect of your influence. Therefore, it is better to set a deadline for yourself and use the Spring Festival as an opportunity to officially put an end to the "epidemic" in your heart.

Sometimes, we use the environment and experiences as an excuse to procrastinate. Get rid of this idea as soon as possible. "Heaven moves vigorously, and the gentleman should constantly strive to improve himself"!

02 Improve shielding capabilities and enhance information quality

Behind the ability to block information is a clear outlook on life, the world and good taste for information. "Information taste" will become an important personal ability, even more important than absorbing information. With the arrival of a large amount of information, can you distinguish which is high-quality and which is low-quality? Now the threshold for publishing is getting lower and lower. Please believe that not everything printed in a book is worth your time to read. This is true for books, and even more so for information on the Internet. Entering 2023, the information is even more noisy. What should we block?

My personal experience is: actively search rather than passively receive. First, exclude all entertainment information recommended to you by algorithms, and secondly, exclude those "plots" designed to retain your viewing and reading time. We try every means to obtain valuable information, not the shell of packaged information. As for how to improve the taste of information, I will not elaborate here, we will discuss it in detail in the live broadcast on the eighth day of the Lunar New Year.

03 System reinstallation, authority disappears

"Experts" have encountered the biggest trust crisis in this era. In 2023, this crisis will deepen further. People's resistance to authority has occurred with changes in all aspects after the epidemic. As a personal brand, a system reinstallation is necessary. Therefore, in this era, almost no one is right. Everyone is facing the same dark night.

What should I use to reinstall my system? Classics. Classic books and ways of thinking are always the foundation of thinking. Becoming a classic means going through cycles and being repeatedly verified by countless people. This is the most cost-effective way of learning. In various industries, the authorities of the previous era are gradually declining. Their experience is not wrong, but outdated. They can no longer understand why the standards that they knew by heart yesterday are invalid today. They are also confused. Just like us.

04 Structured learning and information processing capabilities

This year, I watched an interview with Professor Xu Zhuoyun. He talked about future learning. He believed that the era of "famous schools" teaching top talents in the past is over. The knowledge on the Internet is enough for a person to take the opportunity to become a talent, but the premise is that a person's willingness and ability to learn actively must be strong enough. The era of "self-study" will officially begin in 2023. Scattered knowledge is everywhere. How to structure your own understanding of a whole? Whether you can structure and process information is the key to learning and growth.

If you are given a new field or industry, do you think you can figure it out in a few days? If there is a self-taught master around you, it is time to hug his thigh.

05 Digitalization is of great significance to building a personal brand

Building a personal brand certainly includes more influential reputation and word of mouth, but how to make a good voice and content spread further and let others know you more comprehensively? The significance of digitalization will soon become apparent. By digitizing all aspects of a person, we can see his joys, sorrows, anger, and happiness, values ​​and systems more clearly. Now, artists with bad behavior are overturned faster, which is not necessarily a victory of the public's discernment, but may be helped by digitalization. People can infer a person's actual performance from various information, which is much more real than the previous "pretending".

If everyone's 24 hours were completely digitally recorded and presented, who do you think would be your favorite idol? If your 24 hours were presented, what kind of people would like you more because of it?

I love digitalization because it brings us closer to justice.

06 Improve meeting organization skills and influence in meetings

Meetings may be a good way to enhance the influence of personal brands. The epidemic has trained each of us to collaborate online, but how to organize a meeting and maximize personal influence in this meeting still troubles many people. In 2023, I think meetings will become a good means to help everyone who wants to shape a personal brand find a place to practice and a direction to exert their efforts.

07 Healthy personal brands become popular

There was a popular answer on Zhihu. Someone asked: What kind of friends should we make in life? Someone answered: strong people who are involved in the world, wise people who are out of the world, and ordinary people who are healthy and kind. In this answer, many people think that it seems difficult to do the first two, but it seems that everyone can do the last one. I don't think so.

If we can meet an ordinary person who is physically and mentally healthy and kind, this person is enough to become a little idol in our lives. Physical and mental health means self-discipline, a sunny lifestyle, and the ability to improve oneself and build a strong psychological operation mechanism. These two points are easier said than done. For ordinary people, the premise of building a personal brand is to do these two points first. Physical and mental health is enough to build attractive charm and influence.

08 2023 is an opportunity for deep connection

I haven't been out properly for three years and haven't connected with people properly. In 2023, along with everyone's active travel, many people will begin to restore deep offline connections. This year's Spring Festival can be seen. Many people will choose to go back to their hometowns or travel far away during the Spring Festival. They will take action early and make appointments with relatives and friends early.

Here is a very interesting opportunity: in 2023, you will find that people who were difficult to make an appointment with before will become easier to make an appointment with. Friends who were more proud and boastful before will also be more willing to sit down and have a good chat with you. This pandemic has not been in vain for everyone, and many people have used it to understand the relationship between people. 2023 is an opportunity for you to connect as deeply as possible with the people around you, especially those who were difficult to make an appointment with or meet before.

09 Finding your own niche is more effective than competing

Does a personal brand need to be positioned? Yes, but this positioning is not based on competition. We all know that the biggest feature of traditional positioning theory is that it is a theory based on competition. It takes us into a competitive mindset of either me or him. However, it is interesting that in 2023, the personal niche of a personal brand may be more effective than winning in competition.

Ecological niche refers to your role and value in an ecological environment. Some people are not sharp and even not good at speaking, but everyone in the organization trusts and likes him. He has high emotional value and connection value, which is his unique ecological niche. Just like in the forest, you may not be as tall as the oak tree next to you, nor as flexible as the vine, but if you are the moss, no one can replace you. The biggest difference between this ecological niche and competition is that it is based on ecological needs rather than competitive considerations.

"Only if one does not contend, no one in the world can contend with him."

10. Refine and systematize your abilities

No matter how many words are said about personal brand, the key is still the self itself. The premise of grasping both value and feelings is to have value. The core of personal brand is of course centered around your ability. When many people talk about their abilities, they talk about more vague things, such as enthusiasm, creativity, positivity, etc. In fact, strictly speaking, these are not abilities, at most they are basic qualities.

Real ability needs to be refined and systematized and can be applied to certain specific things. For example, the "Sushi God" in Japan is looking for a track that cannot be any smaller: catering—production—traditional Japanese food—sushi. In this small track, he refined and systematized his abilities, perhaps it is patience, perhaps it is the ability of self-propagation, perhaps it is rigor. Only when this ability finds the soil to take root can it blossom.

The above is what I want to give you. As a gift for the new year, I hope that everyone who reads this will have the best year of 2023. The future attracts us because everything in it is possible. If we want something, let's fight for it together!

Another spring is here, I wish you my dear: Happy Year of the Rabbit!

Author: Li Qian

WeChat public account: Li Qian Talks about Brands (ID:liaotian78), founder of Guanxi Brand Agency and former managing director of Qingshan Capital.