How does a brand grow?

The elements of brand success are the result of the interaction of multiple factors. We see that the marketing of big brands seems shocking, but in fact it is not worth learning for growing brands. Let me analyze the core reason below.

01

Big brands have money and resources and can afford to lose: There is a classic saying in the advertising industry: "I know that half of my advertising budget is wasted, but I don't know which half." Because of this, big brands inevitably waste marketing expenses.

However, as a growing brand, you can never be so generous! In addition, big brands have unique resources. Take Starbucks, the king of coffee, for example. Starbucks can not only get a better location in the shopping mall, but also only needs to pay a lower rent. Some shopping malls even offer free rent to invite it to move in. Relying on the advantage of rental costs, it is difficult for other coffee brands to compete with it. What's more, Starbucks has a strong bargaining power with suppliers.

Therefore, Starbucks can set aside enough space and area to create the "third space", and can also allow more white-collar workers to bring their computers to work in Starbucks, creating a beautiful landscape.

02

Most growing brands lack a complete top-level design and core brand concept, and even more so, lack long-term layout resources and endurance. Take Coca-Cola as an example. As we all know, Coca-Cola's brand slogan is "Taste the Feeling" and "Open Happiness". Although many consumers do not understand what it means, they still strongly pursue the brand.

For Coca-Cola, its marketing has long been separated from the product itself and has risen to the cultural and spiritual level, becoming a representative of American cultural exports. But for a growing brand, it is not something that can be achieved overnight. Not only does it require long-term planning for the brand, but it also requires determining the core concept of the brand. Of course, the most critical step is to make long-term investments in this regard.

So brand marketing is archaeology. We should not look at what Coca-Cola is doing today, but what it did 130 years ago. Later I will talk about how Coca-Cola did marketing 130 years ago.

03

Compared with volume and reputation, growing brands need sales and profits more. An important purpose of marketing for big brands is to increase brand awareness and reputation. In other words, big brands can temporarily give up short-term interests, namely sales and profits, from a long-term perspective.

However, this is not the case for growing brands! For growing brands or start-ups, only sales and profits can survive. This is why big brands often have budgets for brand advertising, but you can only focus on conversion rates.

04

Compared with big brands, growing brands have not yet established basic associations: take Coca-Cola as an example, as long as people mention Coke, they will think of it, mention coffee, they will think of Starbucks, mention ice cream, they will think of Haagen-Dazs, mention milk powder, they will think of Abbott... With these basic associations, big brands can play with creativity and sponsorship at will, as long as they can make you remember its brand and further deepen the impression. Therefore, Audi can spend a budget of several million to tens of millions to shoot a "Xiao Man" using plagiarism techniques and ask Andy Lau to read the plagiarized passage.

Because the basic association has clearly told users "who I am and what I sell". If "Coca-Cola" is replaced with an unknown name and then a promotional poster is made, consumers will definitely not be impressed; or if the brand slogan of Tsingtao Beer, "Passion makes dreams come true", is replaced with another brand, it will definitely be a disastrous marketing strategy because consumers have never heard of this brand!

The reason why big brands play with creativity is that after having the basic association, they can make some additional associations as long as they don't damage the brand image. It's really hard to say whether it's effective or not. Even if all those advertisements and budgets are stopped for half a year, the sales of these brands may not be greatly affected, but this is not the case for growing brands.

05

Brand marketing is a kind of archaeology. Growing brands should learn the process of big brands from "0 to 1". Take the early Coca-Cola as an example. In terms of products, Coca-Cola mainly promoted "non-alcoholic beverage" and "can cure headaches", claiming that only three people in the world know the secret formula of this reddish-brown beverage; in marketing, Coca-Cola mainly promoted the beauty card, highlighting this point in both posters and video ads.

In addition, Coca-Cola also took advantage of World War II to establish a global channel base. At that time, Coca-Cola would not put its money on TV to say "Coca-Cola makes people happy" or "Coca-Cola makes people passionate and refreshing."

06

Growing brands must position their products when doing marketing: clearly answer what kind of product you are, which category your product belongs to, and who your consumer group is? Any brand starts from the product stage and then moves on to the brand stage, so the marketing of small brands must be centered on the product and highly refine the product's selling points.

It is hard to imagine that the marketing thinking of luxury goods and mass goods is the same; it is also hard to imagine that the marketing method of a brand is similar to the thinking of a platform! At the same time, product positioning must be accompanied by consumer positioning. Otherwise, it will not only lead to a waste of marketing costs, but also make the target consumer group indifferent. In other words, in the growth stage, all marketing costs must be spent on establishing "basic associations".

07

Growing brands must create product differentiation and strengthen the perception of "basic associations" as much as possible. Today's business society is already an era of product oversupply. In order to stand out from the dazzling array of products and win the favor of consumers, product "differentiation" is the key point to consider.

For example, there is serious homogeneity in liquor, but there is a lack of segmented products targeting the emotions of young people; for example, beverages are already very homogeneous, and Yuanqi Forest promotes itself as an expert in sugar-free beverages. If the brand is not differentiated, it means that your product cannot hit the pain points and cannot stimulate consumers' desires, so people will have to pay for your products.

Many people criticize that domestic advertisements are vulgar and inferior to those of foreign brands. Such professionals are typical of being short-sighted and not thinking deeply. You want a primary school student to write a doctoral thesis. First, it is meaningless. Second, it is not at that stage yet. The resources and strength are not enough.

08

With basic associations and strengthening them, we can start to build basic trust. In this era of information explosion and loss of credibility, it is no longer an era where users believe whatever brands say. Therefore, growing brands need to establish "basic trust" in addition to "basic cognition" through marketing.

The so-called "basic trust" means that unless there is evidence to prove that you are lying, you are assumed to be right. Because of this, you need to give consumers "a reason to buy". At the same time, in terms of marketing methods, you should neither be high-handed nor incomprehensible, and you should not deliberately alienate yourself from consumers.

Whether it is pre-sales or after-sales, it is necessary to strengthen the connection with consumers, and it is best to become friends with them, even if it is just a "basic trust" relationship. Therefore, it is still very necessary for growing brands to operate private domains, memberships, social media, Douyin, WeChat, Weibo and other media.

09

When doing brand marketing, enterprises still need to clearly answer the three questions of "Who am I?", "Where do I come from?" and "Where am I going?". Only by answering these questions well can you truly have strategic determination and promote the growth of the brand from small to large, from weak to strong at your own pace. Eventually become an international brand.

Author: Liu Yichun

Source: WeChat public account "Liu Yichun's Brand Business Innovation (ID: shangyeyiguohui)"