How brands can play with small categories

In recent years, with the continuous upgrading of the Internet, the distance between products and consumers has been gradually shortened, more and more "information asymmetry" has been eliminated, and the business model of "small categories" has become a "sharp blade" of this era. This article mainly shares six ways to play with small categories. Let's learn together.

"Single Weibo, Douyin, and Red Carpet B" have gradually become channels for customers to obtain new brand information and quickly make purchases. The distance between products and consumers is almost in one step. Logically speaking, more and more "information asymmetries" are being eliminated, and the "small category" business model has become the third pole that companies can rely on in an uncertain environment.

The business model of small categories is actually to make full use of the "first impression effect", or in layman's terms, it is human "intuition". For example, almost everyone can't forget the "first time" (the first time going to school, the first time stepping into university, the first love, the first time...).

Choosing a small category gives you the opportunity to create the first and only one, which can make target customers remember you, fall in love with you, and buy you. Although small categories are small, they are a super gold mine for growth. How to find small categories and make them successful? The fastest way is to use the "analogy method" to divide new categories.

Because small categories themselves do not attract that much attention, as long as you can produce high-quality products, you can use analogy to point out that only you are a "fine product" and your competitors are "junk". Today, Liu Yichun's Brand Business Innovation will talk to you about how to play in the small category market.

A wasabi brand that Nianzhi once served was called Jinba Wasabi. This brand was a typical small-category market, but it had gained more than 50% of the market share in China. He seized the problem that the wasabi in the original market was not spicy enough, and launched Jinba's wasabi that was spicy enough, which achieved market success in one fell swoop.

For example, the "Zu Li Jian" senior shoes on TV shopping offer a lot of designs specifically for the elderly, such as anti-slip, no need to tie shoelaces, and colors preferred by the elderly, etc. In the eyes of many elderly people, Zu Li Jian is a must-have high-quality shoe for the elderly, which is beyond the reach of Nike and Adidas.

But in fact, any professional sports manufacturer can produce shoes that are not necessarily worse than this one, but Zulijian has locked in the small category of "senior citizens' shoes", while brands such as Nike, Adidas, and Li Ning have not set foot in this category. "Zulijian" can talk about itself and tell you how it is a high-quality product.

1. Strategy 1 for small category market: Propose new demands

To give a few examples, there is the "wall-breaking machine" that has been very popular in the past two years (actually an upgraded version of the soymilk machine), the "error machine" used by students (actually a small printer), the air fryer (actually an upgraded version of the wok), and the "underwear" with heart-strengthening function that has been mentioned many times before (actually an autumn coat with an added plastic card).

Only by deeply investigating consumer needs can new opportunities be discovered. Just like the "error machine" used by students, if you have a group of students and parents around you, you will definitely discover more "unmet new needs."

2. Strategy 2 for small category market: Find new audiences

"New audience" means finding niche users, making the mass niche, or making the niche mass. It may sound a bit confusing, but the essence is "grabbing users and establishing new cognition". For example, when people drink coffee, they think of the brand Nestlé, but in fact Nestlé did not create the coffee category. It just turned the product "instant coffee" into a "mass consumer product" (niche mass).

Another example is the two brands, Zhong Xue Gao ice cream and Xiao Guan Tea, they did not create the categories of cold drinks and tea, they simply turned ice cream and tea into “niche consumer products” (mass niche) that you cannot afford to eat or drink.

3. Strategy 3 for small category market: Establish new standards

In fact, it is a standard that no one else has proposed! It sounds difficult, but in fact it is based on new audiences and new needs. Only when you propose a new standard can consumers think of you when they think of this standard, and finally achieve the first place in the small category.

To give a few examples, such as the previously mentioned Golden Arowana 1:1:1 (it proposes that a human diet containing saturated fatty acids, monounsaturated fatty acids, and polyunsaturated fatty acids in a ratio of 1:1:1 is most beneficial to health), when people think of 1:1:1, they think of Golden Arowana.

Another example is the 27-layer purification of Robust mineral water (through 27 layers of purification, the water is healthier), which sounds a lot safer. Nongfu Spring is a master at establishing new standards. At the beginning, everyone made distilled water, but Nongfu Spring proposed that there were no minerals in distilled water, so Nongfu Spring did not make distilled water, but only natural water, which is to improve industry standards.

Nianzhi Brand Management worked with a client who made wasabi. We established a new standard for wasabi with an antibacterial rate of 99.99%, making it spicier and hotter. The market share of this brand reached 75%. In the small category market, establishing new standards is the most effective move.

4. Strategy 4 for small category market: Popularize old common sense with new concepts

Proposing new concepts and turning old common sense into new common sense takes advantage of the human psychology of laziness and curiosity. Proposing new common sense tells you that this product actually has other uses or other functions.

Let me give you a few examples. For example, in the past, people used shampoo to make their hair smooth or remove dandruff, until Bawang told you that shampoo is used to prevent hair loss. For example, in the past, people drank yogurt because it tasted good, until a Shandong brand told you that yogurt is for chewing (in fact, it just added a lot of fruit particles and proposed the concept of "chewing yogurt").

For example, in the past, people drank beverages to quench their thirst, until Wanglaoji told you that drinking beverages is used to "relieve internal heat". There is also a question "You have washed your hair for so many years, have you ever washed your scalp?" This is also popularizing new common sense. Once new common sense is popularized, the small category will be successfully created. When we put forward new "common sense" and gain recognition from a small number of people, we are the first and only one.

5. Strategy 5 for small category market: occupy new positions

In the small category market, you can occupy new positions, that is, you fight yours, I fight mine, you attack your hilltop, I take my bridgehead, and clearly oppose the positions of the industry leaders to establish your own positions. The smartest brand to "propose a new position" should be "Pepsi-Cola".

When Coca-Cola was the only one in the market, Pepsi claimed to be the "choice of the new generation". I don't know if they are young or not, but many people gave up Coca-Cola and chose Pepsi for fear of being considered old, and put forward the slogan "I want blue cola". Feihe Dairy's slogan "The milk powder that understands Chinese babies better" also opened up a new position.

6. Strategy 6 for the small category market: Find new feelings

Liquor is the best at playing with new feelings. Yanghe Blue Classic can stand out from the market dominated by Maotai, Wuliangye and Jianye because it plays with new feelings. It directly sets its slogan as "Men's Feelings". Its advertising slogan is: The widest thing in the world is the sea, higher than the sea is the sky, and broader than the sky is men's feelings. Yanghe Blue Classic, men's feelings. Gaolujia Liquor, it feels really good, it also plays with feelings, how does it play with feelings?

It says: When I am at home, I think about my friends. When I am with my friends, I think about my home. In fact, the distance between friends and home is just a glass of Gaolujia wine. Gaolujia wine feels really good. Jiang Xiaobai, a good wine for youth, is also about creating feelings.

In the mobile phone industry, Apple during the Steve Jobs era also played on sentimentality, packaging the beauty of design as extraordinary. Before Apple, no other electronic product branding was done in this way.

Under the uncertain market environment, enterprises are facing tremendous pressure in growth and development. Finding the third pole of enterprise growth and starting with small categories is a very good choice. Moreover, the small category market can be penetrated deeply in a certain period of time, and it can stand out in the market in two to three years, and it can also scale up.

Author: Liu Yichun

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