How to plan brand word-of-mouth communication? Try using underworld jargon

This article mainly explains the importance and strategies of effectively shaping brand reputation and image recognition in the era of information explosion from two aspects: understanding the underworld jargon, namely word of mouth, and creating brand sequence cuts. It is recommended for people who have brand operation needs.

In the era of widespread consumption, many fields and industries have entered the era of inventory. When product dividends disappear, word-of-mouth communication becomes an important factor in promoting purchases. However, the natural formation of word-of-mouth relies on the scale and characteristics of the base user base, which is far from enough for brands that are in urgent need of increasing sales. How to plan word-of-mouth communication has become a topic that many brands urgently need to consider.

How to understand word of mouth? In ancient times, there was a saying for those who ventured into the underworld: "The king of heaven covers the tiger of earth, and the pagoda suppresses the river monster." Today, there is a jargon for those who ventured into the underworld: "The bottom-level logic breaks through the information barrier, and the top-level design focuses on the user perception track." As the saying goes, when you are in the underworld, you can't miss the jargon! Darkness is the most primitive and effective word of mouth.

Slang is also called incision. As a codeword in a certain circle, slang can easily convey information and hide fame and reputation, giving outsiders a sense of power. Therefore, all kinds of slang can always form a trend in the circle. For brands, underworld slang is an important way to effectively shape word-of-mouth and image recognition in the era of information explosion!

1. How to understand the underworld jargon, namely word of mouth

In fact, you and I have all heard a lot of brand jargon in the industry. For example, the familiar TMD is not an insult, but refers to the three giant mobile Internet companies, BBA refers to the three luxury car brands, and Wei, Xiaoli, and Li Auto refer to the three new car-making forces... You can see that this jargon links brands of the same magnitude or characteristics together, forming jargon that spreads quickly in word of mouth and creates vivid memories and recognition in terms of image. This kind of brand jargon is what I call "word of mouth sequence incision."

Because this kind of group-based brand word-of-mouth communication usually closely bundles the leading brands in the segmented market for discussion, and the order between them is fixed, representing the status in the industry. Why does such a word-of-mouth sequence exist? Whether it is unintentional or intentional, such a group-based description brings several brands to the same status and context, which is both synergistic and exclusive, and is undoubtedly beneficial to brand recognition and word-of-mouth.

Specifically, word-of-mouth sequence incision has two obvious advantages in marketing:

1. Word of mouth inertia

Although information is extremely developed nowadays and the modes of information dissemination are also diverse, people still trust the most primitive mode of dissemination - word of mouth. This is why word of mouth is irreplaceable.

As you know, the disadvantage of word-of-mouth communication is that information is easily lost and deviated. Different people describe the same fact differently, and after being spread by several people, it may have seriously deviated from the original fact. The advantage of word-of-mouth sequence incision is that it simplifies other unnecessary information and bundles the core information, thus reducing unnecessary errors in the communication process.

Over time, word-of-mouth inertia is formed, and when one is mentioned, the others will naturally be mentioned. For example, in the past, when we talked about brand operation, we would say "double Weibo", but now, you will unconsciously say "double Weibo and Douyin". This is the role of word-of-mouth inertia, which undoubtedly increases brand exposure and goodwill.

2. Cognitive bundling

The word-of-mouth sequence cuts invisibly exclude other brands from the discussion, which gradually creates a brand awareness gap.

Take BBA for example, are there no other luxury car brands? Take brand operation for example, are there only Weibo, WeChat and Douyin? Obviously not, but such a combination subconsciously makes people think that there are only these three in this market, which is equivalent to drawing a circle in people's cognition. Other brands outside the circle seem to be not in the mainstream and are not at the same level and height as them.

Word-of-mouth sequence cuts form a programmed cognitive bundle, which helps sharpen and memorize the brand image, especially for latecomers. Bundling the head can quickly make their image leap. It can be seen that word-of-mouth sequence cuts are like a halo, which is very beneficial to brand communication and cognition. Although this kind of jargon is often formed spontaneously by word of mouth among users, if we have this marketing idea, we can lead public opinion to create this kind of word of mouth.

2. How to create a brand sequence cut

1. Choose the right sequence

2. Planting grass in the circle

3. Blowing at the media end

Once consensus is reached, the next step is to gain widespread recognition. At this time, you can use industry media and commentary media to guide the trend, and continue to use word-of-mouth sequence cuts to spread the message, making people feel that it is natural and gradually forming public recognition.

As the saying goes, "When three people walk together, one is bound to fall behind." The word-of-mouth sequence cut can help your brand to hold on to the thighs and improve recognition, but at the same time, if your strength cannot support this title, it will be embarrassing. When everyone is talking about "Three Heroes of So-and-so" and "Three Musketeers of So-and-so", your brand will become the object of lament and remembrance, and your reputation will be declining. Brand Jianghu jargon, unconsciously captured the audience in the ridicule, in the future to shape the brand reputation and superior image recognition, you may wish to consider using jargon!

Author: Little Monk Kunkun

Source: WeChat public account "Marketing Zen Institute (ID: mandcx)"