Marketing is to better spread the products and brands of enterprises, and the purpose of communication is to enlarge them. Enlarge the popularity of products and brands, and enlarge the status and influence of products and brands among users.
In the past, enterprises often had to "find" people for promotion, and they had to use various media, such as TV media, newspapers and magazines, radio media, outdoor media and building media. When the Internet came, they also borrowed various online media.
With the development of emerging tools on the Internet, especially tools such as Weibo and WeChat marketing software, self-media has gradually become popular. In the media age, everyone is the media. As a result, enterprises have set up their own media platforms and opened official accounts of Weibo and WeChat, but many enterprises have not received good results.
In fact, everyone has overlooked a problem. Both Weibo and WeChat are just a channel and carrier, just a form.
And whether your self-media can produce effects, the most crucial thing is not "shape" but "soul", which is thinking. Only form without soul will not produce good results.
For example, is product packaging from the media? Is the product itself from the media? Is the product manual from the media? Is the business owner from the media? Are employees media people?
Many enterprises are thinking about asking for publicity and promotion. In fact, you are the best promotion channel and media. Just like the packaging of a product, every end user will read it. Why not make good use of it?
The goal of marketing is brand, because brand is the biggest core competitiveness of enterprises, and enterprises must be brands if they want to develop continuously. But the ancients said that "it is easier said than done", and "brand" is easier said than done, especially for small enterprises and new enterprises without any strength and background.
Are there any relatively easy skills or shortcuts? The answer is yes! Let's talk about our own brands today.
Thinking 1. When the brand enters the era of personalization and humanization, it must have emotion and temperature.
In the past era of global market unification, no one knew who you were on the other side of the world or after you left a province, so you couldn't personally endorse the brand.
Therefore, corporate brand and brand culture are very important. For example, Procter & Gamble has done a very good job in brand management. For example, P&G has dozens of sub-brands, so its brand management is the best. But in the era of Jobs and iPhone, Apple is no longer the apple we hold in our hands and eat in our mouths. In the eyes of fans, Apple is a man named Jobs holding an iPhone4 with a bitten Logo on his back.
A few years ago, everyone said that Chu orange was delicious, sweet and sour, and thick. In fact, most of them believe this story. A 70-year-old man went on medical parole and planted thousands of acres of oranges himself.
Thinking 2. Every boss should become a brand of the enterprise.
In the past, the brands pursued by enterprises were often their own brands or product brands, which was really difficult. However, if we change our thinking, or follow the popular thinking now, it will be much easier to establish the brand of "people" in the enterprise first.
Because "people" are flesh and blood, "people" have feelings and souls, and "people" are more easily accepted by the public. Unlike the cold product, it is not easy to close the distance with the user and produce an emotional buzz. Therefore, we can seek the country by curve, first establish the brand of "people" in enterprises, and then use people to drive the brand of enterprises or products after people have the brand.
The "people" mentioned here can be the boss or the executives or employees in the enterprise, but the boss is the best.
In fact, the boss of every enterprise should become the spokesperson and brand of the enterprise, because the boss is the soul of the enterprise, knows the enterprise best and can represent the enterprise best, and the boss should become the biggest propagandist of the enterprise.
We call this strategy "self-branding strategy". First, we will be the brand of "people" in the enterprise, and then we will drive the brand of the enterprise through people. This strategy is very easy to use, easy to copy, and the cost is relatively low, which conforms to the popular trend of the times, that is, the brand should have human touch, personality and warmth.
Difficult: How to make a good strategy of self-branding?
1, positioning
To become a brand, positioning is the first, without positioning, there is no brand. Specifically from that direction, according to their actual situation and industry characteristics. Here are several highly applicable positioning for your reference:
Industry expert: refers to becoming an expert in a certain industry or field through one's professional ability or experience. This positioning is suitable for people who have rich experience or precipitation in a certain industry or field.
Opinion leader: This is to influence others through their own unique views, and then become an industry leader, such as a well-known one in Weibo. This position is suitable for people who have unique ideas or opinions and are good at expressing.
Pioneering pioneer: influence others through your own entrepreneurial experience or achievements, and then become a brand. This positioning is suitable for people who have certain achievements or representativeness on the road to entrepreneurship.
Inspirational people: infect people through their own stories and become brands. This positioning is suitable for people who have stories, experiences, are very representative and can infect the audience.
Circle expert: refers to becoming a hot figure in a certain circle. This circle can be an industry, a field, an organization, a region, etc. This positioning is suitable for people who can't become a brand through the above means, but have a certain amount of time and energy and are good at socializing and managing circles.
2. Method
Positioning is the guiding ideology, and it points out the direction. But with the direction, what forms and means can we use to build a brand? Let's talk about a few methods with strong applicability.
(1) from the media
Building a brand by writing articles from the media is a way that Peng Kun likes and respects very much. Because the communication ability of the article is very strong and very lasting. A good article may be reprinted by many websites and circulated for several years. Now is the golden age of media. Not only is the capital highly respected, but there are also many channels for publishing articles, and they are all free, giving you many free advertising entrances. Why not?
In addition, when doing self-media, we must pay attention to PC platforms, such as blogs, which often have a high weight in Baidu search. If you post an article on it, you will get a good search display. Moreover, according to the latest research data, the search conversion rate of PC is much higher than that of mobile.
However, this method also has a certain threshold, which is mainly suitable for people with certain writing skills.
(3) community
It is also a very good way to build a brand by establishing a community organization. For example, a good friend established a community through WeChat on 20 13. The original intention was to get his friends together. Unexpectedly, in just three months, he established branches in more than 300 cities across the country through WeChat, with hundreds of thousands of members. It is the rise of this community that has made this friend's popularity rise rapidly and accumulated a lot of resources for him. At the end of 20 14, the community received 5 million investment and formally established the company.
This way is suitable for people who have strong communication skills and like to deal with people.
(4) Activities
For friends who have certain organizational ability and like to organize activities, it is also a very good choice to make a brand by organizing activities. Just like Lao Jiang in Peng Kun's theory, he first gained a certain popularity in the circle, that is, by organizing activities. Lao Jiang came to Beijing at the end of 2006. Since 2007, he has organized an industry exchange meeting for hundreds of people at the end of each year, and ordinary small activities have continued. As a result, in less than three years, he became famous in the circle.
There are several points for attention in doing this brand. With the accumulation of time, the scale of activities will become larger and larger, and the difficulty of operation will become higher and higher. You should be mentally prepared. Second, activities should continue, such as Lao Jiang's initial activities, once a year; Third, the name should be unified, such as "the X-th so-and-so industry exchange meeting". All activities have the same name, but the number of periods changes, so that the brand will precipitate.
(5) Speech
Speaking of speech, many people may think it is a very difficult thing, but it is not. But often standing on the stage, from our own experience, in fact, everyone can become a master speaker, and the only way to become a master speaker is to practice more.
In the past, communication, transportation, information and technology were not very developed, so even if you have certain speech skills, you may not have the opportunity to display them. But it's different now. There are many offline salons and exchange meetings. If you don't want to go out, there are voice communication tools such as WeChat on the Internet, so you can try it at any time.
In addition, the speech mentioned here is just a general term. The specific form can be teaching, sharing experiences or telling stories. We should encourage flexibility according to our own situation, but don't stick to one model.
(6) Forum
Some people say that the forum has declined with the PC website, but if it is a very vertical field, if it is a very small group of enthusiasts, there is no better product on the mobile side to completely replace the PC forum.
If you want to build your own brand in the fields and people mentioned just now, then these related forums or communities are a good choice for you to build your brand. There was once a good friend, old D, who made a brand in the forum and then succeeded in starting a business. When old D was an ordinary technician, he occasionally entered a newly established technical forum.
After entering the forum, the old D got a treasure, spent time studying in this forum, and often interacted with netizens in the forum. I also answer questions from other netizens in the forum from time to time. Because old D was very active and helpful, he was quickly recognized by forum users and administrators, and later became a moderator.
After becoming a moderator, old D made persistent efforts and almost answered the questions raised by forum users. So old d's prestige in the forum is getting higher and higher, and his level is getting higher and higher. A few years later, old D was second only to the founder in the level and authority of the forum.
At the same time, after several years of development, the forum has reached hundreds of thousands of members, becoming one of the best forums in this field, with great popularity and influence in the industry. And old d is the most famous and influential person in this forum, so he has become a celebrity in the whole industry.
In this process, the technical level of old D has also been improved by leaps and bounds, and at the same time, a lot of resources have been accumulated.
So a few years ago, old D officially resigned and started a business, and it was very successful.
In fact, when Weibo was still popular in the early years, writing about Weibo was also a good way to build your own brand, because you don't have to worry about writing articles, and it is only 140 words at most, especially for people who are not good at writing, which is really much easier.
But it's easy, so it's difficult to make a brand through Weibo, because Weibo can only be influential if it reaches a certain number of fans, and the accumulation of fans takes a long time to operate and accumulate, which is a very hard work. Of course, if the views expressed in Weibo are particularly sharp and distinctive, they may have an impact soon. But this requires unique ideas and perspectives.
In the traditional marketing method, enterprises have almost no independent space and right to speak in marketing, and are restricted by various media, such as TV media, broadcast media, print media and outdoor media. Even if Internet websites are popular, the media's right to speak is still in the hands of websites. Only since the emergence of the media, the independent space of enterprises is getting bigger and bigger, and the right to speak is getting bigger and bigger, and they are no longer subject to the media.
Objectively speaking, under the current environment in China, the company can even balance the dark side of the existing media environment from the media. With the increasingly embarrassing media operation, it is self-evident that some behaviors of writing black manuscripts to collect protection fees are gradually known to the public. In the past, the right to publish information was basically monopolized by the media. No matter how rich the enterprise is, the spread of public opinion is still in a weak position, and most of them can only pay for this behavior. However, after the company's new media construction, the company itself has a public opinion channel, which has considerable checks and balances on this unhealthy trend.
However, it is not so simple to make the company from the media. Li Wanqiang said, "It shouldn't be just a smell. It is often necessary to set up a self-media content operation team. Its cycle and cost are very high. Its popularity is often that you may spend 20 million yuan on an advertisement, and he may see the effect immediately, but it often takes you two or three years to build a self-media team with enough fighting power. At this time, what does the company think?
First, corporate media.
I believe everyone is no stranger to the media, but many people don't know much about the media. They think that starting a blog, setting up an official WeChat account and applying for a headline today is called the media. In fact, this understanding is not comprehensive. Weibo, WeChat, Today's Headlines, etc. They are just the forms, tools and platforms of self-media, but if they are only formal things, they cannot be called real media. This is just like the person who holds the eternal sword is not necessarily a swordsman, because the eternal sword is just a tool and needs to master the supreme fencing. Even a real swordsman, it doesn't matter whether he has a sword or not.
If an enterprise wants to be a truly effective self-media, it must first have self-media thinking and strategies, as follows:
In the era of self-media, every enterprise should have some media thinking, and at the marketing level, it should operate its own enterprise as a media.
How does the media work? Let's first understand the role and characteristics of the media:
Monitoring the social environment;
Coordinate social relations;
Inheriting culture;
Provide entertainment;
Educate the public;
Transmit information;
Guide the values of the masses.
It is not difficult to find problems by understanding these functional characteristics of the media and comparing them with the enterprises themselves.
Enterprises in marketing, more is to highlight and promote their own products, the purpose is to sell products;
The media is more about spreading information and influencing the audience.
Based on this, how should enterprises behave in specific operations? This kind of performance is mainly reflected in the external window and words and deeds of enterprises. For example, the previous corporate website simply put some corporate introductions, product introductions, customer cases and the like. Weibo and WeChat, the former official enterprises, simply forwarded the news and activities of the enterprises. Now we need to operate our own website and external windows such as Weibo and WeChat as media to express some opinions, entertain the public or convey ideas.
Employee media and boss media
In the era of mobile Internet, every employee of an enterprise is the best propagandist. Because these employees have Weibo and WeChat, each of them is a small media, and their words and deeds on the Internet will have an impact on the enterprise. Moreover, in terms of credibility, consumers may trust employees' words and deeds more.
Of course, some people may say, how influential can an employee's Weibo and WeChat be? Yes, a person's influence is limited, and so is a piece of information, but what if there is more content? For example, how much impact will it have if an employee complains about enterprises in Weibo and WeChat for a long time? If the number of people goes up again, there will be 10 people, or 100 people joining it. How big will the impact be? On the other hand, if all employees spread the positive information of the enterprise, what impact will it have?
Let all employees become the external window of the enterprise, and guide employees to spread more positive information and content of the enterprise in their own Weibo and WeChat. Although it seems that their influence is very small, they dare not insist. Once they persist in doing it, there may be a quantitative change to a qualitative change.
The content mentioned here does not refer to hard advertisements, but to let employees express their true views from their own perspectives and in the language of life. For example, if the company engages in group building, it will do a small activity with prizes and praises, so that employees can spread it in Weibo and WeChat; When the enterprise is in internal training, let employees write their learning experience in Weibo and WeChat; When an enterprise holds an annual meeting to commend the advanced, let employees record unforgettable moments in Weibo and WeChat.
According to a survey report, post-80s and post-90s are the main force who are most willing to share company information. Among them, there will be super activists, activists, quasi-activists, activists and non-activists. Companies should pay attention to activists and quasi-activists, who are the majority and encourage them to share actively.
Employees are media-oriented, and executives and bosses of enterprises are duty-bound. Just like we used to be in Ma Jun, Zhou and Luo Yonghao, they are the best online celebrities! It is mentioned in the book that the boss is the soul of the enterprise, who knows the enterprise best and can best represent the enterprise. The boss should be the biggest propagandist of the enterprise, and every boss should consciously become the spokesperson of the enterprise.
Product media and content media
When doing marketing, enterprises hope to find a suitable and cost-effective media or channel. In fact, the most suitable media is around you, but many people turn a blind eye. This media is the company's own product.
In an enterprise, products have the most contact with end users. If the marketing concept is integrated into the design of product appearance and packaging, what effect will it be?
In fact, some companies have already done this, such as printing the WeChat QR code on the product packaging, or printing the company's origin, background and story on the packaging, and the effect is very good. However, according to Peng Kun's theory, it can be further deepened. For example, the company's culture, background, stories, etc. They are all reflected in the appearance or packaging of products in the form of four-grid comics, and the story is different every month in the form of serialization!
Last summer, Coca-Cola nickname bottles printed with "Cat", "Xiao Qingxin" and "Chihuo" became popular in the streets of China. While gaining word-of-mouth and sales, it also won many awards and general praise for Coca-Cola's marketing team, including the "Best Content Marketing Case Award of the Year" issued by successful marketing. Then, the lyrics of dozens of popular songs such as "You are my most important decision", "The sunshine is always after the rain", "Me and my last stubbornness" and "I am willing to do it for you" were printed on the bottles and cans of Coca-Cola. The "Lyrics Bottle" brought an increase of 65,438+00% in Coca-Cola's total soft drink sales. These excellent ideas have revived the old brand Coca-Cola and created a miracle of sales growth in recent years.
Content media refers to the information and content released by enterprises, which should not be dry news releases or naked advertisements. Enterprises, like the media, should strive to create news and hot spots, so that every piece of information of enterprises can become truly eye-catching news, and even let the media reprint it on their own initiative instead of spending money to spread it.
If the enterprise can do the above and seize the opportunity from the media, the marketing effect of the enterprise will not be very bad.