How to treat and prevent innovative products from following suit

Enterprises have invested heavily in cultivating the market. Once it comes into effect, how to prevent the follow-up brand-global brand network-from stealing the fruits of success? On this topic, combined with the theory of "category monopoly" put forward by the author, some basic methods and viewpoints are summarized, which may inspire enterprises with similar problems. Before entering the discussion of so-called methods, let's talk about two "digressions" related to the topic. The appearance of following the trend is not all a bad thing, so we should look at the participation of competing products following the trend from a longer-term perspective. The potential capacity of the market needs more enterprises and products to develop, and consumption needs the common cultivation and maturity of many brands. Not following the trend may be the most pessimistic phenomenon. What competitors can emulate must be tactics and external performance. We must understand that the overall strategy of an enterprise cannot follow suit. In other words, the success of a fresh move and a little idea will be easily diluted quickly because it follows the trend. In essence, the prevention of following the trend needs to rely on the marketing strategy and brand strategy of the enterprise system. Under the unified strategy, all kinds of business methods can match and unify. There may be many ways to guard against following the trend, but there is only one way of thinking, that is, empathy: what would you do if you were a follower? What are you most worried about? When we know how to follow the trend, we will naturally get preventive measures. First, make full preparations before the product goes on the market, establish follow-up and avoid barriers, and block the most obvious loopholes. In terms of patent protection, advertising service companies may be amateurs and dare not say more. Under the background of perfect national laws, we should effectively use the law to apply for patents in advance to protect intellectual property rights, core technologies and product appearances. Many small and medium-sized enterprises do not attach importance to this method, but innovative enterprises must pay enough attention to it. Perhaps one day, when the industry is mature and there are more manufacturers, you will not only occupy a place, but also be the "renter" of this industry that guarantees income through sweat and flood. 2. The usual methods of brand naming and trademark protection followers are similar in appearance, similar in function, similar in name and lower in price. Brand naming and trademarks have played a great role in consumer identification, and they are simple and important ways to avoid following the trend, and should be effectively protected before the products are put on the market and promoted. The simplest level is to register trademarks, naming and similar images and names (images and fonts with the same pronunciation, the same meaning and similar shapes) and build a defense network to follow suit. Another level is naming skills and possession. The so-called skill means that the brand/product name must at least meet the requirements of strong memory, great significance, easy understanding and consistency with the positioning concept, which directly determines whether the brand can be clearly remembered by the customer's mind, such as "Kangbide" cold medicine and "Shangri-La" red wine, which are very successful in naming. Possession is more brilliant, revealing the nature of categories through naming or possessing consumers' cognition of categories, such as: Determined to be beautiful 8226; Xiaojinshui. In fact, "Baby Golden Water" was a general term for children's toilet water before the company was registered. The company directly succeeded in using it as a brand of products, which made similar products feel inferior. Haier named the "electricity-proof wall" for electric water heaters, pointing directly at the "key point" of safety that consumers are most concerned about, highlighting the core appeal of the brand. Innovative products often have the opportunity to "represent" categories from the beginning, so special attention should be paid to using the huge opportunities and space in naming. 3. Find the best communication concept and unique identification method. Many times, enterprises simply think that there is a good product or new product, and everyone knows everything as soon as the advertisement is played, which only provides space for followers. You spend money on advertising to educate consumers, and I sell goods to intercept interests. Before listing, there should be a set of systematic planning scheme and emergency plan for product positioning, core concept, brand proposition, brand awareness and advertising creativity. To sum up, on the one hand, it is the occupation of brand concept, and it must be made clear in advance that the brand wants to occupy a place in the minds of consumers; On the other hand, how to make consumers clearly remember and identify the brand's advertising performance in a unique way of brand identification, and to achieve these two points, followers have no time to drill, and it is difficult to succeed. Generally speaking, this work should be completed by the marketing department of the enterprise, and most enterprises will entrust professional advertising service enterprises (outside brains, think tanks, consultants) to assist in the completion. Today's marketing competition is not only the competition of product or advertising expenses, but also the competition of enterprise wisdom and application wisdom. It is not convenient to analyze classic cases in depth here, so let's take a simple example to understand. In the concept of communication, Wang Laoji's "fear of getting angry", the "pure Chinese medicine for colds" with three essences (although Zhu Lin Zhongsheng/Tailong Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. first introduced Shuanghuanglian oral liquid, but the three essences came from behind), and Dumex's "the baby fights itself" are far from simple slogans. Why did the same brand crisis (PPA incident) and KFC (Sudan Red) pass quickly, but Sanlu (melamine) and Qin Chi (blended wine) ended? -brand lacks a concept that is deeply rooted in people's hearts, and more is just a name. In terms of unique identification, the Blue Bottle of Sanjing, Shake Before Drinking in Farmers Orchard, Nose Red Ball of Xinkangfunk, and Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Be prepared to seize the core position. Compared with traditional products, the latter may pay more attention to subdividing or expanding the audience, while the former needs to pay attention to the core groups that can lead product consumption, including core target groups, core markets, core channels and core communication platforms, which are collectively called "core positions". If the brand is not ready to seize this core position, what followers are most likely to do is to concentrate on seizing this position, so you will regret it if you are innovative. When the core resources are controlled by ourselves, we are not afraid to follow suit, but we are eager to follow suit. I hope you will join us in expanding the market and become the main beneficiaries. Therefore, we need to make clear as soon as possible which core positions are and implement the occupation in the next stage. Second, the product should be explosive in the process of listing, quickly establish the brand, strictly control the best follow-up period 1, and scientifically innovate the advertising communication strategy. When we have our own brand planning and good brand performance (product packaging, TVC commercials, graphic design and promotion), we will enter the advertising communication stage of listing. Remember that advertising is not as simple as spending money on advertising, but also emphasize communication strategies. In addition to basic media analysis, audience behavior habit analysis and substitution analysis, the overall itinerary planning and target determination of advertising communication, what kind of media combination, frequency and innovative methods are used in each stage. An excellent advertising communication strategy must be the perfect combination of "scientific quantification" and "empirical wisdom", and the perfect combination of "theoretical law" and "bold innovation". The formulation of innovative product communication strategy needs to pay special attention to the concentrated explosive power of communication during the listing period. This period, which is most likely to follow suit, must not be "gentle". It is necessary to realize preconceptions before the follow-up brands react, and do not give the follow-up brands sufficient preparation time. Naturally, the other party may be riddled with marketing problems because of the fight. 2. In order to successfully seize the core position, innovative products must effectively occupy the core position in this short time. Of course, this is based on the full locking of the target in the early stage, and the other is based on the execution efficiency of the marketing team. Simply look at the indicators to see if it has spread to the core target audience, so that they have a basic understanding and interest in the brand; Second, see if the sales team quickly realized the distribution of goods at the main sales terminals, and reached cooperation with the main channel providers through communication. During this period, the most taboo is "moving the rake" (the goal is not firm) and "taking your time" (the marketing team is too inefficient). I have served some enterprises, although I have made full preparations in the early stage, but I have no confidence in advertising because of my lack of experience. As a result, the advertising plan is changed again and again in the implementation process, and the goal is scattered and the effect is diluted. The distribution speed of the sales team is too slow, the advertising tour of a band is over, it is still difficult to buy products in the market, and the final innovation results are not satisfactory. Anyone who knows something about Wang Laoji should know that Wang Laoji's ability to distribute goods is quite strong, and his products can be seen everywhere before and during the listing. Third, after the product goes on the market, keep pace with the times, lead the industry 1, establish the cognition of brand first, and establish the cognition of brand as "leader" before a large number of followers appear. Perhaps the top spot of the "first brand" at this time is not appreciated by others, and it is precisely because of this that it is more difficult to achieve the goal. Taking this as the main point is to suggest innovative products for enterprises, and this awareness is present in daily "soft communication"; Later advertising elements and strategies have this awareness. Under the premise of not violating the advertising law, it spreads imperceptibly, thus establishing the cognition that it is the founder, technical leader and market leader of the industry. Consumers always identify with and choose the brand with the most sense of security and history. 2. Suppress competitors and don't let competitors who try to surpass succeed easily. When the market starts to heat up, there are bound to be some followers with big intentions. They often come prepared and should not be underestimated. When the two armies are at war, the brave win, which requires us to be cruel in marketing operation, to give up short-term profits and to give our opponents a heavy counterattack. Recently, Jiuyang Soymilk Machine has cultivated the sketch market for many years. With the help of the "milk powder incident", a breakthrough was made. When competitors such as the United States want to share a piece of cake, they have vigorously launched it in CCTV bidding columns, satellite TV and other media, and strengthened their strength at the terminal to stop it. Another classic case is that Jinshuibao suppressed children's Jinshui in 2005: since 2003, after two years of cultivation and growth, Jinshuibao's innovative products have gained little in the children's toilet water market. Through media and market information collection, enterprises found that the follow-up products of Fei Xia and Softer in 2005 tried to seize the market. The management of the enterprise made a decisive decision and decided to increase the investment in that year to three times that of the previous year, giving up almost all possible profits in that year. As a result, the two competitors spent a lot of advertising fees that year, but they were unexpectedly suppressed by Baby Jinshui, and then withdrew from the positive competition, leaving a "longer-term" harvest space for Baby Jinshui. 3. Be brave in market education, open to "challengers" and jointly expand the market. Many enterprises feel that their education market is too "disadvantaged": if they spend money, everyone will share the results. Once the innovative product brand is successfully listed, it will inevitably face such a situation. At this time, enterprises need to look at it with a better attitude. Since the untapped potential of the market is huge, the important source of the rapid growth of enterprises is to make the cake bigger, rather than continue to expand the share of existing cupcakes that have occupied the mainstream share. The participation of more participants will benefit the maturity of the market. As long as you keep your dominant position, you will naturally be the biggest beneficiary, beneficial to yourself and others. Why not? Since the end of last century, the market capacity of daily-use drugs has increased rapidly, not because there are more people with colds and stomachaches, but because the market has matured. Huiren and Zhongjing cultivated the growth of Liuwei Dihuang Pill market, and the market also rewarded such enterprises richly. 4. Moderate segmentation and self-competition have developed to a certain extent, and the innovative brands of that year have gradually become traditional products. At this time, moderate segmentation and self-competition are important means to maintain the leading position. Moderate segmentation refers to the ability to carry out reasonable product segmentation and establish independent segmentation brands or sub-brands according to the changing trend of market demand diversification; Self-competition and internal friction are completely different natures. Based on moderately subdivided competition, we can make greater use of enterprise resources and cost advantages externally, occupy the mainstream share of category market, and stimulate the creativity and challenge of the team internally. Procter & Gamble brought shampoo to the cultivation market in China, and competed with different brands through different concepts such as "softness", "dandruff removal", "nutrition" and "professionalism", firmly occupying the position of the industry leader; In the solar energy industry, Huang Ming competes with Yijianeng, Sun Rain and Four Seasons Muge through different positioning. As long as you have a little understanding, there are countless such examples in various industries such as automobiles and medicine. Whether the original innovative brand can gain a firm foothold will last forever, and subdividing self-competition is an important magic weapon. Conclusion: The above ten points about how to face and prevent the follow-up of innovative products in different periods of listing are actually nothing novel and there is no panacea. Each one has specific implementation professionalism, the degree of implementation in place, and success is the embodiment of reasonable system matching and detail integration. Reflecting on the case of innovative brands becoming "martyrs" often falls into a trap at some point in the above development process. As a large comprehensive advertising company in China, United Trend can only provide suggestions for enterprises in the strategic direction and help customers do better in every detail. I believe that enterprises will be able to successfully cope with the trend, achieve marketing goals and achieve great things with their own wisdom and judgment.