To build a brand, the most critical first step is to find the brand positioning. This article divides building a brand into 6 steps: positioning, assigning resources, telling stories, setting off fireworks, composing music, grabbing seats, and introduces a set of practical and effective brand marketing methodology, hoping to help you who are concerned about brand marketing. help.
Finding the right position seems to have become a common phrase.
In fact, the more often it is talked about, the more it is worth repeating. Finding positioning directly determines the quality and cost-effectiveness of a brand (whether it is a company brand or a personal brand).
A truth that is often overlooked by us is: the daily operations of companies and individuals, behind our diligent efforts, all the things we do for the growth of the organization and performance are often easy to go wrong. How to correct and compare these behaviors? In addition to the clear O behind the OKR method, another tool is to find positioning. O is to help us look at our goals from specific behaviors, while positioning is from another mental market and self-assessment. From different perspectives, we can refer to each other.
How to do the right thing and how to do the right thing efficiently is the key to testing every company’s brand marketing and every individual’s brand strategy.
We believe that finding the location is the earliest step, and it is also the key step, which can save resources and improve efficiency. Why do you say that? What will it affect? Let’s try to explain it with the six-step method of branding.
Regarding building a brand, I have summarized 6 steps, which is a set of tactics extracted from their experience by combining interviews with more than 100 companies and referring to the rise path of some fast-rising new brands. And put this play in order. Creating a brand from 0 to 10 can be roughly divided into 6 steps.
They are:
well positioned
Allocate resources
tell a story
light fireworks
Compose music
grab a seat
Why does positioning appear in the first step?
Because the other five steps are all using resources to achieve the position we want. The human, financial, material resources and time spent in the other five steps are our daily work.
If the first step is not set well, the resources and opportunities later will be easily wasted and delayed.
The 6 steps are described in detail below.
1. Position well
Since Trout proposed the “positioning” strategy, his background is a logic for the “competitive” market.
No competition, no positioning. To put it bluntly, there is no need for positioning without competition, and positioning exists to reflect differences.
Is there really a clear description of what we’re going to do, who we’re going to be?
What is a good positioning? A good positioning is like a dart hitting the bull’s-eye at a distance of 100 meters. The emphasis is on precision, and it is a clearer bull’s-eye competition with other flying darts.
Take a car brand as an example. I often hear that “drive a BMW, ride a Mercedes-Benz, the safest is Volvo”, what kind of brand positioning is this?
All are cars, without features, there is no selling point.
BMW has always been known for its handling and driving feel, emphasizing that it is more comfortable to drive.
What about Benz? The soft leather rear seat has a good riding experience. Mercedes-Benz gives everyone the feeling that the interior is sophisticated and comfortable to ride. In the early days, many people who bought Mercedes-Benz did not necessarily drive it themselves, but drove it for the driver.
What about Volvo? Even people who don’t understand car technology will talk about safety. At the same time, it is also mentioned in the rumors and various white papers that among all car owners, Volvo car owners have the highest education. Intellectuals prefer the safer Volvo, you see, this is also a position he is strengthening himself.
It seems that they are all manufacturers of automobiles, whichever direction they go to, they operate separately.
To do positioning, we must first know what we are doing and what is the physical definition of this thing itself. There are some new entrepreneurial models that explain what it is that they have not figured out for half an hour.
So let’s first make it clear what I am. Second, what is the difference between us and our peers in this matter, and to what extent are we different? This is to highlight our differences.
At the same time, it is very important that you may overlook the positioning of the spiritual definition. When we do the same thing and reflect the same technology and quality, what is the comparison between us in the end? In fact, it is the feeling of spiritual temperament and perception to others.
When people mention you, they will think about what they will feel and what they will feel. This is a positioning on the spiritual level. Today’s users, whether it is the B-side or the C-side, have too many alternatives for a certain product, so they often choose in the end: if it is hard to buy with money, I am willing.
This kind of “I do” feeling, in the past, was solved by bombarding advertisements on the C-side, and at the B-side, it was achieved by the friendship and friendship of pushing a cup for a cup.
As competition intensifies, “involution” also begins on the advertising side and the relationship side. In the future, it is imminent to improve the efficiency of this part and improve the gameplay.
Someone told me that we have a positioning, and our spiritual positioning is high-end atmosphere. This is not a spiritual orientation, and what is high-end and what is high-end? Ambiguous “big words”, high-end atmosphere but inexplicable propaganda battles often make us waste a lot of money.
The same industry, a product, why do they feel different? The secret to efficiency and positioning is here. What difference do we want to convey? In terms of temperament, characteristics, and value proposition.
In fact, all good brands can not only tell you what we do in a few words, but also let others have a spiritual imagination and deep impression after knowing the physical location.
2. Allocating resources
Once the location is found, it is possible to accurately match resources. Why? Because resources are “excessive”.
From the perspective of brand communication alone, the difficulty of finding media, reporters, and communication channels has been greatly reduced.
Just a small white entrepreneur, turn on the computer, enter 36 krypton, tiger sniff, finance and other technology and financial media, carefully will find that each author has his own WeChat at the end of the submission, and every website keeps it Email addresses for free reports to startups, and even some websites have reporters’ phone numbers, WeChat, etc., all of which can be found. Not to mention the completely open and equal self-media platforms such as Douyin and video accounts.
There are still large and small activities, forums, and accumulating so-called dissemination resources.
Then we need to allocate resources quickly. What should we pay attention to in the process of allocating resources? Focus on resources for positioning services.
Take a blank sheet of paper and clear the state of our existing resources. According to our positioning, on this blank sheet of paper, we can list the resources we imagine we need to achieve this positioning. What kind of resources are needed?
Don’t think about whether you have it or not, just think about whether you want it or not.
Our problem in many cases is that the course of action is often set by the resources available. It’s like “setting posts for people” in management.
There are traditional media resources, new media resources, several major portals, technology websites, and everything imaginable. There are also social media resources, such as Douban Zhihu, etc.
In fact, everyone only needs to make a list, and then list all the resources imaginable, and then fill in the blanks to see which resources are needed now, whether these resources have established channels, and if not, hurry up to build them resource.
In the process of looking for media resources, you may find that these media do not like feedback? They don’t respond because the information we provide lacks news points and positioning.
In the process of allocating resources, we have to build our own unique attraction. What you do and the positioning you want to convey, you have to think from their point of view, why they think what you are doing is interesting. Instead of saying “Hello, we have a good relationship, I hope you will come to interview us and give us a soft article”.
The best media relations are not as good as delivering actual content value.
At the same time, don’t be greedy in the process of building resources. Exhausting core resources has already paid off. At the same time, the maintenance of resources should also be proactive. The most important media resources should be maintained through various forms such as cooperation, experience, salon, feedback, reports, etc. This step should be said to be very important.
3. Storytelling
Now everyone regards storytelling as a pejorative term and is being led astray.
There is no good brand that cannot tell a story.
The storytelling mentioned here is not telling an unfounded story, let alone faking it.
Storytelling is the ability to convey information in a complete, efficient and vivid manner. Whether it is our own products or business models, as well as our team, our founders, our original intentions, why we do this thing, and how much convenience we can bring to everyone, these are all is the part where we can tell the story.
Storytelling is also a co-ordination of “positioning”. Otherwise, the story will be told in vain and become noise.
All stories pay attention to succession and transformation, attention to attracting people, recall, good stories, good jokers, they are often in succession and transformation, and they do a very good job in attracting people, so they will become popular stories.
Some people also say that I don’t have a prestigious school background, I don’t have a good appearance, and even the projects are ordinary, and I don’t have everything. How can I pack myself?
Is the product reliable? There are many reliable products, and I haven’t seen many stories in the early stage, but the reliability of the product itself is a story, and the human world in all aspects that the product can affect is itself a story.
After confirming that the product is reliable, how should we package our story? Everyone has a story, such as “The Great Annie”, “Fuck Off, Tumor-kun”, and some of these very good things that will be spread on the Internet every once in a while. These things they will have one thing in common, that is , looking for the extraordinary in the ordinary.
For example, why do we do this thing, or what advantages does this project have over others after it is done? What’s in it for the world? What fun things happen in the process, these are things you can go and pack.
Storytelling can be told in different forms and forms. When everyone learns to tell stories in the form of comics to package themselves, why don’t we consider voice?
The logical thinking of the year was that because everyone used text, they chose a one-minute voice push to make themselves different.
Many times we need to consider the carrier and form. When others are pushing by voice, why don’t we consider video, such as shooting a video of ourselves? When everyone else is doing videos, maybe we can do the opposite and do offline and exhibition activities?
In terms of content, there is one sentence: if the positioning is not accurate, the story will be unstable.
4. Set off fireworks
Fireworks are set off during the Spring Festival, and all of a sudden, many fireworks are very gorgeous and bloom at the same time. What do we mean by fireworks? It is to choose the resources that have been allocated and the things that have been done well, and quickly all of them will explode together in a short period of time.
Saturated communication is the most cost-effective means. In the market of brand promotion, there must be high input and high output, and low input and no output.
Therefore, the limited resources and limited stories should be exploded in a short time, which can improve the hit rate. For example, Xiaohongshu, Huaxizi, Apple, and Huawei have done very well in brand creation and case building. Xiaohongshu has promoted many offline materials for a period of time, such as elevator advertisements. The very eye-catching red color of Xiaohongshu.
At the same time, they invested a lot of money to make a big red box like the LOGO “Little Red Book” as their express outer packaging. It can be seen in many places that the team is very thoughtful, so setting off fireworks means to use all kinds of forces in one place to present our brand to the greatest extent.
At this point, with the media interviews that broke out in the past two weeks and a very good offline promotion channel, the senior management team also frequently received interviews and participated in some offline activities in those two weeks.
In our impression, it was a very beautiful fireworks, a very gorgeous and very beautiful battle.
Clear the positioning and timing, and do a good job of “fire prevention measures”, and the fireworks can be turned on. Cost-effective.
5. Compose music
Fireworks are easy to get cold, what should I do?
After creating some hot spots, how should the brand be built step by step? Different brands have different plans. For example, some want to push something in the next step, some hope to raise the market value through financing, and some want to launch certain new positions. Every company has different ideas.
It needs to create a small climax from time to time, which becomes the rhythm of the composition. For example, Apple, Tesla, many of their creative planning and marketing activities have made each of us shine. And most importantly, have a sense of rhythm. The rhythm of the press conference, the rhythm of activities, and the rhythm of reporting, each brand has its own rhythm.
One tool here is the WeChat index of WeChat. With the index, you can see the different volume fluctuation curves of each brand.
It’s best not to copy other people’s style of play and rhythm. Each company’s state and stage are different, so the style of play and rhythm vary from person to person.
Six, grab a seat
In the end, it is necessary to seize the first spot in that positioning.
There are too many industries, and the seats are empty, and it is a pity not to grab them.
The competition in many vertical fields seems to be very fierce. In fact, because each company has no clear positioning, no one is sitting on the real chair. It is a pity.
At this time, you must seize the seats, at least lock the top three seats, this is very important. In fact, doing the first few things well and grabbing a seat is a natural result. Because the positioning is clear, the communication is efficient.
However, in the process of grabbing seats, you can subtly grab seats. For example, in the process of media publishing industry evaluation manuscripts, you can do objective implantation. Media comments often mention one, two or three companies with a certain idea. Try to find a way to enter a company. Two or three in the text description.
At some events, forums, and salons, try to appear as an industry representative to speak for the industry and say something on behalf of the industry. There are many of these little tricks, so I won’t go into details here.
Try to associate the company name with the industry name, such as taxi rental, Didi Chuxing. Takeaway, Meituan Takeaway. Electric car, Xiaopeng Electric.
Try to establish such a connection when emphasizing the company and the sub-industry. Everyone is in the rapid preemptive communication stage. The task of keywords must be seized, and the keywords of this industry must appear together frequently. First, to reduce the cost of science popularization in the industry, and second, to lock the search keywords and customer minds.
At the same time, when the media is searching for information, enterprises have the opportunity to enter their field of vision and become the focus of interviews. Speaking on behalf of the industry can be very effective for companies that are not very sure of being in the top few rankings.
The case here is Mengniu. When Niu Gensheng, the founder of Mengniu, left Yili to start his own business, Yili Dairy was already a well-deserved number one brand in Inner Mongolia. At that time, Mengniu rented a billboard from Hohhot to the airport.
You must know that outdoor billboards were an important publicity channel in that era. Then they put out an eye-catching advertisement: “Mengniu, striving to be the second largest dairy brand in Inner Mongolia.” At that time, there were actually many, many dairy brands other than Yili. Everyone knows that the first is Yili! But who is the second is not conclusive.
As a result, Mengniu’s popularity quickly soared, because the number one already exists, and no one grabs the second, so it’s better to be the second. Successfully locked the second seat, taking a very important step for the subsequent development.
From positioning to grabbing a seat, it is a precise execution process. This process is mainly to improve various efficiencies in the process and help companies achieve brand goals as quickly as possible.
Returning to the topic at the beginning, we have repeatedly emphasized that positioning is actually a strategic method to help companies focus on intensive.
For individuals, the six-step method also works. The implementation of them depends on each person’s positioning and the situation they are in.
Let’s review the six-step method again: positioning, assigning resources, telling stories, setting off fireworks, composing music, and grabbing seats.
This article was originally published by @李青 said that the brand was originally published in Everyone is a product manager, and reprinting is prohibited without permission.
The title image is from Unsplash and is based on the CC0 protocol.