Is positioning theory actually a trick?

I am a person trained by traditional advertising thinking. When 4 a advertising company came to China, I was the first generation of employees, 1994, I was 28 years old, is a 4 a company's vice president. 1996, I left 4 A, introduced Hong Kong famous director Davidtusi, set up a television advertising production company. The company has been to the present, took a lot of very good but also very expensive wide your tablets, of which the most famous is the GUI Lun magnesium and Peng "Yida" series. I also started my own product company and a crowdsourcing platform for marketing content solutions. Such professional experience, let me have a wide range of practice and deep understanding of the traditional marketing theory, while standing in the new era, I know that I am undergoing a baptism of great change.

In the October 2012, I had a theory of positioning in the middle-eastern entrepreneurship class, which was aware that the theory was not adapted to the changing times. Since then, I have been observing the positioning theory, trying to answer where it went wrong.

Traditional positioning theory is like this ...

The starting point of classic marketing is consumer insight. The logic behind this is that products are more and more homogeneous, and only by making consumers feel different can they win competition. Positioning theory is characterized by the need not to change the product, but through the management of consumer awareness, let him think "this product is not the original product, but better, more suitable for my products." ”

Positioning theory found that the human mind has five major flaws: 1. Brain capacity is limited, 2. Aversion to confusion, 3. Insecurity, 4. Things that have been put into the brain don't change easily, 5. The focus is often lost. Therefore, the simplest way is to occupy the first place in the consumer's mind, if not first, it is best to become one of the two strong, and the way to upgrade is to create a category, which is not only first, but also may become the only.

In essence, the positioning theory that consumers are isolated fools, can use psychological tactics and mass media delivery, to affect his cognition, to achieve the most conducive to competition in the market position. In fact, this is a big trick, such as: Wanglaoji, sheep and sheep, brain platinum, coconut deer and turtle wine ...

Positioning of the routine, play not turn ...

Today, the mobile internet has come, marketing has three cornerstones: media, channels, users, all have undergone fundamental changes, and correspondingly, enterprises and brands will also have a fundamental change. The industrial age will be completely buried.

The media in the past is one-way, monopoly, high unit price, must be put in large quantities; today's media is interactive, open, Low-cost, free, and accurate. Past channels are entities, one-way, multi-level, the volume of goods to determine sales; today's channels are virtual, interactive, single-layer, and even pre-sale without the need to prepare inventory. The users of the past are isolated, weak, and largely without influence; today's users are social, powerful, interacting with each other.

Marketers are also changing their position in mastering discourse dominance. Marketers used to use a lot of advertising to influence consumers, but now people don't watch TV, newspapers, magazine ads, just mobile phones and social networks. People in social media, more willing to believe a big V or their friends, the influence of traditional brands is rapidly weakened. You can think back to your last online shopping experience: Perhaps because of the person you trust to say, you are on the phone directly under the purchase of products, the whole process even the name of the brand do not know, I call it "poke the economy."

The brand's mode of operation has also changed. Past brands are iconic, high and deceptive, and today's brands are affinity, fun, and very rich in meaning. In the past, business brand, is a few people within the enterprise is a matter, but also a large number of costs to the media and advertising companies; today's brand is created by users and enterprises, the enterprise itself has a strong team, their own content, through the fans spread.

Past corporate organizations are vertical and monopolistic. The basic function of an organization is to guess what the user likes and then, based on this speculation, to develop a set of strategies and pay a large price to push forward. Once the marketing plan is implemented, there is no turning back, because the printed matter can not be changed, the film can not be changed, scheduled media time and layout, but not to change. So, we call it the "rocket launch mode" of the Industrial Age: based on a guess, everything is ready, a button pressed down, good to the west, bad down the region.

Today's business organization is flat and open. New innovative enterprises, and constantly make a minimum sample, to test the user reflects, once the touch of the doorway quickly magnified, once there is a problem immediately give up, the so-called "early death afterlife." Millet claimed that there is no traditional Enterprise KPI assessment, the only indicator is customer satisfaction. Millet company even has a huge loyalty powder group Silk, directly involved in product development, single from this point of view, the traditional enterprise is not a millet opponent. I bet Millet will win gree.

Further, today's competitors have changed. The competitors in the industrial age are clear, stable and organized, so the marketing method is homogeneous; today's competitors are ambiguous, subversive, cross-border, you may not know where the opponent, so the marketing method is also highly differentiated.

Today, the most fundamental change is the change in consumer behaviour. It was the classic mark path (Figure 1) that was used to sell the product, and the biggest change of the day was in the loyal users who had repeatedly purchased it.

Fig. 1 Traditional consumer behavior route

Loyal users can say hello or bad to you from the media on social networks. Thousands of people say hello users, add up is CCTV, so, no longer need 4 a company, also do not need traditional media, you can turn the product to fly (Figure 2).

Figure 2 The way brands communicate in social media

The traditional brand management path is to do consumer research first, then find the target users, and then generate a strategy (positioning is a very important tool), and then use the idea to express, find production companies to shoot ads, and then buy a large number of media launch.

Today's users are likely to be better or worse off by helping businesses generate content, free communication, from the media, on social networks. Today, all you have to do is make a strategy and throw out some fun and fun content, and the user will help you spread it. Of course, sometimes in the enterprise completely do not know the situation, the user himself will push you up. such as Wanda's princes, because a 200 yuan computer table did not arrive in time, in micro-Bo Spit on the Beijing-east, all netizens feel this matter very happy, forwarding comments hundreds of thousands of times, we almost did not say that Jing Dong Bad, Beijing east lying on the ground to earn a lot.

The traditional positioning theory has found that the consumer cognitive law is right, but the method of managing consumer cognition has not been up to the change of the Times. Because, the consumer's behavior pattern, has undergone the fundamental change, today's consumer can affect others, also may affect each other, the simple and rough implantation localization old routine, does not turn.

Let Consumers love you

The traditional positioning theory has three obvious problems: 1. It's going to cost a lot of money, and it's probably useless now, 2. The general lack of sincerity, there is a lot of deception; 3. may be famous, but the user does not have much affection for you.

With the advent of mobile Internet, the cost of connecting people is reduced to almost zero. So, as long as you have good content or interesting content, you can run around the world overnight, and you may not spend a penny. Lo Zhenyu said, "In the past the brand is male, now the brand is female". The male brand, is in an active position, moves all sorts of brains, through various channels to pursue the so-called "target user", needs to pay very high cost, and the efficiency is extremely low. Women's brand, as long as they dress up beautifully, there will be someone to spread your beauty map out, naturally there will be people like you to come to the door. Tesla rarely spent any advertising fees in China, but almost household names, and even reached the perfect state of positioning theory, to become a representative of the category: Tesla = electric car!

Today's brand should be sincere, with temperature, can provide consumers with a full range of experience, rather than simply blunt brainwashing. Coca-Cola's global bottle case, the logic is that today's young users more subdivision, more small, with different labels on the bottle, different slogans to communicate with different people, so that different consumers to love it. Recently, the online heat transmission, the Japanese IKEA company engaged in a subway activities, they put the entire train with IKEA products layout, registered members through the lottery, you can take this car, terminal upstairs is Ikea store. Netizens feel that this is too fun, too much love.

Consumers love your appearance and love your heart. Today's truly successful brands are advocating a "right value proposition" and the community is able to gather because of a common philosophy. This is in the same place as the original positioning theory, but now is not to seize the "first second", nor "create category", but to the user's brain reinstall the operating system: Tesla to open all patents, vowed to the monopoly of the automotive industry challenges; Luo said not to win or lose, is serious; millet pursuit of the ultimate perfection of technology; Alibaba says there is no hard business.

If I told you that Garfield killed someone in America, your first reaction would not have been believed. If I say the NYPD has officially issued a notice, the evidence is there, Garfield did kill. You will also say that there must be something to make him anxious. Why do you never believe Garfield is a bad person and always speak for him? Because you love him! Therefore, the highest level of brand today is to let consumers love you.

Unknown feeling, lifting force lattice, hi big pu ben

The internet is the greatest invention in human history. Young people born after 85, who grew up on the internet, were thinking logically and behaving differently from the older generation, who were indigenous to the Internet and who were the future.

We must learn from them, if we have the understanding, learning success, we can emigrate to the Internet, to get new life.

To emigrate, we can only learn their language to understand what they think, in order to make a brand they like, so that a new generation of consumers love you.

I don't know why, but I think you're great.

A new generation of life, all by the network fragmentation, no time to do in-depth reading and research, they will not go to understand the "reason", but went straight to the theme, think you are very powerful "why" like you.

Huang Taigi founder Hering, can do a thousands of people activities, with more than 1000 pieces of exquisite ppt, speak 8 hours of aliens. The children thought Hering was too strong, and he liked his pancake. Carving ye sell a bowl of beef noodles, but the front gives you 4 tea, and men and women are not the same. Recently listed Millet 4, is such a description of their mobile phone's metal frame: "The use of austenitic 304 stainless steel, 40 process 193 process, through the forging process, 8 times CNC CNC machine tool grinding and polishing." You don't know what you think!

Promotion force lattice: "Install Force" is the basic demand, "force lattice" is the level of the pack force

Today, we all hang on all kinds of social media, in front of people who know and don't know, so, "pretending" is the instinctive demand of network survival. This year on Mother's Day, everyone is heartily expressing to the mother's love, my friend making asked: "You so love mother, your own mother know?"

"Pretending" is a bit hypocritical, but it's no bad thing. Everyone is together "pretending", the convergence of energy, can promote social progress. The Ma Jiajia said: "All can not help the user to install force products are rotten products, all the text and content if not written as a force guide body, such as XXX teach you xxx,xx days to let you crash xxx, there is no way to get a wide range of transmission, loading force is a top pain point. ”

Of course, the easiest way to push the grid is to buy or use an "obscure" product or service.

Xi da Pupen: Overjoyed, cathartic, celebrate, excitedly

If you buy or use an "obscure" product or service, feel that the promotion of their own force, will go to micro-BO micro-letter to "excitedly", mobile internet brand spread closed-loop on this formation.

"Unknown feeling, lifting force, Xi Dapu," is today's most basic consumer insights and brand building path. It does not need to use traditional advertising means, the concept of a brand positioning into the minds of consumers, smashing money to build a brand. Today's entrepreneurial innovation enterprise, the opportunity is in front of.

Turn a fan into an employee

2013, the year of mobile Internet, traditional marketing media channels that influence consumers were cut off completely. A new generation of consumers basically do not read newspapers, magazines, television, and even the major portal sites are rarely patronized. Everyone on the phone, look at what they believe in the size of what to say, what to do, to see what their friends and relatives are saying, what to do.

At this moment, the best brand of communication channel is your own loyal users, they say you a good sentence, more than tens of thousands of ads. Millet started, is by rice noodles, Tesla's fans Zong Yi even their own money to engage in activities, to get through the north-South charging road; Luo thought on-line less than one year, the fan more than 2 million, only uses 1.5 hours to sell empty 8000 sets of books, income more than 4 million.

The best fans are loyal powder, not only buy your things, not to take you a penny wages, everywhere for you to do promotion. Are they better than your employees, your most cherished asset? If you understand this, will you use the traditional advertising to cheat him, to deceive him?

Today, we are back to the original, let real love your users, hands-on experience, word of mouth. It's all about moving to the internet, getting faster, farther, and more efficient.