Marketing strategies in the digital age

Steve Jobs's word is that it's not enough to shoot bad ideas, but to shoot off good ideas. That's because good strategy depends on making choices, not just intelligence or even intuition, but adherence to principles, one of Jobs's most overlooked qualities.

It is particularly difficult to develop a marketing strategy because, as I pointed out earlier, the rules have changed. Twenty or thirty years ago, brands struggled to build momentum and "raise awareness", and now they need to create compelling experiences to attract consumers.

However, the original task did not disappear. We still need to play TV commercials, do shop promotions, send people to exhibitions and distribute marketing manuals. And now, beyond that, we need to harness a whole new world of algorithms, applications, and devices. In order to meet the new challenges, we need a new strategic thinking, new ideas and new organizations.

Clear goals

In the past, marketing strategies focused on selling funnel models (Sales funnel model) (see Figure 1). You get people's attention, advertise your products or services, convince them why this is their first choice, and then motivate them to actually buy.

Although there are some important steps in the process, the idea is that the more people you put into the front of the funnel, the more you will come out from the back of the funnel. While this model is not entirely accurate, it is correct enough that the great brands of the 20th century were built on this rationale.

Now, this pattern has been invalidated. Today, with an eye-catching television marketing campaign, consumers will not flock to the physical stores, but to the Internet. Their activity leaves a trail of data, and your competitors can use these data traces to communicate competitive marketing messages to lock up your customers before they buy a single purchase.

So if you spend money to build brand awareness and then walk away, the ultimate beneficiaries are likely to be competitors, not you. In the digital age, marketers must focus on three core business goals: visibility, sales and endorsement, thereby shifting the focus from attracting attention to retaining attention.

Although there are more complex purchase path models (see Figure 2) available, I find that complexity often obscures the principle of path-to-purchase. Unless it helps deepen understanding and understanding, it is too complex to be fruitless.

Simple metrics such as knowledge, sales, and endorsements give you an accurate overview of the brand's health and how you can most effectively improve your health. While some consumers are highly involved and the sales cycle is longer in the category of marketing, consideration and loyalty can also play a role, but research has shown that loyalty is especially misleading.

Most importantly, clear marketing goals are an analytical process, not a conceptual process. You are not trying to understand the "consumer mentality" or "brand Essence". While these activities are necessary for defining brand positioning and implementing concepts, they do not have a place in the business strategy talk.

What you want to know is where you win, where you lose, and where you have the opportunity to enhance your competitive power. That's the way it is. Once you have done this, you can proceed to the next step.

Develop tactical approaches

Clearly defined goals are important, because it allows us to prioritize. No budget is unlimited, so it is not only possible to focus our creativity on the areas where we can best improve our business, but also to apply the budget to this aspect.

However, just setting priorities is not helping to develop a tactical approach, so the next step is to develop tactical strategies based on the basic goal model to help us develop solutions that are appropriate to a particular aspect of the brand's needs:

Figure 3 shows the three core brand goals that correspond to six strategic strategies. Empty clichés and "readily available" practices do not work, so once we have identified an area that needs to be budgeted, we want to devote ourselves to the design of this particular task rather than blindly follow suit.

It may not be surprising that the general strategy, supplemented by new digital tools, can basically solve the problem of knowing and selling. However, Word-of-mouth endorsement is largely a new area that requires new thinking.

You may wish to introduce an analysis of each of these aspects:

Concern and assessment: While the importance of brand awareness has diminished in the digital age, it is still extremely important, especially when it comes to the promotion of products or the need to convey certain brand attributes to the consumer group.

For example, when Mercedes was trying to promote its zero-emission new "F-cell" hydrogen fuel technology, it was tempting to talk about a "stealth car" running throughout Germany. Consumers who are curious about the event will search the Internet for more information and will be lured to the company's Green Plan promotion page, the Wikipedia page, or the popular acclaim for revolutionary new cars.

It is worth mentioning that, although Mercedes is a well-known brand, there are few people who know much about hydrogen fuel technology and less people who are actively considering the actual purchase. The goal of Mercedes is not to let consumers run directly to the dealership, but rather to start thinking about hydrogen fuel vehicles seriously.

Proximate and proximity: Marketers have long known the truth: to pull sales, you need to win customers at the point of sale. However, digital retail solutions have brought this concept to a whole new level, as evidenced by Tesco's virtual store in South Korea's subway station.

Buy to integrate the shopping experience into the daily commute, rather than trying desperately to lure consumers into the store. This strategy helped Tesco quickly become a leader in the Korean market.

Value Exchange and community: while building popularity and boosting sales are the two goals that most companies are familiar with, they know how to manage both, but Word-of-mouth is a relatively new area where many marketers are reluctant to do so.

The brand that seeks to increase the intensity of endorsement needs to create the product experience, social experience and content experience that enhance the perceived value. Nike's FuelBand Sports wristband program is a classic example of how brands can connect with consumers by creating a unique marketing asset.

One key point here is that Nike has not only exchanged value with consumers, but also built a community. A vibrant community has nothing to do with how many of your followers you have, but how you relate to your followers.

The charm of the FuelBand program is not the use of technology, but the consumer can cheer for friends, but also by their friends to encourage.

Flexible Little Bets

While all of these strategies are highly praised for their creativity, the most impressive thing is that they are complex.

These are not the results of an exciting brainstorming session, an all-night meeting to get the job done on time. These are the results of continuous testing and learning over the years.

Mercedes has been experimenting with experiential marketing for years. Tesco in South Korea to build Internet business channel, the same experience of all kinds of hardships and hardships, and finally let the virtual store concept has achieved practical results. Nike's FuelBand is not a one-off program but a development of Nike ipods.

All of this involves the entire enterprise, not just the marketing department and several cooperating advertising companies. They need to face the whole enterprise with a series of flexible small bets that can be consolidated into a unified whole.

The implication is clear that the big data age has passed. The future belongs to the integrated use of various skills and capabilities, effective cooperation of enterprises.

New Marketing Organization

When it comes to creativity, there are probably no other organizations in the world than Pixar Animation Studios (Pixar), where Pixar has won more than 20 Oscars, and the average amount of each film in the production has averaged more than 600 million dollars, making the other animation Studios pale.

In a classic article, Ed Catmull, founder of Pixar Animation Studios, explains that the company's secret to success is a Cattermole open environment in which everyone is free to express ideas without having to worry about positions or departments. Feedback is candid, not malicious. No one in Pixar is a star character (can you quote even a celebrity?) ）。

Now think of a typical enterprise marketing Organization: Various departments, cooperative advertising companies and suppliers are hostile relations between the territory and personal worship. Obviously, we need a new model.

If marketing practices have changed radically, why do our marketing organizations look almost the same?