1, full participation is the first rule of building a brand at low cost.
The neglect of employees' thoughts and the disconnection between brands and employees' interests are all enemies of brands. Similarly, all employees attach importance to the brand ideologically, which is also the only way to build a brand at low cost. Strong brands come from loyal customers, and it is difficult to have loyal customers without loyal employees. In the past, brand theory was always practical. No matter how complete and scientific your brand building plan is, employees' behavior is the most convincing, the best brand recognition and one of the most effective brand building methods, especially in the communication environment where the cost of brand building tools such as information, audience differentiation and advertising is rising and the efficiency is declining. Full participation is to identify with the brand value in thought, carry forward the brand spirit in work, pay attention to brand norms in behavior, and contribute to the brand in detail, which can effectively reduce the internal friction of the organization (especially the marketing department and sales department). Many brand promotion failures are due to internal coordination problems, resulting in either a large waste of resources or missed opportunities, and these costs can be avoided.
2. Clear brand core value is the second rule of building a brand at low cost.
The core value of a brand, like the flag of a team, is the center of the whole team. All the players must move around the flag. Since it is a flag, it should first reflect the nature of the team, and then effectively distinguish it from other teams to avoid confusion. The core value of the brand is the same. First, we must clearly reflect the nature of the brand, and second, we must clearly distinguish it from competitors. There is a view that the greater the differentiation of brand core values, the better. I don't think this is correct. For example, if you regard "good drink" as the core value of a car brand, the differentiation is big enough. No one said it, and no one thought about it, but can it be successful? Therefore, clearly reflecting the essence of the brand is the primary task of the brand core value. Excessive pursuit of so-called differentiation is neither necessary nor possible, and it is likely to become neither fish nor fowl. Saving communication costs is often the reason why the greater the differentiation, the better. But I think on the contrary, it is the source of wasting communication costs in most cases. The so-called "wasting the other half of advertising fees" comes from this, because differentiation sometimes means cultivating the market to change consumers' ideas, which is often not solved overnight. Small companies with insufficient resources are wiser to follow suit than to go against the wind. Although the benefits of headwind may be great, you have to weigh your own benefits first. Don't believe it, as I said before, taking "good drink" as the core value of automobile brand depends on saving or wasting. Therefore, the core value of a brand must be clear, can clearly reflect the nature of the brand, and can be effectively distinguished from competitors, which is the basis for reducing the cost of brand building.
3. Realistic brand positioning is the third rule of building a brand at low cost.
Brand positioning refers to the part of brand recognition that can form a unique advantage compared with competitive brands under the guidance of brand core values, with the goal of arousing consumers' favorable association with the brand. Like the core value of a brand, there is also a view that brand positioning must also pursue the so-called differentiation, because they think that the battle of marketing is the battle of consumers' minds, and only differentiated things can make consumers remember you. This is actually a big misunderstanding. The marketing road from products to consumers' minds is connected by many chains, and consumers' minds are just the last steamed stuffed bun you eat. Although it is critical, it may be the most important. Because this steamed stuffed bun won't be full at all if you don't eat it, but it's definitely not all. Simply emphasizing marketing is a mental battle for consumers, just like emphasizing the last steamed stuffed bun and saying that the steamed stuffed bun in front can be eaten. Therefore, there is no need to form so-called differentiation in brand positioning. It is necessary to "pull out only one full head of hair" and "have penetrating power". Not for the sake of differentiation, but to achieve differentiation that can defeat all competitors. The key to brand positioning is to be practical, to connect the whole value chain and to show their own advantages, especially for companies with weak strength. Instead of racking their brains to seek the so-called "ten steps and one kill" differentiation, sometimes it is more realistic to try their best to get close to powerful competitors, such as the comparative positioning of "Maotai beyond the Great Wall and Ningcheng Laojiao" in liquor brands, which has achieved good results. In fact, it is assumed that brand positioning must be differentiated. If the brand positioning changes frequently, the significance of pursuing differentiation will be greatly reduced. However, brand positioning cannot remain unchanged, because the consumption environment, competition pattern and other factors are changing. Is there a permanent reason for brand positioning and even brand core value? Therefore, brand positioning must be practical and realistic, and show their abilities and advantages. Even if your advantage is the same as that of your competitors, it is not necessarily a dead end, because it depends on your performance method and operation means. Just like horse racing in Tian Ji, you don't have to be ahead in all aspects, but you have to be selective and give priority to the whole.
4. Unique sports and event marketing are the fourth rule of low-cost brand building.
The biggest feature of sports and event marketing is that it can achieve the purpose of "taking advantage of the situation" and "creating momentum", and it is a powerful weapon to build brands at low cost. To put it simply, taking advantage of the situation is to take a ride in sports events, social news and other events to promote the brand. The momentum is that this ride is not easy to take, and you need to package yourself or simply create a legal event to promote the brand. For example, Jianlibao and Jinliufu sponsored the Olympic Games, the Oaks Air Conditioning Collection Industry Alliance issued a declaration, and Fuya boss drank his own paint to create momentum. Clever use of this method can often achieve the effect of four or two thousand pounds. However, sports and events that follow the trend are public resources, and you can be used by others. In the end, a rising tide lifts all boats, so the cost will not be low and the temporary publicity will not last long. For example, drinking paint every day, or making a declaration every day, will not have any value, and sometimes it may have a bad influence. Therefore, it is an effective way to reduce the cost of event marketing by making full use of public resources and forming unique events that others can't mix and match according to brand positioning. For example, you set up your own football team, call members of your own club to hold various activities, and turn some brand (promotion) activities of your own enterprise into an influential social activity. For example, the annual product launch of some big-name companies is simply a big event in the industry, which can attract great attention from the society, but these rivals can't.
5. Customer service beyond expectations is the fifth rule of building a brand at low cost.
Service is the link between brand and customer. Just like the last fire of boiling water, there is often no need to add much material, but the difference between adding and not adding is huge. Many enterprises think that there is little difference between adding this last fire and not adding it. Few people can see that this is not boiled water. Why not save it? However, this is a big mistake. This last fire is not hard, but the competitive advantage is huge, especially the unexpected customer service is the key to the formation of customer loyalty. The mistake of this last fire will often lead to the result of "a small difference, a thousand miles away". Compared with the competitive advantage, the cost of providing customer service beyond expectations is absolutely low, especially for weak companies. For example, McDonald's is loved by many consumers all over the world because it puts itself in the customer's shoes and constantly provides services that exceed expectations. McDonald's found that coke stored at 4℃ tastes the most refreshing, so it developed a method to keep the temperature of coke at 4℃, which was strictly implemented in franchisees all over the world, so that customers could drink the best cola. The McDonald's restaurant faces the dining table on the wall to avoid the embarrassment when customers come to dine alone with strangers. These so-called "extra" services are not expensive, but they are the key to McDonald's competitive advantage, and McDonald's brand is formed in this kind of casual service. For those companies that are not strong and want to build a strong brand, providing customer service beyond expectations is the only choice to effectively reduce the cost of building a brand.
6. Forward-looking brand planning is the sixth law of low-cost brand building.
Forward-looking brand planning can ensure that any efforts on the brand are additive to the brand, which is the fundamental to reduce the cost of brand building. Some brands and advertisements are vigorous, but they are all "one hammer in the east and one hammer in the west". Sometimes it's the opposite, but I just don't know it. The result is often an empty name. At the slightest sign of trouble, they will turn over and fall. Brand building is a long-term behavior with rules to follow. Brand planning is to determine the direction of the brand, determine the brand development mode (single brand, multi-brand, main and deputy brands or endorsement brands) and the brand extension direction (that is, enter new markets or new industries with the same brand name). ) in a forward-looking way. We must also recognize what resources and capabilities are needed to move forward in these directions. Do you have it now? How to cultivate it? For example, the multi-brand model requires higher management level, market research level and scale strength of the company, while the condition of the main and deputy brand model is that a strong brand can be used as the main brand first. Due to the unclear understanding of this issue, there are many examples of weakening competitive advantage. For example, Bao Si's market position in the field of daily chemical products has not been consolidated. In the case that the company's management level and market research level are far from those of its competitor Procter & Gamble, it adopts a multi-brand model, which leads to the company's disadvantage. For example, Neptune used Neptune, which was only a trademark at that time, not a real brand, as the main brand and sub-brand, and spent a lot of advertising fees and did not develop. Therefore, forward-looking brand planning can avoid detours and effectively reduce the cost of brand building.
7. Careful brand management is the seventh rule of building a brand at low cost.
Scientific brand planning, clear brand core values, magical brand positioning and unique marketing activities are just castles in the air without careful brand management. Brand management is a process of scientifically monitoring the whole process of brand creation, maintenance and consolidation, and constantly adjusting according to the feedback from consumers. The communication between consumers and brands is carried out through contact points, such as seeing brand advertisements, product packaging, news reports and introductions about products in different places and at different times, seeing the brand display of retailers, seeing the sales promotion of salespeople, seeing customers' complaints, even seeing the performance of after-sales service personnel, and what happened when calling for advice. Many of these points seem inconspicuous, but many a mickle makes a mickle, and quantitative change leads to qualitative change. It is through these details that the overall image of the brand is formed. Details are demons, details are black holes. Careful management of these contact points can minimize the cost of brand building. If it is not well managed, a lot of resources will be swallowed up by these black holes. These contact points are a system, and customers' impression of the brand comes from the comprehensive influence of different contact points, while many enterprises tend to pay attention to those visible and important contact points and ignore those that are not easy to find. As a result, they often do addition, subtraction or even division at the same time, and brand resources are consumed unconsciously. Therefore, careful management of brand contact points is an effective way to effectively reduce the cost of brand building.
8. Strong brand awareness is the eighth rule of building a brand at low cost.
If there is no super brand awareness, it is difficult for a weak company to make much achievements in the brand, which is very difficult, just like asking an underdeveloped country to make great efforts in environmental protection, but the return is very high. Sometimes being a brand is like using natural clean energy such as wind energy, hydropower and solar energy, which is a profitable investment. It needs a certain amount of investment, and the scale may not be small. But if you don't use these energy sources, you are bound to use other easy-to-use but polluting or non-renewable energy sources, which is just irresponsible for the future. Similarly, sometimes not being a brand is as stupid as not actively using those natural clean energy sources. Therefore, being a brand is as important as protecting the environment. Similarly, you can not only invest heavily, but also have big practices and small routines. The point is that you can't live without this kind of consciousness.