Author | Liu Chunxiong Source | Teacher Liu's Forum (ID: liuchunxiong1964) Marketing believes in one principle: perception is greater than fact. Purified water may be the most homogenized product in the world, but in the eyes of consumers, the products of current purified water companies are differentiated. Turning homogenized products into differentiated perceptions is the credit of marketing. It's not the homogenized products that we fear, but homogenized marketing. It's not the homogenization of the source, but the homogenization of the result. The difference between knockoffs and genuine products, and between luxury goods and A-grade fakes, is not the product itself, but consumer perception. Xiao Shenyang's style was originally an imitation of Song Xiaobao. When Song Xiaobao first became famous, people thought Song Xiaobao was imitating Xiao Shenyang. It wasn't until Song Xiaobao became hugely popular that people learned the truth. In most cases, people don't know the truth. 01 In this business world, differentiation in consumer goods has become extremely difficult (individual cases are not debated). Even if there is differentiation, it is minimal. However, differentiation is widespread in the business world, and we all firmly believe that the products of successful companies are differentiated. This is a contradiction. The truth is: all differentiation is essentially differentiation in perception. Marketing believes in one principle: perception is greater than fact. Differentiation is perception, not necessarily fact. 02 We often say that small companies are imitating big brands. I can tell you a truth: who is actually imitating whom is not always clear. Every time we attend the Sugar and Wine Fair, someone asks: What do you look at at the fair? Look at products at small companies, marketing at big companies, and trends at forums. Only small companies desperately try to differentiate their products, always wanting to be different from others. But their marketing capabilities are too weak, and even with differentiated products, most fail. Many big companies' products are imitations of small companies' successes in local markets. Big companies have strong marketing capabilities, so even if they imitate others' products, as long as they succeed, people attribute the success to the big company. 03 This concept was first proposed 10 years ago at a topic selection meeting for "Sales and Marketing." Teacher Wang Rongyao inadvertently gave an example, from which a conclusion was drawn: because of the differentiation of salespeople, homogenized products were sold as unique. I am good at capturing golden phrases, and I emphasized this sentence at the time. This sentence can be extended: the differentiation perceived by consumers is actually more about marketing differentiation. 04 How do small companies turn homogenized products into differentiated markets? Because they have excellent salespeople! In the past, we gave lectures to companies. We told R&D and production departments to create differentiated products. But then we turned to salespeople and said: learn to sell products with defects, and sell the same products with different feelings. Of course, differentiated products are better, but if there are no differentiated products, does that mean we don't do marketing? The differentiation of small companies is due to the differentiation of people, which makes products differentiated. Therefore, small companies find it hard to grow precisely because they lack systematic capabilities and can only rely on individual differentiation to solve market problems. The reason small companies are small is that too few people can achieve differentiation. 05 How can a company achieve differentiation at the corporate level? Let me illustrate with an example. The first company I provided marketing services to, during a sales meeting, the salespeople raised four issues: first, product quality was too poor; second, prices were too high; third, credit sales were too limited; fourth, advertising was too little. Isn't this scenario familiar in marketing systems? If it were now, there would also be a point about insufficient promotional policies. Our approach: first, acknowledge the poor quality but believe the marketing system bears half the responsibility. Because poor sales lead to discontinuous production, which prevents quality assurance; second, raise prices by 10%, because without a price increase, sales that lose money cannot be sustained; third, completely eliminate credit sales, because capital is already scarce, and credit sales cause capital to be tied up; fourth, cancel all advertising, because the scale is too small to afford advertising. 06 When companies create products, they initially have benchmarks. Pure innovative products are exceptions. Even with minor changes, it's hard to call it true differentiation. As soon as a product enters the market, a flood of feedback comes back. Basically, it's the four points above: quality issues, price issues, promotion issues, and brand issues. How to face these four issues is the key to avoiding homogenization. One attitude is to compromise with the sales system, such as lowering prices or increasing promotions. The result may be short-term sales improvement, but ultimately it will lead to product homogenization, or even becoming a knockoff. Why is this? Because without changing consumer perception, if you rush to monetize sales, you are solidifying existing perceptions. The final result is homogenization or knockoff status. 07 Another approach is to bravely move up, dare to raise prices, insist on not doing heavy promotions, and not offering credit. When Teacher Jin Huanmin and I started in marketing, we established a "two no-negotiation" principle for channels: prices are non-negotiable, and payment terms are non-negotiable (no credit sales). Daring to move up requires methods, even wisdom. Some products truly have differentiation and are genuinely unique; such products are rare. But when products lack substantive differentiation, there is still a set of differentiation methods. Value perception is the universal differentiation method. Value perception: luxury goods vs. A-grade fakes, genuine vs. knockoffs, may look the same on the surface, but the value perception is different. What is value perception? Only by bravely moving up and persisting will you form value perception. First, set the goal of moving up, then find methods, and even if you encounter countless difficulties, don't go down. Gradually, you will have value perception. Once you have value perception, the same product will feel different. -END-