A model is an example, and the power of example is infinite. In marketing, building a model market and then using it as a standard for replication to expand market share is a common method. Since FMCG marketing places more emphasis on process control and terminal service, which invisibly increases management difficulty, the model market operation mode is even more effective. Mr. Huang Erpin, combining years of practical market experience, explains the construction of model markets in FMCG marketing from five aspects for the benefit of peers.
Concept and significance of model markets in FMCG marketing. A model market in FMCG marketing can be defined as: a target market that a company focuses resources on building, which is typical and representative in one or more aspects such as brand and product recognition, terminal distribution rate and visualization, terminal promotion, after-sales service, personnel management and maintenance. Corresponding to the company's purpose and resource investment, model markets have no absolute size; model stores, model streets, and model regions are all forms of model markets. A model market is a superior market carefully built by a company to achieve goals such as attracting distributors, expanding healthy markets, activating dormant markets, building channel or terminal confidence, and test-marketing new products. Building a model market is one of the important means for implementing marketing strategies in FMCG marketing.
Classification of model markets in FMCG marketing. Model markets are only evaluated based on the market performance of the same product category. According to different classification standards, model markets can be divided into different types.
By function, model markets can be divided into image model markets, sales model markets, and image-sales model markets. 1 Image model market: A market that a company invests certain financial, human, and material resources to package for the purpose of attracting distributors. This type of model market generally has a good market image in terms of terminal distribution, visualization, short-term promotions, and personnel maintenance, and is a "highlight market" specifically for people to "see." Companies building image model markets generally have low product or brand recognition and are in the promotion stage. Under long-term image maintenance, image model markets will gradually transform into image-sales model markets. 2 Sales model market: Generally a mature market for the company, where the company's products lead the industry in sales, consumer recognition is high, and the brand or product's own pull is strong, making it a "cash cow" market. In today's fiercely competitive FMCG market, sales model markets generally also lead in image. 3 Image-sales model market: A combination of the above two types. It is not only a mature market in terms of sales but also a leader in the industry in terminal image maintenance and sales atmosphere creation. The image-sales model market that a company strives to build is the gateway of its marketing, playing a prominent role in starting weak markets, attracting distributors in blank markets, test-marketing new products, personnel training, and event marketing.
By coverage, model markets can be divided into national model markets, regional model markets, model streets, and model stores. 1 National model market: A superior market that a company can highlight nationwide. Most national model markets are key markets built by the company itself. In some growing companies, national model markets may also form "accidentally" due to sales personnel or customers using the right marketing methods. 2 Regional model market: A superior market with exemplary effect within a certain region. Regional model markets generally refer to markets covering the scale of an independent administrative unit. For example, provincial capital model markets, prefecture-level city model markets, and county/township-level model markets can all be considered regional model markets. 3 Model street: A street established by a company within a sales region to drive the start of the entire regional market or to help build brand image. 4 Model store: A terminal store with advantageous scale in a certain region that a company builds by concentrating resources when market operation resources are limited. Regardless of classification, a model market should be a market where the company leads the industry. A market that only leads in horizontal comparison within the company's own market scope but has no obvious advantage in the entire industry cannot play the role of a true model market in today's competitive market environment.
Analysis of key elements of model markets in FMCG marketing. Given the importance of model markets in FMCG marketing, the selection of model markets is crucial. The following five aspects are key considerations in model market selection.
First Law: In marketing, the product with the highest sales has sales volume and influence far exceeding other products. Operating a model market largely aims to enhance distributor confidence. Therefore, when selecting a model market, it is necessary to fully investigate the local competitive product situation to see if the product has the potential to overtake competitors and become the number one brand.
Representativeness: Building a model is a way to start a market, so the selected model market should have broad representativeness in market environment, consumption habits, market channels, media structure, etc. Market environment mainly focuses on differences in competition order and government intervention due to different degrees of marketization; consumption habits are closely linked to the local acceptance of the product; market channels are a major part of model market replication; media structure is directly related to communication effects.
Replicability: Model markets bear the important task of exploring and promoting marketing models, so they must be replicable. Successful operation models should be able to be cloned to other markets. For a model market's operation model to be successfully promoted, it must have replicable characteristics in organizational form, sales channels, promotion models, and communication methods.
Scale: Scale is the premise of replication; replication without scale is not much different from ordinary parallel expansion. In model market construction, scale prediction for consumer groups, terminal channels, media mix, and sales volume is a key point that must be considered. Especially when building sales model markets or image-sales model markets, market sales collection and cost-effectiveness ratio are important indicators. Investing 100,000 yuan and collecting 200,000 yuan is easy, but investing 1 million yuan and collecting 2 million yuan increases difficulty. Therefore, forward-looking prediction of model market capacity is necessary to form a standard for evaluating sales collection. For a model market with a capacity of 10 million yuan, when collection reaches 3 million yuan, it has a certain scale, but if only 600,000 yuan is collected, it cannot be said that the model market has been successfully operated, and the significance of replication is small.
Distributors and team: Markets are operated by people, so distributors and the sales team operating the local market are crucial. A good distributor can help a company solve many problems; a capable team is also key to market success.
Five key steps for successful replication of model markets in FMCG marketing. After a model market is successfully operated, many companies fail to accurately grasp the key parts of model market replication, leading to difficulties in replicating and promoting model market experience. The reason is mainly that these companies simply believe that as long as there is a successful model market, it can be applied universally and used directly. In actual operation, we have summarized the following five key steps related to the success of model market replication.
Step 1: Summarize and refine the successful experience of the model market. When summarizing the experience of the model market, the focus should be on: No. Focus Content 1 Terminal model: All aspects of terminal construction and details to note. 2 PR model: Such as knowledge lectures, establishment of public relations, etc. 3 Advertising model: Media selection and combination, etc. 4 Promotion model: Promotion forms and time schedule arrangements. 5 Channel operation and management: Channel policies/development/maintenance/management, etc. 6 Human resource development: Team building/management/training/assessment, etc. 7 Sales management: When summarizing successful experience, do not neglect attention to promotion experience/operational details. 8 Soft model: Summary of marketing promotion activities that leverage subjective initiative/creativity, such as soft communication. 9 Model distributor: Selection/training/guidance of excellent distributors, etc. 10 Model sales personnel: Cultivation/discovery/motivation of excellent sales personnel, etc. 11 Model VIP consumers: Establishment/service/database construction for VIP consumers, etc. When summarizing successful experience, timely supplement and improve shortcomings and areas worth improving to avoid similar repeated errors in other regions. When summarizing successful experience, it should be recorded in writing and compiled into a book to ensure that the experience is not distorted when promoted and replicated in other regions in the future.
Step 2: Develop differentiated plans for different regional markets. The successful operation method of a model market is not a universal truth. The Chinese market is vast and complex: from differences between urban and rural areas, first-level and second/third-level markets, coastal and inland regions; to differences among first-level markets, such as consumption characteristics differences between Shanghai and Beijing consumers, and differences in consumption characteristics and capabilities between southern and northern Jiangsu. Therefore, when replicating a model market, regional differences and the actual operation situation of the regional market must be considered. Do not make the mistake of "mechanically applying" dogmatism. Through the summary and refinement in the first step, compare and analyze the successful experience of the model market with the characteristics of the market to be replicated, and re-develop a new plan suitable for the target market to make it more in line with the new regional market characteristics.
Step 3: Solve the trust problem of distributors. After distributors understand the model market, they may still have concerns: "Do I have the ability to implement this model? Can I achieve the same results as the model market?" At this time, the manufacturer should play the role of a professional consultant and do a good job of educating distributors. The manufacturer should train all distributors on the model operation, not only teaching them what the model is and how to operate it, but also thoroughly explaining the problems that may be encountered during the start-up period and solutions (these problems and solutions have been summarized during the establishment of the model market) to prevent some distributors from retreating when encountering difficulties during promotion. At the same time, model distributors can be invited to share their experiences to "rectify the name" of the model market, dispel the concerns and resistance of the distributor group, and create an atmosphere that the model is the manufacturer's general direction, making them feel the atmosphere of the model market and strengthening their impact.
Step 4: Train the target market sales team and distributors. Fully training the sales team can maximize execution; training distributors can improve their sense of identity and loyalty. More and more distributors now hope to learn advanced market promotion methods and concepts from manufacturers. For example, distributors of P&G products may not make money, but they can learn deep distribution skills and product promotion methods from P&G. Only with a high-quality sales team and distributors can the smooth replication of successful experience be ensured.
Step 5: Step by step, steadily advance in stages. In the promotion of model markets, it is necessary to follow a step-by-step, hierarchical, and planned approach. Do not rush for success after seeing the model market succeed, hoping to "get fat in one bite." Model market promotion must be carried out in batches. First, choose regions with low market difficulty and cooperative distributors for replication, then gradually expand to more and larger regions. After each step of success, widely publicize it at company and distributor meetings, continuously motivate employees and distributor morale, and create a situation of "the model is bound to win." In addition, during the replication process, ensure the company's execution and support capabilities. Make sure that company market management personnel and sales personnel have a full grasp of the successful model market operation, are deeply familiar with the model, have a practical understanding of how to promote it later, and can promptly correct deviations in understanding of the model implementation by local business personnel and distributors, so as to ultimately ensure that the successful experience of the model market achieves success again during replication.
- Correction of misunderstandings in model market operation in FMCG marketing. As model market operation becomes increasingly important in corporate marketing strategies, the requirements for model market operation quality are also getting higher, making it easy to fall into the following three serious misunderstandings.
First, correction of selection point misunderstanding: There is no best model market, only the most suitable model market. Many companies, when selecting a model market, often focus on economically developed large and medium-sized cities, such as Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and coastal cities, hoping to leverage the city's own purchasing power to quickly achieve market results. However, economically developed cities often have fierce competition from similar products and relatively high market operation costs. Blind entry can easily lead to a dilemma of long market start-up cycles and excessive capital pressure, leaving companies in a difficult position. At this time, companies easily doubt the model market plan and lose confidence. More importantly, when facing the national market or large regional markets, the model market should follow the "representativeness principle." Companies should combine their own strength and product characteristics, comprehensively consider the fit between the selected model market and the product, and the regional representativeness of the model market itself, to facilitate promotion nationwide. At the same time, timely adjustment of the established model market at critical moments is also a necessary measure to ensure the success of model market operation. When Huiyuan Juice's "Zhen Xian Cheng" series beverages were launched, they first chose Zhengzhou, then Beijing, but finally adjusted the model market to Xi'an, achieving significant success and providing a good reference for the product's national market promotion.
Second, correction of understanding misunderstanding: Don't require the model market to be a profitable market. The significance of a model market lies not in its own market effect, but in whether it can quickly and effectively establish a model and replicate the model to generate maximum benefits. Although there are differences between regional markets, through model market operation, commonalities between regional markets can be found. Therefore, model market operation is a process of exploring rules and training teams. In reality, companies often have too high expectations for the model market, requiring both image and sales, and hoping it will bring substantial profits. During the process of building a model market, resources are concentrated and costs are high to ensure that the model is established while most markets are still flat. Therefore, in the process of operating a model market, companies should not solely use expense limits as the only assessment criterion, but should follow the principle of comprehensive market benefits, focusing on the operation process and effects. At the same time, it is necessary to realize that the model market is not a profit-making tool for the company, but a pilot before large-scale product operation, a "benchmark market" that exports models and sets examples for the national market. Therefore, whether the model market operation is profitable should not be the only indicator for measuring its effectiveness. Once the model market operation is successful, it sets a benchmark for other markets. At this time, by raising the entry threshold for external cooperation, more social resources from distributors, media, etc., can be integrated, greatly reducing the cost of market expansion, thereby winning more profits for the company. "Wanglaoji" herbal tea, after years of repeated attempts in Central China, East China, South China, and other markets without success, finally chose to focus on the Wenzhou market and became an instant hit. Eventually, by learning from the Wenzhou model and CCTV advertising, it quickly opened the national market at low cost, creating a new category in the beverage industry.
Third, correction of replication misunderstanding: Replication of the model market cannot be "mechanically applied." When executing the model market operation plan in various regions, first fully summarize and refine previous experience, combine with the local situation to effectively evaluate various required resources, then make a correct judgment on the company's own capabilities to execute the plan, determine what needs to be improved and supplemented to support the execution, then adjust the parts of the plan that are not suitable for the region, and finally develop a plan and execution schedule suitable for the local regional market situation. Therefore, the replication process of a model market is not a "mechanically applied" process, but a process of continuous improvement and adjustment.
-END- Excerpt from "General Model for Terminal Visit Selling" September 10, 2015 20:00--21:00 Long press the QR code below, 9.9 yuan to register for the course now.