Recently, I had dinner with a few entrepreneurs, and we discussed a topic: "Can online selling build a brand?" This is a very interesting topic. If selling goods cannot build a brand, why are so many people doing live streaming, chasing traffic, and reaching the top of their industry? If selling goods can build a brand, why do some brands fall behind or even disappear while selling? -01-**** What is a brand? A brand must have an emotional connection with users. If there is a formula, it should occupy at least two of the "three dimensions of brand." What are the "three dimensions of brand"? In many marketers' minds, the "three dimensions of brand" are progressive: first, increase brand awareness; then, improve reputation; and finally, build consumer loyalty. But in reality, today's information dissemination and diversified user purchase paths mean these three should not be progressive but rather a triangular, full-link relationship. Brands can enter from any of these three dimensions to reach consumers. A brand that tells good stories and conquers users with products can easily build reputation, then break out of its circle to build awareness. Many bloggers now create their own brands because they have a fan base; fans' loyalty immediately brings product monetization, and then through fan dissemination, they break out to gain awareness, and through fan word-of-mouth, they build reputation. There is not just one path for brand growth. It is frightening if a top-selling brand still stays in the mindset of selling goods and increasing awareness through sales volume. Some believe that if you don't do offline, you can't be called a brand. Offline not only provides a see-and-buy experience but ultimately aims to increase awareness through greater shelf exposure. For new brands, especially followers, awareness cannot compete with old brands, but there is an opportunity to overtake in reputation and loyalty. -02-**** Brand Awareness First comes recognition, then awareness. Recognition is the foundation of awareness. When a brand first enters the market, consumers have zero awareness of it. At this stage, the brand's primary task is to expand awareness, show up everywhere, get familiar faces, and generate purchases. In the traditional media era, users had very limited information sources, and strong media helped brands become famous overnight. Back then, whoever had money to become the CCTV "bid king" had the opportunity to rise quickly and become a household name. Today, for a brand to grow quickly, it must seize every opportunity for exposure in the early stage to reach consumers. The pursuit of traffic is the pursuit of exposure, and anchors and bloggers with fan bases provide both exposure and transactions, killing two birds with one stone. Content can bring traffic and exposure, so off-site content seeding has become a standard for brands to acquire traffic. Content requires professional ability, leading to uneven traffic acquisition capabilities among brands. Awareness ranking: Brand awareness includes the ranking of brand awareness, which represents the order in which consumers think of brands when purchasing a certain category. The earlier a brand comes to mind, the higher its awareness ranking. For example, for burgers, people think of KFC and McDonald's, then Dicos, and then maybe Wallace. When it comes to zero-additive yogurt, I easily think of "Jane's" (简爱). Are there other brands? I can't think of any. People easily remember the first and even second, but many can't remember the third. To make consumers remember, brands either keep exposing themselves or establish differentiated cognition, forming a unique "memory mechanism" in consumers' minds. Therefore, category strategy is a very important part of "positioning theory": create a new category and occupy the first position. For new consumer brands, either establish user awareness in categories without brand recognition, or improve brand awareness ranking in categories with existing brand recognition. Positioning theory: Speaking of brand awareness, we must mention "positioning theory." Positioning theory also emphasizes the establishment of brand awareness. Positioning is essentially a "memory mechanism" that establishes the memory of "category = brand." Through advertising, brands enter consumers' minds in a simple, differentiated way, build awareness, and stand out in a crowded competitive environment. This enables consumers to "think in terms of category, and express in terms of brand" when purchasing. Positioning theory also determines "brand recall." When consumers buy a certain category, they automatically associate it with a specific brand, completing the brand connection. Therefore, a good name, brand packaging visuals, super symbols, and brand slogans are all basic elements that facilitate "brand association." Under the guidance of positioning theory, these can establish unified, repeated brand memories, leading to brand recognition. A classic case of positioning theory is "Afraid of getting heaty, drink Wanglaoji." The core is that the slogan must be simple, colloquial, easy to understand, even rhyming and catchy, so that consumers remember it after hearing it. Every theory has its limitations. The emotional and value-based connections such as reputation and loyalty are the limitations of positioning theory. Misconceptions: 1. Awareness is not the criterion for judging whether something is a brand. Small and beautiful brands, relying on outstanding product strength, gain consumers' reputation and loyalty. In the hearts of a niche group, they are brands. 2. Only the rich can build brands: It has always been true that with enough money, a brand can quickly gain awareness. The former "CCTV bid kings," and today's Perfect Diary and Florasis, with crazy off-site advertising, are beyond the reach of poor brands. This leads many brands to shy away from branding because of limited budgets. At this time, some sales-oriented marketers tell companies not to do branding early on, and to do it later when they have money. Live streaming and blogger placements are favored by brands because they can both sell and expose, and vertical influencers have precise users, greatly improving placement efficiency and reducing costs. But this is an easily copied path. Competitors will use your rise method against you, even more refined. You can make consumers impulse-buy in live streaming and short videos, but your competitors can do the same. So, short-term placement has first-mover advantages, but not necessarily long-term. Last January, at an e-commerce circle annual meeting, I mentioned Haomai Duo and Wangbaobao. At that time, Haomai Duo was rising very fast, catching up with Wangbaobao through celebrity endorsements and massive blogger placements. I mentioned a viewpoint: If Wangbaobao doesn't use its leading advantage to quickly build its brand and still competes with Haomai Duo in selling goods, it would be very dangerous. Brand building must be about user relationships, not just a few co-branded products or celebrity endorsements. This March, Haomai Duo surpassed Wangbaobao to become the top oatmeal brand. So, you must know your position. Do different things at different stages. You can't stay at the awareness stage forever, competing with opponents. -03-**** Brand Reputation Does awareness guarantee purchasing power? Of course not, otherwise Nokia phones and Kodak film wouldn't have disappeared. Does awareness guarantee reputation? Everyone knows "Count Travel Photography" (伯爵旅拍), but not everyone has a positive evaluation. H&M has higher awareness, but currently has no reputation at all. The recent Tesla owner rights protection incident at the Shanghai Auto Show damaged Tesla's reputation, which will definitely affect some consumers' purchase decisions. Awareness is a reason for consumers to buy, increasing purchase confidence and reducing the possibility of trying other brands. However, if competitors achieve competitive advantages through product innovation, we especially need to improve consumers' reputation and loyalty when purchasing. Reputation is an important part of brand building, including favorability and trust. It is consumers' emotional expression towards the brand. Only with emotional establishment can it be more lasting. Brands that usually come to me for help with difficulties, I don't limit my advice to marketing and content; I also give suggestions on building reputation. The main ways to build reputation include: visuals, event marketing, story packaging, PR soft articles, service experience, user operation activities, etc. However, the foundation of reputation is the product, definitely not events or soft articles. Don't put the cart before the horse. Story packaging: To Summer (观夏) fragrance, at its launch, used a WeChat official account article to showcase its persistent pursuit of quality and entrepreneurial original intention, touching people's hearts, and the products sold out with one article. Xiaoguan Tea (小罐茶) is also a master of storytelling. PR soft articles: Adopt a Cow (认养一头牛), through PR, continuously strengthens the founder's original intention: being detained at customs for carrying milk powder from abroad, vowing to produce good Chinese milk, and packaging stories like cows listening to music, to build user favorability. User operation activities: Some brands hold user appreciation events, seed user activities, and user experience activities, such as Lululemon and NIO, which build brand favorability face-to-face with users through offline user experience activities, and through consumer breakout, influence more people, creating word-of-mouth effects. The above brands actually had no awareness at the beginning, but they could capture users' favor, which greatly boosted product sales. This is a typical example of building consumer reputation. -04-**** Brand Loyalty At its inception, Xiaomi phones had no awareness or reputation, but relied on community enthusiasts to accumulate loyalty to Xiaomi, quickly monetizing and breaking out. Old Luo's fans also have extremely high loyalty, even briefly breaking out, but due to product strength issues, they didn't gain reputation and were short-lived. Many internet celebrities and bloggers have very loyal fan groups, and their online stores sell well, but due to marketing capability issues, they can't break out. So, they can become brands in the hearts of a few, but not mass-market brands. Many people have a viewpoint: Today's consumers are increasingly less loyal to brands. The implication is that previous consumers had brand loyalty. As I just said: If your brand-building path only relies on exposure, your competitors will use the same method to make consumers impulsive and purchase. This shopping behavior is only impulsive, not loyal. It's not that consumers are disloyal, but that brands, facing fierce competitors, haven't jumped out to build a moat of reputation or loyalty. You can only blame yourself, not consumers. Moreover, consumers have always been loyal to a category, not a specific brand. Otherwise, those powerful brands could just expand their business lines and not worry about sales. Gree phones and Haier phones would have stood out long ago. Wanglaoji might also be making sparkling water now. -05-**** Summary Marketing actions can enhance brand awareness. But whether it's reputation or loyalty, the foundation must be the product. If consumers complain about a product after using it, no matter how deliberately you build reputation or how famous the celebrity endorsements are, it won't last. For a brand, different stages have different priorities. Brand exposure brings awareness improvement, which is continuous work, but don't just focus on exposure. New sharp brands should not pin their rise on competing with competitors in spending and placement; it's hard to sustain. On the basis of product strength, some clever methods to improve reputation and loyalty must also be carried out simultaneously. Especially when a brand leads in online sales and voice, offline and reputation/loyalty must keep up to consolidate advantages and widen the gap with competitors. There is not just one path for a brand. A brand is definitely not just about sales. Founders must ask themselves: If you want to become a brand in users' hearts, have you connected emotionally with consumers? Source: Marketing Old Wang (ID: wltx-2015) Tips will be paid 400-2000 yuan once adopted.