" There is a model that has been successfully marketed in China for nearly 20 years, and companies that execute it well essentially have no rivals. This is the deep marketing model, which is particularly suited to China's market conditions: first, the urban-rural and regional differences are large, the population is dense, and the market has many levels, with relatively asymmetric consumer information and highly fragmented channels, so no brand can unify the market by planting its flag from first-tier directly into third- and fourth-tier markets. Second, the population is very dense, market integration is poor, but regional market consumption density is relatively high, making it ideal to first dominate a region and then expand progressively. The deep marketing model is a powerful tool for small and medium-sized enterprises or weak enterprises to challenge strong ones. " 1. What is Deep Marketing? 1.1 The Origin of the Deep Marketing Model About 17-18 years ago, Professor Bao Zheng led us in consulting work. At that time, he was advising TCL and proposed a regional rolling marketing strategy called the ARS Strategy (Area Roller Sales). The idea was to intensively cultivate one area, concentrate resources to break through, then replicate the approach in a rolling fashion, connecting points into lines and lines into surfaces, gradually gaining competitive advantage in the market. This was a tactical approach that gradually evolved into a strategic marketing philosophy and an effective marketing model. This model has been successfully marketed in China for nearly 20 years, and companies that execute it well essentially have no rivals. I remember Professor Bao told me: 'Master the deep marketing model, and you can survive in the consulting world for 5-10 years.' Now 15 years have passed, and I estimate I can still survive another 5-10 years. The deep marketing model has been quite successful in China, whether in FMCG, consumer electronics like mobile phones, agricultural materials, pharmaceuticals and medical devices, or industrial goods like engineering machinery. The concepts and strategies of deep marketing are very effective models and tools. So, what are the principles, concepts, and strategic methods of deep marketing? 1.2 Six Core Ideas of Deep Marketing First, emphasize intensive cultivation and rolling development of regional markets. Concentrate superior forces to establish a base, achieving a competitive advantage of 1.732 times or more (simplified to 1.8 times). This implies a rule called the 'Lanchester's Law,' which states that when you have a 1.8 times competitive advantage over your opponent, your probability of success and victory is maximized; when you reach a 3-4 times advantage, competitive pressure and losses are minimized. In simple terms, concentrate superior forces. Second, emphasize channel win-win, channel dominance, and winning at the terminal. First, closely coordinate with channels, effectively support, help, and serve distributors, enabling them to intensively cultivate regional market terminals according to the manufacturer's basic requirements and intentions. Ensure terminals can effectively open and be well controlled, making them willing to promote and exclusively recommend our products. Third, emphasize terminal operations. What is a terminal? It is the final 'outlet' facing customers, the interface where products and services are sold to consumers and money is collected from them. For example, in the agricultural materials market selling feed, farmers are the terminals; selling mobile phones, retail stores are the terminals (with the store owner being the key person); in industrial marketing, direct users are the terminals. The deep marketing model strongly emphasizes effective terminal operations and has developed a series of effective strategies for terminal development, sales assistance, and maintenance. Fourth, emphasize deep interaction with target customers, focusing on precise, ground-level integrated marketing communication and promotion. In layman's terms, it's 'three parts sky, seven parts ground.' That's why we see OPPO/vivo, China Jing Jiu, and others emphasizing ground-level pull, terminal sales promotion, and consumer communication activities. Whether it's the recently rising 'Six Walnuts' or the long-successful 'Wanglaoji,' these are all cases in point. Fifth, emphasize effective resource integration and precise allocation. When doing channels and terminals, resource investment inevitably comes to mind. Marketing emphasizes efficiency. Deep marketing saves the money spent on high-profile advertising and brand bombardment, and instead invests close to the ground, close to terminals, and close to consumers, while maximizing the mobilization of channel resources and the enthusiasm of all relevant partners (including terminal store owners for exclusive promotion) to achieve resource resonance and sharing. Sixth, emphasize organizational synergy and efficient team execution. As everyone knows, deep marketing relies not on money or intensive resource input. Without strong brand influence or superior product comparative advantage, it's entirely 'millet plus rifles,' starting from ground-level assault. Therefore, the combat effectiveness of the team and the execution capability of the team are extremely demanding. It requires basically working 'from when the rooster crows to when the dog barks'—getting up before the rooster crows and not returning home after the dog barks, emphasizing the team's systematic continuous competition and execution. At the same time, platform support is emphasized, such as terminal distribution, terminal promotion, regional market promotion, and a series of marketing and customer interaction publicity efforts. These must be supported by platforms, including professional planning platforms, material support platforms, training platforms, and other strong back-end support, to enable frontline staff to truly achieve 'monthly themes and weekly activities' as a sustained effort. 2. Deep Marketing is a 'Loser's' Approach In essence, deep marketing is a marketing method adopted by companies that lack strong brand power and strong product differentiation advantages, facing complex multi-level markets. To put it bluntly, it's a marketing method used by 'losers' (diaosi). If a company has strong brand power and strong product power, many would not choose the deep marketing model. For example, Apple doesn't need deep marketing because it has sufficient brand power and excellent products. OPPO/vivo, on the other hand, lack such capabilities. It's evident that the deep marketing model is typically adopted by weak enterprises. Although this model yields quick results, it requires strong team execution and good management control. It competes on people, not money; on oneself, not one's parents. Precisely because of the lack of strong brand and product power, the deep marketing model emphasizes ground warfare and can only focus on terminals. If you stay above and fight price wars, you'll fall into the prisoner's dilemma of 'no lowest, only lower,' so you must focus on terminals and consumers, working harder than others. Six Walnuts is a 'loser' who turned the tables; Jing Jiu, when facing Yedao Lugu Wine to compete for the top spot in China's health wine market, also turned the tables... So you see, many companies that succeeded with the deep marketing model went from weak to strong in such a reversal process. 3. The Source of Deep Marketing's Power First, the core point of deep marketing is that it yields quick results. When product power is average and brand power cannot be built in the short term, concentrate superior forces to work on a specific market first. If you have more resources, you can start with a province; with fewer resources, you can start with a county or even a town. When Six Walnuts 'tremblingly' started its plant protein beverage, it began with surrounding third- and fourth-tier markets. It only did the home market, part of Henan, and part of Shandong, intensively cultivating an area of about 100-200 kilometers. It was indeed very thorough, achieving over 30 million yuan in sales in a county with a population of 500,000. Jing Jiu also did this, intensively cultivating key markets. Later, a prefecture-level city could achieve over 10 million yuan, and now a county can achieve over 10 million yuan. For example, the Zhejiang market can achieve over 2 billion yuan annually. So, they all break through in regional markets first and then develop progressively, which is highly effective and profitable. Of course, this has a premise: China's dense population is very suitable for intensive cultivation. Second, it directly penetrates channels. In China, no matter how strong the brand or how good the product, it's unrealistic to distribute goods overnight to over 3,000 counties, over 20,000 townships, and over 200,000 natural villages. No company can do that. Deep marketing exploits this weakness and the bottleneck of other companies. Starting from channels, it can first distribute goods to consumer terminals and interface points, effectively influence and control terminals, and greatly expand consumer contact and influence. So it's very direct because consumers relatively lack clear purchase goals. Only 30% of consumers know what they want to buy; 70% don't and decide at the terminal. And of that 30% who know what they want, 70% change their minds due to persuasion by the store owner or salesperson at the terminal. In the end, about 80%-90% of consumers are influenced by the terminal. Why is it called 'winning at the terminal'? The store owner says: 'Brands? Products? In my store, my mouth is the brand. Whichever I promote becomes strong.' This reflects the characteristics of the Chinese market, where channel discourse power is very significant, especially in third- and fourth-tier markets. The discourse power of traditional channels and terminals is very strong, sometimes greater than the influence of products and brands. Third, it has strong penetration and execution effectiveness. It can go straight to the bottom, directly inserting corporate resources, promotions, policies, and consumer communication messages into terminals, improving the precision of resource allocation and operational efficiency. In contrast, some traditional companies operate high-profile campaigns, but many policies don't reach the bottom, resources are embezzled, and they become weak at the terminal. Fourth, based on sustained organizational and team efforts, it's difficult to imitate. Because it's not about buying sales with money, not about high-profile advertising, and not about low-price market shocks, but rather having marketing personnel help and guide distributors, opening one terminal at a time, running one event at a time, and capturing one township at a time. Markets built this way have solid foundations; they are not duckweed on water. Some practices can spike sales in the short term, but a wave can wash them away. Deep marketing is not like that; it takes deep roots, succeeds one by one, has good accumulation, and effectively trains the team's capabilities, making it difficult for competitors to replicate. Often, competitors visit our model markets, see what we do, and understand our tactics, but honestly, they lack the will or ability. They can see how it's done but can't do it; or they can do it in specific points but not across the board. So companies that do deep marketing well generally have a strong execution culture, and they are 'losers' who rely on themselves, not their parents, and don't rely on advertising hype. Therefore, this is hard for others to imitate, and the competitive advantage is more sustainable. Fifth, the company's marketing center of gravity is low, and market speed is fast. First, the resource allocation center is low; second, the team's operation management and execution center is low. Being close to regional markets, close to consumers, and close to the 'outlet' of the last mile, response speed is very fast, competitive response capability is high, and response efficiency is high. When we seize a market, conquer a terminal, or win over a customer, often the battle is over before competitors even react. So in homogeneous competition, this high-speed response and strong, precise reaction, I believe, is the core point for gaining advantage. Source: 'Sales and Market' Magazine, Channel Edition -END-