Generally, companies set annual goals, break them down, and propose work priorities. However, in the context of product upgrades and model transformation, this is not enough. I propose four keywords for the year's layout: layout, tipping point, rhythm, and intermediate results.

-01- Layout

Who would have thought that Master Kong's Laotan Sauerkraut Noodles and Tang Daren were launched almost simultaneously? Laotan Sauerkraut exploded in 2008, while Tang Daren only exploded in 2015. Imagine, without the layout of Tang Daren in 2008, how could there be an explosion in 2015? Back then, when Tang Daren was launched, competitors quickly followed. However, because Tang Daren did not scale up, competitors gave up. After 2015, when Tang Daren scaled up, competitors could not keep up. Tang Daren's success stems from early layout. Time is the most important marketing cost; layout is front-loading time costs. In the past, mass products could be launched and immediately scale up. Now, for upgraded products, if you wait until others scale up before launching, it's too late. A few years ago, bottled water was dominated by 1-yuan water. Without early layout in 2-yuan water, you couldn't occupy the mainstream in the 2-yuan price band; now it's gradually entering the 3-yuan mainstream price band, and without early layout, you'll be marginalized in the future. In the future, it will enter the 4-yuan and 5-yuan price bands; only with early layout can you occupy the mainstream in the future. From a product price layout perspective, three levels of product layout should be formed: First-level products: Products in the current mainstream price band. Second-level products: Products in emerging price bands. Third-level products: Seed products, products in future mainstream price bands. Layout thinking applies to all marketing areas, such as talent layout (existing personnel, cultivating talent, recruiting talent), market layout (existing core markets, growth markets, emerging markets), and marketing model layout (existing sales models, new sales models to be promoted, latest sales models). Take a leading company in an industry as an example. Currently, about 40 products are achieving scaled sales, about 30+ products are in regional pilots, and hundreds of products are queuing for launch.

-02- Tipping Point

Water is considered boiled at 100°C, but the energy consumption is spent before 100°C. 100°C is the critical point for boiling, and the critical point is the node from quantitative change to qualitative change. There are many such critical points, for example, the critical point for ice turning into water is 0°C. In marketing, a lot of time, energy, and expenses are invested upfront, possibly with little sales. Once a certain critical point is reached, it explodes. Before the critical point, investment is high, output is low; after the critical point, investment is low, output is high. For example, if a product uses traditional deep distribution methods to do a county-level market, it requires continuous investment of 1 million yuan over 2 years. Then, 2 years and 1 million yuan become the critical point for the county-level market explosion. A few years ago, we experimented with new marketing methods for beverages in county-level markets and found that the first explosion could be triggered within 1 month; the second explosion within half a year; and the third explosion within a year. For marketers, sales are confidence, and tipping points bring sales surges, which greatly boost confidence. Turning one traditional explosion into three rounds of explosions lowers the tipping point. Lowering the tipping point means seeing results with smaller investment and in a shorter time. The controllability of explosion time and investment facilitates leadership approval of expenses. Leaders are not afraid of spending, but they are afraid of becoming a 'cost black hole.' The tipping point logic is the two control logics for achieving something: one is control over the time limit, i.e., how long it takes to succeed; the other is control over the cost limit, i.e., what cost it takes to succeed. Either don't do it, or if you do, persist until the time limit; either don't invest, or if you invest, invest up to the cost limit. The opposite of the tipping point is the 'add fuel' tactic, because without knowing the time and cost limits, you can only adopt the 'add fuel' tactic, investing a little each time, and if it doesn't work, invest again. How to find the tipping point, and the time and cost limits? Through several experiments, conclusions can basically be drawn. First, find a relatively closed market, such as a county-level market. The larger the market, the larger the time and cost limits, and the more hesitant you are to invest. Second, once the marketing model is determined, adopt a saturation attack approach. For the first pilot market, 'only count success, not cost.' Once successful, it's easy to find the cost critical point. There are two key points: first, the marketing model must be determined; all tipping points are tipping points under a specific model. If the marketing model changes, the tipping point will change accordingly. Third, trial and error first, then trial for correctness. The above process is actually trial and error. Trial and error verifies whether the logic is correct; trial for correctness verifies whether the method can be fully promoted. Through the explosion of one market, mastering the time and cost limits, is this approach universal? It needs to be verified in more markets, such as about 3 different markets. Once verified feasible, it can basically be determined to have promotional value.

-03- Rhythm

In the habitual marketing process, work has a rhythm. When to do what, to what extent, and what to invest are all familiar, and work is orderly with a clear rhythm. However, the marketing rhythm of the past 5 years has been disrupted; it seems no matter what you do, it's wrong, you can't find the rhythm, and it's chaotic. It can even be said that most companies are currently in a 'state of emergency', with work like firefighting. When sales decline, work revolves around saving sales. There are roughly three factors disrupting the rhythm: first, overall sales decline, unprecedented; second, product structure upgrade, unprecedented; third, internet influence, online grabbing offline sales, also unprecedented. What is the next stop after deep distribution? How to integrate online and offline? How to adapt to product upgrades? In 2020, a new mainstream marketing system is emerging. The cover feature of 'Sales and Marketing' in 2020 answers the mainstream questions in the marketing world. This is a strategic rhythm issue. Let's talk about tactical rhythm below. Rhythm has collective rhythm and individual rhythm. Collective rhythm, such as military running training, 1, 2, 1, is rhythm. Work songs are also rhythm. The value brought by collective rhythm is momentum. All employees doing the same thing at the same time, such as launching a campaign simultaneously, can form momentum. Because communication momentum is essentially communication density. Chinese companies are particularly good at launching 'XX tactics' or 'XX actions' at certain stages of marketing, which is to some extent rhythm. The value of rhythm is resonance at the same frequency. Resonance is the only way to combine tiny forces into a joint force. The rhythm of individual work is the process of decomposing complex things and seamlessly restoring them. Work rhythm is one link after another, interlocking. Rhythm is completing work in one go, not just taking a breath. Rhythm is not panicking when encountering problems, not rushing when doing things, and being just right.

-04- Intermediate Results

Chinese marketing management has been stuck in the debate over which is more important: process or results. Extreme thinking in management is harmful. If you focus on process, you must be able to produce results. However, from process to results, there is always a long process, like sowing in spring and harvesting in autumn, the process is long. Chinese management has two major weaknesses: first, insufficient penetration, meaning the effective level of management penetration does not exceed 2 levels; second, insufficient focus, beyond a certain time period, such as one month, management is hard to sustain. Therefore, in long-cycle marketing practice, focusing on process does not necessarily bring expected results. By the time you find results are unsatisfactory, it's too late to go back and focus on process. If you focus on results, you must keep the process on track. If the process is not on track, focusing on results may not bring expected results. I think management should introduce a third factor: intermediate results. Or stage achievements. If there is a problem with intermediate results, you can quickly infer that there is a problem with the process. At this time, it's still timely to focus on the process. If intermediate results are good, you can expect the final results. Although the baijiu brand Liduchuang is not large in scale, it has been quite popular recently. They do not assess employees on sales (management still assesses sales), and the process is hard to track (because it's circle-layer sales). However, they focus on an important intermediate result: user experience. The headquarters and branches are experience centers; if users can experience, it shows the process is done well. As long as user experience is formed, the integration of cognition, transaction, and relationship can be achieved, and sales are relatively easy to achieve. Intermediate results are results that can be traced backward and extended forward. Of course, determining what constitutes an intermediate result is technically challenging. It is said that Master Kong's assessed intermediate result is product 'freshness' (i.e., product shelf life). This is a good intermediate result. Why it's good, readers can appreciate for themselves. When serving an agricultural materials company, we found that the number of 'meeting sales' is a very important intermediate result. There is an agricultural materials company that, precisely because of good meeting sales, also does not assess salespeople on sales. Finally, let's review the four keywords for the year's layout: layout, tipping point, rhythm, and intermediate results.

Source: Teacher Liu's New Marketing (ID: liuchunxiong1964) Tips will be paid 400-2000 yuan once adopted.