Whether it's distributors selecting products or brands selecting channels, the most concern is undoubtedly sales. Sales are the foundation of cooperation between the two parties. Without sales, there is no sufficient profit, and without profit, talking about feelings is empty; such cooperation cannot last long. Moreover, the sales of new products often determine the size of profit margins, thus becoming a touchstone for cooperation between distributors and brands. So, how to ignite regional sales of a new product? 1 In the past, it was a two-pronged approach: one was air bombing through centralized media such as TV to occupy consumers' minds; the other was deep distribution, using a human-wave tactic to maximize control over channels and terminals, achieving seamless coverage of products to consumers, and realizing the "three reaches": see it (vivid display), hear it (terminal recommendation), and buy it (distribution rate). But now these two legs are basically broken. Because we have entered the VUCA era, an era where traditional rules and experience all fail. This era has four characteristics: Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity. This has caused a huge change in the marketing environment we face: the information asymmetry situation has been broken, consumers' voice has increased, and they have become more rational. The indoctrination-style advertising education no longer works. Moreover, most importantly, a large portion of traffic and attention has shifted online, and the purchase path has also shifted accordingly. Online ordering is becoming more and more convenient, which directly leads to the rapid decline of the influence and sales-driving power of offline terminals. Without sales, there is no basis for cooperation, and no loyalty. Even the once solid Wahaha joint sales system has begun to disintegrate under sales pressure. The relationship between distributors and brands is now delicate, especially the awkward position of distributors. In the past, the value of distributors was basically reflected through the deep distribution system. Now, the focus of channel operations has shifted from offline to online. Under the slogan of "de-intermediation," distributors have become a historical burden. 2 Bryusov said: If possible, walk ahead of the times; if not, advance with the times, but never fall behind them. Tragically, most distributors have fallen behind the times. There are no traditional enterprises, only traditional thinking. This saying also applies to distributors. As long as they change their thinking and reposition their own value, distributors can get rid of their current awkward situation. Where is the way out for distributors? I think distributors also need to walk on two legs: Offline, they should continue their original landing supporting and organizational advantages, providing good warehousing, logistics, and financial services for terminals, transforming from distributors to service providers; online, they need to master a theoretical system and tool, namely "deep fan marketing," learning to use fan thinking for traffic generation and distribution. What is "deep fan marketing"? Simply put, it uses fans as the channel for brand communication and product distribution. Fans are communication, and communities are terminals. It replaces the one-dimensional channel space of "deep distribution" (supermarkets, physical retail stores) with the three-dimensional space of "deep fan marketing" (scene, community, network). Through word-of-mouth, users influence users, ultimately achieving brand fission and sales explosion. The most typical case is Xiaomi. We all know Xiaomi's story well. At its start, it did not advertise on TV or other media, nor did it have distributors. It only relied on the initial 100 seed users to achieve phenomenal growth in communication and sales. One of the directions for our distributors to transform today is to become the "100 seed users" for brands. Distributors have multiple advantages in a closed region, such as connections, prestige, channels, professionalism, etc., which are the foundation for fan operations and online distribution. In the industrial era, the most expensive thing was location; in the traditional internet era, it was traffic; and now in the mobile internet era, it must be fans. In the past, brand building competed on advertising, but now it competes on the number of fans. Fans represent word-of-mouth, and word-of-mouth determines brand momentum. Having fans is equivalent to owning the prime location of the industrial era and the traffic entrance of the traditional internet era. If distributors treat fans as core assets, they won't worry about being eliminated. 3 Below are a few examples to illustrate how to play deep fan marketing. I have summarized a golden rule for your reference: First is stratification: that is, first identify the core target user group. We cannot make all users our fans, but through cultivating some core users, we can let them drive brand momentum and influence more people through word-of-mouth. It should be recognized that marketing communication in the internet era starts from a niche group and then progresses layer by layer, which is the biggest difference from traditional marketing. For example, in a liquor project we did in 2013 - Bomb Erguotou - we launched an activity called #Looking for Bomb People# to find core fans in Changsha for the brand. Driven by these enthusiastic fans, a small offline event was completely ignited, not only expanding the brand's awareness and reputation but also successfully creating momentum for the subsequent investment conference and conveying confidence to distributors. Second is emotionalization: that is, use emotional resonance to move the target group. Emotion is the core of building brand loyalty and is an important and key step from user to fan. Driven by emotion, fans will become loyal believers, communicators, and defenders of the brand. This rule was fully reflected in the project of Chuange Fish Dumplings. To evoke emotional resonance, we first positioned Chuange's core fans as "Qingdao people in Beijing" (Chuange Fish Dumplings is a well-known local catering brand in Qingdao), attracting fans through nostalgia. Then, during the Winter Solstice, we planned a creative H5: three missed calls, which when clicked, played holiday greeting voice messages from mother, sister-in-law, and best friend. This heartwarming plan moved countless people and made Chuange, a local brand, "a hit" in the Beijing market. Third is sense of participation: that is, let fans participate in product discussions and brand building at key nodes. A typical case is COFCO cashews. At that time, to promote this new cashew product for COFCO, we launched a #Foodie Quotes# selection activity among the fan base, resulting in a large amount of excellent UGC content. Some fans imitated the style of "A Bite of China" to write "Foodie Quotes," and some created funny and cute comic expressions based on cashews. These later became materials for our secondary communication, and some were even made into product waistbands. The above are some experiences and rules I have summarized from practice. To sum up in one sentence: play with fans, grow together, and accept empowerment from fans. In the VUCA era, both distributors and brands face unprecedented challenges, and deep fan marketing is the magic weapon to meet these challenges. -END-