Defining the Scope of Niche Products I have two understandings of niche products: First, niche products are relative to mass products. Today they may be niche, but in the future they have the potential to become mass products, representing a trend. Second, niche products originate from consumption stratification; the era of one product meeting everyone's needs is over. I have summarized several fundamental differences between mass and niche products: First, mass products focus on category, niche products focus on people. So mass products are basically about what category they belong to, while niche products emphasize a certain group. Second, mass products emphasize positioning, niche products emphasize definition. Many products emphasize that niche products are defined by users. Third, mass products emphasize commonality, niche products emphasize individuality. Mass products have successful patterns, niche products can only find successful trajectories, meaning they are not replicable. Fourth, mass products can be imitated, niche products require creation. Therefore, the ownership of mass products is generally understood as the brand asset belonging to the manufacturer, but niche products belong to the users. Understanding the difference between niche and mass products is very beneficial for how we specifically make niche products. The 'Five Transformations' of Niche Products Personification. Personification is a concept higher than functionalization. When consuming certain products, we are also seeking like-minded people. Personified products must have character, personality, attitude, warmth, and be willing to make friends with users. They should not be understood as cold products, but as a person. Symbolization. Symbolization is a recognition system, an externalization of values. It is best to express it so that consumers know who it is at a glance. Mass products also have symbolization, such as McDonald's M, KFC's KFC, etc. It is a recognition system. Communitization. Communitization is the structuring of users, the operational organization system of niche products, and the process of finding like-minded people through social forces. It generally goes through four stages: first, upgrading cognition; second, stimulating emotions; third, forming strength; fourth, transforming into a tribe. First, upgrading cognition. Originally, consumers drinking alcohol wouldn't think about whether it was good wine, but we invented some methods for identification, which are also quite ritualistic. For example, pulling the wine thread, observing the wine flower, burning naked wine, etc., to educate consumers. Using simple cognitive methods to identify products is very suitable for building word-of-mouth in the early stage of niche products. Second, stimulating emotions. Promoting products requires mobilizing users' emotions, not emphasizing product functions, because consumers are not sensitive to functions. From recent international events, everyone's emotions towards Huawei have been ignited, and Huawei phones have gained many users in recent days. Third, forming strength. Through cognition and emotion, a force must be formed. When more and more people identify with you, the fourth step is to transform the tribe. So communitization, as I understand it, is the structuring of users. Emotionalization. Emotionalization is divided into grand sentiments and small emotions. Sentiments should not be talked about every day; if you do, it becomes a religious organization. Emotions can be talked about every day because humans are emotional animals, and users are usually capricious. So in terms of emotions, we must let customers perceive rather than be told; many people no longer like the repetitive way of spreading a single sentence. My understanding of emotionalization has four points: First, empathy. Like Teacher Ding Ding's F Rose Fenjiu, in the photos taken, there is a car key, roses, etc. This kind of picture can strongly stimulate others' empathy. Second, resonance, that is, emotional resonance. Third,共鸣 (resonance), expressing some viewpoints and topics so that users feel we have opinions and attitudes. Fourth, dialogue with users. For example, if he originally thought the price was high, once emotionalized, he may become insensitive to price. Stratification. Once a stratum is formed, it indicates that the operation of niche products has achieved phased results. Therefore, stratification is the result of community operation, or phased results. The Operational Logic of Niche Products The success of niche products must have its operational logic. This is the third point I want to share. Regarding the operational logic of niche products, I have sorted out four points: Make benchmarking a sharp knife, continuously attacking the mass market. Why find a benchmark? Because if we cannot find a benchmark, it is difficult to find which users we want to win over. In the mass era, benchmarking was about admitting that your brand and product rank after Moutai and Wuliangye. But in the internet era, only the first is recognized, not the second, so benchmarking has changed. In the liquor industry, almost all benchmark against Moutai. For example: Mengzhilan benchmarks against Moutai, emphasizing new national liquor, because Moutai is the old national liquor; Luzhou Laojiao emphasizes strong aroma national liquor, because the national liquor trademark cannot be registered; Qinghua Lang emphasizes one of China's two major sauce aroma liquors; Wuliangye also emphasizes great national strong aroma, all actually benchmarking against Moutai. But Wuliangye benchmarking against Moutai cannot completely win over Moutai's users; it more likely squeezes out the second brand. So we must make benchmarking a sharp knife. Teacher Zhao Qiang in the Fans Research Institute group also emphasized in the book "Learning Marketing from Chairman Mao" that products should have a sharp knife effect. Secondly, we must continuously attack the mass market. If we cannot attack the mass market, our attention will be very low. So attacking the mass market and finding a benchmark is the first step to the success of niche products. Many people often make products in a small circle based on personal hobbies or sentiments, but it is difficult to gain mass recognition. So the purpose of continuously entering the mass market is to seize the upgraded mass. The tool for competing with the mass is public cognition. In the mobile internet era, we can actually spend less or even no money to use public cognition for promotion. For example, I recently participated in an NFC beverage project. When promoting to children, we only used one point: teaching parents to look at the back label. Because when parents buy drinks for their children now, the first action is to look at the ingredients. Parents see that NFC means not from concentrate, meaning it is basically fruit. Such actions and products will be liked by parents. Public cognition is now simple because if you don't understand, you can search on Baidu. Using public cognition, the product has been well promoted. The way to attack is to mobilize emotions; only emotions are easy to ignite, are irrational, and become word-of-mouth faster. After we popularized NFC, parents began to discuss: "We can't let children drink drinks casually; most of the drinks we used to drink contain cyclamate, additives, etc." So emotions were ignited. The result of the attack is to gain user recognition; our goal must be clear. The attack here is not to attack, but to gain user recognition without emphasizing the opponent's shortcomings. Carry out 'mobile warfare' to the end. The magic weapon for promoting niche products is to constantly stir up and create momentum, because in the early stage there cannot be potential energy. The essence of mobile warfare is "actively choosing a battlefield favorable to oneself, and gaining advantage by continuously shifting space." Today, we compete with opponents simultaneously in three spaces: offline, community, and network. Mobile warfare is more conducive to our continuous shifting of space and gaining advantage. In "Bright Sword," there is a high-density frontal battle between Li Yunlong and Chu Yunfei. Li Yunlong used spatial advantage to defeat Chu Yunfei. If we can deeply understand "mobile warfare," it can be said to be a very effective tactic for niche promotion. Break through the fan relationship chain. When promoting niche products, we must break through the fan relationship chain. Because winning over fans is just a point, winning over fan relationships is a line. If you establish a symbiotic relationship with fans' fans, and fans' fans' fans, it becomes a surface, or even a three-dimensional strategy. We used to be too inclined to win over fans, without developing deeply and influencing, and work was often superficial. From recent practice, breaking through the fan relationship chain and developing deeply is, in my opinion, a very key point in promoting niche products. Misconceptions about Niche Products I understand there are three misconceptions about niche products. First, do not treat users as business objects. Teacher Fang Gang also said this in the group a few days ago, because users or fans may only be consumption spokespersons or can influence. Developing these people as partners or business objects has very low effectiveness in practice. Second, niche products have two organizations: one is the internal business organization, and the other is the external fan organization. These two organizations, internal strength, external value, and mutual coordination. If we rely solely on internal organization and do not establish a fan organization, operations and costs are very high. Our fans must also be organized, establishing a link or organization or relationship chain. The management of these two organizations is equally important. Third, understanding of interests. Often we understand interests only as money, fame, power, etc. Interests include not only money but also emotions, integrity, knowledge, or some kind of spiritual comfort. If fans identify with our product, through consumption, the product can be labeled. Different users use different interests to give the product different identities or labels, which is also a kind of interest. For niche products, it is difficult to find a reference model. Therefore, the exploration and operation of niche products, I think, will always be on the way, requiring continuous innovation and creation. The above are some of my cold thoughts on niche products. Cold thoughts are thoughts after calming down. I hope they can bring inspiration to everyone. Thank you. If the tip is adopted, a reward of 400-2000 yuan will be paid. China FMCG + Internet Professional New Media Committed to FMCG manufacturer and distributor transformation and channel digital solutions