In the traditional marketing era, online and offline were clearly separated. The brand department and advertising department were online; the sales department was offline. The front office was offline; the back office was online. Spending money was online; making money was offline. Online was brand-driven; offline was channel-driven. Online was image; offline was sales. 1 Later, Lei Jun said that offline could be abandoned. With the internet, online could also generate sales. With traffic online, there were sales. Traffic is sales. Communication is the channel. That's my saying. E-commerce is like this. One day, traffic might suddenly disappear. Teacher Jin Huanmin often says that Chinese companies are like crabs: once they turn red, they die. For example, Lei Jun was once red-hot and had traffic, but now his traffic has decreased significantly. When communication is gone, the channel is gone too. Now Lei Jun says his biggest mistake was neglecting offline. Why didn't he think of that earlier! My take is: Don't believe what people say when pigs fly; what they say when they fall is more credible. 2 Teacher Fang Gang says that channels come with their own traffic. The reason channel-driven works is that channels bring their own traffic. Moreover, channels are the most stable traffic. Teacher Fang Gang once led an elite channel team that specifically targeted brands, and he has deep insights. Of course, no single traffic source is reliable. So Teacher Fang Gang is also transitioning to the internet. No one is always at the center of communication. The scarcity of attention always creates centralization in communication. When new influencers rise, old ones fade. There's no way around it: attention is the eternally scarce resource. Communication is essentially competing for attention resources, and only by becoming the center of communication can it be effective. 3 Traffic is sales. That's right. Channels bring their own traffic. That's also right. Online traffic can enhance offline channels. Baijiao's communication is an example. Offline sales can be converted into online traffic. Xiaoshile is an example. Balanced online and offline: Jiangxiaobai is an example. For Jiangxiaobai, everyone focuses on the online side, but I see the other side: the offline. Both online and offline are communication. So I say, "4P are all communication". 4 Attacking a city requires breakthrough, relying on sharpness. Defending a city requires solidity, relying on having no weaknesses. Being good at both attack and defense is difficult, but the goal and direction are clear. The internet seems decentralized, but the scarcity of attention must create a larger center. Synchronous resonance is the basic principle for creating centralized events in a decentralized era. Becoming famous suddenly, and fading helplessly, is an inevitable confusion of the internet age. With "4P are all communication", you can break through with 1P, but you must quickly transition to normal operation of all 4Ps. If only Lei Jun had valued offline when he was red-hot, why wait until now? Unfortunately, that's human nature! 5 "4P are all communication" also needs to be communicated. Communication must seize the focus of attention, and the focus is on novelty. So, dog bites man is not news; man bites dog is news. "4P are all communication", whether it's 4P or IMC (Integrated Marketing Communications), is old stuff. People keep asking if we can find a new term. I haven't thought of one yet. 6 The hardest part of "4P are all communication" is that offline also communicates. Channels are "one-to-one", while communication is "one-to-many" or "many-to-many". People are channels. Deep distribution relies on a sea of people tactics. Feet are channels; channels are interpersonal relationships. Only when feet reach and mouths speak is it an interpersonal relationship. Twenty years ago, we advocated "Four Thousand and Four Ten Thousand": traverse thousands of mountains and rivers, enter thousands of households, think of thousands of ways, and say thousands of words. We also advocated "Four Diligences": diligent legs, diligent brain, diligent hands, and diligent mouth. In that era without the internet, that was the only way. It is said that there are 80 million marketing people in China, all doing channel work. Because channels are traffic, and people are relationships. It can be said that channel-driven support lifted Chinese companies; when there was no brand-driven, fortunately there was channel-driven. Deep distribution is unsustainable because channel-driven efficiency is too low. 7 The internet is the best weapon for marketing; I don't know why some people are so averse to it. With the internet, offline is online. Where feet reach, relationships are built; relationships are channels. Whether it's a channel or a terminal, it is itself a small center, influencing many people. Every link in the channel can be seen as a KOL. Every person in the channel can be the initiator of communication. Every activity in the channel should have communication value. 8 Offline is online, requiring a repositioning of marketing personnel. Offline personnel should not only be responsible for sales but also for regional communication. Offline is online, requiring new empowerment for marketing personnel. Communication is a new skill that offline personnel must master. Offline is online, requiring replanning of every promotional activity. Every activity should have communication value and should be amplified through communication. Source: Teacher Liu's Forum (ID: liuchunxiong1964) -END-