From the consumer perspective, brand sales growth has only two dimensions: first, more and more consumers buying the product, referred to as increasing customer acquisition volume; second, consumers buying more products per transaction, referred to as increasing average order value. Product sales = customer acquisition volume × average order value.
For distributors, sales targets are gradually increasing and never stop. At the same time, due to the overall market environment, sales expenses are decreasing year by year, making traditional promotional and price-war customer acquisition models ineffective. If the target consumer base does not grow, sales cannot sustain quality growth. But where can we increase customer acquisition volume? How should we operate?
********Today, on the issue of "customer acquisition volume," we discuss how brands and distributors can break traditional thinking, compete in a different dimension, and increase product customer acquisition through cross-industry alliances.
-01- Brand Alliances: Find opportunities for cross-industry cooperation, explore more integrable customer resources, and achieve win-win or even multi-win situations
Case: Mineral water and Ele.me joint promotion, achieving a win-win
I once served a mineral water company. Due to limited brand power, it was confined to certain regions, so its consumer base was also limited. Expanding customer acquisition became an urgent matter.
Before Qixi Festival (Chinese Valentine's Day) in 2018, we wanted to use the Chinese Valentine's Day to run several events to increase customer acquisition. But doing it alone had two problems: first, weak brand power meant little influence; second, large commercial districts were hard to negotiate or too expensive, making success unlikely.
So the marketing department head began seeking brand alliances, visiting major commercial districts to understand venue rental for Qixi events, and trying to negotiate alliances for activities. Eventually, we confirmed a joint promotion with the Ele.me platform.
The event was large but low-cost (venue fees were paid by Ele.me; we only sponsored water for the event performers and staff for a few days). Later, we gifted dozens of cases of water to the Ele.me office to maintain good relations, and in return, our mineral water entered many restaurants in the local market through the Ele.me platform.
Summary: Brand alliances require 3 points:
- Find resources: List any possible cooperation as a candidate, especially cross-industry resources with low competition; pay more attention to them.
- Test resources: There are no unattainable cooperations, only unagreeable terms. Try more and you will gain unexpected rewards.
- Leverage resources: Once the first cooperation is established, communicate in multiple ways to enhance relationships and "squeeze" the other party's "residual value."
-02- Promotion Alliances: Cross-industry joint promotional activities
Case: Nongfu Spring and a brand of instant hot water dispenser joint community promotion
Nongfu Spring has been laying out community water channels, placing vending machines in mid-to-high-end communities that sell household water (4-5L bottled water). But initial results were not ideal, simply because it was inconvenient for consumers to drink and heat the water, especially for children and the elderly; a 4L bottle was too heavy to carry.
To solve this, Nongfu Spring and a brand of instant hot water dispenser (very convenient: insert the water bottle into the slot, press a button for automatic water flow, automatic heating, and temperature control) jointly ran community promotions:
- Buy an instant hot water dispenser and get Nongfu Spring water; 2) Buy Nongfu Spring water and get an instant hot water dispenser; 3) Pay a lump sum and get both the dispenser and Nongfu Spring water. After several rounds of promotions, Nongfu Spring's community sales improved significantly.
Summary: Promotion alliances require attention to 3 points:
- The allied products should have comparable brand power in their industries; 2) The promotion venues should overlap; 3) The promoted products should complement each other and meet each other's needs.
-03- Customer Relationship Alliances: Enhance service awareness, not only serve customers well but also serve customers' employees
Case: In a regional market, cooperation between Yili and China Telecom
Milk has become an indispensable part of people's daily lives. In a certain regional market, a local Yili distributor had cooperated with local China Telecom on several sponsorship activities. During cooperation, they often communicated and found that many Telecom employees had a particularly high demand for milk. So the boss decided to offer all Telecom employees in that market area a special price (lower than the market retail price for group purchases) with year-round supply.
As the relationship between the companies and between employees warmed, a year-end surprise came: Telecom, in its year-end customer appreciation, allowed points to be redeemed for gifts online and offline. The Yili product line naturally became the top choice for point redemption, and around New Year's Day, more than 6,000 units were sold.
Summary: Customer relationship alliances require attention to 2 points:
- Alliances are not just between companies; company employees are even more important; 2) Deep communication can lead to pleasant surprises.
-04- Ecosystem Alliances: Organize gatherings, expand influence, establish a "boss marketing group," and obtain more cooperation resources
Case: A boss's daily activities and reciprocal exchanges
China's business circle is, to a large extent, a circle of reciprocity and human relationships, emphasizing mutual achievement and common progress. Bosses have many gifts and favors to give. As long as you keep careful records, cooperation opportunities are everywhere.
For example, a mineral water distributor boss met the director of a sports center, the general manager of an international brand discount company, and the owner of a high-end restaurant at a friend's gathering. During casual conversation, he introduced the advantages of his products and promised to send a batch for tasting the next day.
Later, after some time, the general manager reminded him that the water given to these potential customers had probably been consumed and needed to be sent again. After the second delivery, a qualitative change occurred:
The sports center became a brand window and specialty sales center for the mineral water brand. The international brand discount company invited the mineral water to promote for free at its large outdoor events (no venue fee). The mineral water successfully entered the high-end restaurant.
Summary: Ecosystem alliances require attention to 2 points:
- Mutual achievement and common progress; 2) Brand alliances and reasonable advancement.
-05- Channel Alliances: Break traditional marketing thinking and open up the three-dimensional space of "online, offline, and community"
Case: Cooperation between iced black tea and nightclub alliances
Products nearing their expiration date have always been a major headache for distributors. Although some measures can reduce the probability of their occurrence, achieving zero is almost impossible. Therefore, every distributor must find a good "drain" for near-expiry products to avoid profit loss.
A distributor of Master Kong Iced Black Tea met the owner of a local bar at a gathering and learned that the bar had a large demand for iced black tea, mostly used as gifts with alcohol purchases. As long as the products were within the shelf life and the packaging was not damaged, near-expiry iced black tea could be sold at the bar.
Subsequently, this distributor recalled near-expiry products from the market and sold them at the bar at a price lower than the factory price. On one hand, this reduced the handling costs of near-expiry products, increased goodwill with terminal stores, and added trust endorsement for promoting new products. On the other hand, it established a long-term cooperation with the bar and tapped into higher value.
The bar owner was the president of the local nightlife association. Through resource integration, the distributor's entire beverage line was eventually listed on the association's B2C beverage platform, and community group buying was continuously promoted in WeChat groups of bar enthusiasts.
Summary: Channel alliances require attention to 3 points:
- Channel dimension alliance: understand channel consumption needs; bar iced black tea is rarely drunk directly, mostly used for mixing drinks; 2) Deeply explore channel value, not just traditional offline value; open up the three-dimensional space of "online, offline, and community"; 3) The basis of cooperation is mutual trust, mutual benefit, and win-win cooperation.
Final Thoughts:
Cross-industry alliances have the following benefits: 1. Efficiently add new outlets and increase brand audience; 2. Joint promotion reduces costs and increases efficiency; 3. Build a brand ecosystem for win-win cooperation; 4. Enhance brand power, build brand reputation, and drive sales growth.
In the traditional market environment, competition for customer acquisition channels is increasing, and customer acquisition volume is decreasing. Brands and distributors must fully leverage cross-industry alliances and compete in a different dimension to achieve effective and long-term sales growth.
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