In regional market marketing, whether for brand or product promotion, or for attracting distributors or initiating consumption, precision and effectiveness are key. Once advertising is ineffective, it not only wastes resources but also greatly diminishes support for the market.
- Clear Objectives If a company is running regional market distributor recruitment advertising, it should choose influential regional media as the platform. The ad version should be refined, with clear selling points, and should prominently feature the brand (or product), which is also an important indicator of boosting distributor confidence. Advertising has a certain lag effect and needs to repeatedly stimulate the audience over a period, so recruitment advertising should avoid too short a cycle or too low a frequency. Generally, print media ads show effects after one month of placement, and TV ads after three months. Therefore, companies should be fully psychologically prepared and not give up halfway.
If the company's goal is regional market brand building and consumer education, in terms of media presentation, it can choose to directly lead with product selling point ads or adopt public relations promotion forms. In media selection, media planning should be based on the company's overall strategic plan and resource status. If resources are sufficient, you can choose 'satellite TV + local media + ground advertising + terminal activation'. If the company is small and the regional market is concentrated, use 'local media (based on actual ratings and consumer demographics) + ground advertising + terminal activation'. For TV media, in column selection, the 'high-rated media soft sponsorship naming + hard ads' model is the first choice, as it is both exclusive and economical.
- Matched Content Matched communication content easily touches the minds of target consumers, stimulates their desire to consume the product, and can stand out from many similar products.
Only matched, efficient, and resonant promotional content or advertising appeals can be effective; avoid empty communication appeals that leave consumers confused. Only matched communication content is content with selling power.
Let's take low-end, mid-range, and high-end liquor as examples to analyze the matching of promotional content.
Low-end liquor should tell consumers in simple, easy-to-understand language what they care about most: good taste, no headache, what target groups it suits, and what prizes are inside. For example, Old Village Chief liquor's 'Don't treat the village chief as a non-cadre' and promotional prize ads made many village cadres opinion leaders who drank it, leading farmers to drink this brand.
Mid-range circulation products should tell consumers that the product is distinctive and everyone is drinking it. For example, Xuanjiu's 'Small cellar brewing, softer', 'This year it's popular to drink Xuanjiu', 'Won Anhui Province's best-selling liquor for three consecutive years', making consumers feel that Xuanjiu has prominent consumption points and is very popular, creating a consumption trend.
High-end liquor should give consumers face, telling them that the liquor, whether in terms of grain, craftsmanship, vintage, or historical honor and grade, matches their status. For example, Shuijingfang's success in its day was astonishing; although it has fallen from grace, it once deeply moved consumers. Additionally, high-end products play with public relations, resources, brand, and consumer education. High-end consumers often have strong brand loyalty, and experience and public relations are key to leveraging high-end consumer groups.
- Precise Pathways In regional market operations, many regional operators or distributors often fail to grasp the rules of product promotion and cannot adopt promotion forms based on the grade of the main product, resulting in half the results with twice the effort, or even wasted resources.
Different consumer groups have their own unique characteristics. Precise communication corresponds to these consumer characteristics. For example, in online communication, consumers with different spending levels watch TV at distinctly different times. Consumers of different ages have distinctly different media choices. By identifying these differences and precisely selecting the best media, placement time, and frequency based on the brand's actual situation, you can achieve twice the results with half the effort. Moreover, not all products are suitable for large-scale online communication. For example, low-end liquor should place more posters, table cards, and push-pull stickers in small restaurants; circulation products should use vivid displays in famous tobacco and liquor stores, supermarkets, and other channels for product display and promotional materials, with extensive terminal activation far surpassing the effect of large outdoor ads. For some high-end products, display in B-class and above restaurants, using roll-up banners, display cabinets, etc., for product image display, directly faces the corresponding high-end consumer groups. Tasting sessions for opinion leaders directly create opportunities for them to contact the product, cultivate their taste and consumption habits, and enable them to drive surrounding target consumers.
I remember a brand called Zhuangjiayuan Liquor that, when launching in Zhengzhou, used flag advertising. One autumn morning, people rushing out of their homes suddenly saw eight young men holding four yellow flags at the intersection of the residential area, reading 'Zhuangjiayuan Liquor, pure grain brewing'. In the evening, the same young men held the flags. This continued for a month, and 'Zhuangjiayuan' liquor took root in the hearts of Zhengzhou residents, and its reputation is still good to this day. The communication cost was obviously low, but the effect was considerable, because the target selection was precise, the communication language was very appropriate, and it felt credible (of course, related to the product's excellent quality). People saw the ad during the day and could buy it at the door in the evening, a seamless process. If it were mid-to-high-end liquor priced at 50 yuan or even 100 yuan or more, such an approach would be somewhat terrifying.
Jing Liquor once heavily advertised on CCTV, taking the 'advertising + terminal' route through supermarket channels, but with little effect. Later, it shifted to C and D class restaurant terminals, using 125ml small square bottles, extreme terminal activation (posters, promotional materials), gifts, buy-one-get-one, etc., creating a unique marketing method at the time, achieving market breakthroughs and entering a fast development track.
Effect Prioritization When starting a new market, don't be intimidated by the brand atmosphere of strong competitors. You must clearly prioritize the order of promotional effects, such as 'storefront, in-store' - points, 'outdoor, bus' - lines, 'TV, radio, newspaper' - surfaces, to activate the regional market you operate. Use the least resources to achieve the greatest effect.
In-store The lower the brand awareness, the more attention should be paid to in-store activation and out-of-store advertising.
First, product display. Undoubtedly, invest in displays first, with prizes for displays, free shelf space, cash gifts. With increasing competition, giving cash for displays is more effective than giving products. Because now display promotions are not just done by you; everyone gives products, so store owners' enthusiasm isn't high. With limited resources, perhaps giving 2 bottles of wine a month is less appealing than a case of drinks.
Second, material atmosphere. After displays, what to invest in? Roll-up banners, display racks? Forget it, they are too easily removed by competitors. If there are 5-jin large bottles of wine, use them first; owners usually use them as decoration and won't remove them. For large KT board product ads, use ones that are difficult to remove, so they last longer. Display cabinets? Better to invest later, because your dedicated cabinet may not necessarily display your products.
- Storefronts Whether it's spray-painted frame storefronts or high-end acrylic suction storefronts, their investment has been widely recognized by manufacturers and distributors, and this is undoubtedly a priority; there are four reasons.
First, storefronts have low cost and can directly sell goods, making them still the first choice for starting a new market. So storefronts and displays are a stepping stone to win over store owners.
Second, storefronts have the effect of outdoor advertising. As long as the number of storefronts is sufficient (point media), their impact is much stronger than a few outdoor billboards or several bus body ads.
Third, storefronts can be said to be the closest advertising form to consumers, subtly influencing consumer decisions. Coupled with the store owner's recommendation, the effect is even more obvious.
Fourth, concentrate storefronts in a specific area, never scatter them. Develop a 'Hundred Store Project' plan; otherwise, the effect and influence will be greatly reduced.
Bus Body Ads Bus body ads are mobile advertising, with relatively long routes and wide coverage, making them a relatively good advertising form. However, compared to in-store and out-of-store promotional investment, the cost is high and the effect is not obvious. If corporate resources are insufficient, you can selectively invest or even not invest at all.
Other Surface Ads If corporate resources are sufficient, you can invest; if resources are tight, don't consider them at all.
Experiential Consumption Experiential consumption promotion, compared to advertising communication, is not only low-cost but also quick to show results.
There is too much advertising now, competition is fierce, and consumers are numb, seeing but not noticing, hearing but not listening.
Experiential promotion has three major advantages:
First, it informs consumers what the brand or product is doing, and can make consumers remember and even spread it.
Second, through promotional activities, consumers fully participate and experience the product. Only by experiencing your product can consumers feel it, judge its quality, and have a basis for next consumption, even establishing emotional connections with the brand or product.
Third, in terms of cost, small-scale promotional activities are low-cost and quick to show results.
For example, the cost of one large outdoor billboard can fund more than a dozen small promotional activities. If you hold 2 small activities per week in a small area, and continue for over 10 sessions, even with changing locations, the effect is imaginable.
Many companies prefer to invest in advertising rather than promotions because they treat promotional activities as sales promotions. If a promotion doesn't sell a large amount of product, they feel it's a loss. Seeing big companies investing heavily in advertising, they follow suit and invest in ads, but without much money, they get poor ad positions and poor promotional effects.
For companies, you must understand: what is the purpose of your promotional activities? Is it to sell a large amount of product, or to make consumers remember your brand, spread your brand, and experience your product? How can consumers flock to buy a brand with no awareness?
Any result comes from quantitative change to qualitative change, accumulated over time. Don't expect to create miracles overnight. That's a dream!
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