---
title: "The Biggest Lie in Marketing: Once the Brand Is Established, Products Sell Themselves"
description: "The claim that 'once the brand is established, products sell easily' is a myth that serves as an excuse for many. In reality, even big brands struggle to sell, and success often comes from factors beyond branding, such as channel strategy and operational excellence."
author: "刘春雄"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
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published: "2018-06-22"
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# The Biggest Lie in Marketing: Once the Brand Is Established, Products Sell Themselves

> The claim that 'once the brand is established, products sell easily' is a myth that serves as an excuse for many. In reality, even big brands struggle to sell, and success often comes from factors beyond branding, such as channel strategy and operational excellence.

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"Once the brand is established, products sell easily."
This kind of talk is popular. Not because it makes sense, but because it provides an [excuse] for many people.
Those who say this, I can only say they are naive.
How many new companies, initially with weak brand power, later grew big and naturally became brands.
How many big brands, initially with strong brand power, collapsed because they performed poorly.
1
Everything is ready, except the east wind. If nothing is ready, try giving you the east wind?
Salespeople at well-known companies know: even with big brands, selling products is not easy.
If you don't believe it, ask the salespeople at industry giants; their days are not easy either, and annual turnover rates are not low.
Those well-known companies present one face externally and another internally in meetings.
Externally they look glamorous, internally problems keep arising. Even Jack Ma is like this.
Those big brands do not relax at all because of their brand strength. **Their other marketing work is far better than that of ordinary companies.**
So, the idea that once the brand is established, products sell easily is just a fantasy.
2
Brand first, then sales follow. Such a thing has existed temporarily in certain periods.
In a society where products are scarce and consumer mindsets are immature, some illogical phenomena existed briefly, but do not assume long-term rationality because of brief existence.
For example, due to immature mindsets, products like "XXX Magic Energy Bag" once achieved temporary success through advertising.
For example, due to information asymmetry, former "CCTV bid champions" briefly sold well because companies dared to gamble, but almost all of them disappeared except a few that had solid foundations.
There are also illusions, such as a company with good branding also doing other marketing work well. But because branding has the most communication effect, it creates an illusion: these companies sell well because of good branding.
Take a recent case: Jiangxiaobai did almost everything well in marketing, but the communication result seemed like Jiangxiaobai was built on expression bottles and copywriting, which is not the case at all. For example, Jiangxiaobai's requirement for distributors is: achieve 70% distribution rate within a deadline, with 70% in cash.
Some basic marketing work is boring and has no communication value. No communication does not mean it wasn't done. Media, whether traditional or self-media, always communicates what has communication value.
The idea that once the brand is established, products sell easily is largely an illusion created by media communication.
3
Besides branding, are there other paths in marketing? If no other path is found, then this single-plank bridge is the only way.
This kind of topic is hard to convince with empty talk, so let me give a few examples.
Yinmai Beer, except for some consumers in Shandong and some professionals, many people probably have not heard of this brand.
This non-famous brand that focuses on channels rather than branding, in some of Tsingtao's advantageous markets in Shandong, beat Tsingtao (four words omitted here).
At that time, leading Yinmai's expansion was marketing expert Mr. Fang Gang. Once after a few drinks, Mr. Fang Gang said in my group that he felt this set of methods could conquer the world.
On the night Yinmai was acquired by Tsingtao, Mr. Fang Gang and his brothers drank all the beer in the hotel.
As someone who wrote "Not a Brand but Selling Well" and "Brand Cannot Be Eaten as Food", I can understand Mr. Fang Gang's feelings at that time.
**What defeats a brand is never a stronger brand, but something beyond the brand.**
4
Around 2000, Uni-President instant noodles began to decline in sales. Sales dropped from second place in the industry to fifth. Many people might not even know who was fourth.
This decline lasted eight consecutive years. It is said that Uni-President's top management once considered giving up the instant noodle business in mainland China.
When sales decline, of course, the brand is the first thing people think of. Simple attribution often points to the brand.
To say something offensive, I doubt the marketing professionalism of those who think this way.
Since the brand has a problem, of course, we must first save the brand!
So, increased investment and various measures came out. The brand got better, but sales continued to decline. Until sales fell to fifth place, but ordinary consumers still thought Uni-President's brand was second.
Isn't that ridiculous!
It was only after 8 years, when Liu Xinhua took office, that he rejected the idea that the brand was the problem. He launched "Laotan Sauerkraut" and finally stopped the decline.
However, even with Laotan Sauerkraut, the public only saw advertising, brand, and other elements, not the huge changes in Uni-President's market operation model. Many people still think Laotan Sauerkraut was a brand success.
5
The relationship between brand and sales is certainly mutual causation. But media communication often does not reflect this.
It's like climbing stairs: two feet serve as support points for each other, moving up alternately, not one foot jumping up.
When brand value increases, it supports sales. When sales grow, it also enhances brand value.
I once heard a boss say the most confident words: **Brand is the accumulation of sales.** When I heard this on the spot, I had mixed feelings. This statement surpasses many brand experts. However, he may not know McKinsey's famous saying: **Absolute sales produce absolute brand.**
This boss is the same age as me. I went to university at 17, he entered a factory; I graduated with a master's at 24, he became a boss. He never studied marketing, doesn't understand brand theory, yet now he is an industry giant.
He summarized that in the years when the company grew fastest, they had no money for branding. In the years when the company invested most in branding, sales were the most difficult.
6
Is it that with a brand, products sell well, or that when products sell well, it becomes a brand? This might be a chicken-and-egg question. Arguing over such a question is not my style.
But I can be sure that both logics hold. There is no need to argue, but what conclusions you draw depends on the individual.
Some might say: since with a brand, products sell well, then I'll wait for you to build the brand. My poor sales are because of brand problems.
Others might say: since when products sell well, it becomes a brand, then regardless of whether it's a brand, I'll find ways to sell. As long as sales are good, it must be a brand.
**Every statement has believers, depending on your stance.**
**Disputes over views are actually disputes over stances. Those who have a stance first are hard to change their views.**
7
As a soldier, you must seize the position even without air support. As a marketer, you must make sales even without resources, and make sales even without a brand.
Find sales paths beyond branding, and you can walk the marketing road on your own. Otherwise, you will always rely on others' umbrellas for shade.
With sales, you gradually accumulate resources, and you can invest in branding beyond sales. Of course, this statement is still vulgar enough, because sales itself accumulates brand.
Those big companies were not born big.
Those multinational companies that entered China with brand power were not brands at the start, such as Procter & Gamble over 170 years ago, which was not a brand at all. It became a brand only after more than 60 years of entrepreneurship, thanks to the advent of radio.
Many local brands today started from scratch. Surviving is the duty, building a brand is the dream.
If the father is rich, the son naturally has money. If the father is ordinary, the son can still rise above. When the son rises, the grandson will have money.
8
Even with a brand, will products necessarily sell well?
With the same brand, some regions sell poorly, and distributors are constantly eliminated. Does the brand not shine everywhere?
With the same brand, some employees sell poorly, and salespeople constantly leave. Does the brand not distribute its benefits equally?
Some without a brand later became brands; some once were brands, but later ceased to be.
Generally, companies with good branding also do other marketing work well. It's just that ordinary people see the brand but not the other work. Or, the result of all marketing work is the brand.
**Treating "brand building" as an independent task is itself a misinterpretation of the brand.**
Such misinterpretations were common in the past, but now they are increasingly rare.
9
This article does not provide sales paths beyond branding, nor can it provide such paths, but such paths certainly exist and are numerous.
**All brands went from unknown to well-known. Therefore, the core logic of marketing is not what to do when you have a brand, but what to do when you don't.**
The biggest logical error in this statement is: using the logic of the [successful] to reverse-engineer the logic of [moving toward success]. Inferring the process from the result.
Wang Jianlin can say: first set a small goal, like 100 million. This is the logic of the already successful Wang Jianlin. Wang Jianlin in the early days of his business would not say this.
Already successful companies can apply this logic when launching new products. Because their resources are sufficient to support brand first, then sales follow, creating a [time gap] between brand and sales.
**The logic of [moving toward success] is the logic of entrepreneurship. The logic of entrepreneurship is: if I succeed in business, I will have money. Not: if I have money, I can start a business.**
Having money is not entrepreneurship; it's investment. Investment is money making money, while entrepreneurship is starting from scratch.
A brand expert once said: brand plans without advertising budgets are all hooliganism.
Most companies' marketing must follow entrepreneurial logic. Entrepreneurial marketing in line with entrepreneurial logic is: when products sell well, they naturally become a brand.
Source: Teacher Liu's Forum
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