First, the direct pressure of attacking a regional market is the squeeze from numerous competitors. Without core competitiveness and innovative thinking, a company will either fail to grow or go bankrupt. To achieve different results, start with different approaches. Managing a market, attacking is the best defense and blockade! So what are the strategies for regional markets? 1. Flanking attack strategy; 2. Direct attack strategy; 3. Local attack strategy. Below we analyze these three strategies. I. Flanking Attack Strategy The flanking attack strategy can be called a "four ounces moving a thousand pounds" form of attack. It seeks to find and seize market opportunities and timing, create differentiated paths, avoid direct confrontation with regional leading brands, and use indirect tactics to seize new high ground. 1. Segment the regional market: Why did our Runfa Trading choose FMCG as its main business three years ago, with the main battlefield in District C? This was the conclusion drawn after three months of systematic market research: Advantages: 1. The company's management team has over ten years of experience in FMCG market operations and is very familiar with local township markets; 2. They understand multiple supply chain channels and have good supply chain connections; 3. The team is young, clear-thinking, and daring. Disadvantages: 1. Capital shortage; 2. Sales team instability. Opportunities: 1. Townships and villages have achieved cement hardened roads through the "Village-to-Village Project"; 2. Among the four districts in the city, District C's population is second only to District A (urban) and District B; 3. The service awareness of secondary distributors in towns is the most lacking among the four districts, with most being sedentary merchants, only 1-2 having distribution capabilities, and serving only surrounding villages. In District A (urban) and District B, although the resident population is large, competition is extremely fierce, and they are key service areas for large trading companies and many small wholesale departments; 4. District D has a weak population base and consumption capacity, so it is not considered as a main battlefield for now. Challenges: 1. How to bypass the secondary distributors in District C and directly reach the market through product + marketing strategy + service; 2. While segmenting the regional market, which channel should be chosen as the "ignition point" for the product; 3. Which brand should be cultivated as the company's star brand. 2. Segment pricing If you set a price band that is a gap for competitors and also has significant consumer demand, it is a golden opportunity and breakthrough. For example, in the market, Qili Vitamin Drink and Dongpeng Special Drink are both seizing and eroding Red Bull's market share. Dongpeng's price is set between 3-3.5 yuan, which is a gap in Red Bull's vitamin drink price band. As we see now, Dongpeng Special Drink has conquered a large number of consumers, while Qili Vitamin Drink, priced similarly to Red Bull, is still struggling in the market. Of course, Dongpeng's initial flanking attack strategy of segmenting regions was also appropriate; it chose the rural consumer market, which was the price gap and weak brand area of Red Bull's functional drinks at that time. 3. Segment core channels Take the example of Blue Ribbon Beer in our city. Its initial core channel was home distribution services, and it eventually spread to every corner of the city. Every product must have its own core sales channel during the introduction period; it is unrealistic to do well in all channels. Even since the first can of Red Bull functional drink was sold in the Guangxi market in 1998, many special channels have not been fully penetrated, such as the chess and card channels, catering channels, and banquet channels that are still being deeply cultivated. So starting from segmenting core channels, finding the "ignition point" for your product's market introduction is very important. As we see, for our Runfa Trading's alcoholic beverages, the sales-oriented core channel is village terminal outlets, and the brand promotion-oriented core channel is banquet services. II. Direct Attack Strategy The direct attack strategy is based on the competitor's 80/20 market, targeting the 20% of the competitor's market with direct attacks to weaken their market share and erode their share. In our city, the Snow Beer urban distributor does this well. The competitor's core channel is the catering channel, and he focuses on attacking the competitor's catering channel. However, this type of distributor must have sufficient funds and continuous support from the manufacturer. During my consulting work for a plant protein beverage brand, I assessed its market: 1. The brand has very little competitive resistance in our city and is a first-tier brand nationally; 2. Analyzing its product price and characteristics, the core sales and brand promotion channels should be urban self-service and supermarkets; 3. The team's overall combat effectiveness is not strong. Based on the analysis of these three market characteristics, I adjusted the entire marketing strategy. First, optimize existing township outlets (mainly wholesale and self-service supermarkets), and position core channels (urban self-service stores); second, during holidays, large government-organized events, and local festivals, carry out PC brand promotion activities to cultivate consumer groups. That is, based on the analysis of these three market characteristics, the product should use the direct attack strategy during the introduction period, quickly occupy core channels, and launch large-scale PC promotional activities to cultivate people, while competitors are still brewing, directly positioning itself in a dominant, unshakable absolute leadership position. III. Local Attack Strategy In recent years, market consumption has indeed been weak. Manufacturers, due to the disparity in cost-to-sales ratios, have adopted line contraction to protect profits. At this time, local markets or local channels give second-tier brands room to survive. Take our Runfa Trading's distribution of Kinmen Beer as an example. Our survival in the fiercely competitive beer industry is a miracle, but also inevitable. In the local markets of first-tier brands (such as townships and villages), the cost-to-sales ratio cannot support the investment of manpower, materials, and finances by distributors or manufacturers. They often choose to contract their lines. Our Runfa Trading's organizational structure and 3-5 year strategic direction happen to target the "chicken rib markets" of first-tier brands. We set up sub-warehouses with a "1 town driving 1 township" model, each with 2-3 staff (warehouse keeper + salesperson + salesperson). Many may wonder, how many outlets are there in a town to serve so many people? In fact, we have been doing the "channel intensive cultivation" work that many manufacturers have advocated for years. Our salespeople mainly serve villages. After three years of market development, we cannot say that every village has our full product range, but at least 1-2 categories are in cooperation. At the same time, each sub-warehouse collects data on village routes, outlet numbers, and best-selling categories. In the era of big data, whether information is symmetrical directly affects the company's performance. What we need to do well is: find the competitor's weak areas and implement local attack strategies; refine our own local markets; and improve service quality to downstream customers. Our Runfa Trading's goal is "rather be a big fish in a small pond than a little chicken in a flock of phoenixes." Source: Same Marketing