Shi Wei: From learning to best practices in marketing How should we view marketing? What are the future paths and trends? The core question is this. Let's explore from a historical perspective, seeing where the river of marketing has flowed from and where it will go. Chinese enterprises truly began to have marketing concepts and ideas in the 1990s. Although reform and opening-up started in 1978, in the first decade, corporate marketing awareness was not fully stimulated due to supply falling short of demand. From the 1990s, Chinese brands and excellent brands rose, and marketing truly entered people's视野. Since the 1990s, Chinese enterprises have not fully followed classic marketing theory; we have been learning and borrowing. Kotler's textbooks were all the rage, but in reality, China's national conditions took a different path. Our national conditions are vast territory, multi-layered, and consumers themselves are not highly subjective, meaning they are more influenced by the information environment. Against this backdrop, before the internet wave, Chinese enterprises' innovation directions or paths were basically two: 1. Emphasizing channels For a long time, Chinese enterprises did not truly take demand as the orientation, because classic marketing is demand-oriented. Chinese marketing theory actually aims to persuade, control, and even dominate consumers. This is also related to the weak subjectivity of consumers I mentioned. The method of control, for a long time, was through channels, controlling retail terminals, and thereby influencing consumers. This is the background of deep distribution. In the FMCG and home appliance industries, deep distribution is ultimately the best practice. 2. Chinese marketing innovation Besides deep distribution, there is one that is not often mentioned, which can be called proactive marketing or customer mobilization. Extensive customer mobilization and extensive activities are basically not marketing but promotion. Extensive customer mobilization includes inviting customers to factories and large events, mainly in building materials, furniture, real estate, and home appliances. FMCG is slightly less. I believe these two are the most important innovations and are effective. In terms of communication, it basically follows a broadcast style, grasping core communication resources, standing high and shouting down, so the whole village hears. This was also innovation before the internet. However, this kind of innovation deviates somewhat from classic marketing; it does not truly take demand as the orientation, and in some places, it even goes astray. Looking at Chinese enterprises today, few truly have marketing genes. Most enterprises, even after decades, still operate within the sales category, practicing within sales. I have also analyzed this; it may be related to the external market. Because the external market is too vast, there is no need to analyze demand, segment, position, or communicate precisely. As long as you mobilize customers in the fastest and most powerful way, you can reap market dividends. The second stage: the internet arrived. In the internet field, it basically started with imitation. It actually uses another logic: the logic of capital. That is, using the power of capital to acquire customer traffic, and at this time, the product becomes less important. Of course, the product has value. What is the value of the product? It is a carrier, a tool, a medium for acquiring traffic. You can lower the product price very much and use various methods, but while imitating, internet companies deeply rely on China's national conditions, mobilizing customers and proactive marketing, like Tmall's Double 11, which mobilizes customers as a whole. This is also an innovation. Internet innovation reached the Pinduoduo era and the community group buying era, which have Chinese national conditions. From the beginning, the rise of traffic was the same as abroad: low prices, agreements, acquiring customer traffic, but in the later period, innovations based on national conditions also appeared. This stage did not fully follow the classic marketing path. Simply put, it was still a wartime mode, like movements, mobilization, resource allocation, etc. Shi Wei: Three spaces, trinity Now we are in the third stage. The noise of the internet is almost over, new models are fewer, and there are not many internet imitation targets left; all that can be imitated has been imitated. Moreover, China's economy has entered a new normal, a new stage. At this time, I think a new revolution or innovation in marketing is indeed beginning. Simply put, China's future economy can be summarized in one sentence: high-quality growth or the conversion of economic growth momentum. This "momentum conversion" is now often discussed in the media as technological innovation and technology-driven. We also need to see demand traction and consumption upgrading. These are also the power resources of new momentum. New momentum is not only technology; our 1.3 billion people's aspiration for a better life and pursuit of happiness is also a huge momentum. So I think this era has begun. Under such a prelude, does our new marketing theory completely overturn previous theories? Actually, not entirely. To some extent, we need to further return to the classic marketing theories we previously neglected. Innovation here also contains a meaning of return. In the past, we neglected demand, so today we may need to return to the demand side. There is a meaning of "return," not just "inheritance," nor completely "overturning." Therefore, the future new marketing model must both open new paths and generally look back to the "original intention" at the source of the Yellow River. At the same time, we should still borrow and use the tactics and strategies accumulated over these decades. This is roughly my view. Finally, let me talk about the key points of the new model of integration. The change in the future marketing environment is, in one sentence, from one space to three spaces. Previously, customer traffic was distributed in the physical world; now it is distributed online and in communities, so it becomes three spaces. Three-dimensional space is completely different from one-dimensional space. Channel arrangements and communication arrangements are much more complex than before. Traditional enterprises are caught off guard because the three-dimensional space suddenly arrived, but in the past, they only had one space. Second, the new connection bridge. With the space widened, the connection bridge between supply and demand must change. Previously, there were two bridges:

  1. Mass communication, the bridge of cognition;
  2. The circulation bridge, also called the transaction bridge, which is deep distribution. Mastering dealer channels. If you do these two well, goods go from the supply side to the demand side, and product value is realized. Now suddenly, these two bridges must become two new bridges.
  3. Media and channels merge, that is, communication and transaction merge. Are mobile official accounts, WeChat accounts, and mini-programs channels or media? They are both channels and media. This is the biggest change. So at this time, the original two bridges merge. In my book, I define this as the "new customer interaction bridge." Traditionally, we talk about information flow and business flow, and both happen on this bridge.
  4. Logistics becomes independent, another bridge, not a main marketing element, but social infrastructure. For us, marketing personnel basically do not need to study logistics. Even at Tanggula Pass or in Tibet, goods can be delivered. What we need to study is the bridge of interaction with customers. This is my second point. One is three spaces; the other is the new connection bridge. There are three topics in interacting with customers. Interaction with customers must achieve three functions, three purposes, and complete three tasks. First, let customers know. In this sense, some traditional cognitive theories, integrated marketing communications, and even positioning are still effective in the cognitive category. I have asked many people, and they all like positioning. I think as a theory or method, it has not completely failed. For some consumers, refining core concepts and deciding with one word still has certain applicable scenarios and applicability. This is the cognitive category. Second, transaction. We not only achieve cognition but also must achieve transaction. Without transaction, business cannot be done; the essence of a business model is transaction. Third, relationship. Not only transaction but also customer relationships. I propose that cognition is transaction, and what you see is what you get. There is another sentence that people generally do not understand: transaction is relationship. Is this a new concept? No, we have brought in traditional relationship marketing. Such a model and way of thinking, I think, is an integrated innovation.
  5. Three spaces: This is a factual description.
  6. One bridge: This is a definition and summary of new things.
  7. Three topics: This is a refinement or outlook of new rules of the game, a reminder for enterprises. In past practice, cognition, transaction, and relationship all occurred. We just connected them to form a closed loop. Starting from cognition, cognition leads to transaction, and transaction leads to relationship. Or, transaction deepens relationships, making others have deeper cognition of us. This is a closed loop that can start from any point. As a general logic, we start from cognition. Theoretically, we start from cognition. In practice, different enterprises are in different states and can start from different links. Now, I think there is a pleasant thing domestically: traditional enterprises have started to move. For example, in the clothing industry, some enterprises have done well in three-dimensional space, and the furniture industry is also doing these things. Finally, let me say one more thing: Is it that by doing the trinity of three-dimensional space, we have completely overturned foreign brands? I think this does not exist. No matter which module, whether it is the membership module or the new retail module, foreign brands are still ahead of us. We must have a clear understanding of this. Taking the community as an example, Nike does the best. I saw an article this morning about ten forms of membership. Their membership system is already very refined. We cannot think that because we have some new practices, we have completely surpassed them. That is not the case. It is just that we may generally surpass others in combined innovation, but in each small module, I think we should still respect competitors. Jin Huanmin: There is no new marketing, only new sales In the circle of acquaintances, Teacher Liu has a label, and I have a label. Teacher Liu proposed new marketing and made it hot. I feel that China's new marketing is just Teacher Liu's label; that is China's new marketing. Among mainstream marketing experts, Teacher Liu is the first to label it. I have always had my own views on this issue. Just now, Professor Shi said that China has never followed classic marketing. (Shi Wei: Not much, just borrowing.) Multinational companies have done some classic marketing according to this. Mr. Gao Jianhua has always been distressed about Chinese marketing. China has not done marketing; Chinese enterprises have been doing sales. Gao Jianhua must have an unexpected thought: How did China, which does sales, achieve such great economic achievements? A while ago, I saw his view again: What should Chinese enterprises, which have achieved great economic achievements, do next? Actually, it is still the issue of marketing and sales. From Gao Jianhua's perspective, from his past views on Chinese marketing to his current views, he uses multinational companies as a standard. If we measure Chinese enterprises by multinational companies, we would all have to close down. At best, we would only solve the problem of food and clothing. How could we have come this far? When we talk about marketing, should we use classic theory as a benchmark to measure Chinese marketing? Or should we measure the persistent Chinese marketing and today's new changes to distinguish old and new? I feel that if we compare with classic marketing, this comparison is not very meaningful. Because Chinese marketing has come this way. Just now, Teacher Shi talked about the role of sales in Chinese marketing. I am also studying this issue. I use the term strategic sales. China has launched the largest sales campaign in the history of economic development. I personally think this sales is the largest follow-up action. Chinese enterprises are not to be placed in an international context or global context; as a whole, Chinese enterprises are a follow-up group. They do not need to do marketing. Do I still need to study this? What do I study? Study demand? No. Whatever Nike does, I just need to make it cheaper, as good, or even better. Multinational companies are paving the road, sweeping the road, and upgrading the road for us. We must understand Chinese marketing starting from sales. If we think Chinese enterprises have no marketing, it is because they do not understand Chinese enterprises. No one understands demand better than the Chinese. I have always studied this issue. Multinational companies do top-down marketing: whoever has money, I earn from them. Chinese enterprises do bottom-up marketing: whoever has no money, I serve them. The upgrade of Chinese enterprise marketing is also inherent. At the beginning, I could not do it at all. What I did was, how to say, township enterprises and village enterprises. That is how I started. I was a poor guy, starting to provide services to you. I did not think about how to empty your pockets, but how to make you able to afford it. This logic is different from multinational companies, and it succeeded. To date, China's global position is that it has established global advantages in the middle and low end. If Western countries regret anything, it is coming to China to make money, because the money is too hard to earn. They thought of making money in China, moved their enterprises here, engaged in "three supplies and one compensation" and capital transfer, and ended up arming China. Quantitative change leads to qualitative change. In China, as long as there is "quantity," there is "quality." That is the key issue. I have always believed that sales that cooperate with marketing is strategic sales. For example, ordinary enterprises sell one at a time; we have sales volume but no market. In fact, another kind of sales cooperates. What is strategic marketing? Marketing facing a future opportunity is strategic marketing. That is a strategic opportunity, and we need to go through many sudden moves. For example, now, smartphones, even Apple has reached iPhone 9, I do not know if iPhone 10 has come out. It is approaching step by step. This is the issue of strategic sales. Including Teacher Liu's new marketing and Teacher Shi Wei's three-dimensional space, I feel they are all related to this. You say this supports sales not just for a "moment" but for a long period. When studying this, we cannot set aside the premise of Chinese enterprises' starting point, nor the inherent things of Chinese enterprises. For example, e-commerce has caused a new round of price competition. If there is Ma Yun, there is Pinduoduo. After Pinduoduo, will there be more? Whatever Chinese enterprises do, they will do it to the extreme. This is a double-edged sword; it depends on how we understand it. Recently, I proposed a view: hell marketing. Experts make a model, large enterprises learn it exquisitely, small enterprises learn it less well, but everyone heads in the same direction. On the same products, almost using the same methods, including your proposed three-dimensional marketing and new marketing, this is not an infinite space. In a limited space, a new round of competition forms. When we talk about new marketing and the direction of marketing development, we must provide some new thinking. I think there is no new marketing, only new sales. From a marketing perspective, it emphasizes differentiation, diversification, and pluralism. In this situation, in the new round of competition, facing new innovations, as long as there is innovation, it must be pluralistic, because innovation is related to one's own capabilities and resources. Liu Chunxiong: From deified classics to theoretical confidence I think you overestimate the West. There is no classic marketing theory. I think we need to break two curses: the first is the deified classic marketing theory, and the second is the deified multinational companies. Which of the marketing theories we are familiar with is a theory? Is positioning a theory? It is a tool. The so-called Western marketing theories we know well are either concepts with tool consciousness or analytical frameworks. 4P is an analytical framework, not a theory. 4C and 4R are extensions of the 4P analytical framework. Kotler does not understand how he became a Chinese marketing master. There are many such famous marketing scholars in the United States. Let's look from three angles: marketing thought, marketing tools, and marketing engineering. In the West, marketing thought is basically golden sentences proposed by management scholars, such as Drucker: marketing is making selling superfluous. There is no systematic marketing thought or theory, only golden sentences. All the marketing theories we know are tool-oriented concepts, such as positioning, STP, and advertising theories. The only one with systematic theory, Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC), cannot be promoted in China because it lacks effective tools. There is also one we have not mentioned, which may be taught in some schools: marketing engineering, called marketing science, studying marketing with engineering thinking. Chinese marketers almost do not know it. Carefully examining the Western marketing system, it is actually a beach. In China, marketing experts have not entered the mainstream; those who have entered are economists and management scholars. The second curse is the deified multinational companies. A two-year-old child looking at his father would say, "Dad is amazing, Dad is great." You think it is great because you are too small. The myths of Japanese, German, and American multinational companies have shattered one by one. In the face of Western marketing theory, we should have confidence. When the internet era arrived, some entrepreneurs and CEOs proposed various views and thoughts, and experts fell silent. For example, Ma Yun and Lei Jun, these are epistemologies and methodologies based on their successful practices. First, their understanding has value and boundaries; second, their views are commercial, to strengthen and consolidate their own positions. So, you will find that today's views slap yesterday's face. For example, new retail and new manufacturing have underlying interest positions. Of course, we cannot require entrepreneurs to have no interests. When I saw Teacher Shi Wei's book "Connection," I was very excited. Where was the excitement? I think it newly defines a bounded business: marketing connection. Teacher Jin said marketing has no boundaries; it is the synthesis of all business. So, he criticized Chinese enterprises for having no marketing, only sales. Teacher Shi's book has three parts: demand, supply, and connection. Connection connects demand and supply. Achieving efficient connection is the goal of marketing. The book "Connection" proposes two important concepts: three-dimensional space and trinity. These two concepts will become the cornerstone of marketing in the internet era. Three-dimensional space includes offline, community, and network space. This is a description of reality and a reality all enterprises must face. In the past, business had only one space; now there are three. Marketing will be more efficient, and we must fully utilize the three spaces. Cognition, transaction, and relationship are a trinity. This is a very concise summary. Simplifying business into three dimensions—cognition, transaction, and relationship—there is no more concise description yet. Not only in the agricultural civilization era, but also in the industrial civilization era and the information civilization era, it can be described this way. The trinity is a factual description after the popularization of mobile internet. In the past, the three were separated; after the trinity, efficiency is higher, and it is also more complex. Cognition is transaction, transaction is relationship, reducing social transaction costs. Teacher Shi Wei's two concepts are epoch-making, establishing the basic business logic of the information civilization era. Especially simplifying business into cognition, transaction, and relationship, which can be used in all eras. The difference lies in the ways of cognition, transaction relationships, and relationship methods. I have always been a promoter of these two concepts. These two concepts also constitute the analytical logic of my "New Marketing." Liu Chunxiong: Redefining an era Before Kotler's "Marketing Management" talks about 4P, it talks about environmental analysis. User orientation is more accurately environment orientation. The highest law of marketing is Darwin's survival of the fittest; everything is a product of the environment. Environmental changes include small changes and big changes. The biggest change is the change of era. The first industrial revolution and the second industrial revolution were major era changes, with the rise and fall of nations. What does the internet mean for marketing? This is not a small question but a big one. I think it brings us into the information civilization society. How to define an era? This is a serious question. Mao Zedong defined China 100 years ago as a "semi-colonial and semi-feudal society." This was the cornerstone of Mao's political and military propositions, and everything unfolded accordingly. Deng Xiaoping defined China at the beginning of reform and opening-up as the "primary stage of socialism." All actions of reform and opening-up had an environmental basis. When a new era comes, the entire social system changes accordingly. The internet is, of course, a tool, but it may also be a tool that changes the world. Just as the steam engine brought the first industrial revolution, and the internal combustion engine and electricity brought the second industrial revolution. Even if Western marketing theory is classic, there is still the question of whether it remains logically valid in the new era. There is management wisdom in Chinese studies, but we cannot replace modern management with Chinese studies. Modern management is management based on industrial society. Industrial society is different from agricultural society. It is not that farmers put down their hoes and pick up machines, but that a new social organization of industrialized mass production is established. The economic unit of agricultural civilization is the family. China is entering the information civilization society. This is my personal definition of the new era. The social system and business logic of industrial civilization may be as different as the divide between agricultural civilization and industrial civilization. 100 years ago, China had conservatives who adhered to the millennium system, those who advocated Chinese learning as the foundation and Western learning for application, and those who advocated introducing Mr. Democracy and Mr. Science. This was a directional choice at the divide of civilizations. China started moving towards the information civilization society relatively early. A new social system and a new business system require new business logic. 70 years ago, Drucker was invited to General Motors for an 18-month study and wrote "Concept of the Corporation," defining that a company is not only an economic organization but also a social organization. Drucker's modern management thought was born from this, making him a management guru. China now faces the same problem as Drucker. Answering this question is also an opportunity to give birth to a new classic theoretical system. China needs practical thinkers like Ma Yun and Lei Jun, and also thinkers who, though theoretical, can transcend business and lay the basic business logic for this new era. Source: Teacher Liu's New Marketing If the report is adopted, a reward of 400-2000 yuan will be paid. China FMCG + Internet Professional New Media Dedicated to FMCG manufacturers' transformation, upgrading, and channel digitalization solutions