Information Equality Brought by Mobile Internet In the mobile internet era, a crucial fact is that information is no longer scarce; in the age of information equality, the marginal cost for consumers to access information is nearly zero. So consumers may not become 'smarter,' but they are certainly not foolish. Moreover, their identities and roles have also shifted. They can use media to influence brands, especially some KOLs among the crowd, whose influence within their groups may even surpass that of brands. Therefore, for brand owners, managing word-of-mouth is more important than managing brand image in the future. The most effective advertising comes from referrals by friends, so super users (KOLs) will become the focus of future brand marketing. This reminds me of a viewpoint mentioned by Li Feng, founding partner of Ruifeng Capital: the development of Chinese brands can be roughly divided into three stages. The first stage is called 'factory brand,' typical of brands like Haier refrigerators, where merely having production capacity and guaranteed quality can earn consumer recognition and eventually form a brand. The second stage is called 'channel brand,' as seen in many FMCG brands. Having good quality alone is not enough; deep marketing through terminal channels is needed to gain competitive advantages. This stage can be called channel brands, with Jinmailang and Master Kong as typical examples. The third stage is called 'consumer brand,' especially as China enters the mobile internet era, where channels are no longer scarce resources. At this point, whoever has imagination and can create and satisfy demands together with consumers will win the market. This stage is the consumer brand stage. Will the Next Marketing Revolution Be Born in China? Marketing is not selling; selling is just a part of marketing. The problem that marketing must solve is not just selling, but more importantly, deciding what products to produce and what needs to satisfy. This discipline undergoes significant changes every decade. The internal reason for these changes is the result of a multi-model overlay of factors such as national politics, economy, culture, consumer income, cognition, and the intensity of competition among brands. So it is an ever-evolving discipline. Moreover, in today's China, unprecedented factors such as demographic structure, Sino-US trade, consumption upgrades, and technological advances (5G, AI, mobile internet) are superimposed, leading to a super complexity where many forces act on the same market simultaneously. This complexity presents both opportunities and challenges for marketers of our generation. Therefore, marketers need lifelong learning and continuous self-iteration as a basic capability. Conversely, reflecting on ourselves, over the past 40 years, Chinese companies have leveraged the super-large market demand, imitated marketing concepts from international advanced companies, and utilized local 'guanxi' capabilities and price advantages. They have grown through strategies like 'encircling the cities from the countryside,' 'wolf culture,' and even unconventional market tactics. But since the first half of this year, a major change is occurring: China is surpassing the US to become the world's largest consumer country. When the largest producer meets the largest consumer, what will happen? Chinese marketing, along with the Chinese market, is entering uncharted territory. Not only is it entering uncharted territory, but it will also go global as the country's influence rises. I believe this is the future that marketers of our generation should consider. Marketing is a discipline where practice precedes theory; it is essentially an inductive discipline. Marketing practice is the result of continuous insight and practice based on national and economic development and corporate growth. As China leads the world in consumption, I believe the next marketing revolution will definitely be born in China. The Market Is Irreversibly Moving from Wholeness to Fragmentation, Even Dust-like Fragmentation The evolution path of marketing history: Product → Customer → Brand → Digital → Social and Values. From this path, I see another layer of logic: Efficiency → Demand → Unique Selling Proposition (USP) → Technology-driven → Circle and Cultural Identity. In this path, the population and market evolve from a single super-large demand market, due to market competition, increased consumer income, and new technologies, into fragmented, highly segmented markets, even dust-like fragmentation. As a brand owner, the task is to identify a sizable group of people through induction from different dimensions and provide effective products and services. What's more troubling is that not only are consumer demands fragmented, but transaction scenarios are also becoming fragmented and diverse. In the past, the three dimensions of cognition/transaction/delivery were a process of cognition + (transaction + delivery), but in the internet era, it is (cognition + transaction) + delivery. In the future, it will be a process where consumers make decisions based on scenarios with multiple factors superimposed. Sack of Potatoes vs. Tree Rings Adding Layer by Layer As an entrepreneur, marketing strategy typically starts with Marketing Research (MR), then proceeds to STP (Segmentation, Targeting, Positioning), then selecting Target Markets (TM) → providing Value Proposition (VP) → establishing Marketing Plan (MP) → and finally Implementation and Control. For mature brands, marketing is called CCDV (Create, Communicate, and Deliver Value), which means creating, communicating, and delivering value to the target market. The core mission of marketing now is to drive corporate growth. Why can marketing bring more growth? Because marketing personnel are the only department in the company that interacts with consumers. Therefore, we must be in the market, with consumers, observe changes, and inform the company of demands. Growth is a very important task for mature brands in marketing. Compared to growth through mergers and acquisitions, organic growth is of higher quality and more competitive. We can call M&A growth 'potatoes in a sack,' while organic growth is like 'tree rings adding layer by layer.' In recent years, there have been several cases in the FMCG industry of growth through M&A, such as Eternal Asia, but the results have not been ideal. 5C+4P Hasn't Changed; What Has Changed Is the 's' The marketing framework currently consists of several combinations: 5Cs + traditional 4Ps: 5Cs: Customers, Company, Collaborators, Competitors, and Contexts. 4Ps: Products, Pricing, Place, and Promotion. Whether it's 5C or 4P, it's not fixed. You can flexibly add an 'S' (Selling or Service) based on your market and competitive environment, which brings up the third framework, the elements of S: Product/Service/Brand/Price/Incentive/Communication/Delivery... Without Mass Marketing, It's Like 'Wearing Brocade at Night' Today's marketing has evolved into digital precision marketing, which, as the name implies, means the precision of marketing can be accurately measured by numbers. In the digital marketing era, a term that has become particularly popular is 'brand effect and sales effect unity,' meaning that investment can see output, allowing clients to know if money is well spent. In this era emphasizing precise ROI, the inefficiency and high 'mosaic' issues of mass marketing are criticized, but that doesn't mean it's ineffective. Kotler's answer to whether mass marketing is still useful is: of course. However, Mr. Hua Shan has a viewpoint on this. He says there is a thinking trap in digital marketing called the financial thinking trap of marketing, especially in the conversion of communication and traffic. The precise data feedback and high conversion rates of digital marketing can make marketers very obsessed. But the problem is that any conversion rate that everyone can calculate is definitely not high. Because if the calculation is clear, everyone will do it, leading to a bidding mechanism, and ultimately Baidu and Alibaba will profit. Marketers will also sink deeper into the financial thinking trap, like drug addiction, where traffic becomes a 'drug' and all budgets become 'drug money.' Therefore, marketers must be wary of traffic addiction brought by digital marketing. When considering traffic, the first factor to consider is traffic sovereignty, i.e., who holds the initiative over this traffic? Is there a risk of addiction? Of course, Mr. Hua Shan also proposed a solution: for marketers, do not have a financial mindset in marketing, i.e., do not consider ROI. Marketing is an investment based on expectations; investment involves risk, and investment decisions rely entirely on personal wisdom. As for technology, it is a basic resource that everyone has; the input-output is controllable and calculable, not a unique scarce skill. Marketers must take on the risk. Because profit and risk are two sides of the same coin; when there is no risk, there is no profit. So, when the old master Kotler proposed combining mass marketing + new digital marketing, one solving brand value proposition and the other solving scenario marketing, I deeply agree. Let me interpret the relationship between mass marketing and precision marketing from another dimension: Porsche recently held a legend exhibition in Shanghai, open to the public for free, and you can pay 3,500 yuan to experience the thrill of a 911 on the track. From an efficiency perspective, this marketing practice is very uneconomical. Why does Porsche still do it? My comment on WeChat Moments was: to make car buyers feel even better when driving! Our ancestors gave the answer over two thousand years ago: 'If you don't return to your hometown after becoming rich, it's like wearing brocade at night!' Focus on Growth, Pay Attention to Trends, Value Technology, Communication, and Brand Reputation The 10 main characteristics of new marketing:

  1. Treat marketing as the company's growth engine
  2. Win through marketing leadership and collaboration with other functions
  3. Center on mobile marketing
  4. Collect data on customer journeys
  5. Engage and build brand communities
  6. Use social media platforms for advertising
  7. Manage content development and distribution
  8. Use marketing automation technology
  9. Win with superior service
  10. Win with brand reputation as a caring company Summarizing these ten characteristics: Focus on growth, pay attention to trends, value technology, communication, and brand reputation. Repeat! Repeat! Do the Basic Marketing Work Repeatedly! The customer purchase process can be described by the 5A path:
  1. Consumers become Aware of your product or brand; 2) Consumers are Attracted by the company's value proposition; 3) Consumers may then Ask questions; 4) Consumers may then be willing to Act (purchase); 5) If they like your product, they will Act Again (repurchase). The best marketing is to turn customers into lifelong customers, and lifelong customers into brand ambassadors. Marketing should not only be customer-facing but also employee-facing; not only sell products but also value experience. For marketers, the core work based on the 5A path is: Repeat! Repeat! Do the basic marketing work repeatedly! The core viewpoint of Marketing 4.0 is that digitalization brings full-volume, full-process, full-behavior, and full-data visualization of the user lifecycle, making the consumer journey particularly important. For marketers, it's essential to find touchpoints in the consumer journey and conduct effective marketing work. Today, within super apps on mobile, with sufficient data, you can map the consumer's journey from seeing an ad, reading community comments, watching videos, receiving electronic coupons, to finally visiting a 4S store and placing an order. The entire consumption cycle needs to be managed. (