---
title: "Without Strategy, Don't Aim for a Viral Hit"
description: "The article argues that the industry's obsession with viral hits (刷屏) as the ultimate measure of brand communication is misguided. It urges brands to develop a clear strategy, using spatial positioning and historical logic to define what to do, and to only pursue meaningful, planned virality that supports long-term brand growth."
author: "杨不坏"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2019-02-28"
language: "en"
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# Without Strategy, Don't Aim for a Viral Hit

> The article argues that the industry's obsession with viral hits (刷屏) as the ultimate measure of brand communication is misguided. It urges brands to develop a clear strategy, using spatial positioning and historical logic to define what to do, and to only pursue meaningful, planned virality that supports long-term brand growth.

Click the image for details.
When the market is selling various methodologies for creating viral hits, can we reflect on why we want to go viral? I think we can.
The problem the industry faces now is that the highest standard for all brand communication is going viral, whether it should or shouldn't. Going viral equals being awesome. This is a huge misunderstanding of brand communication, and I don't want to be an accomplice to this fallacy.
Now, when any creative idea is proposed, the most asked questions are: Will it catch fire? Will it go viral? Instead of: Is this right? Does it align with brand values? Another issue is that a large proportion of brand communication activities nowadays lack pre-defined measurement standards. Often, whoever makes the decision takes the blame, and it gets escalated level by level until it reaches a leader who can bear the responsibility. Then the leader, without measurement standards, can only rely on gut feeling and make decisions by flipping a coin.
If it doesn't go viral afterward, they find a marketing blog to write an article titled "Why Did XX Go Viral?" Who knows why? For cases that went viral by chance, external self-media hype it up, and the project lead conveniently produces a formula for going viral, originally priced at 99 yuan, now only 9.9 yuan.
Today, I urge everyone to stop blindly chasing virality and provide decision-makers with a standard for measuring what to do and what not to do. Going viral is really not a big deal, nor is it that important.
**First, Pick Up Strategy Again**
It is said that when the Mongols conquered the world, they won several battles easily, then gathered in a tent to discuss where to go next: west to Europe or east into Asia? In the end, they couldn't reach a conclusion, so the Great Khan slapped his thigh and said, "Let's just attack in all directions, Europe and the Song Dynasty together." And so, the Mongol cavalry conquered Eurasia.
The Mongols had no strategy, no art of war, yet they still conquered the world because they had the advantage of timing, location, and unity, and were so powerful that they didn't need strategy. **This is very similar to China's economy over the past few decades: after reform and opening up, rapid development began, with countless blank markets and huge growth dividends. It was easy to succeed at anything; exposure led to conversion. For brand communication, even doing it blindly was effective, and no strategy was needed.**
But now, it's time to pick up strategy again and seriously think about how to build a brand. The purpose of strategy is to think clearly about what to do and what not to do, what is right and what is wrong, and to draw a circle for creativity: at this moment, for this brand, doing things within this scope is right. As for whether it can go viral, that's not the point. Brands that never go viral can still grow strong and big. Going viral at a critical moment is much more effective than going viral all the time.
At one of my former companies, before project initiation, we would always spend a lot of time together in brainstorming sessions, discussing strategy, until we thought things through, clarified them, and reached a consensus. Then we would quickly organize the team and execute. Outsiders always thought they were highly efficient, but I think it was because everyone understood what to do and how to do it.
Next, as a strategist, I'll talk about how to set strategy and how to sort out brand strategy. **From the two dimensions of spatial position and historical logic, define a strategic scope and ultimately provide an action guide.** Here it is, enjoy:
**Spatial Position**
Knowing where you are is an important basis for judgment. Whether it's a brand, an individual, or a company organization, you should objectively assess your position in the overall environment. For example, if you are one fish in a pond, first you need to figure out how big the pond is, how many fish are in it, what the food chain is like, and finally figure out your current position and role, and what position and role you want to evolve into.
How to establish the coordinate system of a brand in the market? First, figure out how big the market space is and understand the market environment. If you're doing business in China, first understand how big the Chinese market is, then look at the global market, then see the role and position of the Chinese market in the global market, and then come back to see the brand's position in the larger environment.
Take the advertising industry we're familiar with as an example. When I entered the industry years ago, I was writing forum posts and was also one of the first generation of Weibo editors, but I hoped to be more awesome. I needed to know what the advertising circle was and how big it was. At that time, there were 4A advertising agencies in the Chinese market, basically at the top of the food chain, all international companies. The earliest 4A creative directors could date celebrities. Then there were local advertising agencies, big and small, old and new. On another dimension, there were PR companies, also international and domestic, big and small. At the bottom of the food chain were those of us doing online marketing, basically unorthodox. A small copywriter at a 4A was a god to us. Above 4A were legendary international hot shops like W+K, and at the top of the advertising industry were strategic consulting firms like McKinsey and Accenture. This is the market of the advertising industry, and other industries are similar.
So, the first thing when receiving a strategy brief is to figure out how big the brand's market is and what brands are in it. The second step is to categorize and classify all brands in this space. Who is the most awesome, who is the worst, who makes the most money, who is most respected, what methods yield short-term profits, and how to build a sustainable long-term brand.
I won't analyze the advertising industry, but if you categorize and rank all the roles in a market, then put yourself in, your position will basically be determined.
Once you've determined your spatial position, you've determined where you are. Then you need to discuss a vision, which is where you want to go. In a three-dimensional coordinate system, from what position to what position. Do you want to be the most profitable? The most respected? The biggest? Small but beautiful? Which path is easier and most suitable? Which path is riskier but with greater returns?
What a strategist needs to do is lay out all these paths, and decision-makers need to make the call: which path to take, what to become, whether to take risks. This establishes the brand's vision and values.
To summarize, the first step in strategy is to **analyze the market and give conclusions, find the brand's market position and role, and assist decision-makers in thinking about what to grow into, establishing brand vision and values.** During the brand's development, its position may change at any time, and the market landscape may also be turbulent, so it's necessary to adjust its objective position according to the market environment.
**Historical Logic**
If spatial position is the cross-sectional position of the brand in the larger environment, then historical logic is the longitudinal position of the brand on the timeline. Historical logic determines the current stage of the brand by looking at past brand growth stages and the future destination, and ultimately determines what should be done now. **Note the word "logic": brand growth is progressive; past decisions affect the present, and the present affects the future.**
The problem in the industry now is that going viral is considered awesome, without thinking about historical logic or progressive, sustainable growth. Instead, it's parallel or even disordered and point-like: do anything, as long as it exposes the brand. This is a great disrespect to the industry.
So, how to find your current stage and position from historical logic? You need to think about the history of the industry: how many years has it existed, how wide is its coverage, and what's the situation in China. What has this brand done before, and what is its future vision? Find it out and write it down.
If the path from the past to the present is clear, and the future endpoint is the vision, which is also known, then what needs to be done now is to fill in the path from the present to the future, plan it out: is it a straight line or a detour, how many mountains to cross, how many opponents will be encountered. Plan a path, then walk along it. Of course, as you move forward, the path will change; only the path you've walked counts as a path, and you adjust the future path based on the path you've walked.
To summarize, after determining the spatial position, **you need to sort out the brand logic. Based on the history of the industry and the brand itself, combined with current trends and brand vision, determine the current historical stage and position of the brand. Then plan the brand strategy from now to the future: how to walk the future path and what to do.**
**Strategic Scope**
Now that the brand's current cross-sectional position and longitudinal historical stage and position are clear, the next step is to give the brand strategy direction and scope. Note: direction and scope. The feasibility and fault tolerance of the strategy are important; an easily executable strategy is important, and a strategy with high fault tolerance is important.
First, divide the brand strategy into stages. From the present to the future vision, there may be a grand strategy, but it needs to be broken down into several steps. The first thing to think about is: where does the first leg go? That is, set a small stage goal, and within that small goal, think about what to do.
Let me give an example: for a brand like Momo, the grand brand vision is "Connect people who should be connected." The first small goal set was "Make Momo seen." Within this small goal, there's no need to separate communication logic; as long as it meets the goal's needs, it's fine. We also need to plan the core work within this small goal, such as organizing a large offline event with 100,000 people, inviting 100,000 Momo users to gather offline, forming a huge iconic content that can represent Momo's image. There might also be co-branding crossovers to make Momo's brand appear in real life, and maybe some other miscellaneous things, but the core is to align with the small goal of "Make Momo seen." It might take one year or three years to complete this small goal. Then we're one step closer to the grand vision, and we plan the next small goal, which might be multi-scenario, multi-relationship social forms, breaking through the male-female social form, ultimately achieving a stranger social collaboration system, and realizing "Connect people who should be connected."
This is just a personal opinion example, not necessarily right. What I mean to express is that **strategy ultimately needs to produce conclusions, plan the path to the brand vision, and break it into small goals. Draw a scope for creativity, point out a direction, and do the right things.**
After all the above is sorted out and thought through, form an internal company document and share it with all relevant personnel. This is a clear action guide. Those who understand the strategy can decide what to do and what not to do, saying goodbye to the era where everything needs level-by-level approval and the boss makes decisions by flipping a coin. Without a clear strategic direction, the boss is also confused.
With a clear action guide, whether to go viral or to focus on user operations, whether to go for big exposure to grab territory or to break through in circles one by one, there will generally be a standard. Everyone forms a consensus, and everyone is clear about what is right to do, so going viral is no longer the highest requirement.
**Guide to Going Viral**
Earlier, I talked about how to plan the right things and set standards for doing things, rather than doing things blindly or using virality as the standard. So, does doing the right things include going viral? There are two types of virality: meaningful and meaningless. Countless things are done and done, get 100,000+ views and that's it, without any meaning or change for the future. In fact, most current viral cases are meaningless; after the carnival, there's a mess left behind. (To avoid offending anyone, I won't give examples.)
The virality I advocate is of two types: **The first is when everything is ready, only exposure is missing. The questions of how to handle the traffic after going viral, how to convert, and whether the conversion path is clear are all solved. Go viral once to elevate the brand to a higher level. The second is regional virality, cognitive dome virality, creating content for precise audiences to improve conversion rates.**
Let's talk about the first type. Most cases I see in the market basically aim for exposure (virality) as the ultimate goal, and those who talk about conversion are just talking. In reality, exposure is an entry point; exposure is above the water, and more work should be done below the surface. Whether it's proactive virality like "What is Peppa?" or strong media placement, what you get is exposure.
Then, how to convert and handle the traffic is more important than exposure. For example, for internet products, is there an activity, a benefit, attractive content, or content that can handle the big exposure within the product? How to establish a path between the product and the big exposure: keyword search, jump buttons, QR codes, or something else. Having a path, being able to handle it, and finally converting is the purpose of going viral. You need to make the traffic flow and finally flow to your place. **Isn't going viral essentially exposure? Not all brands or products are suitable for exposure. For example, a nationally known brand, without incremental information, pure exposure is of no value.**
To summarize concretely: before telling everyone to come to the village, first tell them what they can get, pave the asphalt road, and set up road signs. The so-called going viral is just a shout.
Now for the second type. I previously mentioned a media concept called "cognitive dome," which means that although internet information is transparent, everyone has cognitive limitations. No one has a God's eye view, and no one can understand everyone's pain. Extending this to circles, each group has its own cognitive limitations, so you can create a cognitive dome for a precise group.
For example, contemporary industrial workers—office white-collar workers. For most brands, this group is the most valuable traffic: they are young, anxious, have a little money, and crave success. Most importantly, they hold the discourse power of internet public opinion. If this group says something is good, then everyone says it's good. They are actually quite concentrated, mainly in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, plus parts of Hangzhou. Their residential and work areas are also very concentrated, and their internet tracks are limited to a few platforms. From offline to online, hard ads plus soft articles, all channels, but precise, making each individual feel the virality, making this group feel overwhelmed, and they will drive the entire public opinion to be overwhelming.
Another example is small-town youth. They are the silent spiral. Even if you go viral like crazy in towns across the country, there will be no reaction at the public opinion level until it becomes a behemoth, and only then do people inside the Fifth Ring Road suddenly wake up. Refer to the growth trajectories of Pinduoduo and Kuaishou. So going viral requires waiting for the right time; it might also be silent growth first, until it becomes a gray rhino, and finally falls from the sky to CBD, scaring them.
Of course, there are more small and precise circles. The significance of going viral within a circle is that the brand can talk about topics more deeply integrated into their lives, users can empathize, and accumulate high-quality user word-of-mouth. Perhaps these precise people are the signposts for the general public.
**So it's not that you can't go viral, but it should be premeditated and meaningful. Go viral when you should, and hold back when you shouldn't. You need to know that going viral is not a big deal; making the brand you serve truly strong and respected is what's impressive.**
**Summary**
This is getting a bit long. This article systematically discusses how to do strategy sorting and how to go viral in a planned way within strategy. The current viral cases and trend-chasing are like buying lottery tickets: spending 10 yuan a day, hoping to win 5 million, expecting a 100,000% return. Is that reliable?
I hope practitioners can pay attention to strategy, think things through before doing them. It doesn't take much time or money. Strategists are particularly cheap now; the money brand owners spend on "lottery tickets" is enough to think through strategy. The first half of Chinese brands is over; the huge growth dividends are over; throwing money doesn't work anymore. Next is a battle of strategy, seeing who has more strategic focus and can create sustainable growth and expansion. Sustainability is the problem all brands face.
In today's brand market system, you need to sort out the brand, create a set of solutions and measurement standards, and do the right things. First, find the brand's position and role in the spatial scope, and figure out where you are in the market; then sort out the historical logic on the time dimension, figure out what stage the brand is at, and based on that, sort out the brand's development logic; finally, define a stage strategy: what goals should be achieved at this stage and what should be done; next, creative work will be done based on this framework. The creative ideas that fit into this framework are right; those that don't are wrong, or at least not suitable for this brand at this moment. So there's no need to do creative work that doesn't fit into the strategy framework.
With this brand strategy sorting framework, first, you don't need to make virality the highest requirement; do the right things and go viral at the right time. Second, you don't need the boss to make decisions by flipping a coin on whether to do creative work. With a strategic framework consensus, as long as you understand the framework, all participants can decide what's right. It can also greatly improve communication efficiency and work efficiency. Everyone collaborates within a framework consensus, and everyone will be more confident in their current work.
**Building a brand is a combination of technology and art, sensibility and rationality. It's not simple. If you don't understand, just remember one sentence: except for exposure, if you can't figure out why you're doing it, don't do it yet.**
Source: Yang Bu Huai (ID: yangbuhuai01)
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