In the past 20 years of growth markets, companies found that doing the basic 4P tricks well could boost sales. But as mature consumption cycles begin, with lower population growth, stagnant consumption, and oversupply, these will become the norm. In this mature stage of stock competition, besides upgrading products in response to consumption upgrades, it is necessary to evolve from the original extensive marketing model of scaling up and making quick money to a customer-centric approach, using digital systems engineering to improve marketing efficiency, enhance marketing cost effectiveness, empower channel partners, and enable precision marketing to reforge the new growth engine for enterprises in the new world. Current Status of Enterprises in Marketing Digitalization Implementation Process Based on Miduo's 10 years of experience serving over 3,000 enterprises in digitalization implementation, enterprises have passed the stage of trying digital tools for single departments and single cost scenarios. For example, brand marketing departments use CP-type costs for C-end QR code red packets for member marketing, and sales departments use TP-type costs for deep distribution channel management. But after 2023, there has been a very obvious change: after years of trial and error, enterprises' requirements for digitalization have shifted from single-scenario digital marketing tools to the overall construction of marketing digitalization systems. For instance, from the project requirements that leading companies like P&G, Vinda, Snow Beer, and Tsingtao Beer sent to Miduo this year, they all require systematic overall solutions. Some brands even name their projects: bC linkage pilot projects. From the gradual in-depth practice of the 3,000 enterprises Miduo has served over the years, we have identified several typical problems in the digitalization implementation process: First: Fragmentation. In the early years, some enterprises did not have a clear understanding of how to do marketing digitalization, so they let each department act on its own, conducting digitalization trial-and-error construction from their own departmental perspectives. The result is inevitably fragmented and unsystematic. Teacher Liu Chunxiong even published an article in July titled "Why Did We Do a 'Fragmented' Channel Digitalization?" Those interested in further research can refer to Teacher Liu's New Marketing public account. Second: IT Self-Building Means Lagging Behind. In most leading enterprises, the construction of digital systems basically belongs to the IT department. When we communicated with many senior executives of leading brands, they all expressed a consistent view: the IT system construction argumentation and construction cycle is long, leading to the common feedback from business departments when IT is delivered that the marketing system functions provided are already behind the market status, and competitors' tactics have already completed several version iterations. Third: Control Rather Than Empowerment. When we implemented N-yuan exchange projects with companies like Tsingtao Beer, we conducted surveys with many large distributors and salespeople. Large distributors generally showed indifference and non-cooperation towards brand digital management projects. In early September, Mr. Zhao Bo also shared his insights from communicating with large distributors in Teacher Liu's [bC Integration Exchange Group], concluding that "Brand digital projects can help, but don't cause trouble." Distributor salespeople also have a lot of complaints: each salesperson has more than 10 manufacturer apps installed on their phones, and at each store they have to open and log in to each app one by one. Moreover, most enterprises' current channel digital systems are built with IT system control thinking. Teacher Liu also shared a case where a brand enterprise wanted to use an SFA system to obtain data from the distributor system, but the distributor paid a software service provider to make a plug-in to generate a bunch of fake data for the brand. It should be noted that distributors and terminals are not employees of the enterprise; where there are control policies from above, there will be countermeasures below. The result of control is that the brand system gets a bunch of invalid dead data. From the real data of over a hundred enterprises served by Miduo's system interfacing with SFA systems, the accuracy rate of data such as store owners' phone numbers in enterprise terminal systems does not exceed 15%. Previously, the SFA system was meant to manage store owners, but salespeople, to avoid trouble, directly did all the work for the stores. But Miduo's system is meant to send red packets to store owners. Would store owners be willing to let salespeople collect on their behalf? To collect red packets, they need to scan a QR code with WeChat, and through the mini-program, the store owner's real WeChat real-name phone number and geographic location can be directly obtained. This data is truly effective. Otherwise, with an annual terminal change rate exceeding 15%, data obtained through control will never be accurate. If the data is not accurate, then digital insight and empowerment become the biggest joke. Key Factors for Enterprises to Do Marketing Digitalization Well How can enterprises build a new engine for marketing digitalization? First, enterprises need an overall plan. Return to the original intention, use the 5W2H analysis method to re-analyze what kind of marketing digitalization is the new growth engine enterprises want!
- Why (Purpose): Everything is for growth. The purpose of marketing digitalization is to find a new growth engine. Growth should start from existing stock costs and stock business, thinking about how to use digital systems engineering to improve marketing efficiency and empower sales growth.
- What (Core): Find the main contradiction. Since it is growth in stock business, start from the deep distribution channel, which is the largest sales channel for traditional enterprises. Therefore, doing marketing digitalization well should prioritize the main contradiction of deep distribution channel digitalization.
- Who (Who does it): Since the offline deep distribution channel is the key core, the most critical users of marketing digitalization are the business departments responsible for offline performance, and all roles in the F2B2b2C full chain. Moreover, it must be considered that the large B (distributors, salespeople) and small b (terminals, promoters) in the deep distribution channel are not employees of the enterprise and do not only sell one enterprise's products. This is also the complexity of deep distribution channel digitalization. This characteristic determines that enterprises cannot use traditional IT digital construction internal control thinking to do marketing digitalization construction. It should be empowerment rather than control, and consider marketing digitalization system engineering construction with a marketing vision and incremental thinking.
- How (How to do it): Since it is marketing digitalization, start from the traditional marketing 4P theory to think about how to start.
- Product: First, look at product digitalization. In China, whether software or hardware service providers, this is very mature, and the technology is world-leading. Product digitalization can be achieved through the mature one-code-per-item five-code association technology to realize the digitalization of product flow.
- Place: The core key to digitalizing channel relationships is router connection rather than control. Wherever customer attention is, the brand's connection touchpoint should be there. Use existing mature infrastructure like WeChat, WeCom, and Alipay to connect distributors and terminals, rather than having them install their own apps one by one.
- Price: The price system is the lifeline of a brand. This year, many liquor brands have experienced price inversion. This is because many brands' marketing costs are distributed roughly according to pre-sale systems and proportions. Business departments, to achieve performance, force large distributors to stock up. Once large distributors have poor terminal sell-through and high inventory pressure, to clear inventory and return funds, channel conflict and price inversion are inevitable. Therefore, a qualified marketing digitalization system should be able to realize costs online, put costs into an online fund pool according to accounting subjects, and allow various business departments to call and distribute according to online marketing tools. Use costs as the baton, so that marketing costs can be precisely, directly, and timely dripped to the b-end and C-end, making the C-end "alive," the b-end "moving," and the bC "linked," reversely driving the transformation of sales team organizational capabilities, truly realizing "let the front line call for fire," ultimately winning the "squad leader's war," and achieving "factory-store integration control, full-chain shared profit distribution."
- Promotion: Based on the previous three digitalization foundations, restore offline promotion scenarios, guided by the bC integration theory, driven by marketing costs, and based on "product flow + channel relationships" to realize the digitalization of all offline promotion marketing scenarios. From the analysis of the 4P perspective, enterprise marketing digitalization construction is a systematic project rather than just a promotional tool. It involves product production, channel empowerment, cost and control, that is, promotion scenario digitalization, and also involves the organic overall linkage of departments such as production, warehousing, logistics, sales, and brand promotion. This determines that doing marketing digitalization well must be a top leader project, requiring top-down, inside-out realization of all business digitalization restoration, which requires a new marketing digitalization new infrastructure system to support. In order to achieve the overall organic linkage of the marketing digitalization system, enterprises need a marketing digitalization system to support the implementation of the entire marketing digitalization system. So what kind of marketing digitalization system is the new infrastructure needed for the new engine? From the above analysis and past customer trial-and-error experience, I have summarized four core factors to consider when selecting a marketing digitalization system:
- Supporting product flow digitalization is the foundation: Products are the best and most useful connection touchpoint for brands to simply and conveniently connect with customers and realize promotion scenario digitalization.
- It must be able to realize real-time connection of channel relationships: Online repeatable real-time connection is key. Enterprises need "live" accounts that can be connected and reached, not a bunch of dead data lying in the system. Never think about having customers install client apps; connection needs to be simple and effective.
- It must meet the requirements of marketing variability: Empower business so that business willingly regards digital tools as a nuclear weapon for achieving performance, not a burden. Because marketing is changeable, this requires that the system you choose can quickly support marketing variability and have low-code rapid response capability.
- The system design starting point should be "profit sharing" thinking rather than "management" thinking: Start from costs, use "marketing costs" as the baton, let channels actively participate rather than passively cooperate. It should be able to realize all costs online according to accounting subjects, decomposed into one fund pool after another, so that all online restored business scenarios can realize fund calls in real-time, efficiently, and transparently. Enterprise Marketing Digitalization System New Infrastructure (EBC) Based on the above characteristics, if enterprises want to do marketing digitalization well, they need a set of EBC platforms (Enterprise Business Capacity) that are customer-centric, use marketing costs as the baton, and can realize digitalization around the 4P core business capabilities. This system should be able to realize online convenient connection of all channel (Place) users and digital control of all product (Product) flow; use marketing costs as the baton to digitally restore all business marketing (Promotion) scenarios involved in the entire lifecycle from production to consumer purchase and use, realizing factory-store integration control (Price) and full-chain shared profit distribution. Finally, use data insights to reversely empower business growth. This is the overall structure of the new enterprise marketing digitalization system platform. From this, we can find that all marketing scenarios grow at the intersection of channel relationships and product flow, so the marketing digitalization system needs two infrastructure constructions: Infrastructure 1: Channel Router. Be customer-centric, through front-end multi-carrier technology to realize convenient online connection of multi-terminal (WeChat, Alipay, WeCom, Douyin, etc.) multi-carrier mini-programs. Infrastructure 2: One Code Per Item. Realize product digitalization, let products speak, through five-code association technology and the concept of full-scenario empty code assignment, assign different scenario codes to different positions where different roles contact products, thereby realizing online marketing scenarios for all channel roles while completing the management of the entire product flow. Regarding product coding, enterprises think it is the most complex and difficult work. In fact, the current one-code-per-item coding technology is very mature in China. Most cap factories can already provide variable QR code association coding for primary packaging bottle caps. Similarly, coding for secondary packaging boxes can be handed over to packaging material service providers for association coding. Enterprise factories only need to add key association collection industrial equipment in the production line packaging link to complete the five-code association collection, thereby realizing product digitalization transformation. Analysis of Enterprise Marketing Digitalization Solutions Based on the support of the new marketing digitalization EBC platform new infrastructure, enterprises can be guided by "marketing vision, incremental thinking," be user-centric, use marketing cost digitalization as the baton, rely on digital "channel relationships" and "product flow," provide enterprises with full-chain, full-scenario stock marketing action online restoration. Miduo, after more than 10 years of accumulation, guided by Teacher Liu's bC integration, provides complete solutions with marketing costs as the baton (CP type, TP type), according to different channel roles (B-end, b-end, C-end) and role association attributes (bC linkage, Bb linkage, BbC linkage, etc.), helping enterprises improve marketing efficiency. Enterprise marketing costs generally consist of three parts: CP type (member marketing), TP type (terminal sell-through), and AP type (brand promotion). In offline channels, marketing costs mainly consist of CP and TP types, and all marketing solutions revolve around these two types of costs. Miduo provides three major types of solutions: TP-type terminal sell-through, CP-type member marketing, and TP-CP linkage bC integration. TP-type Terminal Sell-through Overall Solution: Based on terminal store connection, centered on store owners and promoters, pull through F2B2b, provide complete terminal sell-through management, Bb associated rebates, and other overall solutions. In the implementation of terminal sell-through solutions, first adhere to the principle of connection before deepening operation. First, through simple unboxing gift activities and promoter QR code red packet activities, achieve rapid terminal connection and precise cost distribution. Subsequently, continuous QR code activities cultivate terminal scanning habits, gradually guide terminals to register and improve information, attract store owners to scan with their own WeChat, thereby collecting accurate store information and realizing direct WeChat connection between brand and terminal store owners. After completing direct connection with terminals, the brand can continuously assign tasks such as display gifts, tasting, banquets, promotional ordering, new product pre-sale, top 100 store rankings, etc., maintaining terminal stickiness through continuous tasks, reversely driving the transformation of sales team organizational capabilities, truly realizing "let the front line call for fire," ultimately winning the "squad leader's war." Through continuous drip-feeding of direct-to-terminal promotional activities, a large amount of terminal data is accumulated, enabling enterprises to realize real-time control of channel sell-through data, channel inventory and age control, facilitating enterprises to empower next marketing decisions and precise marketing such as terminal point ignition. CP-type Member Marketing Solution: Through one-code-per-item, connect users in different ecosystem platforms, thereby building the brand's private domain position, realizing the operation and management of brand full-domain members. This is an inevitable choice for brands to realize "user-centric" in the digital era. Miduo adheres to user-centric, based on AARRR theory to build a member continuous operation system, providing "acquisition-activation-retention-revenue-referral" online and offline integrated member operation overall solution. TP-CP Linkage bC Integration Solution: Guided by bC integration theory, open up full-channel connection, directly connect C-end, organically unify CP and TP costs, organically link brand marketing and sales, and realize product-sales integration. The solution includes bC dual-code associated sell-through and BbC N-yuan exchange, five-code associated rebates, etc. First, Promoter Associated Sell-through Scenario: The following is a bC dual-code associated rebate plan for catering and scenarios with promoter recommendations, using b to promote C, fully leveraging b's enthusiasm. This plan has achieved very good results in industries such as beer, liquor, beauty, batteries, home improvement electrical, etc. Second, Terminal Store Bottle-Box Associated Sell-through: Use b to promote C, stimulate the store's active recommendation. Store owners can get additional recommendation rewards for each box of consumers scanning a specified number of bottles. Let store owners sit and earn extra income, enhancing store brand loyalty. Third, BbC Associated Sell-through Rebate N-yuan Exchange: Use one-code-per-item technology, use N-yuan exchange promotion to empower b-end, serve C-end, and complete channel digitalization transformation. This plan is currently the most effective way to link BbC. Miduo's N-yuan exchange plan can provide both plaintext and non-plaintext paths, and supports customizing personalized verification and reimbursement processes according to the cooperation degree of different brands in different regional channels. Fourth, BbC Associated Sell-through Rebate Five-code Association: Use marketing costs as the baton, distribute a predetermined part of purchase discounts through C-end real interaction data as trigger points for rebates, empowering headquarters to achieve price control, terminal inventory control (validity period), and anti-channel conflict traceability management. Interested friends can scan the code to get the complete solution. Finally, let me summarize several key points for using marketing digitalization to improve marketing efficiency and reforge the new growth engine for enterprises:
Enterprises seeking a new growth engine must start from the deep distribution channel, use digitalization to reforge the new engine, and improve marketing efficiency!
When making overall marketing digitalization planning, it is necessary to: marketing vision, incremental thinking, empowerment rather than control!
Enterprises wanting to do marketing digitalization well must achieve: top leader project, use digital engine to transform stock business!
Enterprise marketing digitalization should be divided into three steps: all business dataization, all data assetization, all assets businessization!
The core of enterprise marketing digitalization system: user-centric, "connection" is more important than "possession"!
When implementing enterprise marketing digitalization applications: use costs as the baton, rely on digital "channel relationships" + "product flow" to pull through the full chain, reach all scenarios, and ultimately realize factory-store integration control, full-chain shared profit distribution!