Effective brand communication requires an effective communication strategy. A good communication strategy can not only help the company's brand communication focus on resources, find target audiences, and carry out precise delivery according to their preferences, but also make timely adjustments when problems arise, so that The general direction of brand communication does not shift. This article will take everyone to discuss how to create a phenomenon-level communication in 5 steps!
1. Why most companies can only communicate by themselves
Why do most of the communication strategies of enterprises can only be self-indulgent?
We often say "Wang Po sells melons, sells melons, sells melons", but it is actually talking about self-satisfaction. This kind of problem exists in the advertising communication of 80% of enterprises. Some enterprises only consider their own publicity needs, completely ignoring the feelings of the audience and even potential customers. In the end, such communication not only did not play a positive role, but encountered resistance and reduced It is a disservice to the brand's favorability, and naturally it is difficult to form a benign communication. Among them, the main manifestations of self-indulgence are the following two points.
First, if there is a negative report, ask the media to delete it.
Second, there is a new product for the media to report on.
Now is an era of information explosion. Every day our eyes are constantly refreshed by various "screens" such as mobile phone screens, TV screens, and LCD advertising screens on the road. Over time, our brains will automatically filter out all boring, useless, meaningless Information.
In such an era, the marketing of enterprises is facing huge challenges. Any tiny negative news may be infinitely magnified and known to everyone through various social media tools, and the performance of the enterprise's painstaking efforts will be wiped out. At the same time, because of the complexity of the information, companies strongly need to convey the information. Even with a huge marketing budget, they may not be able to receive satisfactory marketing results. Therefore, communication has become an extremely important part of corporate marketing.
So here comes the question, why do most companies communicate only by themselves? There are two reasons for this.
First, there is no viral transmission gene.
Communication should be linked together, but in the specific operation process, it may be limited by multiple factors, such as not having a deep understanding of the positioning of communication, making communication materials that are not interesting enough, or not knowing how to understand each link of communication The overall planning and control, so that the chain is broken, resulting in the failure of the spread to achieve the purpose of viral madness.
Second, there is a lack of appropriate communication strategies.
"Good wine is afraid of deep alleys." Without a good communication strategy , no matter how excellent the content is, the effect of communication will be greatly reduced.
2. Three core elements of brand communication strategy formulation
As we all know, every round of marketing of an enterprise is a double-edged sword. It puts the brand under the spotlight and the magnifying glass of consumers . If it is used properly, it will fully reflect the advantages of the brand and establish a good brand in the minds of consumers. Image, on the contrary, if used improperly, the shortcomings will be exposed more obviously, allowing the brand to dig its own grave.
For example, on March 1, 2016, the well-known domestic mobile phone brand vivo held a press conference for its new flagship model Xplay 5 in Beijing Water Cube, but the Xplay 5, which was supposed to be the focus of the conference, was rejected by its boss. Wei Shen stole the show as Vivo founder, president and CEO Shen Wei accidentally fell into the water as he took the stage towards the end of the launch event.
Faced with this incident, the imagination of the general public and the media is very rich, and public opinion is likely to develop negative aspects of the brand such as "the boss takes the lead in hyping" and "bad taste". However, the vivo public relations team guided the public's thinking, from "highlighting the smooth feeling of Xplay 5's 'flowing clouds and flowing water', the stage is specially chosen in the Water Cube", "the host He Jiong responded quickly and wittily to save the scene, and said 'when you encounter water, you will be angry'" and other Starting from multiple perspectives, a series of communication strategies have been formulated. Through Weibo, WeChat and other new media communication platforms, the voice is expressed at the fastest speed, and the online volume of the product is suddenly increased, so that the public's favorability for the brand will not be affected. .
Therefore, it is not difficult to find that effective brand communication requires an effective communication strategy. A good communication strategy can not only help the company's brand communication to focus on resources, find target audiences, and carry out precise delivery according to their preferences, but also can help enterprises solve problems when problems arise. Timely adjustments should be made so that the general direction of brand communication does not deviate.
The core of all strategies follows the basic idea of discovering, analyzing and solving problems, and there is no essential change. In the same way, the formulation of communication strategies also revolves around these three ideas.
(1) Find problems in communication
Before dissemination, it is necessary to clarify the initial communication needs. Every time a marketing campaign is put forward and launched, it actually has a specific goal. Whether it is the marketing department, marketing department or brand department, it must be based on the strategic needs of the enterprise. Corresponding marketing The solution is to predict the results in advance and set a KPI (key performance indicator) target value. During the dissemination, the problems of dissemination were constantly discovered according to the perspective of netizens regarding the dissemination materials, the problems of counterattacks by competitors, and the feedback of netizens. After the dissemination, do a review, and summarize the experience of this round of dissemination through the review meeting.
(2) Analyzing problems in communication
In fact, the purpose of every communication strategy formulation is to help the brand find the right target group and understand the correct way to influence the group. How to use the existing materials to achieve the greatest communication effect is a problem that needs to be solved in the communication process.
Philip Kotler, a famous American marketing scholar and "the father of modern marketing", expressed the definition of brand as: "A brand is a name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of them, with the purpose of Identify the products or services of a seller or group of sellers in order to differentiate them from those of competitors."
In this regard, we can learn from Jiang Xiaobai, a pioneer in brand communication who will achieve simplicity to the extreme. There has never been a wine that consumers love and hate like Jiang Xiaobai. Those who love it regard it as a "darling", think that the wine is delicious, a little bit sweet, and the copywriting is enough to pierce the heart; Compared with chicken soup. From a little-known small brand, it has suddenly become a dark horse of wine that is popular all over the country, and has captured and firmly grasped the hearts of "post-80s" and "post-90s". What is the secret of Jiang Xiaobai's success? ? What are the unknown secrets behind it? In response to Jiangxiaobai's sudden rise, most people in the industry attribute its success to: the success of Jiangxiaobai's plan, the success of Jiangxiaobai's expression bottle, the success of product innovation, and the success of social media marketing. All these achievements are inseparable from Jiangxiaobai's precise analysis of its own positioning and target audience and the excellent choice of communication methods in the process of brand communication.
(3) Solve problems in communication
The dissemination of new media is fissile communication from point to point, from point to surface, and from surface to network. When people use all instant interaction tools (such as WeChat and Weibo) as platforms for information dissemination, a message you send on Moments or Weibo can be instantly conveyed to the mobile terminals of friends or fans , if they are interested in this information, they will forward it and share the information with more people. This is fission propagation.
Professor Yang Yi pointed out in the "Blue Book of Digital Marketing" published in 2013: "The audience born in the 1980s is the main force using new media. They are the most enthusiastic about mobile lifestyles, and mobile Internet communication is more effective for this generation of audience. Therefore, when carrying out brand communication, enterprises should use new media more, target the audience at the younger generation, and the form and content of communication should also be based on their psychological needs and acceptance habits.
Similarly, we take Jiang Xiaobai as an example. Now that it has been analyzed that its communication strategy is to capture the hearts of young people born in the 80s and 90s, how did Jiang Xiaobai do it?
At first, Jiang Xiaobai gave most of the marketing budget to Sina, but soon found that the effect was mediocre. Realizing that it was not possible to place advertisements in this way, Jiangxiaobai began to find another way, planning and formulating a series of new brand communication strategies , including printing QR codes on millions of bottles of Jiangxiaobai, and launching scan codes to send Coupon activities; exchange resources with other brands; place advertisements in movies that fit Jiangxiaobai's brand tone, such as "The Year in a Hurry" and "You at the Same Table". The acquisition and use of these resources has been fruitful. At the same time, Jiangxiaobai has also actively disseminated some trendy content, such as: producing the original animation "I am Jiangxiaobai" for widespread dissemination; starting in 2017, several consecutive YOLO (You Only Live Once) The Youth Culture and Art Festival invited a group of singers with attitude and popularity to participate, and gained huge brand exposure... These seemingly unprofessional things are an important part of Jiangxiaobai's communication strategy.
3. Five steps to create a phenomenal brand communication
Creating phenomenon-level communication cannot rely on luck, but an inevitable result supported by a set of objective and systematic communication strategies. The emergence of a phenomenon-level communication event must be the result of careful research, comprehensive planning, and down-to-earth implementation of various factors that complement each other and work together in the same direction.
(1) Identify the matching point between the communication content and the needs of the public
The Art of War says "know yourself and the enemy, and you will never be imperiled in a hundred battles", but the same is true of communication. Whether it is video, H5 or copywriting, the key to whether the communication content can get users' attention after it "goes out of the street" lies in whether it can accurately meet the psychological needs of users, which is the core of creating phenomenal communication. When confirming content, on the one hand, it is necessary to fully understand the spiritual and cultural needs of users and the general public; on the other hand, it is necessary to be highly sensitive to new hot spots and new trends, and to select hot issues of concern to users, the spread effect on topics and market dynamics Make forward-looking forecasts. When doing marketing planning, we should dig deep into the core materials of this round of publicity, reprocess and reintegrate them, and extract the essence of the content. On the one hand, it will inspire users to click and share; share.
(2) Make high-quality content materials with ingenuity
The essence of communication work is the creation and dissemination of content materials. Almost without exception, every phenomenon-level communication case is the crystallization of the wisdom and painstaking efforts of the content creators. To create a phenomenon-level communication case, in addition to targeting the objective needs of users, the quality of content producers is a necessary condition for producing high-quality communication materials. The content creator’s knowledge accumulation and reading taste directly affect the content quality of the work, which in turn affects the degree of fit with users; the content creator’s writing ability and sense of responsibility directly affect the quality of editing and proofreading of the work, which in turn affects the user’s reading effect; content creators A person's aesthetic level and creative ability directly affect the appearance quality of the work, which in turn affects the first impression of potential consumers. Therefore, to create a phenomenon-level best-selling case, the premise is that you need to be in awe of the high-quality content materials.
(3) Give full play to the role of KOL and create hot topics for fans
As a key figure active in social communication networks, KOL uses Weibo, WeChat and other communication platforms to provide fans with information, opinions and suggestions, and exert personal influence on fans, connecting mass communication and interpersonal communication. In view of the authority of opinion leaders in their industries and fields, after the information dissemination flow reaches the opinion leaders, and then the opinion leaders convey it to the fan group, it will make the information content more persuasive and credible.
Take the marketing case of “As long as there is sand in your heart, there is Maldives” on Tuniu.com as an example. The photo of Sandy Brother lying on the streets of Chengdu was widely reposted by celebrities such as Zhang Xinyi and Sha Yi. Followed, and later reprinted by Mr. Li Kaifu, a big business and investment circle. The recognition and public recommendation of these opinion leaders in various industries can make the whole work more disseminated and spread wider, and it is very likely to cause a hot spot effect and become a hot topic among fans.
(4) Leverage strength to build momentum again and continue to detonate the market
Audiences are exposed to massive amounts of information every day, and are very repelled by cramming propaganda and rigid advertisements. Therefore, if you want to make a work with high-quality content genes achieve phenomenal communication effects, you also need to learn to leverage, establish topic awareness and event marketing awareness, design topics for the planned communication content, and promote them through activities and event marketing . For example, in 2018, hundreds of Piggy Page "social cars" appeared around the Beijing Auto Show.
On April 25, 2018, the biennial Beijing Auto Show officially opened. How can the annual drama in the auto industry be without hot spots? Hundreds of "social cars" with Peppa Pig printed on them - TOGO (Tuge) shared cars collectively squatted on the road outside the Beijing International Exhibition Center. The slogan "Peppa Pig tattoos on the car, applause to the public" has successfully spread among the public. However, while this group of "Little Pig Pages" successfully appeared on Weibo hotspots and Douyin headlines, they also successfully attracted the attention of police uncles-"Passing parking tickets on cars".
The image of Peppa Pig comes from a British preschool cartoon "Peppa Pig". This animation was first broadcast in 2004 and has been popular in more than 180 regions around the world. Each episode has a short story of only 5 minutes. It promotes the concept of family and friendship in humor and encourages children to experience life, so it is deeply loved by children all over the world. But what I never expected was that the hot discussion among netizens, the interpretation of "adultization" and the second creation made this little pig suddenly become popular in China in the 15th year of its birth, and transformed into a "social first lady". The car-sharing TOGO took advantage of the popularity of "Piggy Page" again, and created a very topical marketing campaign, which successfully occupied the headlines of the Beijing Auto Show.
(5) Use big data for precise publicity
The development of media technology has made multi-planning and publicity possible, and it has also put forward new and higher requirements for the marketing and communication capabilities of enterprises. Big data technology can record the actions of the public on the Internet, such as the time spent on each section of the shopping website, browsing frequency, purchase records, and purchased content. Based on these data, enterprises can analyze key information such as potential users' preferences for reading content and media usage habits, so as to realize accurate positioning of user groups and accurate recommendation of content.
There is a case in this regard. When the global retail giant Wal-Mart conducted an analysis of consumer shopping behavior, it found that when male customers bought baby diapers, they often rewarded themselves with a few bottles of beer, so Wal-Mart tried to launch a combination of beer and diapers. Promotional tools put together. Unexpectedly, this move actually led to a substantial increase in the sales of diapers and beer . Today, the data analysis results of "beer + diapers" have already become a classic case of big data technology application and are talked about.
4. It is right to choose the right one for media planning
In the marketing circle, there is such a saying: Where there are people, there will be communication. Therefore, communication must be down-to-earth, and it must reach the masses. At present, the hottest social applications are the media through which our communication reaches people: WeChat, Weibo, Douyin, video sites, self-media platforms, opinion leaders, live broadcast sites, news platforms, forums, post bars, etc.
However, although we know where to spread the news, how can we spread it so that the audience in this circle is more willing to accept it? This is also something that requires in-depth consideration in media planning before dissemination. The following will share 6 pieces of media planning experience.
(1) Planning suitable self-media talents, KOL, etc.
As mentioned earlier, what is right is right. The same is true when choosing medium placements. When doing Internet-related dissemination content, be sure to choose self-media experts, KOLs, big Vs, etc. related to Internet attributes as media, otherwise, the dissemination effect is likely to be minimal.
(2) Appropriate circle of friends and WeChat group resources
At present, the number of monthly active users of WeChat has exceeded 1 billion, and it is a well-deserved national-level app. Therefore, when the budget is sufficient, it is essential to choose the appropriate circle of friends and WeChat group resources as the communication medium.
(3) Appropriate news media planning
Today, when traditional media is actively transforming, we have found that traditional media and new media have their own advantages. For example, many hot topics on new media are only refreshed after being "fermented" by traditional news media. Therefore, it is necessary to make reasonable use of the advantages of new and old media and make a good plan.
(4) The recommended location of the video website
With the application and promotion of 5G, video websites and mobile apps will occupy more and more time of users, so the recommendation of video websites means more traffic, and more traffic means more touches from broadcasters. Da.
(5) Media plan for secondary communication
Communication has never been achieved overnight, and in many cases it is necessary to prepare a secondary media plan for communication to achieve the purpose of communication.
(6) Media strategy in closing period
How the communication ends and how the brand ends also requires the support of a media strategy. A good closing media strategy can make the overall communication effect even better.
[Special Topic] User Fission Growth )
5. Brand Communication "Three No Principles"
(1) Instead of stretching the front line, it is better to highlight the key points!
New hotspots will continue to appear in the market, so don't expect a hotspot to last for a long time (such as a week), and it has been very successful to make a single hotspot last for 2-3 days. Therefore, when doing communication, we must focus on promoting all resources in a short period of time, and never set a "rhythm" with nine twists and eighteen bends in marketing activities. There are at most two logical levels. Remember not to make the communication audience overthinking.
(2) In terms of communication, don't save money!
Now that the dissemination content has been produced, it cannot be hidden in your hands. The ratio of dissemination and production budget should be at least 1:1. Any viral dissemination has a threshold and a critical point. Only when the basic volume of dissemination is reached, Only then is it possible to produce explosive spread. Therefore, it is necessary to avoid the situation where the entire communication is wasted due to budget problems.
(3) Don't put resources in one place, but combine them!
Media placement for communication, WeChat, Weibo, video sites, news sites, all of which are indispensable. Only by fully covering the information receiving channels of the target users, based on one point, all-round, "sea, land and air" speculation can create momentum. Humans are social animals, and social conversation resources are essential. Based on the herd effect in communication, only when they are "hot" can they become more popular! At
present, people's consumption patterns have shifted from functional consumption and material consumption to cultural consumption and spiritual consumption. Content with knowledge, topicality and wide dissemination power will surely usher in new development opportunities. Communicators need to accurately grasp the development trend of the industry and technology while pursuing high-quality content, and make efforts from topic guidance, media publicity, marketing planning and other aspects to contribute more high-quality masterpieces and create more phenomenal communication cases.
Original link :
Leading practice | 5 key steps to create a phenomenal brand communication
Further reading:
For more exciting cases and solutions, please visit the Runwise Innovation Community .