1, brand planning and brand communication should be balanced.
Throughout the history of enterprise development in China, many enterprises are boasted. But the market environment at that time was opaque, and consumers didn't know they were "bragging". However, it's different now. With the improvement of people's living standards and consumption consciousness, consumers' judgment ability has also improved unprecedentedly, and they can't survive by "bragging" alone. Moreover, no matter what era, this practice cannot be advocated. Therefore, we must balance and match brand planning and brand communication behavior.
Brand planning is actually a part of brand strategy formulation, so we must seek truth from facts and give full consideration to market demand, competition intensity and our own resources. Brand communication is the implementation part of brand strategy, which should be consistent with planning, and all actions should be carried out around brand planning.
Give an example of a classic car. Everyone knows that the brand positioning of Volvo Cars is safety. But what people don't know is their efforts to accomplish this mission. This year, Regal launched S80 series cars. For safety reasons, there are 27 airbags in the car. This is incredible in other brands of cars.
Give another case of a domestic enterprise. As we all know, Skyworth TV has always advocated the concept of protecting eyesight. They have a slogan that may still be used today, that is, "those who don't shine are healthy." In order to further spread this concept, this year they organized a "Skyworth Healthy and Bright Walk" to help blind children, cured children suffering from cataracts in underdeveloped areas of many countries and restored their vision.
These two cases can show that enterprises must do what they say. Talk big, be big, don't say one thing and do another like those inferior milk powder manufacturers.
2. Motivation interests and differential interests should be balanced.
Motivation benefits refer to the fundamental benefits that consumers get from your products (or services). Such as product (or service) quality, function and technical content. Differential benefits are the special benefits that consumers get from your products (or services) that are different from other brands. For example, the safety interests of Volvo cars mentioned just now. From the perspective of brand strategy, these two interests should also be balanced. In other words, you can't just have motive interests and no differential interests; Nor can there be only differential interests and no motive interests. Take two extreme examples: although there are some brands of rice, noodles, soy sauce, vinegar and so on. In our daily consumption, we always emphasize motive interests and ignore differential interests; The moon cakes launched by manufacturers in the Mid-Autumn Festival every year are the other extreme, which only pay attention to the differentiated interests and seriously ignore the motivational interests.
In actual combat, if the income of your product motivation is far greater than the differential income, you lack comparative advantage; If the benefits of product differentiation outweigh the benefits of incentives, you lack basic advantages. Because, motivation interest is generally the fundamental guarantee for your product to stand in this market, and differentiated interest is the unique selling point of your product. Therefore, the balance of these two interests is the basis for the healthy development of a brand.
3. Rational appeal and perceptual appeal should be balanced.
In brand communication activities, many enterprises often fall into a dead end of "promoting product performance". In the end, the brand loses its position in consumers' minds, and only becomes a necessity in consumers' material life, and basically has no position in their emotional life. When other brand products with the same performance appear, they are easily abandoned by consumers.
Many drug brands are typical examples at present. If we only pay attention to the function of diminishing inflammation and benefiting gallbladder when communicating with consumers, and there is no other way of communication, then when another manufacturer introduces drugs with the same performance, consumers will change brands. However, when you communicate with consumers, you not only emphasize the anti-inflammatory and cholagogic effects of this drug, but also advocate healthy life ideas and distinctive personality, so consumers may not be able to switch brands so easily. To prove this point, give another case of an old car. If you are a rich man, you like driving very much, and you like excitement. Although you are old, you have a certain childlike personality. Then when you buy a car and choose Mercedes-Benz or BMW, I'm sure you will choose BMW. Because, although there is not much difference in performance between Mercedes-Benz and BMW of the same grade, the mood advocated by Mercedes-Benz is not suitable for you.
So I suggest that no matter what you do, you must pay attention to the balance between rationality and emotional appeal in brand communication, and don't go to any extremes.
4, variable factors and constant factors should be balanced.
This is also a common mistake made by enterprises. Moreover, many enterprises can't tell what is the variable factor of their own brands and what is the constant factor. From then on, a good brand will go astray.
So, what are the changeable and unchangeable factors of the brand? Generally speaking, it is something at the level of brand communication, which we define as the variable factors of brand, such as new product development, function upgrade, selling point update, spokesperson replacement and so on. The constant factors of brand are strategic things, namely brand positioning, brand appeal, brand personality, LOGO, basic colors and icons. There are too many cases in this field. For example, Pepsi's product packaging is constantly changing, and its image spokesperson is constantly changing, but its positioning of "new generation selection" has never changed; Kodak launches new products or new packaging almost every two months, but its yellow tone has never changed, and its "wonderful and pure" appeal has never changed; McDonald's constantly introduces new products that suit local tastes all over the world, but its "happiness" appeal has never changed. In brand management activities, the changeable and unchangeable factors of the brand must be balanced. This is the best shortcut for the healthy development of a brand.
Many domestic enterprises attach great importance to visual image, and thus come up with a set of exquisite VI manuals. However, the product will remain unchanged for several years or even decades; Even advertisements haven't changed for years. Consumers are not fools, in fact, we are not fools. If you think about it carefully, you will understand that it is useless to have a beautiful visual image without the innovation of products and communication strategies. Some people may ask: you said that the product should be updated, why has the formula of Coca-Cola remained unchanged for decades? Yes, the formula of Coca-Cola has not changed. Because its formula is a classic symbol, it cannot be changed. But its packaging is changed once a year, and different countries change it in different ways.
When grasping the change and invariability of brand factors, we should also pay attention to the following scales, namely, the characteristics, sense of the times and differences of brand market segments. Because these three points basically determine the sustainable viability of a brand.
5. Brand objectives and enterprise resources should be balanced.
In China, there are many enterprises that shout "Make the first", but only a handful shout "Be the only one". For example, Haier called "the first brand of household appliances in China" in the early days, and now Yili calls "building the first brand in china dairy". However, it is almost rare to become the only brand in a market segment. In recent years, although some enterprises have begun to explore, such as Jacques V9, they are not outstanding and immature.
Let's look at the concentration of all walks of life in China. Is the only way out for China enterprises "first"? Most industries in China are basically in a state of disorderly competition, and the concentration of industries is extremely low. This shows that SMEs account for the majority. Imagine what would happen if so many enterprises took the "first road"? Needless to say, the VCD war of that year can tell everything.
So I suggest that, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises, you must reasonably determine your brand development goals, and don't be too old-fashioned. The general principle is that you should do what you have and set what goals. But some people will ask, I don't have any resource advantages in this enterprise, just want to make it bigger. What should I do? I'll tell a short story before I answer this question.
One day, an angel came to the world and met two brothers who were on the verge of starvation. Out of sympathy, the angel gave two brothers two things: a big fish and a fishing net. Although the two brothers are too few, they are saving lives after all. Thank you. Next, the two brothers consider how to distribute the gift from the angel. If one wants fish and the other wants fishing nets, the possible consequences are: one eats fish and has no fishing tools, and will eventually starve to death; The other one takes a fishing net to find fish, and if he can't find fish in a short time, he will starve to death. What shall we do? The two brothers came up with a cooperative idea: first, they shared fish, and then they went fishing together.
What does this story tell us? It shows that enterprises must know how to use resources more effectively when resources are quite limited. In other words, when your enterprise resources are not enough to fight alone, you should know how to unite with others and explore "1+1>; 2-inch mode.
Therefore, when China enterprises, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, want to set brand goals, they must set a set of goals that you can achieve, instead of "small horse-drawn carts" as mentioned in business myths. Moreover, when it is difficult for your enterprise resources to establish a competitive advantage, you should form an alliance with others.