Marketing Story: Shepherd, Rope And Sheep

There is such a story: the shepherd led the sheep through the busy market. The passerby said, "the shepherd and the sheep are following you because you are holding them with a rope. If you untie the rope, the sheep will surely run away."

After listening, the shepherd opened the rope, and it was strange that the sheep would still follow the shepherd without delay.

At this time, the Shepherd said, "it did not run because I fed it every day, and gave it to eat and drink, even if there was no rope, it would still follow me."

Solution

[part I -

Today is an era of information explosion. Information varies through different levels, angles and differences.

When a strategy is initially identified, it is not the strategy itself but the means and means to achieve it.

Many times, we are not short of strategy, nor lack of strategic vision, but lack of strategy.

Like a shepherd and a sheep, if the shepherd's strategy is "let the sheep follow him faithfully", then what is the way to achieve this strategy? Is it "grasping the rope" or "feeding the grass"?

In the era of information explosion, what is the core factor of building a brand? Or the strategy of brand development. What is the essence and the way to use it? I always feel that we have different ideas and knowledge about brand establishment and a whole set of brand planning.

This difference is reflected in "more grasping the rope" and ignoring the more important "straw" hidden under the "rope".

Still with

The sheep follow the shepherd, not because of the rope, but because of the forage.

Of course, we can also regard it as "rope inertia", that is, the sheep formed a habit under the traction of the rope.

So after the rope was removed, the sheep still thought the rope was working, so they used to follow the shepherd.

However, this possibility is not true for shepherds.

Because the key factor that makes sheep habitually behind the shepherd is "grass". The rope is an objective factor rather than a subjective determinant.

So after removing the rope, the shepherd can still confidently know that the sheep will follow him.

In this story, we must first comb the relationship between shepherd, rope and sheep, that is, what is the determinant of loyalty.

The rope is one of the strategies or strategies to achieve loyalty, and the essence of loyalty is demand, which is the demand of sheep for food. This is the decisive factor.

So we can get the answer:

After fully satisfying the sheep's demand for food, the shepherd used the rope to lead the sheep forward for the first time, in order to cultivate the sheep's habit.

As sheep's needs are constantly satisfied and the shepherds have become dependent and loyal, even if there is no rope traction (in fact, under the dual efforts of meeting the needs and habits training, the sheep's psychological dependence on the shepherds and their habits have been formed), the sheep are still loyal behind the shepherds.

The story of shepherd, rope and sheep reveals to us the basic elements of loyalty: subjective needs satisfaction (forage) and objective behavior training (rope traction).

At the same time, it tells us that loyalty is based on "demand satisfaction (forage)".

From this perspective, we can examine the brand strategy today, and we can see that we will focus more on "rope traction" rather than "grass content".

Why China's health care industry has been in a low ebb? The reason is "grasping the rope" but ignoring "forage".

Why is it difficult to identify a brand or a brand concept in the Chinese market, especially in small and medium-sized enterprises? The reason is also the "rope".

This objective existence, subjective recognition of "rope misunderstanding", to a large extent, has affected our brand establishment and development, and also demonized the brand to a certain extent.

To develop a successful brand development strategy, at the very beginning, we must first understand: what is the core of brand building.

Only by fully solving this problem can the brand develop and survive for a long time.

The essence of brand strategy is mentioned above: subjective needs are satisfied with objective behavior training.

[novella: changes in brand strategy]

Or the shepherd, the rope and the sheep story: the shepherd led the sheep through the busy market, and the passerby said, "the shepherd and the sheep are following you because you are holding them with a rope. If you untie the rope, the sheep will surely run away."

After listening, the shepherd drove the rope forward. The sheep shook his head and looked at the shepherd but he didn't follow.

At this time, passers-by stepped forward and fed a feed to the sheep. The sheep ate happily and walked closely behind the passers-by.

The shepherd took a few steps to reattach the rope to the sheep's head, but he sweats with sweat and the sheep still remain motionless.

At this time, the passerby smiled and said, "shepherd, you may not know. I have been watching your sheep for a long time. It has never eaten grass. Now it prefers to eat feeds."

What is the essence of market change? It is the change of consumption demand.

When enterprises observe this change and perceive such changes, they often appear to be "fans who are in the company of others."

Like a shepherd, he did not accurately grasp the needs of sheep, so he gave way to the loopholes.

Our proposition today is not to study the essence of market change, but to study the secret hidden under such a change, that is, the essence of essence.

The shepherd was drilled by the passers-by, which is also a result.

In this phenomenon, the essence of shepherd's view lies in three aspects: first, the slowness of the shepherd's demand for sheep; secondly, the shepherd's confidence in the habit of the rope's formation; third, the shepherd's confidence in the means of meeting the needs of the sheep.

From the perspective of passers-by, there are three problems: one is the analysis and comparison of sheep shepherd's means of shepherding; the second is to observe the change and development of sheep; the third is to find out the differences between the existing means, so as to optimize and improve them, and ultimately make them fit with the needs of sheep.

A concept prevalent in Chinese business circles is "better to do second things than to do first".

The core is: first, it means danger. If you can't fully or even occupy most of the market share, then your first position is dangerous, because there are countless eyes staring at you and countless thoughts around you until you find your flaws and pull you down.

Second, it's simple and economical, because you only need to focus your attention on the first place. How can he do it? You can find a better way to improve the chances of success.

Then, first, is it not possible? It is not always the case. It is also very simple to be good at first: always be vigilant, fully grasp the dynamic changes of consumer demand, and accurately understand the law of market development.

In this way, the strategy of product brand development will change with the market changes, so that it can remain invincible.

Or combine stories.

Why did the shepherd not accurately grasp the change in the needs of the sheep?

This confidence comes from two levels: the first comes from the self-confidence of forage, that is, products.

Perhaps the shepherd's forage is nutritious and abundant, and every time he leads the sheep to the most beautiful place of the water grass. Second comes from the self-confidence of the rope, that is, the method.

The establishment of brand needs to be guided. This kind of guidance can be an advertisement, a terminal, a gift, or a sales promotion. In a certain period of time, the continuous consumption behavior and the guidance of consumption concept can lead to consumption inertia.

Of course, in these two levels, we also refer to the advanced nature, superiority and uniqueness of the products, the continuity, stability and foresight of the methods, and so on.

Because when marketing develops to a certain extent, it will become a systematic work with more connotations and more factors.

However, the essence of marketing has not changed, and it is still the product marketing mode -- consumers.

The biggest difference between brand strategy and enterprise development strategy is that the enterprise development strategy is formulated from inside to outside, and it is a development strategy based on the ability and strength of the enterprise fully combined with the market situation. The brand strategy is just the opposite. It is "from inside to outside", and the strategy is based on the demand of consumers, and the strategy of realizing the strategy.

The difference between inside and outside is directly embodied in the essence of strategy, that is, dynamic strategic development and static goal realization.

There is no doubt that the changing nature of consumer demand has determined that the principle of brand strategy is "dynamic development".

[chapter: the development stage of brand strategy]

The essence of brand strategy is "subjective demand satisfaction and objective consumption behavior training", and the principle of making strategy is "dynamic development". So what is the process of brand strategy, or the process of brand development?

In the book "Mengniu insider", Mr. Sun Xianhong once put forward the concept that the brand has three states: the card is in the ear, the card is in the hand (buying rate), and the card is in the heart.

This is the delineation of the path of brand development, but this delimitation is concentrated in the field of fast moving consumer goods, based on the situation of Mengniu itself, the reason is right, whether it is universal is still to be explored.

The development of brand strategy is first based on the development of products, and the development of products revolves around the development of consumer demand. This is a basic logical relationship and can not be changed.

Today, based on the consumer demand centered brand strategy, from the product to the brand, it is the promotion of popularity. The core is the promotion of the purchase rate. What is the essence of it? It is the accurate grasp of the dynamic demand of consumption and the law of consumption.

Today's market competition is said to be "product competition era". I don't think so. Product is a combination of quality and technology. On this basis, it is a materialized performance of a group of interests that meet the needs.

Aside from the interests, quality and technology are critical points. After reaching a certain level, the price of breaking through it is too high.

Therefore, I prefer to see today's market competition as "the dynamic grasp and satisfaction of consumer demand, and the guidance and development of consumer behavior at the stage".

Today, the distinctive characteristics of consumption demand are "personalization, differentiation and multi-level".

In the era of personalized consumption, the commonalities of consumer demand are constantly being divided into many different personality modules, thus generating a large number of niche markets with individual needs.

To set up a brand, the most fundamental problem that an enterprise needs to face is how to locate the market in order to meet more individual needs and how to combine it to cover more target consumer groups and how to extend the product concept so as to establish a long-term product brand.

Now, let's turn this circle around: in the era of personality consumption, is there a common consumption characteristic of a few types of personality consumption groups? Is this commonality an important factor affecting consumption? How can we find this commonality? In my view, this is the starting point of brand Sinicization in the coming years and Chinese planners recombing the concept of brand.

In the overall development of brand strategy, I always believe that the important thing is not how the brand strategy is formulated, but whether it can run through the unified brand concept in the process of achieving the brand strategy, follow the objective market development rules, accurately grasp the dynamic changes of consumer demand, and constantly correct the strategic objectives on the basis of this, so as to finally achieve the brand establishment.

Postscript]

The story of "shepherd, rope and sheep" is what I saw in a book. The story was not meant for business. Of course, the philosophy contained in this story is interworking.

So I introduced it to this article.

What is the ultimate goal of brand strategy? It is to build up a brand that is able to extend the life cycle of the product and profit more by brand driving product sales.

And building a brand is not only advertising and product planning, but also a precise grasp of market demand and scientific prediction and management of dynamic change rules. This is a new topic before us all.

I think: today, our marketing status, like the relationship between shepherd, rope and sheep, is more focused on "grasping the rope", while ignoring the most essential thing, "feed the grass."

However, the problem of "forage" will extend more problems. For example, how to define the forage? Is it a product or a concept? What kind of forage is in line with the market demand? How to determine the role of straw and rope?

And so on, this series of difficult problems.

I think these problems are left to all of us. My ability is limited, and I can only do my best.

At this time, I thought of Mr. Kim and his teacher in a special statement: "we believe that the marketing introspection based on grass roots will be profound and constructive."

I hope we can get closer to this goal.