Eight Marketing Trends in China in 2022 (Part I)

At present, in the context of the peak of Internet traffic, digital marketing has gradually approached the peak of marginal utility, which cannot meet the long-term and sustained growth needs
of brand owners.
How can enterprises quickly adapt to the environment in this new era, adjust their strategies according to the essence of the current "people and goods yard", and enhance the core marketing competitiveness of their brands? What kind of characteristics does a brand need to have if it wants to stand out of the circle? From the four aspects of brand, product, user and field, this paper analyzes the eight core trends
of China's marketing in 2022.

Trend 1 Long-term brand building investment

Over the past decade, the balance between brand communication and performance advertising has always been a topic
that marketers are keen to discuss.
In the era of traffic dividend, enterprises can quickly convert users directly through performance advertising, and this marketing method that can easily measure the effect is indeed effective, so it has become the focus of
most enterprises' marketing efforts.

On the contrary, brand advertising pays more attention to building the minds of users, and helps business growth
by promoting brand image and brand power rendering to consumers for a long time.
However, due to the need for a long period of continuous investment and the difficulty of quantifying the effect, brand advertising is often placed in the "dispensable" position
by some enterprises.

In China, for a long time, only a small number of enterprises that recognize the influence of brand communication have adopted the strategy of "product and effect integration" and pursuing the dual effect of communication and transformation at the same time as one marketing; Most companies prefer "product and effect separation", that is, through short-term thinking to evaluate the immediate effect of each marketing campaign, and eventually make them fall into the quagmire of "short-termism", including: excessive focus on KPIs (key performance indicators) such as short-term conversion, focus on information flow, SEO (search engine optimization) and SEM (search engine marketing), e-commerce advertising, etc.
, and pay too little attention to brand building and placement that is difficult to directly measure short-term conversion ROI (return on investment).
This makes it difficult to maintain a deep connection
with the brand on the mental and emotional level of consumers.
Biased belief in the last-click marketing attribution model ignores the long-term mental cultivation and impact that consumers experience before this click, resulting in structural bias in brand placement
.
Paying too much attention to the effect of effect delivery on the improvement of conversion, underestimating the long-term support role of the product system on brand competitiveness, and even excessive use of price means to improve the short-term conversion effect
.

With the peak of market traffic dividends in recent years, more and more enterprises realize that effect advertising can no longer easily leverage the results of market competition, the influence of brand communication on the user's mind is gradually prominent, long-term brand building investment has returned to the line of attention of enterprises, and the marketing path is gradually changing
from product effect separation to product effect integration and product effect synergy.

Different from short-term thinking, product-effect integration emphasizes the combination of brand and effect marketing strategies to maximize comprehensive effects at different stages, goals and scenarios, so as to achieve the coordination and synchronization
of short-term conversion and long-term premium.
Based on this, enterprises began to rethink brand building and adjust the marketing investment structure, exploring how to build long-term competitiveness through high-quality brand communication on the basis of reasonable cost investment, so as to achieve sustainable long-term operation
.

Trend 2 Content creativity and brand building combined

Focusing on long-term brand building is more than just matching investments
.
In the digital era, vivid and three-dimensional brand stories are not only the core carrier connecting brands and consumers, but also have the potential to be transformed into brand mental assets
through long-term precipitation.
Brand mental construction based on brand stories often has stronger persuasive power to connect more users
.

On top of this, IP peripherals, cross-industry cooperation, creative tools, etc.
that match the brand story are constantly awakening and strengthening users' brand recognition
.
Judging from the practice of "adopting a cow" of cutting-edge dairy enterprises, behind its rapid growth is a vivid and three-dimensional complete brand narrative chain
.
Adopting a cow opens up a different way, using anthropomorphic techniques, combining the brand story with the daily context of the target consumer group, expressing the competitiveness of its own products through "user language", and generating emotional links
with users.
In addition, adopting a cow focuses on young consumer groups and creates a brand story script through a series of vivid marketing elements, thereby helping to spread
the brand story and the value points behind it.
The brand launched the avatar IP cow "one" and peripheral derivatives such as dolls, cups, and pillows; Actively co-create content with many Internet celebrity brands in different fields, so as to break through the barriers of the circle, gain more exposure and popularity, and maximize marketing value; Cooperate with KOLs to create humorous commercials to convey brand concepts and product function benefits with highly creative content
.

Brands guide users to complete daily tasks such as browsing goods and shopping, and earn in-game virtual rewards, thereby increasing the length of time users stay
.
Soft implantation fission pulls new to obtain virtual rewards to motivate users to actively share
.
Combine game scenarios with promotions to encourage users to place orders and convert
.

Trend 3: Product technology marketing continues to accelerate brand rise

In the era where users are king, how to efficiently acquire and convert users through the ultimate user experience has become one of
the core issues of various enterprises.
By creating a brand power and product power rich in science and technology, enhancing the user's sensory experience, so as to help the product out of the circle, is one of
the unique marketing paths.

It is particularly important
to match the right marketing tools to promote the spread of product competitiveness.
Some companies quickly establish a precise and vertical brand positioning
by creating a reliable technology brand image, supplemented by end-to-end technology store display and design style, and technology-rich marketing selling points.
On this basis, take the key target market as the breakthrough point to accelerate the product out of the circle and market expansion
.

Technology brings more challenges to marketers, but correspondingly more opportunities, such as the "interaction" value of technology playing an increasingly important role
at the brand marketing level.
Taking the AI tour guide "Fu Daren" created by Tencent Cloud for the Forbidden City as an example, it is a knowledgeable and humorous personality image, and it is also the embodiment of the personality of the Forbidden City brand, with AI characters vividly answering various questions for users, interactive content highlighting their brand image, and shortening the distance between them and users through approachable dialogue, which is loved by users and enhances brand recognition and favorability
.
In the future, in brand marketing, this form of AI technology + hot IP will also bring more possibilities
to brand marketing.

Trend 4 The new model of interactive grass planting accelerates the product out of the circle

As market channels and consumption patterns continue to evolve, so does the need for brands to interact with consumers
.
Under the traditional marketing model, the communication method of "global unidirection, all-channel unification" has been difficult to undertake the ever-changing market demand
.
Creating communication methods based on different channels of customer group customization and thousands of faces is one of the key directions of
enterprise marketing.
Based on this, identifying the brand positioning and establishing a fast and effective way to grow grass in different channels is the basis for
the success of the product.

In this regard, a large number of enterprises are constantly exploring ways to grow grass suitable for their brand positioning and product attributes, and the experience of some successful enterprises can be summarized as "planting trees through professional channels and planting grass in wide-area channels"
.
Specifically, it is aimed at the professional field of strong products, through multi-touch user interaction and activities, strengthen the corporate moat and professional barriers, constantly consolidate and emphasize the professional attributes of the brand, expand the brand power vertically, and finally firmly occupy the user's mind
in the professional field.
At the same time, for each platform in the public domain, a wide range of grass cultivation with multi-dimensional efforts is adopted to expand the breadth of brand communication horizontally, and finally form a brand network competitiveness
of "horizontal and vertical combination".

This year, the Oriental Selection Live Broadcast Room ushered in explosive growth, and 4 teachers from New Oriental took turns to increase sales through bilingual live broadcasts and become "dark horses of traffic"
.
The form of teaching while bringing goods allows users to receive product information while also learning dry goods in daily English, and content has become the core factor
to strengthen user memory.
The 4 teachers successfully circled fans through strong expression and clear explanation, and many users said: "I came to learn knowledge, and placing an order is a casual thing
.
" "The content-driven interaction method has invisibly established a new understanding of "ordering and shopping = knowledge payment" for users, and created feelings and differentiation in the live broadcast room
.

in Kearney

China Food News(November 22, 2022, Version 08)

(Responsible editor: Gao Na)