Text | Xun Kong’s Marketing Apocalypse
The popularity of Xiaomi su7 has taught traditional car companies a lesson, and has also caused the car industry to suffer from "traffic anxiety". Car companies are eagerly seeking marketing that can quickly attract attention. Strategy. As a result, live broadcast marketing has become a new front that many car companies are competing to try. Wei Jianjun of
Great Wall said: “The first live broadcast is quite nervous.”
Yin Tongyue of Chery said: "Forcing me, an old man in his 60s, to come out."
These big guys who were used to operating behind the scenes began to come to the front desk one after another and broadcast live in person. Although they were not yet skilled, they Trying to use the emerging form of live broadcast to enhance brand exposure and promote sales.
However, the problem is that the live broadcasts of these car companies only imitated Xiaomi's form and did not understand God.
Traditional car companies’ live broadcasts are just one link and action, but behind Xiaomi’s live broadcast is the entire system of interaction and dialogue with users. The former is still a marketing action based on corporate thinking, while the latter is a brand strategy based on user thinking.
From the moment it announced its car-making, Xiaomi has involved users in every step of the process, from announcing its car-building plan, to the exposure of spy photos of the factory that sparked heated discussions, to letting everyone guess the price, to sharing the story of the live broadcast after the release of the SU7. , every node fills users with a sense of participation and expectation.
This is like a season of a TV series full of user comments. Users have endless questions, and the TV series is broadcast one after another. After the show, there are filming behind-the-scenes, and the trailer for the second season will soon be revealed (to build momentum for SUV) .
As a producer and director, Lei Jun is like a rhythm master who controls the plot, keeping users following closely.
This kind of marketing that gives users a sense of participation is the core of Xiaomi's brand marketing. This is not a simple live broadcast, but a full-link system for dialogue and interaction with users.
Next, the show starts playing.
01 Episode 1, d2c: direct communication with users system
Xiaomi’s automobile marketing model is d2c, which is inherited from Xiaomi mobile phones.
In the era when Xiaomi 1 was released, most mobile phone brands relied on middlemen such as Suning and Dixintong for sales. Xiaomi has taken another approach and chosen to sell mobile phones directly on its official website. This strategy not only saves the cost of offline channels and reduces sales costs, but also connects the official website with Xiaomi’s social media, including communities and Weibo. Contact, convert users who buy mobile phones into loyal fans of the brand, and establish a longer-lasting relationship.
The launch of Xiaomi su7 has extended the d2c model from the mobile phone industry to the automotive field.
In the product creation stage, Xiaomi develops products based on user data to ensure that every function and design can meet user needs. For example, although the car mobile phone holder was ridiculed by Yu Chengdong, users commented, "I can use it without it, but you can't live without it."
During the pricing stage, Xiaomi considers user expectations and market changes to formulate reasonable pricing strategies. Before the release, the price of Xiaomi Su7 has been changing dynamically in order to finally meet the expectations of users.
In the marketing stage, Xiaomi eliminates the middlemen and sells directly to consumers to ensure information transparency and price fairness.
In the after-sales service stage, Xiaomi maintains long-term interaction with users through intelligent systems, listens to user feedback and suggestions, and continuously improves products.
Xiaomi's d2c model is a comprehensive system from product development to marketing to service. It is a user-centered brand strategy. This model achieves continuous interaction and deep binding with users.
Compared with Xiaomi’s flexible and direct user contact method, traditional car companies often rely on dealer networks for sales and services. This is a typical b2c model, which puts them at a natural disadvantage in obtaining core user data and feedback.
The interaction between them and users is always separated by one layer, just like "looking at flowers in the fog, looking at the moon in water", which limits the potential for user relationships and product innovation.
Although a number of car companies try to shorten the distance with users through CEO live broadcasts, this method only touches the surface of marketing and is far from Xiaomi's full-link user interaction system.
02 Episode 2, CEO persona: sincere and practical
In the traditional marketing era, executives of car companies often maintain a high-ranking and inaccessible image. They rarely have the opportunity to communicate directly with users. However, in the current Internet era, this can no longer meet market demand. Users expect more sincere and real interactions with brands, and the creation of the personal IP of the CEO of a car company has become the key to achieving this goal. The rise of
ceo live broadcast is essentially an attempt by companies to create personal IPs of executives to get closer to consumers, so that personal charm can help brands and sales.
But the shaping of this kind of personal IP does not happen overnight, it requires the accumulation of time. It is not like in the company, where the boss is usually aloof, but if he goes to the factory to sympathize with the workers on a whim, the boss's image becomes humble and close to the people.
Starting from the sentence "are you ok?" in 2015, Lei Jun has established his image as people-friendly and sincere. The construction of this image is based on many years of direct communication and honest dialogue with users. Lei Jun's approachable style through live broadcast and other channels makes consumers feel that what he says is credible and true.
Therefore, when he said ecology, everyone thought it was valuable. When Jia Yueting said ecology, everyone thought it was too exaggerated. If he says it doesn't make money, everyone will think it really doesn't make money. If others say it doesn't make money, everyone will think it's a lie.
In the live broadcast on April 18, Lei Jun continued to maintain his usual style. Although he is known as the "shuangwen hero", he admitted in the live broadcast that he was not the top scorer in the college entrance examination and did not have 4 billion in savings. He still focused on sincerity and authenticity.
03 Episode 3, Sense of Participation: Users discussed the entire process
The goal of traditional car companies is to sell cars to users quickly. Their relationship with users is limited to online marketing to obtain clues and invite test drives (still at dealers). Once the car buying process is complete, the connection between the consumer and the brand is often terminated. In this model, the dialogue between users and brands is usually limited, and consumers’ sense of participation in brand building is relatively low.
The relationship between Xiaomi and users is reflected in the “sense of participation”. In 2014, Li Wanqiang, Xiaomi's marketing operator, published a book "Sense of Participation". This book summarized the essence of Xiaomi's marketing: The first is to interact with users to make good products, and the second is to rely on users' word-of-mouth to spread the word. and marketing.
This strategy has been fully reflected in the promotion of Xiaomi su7.
When Xiaomi announced its entry into the automobile industry, they not only announced relevant plans, but also stimulated extensive public discussion. Many people even bought stocks to participate and waited for the appreciation.
Before the product is released, spy photos of new cars are continuously released intentionally or unintentionally. Through waves of discussions, the popularity and popularity of the brand are maintained.
At the Xiaomi Auto Technology Conference, when all eyes were focused on the price that was about to be announced, Lei Jun said, "Let's hear the breakdown next time," which triggered widespread speculation and discussion among netizens. After the delivery of
products, Xiaomi Motors still maintains close interaction with users. For example, when some netizens suggested that physical buttons should be added to the electric rear wing, Xiaomi not only listened carefully to this suggestion, but also quickly responded and made improvements.
Through these initiatives, Xiaomi not only makes consumers feel like they are part of the product and brand building process, but also deepens users' brand loyalty through continuous interaction.
04 Behind-the-scenes shooting, fan economy: users jointly market
Xiaomi may not be the creator of the fan economy, but it is definitely the first brand to promote the term fan economy. It established a fan base - a community when it started as Miui, and then quickly attracted a large number of fans with the help of social media.
These fans are not only buyers of Xiaomi products, but also content creators and brand co-marketers.Through their own social networks, they share their experience, exchange product insights, and even participate in product improvement and promotion, forming a powerful word-of-mouth communication force.
While traditional automobile companies are still relying on high-cost TVC and large-scale marketing activities, Xiaomi has adopted a more open and interactive strategy, allowing users to participate in content creation. This strategy of not only reduces marketing costs, but also greatly improves the effectiveness and breadth of marketing activities.
Almost all of Xiaomi su7’s powerful marketing campaigns are not from the official government. No one remembers su7’s slogan - people and cars become one. I am very excited, but everyone remembers the jokes of Li Bin, Ideal, He Xiaopeng and Wei Jianjun in the audience.
is even self-deprecating. The sentence "are you ok" that was originally spoken in the accent of Hei Leijun has been transformed into a complimentary joke that represents his kindness. Nowadays, there are endless jokes on Weibo about Xiaomi and Porsche being in the same frame and colliding with Zotye, but Xiaomi has not defended its rights.
In the era of user branding, the logic of marketing has changed. The influence of traditional brand promotion methods such as TVC and outdoor advertising is gradually weakening. Instead, there is a content marketing system with higher user participation. In this system, the collective creativity of users often exceeds the individual creativity of enterprises.
05 Season 2 Preview: Can traditional car companies join the "new drama"?
The live broadcast of car company CEOs is due to the general trend. On the one hand, the marketing method of Xiaomi Su7 has given traditional car companies a blow, which makes them face internal and external pressure and must take some action. On the other hand, they have to show an innovation The attitude of marketing, at least this is the stance of change.
However, as mentioned above, many traditional car companies’ live broadcast attempts only remain superficial imitations, without going deep into Xiaomi’s user-centered marketing strategy.
Xiaomi has built a user-driven brand ecosystem through in-depth user participation and continuous interaction. This is not only a means of marketing, but also a strategy for the company and users to grow together. This is Xiaomi’s DNA and more than a dozen years of accumulated results.
For traditional car companies, the transformation from a manufacturing brand to a user brand requires real and comprehensive interaction with users in every aspect of production, marketing and after-sales service.
This means that companies need to fundamentally reconstruct their relationships with consumers and incorporate user feedback and needs into every step of product design and service improvement. Enterprises need to establish a platform for direct communication and interaction with users, allowing consumers to participate in product testing, marketing, feedback and iteration, and be truly user-oriented.
The best time to plant a tree was 10 years ago, followed by now. Xiaomi planted the user brand tree 10 years ago. If traditional car companies can plant this tree now, they can reap the fruits in a few years. , which may not be a bad thing.
