Five principles and three main points of building high-end brands

For enterprises, only after the driving force of users to buy high-end brands is clear, can we explore how to build high-end brands and the corresponding principles and points from the root.

20 1918, Mr. yang hongchun, founder and chairman of liangpin shop, stressed at the press conference: "the' high-end snacks' strategy of liangpin shop points to the concept of high value rather than high price." In 65438+February of the same year, Baowo Automobile launched a brand-new advertisement, humorous copy and passionate expression style, which made this "good and expensive" magic advertisement quickly burst into red. Advertising words probably mean: good products are expensive.

Whose view is correct?

That depends on how consumers make decisions-the consumer's answer is: "We need high-quality products, and the best prices are not high".

When companies tell consumers that my products are better and the price is lower, consumers usually turn a deaf ear. It is illogical for consumers to sell high-quality products at low prices. They will think, the enterprise is not a public welfare organization, the price is low, and it certainly does not use first-class materials or advanced technology.

"Consumption upgrade" leads China enterprises to fall into the marketing trap of "meeting customers' needs". Consumption upgrading is not a topic only today. We were all talking about consumption upgrading before, and we will not stop talking about consumption upgrading in the future.

Home building materials enterprises should not have discussed it. However, from 20 15 to 20 18, they collectively fell into the trap of "consumption upgrading" and competed to create a "high-end" positioning.

Meierkaite: High-end kitchen and bathroom ceiling

Angel: an expert in high-end clean drinking water

Massage: high-grade massage chair cushion

Liangba: High-end Smart Clothes Hanger

Said: high-end security door

Dong Peng: High-end tiles

Op: high-end yuba

Meng Tian: High-end wooden door.

Child care: high-grade study desks and chairs

Hundred kitchens: high-end cabinets

Oppein: high-end whole house customization

Oushennuo: High-end tiles

Jinniu pipe: high-end water pipe

Tai Fang: High-end water heater.

Dawangye: High-end environmental protection plate

Jiumu: High-end bathroom

Huangpai: high-end soundproof doors and windows

Dianshi Decoration: High-end Decoration

Why are companies keen to build "high-end" brands? Why are consumers interested in high-end brands? Whether consumers can afford it or not, they all have a strong desire for high-end brands.

Consumers often equate price with quality, and think that high price should be "value for money". Smart entrepreneurs know their way very well. They use the ideas that customers have in their minds to build high-end brands and make profits easily.

Another factor driven by cognition is segmentation. In many categories, "high-end" brands can help brands to establish segmentation in consumers' minds, improve consumers' mental state, and create high-quality customers.

Social demand is a powerful social force. "Safety" is the first interest pursued by the soul and the most basic demand of human beings. "Status" is the second largest interest pursued by the mind, and it is also paid more attention to and has greater control in social relations. Therefore, the value of high-end brands is largely to meet the psychological needs of customers in pursuit of status.

For consumers, the quality and service of goods should be considered when buying goods, while the pursuit of high-end brands should not only consider quality and service, but also pursue spiritual interests, that is, let others see that you are using this brand and establish social value. Therefore, high-end brands must consider two aspects: cognitive drive and social drive, which cannot be separated independently.

Mr. Lei Jun, the founder of Xiaomi, is a wise man. He is well aware that the brand has the attribute of "social currency", and marketing concepts such as "young people's first TV" and "young people's first mobile phone" are all created by him to help buyers resist social discrimination and improve their social status.

Entrepreneurs in China have a general feeling: creating high-end brands. It seems difficult to make low-end products in China. They think that high-end brands are brands and have brand value, otherwise they will be considered to produce low-priced products and will not be respected. This also proves that high-end brands have social value.

Is that really the case?

In fact, many high-end brands are far less valuable, influential and promising than mass brands.

Take the car as an example. British Rolls-Royce cars are famous for their luxury in the world, but they have made little achievements in the automobile market and are finally sold at low prices. Maserati is an Italian luxury car manufacturer, 1993 sold to Fiat.

The same is true of the clothing industry. Those brands that earn a lot of money are almost all popular brands. Japan's richest man is dealing in clothes that civilians can afford. The richest man in Germany is the owner of Aldis, a low-cost supermarket. Low-priced clothing brand: ZARA is the richest man in Europe and once the richest man in the world, Mr. Ortega.

Don't get me wrong, high-end brands are not uncompetitive, but should be treated reasonably.

Enterprises can create and maintain healthy profits and markets by taking the high-end market. Higher profits enable enterprises to spend more money on marketing, thus creating more credibility.

On the contrary, trying to be the cheapest is a game. Someone can always make it or sell it at a cheaper price. Force enterprises to reduce costs or quality. The establishment of "high-end" brands can bring lasting demand and even desire to the products of enterprises.

High-end positioning is an effective flank opportunity. AL Ries, the father of positioning, made a brief exposition in the book Commercial War. The father of positioning believes that "there are many opportunities to launch flank wars at high prices, and almost any kind of goods or services has an excellent opportunity to attack the high end."

The cases in the book include Haagen-Dazs, Mercedes-Benz and John the Great. Haagen-Dazs is a high-priced ice cream brand, and its sales today are greater than the sum of all other high-priced ice creams. Mercedes-Benz attacked GM through high-end flank in the American market and became the first brand of high-end cars in the United States. With the help of fresh raw materials, Papa John has established the awareness of high-end pizza, and its profit is far better than that of the leading brand Pizza Hut.

Creating high-end brands requires skills, cultivating high-end market influencers, seeking recognition and catering to the media. Of course, enterprise products must meet or exceed the expectations of advanced buyers. All this requires a lot of money and energy. In addition, enterprises should follow the following five principles when building high-end brands.

This "minefield" has been trampled repeatedly in practice.

The demand of high-end brands is very unique, and we can get a clue by comparing other demand types.

Consumers buy Wang Laoji because Wang Laoji provides a solution to the demand of "preventing getting angry". Consumers buy the boss range hood because the boss range hood provides a solution for the "big suction" demand.

For high-end brands, simply speaking from the quality or function, the value should be discounted by at least half, and high-end brands must consider its added value: social attributes. In short, the value of high-end brands consists of social needs and quality needs. Therefore, creating high-end positioning for practical products or products without social attributes is not the best solution.

The competition between the boss and Tai Fang in the range hood field explains this principle well.

Tai Fang and Boss are the two leading brands in the domestic range hood industry, and they are glued on sales volume and sales volume. 20 1 1, Tai Fang took the lead in establishing "high-end" positioning, and Boss Electric 20 12 established "great suction" positioning.

In the range hood category, which of "high-end" and "large suction" meets the demand and cognition?

Boss range hood has become the first range hood brand in the world after just two years of "great suction" positioning practice. "Great suction" gained "high end".

For practical categories, consumers value practical value more than social value.

Yike Group is a supplier of hotel supplies and office supplies, and its EKO brand specializes in producing trash cans. From 20 17 to 20 19, EKO appealed to consumers for "high-end trash cans" in high-speed rail magazines and high-speed rail TVs, trying to build "high-end trash cans".

Wang Xi is a leading brand of corn oil in China. On 20 16, Wang Xi started the positioning project and repositioned its brand as "high-end corn oil". Zhao Wei, a famous movie star, speaks for the brand, and the advertisements and terminal materials cooperate with high-end positioning.

The positioning project of "high-end corn oil" has been implemented for 2 years, and there is no supporting operation of "high-end corn oil" in the follow-up.

High-end trash can? High-end corn oil is not suitable for evaluating "high-end" demand by combining trash cans with corn oil.

In terms of categories, consumers have no social needs for trash cans, corn oil, driving schools, marriage and love, wealth management and electric caravans. Therefore, the power of "high-end" positioning is extremely weak.

What kind of products have social attributes?

"Walking products" have social attributes, and "walking products" increase brand exposure and enhance the social value of buyers.

Range hood is a fixed product, trash can and corn oil are kitchen supplies, so you can't walk around casually or carry it with you. Cigarettes, alcohol, cars, bags and watches are called "walking products".

Therefore, the establishment of "high-end" brand positioning should be considered in combination with categories. In watches, cars, clothing and other categories, high-end demand exists, and it is reasonable to establish "high-end" brands. In some practical categories, establishing a single functional orientation is far more valuable than establishing a high-end orientation.

The establishment of positioning should start from the mind, but also examine the competitive relationship and confirm that there is a high-end gap in the minds of potential customers.

Ignoring competition is bound to suffer, which has been repeatedly verified in marketing. If competitors have occupied the high-end position in consumers' minds, enterprises should find another way to find other vacancies, which is the smart way.

The leading brand of China liquor market belongs to Maotai, and its market value and income rank first in the world. Maotai has occupied the position of "high-end liquor" in the minds of consumers in China, and its position is extremely stable.

Other liquor brands should think of other ways, and don't try to drive Maotai away from consumers. Maotai is a hard bone, no matter how expensive it is, it can't be removed.

Because high-end positioning is too valuable in liquor category, more than one liquor industry tries to establish high-end positioning, and Shede, Clear Sample, Guoyuan and Qinghua Lang work together in the high-end direction in Qi Xin.

During 20 17 ~20 19, Shede, Sichuan, Qingyan, Hubei and Guoyuan, Jiangsu took a dangerous step. They invested a lot of money to create the positioning of "high-end liquor", and the three major brands attacked at the same time, but all ended in failure.

Shed was the first person to realize this problem. After calling for high-end liquor for three years, she was willing to turn to the concept of "all-old liquor" from the second half of 20 19. You don't have to look at the data to know that high-end positioning is definitely not good. If it is effective, the marketing plan will not be terminated. Let the previous investment be wasted, and enterprises should learn to stop losses in time.

Subsequently, we saw that Qingyi in Hubei also gave up the positioning of establishing high-end liquor, and Jiangsu Guoyuan could not establish the positioning of high-end liquor no matter how many resources it consumed.

Qinghualang's "high-end sauce flavor" positioning is not good either. Belongs to maotai. 20 17 Qinghualang has been repositioned as "one of the two largest Maotai-flavor liquors in China", with a good positioning, but the price is too close to Maotai.

Sichuan Shede, Hubei Qingyang, Jiangsu Guoyuan and Qinghualang all suffered losses. They ignored their thoughts. In the liquor industry, the position of "high-end" is not blank, and this position belongs to Maotai. Unless they have a way to remove Maotai from the position of "high-end liquor", their strategies are all in vain.

Don't repeat the lesson of liquor market. Enterprises should scan their minds, confirm that the high-end position is blank, and then strive for "high-end", otherwise more efforts will be in vain.

Relying on the existing cognitive foundation is a shortcut to establish positioning, and it is not feasible to violate cognition.

On 20 16, Yang, an executive of chigo air conditioning, publicly released the White Paper on chigo air conditioning Brand. Yang said frankly: "Zhigao high-end air conditioner is the ultimate feeling after the user experience and consumers' high recognition of the brand".

Yang ignores the customer's cognition, which is very dangerous. Mr. Yang must first understand consumers' views on Chigo brand, and whether the existing cognition can support Chigo brand to build high-end positioning.

How do consumers view chigo air conditioning?

"Not so well-known, second-rate brand" consumers' answers will disappoint Chigo managers.

This kind of feedback is not good for Chigo to build a high-end brand.

According to this inference, the foundation for Chigo to build a high-end brand does not exist, and consumers will not believe that Chigo can make better air conditioners than Gree and Midea. However, enterprises are convinced that they know their products very well.

Chigo's "high-end air conditioning" strategy went wrong in less than three years. In 20 15 years, Chigo ranked fifth in the air-conditioning market. By 20 19, chigo air conditioning ranked eighth in offline sales and ninth in online sales. Even worse is the survey data of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and China Corporate Brand Research Center. Chigo air conditioning brand power index ranks 15, which is the second lowest in the industry. Cognition precedes sales, which indicates that chigo air conditioning's market performance will be worse next year. Chigo's "quality revolution" failed to come true.

In the winter of 20 19, Mason, the leading leisure clothing brand in China, launched the high-end outdoor down brand "Baiyu Rongji". Prior to this, Mason's market performance was excellent. In 20 18, the total revenue of Mason's clothing business reached 1575438+09 billion yuan, up by 30.75438+0% year-on-year. In the first half of 20 19, the operating income was 821900 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 48.57%.

Mason has high hopes for high-end outdoor down jackets and strives to make "Bai Yu Rong Ji" a high-end outdoor down jacket brand. We predict that Mason's abacus may fail, because Mason's existing cognition hinders the establishment of high-end positioning.

What does Mason stand for in cognition? At present, Mason is the first choice for high school students, not a senior buyer, and has no high-end cognitive foundation. Its cognition is limited to this, and Mason's high-end down jacket will eventually come to nothing.

Why Chigo and Mason's high-end products all ended in failure.

The reason lies in the stereotype effect. Prototype is actually to classify and simplify information. This is a simple understanding, although it is conducive to a general understanding of something, but it is also prone to deviation.

Stereotype is not based on the fact of knowing the object, sometimes it comes from the rationalization of prejudice, which is a kind of "misunderstanding" that leads to distortion. It is because of stereotype that the new products of Chigo and Mason are influenced by stereotype. In cognition, it is difficult for second-rate enterprises to produce high-end products, which hinders the establishment of high-end brand positioning.

At the beginning of the article, the words of the founder of Liangpin Store: High-end brands are not equal to high prices but high quality. Consumers must be very warm-hearted after hearing this sentence. But for good shops, it is not helpful to establish high-end brands in the minds of consumers.

In the category of zero food, where is a better shop than three squirrels?

High-end quality cannot be verified.

Can consumers tell the difference between 200 yuan liquor and 100 yuan liquor? What's so good about Rolex? Where is Mercedes?

Consumers are not experts and cannot be verified.

High price is the best way for consumers to verify high-end brands. For many commodities, high prices are the interests of customers, and high prices will increase the quality and reputation of commodities in cognition.

How can consumers verify which brand of bottled water is better? Consumers will not be tested by professional departments, nor will they inquire about the ingredient list in detail. The only way for consumers to verify is price. Consumers think that the quality of bottled water in 2 yuan is better than that in 1 yuan, while that in 4 yuan is better than that in 2 yuan. So simple.

"High-end snacks" in good shops is not a good idea. The key is that consumers can't verify its high-end positioning through price. Fortunately, good shops have won the favor of capital, taken some detours, consumed some resources, and will not hurt the bones.

In the second half of 20 15, the "high-end" positioning of electric vehicles in Yadea was born, and "higher-end electric vehicles" resounded through the streets for three consecutive years.

What is the implementation effect of the strategic positioning of "high-end electric vehicles"?

The annual report of Yadea in 20 17 shows that the average selling price of electric scooters dropped from 1766 yuan in 20 17 years to 20 1675 yuan, while the average selling price of electric bicycles dropped from 201kloc-0/6 years. Therefore, the overall gross profit margin of the Group decreased from about 20.3% in 20 16 to about 14.9% in 20 17.

The average selling price and gross profit margin of "high-end electric vehicles" in Yadea both declined.

There is a demand problem in establishing a "high-end" brand in the category of electric vehicles. Then there is the price. The price in Yadea is not much different from that of competitors, so consumers can't verify Yadea's "high-end" through price. Therefore, "high-end" brands do not have credibility.

Emphasizing the concept of "holding high and fighting low" can be understood as: brand communication is high-end, and products are sold through parity. This method won't work. The reason is that high-end and parity cannot coexist for a long time. Both destroy each other.

High-end brands must also follow the principle of "scarcity". High-end brands belong to senior buyers, and only senior buyers will pay more attention to social values. Once the brand enters the mainstream market, the social value will be diluted and senior buyers will give up buying.

This is why many high-end brands always have "limited edition" products. Brand owners can control scarcity through limited products and maintain high prices and high demand.

If most people carry LV bags, LV and high-end positioning will inevitably drift away.

Raising prices will curb demand, resulting in scarcity.

Yadea's practice of lowering prices and increasing sales is not friendly to the "high-end" positioning. Product prices have decreased, product sales have increased, and brands can be seen everywhere. Rural grandfathers, urban couriers, and takeaways are all using "high-end" electric vehicles.

Without high-end buyers and scarcity, high-end brands cannot be established.

Why can't Moutai always be bought?

Costco, a global membership supermarket chain, can only buy one bottle of membership card. Many tourists go to Maotai Hotel in Maotai Town, renhuai city to buy Maotai, and each person is limited to two bottles of Maotai with his ID card. It is not uncommon for dealers to buy Moutai.

The scarcity of manufactured goods can enhance the social value of users, which is very important for high-end brands. On the contrary, if a high-end brand is well-known in the market, its high-end attributes will inevitably be challenged.

High-end flank is the most classic strategic rule in commercial competition. Once the brand has established its "high-end" positioning, it can be said that it has benefited a lot. Will take the initiative to win the favor of customers, get the respect of peers, but also get rich profits and sustained competitiveness.

In addition to the above five principles, we should also pay attention to the following three points: the time is long enough, the categories are clear, and we should be alert to the market vacancy trap.

Time can witness quality, and time can win trust.

Those experienced buyers have unusual requirements for quality. They spend more money, so they demand higher quality.

Time is the best witness. In the face of time, everything will eventually be revealed. If a brand has a long history, then the products of this brand must be very reliable, otherwise how can it live for so long?

High-end brands in the world usually have a long history. Mercedes was born in1886; BMW was born in1916; Lu was born in1854; Rolex was born in1908; Hermes was born in 1837. These high-end brands have a history of over 100 years.

Many brands build high-end brands at the beginning of their birth, which is not suitable for enterprises without revolutionary technology or innovation.

Kunlun Mountain is a bottled water brand launched by Jiaduobao Group in 2009. At the beginning of the brand's birth, it positioned high-end bottled water at the price of 6 yuan/bottle, which was three times that of Nongfu Spring, the leading brand at that time.

What was the result?

Not satisfied. Faced with a brand-new brand, consumers will doubt its quality and credibility, and consumers will wonder how a brand-new brand can make its products better than Nongfu Spring, not to mention the price is three times that of Nongfu Spring.

After five years of practice, by 20 14, Kunlun Mountain changed its strategic orientation from "high-end mineral water" to "snow mountain mineral water". Kunlun Mountain needs time to win trust.

Entrepreneurs usually take Tesla as a counterexample. They will say, why do you think Tesla is successful? Tesla was founded in 2003, and it started from the high-end market. At this point, Tesla has become a representative brand of high-end electric vehicles.

Tesla is undoubtedly successful. But can your business be like Tesla? Tesla can still get a large amount of capital injection in the case of continuous losses 15 years. Can your company do it? Does your enterprise have Tesla technology? Does the CEO of your company have the influence of Musk?

Which brand of pure electric vehicles in China is better developed? That's a low-priced brand, not a high-end brand.

Xiaomi's success today was achieved by cutting into low-priced smartphones.

Toyota and Honda also successfully entered the American market by low prices.

Studying the history, we will find that many brands' strategies in the initial stage are low prices, not high-end.

Thirdly, it takes time to build high-end brands, and the requirements of senior buyers are very demanding. Enterprises must let consumers witness the quality and reputation of their products through time.

The category is clear and the positioning is powerful.

Unclear category definition is a common practical misunderstanding in brand establishment and positioning, and so is building a "high-end" brand. In practice, we have met too many enterprises that missed the opportunity of positioning because of unclear categories.

The consumer's decision-making thinking is "think by category and express by brand", that is, consider what kind of products to buy first, and then choose the representative brand of this category. If the category is vague, the power of positioning is minimal.

Ou Lin started from the sink, and later extended to kitchen appliances. In 20 19, the brand was repositioned as high-end kitchen. Kitchen is an extremely broad category. Will consumers consider buying a kitchen? Obviously not.

If the "high-end" positioning is based on the "kitchen" category, then the strength will not be revealed. "High-end kitchen" is difficult to enter the mind, so it can't influence consumers' purchase decision.

Beverly is a brand-new brand launched by Midea Group on 20 18. Beverly launched to cope with the competition of Haier's high-end home appliance brand: casarte. Casarte initially positioned itself as a high-end refrigerator, and later extended to high-end home appliances. The worst thing about Beverly is the definition of categories. What is a "high-end complete set of water and electricity appliances"?

With a clear category, we can have a sharp positioning. When establishing high-end positioning, enterprises need to think about the definition of categories first, so as to plan brand positioning.

We have observed that many brands have fallen into the practical misunderstanding of "there is a vacancy in the market, but there is no vacancy in the mind". Market vacancy and mental vacancy are not the same concept. Enterprises should pay attention to the mind, not the market.

Starting from the market, an effective strategy will not be formulated. The marketing strategy seems to have found new opportunities, which looks very enlightening. Actually, it is not. Market strategy may be making enterprises go to the abyss.

The story of two enterprises.

No brand occupies "high-end electric vehicles" in the market, and enterprises put all their resources on high-end electric vehicles.

There is no brand occupying "high-end corn oil" in the market. Wang Xi feels lucky to seize the strategic window and establish "high-end corn oil".

There are also high-end financial management, high-end English training, high-end paper towels, high-end food containers and so on. From the market point of view, enterprises divide the market into high-end market, mid-end market and low-end market, and then enterprises see the existence of "high-end" opportunities. If we start from scratch, enterprises will not see such opportunities.

There are no high-end vacancies in corn oil, electric cars and English training categories in consumers' minds, which is the reason.

For enterprises, it is tempting to build high-end brands. It is conducive to the promotion of enterprise's market position, and can gain more loyal consumers, better profits and media attention. However, it is not easy to build a high-end brand, and the process of building a high-end brand is very difficult. It requires enterprises to invest more money and time, not only that, but also have excellent quality and excellent image.

In addition, the creation of high-end brands is also influenced by the birth of brands, which we call mental resources. Italian clothing is very high-end in cognition, such as French wine, Swiss watches, French cosmetics, German cars and so on. With the help of these mental resources, we can shorten the cycle of building high-end brands.

Pour cold water on the basin. Many categories in the market do not have the genes to build high-end brands. Therefore, no matter how much energy the enterprise spends, it will not help.