How Can Small Brands Not Be Abandoned When Expanding Their Scale?

The popularity of the Internet and mobile Internet continues to drive market The continuous revolution of, has gradually formed today's "post network era", its basic characteristics are the scale economy retreat, the depth of the economy tide - the two big, small in the middle of the market pattern has been formed, the middle market fell, the rise of small consumption.

I wonder if you have ever seen such a scene: Supreme There is a long line outside the store. This group of typical "families with difficulty in getting up" get up early for the first time in order to get a limited amount of money at the first time of opening the store; When the clerk in the luxury store complained about the increasingly cold business, the "unknown" who was several times smaller than himself brand The store is full of customers

According to the World Clothing, Shoes and Hats Network, Supreme has recently attached to a short video APP - many people have added the logo watermark of Supreme to the video of dancing in rural areas, which has been widely spread. For the brand and its fanatical fans, it is hard to say whether this communication is good or bad.

If niche brands want to develop for a long time, popularization is the inevitable choice they must face. However, the paradox is that once a niche brand has a phenomenal burst and starts to explore the road of popular development, it means that it will lose the value identity of the original core group.

Both big brands and small brands need to answer the same question - how can big brands not be rejected by users? How can small brands not be abandoned when expanding their scale? This article can give you some inspiration. The following, Enjoy:

　　 What gave birth to niche brands?

In a broad sense, niche brands refer to newly established brands that are recognized by few people and do not open up the market in an all-round way, such as MOTIV, a clothing brand that focuses on American retro style.

In a narrow sense, niche brands are more cutting-edge design brands founded by experienced famous designers, designers who have served major luxury brands, and distinctive independent designers, such as Karl, who was jointly launched by Karl Lagerfeld and Sephora Largerfeld X Sephora Holiday Makeup Collection.

Most of these brands are handmade and produced in limited quantities. They are well made, and even have collection and investment values. They are not inferior to luxury brands in terms of price.

In the global trillion dollar clothing market as a whole, different from luxury brands and standardized mass brands, niche brands, as a new force, have gradually released huge commercial value in the business world in recent years.

　　 ▄ Personalization is synonymous with niche brands

Although these brands are different, they all have a common feature: "personalization". The "personalization" here emphasizes the "small" of the brand story and brand culture in addition to the difference in the brand appearance. It is also because of the "small", these brands stand out in the mass market and form their own unique advantages.

When consumers face a product, they consider the material. But when consumers think about a brand, they think of something spiritual and spiritual.

• Minority goal: The inspiration of minority brand usually comes from a specific problem experienced by the founder himself and tries to solve it in a new way.

When running a brand, it is actually telling a story. Small brands are often good at telling stories. They either create their own cultural symbols from the founders and designers of the brand, or search for specific target groups in the vast crowd, gain insight into their emotional appeals, and seize the pain points for marketing.

When it comes to notebooks, many people think that they are the same writing media on the stationery shelf. But Moleskine, an Italian notebook brand, sold the notebook as a "luxury" by "telling stories".

Compared with ordinary notebooks on the market, Moleskine's most special feature is that a line of small English characters is reserved on the inside of the cover of each notebook to the effect that if lost, how to contact the owner and get remuneration. This tells each user that Moleskine is special for you.

Moleskine grasped the problem of product homogenization and consumers' desire to find and own their own special goods, gave the product a special meaning, and let consumers find its unique value in the same products.

• Emphasize the function and packaging of manual (general) quality: pay great attention to the details that make it unique, from packaging, products, processes to functions.

In recent years, Prada, Gucci and other big brands have been constantly complained about due to quality problems, and the quality of big brands has repeatedly disappointed consumers.

In order to survive in the mature market of big brands and among users, niche brands must have excellent quality support under the "beautiful appearance".

As David Ogway, the pope of advertising, said: brand is a complex symbol - it is the invisible sum of product attributes, name, packaging, price, historical reputation, and advertising methods. At the same time, brands are defined by consumers' impression of their use and their own experience.

After more than ten years of consumption concept exaggeration by big and small brands and media, China's new generation of consumers are gradually getting rid of the image of blind obedience in the past. They no longer simply pursue famous brands or expensive products, but increasingly know how to choose products that are acceptable in price and can show their own taste.

Take MOTIV, an American retro style clothing brand, for example. They try to get rid of the definition of retro clothing on the surface or in the era, and return to the technical level of retro clothing. They study and use the format and clothing methods of the 1920s, and stick to the relatively simple beauty of the post industrial era. British fabrics are more simple and honest, and all fabrics come from Britain; Ordinary buttons are too monotonous, so the back of the shell is polished into buttons... This pursuit of quality always makes MOTIV's new product release six months later than the whole industry, but it has also won a large number of followers.

• It has an advantage that is difficult for mass brands to achieve: additional convenience, namely, exclusive customization through small batch production. The uniqueness and individuality of niche brands, even linked to subculture, has given consumers countless possibilities, and also made thousands of people and faces no longer an unreachable fantasy.

　　 ▄ The Internet is a petri dish for niche brands

In a sense, the Internet has transformed "mass communication" into "niche communication".

Under the new network subculture, people from different regions can also gather together into groups around things they really love. Today, people can skillfully use the Internet to search for people they want to find, things they want to hear, buy, and read.

Therefore, today's customers can no longer be defined by random identity, but by their interest points.

New consumer groups who love niche brands like to advertise "being different" most. Especially after social image websites and corresponding applications provide everyone with a "stage", they are eager to express themselves in these new stages with distinctive labels, which has partly led to the rise and explosion of niche brands.

　　 ▄ New generation consumers are the catalyst of niche brands

From 2005 to now, the habits of Chinese consumers are splitting sharply.

According to the Post 95 Consumer Research released by Accenture, the post-90s who grew up with digital development are not as price sensitive as the post-80s. They value evaluation and feedback more. The 2017 China Fashion Consumption Survey Report released by Huali Zhi also shows that 55% of respondents prefer to try niche or new brands. Customers' product reviews and likes on social media will have a significant impact on their purchase decisions.

Today's Chinese consumers are more willing to go deep into the daily information of a brand. More and more people want to get first-hand information about the brand, which is far more than their concern about price. They pay attention to the news released by the brand, reports in fashion magazines, and some consumers will also pay attention to the style of designers or even the replacement of designers.

Compared with expensive luxury goods and ordinary popular brands on the street, niche brands maintain their own "high taste" while being more friendly to the people, and naturally become the target of consumers who pursue high taste and specificity.

　　 In fact, all niche brands have a "public heart"

Many niche brands are based on niche marketing theory.

The niche marketing theory refers to the way that enterprises use the unique conditions of marketers to choose small markets that are ignored by powerful enterprises for various reasons as their special service objects in order to avoid confrontation with powerful competitors in the market, and try their best to meet the actual needs of the market, To achieve the marketing strategy of firmly occupying the market.

But at the same time, there is also a niche paradox in the market, that is, we have a strong ability to explore the things we desire, especially delicious food and people with similar interests.

Evidence shows that even before the advent of the Internet, we were willing to spend more time with people who are similar to us.

The result of niche paradox is the formation of "the masses".

The essence of niche brands is to make money. Perhaps, niche brands are just a business strategy. Since it exists in the market, any brand is bound to be dominated by the market law, and the transition to popularity is an unavoidable path for any niche brand.

Or rely on their own super strength to grow and produce more categories; Or find a good buyer in the market with many strong players and sell at a good price. The former relies on the strong capital of the brand itself, while the latter relies more on the gold content of the brand itself.

In the face of strong competitors, the ordinary, a once popular Canadian skin care brand, was eliminated in this link.

On October 9 this year, the CEO of the ordinary head office announced on ins that all stores would be closed and the company would close down.

You know, this so-called niche brand was once popular all over the world, and even created a "ingredient wind" in the whole skin care field. However, it may be because the big tree catches the wind that many brands boycott. CEO mentioned in ins that some brands put the The formula of the ordinary company has been completely copied into its own products, which has had a great impact on the operation of the ordinary company.

On this difficult road of "popularization", there are also smart brands that have found "gold owners" and successfully ascended.

Take Le Labo, a perfume brand born in New York, for example. At first, it refused advertising and mass production, and its sales channels were poor: only its own stores and a small number of high-end retail stores and their online platforms.

However, since its acquisition by Estee Lauder, Le Labo has set up independent stores in the United States, Europe, Hong Kong, South Korea, Tokyo, Paris and London. According to the 2016 financial report of Estee Lauder Group, Le The perfume category represented by Labo and Tom Ford has become the group's fastest growing category.

　　 It seems that "very few people" is the real success

Whether active or passive, if niche brands want to develop for a long time, popularization is the inevitable choice they must face.

However, the paradox is that the establishment of niche brands is based on niche culture, which shows that they do not have the cornerstone of large-scale development. Once a niche brand has a phenomenal blockbuster and starts to explore the road of popular development, it means that it will lose the value identity of the original core group.

It seems that there is only one way to achieve commercial success without falling into the vortex of "ordinary people": to dress up as a small crowd, with the core of popularity, that is, to make your brand look small.

If the brand itself is very old, you can try to open a new product line and get close to the target audience again. If the brand image is solidified, it is too difficult to rebuild the brand, and you can also try to purchase it. For example, Anta's acquisition of Archaeopteryx and FILA has successfully refreshed its image in the minds of consumers.

　　 ▄ Creating social identity

The truly valuable brands are not isolated. The brand is just the tip of the iceberg, and behind it is the whole existence and world.

The most important one of the six influential elements mentioned by Robert Theonidi in his book Influence is social identity.

In other words, as long as a word, event or product is recognized by people, it will have an immeasurable influence among these people.

Stussy started by selling its logo, and its brand manager is Shawn At first, Stussy just drew his graffiti signature on the surfboard. After being popular with many people, he started his own fashion brand business.

Supreme has chosen the bright red logo with strong recognition. Although it is accused of copying the works of artist Barbara Kruger, it does not damage its Supreme The value of the logo - the value of this logo is up to hundreds of millions of dollars.

The rise of ASSC (Anti Social Social Club) in the past two years mostly benefited from its iconic pink slanted font logo.

Why is the logo brand so popular? The answer lies in these four words: social identity.

Many successful brands are successful because they establish a feeling that others' opinions of themselves are exactly what they want. Brands sell not just products, but a better version of themselves. To be a brand is to create preference.

Totem worship, logo culture itself is an important part of street culture, and also the most primitive appearance of street trends.

The emergence of brands is accompanied by consumers' insecurity. In the latest Protein survey on self-awareness, 71% of people said that they would feel powerless to the information content on the Internet like a flood of wild animals. Therefore, what you can do is to help them pull away from the suffocating ocean of information, eliminate their sense of powerlessness and confusion, and gain social recognition in one or several aspects.

Brands often represent a passport for deeper integration into a cultural group. Wearing Supreme is not only because it is a piece of clothing, but also because it is eager to touch the skateboard culture, or house music advocated by British skateboarders. Wearing a Palace is not only because of its symbolic triangular logo, but also because it allows "peers" with common spiritual needs to find you immediately.

Therefore, once a brand is recognized by a certain subculture group, it becomes a cultural symbol. People can find the same kind of brand and defeat the "powerlessness". Even if this small brand becomes bigger and bigger and begins to be popular, it does not mean that it has lost its original consumers, but that this subculture circle is becoming larger and larger, and this subculture is increasingly recognized, thus forming a virtuous circle.

This is why the anti mainstream culture has finally become a consumer culture.

　　 ▄ Keep a serious attitude towards brand culture

The key to making your brand look like a niche is to keep a serious attitude towards the original brand culture. The really valuable thing is not the product you are making, but the accessories of the product and some internal information, which is necessary for everyone who wants to become a member of the group.

• Become a believer and cultivate customers into fanatics. Even if people want to be different from the general public, they also want to gather in some small groups. When they find out what they really love, they will get together and explore more. And the person holding the reins is you.

• Use your opinion to find your bosom friend. In order to protect your niche and your business foundation, you must establish authority. To understand everything, that is, to understand the minority, and to cultivate connoisseurs in your audience.

Take Chaopai as an example. It is not important what you sell. The key is to be serious about coolness: you should be firm in your posture and not be swayed by outside voices. Cool brands like Supreme can easily obtain marketing effects, which is also the personality gene passed down from the early days of Supreme.

If a consumer who does not know the tone of the Supreme brand accidentally walks into their retail store in New York, it will be an awe inspiring shopping experience - consumers will be more eager to go deep into it to gain brand recognition.

Zuckerberg said, "Customers are never God, we are God". What we need to do is to position and adhere to our own brand culture, not accommodate customers, and find a balance between customer needs and brand positioning.

The consumer's demand for goods is no longer just satisfied with whether it is a famous brand or conforms to the public trend, but focuses on whether the brand has personality and is suitable for their own taste. While consumers' vision has become harsh, they also put forward higher requirements for brands.

It is the increasingly harsh vision of consumers that has created a dazzling brand in the market today. No style brand, customers will continue to drain; Brand with style will gain some customers. The future trend of brand development will be based on the game between the two, and the era of "small" brand is coming quietly.

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