Chapter 59 Section 2 Tips for Doing Business: You Need a Good Brand

Seven or eight days later, Song Jiang said: "I came to Qingfeng Mountain to visit one of my brothers in Qingfeng Village." Yanshun asked who it was?The answer was: "Hua Rong of Qingfeng Village." Yan Shun said, "You are talking about Huazhi Village!" It turned out that the system of the Song Dynasty set up camps and garrisons at dangerous places, which is equivalent to the organizational system of today's armed police squadrons.Huarong is the Zhizhai of Qingfengzhai, equivalent to the squadron leader of today's armed police squadron. Song Jiang asked: "It's Hua Zhizhai. Do you know his news?"

Yanshun said: "I heard that he has retired from the army and started a company in Qingfeng Town." Song Jiang asked again: "He knows well that if he doesn't do business in the village, what kind of business is he doing?" Yanshun looked at Wang Ying and Zheng Tianshou, but he didn't understand the details.Song Jiang was anxious, so he bid farewell to the three leaders and came to Qingfengzhai.After traveling for more than twenty or thirty miles, you can see a military camp in the distance, which is Qingfeng Village.Next to the barracks, there are many merchants doing business, gathered into a market town called Qingfeng Town.Song Jiang went to Qingfeng Town to inquire about Hua Zhizhai, and people led him to a courtyard at the east end of the town. There was a sign at the entrance of the courtyard, called "Hua's Sight Co., Ltd."

Song Jiang stepped forward and asked the guard to inform him.Then, a handsome man came out to welcome him, it was his good brother Hua Rong who had been separated for many years.When the two brothers met, they were very affectionate.After some greetings, Huarong invited Song Jiang to sit in the living room, and called his wife Cui and his sister Yanfang out to meet him.Song Jiang looked at Xiao Yanfang and said, "This girl looks dignified, but she has the face of a good woman." Xiao Yanfang was in his youth, vaguely understood what he meant, his face flushed suddenly, and he lowered his head shyly.Hua Rong laughed out loud, but ordered his servants to prepare food and drinks to clean up Song Jiang.

On the next day, Song Jiang asked Hua Rong about the company's status.It turns out that Huarong is famous for his archery skills, which can be described as amazing skills.Unexpectedly, there is a mystery in this archery method, so Huarong invented a sight, which is installed on the bow body, even if ordinary people use it, it can achieve the aim of piercing Yang with a hundred steps.Huarong equipped Qingfeng Village with this sight, and his combat effectiveness was greatly enhanced.Unexpectedly, there is also a Wen Zhizhai in Qingfeng Village, whose surname is Liu Minggao, who is in charge of administrative management; Hua Rong is a Wu Zhizhai, who is in charge of military management, and the two Zhizhais have always been at odds.Huarong was upset, so he simply retired from the army and founded this company that produces sights.Song Jiang asked: "But I don't know what is so wonderful about this sight?"

Huarong said: "Ordinary people only look at the target and the arrow when shooting arrows. They don't know that there is a parabolic arc between the arrow and the target. With this sight, the error between the arrow and the target can be effectively resolved." Song Jiang held the iron bow with a sight in his hand, and shot two arrows, one of which hit the target as expected, and the other was slightly off.Song Jiang praised: "It's really a good thing! In this way, everyone can be a good archer! But I don't know how the market will react?" Huarong said: "It's not bad, but it's far from my ideal."

Song Jiang looked around the huge courtyard and said: "Business is nothing more than four elements: product, price, channel, and promotion. Brother Yu thinks that although this sight is good, there is still room for improvement in terms of marketing." Hua Rong listened Said, immediately humbly ask for advice.Song Jiang twirled his beard and gave Hua Rong three suggestions: 1. Not only the production of sights, but also the production of iron bows and wooden bows equipped with sights; 2. On this iron bow and wooden bow with unique performance, mark a brand with unique meaning; 3. According to the different arm strengths of people, various heavyweight iron bows and wooden bows are produced to meet the needs of different groups of people, such as men, women, teenagers and strongmen, and form a series of products.

Why label a brand with unique meaning?Song Jiang explained that the value of the brand lies in that on the one hand, it can show the value of the product, and on the other hand, it is also for the convenience of customers to identify and prevent the company from being impacted by various counterfeit and shoddy products that may appear.As for product serialization, it means forming a large-scale product display on the same sales platform, which can not only demonstrate the strength of the enterprise, but also adopt differentiated market demands for different customers, and win their trust and confidence. Loyalty, so that you can get a larger market share and more profit margins.

"I understand the brand you mentioned." Hua Rong said, "Just like the blacksmith shop in the south of the town, every kitchen knife should be stamped with the words 'Li Ji', so as not to be confused with the blacksmith shop of the Zhang family in the north of the town. I followed suit and stamped the words 'Hua Ji' on my products." "Is the brand just a word of 'Huaji'? The so-called brand seems to be just a logo composed of font size or pattern, but in this logo, we can see people's familiarity and love for it. and trust. In other words, a truly valuable brand means extremely high popularity and reputation. Your word "Hua Ji" may still have a certain degree of recognition in Qingfeng Town, but when you arrive in Qingzhou, you In the entire Shandong area outside of Qingfeng Town, and even in the whole country, who would know which 'Hua Ji' it is? People would misunderstand it as the product of Hua San Hua Si Hua's father and mother, but few people know about you, Hua Rong."

"Then, how about I change it to 'Hua Rong Ji'?" "Hua Rong Ji" is undoubtedly a brand with more personality than "Hua Ji", but it has three shortcomings: ① As a new brand, it needs a lot of advertising expenses to build its popularity and reputation; ②This brand reflects the self-centered consciousness of the boss, Hua Rong, and it is easy to have a negative impact on the internal employees of the company. They will regard themselves as the vassal of the boss, Hua Rong, and thus lose their due sense of responsibility and enthusiasm; ③The boss, Hua Rong’s Every move will have an impact on this brand. People will like it because of Huarong's name, and will condemn and abandon it because of Huarong's notoriety.Song Jiang believes that it is better to look through the history books and find a historical celebrity to name it. This can not only use the popularity and reputation of this historical celebrity to open up the market, but also avoid the above-mentioned negative effects.

"Historically, the story of Hua Mulan serving in the army instead of his father is known to all women and children. How about naming it after 'Hua Mulan'?" Compared with "Hua Rong Ji", "Mulan" has better popularity and reputation, but it also has a fatal flaw: it seems to be a product specially for women.Throughout the ages, how many Mulans have there been?Although heroines who love martial arts and are proficient in bowing horses are admirable, they are rare in the end.What an enterprise needs is the market, and brand design must also aim at the most favorable target customer group.

Song Jiang repeatedly emphasized: "A brand is not just a logo, nor is it just the popularity and reputation of this logo, but also the brand personality reflected in its popularity and reputation." Hua Rong was a little confused and asked, "What is brand personality?" Song Jiang asked back: "Suppose your sister Hua Yanfang is a brand, think about it, what kind of brand personality does she have?" Hua Rong thought for a while and replied: "She has a kind of gentleness like a bird. And shy." Song Jiang continued to ask by analogy: "If there is a Bull brand drink, what kind of brand personality does it have? If there is a Tigress brand chili oil, what kind of brand personality does it have?" Huarong understood a little bit.It turns out that the so-called brand personality is actually a distinctive human characteristic.This is a very interesting phenomenon. When people look at anything, they are used to humanizing understanding.For example, when we talk about a bull, people will think of a man with a strong physique.When we talk about tigress, people think of a woman with a fierce personality.When we talk about Ximen Qing, he is a rich and lustful romantic businessman.When we talk about Pan Jinlian, she is a coquettish beauty who is unwilling to be lonely.The secret to branding is that you can provide people with some kind of endearing, human touch through your logo.This human characteristic tells people: "Who am I? What can I meet your needs?" Hua Mulan is a representative figure of a heroine, but this brand personality is not suitable for Huarong's products.Hua Rong knew that he should find a well-known and well-known archer from history as his brand logo.At the same time, he also realized that sharp archers with different personalities will endow the brand with different personalized characteristics.He listed all the great archers in history: Hou Yi who shot the sun, King Zhao Wuling who rode and shot in Hufu, Yang Youji who pierced Yang with a hundred steps, parachutist Li Guang, Lu Bu who shot halberds at Yuanmen, and the man who set three arrows on Tianshan Mountain. Xue Rengui... In this dazzling list, who is the most suitable candidate? Song Jiang's choice is: Parachutist Li Guang. Hua Rong's heart brightened: That's right, it's Li Guang.Immediately before Huarong's eyes, the vigorous posture of parachutist Li Guang appeared, and his products and career suddenly had some inexplicable soul.