I won’t go into too much detail about what an owned channel is and what characteristics it has. After all, since last year (it is said that 2020 is the first year of the awakening of the owned audience), the concept of owned channel has been extremely popular. Whether you are in marketing, operations or branding, if you still don’t understand owned audience, you really need to catch up on it.
This article mainly explains why DTC brand global expansion requires owned-channel operations, so partners who are engaged in cross-border e-commerce and cross-border sales can pay attention. Without further ado, there are three main reasons:
- Don’t do owned channels for the sake of owned channels;
- The Amazon account suspension incident shows the difficulty of public domain traffic;
- Now we are doing global expansion owned-channel operations: the right time, right place and right people.
Below, a detailed answer of about 3,000 words is attached. Readers, please keep your eyes open.
Reason 1: Don’t do owned channel for the sake of owned channel
This is a cry from the heart. Every time a customer comes to us, we will ask: Why do you want to be an owned channel? This question is an urging to us and a reminder to our customers.
We develop products, we look for business opportunities, we do product research, and we do marketing. Everything comes from the same root:Customer。
No customers, no products, no marketing, no business opportunities. It can be said that the essence of business is customer demand. Now, owned channel is a good way to directly face customer demand. Owned-channel operations allow you to face customers directly and gain insights into customer needs and market opportunities.。
Establish an owned audience pool so that people who don’t know each other but have common needs can meet together. Like-minded people feel sympathy for each other, and the conversation box will naturally open up.In the owned audience pool, they asked and answered questions and laughed. In this Q&A and laughter, they were full of customer needs, market preferences, product directions, and future trends.. Let me ask, is there anything else that is more direct and precise in terms of product and marketing direction?
In the past, many people said that to understand a product, you can check out what your competitors are doing. But don’t forget that every move they make comes from their customers, not to mention that competitors sometimes make mistakes?
DTC brand global expansion is not a one-time deal. It is aimed at the sustainable development of the company in the future and the brand's popularity. Therefore, it is necessary to continuously achieve brand exposure and user education in day-to-day business transactions. This is a top-down action. It requires long-term planning with high requirements on the confidence and resilience of the corporate team, but as Cadillac said: All greatness comes from a brave beginning. Owned channel is such a model for intuitive dialogue with users in refined operations, and it is also a perfect opportunity for brand global expansion at the moment.
Having said that, I would like to add that building an owned audience pool, bringing customers into a group, or adding them as friends is the beginning of truly building an owned channel. However, in practice, many people stop there. At this time,A complete set of content and standards for owned-channel operations of enterprises can be used, such as user portraits, user classification, refined operations and even customized operations can be started.。
In general, it is to establish emotional bonds with customers in the process of continuous interaction with customers, treat customers as a group of individuals with emotional thoughts instead of individual data and traffic, plant grass in the hearts of customers, and then establish good cooperation in trust, and continuously achieve repurchases, referrals, fission, etc., so that the "fish" in this pool are active and prosperous. This is what is called the unity of quality and effect.
Reason 2: Public domain traffic is becoming increasingly difficult
In early May, there was an Amazon sales account suspension incident that must be fresh in everyone's memory. This is definitely considered a major earthquake in the industry this year. Regarding this matter, we have also published some of our own thoughts before, and interested friends can take a look.
Looking back at the recent account suspension incident of a certain online store, isn’t it because public domain traffic is too difficult?
This incident makes us more and more aware of everyone's desire to establish owned channels, as well as the anxiety that platform-based public domain traffic is expensive and difficult.
As for the platform, if there are no constant transactions between buyers and sellers, where will the profits come from? How can we highlight the value of the platform? Therefore, the platform naturally needs to capture traffic and capture its own advantages. Platform sellers want to directly capture land, which is a good idea, but public domain is too expensive and difficult.
In this case, cross-border sellers must learn to “de-platform” in order toAvoid putting eggs in one basket, avoid being kidnapped by the platform, use comprehensive strategies to reduce your marketing costs, and maximize customer acquisition efficiency and benefits as much as possible.
(Note: "De-platforming" is enclosed in double quotes. The public domain and owned channels are not completely opposite to each other. It is not a loss to open your eyes outside the platform and take a look at owned channels.)
Then I will become an independent website. I am sure many people here will think so. Yes, there are independent sites outside of the platform, but being an independent site does not mean not looking at owned channels. In fact, establishing an owned channel will make customers feel more favorable to you.
Research shows that adding the merchant’s WhatsApp number to the contact information of an independent website will increase the purchase rate by 27%, because this will psychologically increase customers’ trust in independent website merchants. This is just like many domestic merchants putting WeChat official accounts or WeChat QR codes on their websites. I believe that the same will be true for overseas owned channels in the future. For merchants that do not even have this basic marketing standard, it will be difficult for buyers to establish trust at first glance.
There is another situation that must be paid attention to when doing brand global expansion, and it is also about the platform. Many big foreign brands are unwilling to enter Amazon. For example, everyone knows that LVMH has made rumors in the media for several years that it is unwilling to sell things on Amazon, but then turned around and threw itself into the arms of Tmall. Why, in addition to our country’s increasingly powerful purchasing power, international competitiveness, and influence, it is also related to platform mechanisms and culture.
As we all know, when comparing Amazon and Tmall, Amazon focuses on products and Tmall focuses on brands. This is obvious. You can even see unique labels and advertising spaces set up for brand flagship stores in Tmall. Since many brands are not on Amazon, where to buy their products? The answer is: the official website. This shows how deeply rooted strong brand awareness is in foreign countries.
When we go abroad and speed on the Internet highway to sell products to people thousands of miles away, it is particularly important to do as the locals do. Even if you are an individual seller, if you are serious about the products you sell from the beginning and you are meticulous about every little problem of your customers, then,You are building your brand. You and your attitude towards doing things are your brand. You respect your "brand" and your customers will only respect it more. Building a brand is equivalent to not only selling something, but also planting something in the hearts of customers.。
Reason 3: The right time, place, people and people
Back in our country, let me ask: Is owned-channel marketing successful?
Just don't be too successful. WeChat's social e-commerce is so successful. How many people in China have seized the opportunity of WeChat's ecology and made their first pot of gold in life. In the WeChat ecosystem, the earliest owned channel forms such as WeChat merchants, followed by WeChat friends, Moments, official accounts, and now video accounts, are all subdivision carriers of owned-channel marketing.
The domestic mature and successful owned-channel marketing model has repeatedly proved that social media is an inseparable tree for owned channels. Similarly, for global expansion across borders, owned channels are naturally inseparable from social media, such as WhatsApp, Facebook and other super applications, among which WhatsApp is the most popular. The reason is that they have the highest number of active users and the widest coverage. They are so arrogant and there is no reason to refuse.
The domestic WeChatowned channel model is successful and can be directly used for WhatsAppowned-channel marketing. We have natural owned channel soil and practical experience. This is our natural advantage. Let’s call it geographical advantage.。
time of day: Last year was the first year of the awakening of owned audience. When the concept came to life, many people were targeting owned audience in a targeted, strategic and targeted way. At the moment when the trend is rising, whoever seizes the trend will be able to enjoy the dividends of the times and get a share of the pie. This is a commonplace topic, and every time the opportunity comes, you have to admit that someone actually listened and took it seriously. This time, will you continue to watch or will you go all out?
people and: This point should be based on the psychological perception of each of us. Let me ask, for the same thing, when you chat with customer service on Taobao or chat with friends on WeChat, which one will attract your attention more, and which one will force you to pay more attention?
Of course it’s in WeChat. In the same way, when doing business with foreign friends, you will definitely get more attention from them through WhatsApp.
This issue must be considered in the context of the scenario. Whether it is a platform or an independent website, customers have an impression in their minds before entering: This is a shopping platform, and I just come in to buy something. However, WhatsApp is different. It is a social tool, a carrier for communication and emotional connection.
Compared with the serious business feeling on the platform or independent website, emotional communication in WhatsApp makes customers feel equal and respected. Here, buyers and sellers are not just buyers and sellers, but independent people who can have emotional connections with each other. In the past few years, we often talked about "people, goods, and places". Owned channel is such a "place".。
Final summary: DTC brand global expansion must be owned channel. Ultimately, it is because of the effective effects that owned-channel marketing brings to the brand, merchants, and customers, and not based on anything else. This matter is something that I encourage all people with lofty ideals in brand global expansion.
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