Long Yanyu

Blispring,China

As most people acknowledges,the toothpaste market already has been occupied by a great number of strong players and can be considered an increasingly deadly battlefield.However,for a market that is large enough,with expanding categories and rising consumption,there are many new opportunities in the oral care market.Momentum determines kinetic energy,as long as you seize the opportunity,precise attack,a latecomer can also tap strong brand potential,to seize the marketing high ground.For new dental brands in particular,only strong potential can generate development of marketing and strong marketing momentum.By harnessing the strong potential,you can strategically reach the overall brand marketing height,to achieve marketing victory across the field.

How can newly established dental brands grab a bigger share in marketing and stand out among giants in this fierce field?

First of all,generate strong potential in terms of category layout.The strong potential of the category layout is a top-to-bottom strategic layout,a category-first consumer compliance,but also a brand development planning of the overall business thinking.

In oral care,toothpaste is a category with the so-called strong potential.As long as the toothpaste category is popular,a related brand can look down on other categories and tap absolute power in other categories.Take the company the author works for for example.When the company was founded in 2019,it was based on the strong potential category of toothpaste,constantly strengthening the sales capacity of toothpaste and consolidating the brand’s position as an up-and-coming leader,thereby establishing a strong cognitive image of Blispring in the oral field in the minds of consumers.Once the consumer mindset of the mouth-flavoured toothpaste has been successfully established,the corresponding mouthwash,mouth spray and other ancillary categories can be taken over and become important consumption habits.

When LUX built up a strong awareness in the strong potential category of shampoo,it was able to develop corresponding products in the weak potential category of shower gel and soap,which quickly gained consumer awareness and formed consumer inertia,thus successfully benefiting more categories.On the other hand,Safeguard has successfully created the low-potential categories of soap and shower gel,but it is difficult to launch shampoo as a strongpotential product.This is a good example of how difficult it is to benefit strong potential categories once the perception of weak potential categories has been established.

The strong potential categories are also sorted.For example,toothpaste has the strongest potential energy among all oral categories.To do a good job in toothpaste means the great possibility to do a good job in all oral categories faster.Mouthwash is the corresponding strong potential category among oral liquid products.If the potential of mouthwash is tapped properly,other oral liquid products such as oral spray can be benefited.However,parallel potential cannot form too much tension.For example,a successful white tooth paste product will be difficult for the brand to expand into the field of mouthwash or tooth powder.From the perspective of potential fluidity and development force,only when potential difference is formed can the brand have corresponding ability,which is a simple consumer psychological cognition.

Strong potential is often the most difficult to break through.The competition in this aspect is more fiercer than your imagination.However,strong potential allows emerging dental brands,right from the start,to stand at the high point of category-wide development.Once a strong potential breakthrough is achieved,it allows the brand to form a global capability for category-wide development.The reason why Blipring chose the toothpaste track is because it jumped out of the misunderstanding of opportunistic category development and identified toothpaste as the strong potential of the oral cavity,to arouse consumer awareness of the whole category,which is also a reflection of the wisdom and value of Blipring’s marketing strategy.

Strong potential is generated from key businesses.In brand marketing,each brand has different key businesses,both traditional and innovative,as well as opportunity businesses.However,all key businesses include a strong potential business with the strongest channel and consumer perception.This strong potential business determines the recognition of the brand by customers and the channel,and whether the brand can generate strong brand influence and sales expansion to other customers and channels.

The key sources of business for the brand in the offline channel are hypermarkets,Watsons,small and medium-sized supermarkets,CS channels and convenience stores.Among these key business sources,hypermarkets are the largest and highest sales potential in terms of current sales perception and sales capacity.When a brand has tapped strong sales power in hypermarkets,it is able to develop full coverage offline.However,if only part of the CS channel is established,a relatively weak-potential business,the ability to expand omni-channel will be greatly reduced,making it difficult to achieve a rapid channel breakthrough.Online,the Tmall flagship shop is the brand’s highest-potential key business.As long as it succeeds in the strong potential channel of Tmall,the brand’s development in other online channels will also be unstoppable.

The strong potential of key businesses can be further subdivided,that is,each key business has a corresponding strong potential business segment.For example,in the business system of live streaming,TikTok is a strong-potential segmentation business.When TikTok Live is successful,other live broadcasts can be mastered and completed.

Strong potential in a key business is both a sales high point and a sales driver,and even a force to believe in.This strong potential can influence not only the consumer’s purchase but also the channel’s expectations of cooperation.The strong potential of a key business is in fact also a gesture of marketing layout,an expression of the growth of the overall business capability.As a result,Ice Spring was the first to achieve the top five flagship shops on Tmall online,and after establishing a lead in Tmall,a strong potential channel,others such as JD.com,VIPS,Suning.com and PDD followed suit and achieved new successes,and quickly achieved leadership positions in TikTok and KUAⅠSHOU.Offline,Blipring quickly established a dominant and relative lead in the strong potential hypermarket channels consisting of YONGHUI SUPERSTORES,RT-Mart and China Resources and the secondary strong potential channel of Watson’s;it also achieved rapid coverage in medium-sized supermarkets,CS channels and some convenience stores across the country.

Strong potential is also partly generated from the market geography.In brand marketing,market geography also has strong potential,which means that there should be key and sample markets.The brand has the ability to focus on the market in order to establish market credibility;with a sample market,it is possible to form market compliance.

For example,in the course of its development,the company has established a top-to-bottom market structure with three types of markets:north,capital cities and prefecture-level cities,which also determine the level of potential.Once the brand has opened up the highest potential markets in the North,Guangzhou and Shenzhen,it is only logical to open up other markets.Likewise,each city has its own level of potential.In the provincial capitals,Ice Spring has chosen to break through from the key provincial capitals,which are relatively strong potential cities,to achieve comprehensive coverage from point to point.In order to do well in the market,the market should be laid out early with strong potential energy,which determines the high speed of market development.

Fourth,from the marketing promotion on the formation of strong potential energy.Brand marketing will often have a variety of small and large nodes,and even the weekend is considered a small sales peak.For large and small nodes,brands also need the ability to harness strong potential energy.

For brands,in the online channel,nodes such as 38,618 and Double 11 are the highest potential energy for marketing and promotion throughout the year,while nodes such as New Year’s Day,Washing Day,Valentine’s Day and Double 12 are medium potential energy for marketing and promotion.In the offline channel,the Spring Festival,38,51 and National Day nodes are the highest potential for marketing promotion,while the Lantern Festival,Dragon Boat Festival,Mid-Autumn Festival and the school season are the medium potential.Only by grasping the highest potential nodes,or even the highest potential energy,can we form great brand sales dynamics,open the floodgates of promotion and form a long duration of sales impact.Of course,channel trust and consumer sales power are also achieved through these strong potential energy nodes.

Therefore,brands need to establish a top-to-bottom potential order and potential cognition in the marketing promotion of different channels,establish strong potential promotion power,and achieve high marketing and high sales through strong potential promotion.

In the marketing development of new dental brands,every link needs strong potential thinking and strong potential planning.Strong potential category determines the global ability of product marketing;strong potential business determines the development ability of channel marketing;strong potential market determines the expansion ability of customer cooperation;strong potential promotion determines the growth ability of key sales.As a practitioner of the strong potential strategy,through the strong potential to stand on the high ground of the brand,the formation of a sustainable brand competitiveness and lasting value power,to achieve the marketing victory of the new leaders in the oral cavity,but also continue to fight for strong potential!