Reflection on the marketing of Chinese enterprises in ten years: where are we? Where are we going?

If we look at corporate marketing from the perspective of a decade-long journey, there are three companies that must be mentioned: Haier, Lenovo, and Vanke. The reason for mentioning them is quite simple: the marketing strategies of Haier, Lenovo, and Vanke are strategic marketing, whereas most other companies do not practice this. When we say this, there is actually an underlying premise: if marketing does not serve the strategy, then all short-term profits may result in strategic mistakes that outweigh the gains.

Why has Japan been able to achieve world-class quality? To a large extent, it is because Japan embraced a viewpoint from quality guru Deming: quality is not inspected into existence; it must be addressed at its source. If a quality issue arises during the design phase, the cost of correcting the mistake might only be one unit. However, if the issue surfaces during the manufacturing process, the cost of correction becomes one hundred units, and when it reaches the customer, the cost of correction could escalate to one thousand or even ten thousand units.

Similarly, Chinese enterprises need to address their marketing efforts from the source. Truly excellent marketing is not achieved through "planning" during the production phase, nor is it solely executed, although both planning and execution are important.

True marketing starts from the source: what kind of value can you provide to your customers? This is the essence of strategy: you understand which values are important for both your customers and yourself, and more importantly, you also understand which values are crucial for your customers but less so for you. Strategy first involves giving up; without giving up, you cannot have a true focus.

Therefore, marketing behaviors that aim to satisfy all customers lack strategy, and even satisfying all the needs of target customers represents a lack of strategic thinking.

Thus, from a strategic level, the quality of marketing depends first on what you decide to give up, and then on what you concentrate your efforts on. The question is, based on what do you give up? And based on what do you concentrate? The answer is, we assume that customer needs are different and changeable, so each company can only focus on one aspect to reach its peak, thereby forming its unique capabilities.

If this is true, what situation will the market present? The market will feature a competitive landscape composed of several "specialty companies." For example, in the global automobile market, there are excellent mid-range car makers like Toyota, Ford, and General Motors, high-end specialists like Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Volvo, as well as low-end market players like Hyundai, Daewoo, and Mazda.