Do ceramic companies that produce and operate slate need to build a slate brand?
If you still have doubts about the need for ceramic companies to build slate brands, the nanny at the home of any ceramic company owner in Foshan Nanzhuang Huaxia Ceramics Expo City may be qualified to laugh at you. Because even they know the importance of brand - nannies with a good reputation are more likely to find good jobs.
“Tch!”, you may say that this is just emphasizing the importance of personal branding. Does it have anything to do with the need for companies to build brands?
Let’s talk about it from a business perspective.
Do all companies have brands? Theoretically, whether it is a To C-type enterprise (C stands for Consumer, a To C-type enterprise refers to an enterprise oriented to individual users) or a To B-type enterprise (B stands for Business, a To B-type enterprise refers to an enterprise oriented to corporate users), as long as it is If there are customers and products, there must be customer awareness of the product and the company, and there must be a brand.
The brands that everyone is familiar with basically belong to the To C type, such as Coca-Cola, KFC, McDonald's, Adidas, Nike, Apple, Haier, Gree, Midea, Huawei (personal and household products represented by mobile phones), etc. Representatives of To B-type brands include Intel, Huawei (all products and services except personal and home products), etc.
Does all companies need to pay attention to brand building? Many people believe that for C-type companies, the brand is crucial; for B-type companies, the brand is not important, and the product is king.
To the products or services provided by Type B enterprises are production means or production methods, which are used by their customers for the production of C-end products. The fundamental basis for them to reach sales with customers is the product or service itself (this article only talks about products).
Theoretically, when the industry is in its infancy, To B-type companies may indeed be able to achieve sales with good products alone. Because at that time, there were not enough products for customers to choose from. As long as the product quality was good, customers would take the initiative to come to your door. However, the actual situation is much more complicated. In today's era, every industry is facing huge competition, and it is difficult to stand out from the fierce homogeneous competition with good products alone.
So To B-type enterprises also attach importance to the development and maintenance of customer relationships on the premise that products are king, orIt is said that we attach great importance to the construction of sales force. As the saying goes, "There is no more transaction than favor." As soon as the wine glass is served, the order comes. Under the condition of the same product quality, purchasing personnel will naturally prefer suppliers with whom they have a better relationship. The sales department of most To B-type companies is the hardest-hitting department in the company, and this is all for this reason.
But can developing and maintaining customer relationships solve product sales problems? If the market competition in the industry where a B-type enterprise is located is not very fierce, and it relies solely on the development and maintenance of excellent products and in-place customer relations, as well as a sufficiently high cost performance, it will not have a big problem to survive and develop; if it has a larger The ideal must be supported by brand power.
Talking about theory is boring. Let’s talk about real cases based on the actual situation of the building ceramics industry.
Imagine that a real estate company chooses a leading ceramic tile brand as a supplier for its finely decorated houses, just because the price of the leading ceramic tile brand's products is low enough, the relationship with its purchasing personnel is good enough, and the funds it can advance are sufficient? The above reasons are all important, but they are by no means all of them. The role of brand must be indispensable.
For real estate companies, on the one hand, the leading ceramic tile brands have brand trust, and they can be assured of cooperation with them; on the other hand, the products of the leading ceramic tile brands can empower the house with the help of brand awareness and influence, creating a certain brand premium.
Of course, the situation with rock slabs is more complicated than with ceramic tiles. The slate brand is not only a To B brand (supplying slate to home customization companies and finished furniture companies), but also an ingredient brand (or element brand, which refers to the materials, elements and components that are indispensable for certain brand products. and other components); it can also be regarded as an upgraded version of ceramic tiles, sold as semi-finished products and directly to consumers through dealers.
Compared with ceramic tile brands, the demand for brand building for slate brands that have both To B brand and ingredient brand characteristics is not so urgent, and it is not that easy. Because of this, many people think that there is no need to build a brand for slate brands. In their view, the result of building a slate brand may be to serve as a wedding dress for home customization companies and finished furniture companies, and it is difficult for slate brands to benefit.
In fact, their view is completely wrong. You can go to home furnishing stores. As long as it is a merchant of a well-known and influential brand of finished furniture, its sales staff will definitely say that the countertops of its slate furniture use products of well-known slate brands: either La Mouna, Or Demus, because theyIt is a foreign rock slab brand, a symbol of good quality and high style; it is either Delifeng, or other well-known domestic rock slab brands such as Mona Lisa, New Pearl, Shunhui, Nobel, etc., because they are both domestic rock slab brands. A pioneer in slabs and a rock slab brand established by a powerful ceramic tile brand, it is one step ahead in all aspects.
This is the role of brand in slate! Do you think it's not important?
There have long been successful cases of building ingredient brands in fields that have nothing to do with the construction and ceramics industry. The most representative one is Intel, which dominates the field of CPU processors. Intel's ingredient branding strategy has reached the highest level of "strengthen A and ask for money from B" in marketing. It uses PC manufacturers to paste the "Intel Inside" logo on their computers, uses advertising to directly convey its brand connotation to consumers, and deeply binds PC manufacturers with the "advertising rebate" model, and has become the number one brand in the market through "joint marketing" , let the saying "A computer is good depends on whether it uses an Intel processor" deeply rooted in the hearts of the people and occupied the minds of consumers.
The plate industry, which is close to the construction and ceramics industry, also has successful cases of building ingredient brands. Anyone who has decorated their own house knows that in the process of purchasing customized furniture, many custom furniture merchants will boast that their boards are from Tumou Bao; when they hear the brand Tumou Bao, I believe many people will I think it is reliable, not only because the board looks good, but also because it is a well-known brand and trustworthy. As a company that went public very early in the sheet metal industry, Tumou Bao's brand building of sheet metal is far ahead of many competitors.
Because slate can be used as a cross-border large home board or as a ceramic tile on the wall or on the floor, the slate brand has three attributes: To B brand, ingredient brand and To C brand, not to mention they want to return to ceramic tiles In the dealer channel, compared with Intel and Tumoubao, the urgency of building a brand is obviously stronger than the two.
Why are there many waist brands in the ceramic tile market that cannot compete with brands in the head camp, and cannot compete with smaller brands? The failure in the downward competition is because the price is not low enough, but the upward competition is because the brand power is not strong enough.
The evolution of yesterday’s ceramic tile brands will be the result of the development of tomorrow’s slate brands. Stone slab brands that don't pay attention to brand building will definitely reap the consequences in the future!
After the irrational and crazy expansion in 2020, the development of rock slabs has gradually returned to rationality due to liquidation, slow sales, and coldness. Many ceramic companies that have entered the field of rock slabs have begun to slow down, and some have even stopped. Now, seize the opportunity It’s time to seize the opportunity to build a slate brand. The more difficult the market is, the more opportunity it is to build a brand.
How should a slate brand that is both a B-type brand and an ingredient brand build a brand?
Start with market education. No matter which emerging category it is, market education is an unavoidable hurdle. This is especially true for stone slabs, which are upgraded ceramic tiles and new cross-border materials.
Unfortunately, to this day, most slate brands only emphasize how strong their production capabilities are and how good their products are. Few brands can clearly realize that they should think from the perspective of users. Do a good job in market education and give consumers a good reason to buy slate.
(Author: Chan Can)
