This is an era of change, whether it is a trend ebb or market saturation, or a technological change, the speed at which enterprises can divide the victory and defeat in the competition is getting faster and faster. The dividends of the Internet are difficult to reproduce, the development of artificial intelligence is in the ascendant, many enterprises are caught between masters and rookies, tired of the "arms race" of products, services, technologies, etc., and urgently need new breakthrough ideas.
In this context, many entrepreneurs' perception of brands has fallen into the polar pull situation of "the brand is not good" and "the value of the brand is more prominent". Having interviewed more than 800 entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs, and handled the brand operation and management of more than 90 enterprises, Zhu Meile, founder of Daodao Hengmei Brand Management, found that the more uncertain the market, the more the brand can highlight the value of its precise positioning and correct path, and drive the business growth of the corporate brand.
7 years of 90+ customers, even in the most difficult three years of the epidemic, Dao Hengmei brand management is still upward, in the words of the founder - "We adhere to long-term principles, which is essentially optimism, looking at the trend of the world and penetrating cutting-edge trends and potential opportunities, and serving customers with results-oriented value increments."
On the occasion of the seventh anniversary of Dao Hengmei, this "invisible pusher" that has helped many enterprises to move from tens of millions to 100 million clubs, what are the new layouts that break the circle and cross borders today? In this article, we try to redefine Dao Hengmei from an internal perspective.
| Jumeile · Melody
Practical expert in the field of brand marketing
Big brand strategy system developer
Founder of Dao Hengmei brand management
DESIGN TRENDS FOUNDER / EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF DESIGN TRENDS
In the past 17 years, he has been focusing on corporate brand operation and management, and has market and brand operation experience and professional accumulation of large-scale real estate and design enterprises. He is good at forward-looking strategic thinking and international brand operation expertise, and realizes the interaction of market, brand and marketing through overall strategic positioning and practical execution. She has deeply cultivated and practiced in the B2B field, forming an original big brand strategy system, which is a creation of Chinese brands in the context of global brand development.
Interview with 800+ founders, consultant services for 90+ enterprises, in-depth services and help 80+ enterprises achieve high-speed business growth in 100 million units.
Gaining momentum:
A pioneer in the field of systematic brand management
"Dao Hengmei is a brand company that is more fortunate in trend." Founder Zhu Meile recalled the starting point of the business. Founded on April 28, 2016, Daodao Hengmei is one of the first batch of enterprises to provide customers with brand management system services, at that time, the market was almost all advertising companies focusing on marketing and service companies that only did strategy or public relations, and there were very few brand management companies that really provided systematic services from strategy, planning, design, execution, communication and other whole processes.
This discovery of Zhu Meile gave her the idea of starting a business, "because I have used brand strategy and system to serve four very good companies before, and after the brand entered, these companies have achieved rapid commercial growth." I think the world needs a brand strategy and brand asset management company that can quietly and calmly sink down, centered on the company's own development, and customize brand development systems and solutions for each customer, rather than a service company that seems to have many systems, but is actually to sell 'products' and 'people'. ”
In the year and a half since the establishment of Dao Hengmei, Zhu Meile has not blindly expanded the team, and initially the company only has her and a newly graduated assistant. However, without any endorsement and team, thanks to Jumeile's more than ten years of professional and systematic brand management and operation experience, heavyweight customers such as Jiai Design and Brumeng Design quickly came to the door. In May, Jiai Design was signed, and in July, Blumeng Design was signed, and Dao Hengmei's journey in the fields of real estate, design and large home furnishing began. "So far, Dao Hengmei's first customer and second customer are still our annual service customers."
In her early days, Zhu Meile served 8 clients at the same time, which is equivalent to 8 times the work intensity before starting her business, and she also faced the common problem of how female entrepreneurs can balance career, family and children. According to her recollection, her time was spent juggling four main tasks: taking care of her children, spending half a week studying in Hong Kong every week, serving eight clients per year, and researching and demonstrating systems through practical experience in serving customers. Even so, Dao Hengmei still efficiently and professionally empowers customers' brands, bringing real value and growth to customers.
Sowing professionalism, building cognition, and providing customers with value beyond expectations are the foundation of Dao Hengmei. Dao Hengmei, which moves forward step by step, inherits the characteristics of founder Zhu Meile - he has high-dimensional cognition in ideology and is a resolute action school in execution. As it gave Dao Hengmei's definition, "I think that brand is a kind of 'Tao', not art, art is a method, and Tao is an intangible but high-dimensional value, which is the ultimate refinement after the integration of experience after thousands of trials, and it is also the simplest and pure wisdom after the great view of the world." The original intention of Daodao Hengmei is to use brand development to help customers find a right path in the new environment, insist on taking the right road, and reach a more beautiful place. ”
Commitment to work:
Small and beautiful, specialized and refined, the brand continues to evolve
According to relevant statistics, the average life expectancy of private enterprises in China is only 3.7 years. If most entrepreneurship is a game where the end is imminent, then how to stay in business is the only way for entrepreneurs. At this stage, founders and small teams face more difficult problems - how to consolidate professionalism, expand customers, deepen services, strengthen differentiation, and unlock new touchpoints for business transformation, which is related to the life cycle of the enterprise.
After a year and a half of the start-up period, the "stable" business stage lasted 4.5 years, shattering the digital countdown hanging over the heads of entrepreneurial companies. During this period, with the increase of customers, Dao Hengmei gradually transformed into a personal studio with a team of three or four people. Small and beautiful, specialized and refined, continuous brand evolution, innovative brand operation to serve customers, is the core feature of Dao Hengmei at this stage. "We want to become a brand management company that may not be large, but very beautiful and great in this era, and Dao Hengmei has always adhered to this as our core value."
Zhu Meile shared: "The development of a company is like a marathon. The biggest opponent is not the outside world, but the cognition and mind of those at the helm. The founder and core must continue to evolve, and they must always be motivated. "Regarding the continuous evolution of the brand, on the one hand, the mission of Dao Hengmei has always been to bring commercial value growth or more new vitality to the enterprise; On the other hand, with practice precipitation theory and academic research to derive the brand system, Dao Hengmei not only teaches people to fish, but also teaches people to fish, through a rich and detailed theoretical system, the way of brand building is taught to the entire industry, and the industry is promoted to form a brand cognition.
Jumeile spent a lot of time building Dao Hengmei's life system, polishing professionalism, products, services, and integrating resources, "Over the years, we have been asking 'what is the brand', 'what is the value of the brand to the development of the enterprise', when we take root in this profession and serve customers in various fields, the deeper we feel the meaning of it." ”
In Jumeile's view, branding is both science and art, both logical and systematic, creative and detailed, and at the same time a way of thinking. The "big brand strategy" originally developed by Zhu Meile led by Dao Hengmei has taken shape since 2016, and this theoretical model of research and development and multiple rounds of iteration, after the successful verification of more than 90 brands, is undoubtedly a creation of Chinese brands in the context of global brand development, so that the particularity of the Chinese market and the own logic of brand marketing methods shape each other and affect the future of the industry.
Specifically, Big Brand Strategy refers to the concept of elevating the brand to the level of corporate development strategy that evolves brand theory, that is, planning the brand from the corporate strategic level, building the brand with overall thinking, using an integrated way to spread the brand, allowing all employees to participate in building the brand, and using professional talents to manage the brand. "Brand building isn't just about being remembered, it's about liking and praising people. I believe that brand service is actually the operation of people's hearts, conveying the company's service and overall appearance to customers in the form of brands, giving customers confidence, belief and belief, in order to truly constitute a sustainable business exchange. ”
Dao Hengmei's "big brand strategy" system working model →
From traffic thinking to customer value thinking, from product/service king to brand blessing, Dao Hengmei's service emphasizes that customers can really get, "We do brand, not only do strategy, content, image and integrated marketing a professional thing, we are systematic and comprehensive services, especially pay attention to the integration between brand strategy, brand culture, brand image, business increment and sustainable growth." Therefore, Dao Hengmei summarized that there are eight major points in the brand power building of B2B companies: clear brand strategy, core brand positioning, distinctive brand identity, good brand image, excellent brand content, accurate resource allocation, efficient brand communication and continuous brand building.
In the past seven years, through the commercial transformation of aesthetics, culture and brand power, Daodao Hengmei has accompanied and helped the growth of more than 90 brands. Whether it is the construction from 0 to 1, or the leap from 1 to N, some of these companies have stepped from tens of millions of output value to 100 million yuan, and even tens of billions, hundreds of billions, "We start from the growth planning, brand building and management of design companies, and also have our own uniqueness, such as we do a good job in the cultural system and image identity of each enterprise, we do design for design companies, logically, we can make images for luxury brands, culture and image IP for the most fashionable cities, Brand the airline and so on. ”
Write brand personality and give new brand value
Accelerate business expansion:
Use long-term thinking to drive into the fast lane of diversity
Looking back on the seven years of development of Dao Hengmei, from start-up to personal studio and professional platform, every step of Jumeile is a deliberate decision. In her opinion, Dao Hengmei is a company that walks on the trend, "very lucky, one year after our founding, the state proposed from 'Made in China' to 'Made in China' to 'Chinese Brand', Dao Hengmei found its own differentiated anchor in the brand field, based on consumption upgrades, aesthetic upgrades, cultural confidence and other keywords, to help business and influence the times." ”
Before 2020, in view of the professional genes of Daodao Hengmei brand itself, it is also based on an accurate grasp of market trends, focusing on the continuous in-depth construction of the real estate and design fields, and is committed to "letting the world know Chinese design", and the achievements have not come easily; In October 2020, Dao Hengmei began to professionalize, and its understanding of China's business environment and enterprise entrepreneurship and development became more mature; In 2021, based on the status of professionals, Zhu Meile proposed to "let the world know Chinese brands", Daodao Hengmei expanded its business field to "real estate, design and large home furnishing fields", entered the fast lane of accelerating the service of diversified brands, solidly promoted the growth of Chinese enterprises in a new brand environment, and used a professional way to build brands and communicate with consumers.
In fact, brand building has never been a miracle, only continuous persistence day after day, as well as following the trend and welcoming new changes. "Even after three years of the epidemic, I feel that we are progressing, and we are more proficient in the research and practice of branding, business, marketing, management and other dimensions."
Relying on the strong blessing of multidisciplinary cross-border integration and vertical field expertise, 2022 is a watershed in the development history of DaoDao Hengmei, which means that as a think tank platform, it not only empowers customers' brands, but also grasps the in-depth growth of its own brands and the segmentation and development of parallel brands, and truly develops towards the goal of "becoming the McKinsey of the brand industry". So far, Daodao Hengmei has carried out cross-border with "brand development" as the center, driven by innovation and cutting-edge development concepts, deeply cultivated and focused on various vertical fields, and has built several parallel brands:
·The new agricultural poetic lifestyle brand "Ruigu Ecology" practices the rural revitalization strategy and promotes the high-quality development of agriculture with a new form of pastoral-to-table agricultural operation and a new link between plateau customs and cultural heritage;
·Business strategy forward strategy and commercial design planning brand "City Affairs Youjia", driven by cultural strategy, commercial content product innovation and exploration of human needs;
·The creative design brand "ING is in practice", spanning brand, space, vision, interaction and other fields, to provide innovative comprehensive design solutions for social and professional customers;
·Global communication brand "interaction to beauty", for the image upgrading of Chinese corporate brands, customer group expansion, cultural precipitation, commercial value-added and in-depth construction;
·Professional design platform "DESIGN TRENDS" to realize urban quality living as the starting point, give full play to the influence of the platform, and build an ecosystem of industry communication;
·Mega Mansion, a professional luxury housing trend platform, focuses on urban quality living life with an international perspective, and aims to become a top luxury living guide standing on the tide of the times around the source of design.
Thinking of danger in times of peace, responding to crises, the difference between opportunities and crises, and the mentality of entrepreneurs is also very different. In Jumeile's dictionary, there are few alarmist words such as "subversion", "revolution" and "extinction", but more choices and directions that are implemented, such as "evolution", "integration" and "continuous operation". As she and her colleagues often emphasize, "In this era of excess products, the process of realizing the strategy does not need to be completely denied, but at the moment, on the basis of a comprehensive and systematic evaluation, find the right direction, seek innovation, be open and inclusive, resolutely implement some systems on a daily basis, walk on the right path, constantly correct, improve and evolve, and adhere to little by little creativity." ”
It has been seven years since starting a business, and Zhu Meile believes that there is no "victory" in entrepreneurship, and it is necessary to maintain a vigilant and learning mentality at any time, to perceive changes, to discover trends, to embrace new things, to find paths and methods, to grow. "Brand growth" is the keyword of Dao Hengmei in 2023, and for a long time in the future, it will start with the end, write the brand of the era, spread beautiful stories, and make unremitting efforts for the better tomorrow of intelligent Chinese brands.
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Seven years ago, Daodao Hengmei was a rare new brand management organization in the market that integrated brand strategy and positioning, brand image construction and management, and brand marketing planning; Seven years later, Daodao Hengmei, which has undergone innovation and evolution, is still a rare think tank-type brand platform in the market, in addition to comprehensive brand management services, it has also cultivated in the fields of aviation, real estate, design, art, large home and fashion lifestyle through several parallel brands.
On the occasion of the seventh anniversary of Dao Hengmei, more than 90 corporate brands served by Dao Hengmei have sent sincere blessings and thank you letters. On letterhead, they said that in the process of cooperation between the two sides, they "always feel the professional, comprehensive, timely and meticulous brand service of Dao Hengmei", and some customers believe that "Dao Hengmei can see the scenery and problems that people in the industry cannot see, and at the same time provide professional solutions", and some customers praised Dao Hengmei as their "best partner for more than ten years since its establishment"... Every day since Dao Hengmei started its business, the professional seeds that have been sown are now blooming and bearing fruit.
Spring seeding, summer bloom, autumn harvest, the development process of Dao Hengmei has always been stable and powerful. In the future, it will continue to consolidate the brand foundation, build with cognition, drive by innovation, define with strategy, build a solid "brand building" for enterprises with cultural intelligence, lead by aesthetics, and use integrated communication to build a solid "brand building" for enterprises, empower customers with product and effect integration, and maximize the matrix radiation for its own parallel brands, truly influence the times and reach the future.
Big brand strategy drives the growth of business value of enterprises
Daodao Hengmei brand management has been committed to serving the sustainable and healthy growth of Chinese enterprise brands for many years, and is a new service organization focusing on brand strategy and positioning, brand image construction and management, and brand marketing planning.
With the "Big Brand Strategy System" as the core, we serve the fields of aviation, real estate, design, art, big home and fashion lifestyle. With forward-looking brand positioning as the soul, strategic brand planning and communication, and creative brand design, we establish an excellent brand image in the industry for customers and continue to add value. With the original intention of "letting the world know Chinese brands", in the past 7 years, we have served more than 80 corporate brands, helped and witnessed many enterprises step into the "100 million yuan club" from tens of millions, and achieved an increase of 1-N on the "100 million" unit.