How to Seed Organic Marketing in a Video-First World

早期直接面向消费者（DTC）的公司，可以有效利用社交媒体，尤其是通过Facebook，来接触并说服客户购买自己的产品。通过数字渠道获取客户的成本和效率使得这一做法非常值得，有利的投资市场使得公司能够筹集资金，并在获取客户方面大量投入。然而随着时间推移，越来越多公司开始在社交媒体上大量投放广告，导致这个领域更加拥挤，想从混乱的广告市场中脱颖而出也更加困难。

In the early days of direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands, we saw companies engage in innovative tactics to earn media and PR to help them achieve organic (as opposed to paid) marketing. Casper, the online mattress seller, created Nap-Mobiles which allowed potential customers to try out their beds. Airbnb (then still AirBed and Breakfast) created special edition cereal boxes that generated buzz and revenue. Some DTC firms optimized their packaging to be “Instagrammable,” drawing people to post unboxing videos organically. Over time, these tactics became commonplace and therefore drew less attention. Newer brands had a harder time breaking through the noise.

近年来，数字渠道的获客成本（CAC）一直在上升，使得这些渠道成为性价比较低的增长战略选择。此外，市场对DTC品牌热情降温，使其投入受限。并且由于隐私问题和苹果iOS 14的变化，Facebook在锁定客户方面变得不那么有效，降低了获取数字客户的整体效率。这些变化促使着品牌重新寻找自然营销（organic marketing）的方法。

In recent years, customer acquisition costs (CAC) on digital channels have been rising, making these channels a less economic growth strategy. Additionally, the markets cooled off to DTC brands, making them more cash constrained. Moreover, between privacy concerns and Apple’s iOS 14 changes, Facebook has become much less effective in targeting customers, reducing the overall efficiency of digital customer acquisition. These changes have led brands to search for ways to manufacture organic marketing again.

2023年，面对这些挑战，新的DTC及现有品牌都要制定战略，促进自然的关注和营销。为实现这一目标，企业可以利用以下自然营销的4C实践。

Faced with these challenges in 2023, new DTC brands, as well as existing incumbent brands,  have to develop strategies that will allow them to generate organic attention and marketing. To that end, they can leverage the 4 Cs of manufacturing organic marketing:

内容

content

品牌需要花费时间和精力，来开发吸引消费者的内容。在DTC发展早期，色彩鲜艳的创意广告有效做到了这一点。Casper床垫是最早创作卡通广告的公司之一，与传统的床垫广告相比，卡通广告格外出众且有吸引力；高蛋白/低碳水麦片品牌Magic Spoon推出了色彩丰富的广告来传达品牌价值：这是社交媒体上首批强调“我们 ”与“他们 ”对比的广告之一，说明该品牌与传统麦片相比，蛋白质更多，碳水化合物更少；Hubble隐形眼镜则在广告中加入了关于品牌的文章，以及隐形眼镜用法的小测验，从而获得了成功。品牌还会创建博客和有使用方法的文章，为网站带来流量，并说服消费者相信它们不仅是一个产品品牌，更是一种围绕产品的生活方式和体验。

Brands need to spend time and effort to develop engaging content that will draw consumers in. In the early days of DTC, colorful and creative ads did this effectively. Casper Mattress was one of the first to create cartoon ads that were particularly different and engaging compared to traditional mattress ads. Magic Spoon, a high-protein/low-carb cereal brand, created a colorful ad that communicated the value of the brand: It was one of the first “us” versus “them” ad copy on social media, illustrating that the brand has more protein and less carb compared to traditional cereal. Hubble Contact Lenses found success with ads that included articles about the brand, and quizzes about contact lens practices. Brands also invested in creating blogs and how-to articles to drive traffic to their website and to convince consumers that they are more than one product brand, but instead a lifestyle and experience around that item.

2023年，视频和短视频应用Reels将统治社交媒体。公司必须迅速适应这种新媒体，生成视频内容，来让自己成为消费者最关注的内容。尽管无法预测哪些想法会获得关注并迅速传播，但产生许多不同想法，或许会有助于成功。

In 2023, video and Reels rule social media. Companies must quickly adapt to this new medium and generate video content to ensure they are top of mind for consumers. While it’s impossible to predict what will gain traction and go viral, generating a lot of different ideas may lead to a winner.

消费者追求真实性，不太喜欢过度包装的精致视频。芭比波朗（Bobbi Brown）对一个网红不恰当使用其彩妆线 Jones Road产品的回应视频，就是一个病毒式传播并获得关注的例子。克里斯蒂娜·托西（Christina Tosi）的甜品店Milkbar通过新冠疫情早期在TikTok上传家庭食谱的视频大获成功。这家公司认识到了人们在家做饭的需求，并把握时机宣传了自身的品牌和产品。墨西哥快餐连锁店Chipotle通过在TikTok上发起 “挑战”，鼓励了消费者接受挑战，获得了关注。例如其中一个挑战由员工发起，他将Chipotle快餐盒的盖子翻面正好盖在了餐盒上。其他品牌也参与并用自己的方式做了TikTok上已有的挑战，或当前流行的视频，从而在消费者心中保持相关性，实现触达消费者。

Consumers seek authenticity and are less attracted to very polished videos. One example of a video that went viral and gained traction was Bobbi Brown’s response to a beauty influencer who misused her “Jones Road” beauty products. Milkbar, Christina Tosi’s bakery, also found success on TikTok, when they uploaded videos of at-home recipes during the early days of the Covid pandemic. The company recognized a need of people cooking at home and leveraged their brand and products at that time. Chipotle, the Mexican food chain, gained traction by starting “challenges” on TikTok, encouraging consumers to try the challenge themselves. One such challenge was started by an employee that flipped the lid of the Chipotle container to exactly match the bowl. Other brands participate and interpret in their own voice existing challenges on TikTok, or currently trending memes, thus staying relevant in the mind of consumers and meeting them where they are.

消费者

consumers

卓越的品牌和产品，往往可以自然获得品牌“自来水”和支持者，引发消费者的自然分享和兴奋状态，他们会创造自己的用户生成内容（user-generated content，UGC），并希望获得关注。

Superior brands and products are often able to naturally gain brand evangelists and supporters. That leads to organic posts and excitement by consumers, who create their own user-generated content (UGC) that hopefully gain traction.

有时，这可能会在完全无意中实现。例如，一个消费者记录自己在玩滑板时喝蔓越莓汁的视频，就使优鲜沛（Ocean Spray）得到了大量的自然关注。其他时候，品牌会用独特的品牌标签创造自己的挑战，希望消费者能够参与其中并进行传播。例如，前面提到的Chipotle餐盒的翻盖挑战#ChipotleLidFlipChallange，在6天内就有超过10万个相关视频，浏览量超过1.04亿。这一挑战也推动了TikTok外的实际下游行为——更多人下载了Chipotle应用并进行订餐。

Sometimes, this can be completely unintentional. For example, Ocean Spray saw a lot of organic attention when a consumer recorded themselves drinking its cranberry juice while skateboarding. Other times, brands create their own challenges (using a unique branded hashtag), in the hopes that consumers will engage with them and spread the word. For example, the aforementioned #ChipotleLidFlipChallange generated more than 100,000 videos within six days, with more than 104 million views. This challenge also drove actual downstream behavior outside of TikTok – more people downloaded the app and ordered Chipotle.

内容创作者

creators

2023年的网红和内容创作者是社交媒体的宠儿，也是这个时代的代言人和意见领袖。不同于可能会发布分享或加入挑战的消费者，网红会习惯性发布有趣的内容，吸引其他社交媒体用户的注意，并带来关注。影响力较小的内容创作者可能有几百或几千名粉丝，而影响力较大的内容创作者可能有数百万粉丝。各种规模的内容创作者都能在自身周围创造一个活跃的社区。通常，品牌想要放大内容效果时，就会与内容创作者合作发布，以产生额外流量。

In 2023, influencers and creators are social media royalty, and the sponsors and opinion leaders of this era. Unlike consumers, who may post a testimonial or join in a challenge, influencers habitually post interesting content that draws the attention of other social media users who then follow them. Smaller creators might have hundreds or thousands of followers, and larger ones might have millions of them. Creators of all sizes are able to generate a lively community around them. Often, when brands want to amplify their content, they engage with creators to post for them, to generate additional views.

内容创作者和品牌间有多种不同的变现关系，比如发帖付费、收入分红或免费产品。虽然这是一种有偿关系，但确实有助于为品牌创造更多自然客户，因为粉丝往往认为自己与内容创作者关系亲密，会把他们的推荐当作是朋友推荐，而非品牌营销。对于采用这种策略的品牌，重要的是弄清楚哪些创作者最适合品牌，哪些创作者会真诚推广并宣传自己的产品。

Creators and brands have different monetization relationships — from per-post payment, revenue sharing, or free products. While this relationship is paid, it does help brands manufacture more “organic” visitors, because followers of creators often feel a close connection with them and treat their recommendation as if it is a recommendation from a friend, rather than a brand. What is important for brands who employ this strategy is to figure out which creators are the best fit for them, and which creators will authentically promote and advertise their products.

名人

celebrities

某种意义上，名人是超级内容创作者，他们有大量粉丝并能对其产生影响。多年来，品牌都在向名人付费，邀请他们做广告和担任代言人。现实中，与名人关系密切的品牌往往也能获得关注。这曾被称为 “奥普拉效应”（the Oprah effect），因为她推荐的所有东西都会疯狂大卖。与非名人创作者相比，由于公众的普遍兴趣及其公关能力，名人往往可以带来更多关注。

In some sense, celebrities are mega-creators. They have a large following and are therefore able to influence those followers. For years, brands have paid celebrities to advertise them in ads and in sponsorship deals. We’ve seen that brands that have strong relationships with celebrities often gain traction. This was once known as “the Oprah effect“– whatever she recommended became viral. Celebrities often are able to generate more buzz compared to non-celebrity creators, due to the general public interest in them and their PR capabilities.

在DTC时代，名人角色进一步演变，出现了由名人创立或运营的品牌和公司，包括杰西卡·阿尔芭（Jessica Alba）的The Honest Company、凯特·哈德逊（Kate Hudson）的Fabletics、格温妮丝·帕特洛（Gwyneth Paltrow）的Goop、特蕾西·埃利斯·罗斯（Tracee Ellis Ross）的Pattern Beauty、金·卡戴珊（Kim Kardashian）的Skims、乔治·克鲁尼（George Clooney）的Casamigos Tequila、瑞安·雷诺兹（Ryan Reynolds）的Aviation Gin，和Dr. Dre的Beats by Dre。

In the age of DTC, we’ve see a further evolution in the role of celebrities. We now have celebrity-founded or celebrity-run brands and ventures, including The Honest Company (Jessica Alba), Fabletics (Kate Hudson), Goop (Gwyneth Paltrow),  Pattern Beauty (Tracee Ellis Ross), Skims (Kim Kardashian), Casamigos Tequila (George Clooney), Aviation Gin (Ryan Reynolds), and Beats by Dre (Dr. Dre).

DTC眼镜品牌Warby Parker的CEO尼奥·布卢门塔尔（Neil Blumental）曾说：“创业成本从未如此之低，尽管在我看来扩大规模也从未如此困难。”确实如此。在零售新时代，品牌必须适应和发展战略来“制造”自然营销。4C框架，即内容、消费者、内容创作者和名人，提供了开启自然营销的指南。对此品牌可以选择其中一部分或全部，来推动自身的发展与成功。

There’s a saying attributed to Neil Blumental, the CEO of Warby Parker, the DTC eyewear brand: “It’s never been cheaper to start a business, although I think it’s never been harder to scale a business.” We agree. In the new era of retail, brands must adapt and develop strategies to “manufacture” organic marketing. The 4 Cs framework — content, consumers, creators, and celebrities — provides a guide to unlocking organic marketing. Brands may choose a subset or all of these to further their growth and success.

阿耶勒·以色列（Ayelet Israel）是哈佛商学院工商管理Marvin Bower副教授。

伦纳德·施莱辛格（Leonard A. Schlesinger）是哈佛商学院贝克基金会教授，并在此担任实践型研究（practice-based faculty）主任。

马特·希金斯（Matt Higgins）是哈佛商学院的执行研究员，也是私人投资公司RSE Ventures的联合创始人。

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