Marketing Thinking of Chinese Construction Machinery under the New Normal

The construction machinery industry in China originated from state-owned enterprises and has gone through three main economic system stages: planned economy, planned commodity economy, and early market economy. The sales model of products has also evolved accordingly, forming a unique sales model for each period. With the development of the social economy and the gradual maturity of the market, new changes have emerged in the selection of sales models by enterprises, with an increasing emphasis on the efficiency, cost, and risk control of sales models.
1, The evolution of marketing models for construction machinery
(1) The model under the planned economy. Before the 1980s, under the planned economy system, the market belonged to the seller's market, and the scale of manufacturers was relatively small. Marketing tasks were mainly focused on product delivery and after-sales three guarantees services, forming a single direct sales model. In the direct sales model, manufacturers set up branches or offices in various regions, dispatch their own sales and service personnel, and directly carry out sales and service work to end users. At this stage, market competition is not yet sufficient, especially in the early stages of channel development, and manufacturers have little choice in their sales models.
(2) The early model of reform and opening up. In the 1980s to mid-1990s, with the reform and opening up and the expansion of the market, the social demand for construction machinery products significantly increased, manufacturers continued to increase, enterprise scale expanded, competition intensified, and consumer groups shifted from collective purchases by construction units to multi-level development of units, small groups, and individuals. The traditional direct sales model can no longer meet the requirements of development, and manufacturers are beginning to seek a new marketing model - the agency model, to meet the challenges of the market. The agency model is a sales model in which manufacturers sell their products through agents with strong scale and strength within a certain area, and provide customers with three guarantees services. But at this time, the scale of the agent was relatively small, and the scope of the agent's products was mainly limited to conventional scale products, and the direct sales model still dominated.
(3) The mode of high-speed development in the construction machinery industry. After the mid-1990s, the Chinese construction machinery industry entered a stage of rapid development. Enterprises with various components such as state-owned, private, and joint ventures jointly participate in market competition, expanding their market size and production capacity unprecedentedly, directly promoting channel development. The dominant position of the direct sales model is gradually being replaced by the agency model, especially for the two best-selling engineering machinery products, loaders and excavators, which almost all adopt the agency model. At the same time, with the increase in the social ownership of construction machinery products, the requirements of users for construction quality and efficiency continue to improve, and the further specialization of social division of labor, it is also a relatively effective sales model for manufacturers to establish their own construction companies, especially for promoting new products, which has obvious advantages. In this regard, Germany's Baoe Company has a lot of experience that is worth learning from. The extensive development of Internet technology provides conditions for enterprises to use online sales. In the future, online sales will grow with the development of the post market era, and its share will gradually increase.
2, Selection of marketing models
(1) Factors that determine marketing models
In modern market conditions, for the vast majority of enterprises, there are three key factors that determine their marketing models: channel efficiency, channel cost, and channel risk. Channel efficiency refers to the efficiency of distributing products to target customers through channels; Channel cost refers to the cost paid by enterprises to utilize and manage channels, including the direct cost of establishing channels and the indirect cost of managing channels; Channel risk refers to the significant impact or losses that channel changes or failures may have on the enterprise.
(2) Applicable scope of various marketing models
From the perspective of marketing theory, the direct sales model is suitable for high-value, high-tech, and low market demand products, as well as the promotion and sales of new products; On the contrary, the agency model is suitable for products that require large-scale sales, which can reduce manufacturers' sales costs and expand distribution scale. However, for manufacturers with a wide range of product types, adopting an agency system is relatively difficult; The hybrid model is suitable for manufacturers to sell different types of products in different regional markets, and its main characteristics are to improve channel efficiency and diversify channel risks.
(3) Steps to determine the marketing model
1. Conduct a comprehensive analysis of the key factors that affect a company's marketing channels, including product features, technological content, market demand, and company size; Brand influence, market share, current industry channel level, scale, and maturity; Channel costs, efficiency, and risks; The development stage of the enterprise, etc.
2. Analyze the advantages and disadvantages of different marketing models for enterprise development, and develop marketing model plans.
3. Evaluate the marketing model plan. The core is whether the marketing model is suitable for the actual situation of the enterprise and whether it matches the internal and external resources of the enterprise.
4. Determination and implementation of marketing models. In the process of determining marketing models, the core is to grasp marketing capabilities and the development stage of the enterprise.
5. Adjust the marketing model in practice.
3, The construction machinery industry needs diversified marketing models under the new normal

(1) Implantable advertising marketing - "penetrating everywhere". It is undeniable that advertising marketing, as one of the traditional marketing methods, plays a crucial role in promoting products, facilitating direct purchases by users, expanding product sales, and enhancing the visibility, reputation, and influence of enterprises.
With the continuous advancement of economic globalization, advertising communication still plays an increasingly important role in enterprise marketing strategies. With the intensification of competition in the domestic construction machinery market, the demand of user groups is constantly upgrading, and the target audience of enterprise marketing is becoming more and more extensive. With the development of industries such as movies, television, and games, a new form of advertising - implantable marketing - has quietly emerged worldwide due to its strong dissemination and penetration power.
(2) "Public welfare marketing" shapes commercial brands and embarks on a win-win path
Compared to the bombardment of advertisements, there are already so many that we can't help but become impatient and inevitably disturb everyone's sight. Relatively speaking, the purpose and nature of many enterprises in the construction machinery industry's public welfare activities are not so obvious, which not only expresses the sense of social responsibility of the enterprise, but also creates a good impression of the public and the general public on the enterprise. Only when public welfare activities are regarded as a necessary long-term business operation can their true value be more highlighted. By conveying their "good deeds" to the general public, enterprises not only effectively share social responsibilities, but also gain recognition from society for their brand and long-term market competitiveness.
(3) Sports marketing that combines fun and entertainment
Under the intense atmosphere of the competition, construction machinery enterprises have presented a unique and charming charm. For example, the quadrennial World Cup and Olympic Games have attracted the attention of fans around the world. For many enterprises, the use of sports events for marketing is very effective. These outstanding players in the construction machinery industry integrate their brands into sports events through various forms, and many of them can become good marketing cases. The combination of construction machinery enterprises and sports events is not only a simple fitting in marketing promotion, but also a process of constantly innovating their own marketing methods. This includes organizing a wide range of dealers and user representatives to witness the Chinese Super League on-site, organizing various offline themed marketing activities, such as product recommendation meetings, interactive gatherings, brand exhibitions, etc.
(4) Competitive marketing that combines competitiveness and practicality
Competitive marketing is a tool for enterprises to innovate in marketing. It involves selecting representative users (or potential users) to participate in competitive and competitive activities related to certain product or service attributes, thereby significantly increasing the attention and participation of other users in the prominent attributes of the product or service, and achieving the goal of clear positioning and effective marketing for the enterprise.
(5) The transformation from traditional sales models to online sales models
The marketing model of the construction machinery industry mostly focuses on paid search engine advertising and B2B platform information dissemination. The competition for network promotion at the bottom level has led to increasing costs of network marketing. Many mechanical enterprises are facing more and more difficulties in network marketing. Although the construction machinery industry is a traditional industry with its unique characteristics, it tends to reject new things and new development marketing models. O2O refers to online to offline (online offline/online offline), which means combining offline business opportunities with the Internet to make the Internet the front platform for offline transactions. This is a sales model currently being explored by the construction machinery industry. In addition, the improvement of product quality, service level, targeted investment of various advertising media, and brand value should form a synergy. Hollow marketing theories and so-called strategies are becoming increasingly pale in the era of continuous progress in media technologies such as the internet and increasingly fierce competition in the construction machinery market. Only by using creativity to meet the real needs of users can we achieve the true purpose of our marketing.
4, Accurate market positioning requires effective promotional measures
The market positioning process of engineering machinery products is the process of differentiation among industry enterprises, which is the process of finding, identifying, and displaying differences. There are usually three steps as follows:
(1) Identify potential competitive advantages
This is the foundation of market positioning. The competitive advantage of enterprises usually manifests in two aspects: cost advantage and product differentiation advantage. At present, the price war in the construction machinery industry has basically exhausted the cost advantages of various enterprises. It is currently difficult to leverage the cost advantages of products, and more efforts need to be made in product differentiation advantages. That is, enterprises can provide the market with products and services that better meet customer needs than competitors in terms of quality, function, variety, specifications, appearance, etc. To achieve this goal, enterprises must first conduct standardized market research, truly understand the characteristics of the needs of target market users and the degree to which these needs are met. In addition, it is necessary to study the strengths and weaknesses of the main competitors, which can be evaluated from the following three aspects: first, the business operation of the competitors; The second is to evaluate the financial ability of competitors, including profitability, capital turnover ability, debt repayment ability, etc; The third is to evaluate the core marketing capabilities of competitors, mainly including the level of product quality and service quality.
(2) Positioning of enterprise core advantages.
The so-called core advantage refers to the advantage that can significantly differentiate competitors in the market compared to their main competitors. Therefore, when identifying the core advantages of a company, all business activities should be classified, and the main links such as research and development, production, cost control, and management should be compared and analyzed with competitors to ultimately form the company's core advantages.
(3) Develop a strategy to leverage core strengths.
The core advantages of a company in terms of operation will not automatically be fully demonstrated in the market. Therefore, enterprises must develop clear market strategies to fully demonstrate their advantages and competitiveness. There should be sufficient market research, analysis, and summary. The planning content should be thorough, highlighting operability, and having a clear understanding of the effects of the planning plan. This not only refers to understanding how much product sales can be achieved, how many percentage points of market share can be increased, sales revenue, profit completion status, etc., but also anticipates market dynamics such as user feedback after the product is put into the market, competitor response methods, etc. By combining quantity and status for analysis, the conclusions drawn are more comprehensive, and the grasp of problem-solving will be enhanced in order to achieve good promotional effects.
5, Risk control of marketing models
Any marketing model has both advantages and risks, and the key lies in how to leverage advantages and control risks.
(1) Adopting multiple marketing models to minimize risks. Different marketing models have different characteristics and applicability. Manufacturers can adopt multiple marketing models for different products during different development periods, such as financing leasing, establishing construction companies, and online sales, in order to minimize risks. However, it should be noted that the focus and proportion of various models should be appropriate and reasonable. Do not promote a mature market sales model in an immature market, nor waver between the two models and feel at a loss.
(2) Innovate marketing models to reduce risks. Innovation is the eternal theme of enterprise development. Only by adhering to innovative marketing models can enterprises truly control risks and develop better and faster. The innovation of marketing models can choose two directions: differentiation and integrated marketing. Differentiation refers to the competitive advantage of a product in terms of core technology, quality, reliability, and operational efficiency; Integrated marketing refers to creating unique features in overall marketing, where a product may not necessarily have advantages, but when combined with other aspects such as services or payment methods, it forms its own competitive advantage.
(3) Establish a risk management mechanism. No matter what marketing model manufacturers adopt, there will be risks, so establishing a risk management mechanism is particularly important. Manufacturers can effectively control risks by clearly defining sales conditions under various modes, such as full payment, installment, installment period, down payment limit, credit policy for agents, guarantee system, and buyout definition, as well as using account recovery systems, user profile information management systems, credit management systems, and market supervision systems.