Livestream marketing can usually be divided into the following steps according to the time process.
(1) Preliminary planning.
First, the goal of livestream marketing should be clearly defined. On the premise of determining the qualitative goal, sufficient and targeted market research should be conducted, and the research data should be classified and sorted. According to the major product categories, the intended categories and products, as well as the audience groups, should be determined.
Preliminary analysis should be conducted on the preferences and habits of the target consumers, and the analysis should be conducted from the aspects of traffic entry, consumption capacity, product unit price, payment and logistics methods, etc., so as to clearly define the quantitative goals of livestream marketing (such as sales volume). Audience portraits should be made according to the determined goals, and audience demand analysis should be conducted in combination with the major product categories, so as to complete product selection and decompose the goals of livestream marketing (such as sales volume and output value of various products). Finally, the preliminary planning should be implemented on paper to form an overall plan for livestreaming.
(2) Pre-broadcast execution. On the basis of the overall plan, the relevant work before livestreaming should be refined, including pre-broadcast execution plan, material preparation, selection of livestreaming platform, selection of anchors and team formation, traffic diversion marketing plan and implementation, trial broadcast, data tracking, analysis and optimization, etc. Material preparation mainly includes products (a list of products with clear positioning, product evaluation or related training materials, display or trial product stocking, and stocking according to a certain proportion of sales forecast), live broadcast equipment and consumables (shooting equipment and lighting equipment, computers and Mic audio equipment, live broadcast special equipment such as pan/tilt, prompter, background board, stickers, etc.), live broadcast software (install and test live broadcast software according to different platforms), promotional materials (posters, H5, short videos, long pictures, etc. for drainage), promotional tools (pre-generate coupons/codes, gifts, logistics vouchers, etc.). In the live broadcast team, a dedicated person should be assigned to be responsible for material-related work, including planning, preparation, distribution and management.
The choice of live broadcast platform should be based on the product, target group and platform characteristics. A good platform can smoothly connect with live broadcast and bring goods, and can also obtain platform distribution traffic support. If the purpose of live broadcast is to bring goods, e-commerce platform is the first choice. At present, Alibaba International Station supports two types of live broadcasts: store live broadcasts and event live broadcasts. Store live broadcast is a live broadcast activity that the store can distribute on the store homepage or product details page every week. Store promotion broadcast is a live broadcast scheduled for exhibitions/promotions/industry activities that have been registered and passed the review. Note that Alibaba International Station requires that before starting the live broadcast, you need to complete the anchor certification exam and bind the store account. This process takes a certain amount of time and should be arranged in advance. After the event live broadcast registration is successful, the platform will schedule it. Once the scheduling is completed, it must be broadcast on time, and it must be a real live broadcast. You cannot play pre-recorded videos, otherwise it will trigger the violation clause. The anchors all have so-called “personal settings”, so they should be selected according to the characteristics of the goals, products, platforms, and audience groups. They can be internal employees certified by anchors, or they can be selected from MCN (Multi-Channel Network) organizations. Other team members must also be identified and the relevant work of team building and training must be completed. Traffic diversion is a relatively complex project, and generally requires a long enough time in advance to promote it. There are two main forms of traffic diversion on Alibaba International Station: one is to create a live broadcast preview (widely advertise), and customers can see the live broadcast preview at the live broadcast venue; the other is to actively invite customers to participate in a targeted manner through content marketing channels, such as TrueView, on-site EDM or other social media channels. For example, post a traffic diversion video on TikTok. Multi-channel traffic diversion has basically become the standard for live broadcast e-commerce. Sometimes, offline traffic is even imported into online live broadcasts. In 2020, in order to do a good job of live broadcast data, Dong Mingzhu required thousands of offline stores to announce live broadcast discounts and suspend offline sales, and convert all offline orders for a period of time to online live broadcasts, making the sales of a live broadcast reach hundreds of millions of yuan. The trial broadcast is equivalent to a rehearsal before the official broadcast. It is best to perform a trial broadcast for important event live broadcasts to facilitate the discovery and resolution of problems before the official live broadcast. Alibaba International Station’s event live broadcasts also support trial broadcasts. Like the official live broadcast, the trial broadcast requires the creation of a live broadcast preview and review (generally, the review result can be obtained in 1 hour).
Data tracking, analysis and optimization are the summaries of the pre-broadcast execution phase. Based on the data from the traffic diversion and trial broadcast feedback, the planning proposals of the pre-planning phase should be optimized in a timely manner, and all preparations should be confirmed to have been completed.
(3) Start broadcasting and on-site execution. After the first two steps are completed, the live broadcast will have a good traffic guarantee, and then the live broadcast with goods can be carried out as planned. This step mainly includes opening, marketing, promotion, interaction, ending and traffic diversion. The whole process can basically be carried out by applying the AARRR model.
Acquisition. The opening stage mainly includes the host’s self-introduction, greetings, introduction of the live broadcast theme, preview of the value to users, and interaction with users, all of which aim to catch the customer’s attention. The host’s personality, emotional connection with the audience, product attractiveness, event discounts, etc. can effectively attract the attention of customers entering the live broadcast room.
Activation and increase activity. The time to acquire customers should be as short as possible, just like a teacher knocking on the blackboard to remind a drowsy student. As long as the customer’s attention is attracted, the activation and activity increase actions should be performed immediately. Starting from the customer’s demand pain points is a common activation strategy. For example, the solution to common facial skin problems, the dilemma of choosing facial skin care products, etc. At this time, expert anchors can play a big role. Most active live broadcast rooms have many interactions such as likes, flowers, messages, and bullet screens. Maintain and improve retention rate (Retention). Live e-commerce often recommends multiple products in one live broadcast to maintain the number of customers, that is, product switching is conducive to maintaining retention rate. There are some techniques involved here, such as holding orders, which is usually used when there is no product switching. Therefore, the retention data (cumulative field views) of live e-commerce usually shows a wave-like change, and the planner will try to push the curve up wave by wave, preferably to reach the peak of the entire live broadcast before the end. At this stage, the professionalism of the anchor is crucial, and solutions to demand pain points must be provided. The timely interaction between the assistant/assistant and the customer is also very important. The rhythm of product switching has a great impact on retention and increases the average customer price (Revenue). The core goal of live e-commerce is to realize, and all the previous work serves this goal. Live broadcasts usually use more aggressive promotional strategies, such as large discounts, discounts, gifts, half-price for the second item, buy one get one free, etc. The intensity of promotions greatly affects the final monetization data. This is also one of the reasons why live broadcasts are often questioned as “losing money to gain publicity”. At this time, the cooperation of the assistant anchor is usually very important. The anchor, especially the expert anchor, should not be too aggressive in the monetization link. The way to increase the average customer price is to use precise promotional strategies, such as buy one get one free; secondly, to use a variety of product strategies.
Referral/Self-propagation (Referral). The entire live broadcast process requires continuous drainage, and the best quality is the traffic attracted by referrals. The anchor can directly ask the audience to refer, or encourage the audience to refer through some incentive strategies. It is generally believed that in order to achieve referrals, product value, referral convenience, and referral rewards are indispensable.
Although we use the AARRR model to decompose the live broadcast execution, in practice, these steps may not be strictly followed. For example, live broadcast e-commerce often skips the audience retention step; referrals may not be executed. Since live broadcasting is short, it is more important to convert existing audiences.
(4) Post-broadcast execution. Live broadcasting marketing is not a one-time activity. Post-broadcast execution has a great impact on subsequent live broadcasting marketing activities. We often say that live broadcasting is mainly about managing private domain traffic. If customers are not served well, it is likely that old customers will be lost, which is a huge loss. The main work after live broadcasting includes confirming orders, shipping and logistics tracking, customer return visits, etc. If necessary (especially B2B sales), it is also necessary to follow up on production, installation and debugging, customer training, etc.
The effective orders of live broadcasting have always been questioned by the industry, because merchants may actively arrange fake orders, and during the short live broadcast period, some customers are guided to make impulse purchases, so live broadcasting orders often need to be confirmed. Live broadcasting orders are very concentrated and may fluctuate greatly, and the stocking in the pre-broadcast execution stage can only be carried out according to conservative forecasts. In this case,
(5) Review and summary.
Each live broadcasting activity needs to be reviewed and summarized to accumulate experience, evaluate various types of work during the live broadcasting process, and combine customer feedback and other information to provide support for the marketing plan of the next activity.