Digital Marketing Boom: Traditional Products Adapt to Accelerate

In the past, traditional product manufacturing businesses relied mainly on direct introductions, trade fairs or distribution through agents, but now social networks have become places where they can reach customers faster, more widely and more effectively than ever. Facebook, YouTube, TikTok are platforms that used to only serve the needs of entertainment and personal connection, but have now become "fertile ground" for traditional brands to reach the modern generation of consumers.

KOC Le Xuan Chien prepares promotional content and affiliate marketing for Ba Lang traditional fish sauce products on the TikTok platform.

Ms. Pham Thi Hue , representative of Nem Vi Thanh brand, said: "Currently, social networks also help businesses like us grasp consumer tastes through comments, likes, shares or direct feedback. E-commerce sites linked to social networks also make it easy for customers to order, track orders and access after-sales care services." In addition, many traditional product manufacturing businesses have known how to take advantage of loyalty programs based on social network accounts. The form of accumulating points, receiving incentives or participating in online events helps build sustainable relationships between businesses and consumers, something that was difficult for them to do before due to lack of data and connection tools.

However, the shift to social media marketing is not without challenges. For traditional product manufacturers, the two biggest “barriers” are shipping and establishing trust. On e-commerce platforms, purchasing decisions are often based on two factors: price and quality proven through reviews, comments or experience videos . Mr. Thach Van Manh, communications manager, Cu Nham Fish Sauce Company Limited, shared: "For traditional products, it always takes a lot of time to build a brand and proving quality to new customers becomes a real challenge. Creating advertising content on Facebook also requires businesses to continuously produce, which is both labor-intensive and incurs increasingly high advertising costs. This makes it difficult for many traditional product manufacturers like us to maintain long-term marketing effectiveness."

To solve this problem for businesses, KOCs/KOLs and affiliate marketing methods have appeared. In particular, affiliate marketing is an important "weapon" that helps TikTok Shop excel compared to other platforms. Businesses only need to send products to KOCs/KOLs - influencers or product reviewers - and they will post review videos and real-life experiences. These videos help products reach thousands, even millions of consumers without businesses having to produce content themselves or spend huge advertising budgets. Mr. Thach Van Manh added: “Thanks to affiliate marketing, we can send products to KOCs/KOLs for them to review and post videos for us. Selling on e-commerce platforms like Tiktok Shop is much easier than on Facebook. With this model, our traditional fish sauce products have the opportunity to reach more customer groups, especially young customers who are less likely to shop in stores but are easily convinced by authentic, intuitive review videos."

However, in the context of a fiercely competitive market, the core factor to increase sales and develop traditional products is to standardize the transportation process and ensure product quality when it reaches customers. The characteristics of traditional products, especially foods such as fish sauce, spring rolls, spices or processed agricultural products, are very sensitive during transportation. If the package is dented, leaked or no longer retains its original form when it arrives, the brand's reputation will be affected immediately. "In the process of creating content, I always prioritize authenticity. Therefore, if businesses do well in logistics, KOCs like us will be more confident when introducing products to consumers. Besides, viewers now no longer like long-winded advertisements or exaggerated uses. They need to see the real product, witness how I unbox, use and feel it. A realistic, concise but real-experience review video is always more convincing than any fancy advertisement," said Mr. Le Xuan Chien, Sam Son ward.

Despite facing many challenges, the trend of promoting social media is opening up unprecedented opportunities for traditional product manufacturing businesses. To optimize efficiency, businesses and KOC/KOLs need to cooperate in a transparent, quality, and honest way. If traditional product manufacturing businesses make efforts in transportation and quality assurance, and KOC/KOLs focus on creating real, correct, and sufficient content, the affiliate marketing model will help traditional products spread widely and create solid trust with customers. Thus, just by keeping up with the right trends and knowing how to combine traditional values ​​and modern technology, local specialty products can completely go beyond the regional scope, reaching customers across the country.

Article and photos: Phuong Do

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/tiep-thi-so-bung-no-san-pham-truyen-thong-thich-ung-de-but-toc-270239.htm