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Introduction: Many owners of small and medium-sized pump and valve companies constantly complain that their products have no market demand! What should I do? What should I do? As a business owner, it’s not enough to merely have product awareness; one must also possess market awareness and marketing awareness—in other words, a sense of what constitutes a marketable product. This is the very foundation for a company’s survival and growth. Everyone should understand that what is never in short supply in the world are products. Your family is in the valve business, and so is theirs. Many owners of small and medium-sized pump and valve companies constantly complain that they have no way to sell their products! What should I do? What should I do? As a business owner, it’s not enough to merely have product awareness; one must also possess market awareness and marketing awareness—in other words, a sense of what constitutes a marketable product. This is the very foundation for a company’s survival and growth. Everyone should understand that what is never in short supply in the world are products. Your family makes valves; his family also makes valves. Why is his business doing better than yours? The key is that buyers can find his store and approve of its products ； And no one else can find your product; even if they do, they may not approve of it. By turning a product into a commodity, you succeed! So, you’d eagerly ask, “What do I need to do to succeed?” At present, it may be difficult to have good methods based on your own actual situation and existing resources; therefore, you need to quickly find a practical external expert to help open the doors to the market, enable your product to reach the market swiftly, and ensure that it can stand up to market testing. If you lack such awareness and believe that self-reliance alone can ensure a comfortable life, then there’s no hope for you. Additionally, if you believe that after years of navigating the market, your company has attained a certain brand status, and that at this stage it can effortlessly achieve success by simply shouting out some slogans or by leveraging its own professional expertise or technological advantages—thereby further boosting its product sales—then such thinking is rather naive. Doing marketing is a long-term, ongoing process; permanent success cannot be achieved overnight. If enterprises rely solely on their own efforts while ignoring changes in the market and industry, and fail to take measures in response to these changes, they will inevitably end up filled with sighs of regret. You must understand that having advantages alone is not enough; it’s also necessary to keep up with trends. Zhang Jun, a marketing expert from Shangyue Media and the founder of the practical online marketing training institution of the China Pump and Valve Alliance (WeChat ID: sunray2000), points out that, looking back, the development trajectory and operational patterns of marketing in today’s pump and valve companies generally follow these three stages. Phase 1: It is primarily manifested through people going to the market. Develop agents nationwide to establish an agency and distribution model with the headquarters at its core. Seeking project partnerships through on-the-ground outreach ； Expand the market by acquiring potential customer leads through attending trade shows and distributing promotional materials. Phase two: Primarily characterized by the Internet as its medium of expression. The company created its own official website to showcase its products on the Internet. Leverage well-known B2B platforms for member promotion, and use search engines for keyword optimization. These measures can still show their effects during specific environmental periods. Stage 3: In addition to applying the measures from the previous two stages, it is primarily characterized by comprehensive marketing across the entire network. Companies no longer rely solely on websites and traditional online marketing methods; as there are more and more social marketing tools, online marketing becomes increasingly fragmented and decentralized. Making comprehensive use of various media, innovative thinking, and storytelling to promote the company and its products is the most prominent feature of this stage. It is easy to see that the first two stages are well-known to everyone, while many people still do not fully understand the third stage. Let’s take the case of a valve manufacturing company as an example. Shanghai Wuyue Pump Valve Manufacturing Co., Ltd. is probably familiar to many people, as this company is quite active on the Internet. When browsing the web, it is common to come across marketing materials for Shanghai Wuyue safety valves through search engines, news reports, forums, blogs, WeChat official accounts, video media, B2B platform advertisements, and even print ads from industry exhibitions. This is precisely what makes Shanghai Wuyue Pump Valve Company successful in marketing. By adopting an omnichannel marketing mindset, various media marketing channels are integrated together; whether it’s information about directly sold products or advertisements for embedded products, this approach helps to capture the attention of different types of customers. This enables the corporate brand to continue expanding, and the goals of product marketing are gradually achieved as expected. Of course, there are also many customers similar to Shanghai Wuyue who are already doing this, such as Shanghai Faming Fluids and Jiangsu Liquiquan Pumps & Valves. However, many small and medium-sized enterprises are still at the second stage of marketing; there is little surplus value left at this stage – it’s like eating stale steamed buns, which can satisfy hunger but provide no nutrition. Reflect on the pain! It’s time; it’s not too late for small and medium-sized enterprises to start adopting an internet mindset now. If you are still not clear about the concept of online marketing and have a vague understanding of marketing strategies, you can sign up for Shangyue Media’s \"Practical Online Marketing Training\" course in Wenzhou. Every business has the opportunity to improve its performance and outperform its competitors; the key is whether you can take that first step. Various marketing channels and media are static, but people are alive. In an era where trends determine scale, how can companies optimize their survival and pursue innovation? Only by embracing the Internet, creating more trending and impactful content products, and integrating resources to enhance their own capacity for self-sustenance can companies foster the renewal of their competitive advantages. Every industry and every company is in contact with marketing every day ； Every day in every city, there are presentations on marketing being held. Marketing strategies are not one-size-fits-all; not all marketing courses are suitable for you to take, and not all marketing channels are appropriate for your business. Take the pump and valve industry as another example – why haven’t we seen any celebrities acting as endorsers for pump and valve companies? Why are pump and valve companies hardly ever seen advertising on television? Why do many pump and valve companies spend tens of thousands of yuan to have their employees attend lectures by experts, yet still see mediocre sales performance? This is because the pump and valve industry is different from other industries; pumps and valves are not household items, nor are they essential goods for the general public. Using conventional marketing methods for promotion will only increase a company’s marketing costs, with the result possibly being a total loss of investment. However, there are also common elements in certain marketing methods and strategies that apply to the pump and valve industry; for example, in terms of differentiation within the marketing process, pump and valve companies can innovate in areas such as product marketing tactics, content creation, and service delivery. Companies need to be more considerate in meeting customer needs than their competitors ； In terms of approaches to meeting requirements, it is more creative than its competitors ； In terms of speed, it is faster than its competitors. On the websites of some pump and valve manufacturers, it can also be observed that these companies place photos and information such as \"the scale and quantity of production equipment,\" \"quality control measures and certifications,\" \"pre-sales, in-sales, and after-sales support,\" and \"delivery times compared to competitors\" in prominent locations; this approach helps to build buyers’ trust and confidence in making purchases. Currently, there are an increasing number of homogenized products in the pump and valve industry. It’s difficult to sell products directly, but it’s much easier to sell ideas. For the same product, what are your strengths? Why should buyers buy your product? Is it because your price is low? Or is it because you have a story? Let me first share with you two classic marketing examples. Story 1: Near the Terracotta Warriors of Emperor Qin Shi Huang in Xi’an, a popular tourist destination, many local elderly women sell local specialty products to tourists—various small terracotta warriors, each priced at several dozen yuan. The old woman who sells terracotta soldiers is very fluent in English; whenever she sees foreigners, she shouts out, “Tendollar!” Foreigners who have lived in China for a long time, upon hearing “Tendollar,” immediately say, “Too much!” It’s too expensive! The old lady reacted quickly and immediately reduced the price: One dollar! The foreigners still say: Too much! Because the experience that foreigners gain when they come to China is that no matter what price someone quotes, they always say it’s too much. Finally, the old lady said: “Say ‘How much’!” This approach is a typical form of direct sales. A clever old woman wouldn’t sell them in that way; she would grab a foreigner’s arm and tell him a story: My son works in the Terracotta Army warehouse, and yesterday, due to lax supervision after work, he managed to take one out. Then, carefully unwrapping layer by layer of newspaper, the terracotta soldiers were taken out gently, and it was said, \"Look, these are real; don’t let anyone else see them.\" As a result, the foreigner became very interested and whispered to the old lady, \"How much?\" The old lady is quite shrewd; she said you should give a price. Foreigners are quite stingy; when he offered 100 dollars, the old woman got angry and said, \"Are you insulting me?\" In the end, the foreigner took out all the money in his pocket to buy the old lady’s Terracotta Warriors, and then sneakingly and triumphantly carried them back to his hotel. In Story 2, a marketing manager wanted to test his employees, so he gave them a task: sell combs to monks. First person: As soon as they go outside, they start cursing, saying things like \"What kind of manager is this? Monks don’t even have hair, so what’s the point of selling combs!\" I found a tavern and drank alone, then went to sleep. When I returned, I told the manager that the monk had no hair, so the comb couldn’t be sold! The manager smiled faintly. Do I really need you to tell me that a monk has no hair? Second person: He went to a temple, found a monk, and said to the monk, I want to sell you a comb. The monk replied, I don’t need it. The man then repeated the manager’s instructions, saying that if they couldn’t sell the products, he would lose his job; please show some mercy! The monk bought one. Third person: Also came to a temple to sell combs, and the monk said they really weren’t needed. The man walked around the temple and asked the monk whether one needed to have a sincere heart when worshipping Buddha. The monk replied that yes, that was indeed the case. Is it necessary to have reverence in one’s heart when being sincere? The monk said, yes, one must be reverent. The man said, “Look, many pilgrims come here from great distances. They are very devout, but they are covered in dust and dirt; how can they show respect to the Buddha in such conditions?” If we buy some combs from the temple to comb these pilgrims’ hair and wash their faces, isn’t that a way of showing respect for Buddha? The monk thought his reasoning made sense, so he bought ten. Fourth person: Also came to a temple to sell combs, and the monk said they really weren’t needed. The man said to the monk that if the temple provided combs as gifts for pilgrims, it would be both practical and meaningful, and the flow of pilgrims would increase. The monk thought about it, found it reasonable, and bought 100. Fifth person: Also came to a temple to sell combs, and the monk said they really weren’t needed. The man said to the monk, \"You are a virtuous and highly accomplished monk with great skills in calligraphy. If your handwriting were engraved on combs, and combs inscribed with phrases like ‘Combs of Peace’ or ‘Combs of Good Deeds’ were given to pilgrims, wouldn’t that serve to promote both Buddhism and calligraphy?\" The old monk smiled slightly. Well done! I bought 1,000 combs. Sixth person: Also came to a temple to sell combs, and the monk said they really weren’t needed. That person talked to the monk for a while, but managed to sell ten thousand combs. What did that person say? He told the monk that combs are essential items for devout men and women; female pilgrims often carry them with them. If the master could bless these combs, turning them into talismans for them, it would enable them to do good deeds and also ensure their safety. Many pilgrims could also purchase one for their relatives and friends to bring protection, promote Buddhism, and enhance the reputation of their temple – wouldn’t that be a truly wonderful act of kindness? How could a master fail to do it? Amitabha, excellent! Well done! The master joined his hands together and said, \"With such kind intentions from the donor, how could I possibly refuse?\" The temple purchased 10,000 of them, naming them “Good Deeds Combs” and “Peace Combs.” The master personally blessed them for the pilgrims, and business was very prosperous. Of course, the donations collected for the consecration ceremony are also quite substantial! These two short stories are also classic examples in marketing philosophy. Of course, the first article advises everyone that the focus is not on selling fake products, but on marketing strategies; what is being sold is a way of thinking. The second article also deals with a way of thinking. If you have good products, leveraging conceptual marketing can lead to great success. Therefore, through the above analysis, small and medium-sized pump and valve companies that complain all day long should now know the reasons why their products cannot be sold, right? Do you have a truly practical external brain helping you? Have you fully mastered the Internet as a tool? Can you tell stories? A company needs a story, the owner should be able to tell stories, and the team should be able to promote those stories! Given these factors, if you still can’t sell your products, come to Shangyue Media and see me! I am Dabai, your corporate marketing health consultant. (This article is original; any reproduction must cite the source: Shangyue Media)