Chapter 438: Marketing Genius
Bill Gates received Lu Yiming in his own manor.
The reason why he did not choose Microsoft was because Bill Gates felt that Lu Yiming was no longer just an ordinary business partner at this stage, but a treasure trove that could bring him huge business benefits. In order to make Lu Yiming cooperate with him more wholeheartedly, he had to show a little intimacy that went beyond the business scope from time to time.
If he were just an ordinary young man, Lu Yiming might have appreciated this arrangement and even been moved. After all, this was the richest man in the world!
What kind of treatment is it to be invited by the world's richest man to his private residence to discuss things?
But Lu Yiming is, after all, a veteran who has been in the business for two lifetimes and has seen all kinds of ups and downs. Of course, he will not be open-hearted to Bill Gates just because of this courtesy, nor will he regard him as a confidant in life.
"Shi Ji·Shi Hu Zhi" clearly states: The world is bustling with people because of profit, and the world is bustling with people because of profit. Lu Yiming is of course clear-headed about the nature of these old nobles. Although these guys look kind, they are still profit-seeking.
In the yard, by the swimming pool, there are two lounge chairs.
Bill Gates likes to chat with friends here. If they are close friends, he sometimes invites them to swim in the swimming pool.
"I never expected that we would meet again so soon. What I never expected was that you brought such a great new product."
Bill Gates shook the Tianyin MP3 in his hand.
He had the Tianyin MP3 player for an hour and had been playing with it all the time.
Although the shape and even the functions of Tianyin MP3 are derived from Diamond, Bill Gates thinks that this thing is more intuitive and easy to use than Diamond's products, and its industrial design is far better than Diamond's products, and the user experience is amazing.
This is particularly rare for a private enterprise in Xia Country.
In fact , in terms of the product's appearance design and interaction logic, Lu Yiming directly copied the iPod released in 2001, and also made some appearance optimizations. Compared with Dimeng, it was purely a dimensionality reduction attack.
Lu Yiming took a sip of the cocktail, smiled slightly, and said disapprovingly: "I have countless good products. I came to the United States this time just to promote Tianyin MP3 in the United States, and to kill the Dimeng and the Apple music player that has not yet been released in the cradle!"
Bill Gates is not interested in Dimeng. What he is interested in is that this thing can strangle Apple!
Lu Yiming told him that according to reliable information, Apple is now developing similar products.
Moreover, it is well known that Apple will launch the Mac OS X operating system this year.
This means that Apple has to compete with Microsoft in the field of .
As the richest man in the world and the king of operating systems, how could Bill Gates tolerate anyone challenging his throne?
So, he welcomes anything that makes things difficult for Apple.
In fact, Apple's development of iPod is actually related to computers.
Apple's initial goals for the iPod were not high, and Steve Jobs just wanted to create a music product that would attract people to buy more Mac computers.
Jobs believed that people's love of music would help convince them to switch from Microsoft-powered PCs to Macs.
At this time, Microsoft systems support more than 90 percent of the PC market share.
The iPod’s most important contribution was that it served as a catalyst for the iPhone. As phone makers began to introduce phones that could play music, Apple executives worried that the iPod would be surpassed by better technology.
Compared with the indecisiveness of the company's shareholders, Jobs believed that if this situation really happened, it should be done by Apple.
The iPhone then went on to capitalize on the combination of software and services that made the iPod successful. The success of iTunes, which allowed users to back up their iPhones and put music on the device, paralleled the growth of the App Store, which allowed users to download and pay for software and services.
It wasn't until 2007 that Apple dropped its long-standing company name, Apple Computer, Inc., and became simply Apple, Inc. After six years of preparation, an electronics giant was emerging.
Therefore, it can be said that the emergence and popularity of iPod was crucial to the subsequent development of Apple.
Bill Gates would certainly be happy to see Lu Yiming's ambition to kill Apple in its cradle. However, Bill Gates also knew how powerful Apple was, and Lu Yiming's current ambition to kill Apple was nothing but a pipe dream in his eyes.
In front of Lu Yiming, Bill Gates told him bluntly: "Just relying on this thing? You can't stop Apple. Even though their similar products are not on the market yet."
Lu Yiming was of course very clear about this. He smiled and said, "This is just a hardware product. That's not the important thing. Do you have a computer?"
"certainly."
Bill Gates quickly asked someone to bring the computer.
Lu Yiming took out a USB drive and inserted it into the USB port of the computer. Accompanied by a silky pop-up animation, Lu Yiming opened an installation file inside.
"Just like I told you before, the combination of software and hardware can bring out the greatest power. So I spent a lot of effort to make the opening animation and operation prompts for my USB flash drive. Of course, I also prepared corresponding software for Tianyin MP3. This is a player called 'Qianqian Jingting'. You only need to connect the data cable that comes with Tianyin MP3 to the computer, and you can download the songs in the software to the MP3. Both parties share the same account and data."
As Lu Yiming spoke, he directly clicked on a song on the app.
"Not only that, this software also supports online playback, online comments, voting for singers and other functions. In the future, it will also launch functions such as concert information display and ticket sales. In my plan, it will be a traffic entrance for all music-related information."
Listening to Lu Yiming's introduction, especially when he mentioned the four words "traffic entrance", Bill Gates' praise in his eyes was beyond words.
As an Internet giant, of course we know that for the Internet, traffic is everything.
Microsoft, on the other hand, has built a platform that carries all traffic based on its operating system software; it is a platform of platforms.
However, there are very few people who realize this now, and Bill Gates did not expect that Lu Yiming is one of them.
After using Qianqian Jingting for a while, Bill Gates' confidence in Tianyin MP3 increased greatly, and he even couldn't wait to say: "I want to integrate this software into the next generation of Windows operating system! I want to cooperate with you!"
Lu Yiming came to see Bill Gates with actually this purpose in mind - to directly deeply bind Qianqian Jingting with Windows and make it the system's built-in player.
This is exactly the opposite of Steve Jobs' original intention in creating the iPod. Steve Jobs launched the iPod to boost the sales of iMacs, and Lu Yiming deeply integrated Qianqian Jingting with Windows in order to get Windows users to pay for Tianyin MP3.
Bill Gates couldn't wait to offer: "Let's talk about cooperation."
Lu Yiming smiled and said, "Of course, I also hope to have in-depth cooperation with Mr. Gates."
The two of them were like "turtles looking at green beans", and they liked each other very much, so on the second day, the two sides reached a series of agreements, including the cooperation between Qianqian Jingting and Windows, and the promotion of Tianyin MP3.
Implanting Qianqian Jingting into Windows was a matter that was left to Microsoft engineers to solve, and what Lu Yiming had to do was to promote Tianyin MP3 throughout the United States. Microsoft used its own connections to proactively provide convenience for Lu Yiming.
Through Bill Gates, Lu Yiming quickly contacted LAUNCH Media, which later became Yahoo Music.
In the company office, Lu Yiming met with Harry Allen, the head of LAUNCH Media.
Seeing that Lu Yiming had yellow skin, came from Xia Country, and was so young, even though he was recommended by Bill Gates, Harry Allen didn't take it too seriously and spoke in a perfunctory tone.
“Do you want to advertise on LAUNCHMedia?”
Lu Yiming nodded slightly: "Yes."
Then, he directly took out a document: "Here is the plan."
The so-called "plan" was just a piece of A4 paper with a sentence written in bold font: Tianyin MP3, the world's number one sales volume.
Lu Yiming said: "I need to put this sentence in the most prominent position on your website."
"hiss……"
Harry Allen couldn't help but take a deep breath and said to Lu Yiming earnestly: "Lu, I have to remind you that your Tianyin MP3 is not even sold in the US market! If those bastards in the FBI find out that you are making false claims, you will face a huge fine!"
Lu Yiming laughed: "I only said that Tianyin MP3's sales volume ranked first in the world, but I didn't say it is the world's number one now. If it ranks first in the world in three, five, or ten years, then it will still be the world's number one, right?"
Harry Allen was speechless.
"Moreover, the original intention of this sentence is not to say anything, but to create conflict."
“Creating conflict?”
"Yes. Number one in sales is a kind of trust, authority and voice. Once you shout it out, spread it repeatedly and stimulate it, you will maintain the number one position. The gap between the first and second is too big. People know the first brand, but no one knows the second or third brands. This conflict is artificially created. Discover this conflict and resolve it, and the sales of Tianyin MP3 will naturally increase."
Harry Allen's eyes lit up, and he looked at Lu Yiming straight in the eye. He had met many Asians, and Lu Yiming was undoubtedly the most special one.
"This is the first part of my cooperation with you. Put this sentence in the most prominent position on your website and the most prominent position on the software. The time is one week. I will give you $100,000."
One hundred thousand dollars is not a small amount. Harry Allen immediately said, "No problem. I'll put it up for you at midnight tonight!"
These advertising slogans are not only used in LAUNCHMedia, but also in some Microsoft software. Of course, this is free of charge and is part of the cooperation between Microsoft and Mingyuan Technology.
During this week, a large number of Tianyin MP3s with English version of the operating interface were shipped to the United States, and distributed through the sales channels previously opened up by USB flash drives.
A week passed quickly, and Lu Yiming found Harry Allen again.
One hundred thousand dollars was earned so easily. When Harry Allen saw Lu Yiming again, his eyes were full of enthusiasm. He couldn't wait to ask: "Mr. Lu, are you satisfied with the effect of our advertising?"
The product has not yet been launched, and there is no way to verify the so-called advertising effect. However, Lu Yiming did not care about these. He smiled and said, "I am very satisfied, so I am looking for you to continue cooperation. Now you should remove the previous advertisement and replace it with this one."
Harry Allen took the A4 paper handed over by Lu Yiming.
This time, it’s finally not just a sentence.
But two sentences.
The slogan changed from "Tianyin MP3, the world's best-selling MP3" to "Is Tianyin MP3 the world's best-selling MP3?"
Below the options, there is a warm reminder: everyone who answers correctly will receive a $5 coupon for music purchases.
These two sentences directly confused Harry Allen.
After a whole week of promotion, Tianyin MP3's sales volume ranked first in the world. Now it has come up with a problem like this. Isn't this obviously a waste of money?
"This is……"
Lu Yiming did not intend to explain, and said with a smile: "This is the second stage of our cooperation. The advertising fee is also $100,000. Don't worry, all those who answer correctly will get coupons, and our company will pay directly for them from you. But please note that each IP address can only have one purchase opportunity."
"Also, in this ad, put a one-week countdown in the most eye-catching position. When the countdown ends, our cooperation will also end. You made more than $100,000 this time. You also got a share of the sales of the coupons you received, right?"
"Yes."
There is no doubt that, from a certain perspective, Lu Yiming's advertisement is helping LAUNCHMedia sell music. Users answer questions to get coupons, and when these coupons are used on LAUNCHMedia, LAUNCHMedia can get a commission.
Advertising fees, coupons, and commissions, LAUNCHMedia wins directly.
"I'll do it right away!"
The principle behind Lu Yiming's arrangement is actually very simple.
In that era, there were no publicly available information channels and no authoritative rankings. All users' knowledge of rankings depended on advertisements on television, the Internet, and print media.
Compared to those advertisements that are obviously the company's own words, the so-called correct answer in the form of questions and answers is more likely to be accepted without arousing suspicion. Whether the answer is correct or wrong, people subconsciously remember that Tianyin MP3 is the world's number one in sales.
At this point, the advertising is almost complete, and the next step is to sell the product.
As the countdown ended, products with the slogan "Tianyin MP3, the world's best-selling music player" printed on the outer packaging appeared in major stores across the United States and were placed on the same counter as some high-end electronic products.
For a whole two weeks, or half a month, people whose curiosity was aroused by these two questions would reflexively think of these two advertisements when they saw these words in shopping malls. Their curiosity was aroused, and many music enthusiasts paid for one to see what was so special about this world's best-selling MP3 player.
In a short time, the sales volume of Tianyin MP3 grew rapidly.
Although the price was not cheap, it quickly gained market share. And because it was placed together with the most high-end electronic products, people subconsciously thought that it was a high-end product.
In fact, whether in terms of design or operation, Tianyin MP3 surpasses Dimeng by an entire era.
As a result, the sales volume of Dimeng MP3 has plummeted!
