radiothebook Chapter 12 Breaking the situation
Chapter 12 Breaking the situation
Su Chen stood by the window for about thirty seconds, then turned around and returned to the conference table.
"Xiaoting, have you noticed anything while you've been working on distribution channels these past few days?"
"What?"
"The reason the distributors rejected you was Tianying's channel lock-in policy, right? But when they rejected you, did any of them say 'Hongyuan's products are bad'?"
Meng Xiaoting paused for a moment, recalling the reactions of the six distributors today.
"No." There was a hint of surprise in her voice. "Everyone says their products are good and competitive."
"That's right." Su Chen pulled out a chair and sat down. "They don't not want to sell our products; they're afraid to."
"Not wanting to sell and not daring to sell are completely different things."
"Not wanting to sell means there's a problem with the product, which is a dead end. Being afraid to sell means there's nothing wrong with the product; it's just that the distribution channels are blocked."
"What do we do if the passage is blocked?"
Su Chen looked at the three people in front of him—Meng Xiaoting, Zhang Lei, and Zhou Ming, who had walked in at some point.
"Try another route."
He spread a sheet of white paper on the table, picked up a pen, and began to draw.
"What is the traditional drone sales model? Manufacturers produce the drones, sell them to distributors, and the distributors sell them to consumers. There's a middleman in the distribution chain, and all manufacturers have to go through this middleman to reach consumers."
He drew three boxes: Manufacturers → Distributors → Consumers.
"Skyhawk's strategy is to block the middle layer. As long as we control the distributors, our products won't be able to leave the country."
"But what if we skip this step?"
Su Chen drew a straight line between manufacturers and consumers.
"Sell directly to consumers?" Meng Xiaoting's eyes lit up for a moment, then dimmed again. "But President Su, we don't have our own stores, nor do we have a well-established online flagship store. Building a direct sales channel from scratch will take at least several months—"
"It won't take several months," Su Chen interrupted her.
"You're talking about the traditional direct selling model—opening your own store and building your own website. Of course, you should do those things, but there's no time for that now."
"I'm referring to another channel."
Su Chen wrote five words on the white paper—
Online community marketing.
The Chinese internet in 2016 was at a special juncture.
Short video platforms are still in their infancy. The concept of live-streaming e-commerce has only just emerged. But one area is already very mature—vertical interest communities.
Model aircraft forums, drone communities, FPV enthusiast QQ groups, WeChat public accounts, drone topics on Zhihu... these interest communities scattered across various corners of the internet gather a large number of precise potential consumers.
They are true drone enthusiasts, extremely sensitive to product performance, but not particularly brand loyal—because they care not about whose drone is better, but whose product flies better.
These people are the perfect target customers for Hongyuan F2.
"My plan is to proceed in three steps," Su Chen began.
Step 1: Create viral content.
"Zhang Lei, starting tomorrow, you'll film one F2 flight video every day. Don't make any fancy, over-the-top videos; just film the most realistic flight tests—hovering accuracy tests, wind resistance tests, high-speed maneuvering tests, and image transmission distance tests. Each video should be two to three minutes long, with simple data captions."
"After taking the photos, post them on all available platforms—model aircraft forums, model forums, drone forums, WeChat official accounts, and QQ groups."
Zhang Lei nodded quickly: "I've filmed plenty of flight videos, no problem."
"But there's one crucial requirement," Su Chen emphasized. "At the end of each video, there must be a shot comparing the F2 to competing products in the same price range. You don't need to name names, but the effect must make the difference immediately apparent to the viewer."
Zhang Lei understood immediately: "I get it."
"Step Two: Viral Marketing."
"We selected six of our twelve engineering prototypes and sent them free of charge to six of the most influential KOLs (Key Opinion Leaders) in the model aircraft community for independent evaluation. No conditions were attached—they could say it was good if they wanted, or bad if they wanted. We have confidence in our product."
Meng Xiaoting hesitated: "Six engineering prototypes cost about 20,000 yuan each... which is a lot for our current cash flow—"
"Spending these 20,000 yuan will bring in more exposure than investing 200,000 yuan in GG fees." Su Chen's tone left no room for argument.
"Independent reviews from KOLs carry far more weight with enthusiasts than manufacturers' self-promotion. If a product is truly good, their reviews are the strongest endorsement."
Meng Xiaoting thought for a moment and nodded in agreement.
Step 3: Pre-sale and direct sales.
"We've opened pre-orders for the F2 on the Model Aircraft Home forum and our own WeChat official account. The pre-order price is 3299 RMB—200 RMB cheaper than the official price of 3499 RMB. Limited to 100 units, first come, first served."
"What are the benefits of pre-sales?" Su Chen looked at everyone. "First, there's no need for distributors; the goods are shipped directly from the factory to the consumer. Second, pre-sale funds can be recovered in advance, alleviating cash flow pressure. Third, limited quantities and discounted prices create a sense of scarcity, stimulating the purchasing impulse of enthusiasts."
"The material and production costs for one hundred units would be approximately—"
"Around 150,000," Zhang Lei replied. "Our existing inventory of spare parts, plus the newly purchased sensors and image transmission modules, is enough to make about 80 units. A little more restocking will bring us to 100."
"Do you have enough funds?" Zhou Ming asked.
"If the recovered funds arrive within this week, it will be enough," Su Chen nodded.
He glanced at everyone's expressions—Meng Xiaoting had recovered from her earlier dejection, and her eyes were shining again; Zhang Lei was already searching for the contact information of the model airplane KOL on his phone; Zhou Ming was quickly jotting down the next steps in his notebook.
"There's one more thing," Su Chen concluded. "This strategy has a prerequisite—our products must withstand the most rigorous testing."
"KOL reviews are ruthless. Forum users will scrutinize every detail. Even the smallest flaw will be amplified and amplified."
"Therefore, before pre-sales begin, I need every F2 to undergo at least 24 hours of comprehensive testing before it leaves the factory. Flight control, image transmission, range, structural strength—every single one must meet the standards."
"We can't afford any more quality issues. Zhao Guoqiang's case has already taught us a lesson; we can't afford to make the same mistake twice."
There was a two-second silence in the conference room.
Then Zhang Lei said, "Don't worry, Mr. Su. I personally burned and tested every single flight control board for the F2. If there's a problem, come to me."
"Okay." Su Chen stood up. "Meeting adjourned. We'll begin implementing this tomorrow."
……
After everyone left, Su Chen sat alone in the conference room.
He looked at the three-step plan drawn on the white paper and was well aware of the risks involved.
Online community marketing was not a new concept in 2016, but no one in the consumer drone industry had successfully opened up the market in this way.
The reason is simple—most drone manufacturers rely heavily on offline dealer networks because drones are "experience-driven" products; consumers usually need to touch and see the actual flight performance before they are willing to spend money.
The conversion rate for purely online sales has always been low.
But Su Chen was betting on the product strength of the F2.
If flight videos and KOL reviews can generate enough discussion and word-of-mouth within the enthusiast community, then the obstacle of "experience-driven" can be partially replaced by "trust transfer"—consumers may not have personally test-flown the flights, but the KOLs they trust have, and the results are impressive enough.
This is the most important lesson I learned in my fifteen years in the internet industry in my previous life:
Good products have their own word-of-mouth appeal.
But the prerequisite is—you have to let the right people see it first.
Su Chen took out his phone, opened the browser, and accessed the Model Airplane Home forum.
He needed to do his homework first—understand the culture of the community, the style and preferences of top KOLs, and the product pain points that consumers care about most right now.
Then he will personally write F2's first technical post—as a product engineer, not as the boss.
In enthusiast communities, the words of those who understand technology carry more weight than any tech expert.
Su Chen opened the forum's "New Product Discussion Area" and saw the pinned post: "2016 Comparative Review of Drones in the 3,000 Yuan Price Range—Who is the King of Cost-Effectiveness?"
He clicked on it and carefully read through the review and the hundreds of comments below.
The vast majority of comments are discussing the same issue—flight control stability.
"A flight controller that costs 3,000 yuan is just so-so; don't expect it to be anything special."
"It always floats when hovering, making the videos unwatchable."
"To be honest, if you want a truly good flight controller, you need at least a machine that costs five or six thousand yuan."
Su Chen looked at these comments and a slight smile appeared on his lips.
This is his battlefield.
When everyone thought that a flight controller costing 3,000 yuan was "just so-so," a product with flight controller performance that crushed all competitors in the same price range suddenly appeared—the impact of that product didn't need any marketing rhetoric to exaggerate.
The product speaks for itself.
Su Chen closed the forum page and opened the document editor.
He started writing a post with the title:
A Small Factory Engineer's Confession: We Spent Three Days Rewriting a Flight Controller Firmware, and Then Things Changed
There was no brand name, no model number, and no trace of GG.
Only technology, data, and real flight videos are linked.
Su Chen's fingers flew across the keyboard.
It was a quiet night, and only a few lights remained in the industrial park in Longhua District.
But in that simple conference room on the second floor of Hongyuan Intelligent, a counterattack was quietly brewing.
Has Skyhawk blocked traditional channels?
Let's change the battlefield then.
On the internet, no one can block a product that is good enough.
Su Chen stopped typing and glanced out the window.
The city lights in the distance are still bright. This is Shenzhen in 2016, a city full of endless possibilities.
He still has a lot to do—mass production of the F2 needs to be ramped up, the pre-sale system needs to be set up, KOLs need to be arranged to send samples, the recovered funds need to be in place, and employee salaries need to be paid at the end of the month…
Every single thing is urgent, and every single thing is a matter of life and death for the company.
But at this moment, Su Chen didn't feel any pressure; he only felt clear-headed.
Because he finally found a way to break the deadlock.
It's not about going head-to-head with Skyhawk through traditional channels—that would be like throwing an egg against a rock.
Instead, they leverage product strength to build reputation, use reputation to penetrate the online market, and use online channels to support offline channels.
Once the F2 has established enough buzz and reputation among enthusiasts, the dealers targeted by Tianying will face an awkward situation—consumers will come to them asking, "Do you sell Hongyuan F2s?" and their answer will be "No."
At that time, Tianying's channel locking policy was no longer a protection, but a burden.
Because the core demand of distributors is only one thing—products that can be sold.
When consumers' choices change, distributors' choices will also change.
It takes time.
But Su Chen was patient.
He lowered his head again and continued writing the post.
The sound of the keyboard tapping was crisp and rhythmic in the quiet night, like a person walking their own path with determination in the dark.