The Flying Pig-Xiaomi

I am not a geek, nor a gadget lover. I am just a vain girl who always has a latest iPhone in her hands since she was in senior high school. But I do admire a brand so much even though I only have one product under its full wings. Xiaomi, a Chinese electronics company, has become the world’s 5th largest smartphone maker in 2015. Its founder, Jun Lei, has a Flying Pig Theory for entrepreneurship, which has engaged me a lot, along with the company’s extraordinary marketing strategies.

According to the theory, to be an entrepreneur, is like to be a pig standing in a windy spot. If you have chosen the right spot, you can still fly up high with the power of the wind even if you are a heavy pig. To be more specific, to be successful, you are supposed to accumulate experiences and to spend a lot of time recognizing trends and the real opportunity in the market, which makes you prosperous much easier. Now, after six-year dedication, Xiaomi has had a wide range of electronic devices, including smartphone, pad, headphones, TV set-top box, power bank and so on. It’s famous for its high cost-effective and has represented an unique lifestyle for its fans, whom are called Mifen.

When I was an entrepreneur about 1 year ago, the kind and savvy technician in our team recommended me to read a book when we were discussing about how to do the marketing work for our start-up. The book is named  The Xiaomi Way-Customer Engagement Strategies That Built One of the Largest Smartphone Companies in the World. It was the first time that I was truly drew attention to this already-popular company in China and was tremendously impressed by its marketing concepts. In the book, it introduces how Xiaomi encourages its customers, most of whom are gadget lovers, to participate in its product design and improvement through its own media, a science Internet forum. From the forum, Xiaomi gets to know what its customers care about most and how they feel about the products by the first-hand data. What’s more, it gives their consumers a sense of involvement, leading to a feeling that the refined products are contributed to the fans of Xiaomi since most of them are tech hobbyists, knowing a lot about technical things and offering helps.

I still remember when I read that it cost Jun several months to look for the partners and to talk with them uninterruptedly day and night, I felt that I had made some fatal mistakes from the very beginning. All his team members are the skillful veterans in the technological circles and he has picked them up meticulously after long conversations and negotiations. I finally realized that Xiaomi’s success is on the foundation of its  CEO’s rich experience and elaborated plans.The excellent team guarantees the great designs and the high performance of the products, as well as has allured millions of fans to support the brand. In 2013, Xiaomi has been No.1 among national mobile brands. 

What’s more, Xiaomi’s marketing cost is very low. It just has promoted itself through social media, like Weibo(Chinese’ Twitter), WeChat(Chinese’ WhatsUp) and the forum I mentioned before, initiating topics to engage people to comment and forward the information about the products. It even established a festival for its Mifen culture. During the festival, the fans(consumers) get to communicate with the company face to face and play the high-tech stuff with the team members. All the Mifen are very excited in the festival and looking forward to more fan meetings.

However, Xiaomi has received some critics on its excessive marketing. Yes, everything is about a balance. If you display too much, someone may get bored and it may give your components opportunities to denounce you. In today’s social world, everything would be exaggerated instantly. Virus Marketing(showy slogans to attract zealots) and hunger marketing(limited editions for certain series) are always the marketing strategies for Xiaomi, which are easy to be noticed and easy to be disdained as well.

It’s obvious that Xiaomi’s story is consistent across all channels. It believes that the social intercourse is the core driving force of its enhancements and profits. Jun himself likes cellphones so much that he has over 60 cellphones in his cabinet but he said he wasn’t satisfied with anyone of them-the message was spread out then-that everyone can join Xiaomi to create a cellphone that caters to you most.

What a great flying pig!

WELCOME TO YINGYING’S HOME!

2016 has been a struggling year for me. After recovering from the death of my father 6 years ago, I have lost my dearest grandfather who raised me up and my 6-year-relationship boyfriend who tore me up in the first half of this year.

I am turning to 24 years old at the end of this year. Yes, I am the “Monkey”. According to Chinese traditional saying, there is always something really bad happening when someone is in his or her year. At the beginning of this year, to refrain from the wicked power, I had worn several red decorations all over my body, like red bracelets and red waist lines, before the Spring Festival was coming.

However, nothing could stop the evil seeds from growing and blossoming.

I admit that since I have been in New York for these days, the pain during I am awake has been weakened a lot by the far distance from China. However, the recurrent terrible dreams at nights have reminded me of the hurts again, again and again. Finally, I have made the decision to write something to record this special year and the turning point of my life.

In my blog, I will share my feelings about my loses of my family members. I will recollect the stories between the three men and I and will tell you how they have told me to grow up and to be a sound person. Let’s taste the sweet, face the pain, and learn how to stand up again together.

I will share some adjustments of my career plans accompanying with these big changes of my life as well. I was once an entrepreneur when I was in college.  In the past, I could rely on others and did what I want without thinking about the outcomes. Now, I have to be independent totally and elaborate my future in details. I want to be a marketing researcher here, in New York, based on my knowledge of math and economics, which I studied during undergraduate courses. Therefore, in my blogs, I will pay attention to marketing and talk something about brands.

I am very glad that finally I have found a place to let out all my emotions. Because Chinese young people tend to post stuffs on Wechat, which is the most popular social media in China, it’s hard for me to narrate something in details. More importantly, no one has the willing to read them all if you post long paragraphs on social media like Wechat or Facebook. Most of your friends are just killing their time by consuming hundreds of pieces of short contents and don’t have the patience to be touched by any lengthy texts.

As an international student, I am also experiencing culture shock and considering about whether to be a Christian. When I was in China, I didn’t believe there is any god in this world at all. Now, I have totally changed. I realized that not everything could be explained in science and it would be more like being designed by someone from the very beginning. At the same time when I am suffering from the agonies, I am being influenced by the events related to religions and beliefs. It’s not a coincidence. Maybe it’s part of god’s plan.

I know it’s a long path to walk to god. I am reading a book called Mere Christianity recommended by one of my Christian friends here . I will share my thought about the process of being a Christian from a secular view as well.

I am lucky I am still young. I am lucky I can write down all the feelings I want to share with you. We are lucky because god loves us.