Chapter 120 - 115: Out of Money Again

Chapter 120: Chapter 115: Out of Money Again

"What do you mean, ’happier’?"

Meiting asked, her doubts surfacing as she lay on Gao Yuan’s chest, tracing idle circles on his skin.

It wasn’t that she suspected the capsule had any side effects—after all, Gao Yuan had taken one too. She just couldn’t figure out why he had come all this way just to give her a pill.

"Why the rush?"

Gao Yuan said as his hands began to roam over Meiting’s body. He started using traditional Chinese massage techniques, and in no time at all, Meiting was experiencing that happiness for herself.

And it wasn’t just happiness; it was an urgent, desperate need.

This was the first time Meiting had ever experienced such a twofold pleasure. Gao Yuan stayed at her place until after they had lunch.

Of course,

cooking was out of the question. Meiting didn’t keep any ingredients at home; she hadn’t cooked on her stove in a long time.

She ate out for nearly every meal.

The two of them ordered a lavish takeout meal and made do with that.

When he returned to the office, he found it bustling with activity.

He asked around and discovered that orders from their TikTok live stream were exploding.

Even though they were running ads at full blast, the stream only had about twenty-odd viewers at any given time, but orders were continuously rolling in.

From the morning until now, they had already received nearly a hundred orders.

This was an excellent result, considering it was only the TikTok team’s second day of streaming.

Gao Yuan glanced toward the in-office studio and noticed the lights were off. He asked curiously, "Where are they streaming from?"

"Wanxiang City!"

Gao Yuan immediately pulled out his phone and opened the GY Flagship Store’s account.

The sight made him chuckle.

He didn’t know if it was the marketing team’s idea or the streamer’s.

The background for the GY Flagship Store’s live stream was currently an LV boutique, and the streamer even had a face mask on.

Gao Yuan watched for a while and saw that his streamer had a decent on-screen presence. She interacted well with the viewers and managed to plug the GY face mask into the conversation every so often.

"Streamer, go inside the LV store and show us."

"Yeah, let’s see some luxury goods."

...

Seeing the comments, Gao Yuan knew that people paid a lot of attention to luxury goods.

The TikTok team’s choice of this format was a nice little innovation.

"I can’t, we can only hang around outside for a bit."

"If we stay too long, we’ll disrupt their business."

Hearing his streamer’s words, Gao Yuan didn’t give it much thought. Streaming from inside the store was definitely inappropriate; it would disturb their business.

Streaming from the mall corridor, however, was fine.

Gao Yuan didn’t pay any more attention to the live stream. He could leave this to his subordinates. Having ideas was a good thing, and he would support them in trying new things.

But the ultimate goal, of course, was still sales.

Gao Yuan had his own tasks to attend to today.

First, he had scheduled a meeting with an account manager from TikTok’s beauty division.

Having worked with TikTok for so many years, he understood very well how to generate traffic and build an online brand.

One of the most crucial points was to achieve a win-win strategy with the platform.

Every platform hopes to cultivate homegrown brands. Once these brands grow, their reliance on the platform is very high, making them less likely to leave.

It was like the Tmall brands from before; to this day, those brands still operate with Tmall as their home base for sales.

Gao Yuan knew that TikTok also had its own brand incubation program, and he wanted GY to get on that train.

No matter how much effort he put in on his own, it couldn’t compare to the success he could achieve with TikTok’s support and traffic promotion.

So, he contacted the TikTok beauty brand account manager, hoping to discuss the matter and see if he could push things forward.

At two in the afternoon, Gao Yuan drove to TikTok’s headquarters in Yuhang District.

From a distance, he could see the East China Center Future Science and Technology City under construction across from the office building. That would be TikTok’s future office hub in Hang City.

Judging by the current construction progress, it would probably be completed in another year.

Gao Yuan couldn’t help but think, ’When will I be able to build Yuanfang Company into a behemoth like the Yuanfang Group, with its own dedicated office building?’

For now, Gao Yuan buried this thought deep in his heart. He believed that one day, he would be able to stand in his own office building and look down upon all of Hang City.

In the reception area of Byte Company, Gao Yuan was discussing brand building with the beauty brand account manager.

TikTok’s rapid growth in recent years had earned it the recognition of all merchants and brands.

There were quite a few companies hoping to build a brand on the TikTok platform, but very few could afford the price tag.

Byte Company also had its own brand-building strategy, which was divided into several tiers based on the user’s Level.

The best package included a splash screen ad, a spot on the trending topics list, a place on the hot search list, and traffic support from a dedicated user demographic package.

All this content and traffic would come together to form a "Super Brand Day" exclusive to the brand.

After a lengthy discussion, Gao Yuan returned to his company with some materials.

The account manager hadn’t looked down on him for being a startup with a new brand. On the contrary, he had offered a lot of advice.

The two most important points were:

First, before launching a Super Brand Day, they had to perfect their product system and create bundles that aligned with consumer purchasing habits.

Second, the brand’s account needed to post relevant, niche content and have a solid reserve of creative assets.

As for the money, the account manager didn’t mention it.

The materials Gao Yuan brought back clearly listed the prices for each tier; that wasn’t something a junior account manager could decide.

What the account manager could do was provide guidance and fight for more traffic support after a deal was made.

Gao Yuan immediately called Sun Qiang, Wang Hao, Ma Yiming, and Si Xue into his office.

He created a small group chat on WeChat and typed, "I have something for you all to arrange immediately."

"First, we’re going to collaborate with an advertising agency. The focus of the collaboration will be content creation."

"This content will include both graphic and video materials."

"Your two teams need to compile your requirements. I’ll add the head of the ad agency to this group, and you can communicate with them here."

This was good news for both the Tmall and TikTok teams.

Good creative assets and content not only reflect the brand’s character but also drive traffic growth and reduce promotional spending.

After typing this, Gao Yuan added the head of the ad agency to the group, tagged Wang Hao and Ma Yiming, and gave the agency a brief introduction.

After Wang Hao and Ma Yiming left, Gao Yuan turned to Sun Qiang and said, "The company needs to keep hiring. We’re going to create another brand with a traditional Chinese aesthetic, and we’ll launch it on all three platforms simultaneously."

"Time is tight and the task is demanding. You can work with multiple headhunting firms. Offer them an additional 5% to 20% commission based on the talent they provide."

Before Sister Sun could leave, Gao Yuan turned to Si Xue and said, "I’ll be transferring another sum of money into the company account. You need to handle their support services. Any expense approvals under 10,000 yuan can be signed off by the store managers."

Gao Yuan was starting to delegate authority to his subordinates.

He wasn’t worried about them lining their own pockets. To be honest, everyone is selfish—if a man doesn’t look out for himself, who will?

When he was a director, he had also taken kickbacks and had some gray income.

But he had boosted the company’s performance and built a highly cohesive team.

Gao Yuan deeply understood the principle that a pond too clear has no fish.

As long as they weren’t parasites, he could tolerate a few "beneficial insects" in the company.

After Sun Qiang and Si Xue left the office, Gao Yuan walked over to the window again.

He was feeling the difference between being a boss and being a director.

As a director, he only had to be responsible for performance and team building.

But as a boss, his primary responsibility was funding. He had no superiors; he had to provide for all the company’s expenses.

And now,

Gao Yuan was short on cash again!

If he were just maintaining current operations, the money he had on hand would be enough.

But doing so would extend the operational cycle significantly—so long that some employees might not be able to hold on.

Besides, in the internet age, who had time to wait? Everyone was seizing every single moment!

The opportunities he could see, many other smart people could see as well. The plans he failed to grasp, other companies would surely seize!

Time wouldn’t wait for him!

Opportunity wouldn’t wait for him!

The TikTok platform and its traffic certainly wouldn’t wait for him either!

「December 15th.」

Gao Yuan sat in his office, looking at the latest sales report.

As of today, the GY Flagship Store had been officially open for one week.

It had generated 1,107 orders, with total sales of 53,869.3 yuan.

Promotional expenses had reached 39,700 yuan.

This past week had been a classic case of losing money to gain exposure, but Gao Yuan was very satisfied with the results.

It had only been one week, after all.

Besides, over a thousand orders didn’t just translate to a thousand users.

Women are a group with a strong desire to share. They would share things with their best friends, colleagues, family, and even their regular partners.

There were quite a few holidays in the second half of the month. If they ramped up promotions then, the order volume would surely multiply.

For December, Gao Yuan’s goal was simply to have revenue break even with promotional costs. He could afford to take a loss on employee salaries and office expenses.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.

"Come in."

The person who opened the door was Wang Hao, the manager of the GY store.

"President Gao, I’d like to request a batch of products for a trial giveaway. I’ve sent the proposal to your DingTalk."

"Sit, let’s talk."

Gao Yuan stood up from his desk, sat down on the sofa with Wang Hao, and began to brew him some tea.

After Wang Hao explained his plan, Gao Yuan understood his idea.

Simply put, it was to use affiliate marketers to run a 1-yuan flash sale for product samples, letting users try the product before buying the full-size version.

Wang Hao’s idea came mainly from his girlfriend.

He had previously thought the company’s products were just ordinary skincare, but his girlfriend had praised them highly after using them, even saying they were better than the big-name brands.

This made him realize the importance of product sampling.

As a veteran e-commerce operator, Wang Hao was well-versed in these marketing tactics.

He knew full well that sampling campaigns and using affiliate marketers were pure loss-leaders. Moreover, user retention was very low, as these groups were filled with bargain hunters.

But,

now that he knew the company’s product was such a heavy hitter, he had looked at various data and felt they should give it a try.

Gao Yuan was also very familiar with affiliate marketers and Tmall’s "Optimized Sampling" program.

For the fast-moving consumer goods industry, it was a good method. Although it would result in a loss, it could also lead to a batch of repeat purchases from new users.

However, he hadn’t planned to play this card so early on. This channel was something to be used after the brand had established its voice, to increase brand awareness and expand the user base.

But Gao Yuan didn’t want to dampen Wang Hao’s enthusiasm. Instead, he encouraged him, "That’s a good idea. Let me review your plan and consider the initial product investment. I’ll get back to you."

After Wang Hao left with a pleased expression, Gao Yuan fell into deep thought.