Forget the theory; let’s talk about the results! The best way to understand the power of KOS marketing is to see it in action. But first, a quick reminder of what we mean by KOS.
KOS: Your Secret Weapon in the Influencer Marketing Battle
Key Opinion Sales (KOS) is all about turning your sales associates into influential voices on social media. They’re the ones who know your products best, who build relationships with customers every day, and who can offer authentic, expert advice. >> Download the full report
Why KOS is a Game-Changer
- Authenticity: Consumers are bombarded with marketing messages, but they crave authenticity. KOS provides a refreshing change with genuine, trustworthy recommendations.
- Expertise: Your sales team are product experts. They can answer questions, provide personalized advice, and guide customers through the purchase journey.
- Cost-effectiveness: You’re already investing in your sales team; KOS allows you to leverage their skills for marketing, maximizing your ROI.
Now, let’s see KOS in action!
How are brands using KOS to address marketing challenges? It’s clear that seeing KOS only as a sales tool limits its potential. To maximize its value, brands should also use KOS for brand building.
1. Louis Vuitton
For example, in the luxury sector, Louis Vuitton’s KOS strategy is focused on sales-oriented content, using pricing, product details, and exclusive offers to drive conversions. However, they also invest in long-term brand building, creating content around new product launches and styling tips. Even if customers don’t buy immediately, engaging with this content helps build a connection, turning them into valuable leads for future sales opportunities via WeCom.
Insights from Louis Vuitton’s Expert:
Five Case Studies: Exploring the Path of KOS Marketing
The Shift to Online: “The decline in brick-and-mortar foot traffic is a challenge affecting all offline businesses, emphasizing the growing importance of KOS who have a more direct connection with consumers.”
Multi-Platform Potential: “Currently, our KOS efforts are concentrated on Xiaohongshu, but we see potential for future expansion across multiple platforms.”
Content and Risk Management: “We provide quarterly training for our employees on prod- uct-related communication in the public domain, which includes guidance on how to avoid content risks.”
Driving Conversions: “A key challenge is ensuring effective KOS deployment that translates into actual in-store sales. We need to avoid scenarios where accounts generate no traffic, inquiries, or inquiries without conversion, as these not only fail to contribute to sales but can also negatively impact brand image. We regularly audit and clean up brand accounts, but it remains an ongoing challenge.”
Louis Vuitton’s success with KOS lies in the collaboration between its marketing team and in-store sales associates:
KOS uses social media to showcase products, provide real-time updates, and offer strate- gic pricing.
By showing how products fit into lifestyle scenarios, Louis Vuitton creates desire and encourages sales.
The marketing team ensures brand consistency by guiding content creation, timelines, and key messages, while training staff to stay aligned with the brand’s image.
Despite multiple KOS accounts sharing similar content, Louis Vuitton maintains strong engagement because consumers prioritize product visibility, availability, and pricing. Howev- er, managing content and service quality across multiple platforms remains a challenge.
2. Luxury Car Brand
Douyin livestreaming has become a primary tool for luxury car dealerships to capture leads, engage in real-time conversations, and follow up with customers via WeChat or WeCom. The goal is to drive potential buyers to test drives and ultimately, close sales. KOS helps dealer- ships increase efficiency and reduce costs.
Insights from the Luxury Car Brand’s Expert:
The Need for KOS: “Demand has been shrinking…so we are looking to KOS to open up new customer acquisition and sales channels. KOS also has a relatively low customer acquisition cost.”
Training Challenges: “If the manufacturer conducts training…the trainers might not be entirely professional…Livestreaming involves a lot of improvisation, and the training might not always be applicable.”
Dealer KOS Concerns: “Manufacturers haven’t actively encouraged dealers to engage in KOS because dealers’ livestreamings often represent the brand and product image, and there’s a risk of damage.”
Scaling KOS: “We’re sales-oriented, and the livestreaming is just a customer acquisition channel, so increasing overall viewership is difficult. Another approach is to grow the account’s following, but there’s concern that this might not lead to increased leads…”
However, livestreaming requires a salesperson with strong communication skills and the ability to adapt quickly—this can be a challenge in the luxury car market where brand image is critical, and staff skills vary widely.
To tackle this, automakers and dealerships are offering training programs and standardized procedures for KOS livestreaming. They provide scripts and set up professional livestreaming environments to ensure consistent quality.
Incentives are also important. Dealerships allocate a large annual budget for KOS incentives, such as cash bonuses and promotional gifts. KOS performance is tracked through content metrics (followers, viewers, rankings) and sales metrics (visit rates, lead generation, repeat visits, conversion rates). Cash bonuses are awarded for hitting follower, view, and lead generation targets.
However, KOS effectiveness can be hard to improve. Adding more KOS accounts doesn’t always guarantee a higher ROI due to content quality and management costs. As a result, some companies are cautious about expanding KOS initiatives.
3. Country Garden: Building Trust, Brick by Brick
4. Li Auto: Driving Sales in the Fast Lane
5. lululemon: From Online Engagement to Offline Sales
Download the full report to read the rest of the success stories👆, and discover how to transform your salesforce into a marketing powerhouse.
