Too late of online advertising campaign for ISB MBA program (ISB MBA) at international school of business (ISB)

ISB.MBA -THESIS-PSO

UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH
CITY
International School of Business
------------------------------

LÊ THỊ TÂM LINH

Too late of online advertising campaign for
ISB.MBA program (ISB.MBA) at
International school of business (ISB)

MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

Ho Chi Minh City – Year 2018


UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH
CITY
International School of Business
------------------------------

LÊ THỊ TÂM LINH

Too late of online advertising campaign for
ISB.MBA program (ISB.MBA) at
International school of business (ISB)
MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

SUPERVISOR: TRẦN HÀ MINH QUÂN

Ho Chi Minh City – Year 2018


Thesis
Instructor: Professor Tran Ha Minh Quan
Student: Le Thi Tam Linh _ Code 22160026_ ISB.MBA 7
Topic: Too late of online advertising campaign for ISB.MBA program (ISB.MBA) at
International school of business (ISB)
st

Date: 10 December, 2018

3


Contents of the thesis:

Page

Executive summary

3

Part 1: Background

4

I. Symptoms

4

II. Initial cause - effect map

6

III. Updated cause – effect map

9

IV. Central problem of interest

10

Part 2: Problem justification

11

Problem definition

11

II. Problem existence

13

III. Problem importance

17

I.

Part 3: Causes validation and solutions

20

I. Causes validation

20

II. The set of solutions

24

III. Change plan design

28

References

30

Appendices

32

1. Company background
2. Secondary data
•

Classification of sale volume 2017&2018

•

ISB.MBA online advertising reports in 2017 & 2018

•

Analysis of delayed potential profile

3. Summary of interview transcripts
4. Others


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In the recent years, the rapid growth of Internet has been changing the way to do
marketing. Through using applications such as Facebook, YouTube or online public
relation (PR) articles become useful communication channels to introduce and sell
products or services to potential customers.
However, to achieve the highest effectiveness from online advertising, each
company should take a lot of time to make marketing strategies as well as
advertising plan in detail. In addition, it should be noted that other internal factors in
company will also affect the results of the advertising campaign.
From prominent symptom of low sale volume of online advertising campaign, we
conduct collecting and analyzing the internal databases as well as interviewing with
managers at ISB, and find the central problems lead to low effective of digital
activities are: too late of online advertising campaign.
As mentioned above, aside from the causes of marketing techniques, we have been
exploring main internal factors in the company that is overall real causes of above
central problems:

• Lack of cross function cooperation, and
• Unclear role of management in organization

Searching from the literatures and reality at ISB, I found some solutions and would
propose action plans: Board of Director and manages should jointly finish ISB
business strategies for next five years, develop appropriate salary policies, and
accompanying specific KPIs. Develop standard and professional work processes…
ISB will meet some difficulties in implementing above solutions. ISB managers will
have to increase the time spent working together and they will be pressured on this


volume of work. So need great efforts from the management positions as well as the
role of the HR manager are very necessary.
We do not need increase financial budget for this change. The budget for
teambuilding activities will be the same as in previous years but it needs to be more
effective. The budget for salaries and bonuses will not change much, but it will be
divided more appropriately and clearly based on individual performance.
PART 1: BACKGROUND
I.

SYMPTOMS:

Online adverting is a form of promotion that using the internet and World Wide Web
marketing message to attract target customers. Along with the rapid increase in the
number of Internet users around the world, the World Wide Web has become one of
the most effective advertising medium in this decade (Louisa Ha Ph.D.,2012). A
major advantage of online advertising is the quick promotion of product information
without geographical boundary limits.
At ISB, Ads is run on media tools such as Google Ad words, Facebook, Ad network,
and PR articles on some online business magazines with a medium budget and with

the arm of growth recruited students from this source.
• 2017 sales report provided by sales department shown that there are no
ISB.MBA student recruit from 2017 online advertising campaign source (total
recruited student in this year is 60.
• And in 2018 sales report, numbers of ISB.MBA student getting from 2018
online advertising are 8 students (total recruited student in year is 73, equivalent
to 11%) ( summary at table 1)


Table 1
Sources of sale volume:

2017

2018

Numbers

UEH/ISB brand

%

Numbers

%

44

73%

47

64%

0

0%

8

11%

Others

16

27%

18

25%

Total

60

100%

73

100%

Online advertising campaign

• In addition, in 2018 online advertising campaign report, this campaign had 118
potential profiles to convert to real students; however this rate of convert is too
low (8 students of 118 potential profiles, lead to close ratio is 6.7%)
• However, basing on business need of ISB as well as key performance indicators
(KPI) assigned to sale and marketing departments, every year ISB need recruit
100 ISB.MBA students. By sales data analyzing, numbers of student from
UEH/ISB brand or Website UEH/ISB source is 44 students in 2017 and 47
students in 2018( see at table 1) (getting about 50% of KPI 100 students). So,
other activities from ISB such as telesales, Alumni events as well as online
advertising campaign need great effort to approach more target customers, to
increase sale volume and to meet KPI
Therefore, low sale volume from online advertising campaign is prominent symptom
that ISB should pay more attention.


II.

INITIAL CAUSE - EFFECT MAP

Beginning the research, I have a depth interview with ISB marketing expertise, Ms
.T hao Lam, and I ask her ―which medium are effective and not effective in 2017
campaign?‖ She said that: Google are still an effective channel. Other media tools
bring to the customer database but these data are not quality.
And from this opinion, I review 2017 online advertising report and see that:
• Facebook_ Lead ads get 11 potential profiles but taken note that ―although
Facebook _ Lead ads has conversion and get customer database but almost data

is not quality‖.
• This campaign has only total 11 potential profiles.
• Ms Thao Lam notes ―the campaign need find more useful channel to get
more customer database‖
Continuing I interview ISB sales manager, Ms. Linh Le, and ask her ―why do
having fluctuation of sale volume in 2017 and 2018‖ She said that:


• In 2017, customer database getting advertising campaign is poor quality and
low quantity. So sales department do not approach many target customers
•

In 2018, many potential customers from online adverting source postpone their MBA studying
and move to plan 2019.

Continuing, I also review 2018 online advertising report and see that:
• Banners on Ad network, PR articles or Facebook only get 6 potential profiles.
• Ads on package of Vietnamworks and Google get 112 profiles
Come back analyzing secondary data of sales, I recognize that having 51 of 112
profiles from ADR package of Vietnamworks and Google source following in
potential profile database 2019 (equivalent to 46%)
From investigating, I find out three potential causes of the symptom - low sale
volume from online advertising campaign as follows:
1. Poor quality of potential profile
2. Low quantity of potential profile
3. High percent of delayed potential profiles
For potential cause No.1 &2, poor quality and low quantity of potential profile, Ms.
Thao Lam said that:
• The campaign is approved run near the examination of ISB.MBA. So marketing
department has no enough time for preparation and run the campaign.

Furthermore, advertising just run in short time, ―has only about 1 month to
promote‖
• ―Difficulties when doing communication for ISB MBA are time. The time
when UEH approves admissions and ends enrollment is about 4 months,
from May to August‖
• The PR articles run in May and July.
And Ms. Linh Le also said that:


• Online PR articles run at wrong time and need expand Ads on more many
business editors
• Both campaigns in 2017 and 2018 run too late. Potential customers know
about ISB.MBA lately
Coming back to online advertising reports, we see that:
• Facebook _ Lead ad, editors such as Vnexpress.net; News.zing.vn and Cafef.vn
or banners run on Ad network get low outcome.
• Need search more useful medium and need an effort run adverting as soon as
possible
For potential cause No.3, high percent of delayed potential profiles, Ms. Linh Le said
that:
• In 2018, potential profiles getting from Ads on ADR package of Vietnamworks
and Google is too late , so many potential audiences have no enough time to
th

prepare for ISB.MBA exam ( about 20 Aug)
• Delayed about 40 potential profiles need finish a certificate of economics at
short courses (such as Pre MBA course at ISB) before attend ISB.MBA exam.
• Pre MBA course at ISB need reform of teaching method to create more flexible
and convenient for target customers.
Come back analyzing secondary data of sales, I find that having 19 Pre MBA profiles

of 51 profiles (equivalent to 37%) from package of Vienamworks and Google source
waiting attend Pre MBA course 2019.
From analyzing, I find that there are three prominent potential central problems
influenced low sales volume of online advertising campaign:
1. The campaign run too late ( Too late of online advertising campaign)
2. Some current medium is inappropriate, the campaign need search more useful
media tools ( Inappropriate of some medium)
3. Short course at ISB (Pre MBA) is low efficiency ( Low efficiency of short


course Pre MBA)


III.

UPDATED CAUSE – EFFECT MAP

According to E.W.T. Ngai (2001) in an article ―Selection of website for online
advertising using AHP‖ he identified ―impression rate is measure by counting each
time that a page displaying the banner is viewed: it gives advertisers a sense of the
traffic at the site. A page view differs from a hit: a view involves the number of times
a page has been accessed, whereas, a hit counts the number of times that all elements
in a page, including graphics, have been accessed. This implies that the higher the
number of impressions, the higher the chance that a banner advertisement will be
viewed by potential customer‖.
In an article ―Marketing industry in digital era‖ by Liliana Dugulaena (2008), she
says that ―the ―click-through‖ is means the process of clicking through an online
advertisement, being the most immediate response to it. The number of click-throughs
can be a good indicator of the interest involved by the advertising. The ―clickthrough rate” (CTR) is the average number of click-throughs per hundred ad

impressions, expressed as a percentage, to arrive at the destination site. A high clickthrough rate


does not assure a good conversion rate, sometimes it can be oriented towards
curiosity clicks‖.
E.W.T. Ngai also said that ―audience fit” as how well the visitors compare to
business‘s target customers profile in terms of age and education level.
Base on www Vinalink media, in an article ―10 indices “vital‖ in internet marketing‖
shows that: ―total conversions” are one of the most important metrics for measuring
profitability in overall marketing efforts. This conversion rate can be statistically
measured in several ways for example, order form, message form, etc. And ―Lead”
is the focal point of business, business can collect this information in a variety of
ways, including online and offline marketing: fill in the form, conferences, trade
shows…The purpose storage Lead is to find chance converts to real customers.―
Lead to close ratio” is lead conversion rate into customers purchase or service use.
In an interview with Ms Linh Le, she also said that ―2017 online PR articles do
not come to audience fit and communication is too late. We have the articles on
some channels. However, most students do not know about this information, and
so they chose other programs to study‖
Analyzing 2018 advertising campaign report, we see that real KPI of impression and
click on Facebook are higher estimated KPI. However, real conversion (contact)
number is too lower than estimated KPI one.
In the interview, Thao Lam also said that we have conversions on Facebook in 2017
campaign but this conversion (Lead) is poor quality so lead to close ration is 0%.
In 2017 advertising campaign report mention click-through rate (CTR) of Google
display network is average 0.23% and do not have any conversion (contact).
IV.

CENTRAL PROBLEM OF INTEREST

As we discuss in symptom part ―why should we focus on the symptom of low sales
volume from advertising campaign?‖, because if advertising effectiveness significantly
enhance, they will be one of vital tools to reach ISB volume goal.
14


Choosing right time and right medium are one of important steps in advertising plan.
In limit time, I will prioritize research on central problem ―too late of online
advertising campaign” to discover real causes and proposal for solutions.
With this problem of interest, the online advertising campaign runs too late, I think
that boards of director (BOD) and marketing department at ISB have enough control
on solving problem.
My marketing knowledge is limit, so the research do not focus too much on problem
―inappropriate of some medium‖, but I will still present the existence and
important of this problem.
Readjust the time of the campaign and choose more useful medium will help ISB to
determine level of real utility of advertising influenced on sales, BOD will have a
more suitable budget for advertising activities to maximize the profit as well as
finish volume objective and increase ISB brand awareness.
Reforming of teaching method of Pre MBA class also is an important element to
expand volume, however, they involve in many other departments (such as
production, testing, faculty) as well as academic quality. To solve this problem, BOD
and ISB departments need take much time for the research. My work scope is outside
this field, so low efficiency of Pre MBA course will be stop research here.
PART 2: PROBLEM JUSTIFICATION
I.

POBLEM DEFINITION

In Journal of Current Issues & Research in Advertising has an article: ―Online
Advertising Research in Advertising Journals‖ by Louisa Ha Ph.D (2012). The article
show that ―author proposes the definition of online advertising as deliberate
messages placed on third party web sites including search engines and directories
available through Internet access. Deliberate messages mean that the advertiser
intends to place the message on the online medium.

They are

not unsolicited

sites‖

list ing on third-party


Other definition as follow: “Internet advertising(online advertising) whose goal it is
to drive customers to your website or location (s) or to make a call regarding your
products or services” While traditional offline advertising is used by many companies
to drive customers to their websites, many businesses are trying online ads on the
online medium: e-newsletters (such as banners, pay-per-click ads, pay-per-call ads
and pop-ups), compatible websites, search engines and online versions of newspapers
and magazines as a way of reaching people who use the internet for shopping or to
gather information (www Entrepreneur Asia Pacific )
According to E.W.T. Ngai (2001), he identified five evaluation criteria that can were
used in selecting the most effective website for online advertising as follows:
1. Impression
2. Cost
3. Audience fit ( education level/ age)
4. Content quality

5. Look and feel ( design/ user_ friendliness)
In an article ―10 indices “vital‖ in internet marketing‖ (www Vinalink media) show
how to measure efficiency of online medium as follows:
1. Total visit
2. New session
3. Channel – specific traffic
4. Bounce rate
5. Total conversions
6. Lead to close ration
7. Customer retention rate
8. Customer value
9. Cost per lead ( CPL or cost per sales_ CPS; cost per action_ CPA)
10. Return on investment ( ROI)


In next part, we will base some critical figures (such as impression, conversions, cost
per sales ( CPL) and ROI) to evaluate effective of Google, Facebook, ADR package of


Vietnamworks, Ad network and online versions of newspapers and magazines using at
ISB.
II.

PROBLEM EXISTENCE
th

Entrance examination of ISB.MBA is often organized at the mid of Aug (about 20
st

Aug) by UEH/ISB and deadline of application form is about 31 Jul. Students need

take from 2 weeks to 7 weeks to prepare of attending for this exam (2 weeks for
review knowledge of 2 subject English and Gmat and 5 weeks for attending short
course Pre MBA at ISB).
Students also can attend other short courses Pre MBA at UEH by Vietnamese
language in about April every year.
I ask Ms Thao Lam: ―Do you think when is suitable for running ISB.MBA
advertising? And she said that ―Due to the behavior of the students, after the Lunar
New Year they will usually start looking for information on MBA classes‖. And
Ms.Linh Le said that: customers converting economics certificate, should know
ISB.MBA information before April to make plan for attending short course Pre MBA
at UEH or ISB. She also said more: potential customers in 2018 know about
ISB.MBA lately, they cannot attend ISB.MBA entrance exam on time.
Basing on sales database, information of some potential profiles form the
advertising campaign is shown as follows:


Table 2:
Date
11th, July
2018

Sources
Vietnam
work

Level

Notes for following
12th July send email, 13th July call,
02nd Aug have to learn PRE, move

L3

plan to 2019.

Names

Universities

Pre MBA

Cửu long
Thành

university -

Luân

major in

YES

Food
Công

11th, July
2018

Vietnam
work

12th July send email, 01nd Aug have

L3

to learn PRE, move plan to 2019.

Xuân Long

nghiệp
university,

YES

major in Car
Bình
20th, July
2018

Vietnam
work

26th July send email, 01nd Aug have

L3

to learn PRE, move plan to 2019.

Nguyễn

dương

Thị Bích

university -

Ngọc

major in

YES

English
Ton Duc
20th, July
2018

Vietnam
work

L3

Thang

26th July send email, 01nd Aug have

Le Dinh

to learn PRE, move plan to 2019.

Nhu Ngoc

University -

YES

Foreign
Faculity.

24th, July
2018

Google

L3

Y Dươc TP

ABBOTT. Have to learn PRE,

Nguyễn

potential 2019, update information

Ngọc Châu

HCM

YES

university

th

Table 2 show that, data of potential profile from Ads have from 11 July but almost
among them to be failed because of too late for Pre MBA course at ISB or UEH.
According to online advertising campaign reports 2017 and 2018, I see that timing of
th

th

campaign 2017 run from 11 Jul to 10 Aug and campaign 2018 begin from first
days of Jul.
From above reality situation at ISB, we find that the campaign start in July is too
late. Advertising should run sooner and in many periods of time.
Next, I will analyze efficiency of communication channels run in the campaigns:


Table 3: Online advertising
campaign 2017
Đvt:
Vnd
Sales
Channel
Facebook

Impression

Click

Total cost

Conversion

Cost/

Cost/click
Cost/impression

(CPC)

1,239,922

22,165

11

0

36,164,800

29

1,632

9,791,028

23,124

0

0

50,000,000

5

2,162

29

-

Cost/conversion

sales (
CPS)

3,287,709

ROI
Loss

Google
display
Total

Loss

86,164,800

Table 4: Online advertising
campaign 2018
Đvt:
Vnd
Sales
Channel
Facebook

Impression

Click

Total cost

Conversion

Cost/

Cost/click
Cost/impression

(CPC)

Cost/conversion

255,711

4,762

2

0

10,000,000

39

2,100

5,000,000

Google

1,133,323

10,440

32

7

30,000,000

26

2,874

937,500

Ad network

1,662,037

3,704

2

0

10,000,000

6

2,700

5,000,000

Vnexpress.net

899

8,000,000

8,899

News.zing.vn

421

4,000,000

9,501

Cafef.vn

195

15,385

2

1

3,000,000

80

0

43,000,000

118

8

Vietnamwork
Total

7,500,000

sales (
CPS)

Loss

4,285,714

367%

Loss

15,000,000

537,500

108,000,000

Note: Vulue of a ISB.MBA student about 20% of revenue (
source from ISB. Finance & Accounting department
information )

Impression: called a view or an ad view, is a term that refers to the point in which an
ad is viewed once by a visitor, or displayed once on a web page
Click: once a user sees our ad (logs an impression), they can click on it to take them to
our landing page.

ROI

33%

Loss


Conversion: a conversion must happen after a click, and is always more valuable than
a click. A conversion can be any sort of action we want the user to take such as filling
out a form to give customer information
Sales: making an purchase action (a conversion become a real customer)
ROI: is the most important factor for any marketing campaign, it will give us an idea
of how profitable rate it is to invest.
If ROI>1, campaign has been effective
If ROI<1, campaign need to be adjusted
ROI = (value of a customer – cost per an action)/cost per an action)
• From table 4, we see that, ROI of Google media is the highest and cost per
conversion is lower other some channels. So, Google should be continuing invested in
the next year.
• ADR package of Vietnamworks with cost per conversion is the lowest but ROI is
loss, due to lead to close ration is 0%. However, we should consider late of
advertising influenced this ROI. Thao Lam also note in 2018 campaign report that
―data from ADR package of Vietnamworks are quite useful‖.
• ROI of all Vnexpress.net, News.zing.vn and Cafef.vn is rather low and cost per
conversion is highest. We should seek some other useful channels to replace for some
current ones.
In the last two year, effective of Facebook and Ad network is low with cost per
conversion is high as well as ROI is loss.
From the analyzing, we see that combining above indexes with searching other
activities influenced on low outcome of sales, we will have reasonable decisions in
choosing right medium

Finally, I also have an interview with Le An Binh, a fourth year student of University
of Economics Ho Chi Minh City (UEH), to understand how a target audience know
about ISB.MBA and the result is as follows:

Questions

Initial

Answers

coding

Question 5: Do you know ISB.MBA programe?
And how do you know?
Yes. I heard about the program for the first time due to
sharing information from a my relative who intend to
Le An Binh:

attend the ISB. I sometimes see many posters in front of
ISB to advertise programs. Moreover, I used to receive
ISB information from UEH’s lectures.

Relative,
Poster,
Lecturer's
reference

Question 8: What do you think about online
advertising activities of ISB.MBA?
At the present, I think ISB.MBA’s online advertising

activities are quite few. In my experience, I used to
attend ISB‘s workshop and contact with some lecturer
at there, so I know ISB.MBA information more than
Le An Binh:

others who are not students of UEH or not near ISB
location. Therefore, it is difficult for audience in
approaching the program‘s information and making

A few
online
advertising
activities

decision studying. Choosing a right university and a
suitable MBA program should need so much information.

Le An Binh is a target audience of ISB.MBA, he knows about the program because he
is student of UEH. He has a lot of chance to get ISB.MBA information from UEH‘s
lecturer and his friends than others. Almost, he does not see any online advertising
about the program.
III.

PROBLEM IMPORTANT

An advertising plan is a basic part of a marketing strategy. It helps a business to
establish smaller goals as part of a larger marketing strategy. An good advertising
plan lays out exactly how and when a business will reach out to potential
customers through various types of media. This includes setting advertising goals,
identifying a target audience, defining a message to that audience, and clarifying a

plan of action to achieve those goals ( Michael R. Lewis, 2017, www.wikihow.com)


According to Michael R. Lewis, consider which types of media to use and think
about timing are important items in identifying a target audience part. Determining
which types of media to use can be difficult. We need advertise in medium that target
audiences interact with them frequently. Consider both target audience and their
habits when determining what forms of advertising to purchase. Think about timing,
Michael R. Lewis also states that “even if you get everything else perfect, you still
need to advertise to consumers at a time when they are thinking about buying‖.
Develop a schedule that hits target audience base at just the right time of year.
―The impact of digital marketing on the business‖ article by Zaid Noaimi (2015)
shows that: ―the impact of digital marketing on business in general will minimize
the marketing costs by transforming from traditional/offline marketing to a mix of
offline and online marketing with a focus on the online marketing, and the cost per
unique users will decrease. For example, the 10,000 USD investments on an offline
advertisement will attract less than 6,000 users, but with the same amount of money
online, at least 100,000 users will be attracted and consequently may be interested in
your product.‖
According to Jeninfer (1998), the difference in traditional media and online media as
follows:


In an online article ―Seven reasons why your business needs online marketing‖ by
Myra Bari (2017) shows few reasons why business should consider online marketing
as follows:
• More people are online
• Your competitors do it, so you need to do it too and do it better
• Targeting the right audience is easier online
• Online marketing is cost-effective

• Interact with your customers and learn
• Build brand reputation
• Evolve and grow
Myra Bari said more a brand is a perception of a business which exists in the minds of
customers. It can take several years to build a positive brand image. However, online
marketing is helping new and small business quickly position themselves in the market
and move towards strong brand building. Through online channels, business can
advertise and create memorable user-experiences which add to brand building
According to Shivendra Tiwari (2018, www.digitalvidya) ―the most important
advantage of using online channels for marketing a business or a product is different
metrics that it offers. You can use those metrics to measure the performance of any
online marketing channels. You can also know how visitors come to your site through
different channels, how they interact with a website or landing page and how you can
target them in a manner that they will be bound to make a purchase with you‖
Shivendra Tiwari said more that: online marketing is also quite effective in
maintaining great online reputation for business or brand, which is very important
nowadays. In today‘s time, when a potential customer wants to make a purpose, they
first searches online. Therefore having positive and impressive reputation on the web
would help us gain new customer.


From above theory, we see that problems ―too late of online advertising
campaign‖ and ―inappropriate of some online medium‖ are important mistakes
made when build