Research and recommendations about marketing comunication of securities companies in Vietnam

vietnam national university, HANOI
school of business








Nguyen Xuan Quynh





RESEARCH AND RECOMMENDATIONS ABOUT
MARKETING COMUNICATION OF SECURITIES
COMPANIES IN VIET NAM




master of business administration thesis

Hanoi - 2007
vietnam national university, HANOI
school of business





Nguyen Xuan Quynh





RESEARCH AND RECOMMENDATIONS ABOUT
MARKETING COMUNICATION OF SECURITIES
COMPANIES IN VIET NAM







Major: Business Administration
Code: 60 34 05

Master of business administration thesis




Supervisor: DR. Chu Thanh






Hanoi - 2007

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TABLE OF CONTENT
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i
ABSTRACT ii
TÓM TẮT iv
LIST OF FIGURES 8
INTRODUCTION 9

CHAPTER 1. THEORY FOUNDATION ABOUT MARKETING
COMMUNICATIONS 11
1.1. General about Marketing Communications 11
1.2. Setting Marketing Communication Strategy for Service Firms 12
1.2.1. Define the Target Audience and Objectives 13
1.2.2. Divide the Communications Objectives and Target Audiences among
the Channels 15
1.2.3. Define Communications Messages 16
1.2.4. Put the Communications Mix Together 18
1.3. Marketing Communication Tools 19
1.3.1. Advertising 19
1.3.2. Public Relations 27
1.3.3. Personal Selling 29
1.3.4. Sales Promotion 32
1.3.5. Direct Marketing 34
1.3.6. E-marketing 35
CHAPTER 2. RESEARCH ON MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS OF
SECURITIES COMPANIES 39
2.1. Summary about Vietnam securities market and securities companies 39
2.2. Research on communication tools used by securities companies 42
2.1.1. Public relations 43
2.1.2. Advertising 48
2.1.3. Personal Selling 49

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2.1.4. Sales Promotion 50
2.1.5. Direct Marketing 52
2.1.6. E-Marketing 52
2.3. Survey on efficiency of marketing communication from securities companies
and customers behaviour 53
2.3.1. Aims of survey 53
2.3.2. Scope of survey and some limitations 53
2.2.3. Findings 54
CHAPTER 3. RECOMMENDATIONS 66
3.1. Define the target audience and objectives of communication 66
3.1.1. Define the target audience of communication strategy 66
3.1.2. Define the communication objectives 68
3.2. Divide the target audience and objectives of communication among the
channels 69
3.3. Define communication messages 70
3.4. Put communication mix together 72
3.4.1. General recommendations 72
3.4.2. Recommendations for particular communication tool 73
CONCLUSION 78
REFERENCES 79
APPENDIX: Questionnaires for Thang Long Securities JSC 80




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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1-1: The Communication Process 11
Figure 1-2: The tools of the marketing communication mix 12
Figure 1-3: Marketing Communication Strategy for Service Firms 12
Figure 2-1: Percentage of Accounts Opened at Securities Companies 40
Figure 2-2: One article about SSI when it first listed on HASTC 44
Figure 2-3: SSI with the event of being listed on HOSE 44
Figure 2-4: Announcement about the establishment of STB Securities 45
Figure 2-5: VNDirect launches new service 45
Figure 2-6: Bien Viet Securities with CBV-Index 45
Figure 2-7: SSI and its CEO Tran Duy Hung 46
Figure 2-8: CEO of Vndirect – Mrs. Pham Minh Huong 46
Figure 2-9: „Chung khoan cuoi tuan” on VTV1 47
Figure 2-10: INFOTV 47
Figure 2-11: Viet Dragon Securities Corp. holds training course for customers 48
Figure 2-12: Advertising of Ocean Securities on InfoTV 49
Figure 2-13: Advertising of Thang Long Securities on Investment Review 49
Figure 2-14: Image of brokers 50
Figure 2-15: Promotion of Viet Tin Securities Company 51
Figure 2-16: 52


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2007

INTRODUCTION
1. The Problem
Recently, after the booming from the end of 2006 and beginning of 2007, Vietnam
stock market has had downward adjustment. The investors don‟t rush to the trading
floors like they did before. Securities companies, especially new-born companies
are facing a lot of trouble in attracting customers. They really need effective
marketing communication tools to communicate more with customers, understand
and find the way to attract and maintain them. Therefore, this research was
conducted to give out recommendations about market communication for securities
companies to help them communicate more effectively with customers.
2. Objectives and aims
Objectives:
- Study about marketing communication
- Know how securities companies are communicating with customers and
the effectiveness of these activities
- Know how customers get communication messages from securities
companies
- Know media tools and other communication tools which are being used
by customers to search information about stock market
- Give recommendations about marketing communication for securities
companies
Aims: Help securities companies build up comprehensive marketing strategies
3. Research Questions
- Which communication tools are use by securities companies in Vietnam
- How effective are these tools?
- How do customers aware of the communication of securities companies
- By which way do customers find information about stock market?
- Which media platform do customers prefer and use most?

4. Scope of work

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– Research on the communication with individual customers only, not
including institutional investors
– Security market in Vietnam in 2005 – 2007
– Survey mainly in Hanoi
5. Data source & Processing
– Primary data: questionnaires
– Secondary data: newspapers, websites
– Processing: to use MS. Excel
6. Methods
– Empirical
– Survey using questionnaires
7. Significance
– Theory: understand about marketing communication
– Practice: recommendation for securities companies to communicate more
effectively with customers
8. Limitation:
- Time 2005 – 2007
- Survey mainly in Hanoi
- Survey only with individual investors

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CHAPTER 1. THEORY FOUNDATION ABOUT
MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS
1.1. General about Marketing Communications
Communications is the process of conveying a message to others and require six
elements: a source, a message, a channel of communication, a receiver and the
processes of encoding and decoding. The source may be a company or person who
has information to convey. The information sent by a source, such as a description
of a new service, forms the message. The message is conveyed by means of a
channel of communication such as a sales person, advertising media, or public
relations tools. Clients who read, hear, or see the message are the receivers.
Figure 1-1: The Communication Process


Source: Managing Service Marketing, John E.G. Baterson, K.Douglas Hoffman

Marketing communications are all the communications between the organization
and all other parties, especially with customers. Part of the wider academic research
area of marketing, it encompasses all the traditional forms of promotion including

advertising, sales promotion, personal selling, publicity, public relations, direct
marketing and e-marketing. But it aims to be broader than this. It includes all points
of contact between the organization and other parties.
The Marketing Communications Mix is the specific mix of advertising, personal
selling, sales promotion, public relations, and direct marketing a company uses to
pursue its marketing objectives.

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Figure 1-2: The tools of the marketing communication mix

1.2. Setting Marketing Communication Strategy for Service Firms
The setting of a communications strategy follows a common pattern in irresponsive
of whether the firm is producing a goods or services. The first is to define a target
audience and clear objectives for the complete communication mix. The main
elements of the communication mix include advertising, public relations, personal
selling, sales promotion and direct marketing. Only personal selling is normally a
two-way process. The remainders are one-way communication, from the marketer
to the customer only. With services, however, the service providers at the point of
communication can also have an important two-way communication role.
Figure 1-3: Marketing Communication Strategy for Service Firms


Marketing

Communication
Mix

Public
Relations


Advertising

E-
Marketing

Sales
Promotion

Direct
Marketing

Personal
Selling

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```
Source: Managing Service Marketing, John E.G. Baterson, K.Douglas Hoffman

1.2.1. Define the Target Audience and Objectives
Defining the target audience
Consumer
Behavior
Marketing
Strategy
Communication strategy
 Target Group(s)
 Communications objectives
 Budget
Communication strategy
Advertising
 Objectives
 Target
Group
 Budget
PR
 Objectives
 Target
Group
 Budget
Personal
Selling
 Objectives
 Target
Group
 Budget
Direct

Marketing
 Objectives
 Target
Group
 Budget
Sales
Promotion
 Objectives
 Target
Group
 Budget
E-marketing
 Objectives
 Target
Group
 Budget

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The target audience should flow from the overall marketing plan and from a sound
understanding of consumer behavior. The target audience for the service needs to
be decided early in the process of the whole services formula may become
malformed. Define the target customer for the service is thus the foundation of the
service formula. Unlike goods, however, the target audience has to be much more
precisely targeted.

Setting communication objectives for services
The preconsumption choice phase
The objectives must to be ensuring that company‟s service is the one perceived to
be the least risky alternative. Communications could be used to try to influence the
choice process in the following ways:
 To ensure that the firm‟s service offering is in the evoked set.
 To alter the weights attached to different attributes by consumers to favor
those on which the company is strong.
 To alter the score on a given attribute for the company, particularly if there
is gap between performance and consumers‟ perceptions.
 To alter the score on a given attribute given to a competitor, again
particularly if there is a gap between performance and consumers‟
perceptions.
 If the company is not in the evoked set, to build enough awareness of the
offering to arouse inclusion.
The consumption phase
During this phase, the services consumer is a more or less active participant in the
production process. It is important that consumers perform that production role
successfully. From the firm‟s point of view, successful performance will improve
the efficiency of the operation and the satisfaction of other customers. From the
consumers‟ point of view, successful performance will ensure a high level of

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perceived control and, in all probability, a high level of satisfaction in the
postconsumption phase.

Therefore, communication in this phase can be used to ensure successful
performance by giving the consumer a clear script. The nature of this script
depends on the nature of the service operation.

The postconsumption evaluation phase
Consumer expectations come from a number of sources, some within the control of
the services firm and some outside its control. Expectations arise either from
previous experience with the firm and/or its competitors or from some form of
communication. The objective for this phase is to attempt to match customers‟
expectation to the performance characteristics of the servuction system.
1.2.2. Divide the Communications Objectives and Target Audiences
among the Channels
Once the overall objectives and target audiences for the whole communication mix
are set, it is necessary to divide the tasks among advertising, selling, public
relations, and point-of-sales messages. This is a process of matching the tasks to the
capabilities of the different communications channels and to the ways consumers
uses those channels and the different objectives.

One way of assigning tasks across the array of communication channels is to
consider the degree to which the message can be targeted at specific audiences.
Media advertising itself varies along this dimension. TV advertising can reach very
board audiences but it is not very selective except in the variation in audience
across channels by time of day. Nation print media such as newspapers and
magazines offer more selective focus, as they themselves tend to be targeted at
more specific segments of consumers.

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Trade magazines are even more specific in their readership. Direct mail offers the
most focused of the impersonal media. The choice among these media must be able
to make based on the cost per thousand members of the target audience and the risk
and cost of reaching the wrong segment.
1.2.3. Define Communications Messages
Key differences in information usage between goods and services
In order to create communications messages for a service, it‟s necessary to
understand key differences in information usage between goods and services. These
differences are crucial to understanding how divide the communications objectives,
target audiences, and budget between the different channels.
Consumers of services are less likely to purchase without information than those
buying goods. This relates to the increased perceived risk associated with services
and the need for consumer to reduce that risk by collecting information before
purchasing.
Consumer of services will prefer personal over impersonal sources of information.
Because services are experimental, it is extremely difficult to describe or specify
the “product” before purchase. It might be possible to use TV advertising to convey
the experience, but it is clear that consumers prefer to obtain their information from
individuals who have experienced the services directly or indirectly.

Even among personal services, the high level of risk inherent in the process mean
that customers will give greater credibility to independent sources of information
rather than those perceived to be controlled by the firm. All this implies that mass

advertising communication from comparable individuals is far more likely than
mass advertising to be used by consumers as a source of information.


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However, it is possible to use advertising and other forms of promotion to leverage
word-of-mouth communication. Such as an approach might imply using advertising
and promotional tools to persuade satisfied customers to tell other consumers.
Word-of-mouth communication can be used directly in media advertising, in the
form of testimonials from satisfied customers.
Consumer information sources can be classified broadly into internal and external
sources. Both types can be used to help consumers cope with perceived risk.
Internal sources are fundamentally linked to memory scan.

Define Communication Messages
These guidelines have developed based on the key differences in information usage
between goods and services and features of services including: intangibility,
inseparability, heterogeneity, and perishability inherent in services products.

Promise what is possible
In its most basic form, customer satisfaction is developed by customers‟ comparing
their expectations to their perception of the actual service delivery process. In times
of increasing competitive pressures, firms may be tempted to overpromise. Making
promises the firm cannot keep initially increases customer expectations and then

subsequently lowers customer satisfaction as those promises are not met. Two
problems are associated with overpromissing. First, customers have disappointed
and a significant loss of trust then occurs between the firm and its customers. The
second problem directly affects the service firm‟s employees.
Tangibilize the Intangible
In tangibilizing the intangible, the scale of market entities, which reflects the degree
of tangibility among products, should be turned on its ends. The advertising of
tangible-dominant products tends to make them more abstract to differentiate them
from one another. In contrast, the advertising of intangible-dominant products

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should concentrate on making them more concrete through the use of physical cues
and tangible evidence.

Feature the working relationship between customer and provider
Service delivery is an interactive process between provider and customer, and it is
therefore appropriate that the firm‟s advertising should feature, for example, a
customer and a company representative working together to achieve a desired
outcome. The advertising of services, in particular, must concentrate not only on
encouraging customers to buy but also on encouraging employees to perform.

Reduce consumer fears about variations in performance
The firm‟s advertising can also minimize the pitfalls of heterogeneity in the
customer‟s mind. To enhance the perception of consistent quality, the firm‟s

advertising should provide some sorts of documentation that reassures the
customers.

Determine and focus on relevant service quality dimensions
The reasons customers choose among competing services are often closely related
to the five dimensions of service quality: reliability, responsiveness, assurance,
empathy and the quality of the tangibles associated with the services. However,
some features are commonly are more important to customers than others; therefore
the company should more focus on them.

1.2.4. Put the Communications Mix Together
If the objective is to reach nonusers of the service at the preconsumption phase,
then the choice of communication channels is limited. Media advertising can be
used either directly or as way to harness or create word-of-mouth communication in
the market place. If the number of target customers is limited, it might be possible

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to use other means such as personal sales force or direct marketing. The decision
would depend on the cost-effectiveness of the different channels and the
complexity of the message to be conveyed.

By the time consumers reach the consumption and postconsumption phases, they
are already part of the servuction process. On a cost/audience member basis, it
would seem more logical to use the point-of-sale environment or the service

provider to handle the communication.
1.3. Marketing Communication Tools
1.3.1. Advertising
1.3.1.1. Concept of Adverting
Advertising is any paid form of nonpersonal communication about an organization,
good, service, or idea by an identified sponsor. The paid aspect of this definition is
important because the space for the advertising message normally must be bought.
Advertising involves mass media (such as TV, radio, and magazines), which are
nonpersonal and do not have an immediate feedback loop as does personal selling.

There are several advantages to a firm using advertising in its communication mix.
It can be attention-getting and also communicate specific product/service benefits
to prospective buyers. By paying for the advertising space, a company can control
what it wants to say and, to some extend, to whom the message is sent. Advertising
also allows the company to decide when to send its message. The nonpersonal
aspect of advertising also has its advantages. Once the message is created, the same
message is sent to all receivers in a market segment. If the message is properly
pretested, the company can trust that that the same message will be decoded by all
receives in the market segment.


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Advertising has some disadvantages, the costs to produce and place a message are
significant, and the lack of direct feedback makes it difficult to know how well the

message was received.
1.3.1.2. Types of advertisements
a) Product advertisements
Focus on selling a good or service, product advertisements take three forms: (1)
pioneering (or informational), (2) competitive (or persuasive) and (3) reminder.

Used the introductory stage of the life cycle, pioneering advertisements tell people
what a product is, what it can do, and where it can be found. The key objective of a
pioneering ad is to inform the target market. Informative ads have been found to be
interesting convincing, and effective.

Advertising that promotes a specific brands‟ features and benefits is competitive.
The objective of this message is to persuade the target market to select the firm‟s
brand rather than that of competitors. An increasingly common form of competitive
advertising is comparative advertising, which shows one brand‟s strengths relative
to those of competitors. Firms that use comparative advertising need market
research and test results to provide legal support for their claims.
Reminder advertising is used to reinforce previous knowledge of a product.
Reminder advertising is good for products that have achieved a well-recognized
position and are in the mature phase of their product life cycle. Another type of
reminder ad, reinforcement, is used to assure current users they made the right
choice.

b) Institutional advertisements
The objective of institutional advertisements is to build goodwill or an image for an
organization, rather than promote a specific good or service. Often this form of

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advertising is used to support the public relations plan or counter adverse publicity.
Four alternative forms of institutional advertisements are often used:
 Advocacy advertisement states the position of a company on an issue.
 Pioneering institutional advertisements, like the pioneering ads for products
discussed earlier, are used for announcement about what a company is, what
it can do, or where it is located.
 Competitive institutional advertisements promote the advantages of one
product class over another and are used in the market where different
product classes compete for the same buyers.
 Reminder institutional advertisements, like the product form, simply bring
the company‟s name to the attention of the target market again.
1.3.1.3. Develop the advertising program
Because media costs are high, advertising decisions must be made carefully, using
a systematic approach. The advertising decision process is divided into (1)
developing, (2) executing, and (3) evaluating the advertising program.



Development of the advertising program focuses on the four Ws:
 Who is the target audience?
 What are (1) the advertising objectives, (2) the amounts of money that can
be budgeted for the advertising program, and (3) the kinds of copy to use?
 Where the advertisements should be run?
 When should the advertisements be run?

a) Identifying the Target Audience

The first decision in developing the advertising program is identifying the target
audience, the group of prospective buyers toward which an advertising program is

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directed. To the extent that time and money permit, the target audience for the
advertising program is the target market for the firm‟s product, which is identified
from marketing research and market segmentation studies. The more a firm knows
about its target audience‟s profile – including their lifestyles, attitudes, and values –
the easier it is to develop an advertising program.

b) Specific Advertising Objectives
After the target audience is identified, a decision must be reached on what that
advertising should accomplish. Consumers can be said to respond in terms of a
hierarchy effects, which is the sequence of stages a prospective buyer goes through
from initial awareness of a product to eventual action.
Awareness: the consumer‟s ability to recognize and remember the product or brand
name.
Increase: an increase in the consumer‟s desire to learn about some of the features
of the product or brand.
Evaluation: the consumer‟s appraisal of the product or brand on important
attributes.
Trial: the consumer‟s actual first purchase and use of the product or brand.
Adoption: through a favorable experience on the first trial, the consumer‟s repeated
purchase and use of the product or brand.

For a totally new product the sequence applies to the entire product category, but
for a new brand competing in an established product category it applies to the brand
itself. These steps can serve as guidelines for developing advertising objectives.

c) Setting the Advertising Budget
After setting the advertising, a company must decide on how much to spend.
Determining the ideal amount for the budget is difficult because there is no precise
way to measure the exact results of advertising.

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d) Designing the Advertisements
The central element of an advertising program is the ad itself. Advertising
messages consists of advertising copy and the artwork that the target audience is
intended to see (as in magazines, newspaper and TV) or hear (as on radio, TV). The
message usually focuses on the key benefits of the product that are important to a
prospective buyer in making trial and adoption decisions.
Message content
Most advertising messages are made up of both informational and persuasional
elements. These two elements, in fact, are so intertwined that it is sometimes
difficult to tell them apart. For example, basic information contained in many
advertisements such as the product name, benefits, features, and price are presented
in the way that tries to attract attention and encourage purchase. On the other hand,

even the most persuasive advertisements have to contain at least some basic
information to be successful.

Create the actual message
The creative people in an advertising agency have responsibility to turn appeals and
features such as quality, style, dependability, economy, and service into attention
getting, believable advertisements.

e) Selecting the Right Media
Every advertiser must decide where to place its advertisements. The alternatives are
the advertising media, the means by which the message is communicated to the
audience. Newspapers, magazines, radio, and TV are examples of advertising
media. This media selection decision is related to the target audience, type of
product, nature of the message, campaign objectives, available budget, and the
costs of the alternative media.


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Television
Television is a valuable medium because it communicates with sight, sound and
motion. Besides the network television is biggest network that can reach the most
audience. However, television‟s major disadvantage is cost.

Radio

The major advantage of radio is that it is a segmented medium. Each station will
lead to different segment of audience. The disadvantage of radio is that it has
limited use for products that must be seen. Another problem is the ease with which
consumers can tune out a commercial by switching stations. Radio is medium that
competes for people‟s attention as the do other activities such as driving, working,
or relaxing.



Magazines
Magazines are becoming a very specialized medium because there are more and
more magazines launched. The advantage of this medium is the great number of
special-interest publications that appear to narrowly defined segments. Each
magazine‟s readers often represent a unique profile. In addition to the distinct
audience profiles of magazines, good color production is an advantage that allows
magazines to create strong images.

Newspapers
Newspapers are an important local medium with excellent reach potential. Because
of the daily publication of most papers, they allow advertisements to focus on
specific current events, such as a “24-hour sale”. Local retailers often use
newspapers as their sole advertising medium.


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Two trends are influencing newspapers today. The first is a dramatical increase in
their cost of paper. In response, many newspapers have attempted to cut cost
through hiring freezes, while others have raised prices. The second trend is the rush
to deliver on-line newspapers.

Outdoor
A very effective medium for reminding consumers about your product is outdoor
advertising. The most common form of outdoor advertising, called billboards, often
results in good reach and frequency and has been shown to increase purchase rates.
A disadvantage to billboard is that no opportunity exists for lengthy advertising
copy.

1.3.1.4. Executing the Advertising Program
a) Presetting the Advertising
To determine whether the advertisement communicates the intended message or to
select among alternative versions of the advertisements, pretests are conducted
before the advertisements are placed in the medium.

b) Carrying out the Advertising Program
The responsibility for actually carrying out the advertising program can be handles
in one of three ways. The full-service agency provides the most complete range of
services, including market research, media selection, copy development, artwork
and production. Limited-service agencies specialize in one aspect of the advertising
process. Finally, in-house agencies made up of the company‟s own advertising staff
may provide full services or a limited range of services.

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1.3.1.5. Evaluating the Advertising Program
The advertising decision process does not stop with executing the advertising
program. The advertisements must be posttested to determine whether they are
achieving their intended objectives, and results may indicate that changes must be
made in the advertising program.

a) Protesting the Advertising
There five approaches common in posttesting, including:
Aided recall (recognition-readership): After being shown an ad, respondents are
asked whether their previous exposure to it was through reading, viewing, or
listening.

Unaided recall: A question such as, “what advertisements do you remember seeing
yesterday?” is asked of respondents without prompting to determine whether they
saw or heard advertising messages.

Attitude tests: Respondent are asked questions to measure changes in their
attitudes after an advertising campaign, such as whether they have amore favorable
attitude toward the product advertised.

Inquiry tests: Additional product information, product samples, or premiums are
offered to an advertisement‟s readers or viewers. Advertisements generating the
most inquiries are presumed to be the most effective.

Sales test: Sales tests involve studies such as controlled experiments (e.g., using
radio advertisements in one market and newspaper advertisements in another and

comparing the results) and consumer purchase tests (measuring retail sales that
result from a given advertising campaign).


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b) Making Needed Changes
Results of posttesting the advertising copy are used to reach decisions about
changes in the advertising program. If the posttest results show that an
advertisement is doing poorly in terms of awareness or cost efficiency, it may be
dropped and other advertisements run in its place in the future. On the other hand,
sometimes and advertisement may be so successful, it is run repeatedly or used as
the basis of a larger advertising program.
1.3.2. Public Relations
Public relations is form of communication management that seeks to influence the
feelings, opinions, or beliefs held by customers, prospective customers, stock
holders, suppliers, employees and other publics about a company and its products
or services.

Many tools such special events, lobbying efforts, annual reports, and image
management may be used by a public relation department, although publicity often
plays the most important role.

Publicity is a nonpersonal, indirectly paid presentation of an organization, good or
service. It can take the form of a news story editorial, or product announcement. A

difference between publicity and both advertising and personal selling is the
“indirectly paid” dimension. With publicity a company does not pay for space in a
mass medium (such as television or radio) but attempts to get the medium to run a
favorable story on the company. In this sense, there is an direct payment for
publicity in that a company must support a public relations staff.

An advantage of publicity is credibility. When you read a favorable story about a
company‟s product, there is a tendency to believe it. The disadvantage of publicity
relate to the lack of the user‟s control over it. A company can invite a news team to

Nguyen Xuan Quynh ~ Remba 4 Hanoi School of
Business


MBA Graduation Thesis Page 28 of 82 Hanoi, Dec
2007

preview its innovative exercise equipment and hope for a favorable mention on the
hot-time newscasts. But without buying advertising time, there is no guarantee of
any mention of the new equipment or that will be aired when the target audience is
watching. With publicity there is a little control over what is said, to whom, or
when.

Public relations efforts may utilize a variety of tools and may be directed at many
distinct audiences. While public relations personnel usually focus on
communicating positive aspects of the business, they may also be called on to
minimize the negative impact of a problem or crisis.

Publicity Tools
In developing a public relations campaign, several methods of obtaining

nonpersonal presentation of an organization, good, or service without direct cost –
publicity tools – are available to the public relations director. Many companies
frequently use the news release, consisting of an announcement regarding changes
in the company or the product line. The objective of a news release is to inform a
newspaper, radio station, or other medium of an idea for a story. A recent study
found that more than 40 percent of all free mentions of a brand name occur during
news programs.

A second common publicity tools is the news conference. Representatives of the
media are all invited to an informational meeting, and advance materials regarding
the content are sent. This tool is often used when negative publicity requires a
company response.

Finally, today many high-visibility individuals are used as publicity tools to create
visibility for their companies, their products, and themselves. These publicity
efforts are coordinated with news releases, conferences, advertising, donations to