28 DEVELOPING BRANDING STRATEGY AT SIX COLORS PRINTING CO , ltd

ACADEMY OF FINANCE - - Student: LE MAI ANH Group: CQ55/51.01 GRADUATION THESIS TOPIC: DEVELOPING BRANDING STRATEGY AT SIX COLORS PRINTING CO., Ltd Major : English for Finance and Accounting Student code: 17522202010002 Supervisor : Mrs Phan Thi Ha My M.A., Ha Noi – 2021 DECLARATION I, Le Mai Anh, being a student of the Faculty of Foreign Languages, hereby certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitled: “Developing branding strategy at Six Colors Printing Co., Ltd.” I declare that the thesis and the study presented in it are my own and have been generated by me as the result of my own original research Hanoi, May, 2021 Student LE MAI ANH Lê Mai Anh-CQ55/51.01 Page ABSTRACT This study examines the developing branding strategy processes at Six Colors Printing Company The article aims to find out strategies to develop the brand and more importantly, propose the main methods to improve business performance at the company To achieve these goals, the graduate paper will review the current strategy within the company and indicate whether those campaigns are effective From the obtained results, the study gives the most practical meaning to Six Colors Printing Company to improve brand efficiency and improve business performance at the company Lê Mai Anh-CQ55/51.01 Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to express my sincere thanks to all those who made it possible for me to complete this graduate thesis In the process of preparing this graduation thesis, I have received the support and guidance of teachers, colleagues, family and friends I would like to express my deep gratitude to all of them First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Mrs Phan Thi Ha My M.A., lecturer at the Academy of Finance, for her guidance I wholeheartedly appreciate that your advice for my research helped me a lot to complete this research I also thank the members of Six Colors Printing Company for their great support during the internship I am extremely grateful and grateful to them for sharing their expertise, as well as their sincere and valuable guidance and encouragement Finally, I would like to express my sincere thanks to my family, who always love and care about me mentally and physically, encouraging me to complete the thesis Lê Mai Anh-CQ55/51.01 Page LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS SWOT: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats VND: Vietnam Dong %: percent Co., Ltd: Limited company Lê Mai Anh-CQ55/51.01 Page LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Lê Mai Anh-CQ55/51.01 Page TABLE OF CONTENTS Lê Mai Anh-CQ55/51.01 Page INTRODUCTION Rationale of the study Nowadays, a strong brand must be attractive to customers and the public can be seen as the symbol and line of every company Therefore, each brand sets its own standards and must constantly strive to satisfy customers' needs, especially with sensitive groups of customers receiving the brand's progress The brand's standards and messages must be widely publicized, thereby demonstrating the product's differentiation from those of competing businesses Therefore, in the production and business process, businesses need to strengthen brand development Building and developing a brand is a long process, it not only lasts a period or a period, but it is also always associated with the lifespan of the company, it takes even longer than that The issue of branding in the printing industry is being paid special attention by many products in the period of product competition Often people talk about competition between firms, between brands of the printing industry rather than talking about competition between products The printing industry's brand name is not merely distinguishing between one product from another, one service from another, but also affirms the enterprise's position in the market Moreover, building the brand name printing industry has a position in the market, it is necessary to develop a brand name in the market How to build and develop a brand for the printing industry strategically is even more difficult All printing businesses are born with strategies, but how to make them efficient, longterm, saving costs and resources is a difficult problem Currently, there are many businesses with very correct brand awareness and methodical investment to have a clear strategy But the business environment is always changing, so there are factors that are strong enough for the brand to change and develop to adapt to those changing factors The color printing brand of Six Colors Printing Co., Ltd has been established for almost years, so it has built-in the market for many years with the company's business, up now, it has achieved certain goals compared with the strategy In order to develop besides consolidating Lê Mai Anh-CQ55/51.01 Page the system from production to consumption, the company must also research to perfect its brand strategy But nowadays there are many factors affecting the brand, so the company needs a more proper brand development strategy to adapt to the impact factors Also, for that reason, I chose the topic: "Developing branding strategy at Six Colors Printing Co., Ltd." to research Aims of the study The study was aimed at understanding the current situation of branding activities at Six Colors Printing Company, from which proposing solutions to develop an appropriate branding strategy for the company The author wanted to focus on answering the two following questions: • What was the current situation of branding activities at Six Colors Printing Company? • What should be done to develop an appropriate branding strategy at Six Colors Printing Company? Scope of the study Because of the time limitation and the scale of the research, as well as for the thoroughness of what was done, the research was conducted with the participation of managers, 31 staff from the Business department, and over 50 customers including both big and small organizations or both old and new customers in the fiscal year 2019 – 2020 Methodology of the study The study was done with the employment of two methods, including documentary review and questionnaire survey Firstly, the data was gathered from books, newspapers, magazines, textbooks of professors and doctoral research on the subject area as well as financial statements, profit and loss reports, and balance sheets are obtained from a company and other trustworthy sources Second, a questionnaire survey was designed on the basis of 4Ps, a marketing mix strategy developed by Principles of Marketing (Philip Kottler, 2005), to collect Lê Mai Anh-CQ55/51.01 Page information about current branding activities at Six Colors Printing Company from employees and customers There were questions in the questionnaire The first one was to collect information about current branding activities at Six Colors Printing Company The second was to find out the effectiveness of current branding activities of the company: brand image, aided brand awareness, the brand strategy must have a clear purpose The third one was to find out solutions to develop an appropriate branding strategy, recommended by customers, staff In addition, SWOT analysis, developed by Albert Humphrey (1960), was also employed to understand the strengths and weaknesses of current branding strategy at Six Colors Printing Company, from which, identify the opportunities as well as the threats Organization of the study Apart from Introduction, Conclusion, Reference, and Appendixes the main content of the study was divided into three chapters as below: Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW provides a general overview of basic theories of branding development Chapter 2: THE STUDY provides a vast picture of Six Colors Printing Company situation in branding development in reality Chapter 3: RECOMMENTDATIONS provides some proposals to the company in terms of developing the company’s brand further Lê Mai Anh-CQ55/51.01 Page 10 Secondly, there are no specialized departments, Sales and Marketing are in one department Because of this incomplete and correct brand awareness, although the company has programs and policies on brand, the solutions used are still not effective Although the brand communication activities are focused, they still only stop at a basic level, have not gone into complete depth, and lack specific plans and strategies There has not been a clear and unique communication message that has not made a good impression The use of media is not really effective and there is a reasonable investment when the majority of customers only interact with the programs on those media with normal frequency Branded products are not really unique, different, and competitive, so they have not created the interest and preference of consumers Finally, the company has a single facility, so it is difficult for customers to reach The distribution channels of the enterprise not yet exist, only the company sells and develops on its own, so it still faces many difficulties Lê Mai Anh-CQ55/51.01 Page 41 CHAPTER 3: RECOMMENDATIONS 3.1 Orientation to improve developing branding strategy at Six Colors Printing Co., Ltd Because brand awareness is an important competitive weapon for businesses, the company's leadership has focused on branding strategy Through the information collection, some directions for the company's future operations are as follows: Concentrating resources in both material and financial terms to invest, develop and perfect the brand identity system to improve brand awareness Brand vision: the company determines Six Colors Printing Co., Ltd brand as: "To become a wellknown and trusted printing brand" Building the company for sustainable development and asserting its place in the industry Develop brand name, improve reputation and increase corporate identity image Continuing the strategy of product diversification, constantly improving product design and quality to meet the increasing demand of the market Invest in modern technology and technology to catch up with competitors in the market Training to improve staff quality, especially employees in charge of branding Building and developing a brand is a long-term strategic process that requires a lot of effort and persistence The potential ability and strength of the brand is extremely large, playing an important role in directly affecting the results of production and business activities of the company on the way to make profit targets 3.2 Recommendations to improve developing branding strategy at six Colors Printing Co., Ltd Through the research process, a few recommendations for Six Colors Printing Co., Ltd to develop a brand more effectively mentioned as: Building and developing a brand is not only the responsibility of the leadership and the department in charge of the brand, but also of all departments, units and employees in the company The company needs to be aware of the current status of its brand in order to have concrete plans and appropriate brand strategy 3.2.1 Investing in branding Lê Mai Anh-CQ55/51.01 Page 42 Investing in human resources Currently, Six Colors Printing Co., Ltd does not have high quality human resources in charge of brand-related activities Therefore, a company must set up a separate specialized department to run and take responsibility for brand building and development and management Choose people who work for a long time, understand the internal situation in the company and train them with knowledge of brand Recruit new human resources with new knowledge and skills about the brand Investing in brand finance Brand financial investment is an important part of the branding strategy The budget for branding activities must be properly calculated based on the size and purpose of the brand strategy The company must also calculate the budget in harmony with the expenses of other production and business activities 3.2.2 Marketing mix strategy solutions Product To create a product that the customer is satisfied with, it is necessary to invest in market research, the customer's specific needs in terms of quantity, quality, type, specification, timing, shopping behavior, etc For printed and advertising products, the design stage is a very important step The customer is often first visually affected A good product will make the customer immediately impressed by the color, design, specifications, etc In addition to meeting customer expectations, every company printed and advertised product needs to focus on customer response A successful product printed and advertised is one that makes anyone at first glance also have to pay attention and remember the logo and slogan of that brand The material that makes up the product also determines the quality of the product For printed products such as card visits, calendars, catalogs, etc The company needs to use good quality printing paper that can be used for a long time For outdoor billboards, heavily influenced by the environment, it is necessary to be designed with high-quality materials, withstand the rain and sun while ensuring the advertising function for the business Lê Mai Anh-CQ55/51.01 Page 43 Product price The company should invest in conducting price analysis research of competitors who trade in the same item on a certain market Based on the process, the company can give an optimal price Nowadays, companies should use competition measures combining many different tools such as product quality, price, associated services, etc to satisfy customers' needs On the other hand, the company should offer a flexible pricing policy for each customer Because each price level the company sets will lead to a different number of customers which will affect the company's revenue, profitability, and customer market For example, the company should have discount policies toward traditional and regular customers compared to other customers The company should also pay attention to each increase and decrease of the product's price to ensure its reputation Researching prices in the market before a price list change is also important to lose customers to competitors When increasing product price, the company should send an advance quote to the customer, clearly stating the amount of the increase and the reason Place The company's main form of product distribution today is direct The company's customers are mainly through old relationships, including referred or offered customers This form of distribution can minimize business costs, proactively distribute according to plans, etc However, it is very difficult for the company to expand its business area and serve customers well at a distance Therefore, the company needs to have distribution policies closer to customers to increase its competitive position compared to competitors Building a product distribution system for the company is not only to meet the immediate goals but also in the future The company needs to come up with distribution solutions to operate the business more effectively: The company can work with a distributor to install and set up signs, panels, etc Meanwhile, the company only needs to focus on product design and printing Applying this intermediary distribution channel, the company can still promote the Lê Mai Anh-CQ55/51.01 Page 44 advantages of direct distribution, best serve customers, and expand the market in other regions Promotion policy To keep old customers and attract new ones, the company also needs to have suitable and timely promotion policies For traditional large customers, companies can use a preferential pricing policy In contrast, for new clients, the company may entice them with seasonal promotions The promotional policy is very important in increasing the company's market share Therefore, the company should have reasonable promotional policies Creating a good relationship between the company and its suppliers, customers and the authorities where the company is located is not easy The company should regularly send monthly gratitude letters to its target customers, including thank you notes, promotions, etc to create intimacy To understand the number of customers, business characteristics, or business address, the company should allocate customer resources to each salesperson The purpose of mailing is to elicit demand, encourage customers to buy, place orders and create lasting relationships However, only through the letter, the company could not recognize the customer's reaction Therefore, the company should combine mailing with some other forms such as telephone, fax, etc Through these means, the company will recognize customers’ attitudes about the products they provide, directly grasp customers' needs, and recommend solutions Direct meeting with customers is something the company should regularly to grasp needs, solve questions and create close relationships with customers One of the weak points of the company is that the company does not have a separate marketing department Advertising is the traditional method of marketing Almost every business must use advertising to let the public know about their products, services as well as the brand Therefore, it is necessary to set up a separate Marketing department Building the company's brand image on the Internet These days, the Internet is a fairly popular information system among the public with a growing number of people using it Therefore, the company has put its products on Lê Mai Anh-CQ55/51.01 Page 45 advertising websites for brand development The engineers of the technical department have designed a separate company’s website to introduce products When the number of visitors is increasing, the website is not only a tool to introduce, provide information, and update new features, but also a feedback channel for customers As a result, the company can consult with customers and expand the scale of its customer base However, the company is also under pressure from the cost of designing and maintaining the website Through the website, customers can consider making their own consumption plan Meanwhile, the company can also conduct direct transactions with customers via email, blog, etc This is also a measure that many reputable businesses in Vietnam and around the world are taking Therefore, in order to build a strong brand name that is well-known and used widely by customers, the company has had synchronous solutions for the immediate and future period CONCLUSION Lê Mai Anh-CQ55/51.01 Page 46 Advertising began to develop widely in Vietnam in the early 21st century During the period of integration and strong market economy, businesses in the advertising industry have many opportunities to develop Facing many challenges, the advertising companies have still made certain achievements over the past years However, the lack of finance and professionalism compared to foreign companies has prevented these companies from having a firm place in the market Market development is a very important overarching strategy for every business in the process of doing business This is a condition for businesses to expand their market share Each enterprise has its own steps and policies to develop the market, but not all them are successful Since its establishment up to now, Six Colors Printing Co., Ltd also understands the role of market development and is taking steps to implement this strategy Although operating in a competitive field, Six Colors Printing Co., Ltd has been and will be implementing effective market development policies An example of that is the increase in the company's revenue and profit from 2018 - 2020 when the economy falls into a difficult situation, causing challenges for Vietnamese businesses Through my internship at the company, I have partly understood the company's goals and strategies The subject “The brand development strategy of Six Colors Printing Co, Ltd” is the result of my own research and fact-finding process Due to the limited knowledge and time, my writing definitely still has shortcomings Therefore, I hope that the instructors have more contributions to make my topic more complete, providing solutions to help Six Colors Printing Co., Ltd in particular and other printing companies developed further Lê Mai Anh-CQ55/51.01 Page 47 REFERENCES A, Books and Curriculums Education, P (2005) Intelligent Business: Intermediate Coursebook (Intelligent Business) Neil Russell Jones & Lynne Jones (2014) Marketing pocketbook Laura Lake (2019) The Balance Small Business (Small Business) Dao Thi Oanh & Nguyen Quang Tuan (2010) Giáo trình Marketing thuộc Học viện Tài Gore (2007) Oxford Business English: English for Marketing Advertising B, Internet https://www.thebalancesmb.com/what-is-a-marketing-mix-2295520 https://ecallis.com/insights/branding/branding-strategies-tv' https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/swot.asp http://www.marketingmo.com/strategic-planning/brand-strategy/ https://aytm.com/blog/introduction-to-brand-strategy-part-1/ https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/brand.asp Lê Mai Anh-CQ55/51.01 Page 48 APPENDIXES (Questionnaire survey for current branding activities brand at Six Colors Printing Co., Ltd) This survey is a part of my dissertation on “Developing branding strategy at Six Colors Printing Co., Ltd” All of the following questions are intended to provide valuable data to evaluate the branding strategy at Six Colors Printing Company Your responses will help us provide the best service possible A Current situation of brand activities at Six colors printing company Please rate the frequency of the current activities to develop brand at Six Colors Printing Co., Ltd Current branding activities to develop brand at Six Colors Printing Co., Ltd (Staff) Product No Activities Product impressions Diversifying products Product quality Investing in advanced Never Seldom Sometimes Usually Always equipment to enhance productivity Others: ………………………………………………………… Price No Activities Never Seldom Having suitable price policies to boost sales Applying suitable price Lê Mai Anh-CQ55/51.01 Page 49 Sometimes Usually Always method Setting price suits customers budget Others: ………………………………………………………… Place No Activities Never Seldom Sometimes Usually Always Having a location easy to find and convenient Having difficulties in reaching when the company has only one Others: ………………………………………………………… Promotion No Activities Never Seldom Sometimes Usually Always Having discounts and sales programs Spending money enough on having promotion activities Policy for loyal customers Marketing activities through phones calls, email Others: Lê Mai Anh-CQ55/51.01 ………………………………………………………… Page 50 Current branding activities to develop brand at Six Colors Printing Co., Ltd (Customers) Product No Activities Product impressions Diversifying products Product quality Investing in advanced Never Seldom Sometimes Usually Always equipment to enhance productivity Others: Lê Mai Anh-CQ55/51.01 ………………………………………………………… Page 51 Price No Activities Never Seldom Sometimes Usually Always Having suitable price policies to boost sales Applying suitable price method Setting price suits customers budget Others: ………………………………………………………… Place No Activities Never Seldom Sometimes Usually Always Having a location easy to find and convenient Having difficulties in reaching when the company has only one Others: Lê Mai Anh-CQ55/51.01 ………………………………………………………… Page 52 Promotion No Activities Never Seldom Sometimes Usually Always Having discounts and sales programs Spending enough money on having promotion activities Policy for loyal customers Marketing activities through phones calls, email Others: ………………………………………………………… Effectiveness of current activities to develop brand at Six Colors Printing Co., Ltd The effectiveness of current branding activities at Six Colors Printing Co., Ltd (Staff) Number Rates Very bad Bad Ok Good Very good Criteria Brand image Aided brand awareness brand call Share of voice Social mention Others: Lê Mai Anh-CQ55/51.01 ………………………………………………………… Page 53 The effectiveness of current branding activities at Six Colors Printing Co., Ltd (Customers) Number Rates Very bad Bad Ok Good Very good Criteria 5 Brand image Aided brand awareness Top-of-mind brand call Share of voice Social mention Others: ………………………………………………………… B Solutions to develop an appropriate brand strategy for Six Colors Printing Co., Ltd Managers:…………………………………………………………………… Staff:………………………………………………………………………… Customers:…………………………………………………………………… Thank you for your cooperation! -The end- Lê Mai Anh-CQ55/51.01 Page 54 Lê Mai Anh-CQ55/51.01 Page 55 ... 1 0,2 4 7,2 9 Year 2020 9,1 9 9,9 54 1 0,2 4 5,5 17 - 1,0 47 7,1 6 6,2 73 25 7,9 01 8,1 7 1,8 32 8, 32 8, 310 9,3 4 2,0 06 7,3 19.201 1 0,2 2 1,0 45 - 6,9 08 -9 6,4 7,9 13 1,0 13 1 2,1 7 - 2,0 22 0,4 9 3 0,6 8 - 2 1,6 5 (Source: Extracted... situation of branding strategy at Six Colors Printing CO. , LTD 2.2.1 Current branding activities at Six Colors Printing CO. , LTD Currently, the marketing mix 4Ps (Product, Price, Promotion and Place)... survey for current branding activities brand at Six Colors Printing Co. , Ltd) This survey is a part of my dissertation on ? ?Developing branding strategy at Six Colors Printing Co. , Ltd? ?? All of the