A a study of the pros and cons of direct marketing at an educationnal organnization: Amazing group joint stock company in the context of Vietnam

INTRODUCTION

1.1 An overview of Amazing Group Joint Stock Company

Education is one of the quickest-expanding sectors in emerging countries such as Vietnam and there are more opportunities to collaborate with foreign educational institutions Amazing Group Joint Stock Company specializing in education - is an English and skills training organization established in 2015 with the mission of preparing Vietnamese students to be global citizens with identities At Amazing Group, they uphold the spirit of "Think global, act for the locals" (Amazing Group, 2015) Therefore, the organization wishes to encourage, train and upgrade Vietnamese students to become "Global Citizens" These are individuals who have a global component in their thinking, perception, knowledge, and capacity, as well as a local component in their identity, comprehension, and positive action According to the Amazing Group‘s official website, Amazing School, Amazing Me, and Amazing Home are the three training branches of Amazing Group Each training branch is responsible for the following items, all of which aim to aid in the preparation of a global citizen's identity needs:

- English, as an international language, is essential for achieving international integration trained by Amazing School

- Skills are the building blocks for integrating, adapting, and positioning yourself in society which is trained by Amazing Me

- English practice environment and skills are to transform what has been learned and practiced into a strong foundation of life, habits, and values training by Amazing Home

Regarding the marketing strategies of Amazing Group, they theoretically analyze the market products equivalent to their products using SWOT and 7Ps analysis A more concrete example of the summer camp program "Glocal Camp Amazing USA " - is one of the programs created at Amazing Group in February 2023 (in Appendix 1), which will be held at the end of June this year Marketers use SWOT in conjunction with the 7Ps to understand the current state of the market related summer camp programs of partners in the education market in Vietnam At the same time, marketers at Amazing Group created a comparison table to compare Amazing Group's summer camp program with other summer camps on the market In particular, differences in process, target audience, or price differences between summer camp programs are prime examples Through this, marketers can identify existing and potential problems about this summer camp program of Amazing Group to make reasonable suggestions, and improve and highlight strengths and differences of the program at Amazing Group In order for information about the summer camp program to reach customers and partners, direct marketing is used by them through forms such as email marketing and telemarketing

1.2 An overview of Direct Marketing

Direct Marketing, according to Karaxha, Tolaj, and Abazi (2016), is crucial for creating solid relationships with clients in order to present new products and services while also generating revenue In 1961, the concept of the term "direct marketing" was coined by an American pioneer whose name Lester Wunderman Besides, Derek Holder had a vision in 1982 when direct marketing was still the domain of consumer mail-order businesses and three or four specialized agencies (Housden and Thomas, 2012) He was among the first to identify direct marketing as a crucial stand-alone discipline, and as a result, he pioneered the Diploma in Direct Marketing, which led to the development of the Institute of Direct Marketing (IDM), which has helped over 100,000 marketers improve their skills

Direct Marketing solves the problem of general marketing that it can create a dialogue with smaller groups of customers and address individual needs The Direct Marketing Association's most generally accepted meaning of direct marketing is an interactive marketing system in which one or more advertising media are used to elicit a quantifiable reaction or transaction at any place (Storholm and Friedman, 1989) In

1992, Bauer and Miglautsch's research indicated some problems with the prevailing definition and they redefine direct marketing as a relational marketing method incorporating information feedback and control at the personal level through direct response advertising with tracking codes Direct marketing uses a number of approaches, such as e-mails, phone calls, fairs, and festivals, to engage directly with clients while being relatively flexible and offering fast responses

1.3 Direct marketing in Amazing Group

Due to the emergence of consumers' need for more personalized and separate services for each target customer which demands modern methods of Product Marketing should be applied (Matviiets and Kipen, 2021) As a result, employing direct marketing, which has new ways of individual sales, plays a specific part in the growth of marketing operations of the Amazing Group company The transition from mass to personalized involves significant changes in modern business, according to Matviiets and Kipen (2021), particularly in the company's style of communication with its customers via email Realizing that direct marketing is more than just the sale of goods or services; it is also a powerful tool for communicating with potential customers, which aids in the development of long-term personal relationships with the company It is the pivotal motivation for doing research on the pros and cons of direct marketing at Amazing Group

A trend of marketing-related studies has revealed in recent years that direct marketing is not without flaws, despite rapid direct - marketers and sales growth According to one survey, the selling of damaged items is fairly widespread (Storholm and Friedman, 1989) According to another one, a large number of customers regard direct marketing solicitations to be a nuisance or a violation of privacy (Krafft, Arden, and Verhoef, 2017) Furthermore, increased industry firm competition has resulted in a flood of direct marketing solicitations to consumers (Schwadel, 1988) Additionally, there have been numerous research regarding direct marketing methods or direct marketing performance, but there have been few studies in Vietnam that address the advantages and drawbacks dimensions of direct marketing at educational institutions As a result, the author believes that it is critical to form a framework and conduct research on the benefits and drawbacks of direct marketing, particularly in an emerging economy like Vietnam, using modern theoretical cultural models, in order to provide not only a comprehensive understanding of general theories but also to investigate deeply all aspects of the benefits and drawbacks of direct marketing at Amazing Group in the context of Vietnam

1.5 The scope of the study

Due to time and financial restrictions, it will be impossible to cover all sectors of direct marketing for all educational institutions in Vietnam As a result, the author primarily concentrates on investigating the pros and cons of direct marketing implemented in one educational organization which is Amazing Group in the context of Vietnam The scope of this study revolves around the direct marketing programs provided by corporate personnel from the marketing department with the purpose of discovering the positive and negative aspects of the direct marketing executions at Amazing Group Regarding research methodology, the author's technique in this study is based on the Epistemology research philosophy combined with the Interpretivism research paradigm and other strategies, which will be discussed meticulously in Chapter 3 Using focus group research for data collection, the population of this studying includes five people who are Chief Marketing Officer and marketers working currently in a particular area - Amazing Group

1.6 Rationale or significance of the study

Direct marketing has long been used as a vital aspect of marketing executions but because of its expensive cost, only large corporations can employ it However, with the growing number of internet users and the usage of e-mail in the direct market for customers, businesses have been able to reduce costs while increasing efficiency (Stokes, 2013) Therefore, it is impossible to deny the relevance of direct marketing in company business operations, as well as the significance of studying this issue to offer a portion of additional sources of information in direct marketing in educational services

The identified aim of the study is to investigate the benefits and drawbacks of direct marketing executions at Amazing Group in the context of Vietnam

The study includes four major objectives to achieve the primary aim:

- To comprehend the context of direct marketing in the context of Vietnam

- To identify issues and challenges of direct marketing executions in Amazing Group

- To analyze and evaluate the pros and cons of direct marketing executions in Amazing Group

- To propose suggestions for improving direct marketing executions at Amazing Group

How does direct marketing influence Amazing Group to attract clients or customers?

This research report is divided into five primary parts The first is an overview introduction of the research background, the statement of the problem, research objectives, and especially the presentation of the research subject - direct marketing of Amazing Group The second one is shown a review of the literature on direct marketing as well as the general advantages and disadvantages of direct marketing The third section has described the methodology of this research, specifically, how the author implements the research through several professional techniques as well as semi- structured interviews for primary data collection The findings and discussion of this research after collecting data and drawing results from the thematic analysis process are demonstrated in the fourth Finally, the remaining part is a summary of this report's research which shows some recommendations and the limitations of the research with the purpose of making a conclusion to end the research

Given all the aforementioned facts, the first chapter revealed the reasons and significance behind picking the topic: "A study of the advantages and drawbacks of direct marketing at Amazing Group in the context of Vietnam" The research proposal focuses on examining the benefits and downsides of the company's direct marketing executions in order to contribute to the growth of Amazing Group - the educational organization in Vietnam This chapter contains precise information on the Amazing Group, direct marketing, the issue statement, the scope and rationale of the study, and the research objectives The study seeks to address a single question: “How does direct marketing affect Amazing Group's ability to attract clients or customers?”

With the purpose of addressing the research question, the literature review of this study as well as theories and models will be reviewed in Chapter 2.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Introduction

The literature review performed for this project investigates the function of direct marketing in Amazing Group's business activity It found direct marketing plays an important role in increasing sales by establishing direct contact with consumers and meeting their needs and requests The review also emphasizes the use of direct marketing methods such as phone and email to build stronger connections with customers The purpose of this chapter is to provide a thorough grasp of the benefits and drawbacks of direct marketing, as well as its effect on an educational institution's ability to acquire clients or customers.

Marketing

According to Fullbrook, Converse, and Huegy (1947), marketing is the industry of purchasing and selling It encompasses all corporate operations engaged in the movement of products and services from production to consumption After that, in order to supplement, McCarthy (1960) stated that marketing is the implementation of business activities that direct the flow of goods and services from the provider to the customer or user in order to satisfy customers and accomplish the firm's goals However, in 1984, Kurtz and Boone had different views on marketing compared to the previous definitions, which were more specific and concentrated on customer segmentation which is

Marketing is the fostered creation and effective dissemination of selected client segments' goods, services, ideas, subjects as well as concepts

A more comprehensive explanation of marketing is provided by the AMA (American Marketing Association) in 2013, which defines the concept as the activity, collection of institutions, and methods for generating, communicating, delivering, and interchanging value-added services for customers, clients, partners, and society as a whole One of the most current and widely used definitions is of Armstrong, Kotler, and Opresnik (2019), who defined the concept as being the process through which organizations engage with customers, build solid customer relationships, and create customer value in order to receive value in return

The role of marketing is to discover, anticipate, and effectively satisfy customer requirements According to Moorman and Rust (1999), marketing is best viewed as the component that handles the organization's interactions with its customers Marketing is critical in the major connections, which are the customer-product, customer-service performance, and customer-financial responsibility linkages (Moorman and Rust 1999)

To be more specific, activities include researching and understanding customer needs, developing products or services that meet those needs, pricing them appropriately, distributing them through appropriate channels, and effectively promoting them to targeted customers, all of which require the contribution of marketing.

Direct Marketing

Direct marketing is defined in a variety of ways (Bauer and Miglautsch, 1992) However, in 1999, Berger and Roberts stated that none of the existing definitions cover all aspects of modern direct marketing As a result, they employed their own straightforward but potent definition: "Databased direct marketing is an information-driven, relational marketing process that takes place in a setting of care for the protection of client data" This definition represents an entirely new perspective on marketing, one that many businesses have only recently discovered It focuses on building client connections that lead to repeat purchases over time It accomplishes this by collecting and analyzing customer data to develop marketing strategies that are more focused, targeted, and personalized than traditional marketing efforts However, the same information that allows marketers to eliminate "junk" (unwanted messages) from the process is also a source of worry for many customers and public-interest organizations How well marketers use their powerful new information tools will determine both the industry's long-term success and the extent to which it is regulated globally (Berger and Roberts, 1999) The pivotal aim of direct marketing is to build good connections with customers in order to introduce new products/services and create sales in the meantime (Karaxha, Tolaj, and Abazi, 2016) Berger and Roberts' (1999) definition is used as the intellectual foundation in this current study to achieve the aforementioned goal in direct marketing The main reason for selecting this idea is that it is suitable for Amazing Group's direct marketing strategies Amazing Group's marketers, in particular, use the accessible information of their present clients or consumers to keep and grow customer connections

Direct marketing material is divided into two major streams of literature The first stream is involved with the creation of response models that forecast consumer responses to marketing activities, for instance, Ma et al., (2016), and Lessmann et al., (2021) The second stream is concerned with the improvement of direct marketing activities based on response model output (Bigler, Kammermann and Baumann, 2023) In this study, the author concentrates on the model of the latter stream because it is more closely related to the Amazing Group's direct marketing strategies to investigate the benefits and drawbacks of its

2.3.2 The role of direct marketing

To clarify the role of direct marketing, Berger and Roberts (1999), highlighted the differences between (general) marketing and direct marketing based on marketing duties where direct marketing excels over general marketing To begin, whereas general marketing uses mass media to reach a large number of people, direct marketing interacts directly with the client or potential Second, in general marketing, direct marketing can customize contact by name/title and/or with variable messages, which is completely contrary to impersonal communications Third, direct marketing is measurable, which provides a level of accountability for marketing expenses that conventional marketing does not provide It also motivates the potential customer to take quick, precise action The role of Direct marketing is to keep the consumers by creating direct contacts with them, by fulfilling the needs and requests of the consumers, and on this basis, it increases sales Direct marketing's role is to retain customers by making direct contact with them, meeting their needs and requests, and increasing sales as a result

For illustration, a study related to the role of direct marketing in relation to consumers was implemented by Karaxha, Tolaj, and Abazi in Kosovo in 2016 The research discovered 49% of respondents said that attending events had a significant effect on interacting with clients to promote products/services, thereby influencing sales growth 34% said fairs and events had an average effect on connecting with clients and increasing sales, 14% said they had only a minor impact on connecting with clients and increasing sales, and the remaining 3% said they had no impact at all on connecting with clients and increasing sales Otherwise, study shows that direct marketing has an effect on increasing sales, and be a huge contribution for businesses in building direct contacts, particularly via telephone and e-mail, to present their goods or services and establish close relationships with their customers.

The decision components of direct marketing executions

According to Thwaites and Lee (1994), to design an effective campaign, direct marketers must optimize a set of decision variables, similar to how general marketers must manage a number of variables, such as using the 4Ps strategy (product, price, promotion, and place) The goal of those decision components of direct marketing is to provide the correct product (OFFER) to the right individual (LIST) at the right moment (TIMING) in such a way that attention is transformed into interest, desire, conviction, and action (CREATIVE) Several writers have remarked on the relative relevance of these parts, and most agree that the list is crucial to direct marketing due to its function in identifying the target consumer As Bird (2007) points out, the most "wonderful" mailing is unlikely to succeed if it is sent to the erroneous list, but the "worst" letter may succeed if it is sent to the proper list Timing and offer rank second and top, respectively (Bird, 2007; Berger and Roberts, 1999) According to Nash (1992), the four key decision factors for the construction of a direct marketing campaign are the offer, the communication components (including copy platform, visual design, and media vehicles), the scheduling of these elements, and the list of houses to be targeted In this study, the author selected Roberts and Berger‘s theory framework (1989) to identify the decision variables of direct marketing campaigns in Amazing Group Those decision components of direct marketing campaign consist of:

The offer is the marketer's whole pitch to a prospective consumer It consists of the product or service itself, the price at which it is supplied, any price revisions, and other parts of the product's positioning strategy For instance, discounts, incentives, free trials, guarantees, special payment options, and continuous membership plans can assist firms to develop initiatives aimed toward their objective of increasing revenue or improving access to prospective clients It specifies what each party will receive if a response is provided It must be organized such that both the sender and the recipient understand their respective responsibilities These commitments might be clear at times Sometimes, they are not always explicit Otherwise, the offer has the potential to sway response rates in a direct mail campaign However, it is frequently disregarded until the last minute, and marketers underestimate the impact direct mail offers may have on response

The content platform, visual design components, any participation strategies, and production concerns such as personalisation are all part of the creative component of the direct marketing program The goal of the creative component is to make offerings as appealing as possible in order to elicit emotions in the customer, which will result in the desired reaction Even while originality in direct marketing is not as important as a database or an offer, it should not be overlooked

Direct marketing media include all of those used in general marketing, as well as direct mail, telephone, and emerging electronic media, including the World Wide Web Direct- response print and television advertising is especially successful at generating replies to complicated offers that include elements that may be graphically shown

Concerns regarding the timing and sequencing of direct marketing messages are comparable to those raised about general advertising These considerations include one-time messages vs campaigns, pulsing versus a constant flow of information, seasonal impacts, and debates about how much repetition is necessary Direct marketers frequently have greater media influence than generic marketers A common example is that direct mail marketers may choose when to mail, but magazine marketers must work around publishing timetables and space availability

According to Berger and Roberts (1999), the sorts of client services provided - toll-free phone lines, free limited-time trials, and acceptance of several payment cards, for example - are significant approaches for overcoming customer aversion to purchasing through direct-response media Even more significant is the degree of customer service given, such as the speed and precision with which orders are fulfilled, the handling of customer inquiries and complaints, and the availability of a guaranteed return policy Aside from the quality and performance of the product itself, the quality of the direct marketers' customer service is the most important determinant of client happiness In turn, the level of customer satisfaction is a major factor in determining whether or not to repurchase

Figure 1: Importance of the List in Generating Response (Roberts and Berger, 1989)

Importance of the List in Generating Response

The right person or listThe right offerThe right timingThe right advertising elements

The advantages of direct marketing

Direct marketing is a mechanism for businesses to establish a regular dialogue with consumers in order to provide a flow of useful and current data about behavior and opinions According to Shannon (2002), this interaction enables companies to form relationships with their customers, which in turn promotes long-term brand loyalty Additionally, Robinson (2018) also stated that by distributing the brand's message consistently across a variety of direct marketing platforms, a direct marketing strategy can increase brand loyalty Another benefit of direct marketing is the ability to deliver targeted messages to specific groups of clients and prospective customers based on their purchasing habits or profiles In particular, the use and launch of direct marketing tools will assist a business in attracting attention to targeted integrated objects in their segmentations A specific example of ZARICHNA given in 2021 showed that thanks to the forming and use of online trade, the Ukrainian company Premium FOOD (Mr.Grill) was able not only to the triple sale of products but also to organize an effective service system and introduce their products, and brand on the large markets of the USA, Europe, and Asia through The 5th annual BIG Trade-Marketing Show - 2021: "In All heavy" of the business

In addition, Robinson (2018) presented on The Direct Mail Company website that the personalized feature of direct marketing contributes to improving response rates; the measurable function of direct marketing will support its campaigns can be tracked and monitored to analyze the results of the campaign effectively Moreover, in terms of affordable and informative aspects, it entirely meets standards Some direct marketing campaigns, postcard marketing or email marketing as a case in point, can be very cost- effective It also delivers detailed information on your products and services.

The disadvantages of direct marketing

Direct marketing does have a number of advantages, but there are also some disadvantages to take into account Robinson (2018) asserts that there are two significant drawbacks First of all, some people might find direct marketing annoying and invasive, which can harm brand associations Second, some direct marketing strategies, especially direct mail, are thought to have an impact on the climate By sending out tailored direct mail and using repurposed materials, this can be lessened The other drawback of direct marketing is its lack of renderability Fariborzi and Zahedifard (2012) recognized the difficulty of displaying the creative, more specifically, such as intended within the in-box of different Email reading systems leading subscribers may want a message with "unsecured" items such as color, graphics, and links which not all browsers will support them Finally, the receivers will immediately shut the window, forcing marketers to settle for the drab all-text Email.

Educational organizations in Vietnam

With the purpose of clarifying the advantages and disadvantages of direct marketing in an educational institute, the author prioritizes identifying the combination of the marketing mix in terms of educational organization to support in researching In the case of educational services, the first letter "P" stands for Product in the marketing mix which represents students, and the service, which refers to the concrete services provided by educational institutions It is clarified that educational institutions promote their organization and create brand value in the competitive market by offering products and services The second "P" - Price - refers to the sum a student spends for the services he or she receives The price represents the quality of services given to students As a result, it can be used as a marketing tool by the institution The same is true for the ―Place‖ element, which is the place where an educational institute is founded If the school is situated in a metropolis rather than a rural area, it will have a significant competitive advantage As a result, "Place" is an important advertising instrument for their businesses The Promotion encompasses all of the interactions that a service supplier employs in the marketplace Advertising, public relations, word of mouth, point of sale, press, direct and internet marketing, and so on are all forms of advertising The educational school concentrates mainly on two aspects of promotion, namely advertising and web-based marketing, rather than all Positive word-of-mouth contact, a method used in direct marketing, has been discovered to be the most effective promotion tool for them In reality, the development and survival of an educational institute, especially a professional educational organization, are dependent on the competency, efficacy, efficiency, sincerity, dedication, and devotion of the institute's teaching community Furthermore, student satisfaction and retention are entirely dependent on the instructors' ability to provide their finest services to them As a result, the People component emerged as the most dynamic component of the educational services marketing blend Furthermore, the manner in which service providers provide services to pupils is critical to obtaining a competitive edge It is known as Process, and it is the final component of the Marketing Mix If the service method is simple, easy to grasp, student-friendly, and technologically advanced, the institution will undoubtedly stick out and be different(Raj and Veerappan, 2013)

Regarding direct marketing executions in education institutes, Raj and Veerappan (2013) discovered that Student Relationship Management (SRM) must be maintained systematically for the long-run benefit of the institution More specifically, Alumni are the most important stakeholder and the greatest contributor to the organization Fair treatment to all the present and former students is very necessary because of the fact that they act like non-paid brand ambassadors of the institute Honest student appraisal can make an institute a difference Therefore, direct marketing also has the responsibility of maintaining student relationships for educational institutions.

Conclusion for chapter 2

To summarize, this chapter presents an overview of marketing and direct marketing as well as discovers some advantages and disadvantages of direct marketing related to educational institutes In chapter 2, the author first explains the concepts of marketing and direct marketing to notice the difference between them Then, some pros and cons feature of direct marketing from previous researches are identified specifically Furthermore, the situation of Vietnamese education and some noticeable phenomena are also described in this section Nextly, the methodology of this dissertation will be presented in the following chapter.

METHODOLOGY

Introduction

Recognizing and adhering to a suitable research theory is crucial in performing research, according to Saunders, Lewis, and Thornhill (2016), because it helps define research strategies and methodologies This chapter will show and select research methods to clarify the study objectives The relevant variables that affect the study problem will be chosen by the researchers It includes relevant theories, problems, and research status, as well as the researcher's viewpoint, which influences research methods (Brannick and Roche, 1997) This study will use the research methodology established by Saunders, Lewis, and Thornhill (2009) to guarantee that the research results are more accurate The methods will be illustrated in the image below, and some will be used in this study

Figure 2: The research Onion Framework (Saunders, Thornhill and Lewis, 2009)

Adopted Research Philosophy

The researcher has used the Epistemology research philosophy for this investigation There are several reasons for selecting this mindset Firstly, it is because epistemology is concerned with all elements of validity, scope, and techniques of getting knowledge For example, it provides a comprehensive overview of what defines a knowledge claim, how knowledge may be gained or generated, and how the amount of its transferability can be judged Second, using Epistemology research philosophy allows the author to examine and reflect on the importance of the process of knowledge production in connection to a specific subject of research, via ethical and practical consequences By recognizing the role of this research philosophy in this study through the aforementioned reasons, the author selected Epistemology.

Adopted Research Paradigm

For this study, the researcher has adopted the Interpretivism research paradigm This is mainly because Interpretivism better comprehends the role of people as social agents (Saunders, Lewis, and Thornhill, 2007), it allows the author to interpret knowledge based on people's experiences and comprehension of them (Ryan 2018) In addition, according to Williamson (2006), the core premise of interpretivism is that people are continually interpreting their ever-changing environment With the functions existing in the Interpretivism research paradigm, the author can concentrate on the meaning of the issue and the various ways to represent different parts of the research problem Thereby, selecting the Interpretivism research paradigm is the correct choice because those characteristics of this research paradigm are appropriate for the objectives of the research.

Adopted Research Approach

According to Kanika (2015), there are three major kinds of research approaches that are frequently used in studies: deductive approach, inductive approach, and abductive approach The deductive method involves the use of previously developed theories and hypotheses, as well as the creation of a study plan to verify the theory In comparison, the inductive method is how the researcher gathers data and creates the theory based on the analytical findings The researcher has adopted an inductive approach for this study This is because the inductive approach, as opposed to the deductive approach, employs qualitative techniques to better comprehend the essence of the issue More specifically, the researcher approach and analyze high-quality data and may provide various perspectives on research issues and create the theoretical foundation for the research based on these findings The other reason is that the Inductive approach allows the author to examine an issue from various angles in order to select a theory rather than strict conceptual analysis methods such as deductive methods Besides that, the Inductive approach requires fewer samples than the Deductive approach because researchers are more interested in the context of the problem (Easterby-Smith, Thorpe, and Jackson, 2015), which is also suitable for the limited research time The final reason for choosing the Inductive approach is to allow research results to be free of the restrictions imposed by structured methods (Thomas, 2016).

Adopted Research Methods

Research methods are classified into three types: qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methodologies Qualitative research is selected as a feasible approach to be used in this investigation for the purposes of the study This is because its role is defined as being connected to understanding some part of social life, and its methods (in general) provide words as data for analysis rather than numbers Brymam (2001) stated that qualitative concentrates on concepts, opinions, and perceptions rather than figures In this technique, open-ended questions are used to help researchers better comprehend the feelings and viewpoints of people or groups who are interviewed about a specific topic Dibb and Meadows (2001) as well as Saunders, Lewis, and Thornhill (2003) contended that qualitative methods typically approach one or more individuals through interviewing methods, allowing the researcher to learn about their perspectives and conduct the analysis Therefore, qualitative approaches are frequently suited for determining how a community or individuals within it view a particular issue In this case, this method brings the value of comprehending the experiences and perspectives of marketers at Amazing Group Joint Stock Company.

Adopted Research Strategy

Among the several research strategy available such as Narrative (exploratory and explanatory), Descriptive, Case Study, Action Research, Grounded Theory, and Experimental Research, the author chose the Case Study Strategy This technique was selected because it is the most adaptable of all research strategies, allowing the researcher to keep the holistic qualities of real-life occurrences while analyzing empirical events (Schell, 1992) According to Schell (1992), a case study is an empirical investigation that explores current phenomena inside a real-life setting when the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not obvious and different sources of data are utilized Furthermore, the research strategy for this study is to be a case study since it discloses facts by evaluating data presented in real time Data gathered from observations are documented in order to determine the benefits and drawbacks of direct marketing at Amazing Group As a result, adopting a Case Study as the research approach can satisfy the practical requirements for figuring out the response to the research question.

Data Collection Instruments Applied to this study

In terms of data-gathering methods, the author employed primary data, which, according to Saunders, Lewis, and Thornhill (2003), is exclusive information and data that has not been made public by anybody or any organization Primary data is used because of its high precision and reliability, as well as the fact that it is data gathered by the researchers themselves, and it also gives a more correct perspective for the researcher The author used semi-structured interviews to acquire primary data for this study The key causes are as follows: To begin, the semi-structured interview style has been shown to be beneficial in encouraging reciprocity between the interviewer and the participant (Galletta, 2012), allowing the interviewer to improvise follow-up questions based on participant replies (Polit and Beck, 2020) Second, it allowed participants to express themselves verbally in their own way (Cohen and Crabtree, 2019)

The inquiry and interviews were completed in March 2023 The author conducted 5 interviews with the Chief Marketing Officer and marketers from the Marketing

Department of Amazing Group Joint Stock Company for this study The information gathered from semi-structured interviews will be mostly in the form of notes and transcriptions of recordings In terms of question design, the author employs verbal inquiry types, which have open properties and are useful for identifying and emphasizing problems in Amazing Group's direct marketing Before the interviews, participants completed an informed consent form, agreeing to have audio recorded and to use the data for research purposes During the interviews, participants were questioned about a preset question list (in Appendix 2) to share their perspectives and experiences on the possible challenges, benefits, and drawbacks of direct marketing implemented at Amazing Group, as well as suggestions for how to improve it.tr Because of the effect of Amazing Group's office hours, most interviews lasted an average of 17 minutes and were conducted over the Internet through Google Meet.

Sampling and Sampling Techniques

The sampling method, also known as the sampling methodology, is the act of examining a population by obtaining and evaluating data (BYJUS, 2012) It is the foundation of the data, and the sample space is vast There are various sampling techniques available, and they can be separated into two groups: probability sampling and non-probability sampling, as presented briefly in the flow chart below All of these sampling techniques may include specifically targeting difficult or difficult-to-reach populations

Among the sampling techniques presented on the flow chart, the purposive one, which is the purposeful selection of a participant based on the attributes the subject possesses (Etikan, Musa, and Alkassim, 2016), was chosen for this investigation It is a nonrandom approach that does not require underlying theories or a certain quantity of participants The first rationale for using this sampling approach is that the researcher may identify what needs to be known and then sets out to discover people who can and are ready to supply the information due to their expertise or experience, which is a feature of this technique The other reason is that it is commonly employed in qualitative research to discover and choose information-rich examples in order to make the most use of available resources.

Data Analysis Techniques

With regard to qualitative data analysis, there are five major types of analysis: content, thematic, textual, and discourse analysis The author has opted to use theme analysis in this study Thematic analysis was developed by Virginia Braun and Victoria Clarke for psychological research (Braun and Clarke, 2006), and it is a versatile method that may be applied in a variety of investigations It is commonly used to refer to a collection of texts, such as an interview or transcriptions The data is thoroughly examined by the researcher to uncover repeating themes - subjects, concepts, and meaning patterns The fundamental reason for using thematic analysis to analyze data is that it allows the author to go into the data without any assumptions It paints a clear image of the underlying notion, distributes the information, and explains why Through this, Thematic analysis assists in comprehending these aspects via a different lens The second reason is that it may be used to address any research issue According to Guest (2012), this analysis is extensively used by academics to address complex problems The last justification for using thematic analysis is that it does not limit the author to a certain set of guidelines It is mainly dependent on personal experiences, which are crucial in the nature of this research since the participants may supply a depth comprehension of the subject.

Research Ethics

When planning the study endeavor, the author applied fundamental research ethical principles These ethics principles are outlined below:

- Respect For People: autonomy and safeguarding those with less autonomy All research participants must engage voluntarily, without coercion or undue influence, and their rights, dignity, and autonomy must be respected and sufficiently protected

- Informed Consent - Respect for humanity requires that individuals, to the degree that they are capable, be given the choice to choose what will or will not happen to them When the prerequisites for informed consent are satisfied, this option becomes available The consent process is divided into three stages: information, comprehension, and voluntariness

-Beneficence and Non-maleficence: the study endeavor will not immediately benefit the participants but it may be brought about larger benefits to others in terms of the potential to reduce future harms, specifically in this case that improve the direct marketing campaign at Amazing Group in the next few years

- Justice: Equal treatment is a fundamental element of fairness in research The author evaluates carefully the broader social impact of the study, both in terms of participant selection and the advantages and costs that result from it

Integrity: Research is planned, evaluated, and carried out in order to guarantee that acknowledged criteria of integrity are fulfilled, as well as quality and transparency.

Summary of Chapter 3

To summarize, the Methodology of this research coming from Chapter 3 mentioned the author‘s decision on how to implement the study and explanations why selecting those

In brief word, the author decided to adopt Epistemology for research philosophy, using the Interpretivism research paradigm, with the inductive approach to implement this qualitative research considered as a case study strategy In terms of data collection, semi-structured interviews are run with the purposive sampling technique and then applying thematic analysis to investigate the pros and cons of direct marketing at

Amazing Group Joint Stock Company in the Vietnamese context Some ethical principles of the study are listed above before going to the next chapter of findings and discussion gathered after the interview.

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

Introduction

For the purpose of supplying an overview, this findings and discussion chapter starts by reiterating the study's problem statement: "Despite several studies on direct marketing strategies or performance of direct marketing, there have been few studies in Vietnam that examine the benefits and drawbacks dimensions of direct marketing at educational institutions." As a result, the presence of this study subject is critical, with the specific goal of investigating the advantages and disadvantages of direct marketing at Amazing Group in the context of Vietnam In order to discover the response to the research question "How does direct marketing influence Amazing Group to attract clients or customers?", the author designed a list of interview questions for marketing staff related to the challenges, pros, and cons of direct marketing at Amazing Group combined with the primary data that Amazing Group supplied

The fourth chapter's format contained the presentation of the characteristics of the individuals who took part in responding to the question interviews Then, the author proceeds to apply the thematic analysis approach to thoroughly study the data in order to uncover common themes - subjects, concepts, and patterns of meaning that appear again The author then provides a discussion section based on the study findings.

Characteristics of the participants

Amazing Group's personnel comprises of a CEO, the highest position in the firm, whose duty it is to oversee company performance, a COO, who has reponsibility in operational activities, a CMO, who handles external and marketing activities, and a manager who supervises those sectors An organizational chart is explicitly described below:

Figure 4: The organizational chart of Amazing Group

Due to the research topic is primarily related to marketing, author decided the purpose of selecting research participants was to include marketing specialists from the same educational organization In March 2023, selection and interviews were held Four members of the Amazing Group's marketing department were chosen and received an interview invitation through email to schedule an interview with the author Their characteristics are presented in the following table:

Participants Sex Work experience at

1 Female 10 months Chief Marketing Officer

Participants signed an informed consent form before the interviews, consenting to have audio recorded to transcribe and to the use of the data for research purposes During the interviews, participants were asked about a predefined topic list (in Appendix 2) to share their thoughts and experiences on the potential problems, benefits, and downsides of direct marketing implemented at Amazing Group, as well as suggestions for how to improve it The transcriptions of 5 participants were shown in Appendix 3 The interviews lasted an average of 17 minutes Most interviews were performed over the Internet through Google Meet due to the influence of Amazing Group's office hours.

Application of Thematic Analysis

Virginia Braun and Victoria Clarke invented thematic analysis for psychological study (Braun and Clarke, 2006) and this is a versatile approach that may be used in a wide range of studies Thematic analysis is a qualitative data analysis technique It is frequently used to describe a group of texts, such as an interview or transcripts The researcher meticulously examines the data to find recurring themes - subjects, concepts, and meaning patterns

According to Caulfield (2022), thematic analysis can be done in a variety of methods, but the most popular approach comprises six steps: familiarization, coding, generating themes, assessing themes, defining and labeling themes, and writing up The Application of Thematic Analysis table in Appendix 4 is presented how to apply this analysis to this research for the analyzing process

Data Analysis and Discussion

The following themes requiring code interpretation were built by integrating a set of codes (sub-theme) into a theme A specific theme describes a pattern simultaneously iteratively searching for similar themes across codes involves moving back and forth between the codes to uncover commonalities (Jones, 2022)

Theme 1: The participants' expertise and understanding regarding Direct Marketing distribute unevenly

● Sub-theme 1: Concise short answer

Most of the participants gave direct answers and enough question‘s ideas The remaining ones applied the indirect leading sentences to show their perspective Giving concise short answers indicated that they had basic knowledge and understanding of the current Direct Marketing executions at Amazing Group

Two of five respondents added examples as well as further explanations for Question

1 This indicated that their readiness for answering the first interview question were not shown clearly Besides, this can be seen as the limitation of the participants' abilities to expand the responses

In terms of Question 2, there was a consensus perspective between participants when discussing the influence of direct marketing operations on consumer attraction This can be considered as a negative side because their knowledge may be stereotyped from what they have already known and was not loaded with new information That's the reason why participants may be lacking in thinking differently

Five participants gave answers with logical explanations by explaining reason without request and some respondents gave furthermore information to justify their choice Indicating their own specific initiatives of direct marketing effects on customer attention which shows evidence that they had sufficient sources of direct marketing knowledge to appreciate

● Sub-theme 5: Confused in expression

There are 3 out of 5 people who were confused in wording expressed their confusion at the question The reason may be that they need more thinking time to organize their ideas, or it may be that they were not sure and confident enough with their answers

● Sub-theme 6: Lack of persuasion

Although five participants gave different explanations for their decisions on email selection, they did not mention specifically about social media marketing and internet marketing apart from claiming all of the categories are working effectively without no more explanations This point indicates the lack of evidence to persuade

Regarding theme 1, the researcher's intention is to understand the Participants' knowledge and understanding of Direct Marketing at Amazing Group Company While research asked a question about Direct Marketing activities in the company, respondent

1 said, those activities are "emailing, telemarketing, and promoting our products on social media with the customer directly‖ Regarding the same question, respondents 2 and 4 agreed with those three main types A difference from respondent 2 who gave evidenced figures of why choosing email is ―51% of individuals prefer companies contact them via email" Respondents 3 and 5 have added "social media like Facebook and Instagram" and "Amazing Group Company‘s website"

Considering the impacts of direct marketing on customers' attention, respondent 1 considered it "helping consumers feel more cared for" by responding to them immediately when they need it and "researching thoroughly different customer segments" to comprehend their demands when implementing direct marketing can impact their attention and finally, "increasing awareness of company's products" For the same question, respondent 2 concentrated on customer loyalty by " taking care of customers through direct marketing executions and maintaining available customer relationships" to attract customers Participant 3 further indicated that " individualized messages" from direct marketing are the impact to influence the customers' attraction

He also remarked that "the customer's respect and appreciation" for the organization's business activities have an influence on attracting customers for that organization With regard to Respondent 4, "Direct marketing execution can sow the seed of products in customers' awareness before the official product's launch which will let customers attract a product right before the product hit the market." Respondent 5 agreed with Respondent 1 and in which she also emphasized "targeting the right customers" is really pivotal in attracting potential customers

With regard to Amazing Group's direct marketing activities in attracting customers, respondent 1 selected respectively "group chats, emails, and then telemarketing" are effective executions Respondent 1 and the other participants voted for email marketing as the most effective direct marketing execution for drawing the customers' attention at Amazing Group The primary reason supplied by Respondent 1 is that emails "bring more opportunities for customers to click on the introduction of product links - to become conversion rates without directly bothering customers in their working time" Another reason from Respondent 1 that using email will be "decrease abilities to receive refusal responses from customers rather than group chats and telemarketing" Respondent 2 further added the reasons for selecting email are easy to follow the number of customers who access emails and have already read our product offers Simultaneously, it's useful in generating "a separate context for products in each email marketing campaign" She also gave some personal reasons why telemarketing is not as effective as emails It is because "customers frequently refuse strange phone numbers" Respondent 3 chose the same selection because of the high "sales generation rates" coming from emails Respondent 4 had the same perspective as Respondent 1, nevertheless, he had his explanation of the reason: "Using emails is more creative to develop the promotion of the products" and " saving time" The reason comes from the fifth Respondent which is better at creating conversion rate

After the interpretation process, the researcher recognized firstly that participants in the case study of the Amazing Group Company identified direct marketing activities such as emailing, telemarketing, and promoting products on social media as effective in attracting customers Email marketing was found to be the most effective form of direct marketing, as it allows for more opportunities for customers to click on product links, generates high sales, and is less intrusive than other methods Respondents also noted that individualized messages, targeting the right customers, and building customer relationships are important in attracting customers through direct marketing Secondly, the participants discussed the impact of direct marketing on customers' attention Respondent 1 noted that direct marketing can help consumers feel more cared for, increase awareness of a company's products, and improve targeting by researching different customer segments Respondent 2 focused on customer loyalty and maintaining customer relationships through direct marketing Respondent 3 highlighted the importance of individualized messages and the customer's respect and appreciation for the organization's business activities in attracting customers Respondent 4 noted that direct marketing can create product awareness before a product's official launch, which can attract customers right before the release Respondent 5 agreed with Respondent 1 and emphasized the importance of targeting the right customers Thanks to several aforementioned sub-themes, the researcher discovered that the participants' competence and comprehension of Direct Marketing were dispersed unevenly

Theme 2: Participants are likely to identify the direct marketing obstacles that Amazing

Group is encountering, but have not yet investigated the core reasons for the existing problems

● Sub-theme 1: Able to recognize the problem the company needs to solve

All five participants can identify the problems that the organization has to address

● Sub-theme 2: Lack of presenting in detail the source of the problem yet

Three of the five participants are not revealing the cause of the problem in detail

Regarding theme 2, the researcher's intention was to understand the current problems or challenges of the Direct Marketing existing at Amazing Group Those problems were firstly listed by Respondent 1: "training marketing professional employees", "not receiving effective responses from the social media marketing", "the interactive on social media is not much", and "the number of sales from social media is not optimized" With the same question, respondent 2 further added the issue about the inverse ratio between high investment costs of direct marketing executions and its real value brought lowly from those to the company Respondent 3 indicated a problem additionally that the budget has not yet been optimized Respondents 4 and 5 together presented the challenge of direct marketing at Amazing Group which is the influence of intrusive feelings of clients on undermining Amazing Group's brand reputation

The current problems and challenges of direct marketing at Amazing Group were identified through interviews with five participants These include training marketing professionals, ineffective social media marketing, low interaction and sales from social media, high investment costs with low value, an unoptimized budget, and intrusive client feelings undermining the company's brand reputation Three out of 5 answers were only about identifying and listing challenges and problems of direct marketing executions without exposing the cause of issues

Summary of Chapter 4

To summarize, Chapter 4 of this research is presented by the characteristics of participants as well as the findings implemented from thematic analysis after fulfilling the data collecting process More specifically, the data analysis and discussion of the research at Amazing Group context are written clearly The final Chapter below will be the conclusion of the whole research related to ―Summary of results‖,

―Recommendation‖, ―Limitations'', and ―Original Contribution‖.

CONCLUSION

Introduction

Based on the study's initial aim which is to investigate the benefits and cons of direct marketing executions at Amazing Group in the context of Vietnam The preceding chapters have already developed a literature study on direct marketing, the methodology for conducting an investigation, and presented the research findings The next part highlights the study material and summarizes the findings, after which the author makes some suggestions and discusses certain limitations of the research that the author did not adequately address.

Summary of results

The case study of the Amazing Group Company identified direct marketing activities such as emailing, telemarketing, and promoting products on social media as effective in attracting customers Email marketing was found to be the most effective form of direct marketing, as it allows for more opportunities for customers to click on product links, generates high sales, and is less intrusive than other methods Respondents discussed the impact of direct marketing on customers' attention Those include individualized messages, targeting the right customers, and building customer relationships is important in attracting customers through direct marketing

The current problems and challenges of direct marketing at Amazing Group were identified through interviews with five participants, including training marketing professionals, ineffective social media marketing, low interaction and sales from social media, high investment costs with low value, an unoptimized budget, and intrusive client feelings undermining the company's brand reputation

The pros and cons of direct marketing executions at Amazing Group were identified based on the perspectives of five participants Advantages include quick customer responses, time-saving, easy conversion rate monitoring, delivering detailed information creatively and frequently, maintaining positive customer relationships, low-risk testing, and environmental consideration Disadvantages include a lack of specific and reasonable enforcement processes, low response rates, emails being frequently trashed, difficulty in measuring overall performance, and challenges in discovering and making required modifications The researcher aimed to improve direct marketing executions at Amazing Group by discovering participants' orientation in this improvement such as increasing potential customer relationships, designing more professional media publications, and increasing product value.

Recommendation

The current study might be considered as the pioneered investigation into the benefits and drawbacks of Amazing Group's direct marketing However, because of the small sample size, the findings of this study should be interpreted with caution Future research could look into the effect of direct marketing on attracting new customers It might also help us understand the link between direct marketing and client attractiveness better.

Limitations

Regardless of the impact of the limitations section on the research value from the perspective of readers and reviewers The author feels that publicly recognizing flaws and deficiencies is critical Because all studies have limitations, choosing to be honest about these limitations demonstrates that this research has thoroughly considered the impact of research weaknesses and has an in-depth understanding of the research topic rather than ignoring or concealing these limited points

The first limitation of this research is time-consuming on data collection rather than any quantitative research Because it requires a labor-intensive analysis process such as categorization, recoding, etc The second drawback point is not statistically representative To be more specific, this research using a qualitative method, which is a perspective-based method of research, the responses given are not measured Also, since this process delves into personal interaction for data collection, discussions often tend to deviate from the main issue to be studied The author has cut a few pieces of content that are not related to the main topic to be easier to handle in data analysis Another problem is that the interpretations are limited Since personal experience and knowledge influence observations and conclusions

Conclusion of Chapter 5

The conclusion of Chapter 5 regarding the summary of the whole study combing with the research limitations, and recommendations Through the presentation of a total of 5 Chapters, this research has already solved the question of "How does direct marketing influence Amazing Group to attract clients or customers?"

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Amazing Glocal Camp

Interview Questions

1 What are direct marketing executions running at Amazing Group?

2 In your opinion, what impact do direct marketing executions have on customer attraction?

3 Which are direct marketing executions at Amazing Group that you think working effectively in attracting customers? Why?

4 What are the problems or challenges of direct marketing at Amazing Group existing in the current period?

5 With your experience in marketing and the time you have been in this position, what are the specific advantages and disadvantages of direct marketing being done at Amazing Group?

6 What is your orientation to improve and grow direct marketing at Amazing Group?

Interview Transcriptions

Participant 1: MISS HAO NGUYEN – CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER

Interviewer: Good morning I‘m so glad to have you here, Miss Hao Nguyen Well, the last time we saw each other it was at the company‗s year-end party It has been 3 months So, how do you do?

Miss Hao Nguyen: Morning Ngoc, thanks for inquiring You remembered exactly In the last 3 months, my team has implemented the execution plan for the summer camp in June and done some tasks related to marketing

Interviewer: Last week I invited you to join in the research interview for "The Pros and

Cons of direct marketing at an educational organization: Amazing Group Joint Stock Company in the Context of Vietnam‖ Thanks for spending time participating First of all to start, what is your job position in Amazing Group Joint Stock Company?

Miss Hao Nguyen: Okay, I am now the CMO of Amazing Group I remember that it has been around 10 months for staying this position from the offer of the CEO invited me to join the company

Interviewer: Would you please to tell me what are your job duties when you working as this position?

Miss Hao Nguyen: I‘m planning and monitoring all of the marketing strategies, plans and campaigns of Amazing Group

Interviewer: Your working experiences are great for the worthwhile data-information resource of this research Now, turning to the direct marketing sector, what direct marketing executions are running at Amazing Group?

Miss Hao Nguyen: We are currently running direct marketing executions by emailing, telemarketing, and promoting our products on social media with the customer directly

Interviewer: Miss Hao Nguyen, I wonder what impact do direct marketing executions have on customer attraction in your opinion?

Miss Hao Nguyen: From my perspective, it helps our customers to get the product information quickly and directly without seeing indirectly it from other platforms Therefore, if our customers have any inquiries, we can immediately respond to them Besides, we can try and understand different customer segments Customers can increase awareness of our company's products, and direct access also helps customers feel more cared for

Interviewer: It sounds fantastic! So, when you are doing connection activities to customers, which direct marketing executions at Amazing Group that you realize are working effectively in attracting customers? And I‘m also curious about the reasonswhy you think that

Miss Hao Nguyen: Honestly, I personally think that the way we keep in touch with our customers through group chats, emails, and then telemarketing are the effective ways to attract the customers as we can give the information to our customers as soon as we launch any new products But among the tools I listed, I reckon the most effective method would be emails though all of them have their positive and negative aspects The reason for choosing it is that emails may bring more opportunities for customers to click on the introduction of product links - to become conversion rates without directly bothering customers in their working time, which may decrease abilities to receive refusal responses from customers rather than group chats and telemarketing

Interviewer: So briefly, you choose emails as an effective way in attracting customers

How about the problem, are there any problems or challenges of direct marketing at Amazing Group existing in the current period?

Miss Hao Nguyen: Of course, yes! The challenging problems we‘re facing right now are first training employees marketing profession All of them almost are newbies in marketing majors so it takes time to do executive tasks Secondly, a hot potato that I wanna share with you is that we did not receive effective responses from the social media direct marketing, the interactive is not much and the number of sales from the social media like Instagram and Facebook is not optimized yet

Interviewer: Thanks for sharing So, have you thought about the solutions to address those challenges? Do you have any orientation to improve and grow direct marketing at Amazing Group?

Miss Hao Nguyen: Absolutely, I‘m in the process Considering overall our orientations, it would be to increase potential customer relationships as well as take care of available customer relationships playing a more significant role, design more professional media publications, increase product value to attract customers and develop a strategy to reach new customers through email marketing campaigns and other marketing programs In addition, the Amazing Group‘s Marketing Department will not recruit new personnel for several months and will train concentratively on employees who have compulsory participation in the professional marketing training course of Amazing Group

Interviewer: The last question of the interview, Miss Hao Nguyen, with your experiences in marketing and the time you have been in this position, what do you think specific advantages and disadvantages of direct marketing executions being done at Amazing Group? Which are those?

Miss Hao Nguyen: You know, everything has two sides Let me tell you these advantages first Direct marketing executions bring the beneficial value of quick responses from customers with a direct approach Email marketing is one example of direct marketing execution that I would like to discuss in more detail It is quick and effective Because timing is essential and it helps save time becoming a quick and efficient method Such as promotional offers sent through email with a clear call to action can have a significant influence on earnings Furthermore, email marketing execution can determine simply how the number of emails sent, the number of emails opened and those that have not opened, the number of individuals who are not registered, and the click rate This can help our team supervise the performance of our work in order to improve the holes of our executions

Interviewer: How about the disadvantages?

Miss Hao Nguyen: Alright Turning to the drawbacks of Amazing Group‘s direct marketing executions The big disadvantages is the mail trashed condition, the customer didn‘t care about the email Otherwise, when an email arrives in the consumer's inbox, there is sometimes so much email that it is impossible for the individual to discern between solicited and unsolicited email, as well as have time to go through the email Therefore, sending emails still exists ineffective elements Moreover, digital marketing is more trendy and we currently develop our strategies for digital marketing but not a master And there is no specific and reasonable process for enforcement activities at Amazing Group specifically, telemarketing

Interviewer: Well, I mean I‘m grateful for being with you in the last 20 minutes, to talk with you, to listen to you Thank you for sharing your views and experiences working at Amazing Group Your contribution is extremely valuable for my research in fulfilling my dissertation

Miss Hao Nguyen: Oh, fine No problem Good luck on your dissertation! See you! Interviewer: Thank you again Goodbye, Miss Hao Nguyen!

Participant 2: MISS TRUC LE – MARKETING COORDINATOR

Interviewer: Hi, Miss Truc Le How are you today?

Miss Truc Le: Oh well Everything develops in a positive way, especially my health I maintain my habit of doing yoga 3 times a week How about you?

Interviewer: What a terrific habit! I‘m quite good First of all, I wanna thank you for being here, and for joining my research interview regarding the pros and cons of direct marketing at Amazing Group This is really my pleasure Then, I have some questions for you related to this field Firstly, what is your job position in Amazing Group Joint Stock Company?

Miss Truc Le: No problem Well, I am the marketing coordinator at Amazing Group

The Table Application of Thematic Analysis Table

Question No Actual Words of

Q1 What direct marketing activities are running at

We are currently running direct marketing executions by emailing, telemarketing, and promoting our products on social media with the customer directly

Of course, there are two main kind direct marketing executions implementing in Amazing Group that we use: email and telemarketing You know that, I‘ve read an article recently that shown remarkable figures

There are 4.6 billion email users on the Earth, and 51% of individuals prefer companies contact them via email

Regarding telemarketing, I personally think that it have much posibilities on bothering our customers Oh, we‘re also upgrading our items on social

From the participants' responses, the researcher comprehends that there are four main types of direct marketing executions working now at Amazing Group: telemarketing, email marketing, and social media marketing, specifically,

Facebook, Instagram, and the final one is internet marketing which is Amazing Group's company website

The participants' expertise and understanding regarding Direct Marketing distribute unevenly media with the clients directly

Telemarketing, email marketing and other social media like our official website on World Wide Web, on facebook and

Instagram Those are currently implementing at Amazing Group

Well, there are telemarketing, email marketing and other social media at currently

Currently, we are applying email marketing, telemarketing and also using social media like Facebook and Instagram, and our Amazing Group Company‘s website for doing the direct marketing executions The feature of giving immediate feedback to customers is a unique point to direct marketing activities

Q2 In your opinion, what impact do direct marketing activities have on customer attraction?

From my perspective, it helps our customers to get the product information quickly and directly without seeing indirectly it from other platforms

The influence of direct marketing having on customer attraction include:

- making consumers feel more cared for by responding to them immediately

Therefore, if our customers have any inquiries, we can immediately respond to them Besides, we can try and understand different customer segments

Customers can increase awareness of our company's products, and direct access also helps customers feel more cared for

As you may know, it is far easier for businesses to generate sales from current clients than it is to seek new leads

Because our present clients are already familiar with our brand and have some level of trust in us That is the major impact of direct marketing executions, which is good in caring for customer care and establishing client loyalty Other effects of direct marketing on client attraction are related to its characteristics and tactics of "selecting targeted customers, immediate responses, optimized segmentations, and so on "

The influence of direct marketing when they need it

- researching thoroughly different customer segments to comprehend their demands when implementing direct marketing can impact their attention

- increasing awareness of company's products

- taking care of customers through direct marketing executions and maintaining available customers relationship to build customer loyalty can be easier in attracting customers

- individualized messages from direct marketing influence the customers' attraction

- the customer's respect and appreciation for the organization's business activities have an influence on attracting customers for that organization

- direct marketing execution can sow the seed of products in customers' awareness before the official product's launch which will let customers attract a product right before the product hit the perspective

● Confused in expression activities - such as telemarketing or emails on attracting clients, in my opinion, is individualized messages More precisely, such executions will remind customers of what the firm offers, while also fostering trust by demonstrating that customers value the organization's business That will make an attraction of customers to

Apart from using emails and telephones to inform our products‘ promotions, the specific social media we use is our official website, and

Regarding the effect that direct marketing executions have on customer attraction, it can build an overview of products

- like sowing the seed of the product in customers' awareness by creating stories and attaching the ―call to action‖ in email marketing campaigns before the official product's launch I mean direct marketing can impact attracting customers market through that way

Well, I see, keeping in touch frequently with customers through sending them promotions or offers, or just regards by direct marketing methods like phone calls, messages, or emails can influence their interest in products However, it is important to target the right customers to prevent over- bothering receivers

Furthermore, it is necessary to research more on their interests to affect them more effectively on customer attention

Q3 Which direct marketing activities at

Group that you think are working effectively in attracting customers and why?

Honestly, I personally think that the way we keep in touch with our customers through group chats, emails, and then telemarketing are the effective ways to attract the customers as we can give the information to our customers as soon as we launch any new products But among the tools I listed, I reckon the most effective method would be emails though all of them have their positive and negative aspects The reason

Most participants stated that telemarketing and email marketing of direct marketing activities at Amazing Group Company are effective But they highly appreciated email marketing as the most favorable execution of drawing the customers' attention

Simultaneously, they also gave different explanations for their decisions on email selection

Remaining social media marketing and

● Same perspective for choosing it is that emails may bring more opportunities for customers to click on the introduction of product links - to become conversion rates without directly bothering customers in their working time, which may decrease abilities to receive refusal responses from customers rather than group chats and telemarketing

As I said before I believe using emails for direct marketing executions is more effective though all of them have positive and negative sides

Regarding my reasons, it‘s about I do think the efficiency of emails is clearer I can follow the number of customers who access emails and have already read our product offers

Moreover, using email can easily generate a separate context for products in each email marketing campaign, like a story to introduce our products It would be created attention for customers

Otherwise, calling customers by phone and telling them internet marketing, they do not mention specifically about it apart from claiming all of the categories are working effectively without no more explanations about the product launches, for example, it‘s not as effective as emails Why? It‘s because customers frequently refuse strange phone numbers We do not have much chance to connect with them One more personal reason is that I honestly feel unhappy when bothering customers by telephone as they are in busy time

I‘d prefer to choose the direct marketing execution of email to be an effective method of attracting customers The reason is that our sales generation rates usually come from email I also think that email fulfilling its mission of informing the promotions and offers of the products to old customers and potential segmentations

Firstly, I need to claim that among the direct marketing execution I have mentioned, all of them work enough effectively in some parts because they all bring potential customers to our products But personally, I select email as the most effective way of attracting potential customers You know, the primary reason is that using emails is more creative to develop the story about the promotion of our products than telephone and other social media, honestly, it also saves time to connect with customers rather than calling or connecting to each customer

For me, email marketing at

Amazing Group is now working effectively among the other direct marketing activities

We also use the telemarketing method but frequently it received refusals because the customers are usually busy

Therefore, emailing is a better choice in order to create conversion rates easily by building email campaigns for products as well as from here can grab customer attention

Of course, yes! The challenging problems

Researcher comprehends the existing problems at

Q4 What are the problems and challenges of direct marketing at

Group that exist in the current period? we‘re facing right now are first training employees marketing profession All of them almost are newbies in marketing majors so it takes time to do executive tasks Secondly, a hot potato that I wanna share with you is that we did not receive effective responses from the social media direct marketing, the interactive is not much and the number of sales from the social media like Instagram and Facebook is not optimized yet