Chuyên đề tốt nghiệp: Factors affecting the effectiveness of content marketing services provided by Vietnam Yellow Pages Services Joint Stock Company

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NATIONAL ECONOMICS UNIVERSITYFACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGESDEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS ENGLISH

TA THI LAN ANH

FACTORS AFFECTING THE EFFECTIVENESS OFCONTENT MARKETING SERVICES PROVIDED BY

VIETNAM YELLOW PAGES SERVICES JOINT STOCK COMPANY

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NATIONAL ECONOMICS UNIVERSITYFACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGESDEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS ENGLISH

TA THI LAN ANH

FACTORS AFFECTING THE EFFECTIVENESS OFCONTENT MARKETING SERVICES PROVIDED BY

VIETNAM YELLOW PAGES SERVICES JOINT STOCK COMPANY

Supervisor: Tran Thi Thu Giang, M.A.

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Ta Thị Lan Anh — 11190513 — Business English 61B

Thanks to the wholehearted support from many individuals and organizations,I was able to complete my thesis During my time studying at National EconomicsUniversity, I have received a lot of assistance from many teachers and friends I wouldlike to express my gratefulness to Faculty of Foreign Languages and all the teachersthat have enthusiastically taught me for more than three years.

I would like express my gratitude to my thesis advisor, M.A Tran Thi ThuGiang, for all her conscientious support during my research writing process She wasactively guided and assisted me She was always willing to direct and give me helpfuladvice whenever I needed.

Moreover, I would like to thank Ms Tran Tuyet Mai, the Manager ofInternational Department at Vietnam Yellow Pages Services JSC, who helped me alot not only in my internship at the company, but also in my thesis She allowed tohave the opportunities to applied learnt knowledge to the real situations, provided mewith all the essential information and helped me to communicate with customers tocollect data to my research Besides, I am grateful to all the staff at Vietnam YellowPages, for their enthusiastic support during my working time.

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The objective of this study is to analyze the factors affecting the effectivenessof content marketing services provided by Vietnam Yellow Pages Services JointStock Company Some prior literature was analyzed to emphasize the crucial issuesin this thesis In which, four main factors were focused on, including culturalbackground of customers, context marketing, characteristics of content and contentmarketing production and management The data was collected via questionnaire,with the participation of 150 current customers of Vietnam Yellow Pages Datagathered then analyzed using SPSS version 20 Results presents that contentmarketing production and management had the highest level of influence, while thelowest one was the cultural background of customers The level of influence alsopoints out the performance of Vietnam Yellow Pages with this factor All the resultswere discussed to propose several recommendations to improve the content marketingservices’ effectiveness at Vietnam Yellow Pages Services JSC.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION OF THE VIETNAM YELLOW PAGES SERVICESJOINT STOCK COMPANY

1.1 Organization profile

1.1.1 History of the COMPANY úả c o5 << 5 ỌỌ 1 gọn 0 0.0000 80 80006000 180806 51.1.2 General information of the company

1.1.3 Organizational StFUCtUTE co << S1 S55 959 sone

1.2 Characteristics of Vietnam Yellow Pages’ DuSỈTSS o- << 5< sse< se sessses 91.2.1 Business 0Ùj©€CfÏV€S -«e«<«« weed

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CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL ERAMEWORK Họng nga, 13

2.1 Content marketing

2.1.1 Definition of content Marketing 866 132.1.2 The nature of content HIAT€ẨÏHIEP ngu 142.1.3 Significance of content marketing in B2B CONGEXE ccccccecceseeeseeseeseeeseeseeneenseeseeaeens 142.1.4 Purposes of content Marketing Sàn vn HH TH HH HH ràng 152.1.5 Ways of content Marketing - ng HH TH 16

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2.1.6 Dimensions of content IHAT€ẨHHE nh HH HH TT HT HH tràn 17VU, 1 nố.ố ốốốốốằ.ằ 172.1.8 The paradigms and key components of content marketing -scs‹ccs«cssxs<c> 18

2.2 Factors affecting content marketing activities cccccssssssssssssscsscssesssssscescrees 20

2.2.1 Cultural background of CUStOMETS vn HT ng ng ng ng, 202.2.2 Context Marketing an ốốốố.ốốốố.ốố 212.2.3 Characteristics 6n), an ố 222.2.4 Content marketing production and HIGHQĐ©HHCHHỂ ả St snrrtrirrerrrrrrerrrre 24

2.3 Research ẨT22ITICWOTFĂK << << << 9 9 9.9.9 9.0 0 00.00 0.000006006868 886 24

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLUOYY 6 5 5< s9 9 9 00 0100900 26

3.1 Data collecting procedures (G5 9 9 9 0.0.0 000060096684 866 26

3.2 Data analyzing Procedures - <5 << << 9.0 0000001000 0900 26

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CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION << 5< SH nhnHHnhn nunungmsee29

4.1 Current business relation with Vietnam Yellow Pages <<«<<<<<s 29

4.1.1 Time of using services provided by Vietnam Yellow PAQeS - ‹© +294.1.2 Customer’s experience when using Vietnam Yellow Pages -«<<<5+ 30

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4.3 ConcÌÏusÏOInS <-<<<<<< 41

CHAPTER 5: RECOMMENDA TIONS o- (5 HH HH HH HH 010060000 425.1 Recommendations for Cultural background Ẩ4aCOTF - s-<s=< 5 5< s=<ssesee 42

5.2 Recommendation for Context marketing factor s5 < <55< sse<ssesssessses 42

5.3 Recommendations for Characteristics of content ẨaCfOTF -< 5-<<5<<=<< << se 43

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CONCLUSION scsssssssssssscscsssscsccssssescscssssesssscsesssssscssessscssesscssscssescesssessossscssessescsessessessssssesssesses 46REFERENCES csscsssssssssssssssccscssccsescsscsccssssccsecssccsesssscssssescscssesssscscssscsessssssessscsscssessssssessecsoes ViiiAPPENDIX 1 sccscssssssscscsscscsssssscssescesesessescscssessessssssessssssssessssssessossssssssesssessossesssessesssessessossssssosenesses

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1.1 Vietnam Yellow Pages Services Joint Stock Company’s organizationalSUTUCIUTE oo nnn enn Eee EE dd 8

Figure 2.1 Proposed research theoretical framework 25

Figure 3.1 The locations of participants’ company 27

Figure 3.2 The target markets of participants’ company 28

Figure 4.1 Time of using services from Vietnam Yellow Pages 29

Figure 4.2 Customers’ usually encountered content marketing formats 31

Figure 4.3 Customers’ often used research tools 32

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 4.1 Customer’s tried services when using Vietnam Yellow Pages 30

Table 4.2 Mean score for Customers’ experience 32

Table 4.3 Mean scores for Cultural background factor 34

Table 4.4 Test of Homogeneity of Variances 35

Table 4.5 ANOVA result 0.0.0 c ccc cece cece cence eee ne nee e ee eens ne ne en enenenenaes 35Table 4.6 Mean scores for Context marketing factor 36

Table 4.7 Mean scores for Characteristics of content factor 37

Table 4.8 Mean scores for Content production and management factor 39Table 4.9 Mean scores for Overall factors «1.0.0.0 00 ccc ccc cece cence cence ne ee ene enes 41

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LIST OF ABBREVIATION

JSC: Joint Stock Company

FDI: Foreign Direct InvestmentB2B: Business to Bussiness

SPSS: Statistical Package for Social SciencesVYP: Vietnam Yellow Pages

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1 Rationale

In today’s time, doing business is getting increasingly competitive, as just inSeptember 2022, Vietnam had 11,466 newly founded companies, according to theNational Business Registration Portal Under this condition, the role of marketing iseven more crucial in making a business closer to customers Kotler (2013) said thateven having the perfect products or services at the reasonable pricing will notguarantee success if not enough buyers are aware of them Moreover, he also claimedthat there was one common trait in the companies which succeed nowadays — theywere all intensely client focused and substantially invested in marketing activities.Customers are considered as the foundation for all marketing initiatives (Rahimnia &Hassanzadeh, 2013) Because customers and value have a close-knit relationship,successful entrepreneurs understand that if they take enough care of their customers,it is more likely to increase their market shares and profit growth Communication hasalways been a key factor in human progress The rapid growth of technologicaladvancement opens new chances for companies as it creates new ways for customersto approach items, services or the companies The rise and growth in technologicaladvancement have also opened new opportunities for companies Technologicalprogress has undoubtedly changed the behavior and habit of consumers, as sharinginformation online is an inevitable aspect of consumers’ lives, as according to Statista,

in July, 2022, there were over five billion Internet users, accounting for more than 63%of global population In every part of the world, people share news, social networking

posts and videos to their family and friends, which leads to significant impact on bothcustomers and business (Vinerean, 2017) People can easily connect in the digitalworld through their laptops, computers or smartphones The popularity of digitaltechnology and the spread of the Internet have led to radical changes in howbusinesses interact with their stakeholders and communicate with one another As aresult, companies compete with one another not just via the products or services theysupply but also through what they issue, it is better for them to provide consumerswith unique, fascinating and educational materials (Chan & Astari, 2017).

Under this modern, content is the key in creating awareness and generatingquality leads which maintains healthy sales promotion Customers are being less

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likely to be influenced by the presented content, and they now need reliable andhelpful information to help them in the process of making decisions According toHipwell & Reeves (2013), because clients are getting more sophisticated andknowledgeable, they are aware of their rights to decide what information they should

obtain and whether it should be trusted.

According to Arokia, Shruti and Asmita (2018), thanks to the Internet, theglobe has been transformed into a village, every new or current item or service mayreach consumers in an easy way because of the greater connection and increased dataconsumption Therefore, it seems to be vital for a website to appear at the top of searchengines result pages, such as Google, Bing Besides the Marketing Department insideenterprises, marketing agencies like Vietnam Yellow Pages Services Joint StockCompany with a team of professional and skilled content writers, editorials, etc aregetting more popular as a tool to promote brand images and help companies to connectwith customers easily.

Content marketing has been a topic for researchers and marketers to work on.There are some studies on content marketing elements, history, application, and itsinfluence on search advertisement, brand and online customer engagement However,the current situation of content marketing, factors affecting its processes in specificagencies in Vietnam have not been dug deeply Therefore, the subject “Factorsaffecting the effectiveness of content marketing services provided by Vietnam YellowPages Services Joint Stock Company” has been chosen to fulfill this gap.

2 Research objectives

The study is aimed at the factors affecting the content marketing servicesprovided by Vietnam Yellow Pages Services Joint Stock Company in Hanoi.Therefore, the research focuses on following three objectives:

The first goal of the research is to review the current situation of contentmarketing services provided by Vietnam Yellow Pages.

Secondly, the study is aimed to analyze the factors affecting the effectivenessof the content marketing services and the performance of Vietnam Yellow Pages incompatibility with each factor.

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Last but not least, the research is hoped to recommend some suggestions toimprove content marketing activities at Vietnam Yellow Pages.

Thirdly, which measures can be taken to enhance the quality of contentmarketing activities at Vietnam Yellow Pages?

4, Research objects and scope4.1 Research objects

This study focuses on analyzing the factors affecting the effectiveness ofcontent marketing services at Vietnam Yellow Pages Service Joint Stock Company

4.2 Research scope

Geographical scope: Vietnam Yellow Pages Services Joint Stock Company

Time scope: Data collected from the responses of the survey conducted amongthe current customers of Yellow Pages Vietnam Joint Stock Company in Hanoi in

Content scope: The content of this research includes information about contentmarketing in general and at Vietnam Yellow Pages Services Joint Stock Company inparticular to make investigation, analysis and give some recommendations.

5 Research methodology

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In order to review the current situation, the factors affecting content marketingservices provided by Vietnam Yellow Pages Services JSC, qualitative andquantitative methods are being applied.

The questionnaires are sent to 150 people who are the representatives of currentcustomers of Vietnam Yellow Pages SPSS software will be utilized in the analyzingprocess The data collected will be analyzed under the form of tables, charts anddescriptive statistics.

6 Research structure

The research comprises of five main chapters:

Chapter 1: Introduction of the company — includes general and specificinformation of Vietnam Yellow Pages Services Joint Stock Company

Chapter 2: Theoretical framework — provides literature review and proposedresearch framework

Chapter 3: Research methodology — discusses the methods used to gather andanalyze the data and the participants’ information.

Chapter 4: Findings and discussion — contains the analysis of data collected

Chapter 5: Recommendations — proposes some useful suggestions for solvingthe problems.

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION OF THE VIETNAM YELLOW PAGESSERVICES JOINT STOCK COMPANY

This chapter focuses on providing general and specific information of Vietnam YellowPages Services Joint Stock Company, including its history, basic information,

organizational structure, and some business features about its objectives, postingsubjects and advertising activities currently.

1.1 Organization profile

1.1.1 History of the company

Yellow Pages is one of the most reputable and popular brands over the world.It is a directory that lists the names, locations, and phone numbers of companies in aparticular city or area, listing them by business sectors Almost every country hasYellow Pages as an inevitable tool for searching for the information of businesses andsuppliers Some of the most successful Yellow Pages are American, English, French,Canadian, Singaporean, Australian and German ones.

In 1993, Australia and Singapore brought Yellow Pages to Vietnam throughthe cooperation with Hanoi Post Office and Ho Chi Minh City Post Office to publishthe printed Yellow Pages book.

On March 3", 2010, Viet Business Information and Technology Joint Stock

Company was established in Hanoi Vietnam Yellow Pages Services Joint StockCompany was a subsidiary of this corporation Although working together in theVietnam Yellow Pages system for a long time, Vietnam Yellow Pages Services JSCwas just officially registered the tax code since 2017

In the beginning, the company had the domain namewww.niengiamtrangvang.com and a 5-employee team In 2014, a new Yellow Pagessystem was launched with the domain name www.yellowpagesvn.com, and arepresentative office in Ho Chi Minh City was formed One year later, theInternational Yellow Pages system was introduced under the domain namewww.yellowpagesvn.com In 2017, Vietnam Yellow Pages Services Joint StockCompany was separated from this corporation and worked together with VietBusiness Information and Technology JSC in the Vietnam Yellow Pages system In

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2018, the Vietnam Yellow Pages book 2018/2019 was introduced, followed by thefirst issue of Yellow Pages book 2019/2020 in English In 2021, two new websiteswere launched, including www.yellowpages.vn and www.yellowpages.com.vn Atthe same time, the printed Vietnam Yellow Pages book was released for the secondtime.

Being a pioneer in the development of the Internet Yellow Pages system, up tonow, Vietnam Yellow Pages has been operating for over 10 years and affirmed itsposition in the field of providing business information.

1.1.2 General information of the company

Vietnam Yellow Pages has the full name of Vietnam Yellow Pages ServicesJoint Stock Company, with the tax number being 0107814971 The company was

registered on 20" April, 2017 The current address of this company is 12A" floor,

Thang Long Metal Building, No.1 Luong Yen, Hai Ba Trung, Hanoi, with therepresentative being Mr Tran Duc Thien Currently, main business sector of VietnamYellow Pages is advertising.

Vietnam Yellow Pages is the only unit having the copyright under international

brand registered for 70 years It is a reputable system of websites providing in-depthbusiness information and improving trade connection and promotion in the form ofB2B (Business to business) Besides, its logo has also been copyrighted with theCopyright Office since 2018.

Vietnam Yellow Pages is an online channel, providing complete information

about a business, including: company name, address, phone number, email, website,production/ supply capacity, business lines, products, services, photos and contact

information In addition, it is the only yellow page that supports searching in both

Vietnamese and English in Vietnam Business information is optimized for searchingon Google.

Nowadays, with more than 350,000 thousand businesses nationwide andaround the world, over 3,000 sector categories, and over 1,000,000 products andservices, the websites record at least 300 thousand hits everyday to look for

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manufacturers, suppliers and business partners, according to Google Analytics Usersof Vietnam Yellow Pages are 100% businesses, directors, deputy directors,department managers, employees aged from 18 to 54 — a large number of potential

The product set of Yellow Pages consists of the Vietnam Yellow Pages system,including four official websites and the printed book, and the English Yellow Pagessystem (International Yellow Pages) which contains one official website and theprinted book.

Company’s vision is to become the leading reputable business connection andinformation channel in Vietnam and promote the development of each Vietnameseand global enterprise Besides, Vietnam Yellow Pages is committed to providing thebusiness community with precise, detailed and authenticated information with itssincerity and responsibility for the development of each business Yellow Pagesalways upholds the core values “Precision — Sincerity — Responsibility — Dedication”throughout its development.

1.1.3 Organizational structure

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Figure 1.1 Vietnam Yellow Pages Services Joint Stock Company’s organizational

International Marketing Technical Sales

Department Department Department Department

International Digital Administrative Sales Support Editorial

>} Editorial E>| Marketing E>| Accounting Lp Ses SUPE BỊ T60 Hị Sales Division 1

San) Pan et Division Division

Division Division Division

Industry Communication tana Rese

——>» Research E>| and Brandi —> nể Tung of SE tses on ae Divison ‘—») Clerical Division +>) Design Division | Sales Division 2

Division Division

Translation Market Research

Division Division >} Data Division Ly| Sales Division 3

Industry Review [> Sales Division 4

| ee

Industry Ho Chi Minh

>| — Research | City Sales

Division Division

Customer Care

Ly|and Management|

(Source: Accounting — Administration Department)

Vietnam Yellow Pages Service Joint Stock Company‘s structure includes sixmain departments, which are International, Marketing, Accounting — Administration,Back Sales, Technical and Sales Department In which, the Sales Department areresponsible for looking for customers who have the need for posting information orany content marketing related activities Besides, the International Department andTechnical Department are the in charge of creating content marketing according tocustomer’s requirements.

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1.2 Characteristics of Vietnam Yellow Pages’ business

1.2.1 Business objectives

Realizing the difficulties and pressures of each business in maintaining theircompetition and position in the market to optimize profits, Vietnam Yellow Pageswas born with the five main goals.

Firstly, it hopes to help businesses stand out from their competitors in the samefield Secondly, Vietnam Yellow Pages want to allow businesses to connect withpotential customers The third aim of Vietnam Yellow Pages is to enable companiesto be aware of and evaluate alternative products and services available Moreover, thecompany wants to help them to work with a large number of suppliers to reduce theinput costs, decrease the product prices and increase profits Lastly, Vietnam YellowPages aims to maintain and promote their competitive advantages on the online

1.2.2 Subjects in Vietnam Yellow Pages

The Vietnamese Yellow Pages, which is domestic Yellow Pages, is a channelto connect businesses in Vietnam with foreign enterprises which hope to findcustomers in Vietnam, serving the Vietnamese researchers Companies that post onthe Vietnamese Yellow Pages systems are producers, processors, distributors, traders,wholesalers, businesses with FDI capital and headquartered in Vietnam In addition,they could be international enterprises having export activities to the Vietnamese

On the other hand, the information on Vietnam Yellow Pages system issearched mostly by corporations in Vietnam having the need to find partners to supplyequipment, raw materials, goods and services Besides, it could be looked for bydomestic brokers seeking sources of goods Additionally, companies in Vietnamhoping to look for potential corporate customers also have a need to search forinformation here.

Meanwhile, English Yellow Pages, or known as International Yellow Pages, is

a system providing business information, connecting trade between import and export

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enterprises and FDI companies in Vietnam as well as around the world, servingforeign users Enterprises that have information on International Yellow Pages areVietnamese companies engaging in production, trading and exporting goods globally.Besides, they could be Vietnamese corporations outsourcing and manufacturingaccording to orders from abroad such as in the garment, leather, shoes, accessoriesindustries or businesses providing service chains cooperated with foreign ones, forexample tourism and transportation In addition, companies with FDI in Vietnam orhaving a need to expand and develop the market internationally also wish to post theirinformation.

The main researchers on English system are foreign enterprises, FDIcompanies finding partners and suppliers in Vietnam and foreign brokers seekinggoods sources for their businesses or domestic brokers searching for sources to exportInformation on Vietnam Yellow Pages is arranged logically, based on locations,sector categories, etc., which is quite straightforward for users Currently, there are 34sector categories in the Vietnamese system and 28 ones in the English page.

1.2.3 Advertising activities for businesses on Vietnam Yellow Pages

Information of the business before being uploaded to the Vietnam YellowPages system is censored by an information form which has the signature and theenterprise seal to ensure legality, prove the existence of the company and avoid boguscompanies Simultaneously, having information on Vietnam Yellow Pages not onlyallows businesses to position their brands and reputation of their products and services,but also enhances their competitiveness in comparison with other corporations in theirindustry.

Vietnam Yellow Pages provides customers with four main types of advertising,based on the requirements and special features of each company First, listing is the

form of advertising with a list of prominent information displayed in the middle of the

screen, which presents detailed and complete information like an electric catalog page.With carefully composed introductions, key words, images, advertising text anddetailed product page, listing could be an effective tool to promote the enterprise’sposition when customers search on Google There are 38 positions on the first page

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in Vietnamese Yellow Pages and 25 ones on English Yellow Pages The conversionrate into customers purchasing products and services is quite high, at 80% Becausecustomers go to the Vietnam Yellow Pages to find suppliers or manufacturers, theability to boost their demand will be higher when having access to complete, accurateand in-depth information.

The second form Is banner, which is the most prominent one thanks to thevivid illustrations and optimized for search on Google as well This banner is linkedwith businesses’ websites; therefore, it could lead customers directly to the websitejust by one click and increase the quality backlinks for these websites This method ismore effective by focusing on the main products, brand identity color and sending aquicker message to customers.

Besides, the four horizontal banner boxes are another effective tool by sendingrapid messages to customers, which only take them three seconds to identify It is thehighest special position on the search result pages on Yellow Pages Area of one box

is 234x64 pixels and two boxes are 468x64 pixels with less than 50kb capacity.

The last form is advertisement in the directory of sector categories, whichcontains name, location, logo and advertising text of the companies.

In addition to the standard information, Vietnam Yellow Pages has expandedthe module to build in-depth detailed product and service information Byparticipating in advertising on the International Yellow Pages, businesses will receivethe service of building a free bilingual website with stunning design Yellow Pagesprovides completely free design and free hosting with the domain name bizz.vn.

With the cost being only from 2 million VND/ year, which is fixed and not

incurred during one year, information of businesses are posted on all four Vietnamese

and English websites, aimed at wholesale and agency customers The websitesdesigned and supplied by Yellow Pages are committed to be professional, bring valueto customers through the content, images, banners developed by experted anddedicated staff.

Businesses could reach the potential customers from direct sources, includingdomestic and international channels and Yellow Pages books, as most enterpriseshave already known and formed a habit of seeking partners on Vietnam Yellow

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Pages Moreover, they are able to approach through indirect search from Google,which means via optimized keywords towards wholesales and keywords by provinceas well as the links from Google to Vietnam Yellow Pages.

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CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

This chapter will provide general information about content marketing such as itsdefinition, nature, significance, purposes, methods, dimensions, metrics and elements.Besides, it also consists of the factors affecting the effectiveness of content marketing

services and an overview of the proposed research framework.2.1 Content marketing

2.1.1 Definition of content marketing

Since the early 1900s, certain innovative corporations, including Michelin andCoca-Cola, have been experimenting with content marketing.

As defined by Holliman and Rowley (2014), the term content had its origins inthe publishing industry, where texts, pictures and visual graphics must be compellingenough to draw readers to the platforms, which could be newspapers, news, TVadvertisements or audio records.

The term content marketing can be defined differently from various scholars’opinions as its formation seems to be an intricate and constant procedure It hasemerged as the newest fad in the field of PR and marketing However, there are stillspecific common aspects in the different understandings of this term Pulizzi andBarrett (2008) pointed out that content marketing is a marketing technique of creatingand distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire and engage customers.Besides, it was also considered as an approach concentrating on the development of aworthwhile experience (Rose and Pulizzi 2011) Combining these twounderstandings, the result was what the Content Marketing Institute (2016) describedcontent marketing, which lastly successfully encouraged customers’ responses andactivities There are a number of other phrases used to illustrate content marketing,including custom media, custom publishing, branded content, branded editorial,corporate publishing, information marketing, branded storytelling, advertorial, etc.Content marketing may be demonstrated as a marketing approach which aims to findproducts manufactured according to consumers’ needs, hence achieving theirgratification (Karkar, 2016).

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Although content marketing is quite familiar in real life, it is still a relativelynew thing in the scientific research area (Ausra, 2016) This is the reason why therehas been no obvious and commonly accepted definition However, this research willapply the definition of Content Marketing Institute, which is Content marketing is astrategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant,and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience — and,ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.

2.1.2 The nature of content marketing

Content marketing could be explained as the technique of boosting a companyor a brand, both directly and indirectly, both online and offline, via the forms of added-value words, videos or audios (Gunelius, 2011), Puro and Pasi (2013) describedcontent marketing as a way to stand out from the masses, instead of pushing thepotential clients towards the purchase with aggressive marketing, a business couldbring the target audiences interesting content As a result, the impact of contentmarketing is comparable to that of earned media, which is said to bring greaterinfluence on customers than other types of media activities.

According to Miller (2013), by attracting the target market to the organizationmaterial, which should be beneficial, pertinent, entertaining, shareable, affordable,aesthetically attractive and related to the business tales, the target customers are subtlyimpacted It might be claimed that content marketing belongs in the discipline ofmarketing communication, because a number of professionals viewed it as a newbranding method that can raise brand recognition, exposure and legitimacy, therebyencouraging social media participation Users interact on social media when theyshare, discuss, comment on, visit links to read, like and then share brand content (DuPlessis, 2015).

2.1.3 Significance of content marketing in B2B context

The increased importance of digital channels of communication on buyinghabits represents a major change in the business-to-business sector Holliman and

Rowley (2014) indicated that B2B digital content marketing entailed producing,

disseminating and sharing timely, relevant material to attract clients at the right stage

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of their decision-making procedures and persuade them to take a business-buildingaction They also did research and found out the increasing importance of contentmarketing use in the B2B sector 86% of marketing professionals in North Americaemployed content marketing techniques as a strategic marketing plan, and nearly ahalf of marketing participants had an organization-wide content marketing team.

2.1.4 Purposes of content marketing

Content marketing purposes play an important role in the formation of aspecific content strategy It is believed to reach target audience and increase brandawareness, sales, engagement, and loyalty Noted by Rose and Pulizzi (2011), theobjective funnel of content marketing contained: brand awareness or reinforce; leadconversion and nurturing; customer conversion; consumer service; clients upsells andpassionate followers.

When a business initially engaged in content marketing, the first objective thatarises is to build a long-term strategy to increase brand awareness among the public.The second stage, lead conversion, starts when a user supplies their personal data andagrees to having it used by the business for marketing initiatives One of the mostcommon concepts is called memberships, which enables organizations to developpromotions and unique content for various user categories Following that, customersconversion has long been the attention of marketing experts It relates to the evidenceelements, or the components that persuade the consumers to conclude a purchasewhen convincing them that a specific item is superior to the alternatives After that,the consumer service phase adds value to customers and reinforces this purchasingdecision At this point, the contents act as a great resource for clients to take advantageof what they buy, enhancing both shopping experience and the brand The FAQ areaon the websites or the customer care chat bots are both examples designed to respond

to inquiries from their clients A post-sale stage that allows companies to continuecommunication with their consumers in anticipation of further future purchases is

customer upselling Maintaining the relationship with a current client cost less than

acquiring a totally new one Furthermore, there is a tremendous possibility to boost

revenues by making personalized recommendations or adding new items that are inline with customer’s preferences The last objective that every business strives to

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achieve is the evangelists or subscriber phase, which represent the brand’s ferventcustomer base.

Moreover, a content marketing study published by BtoB Magazine (2012) alsopointed out that lead conversion, brand awareness and conceptual managementremained the most crucial purposes, with the proportions being 51%, 38% and 34%respectively.

In a study that compared content marketing and social media marketing,Murdock and Toby (2012) assumed that the former places more of an emphasis ondemand creation Websites featuring valuable content may develop relationships withpotential customers and guide them toward a lead conversion and acquisition.

As suggested by Elisa and Gordini (2014), content marketing was the processthat developed content which brought value with the aim to draw and keep customers.

Along with binding and being appealing, it should also entice them to purchase,

operating as a financial tool Therefore, by applying content marketing, businesses areanticipated to be able to change consumers’ behavior to achieve their own goals.Analysis of new communication methods, which are considerably different from thetypical forms employed by companies, is required when placing a focus on content.

According to Granata and Scozzese (2019), the objective of content marketingwas to shape consumer perceptions of the providers of the materials favorably, andvia those beliefs, create the mindset that this organization is the market leader Thecontent tends to give the impression to users that the business behind them who alsoare the suppliers of the goods and services perfectly serves them In other words, itaims to satisfy the public’s desire for knowledge and amusement.

2.1.5 Ways of content marketing

Content marketing is not always seen in a fixed form; instead, it could be inthe form of news, video, papers, e-books, images, e-mails, podcasts, studies, blogs,etc (De Clerck, 2016) Not only above types, content marketing could be in anycomponents that are enough to draw in customers’ attention As the construction of acontent-based marketing plan is not just the same as creating an online commercial, itis necessary for businesses to research and develop content that successfully boost thesales of their products and services.

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According to Ansari et al (2019), blogs, movies, case studies, infographics, books, photographs, expert reviews, and so on are all examples of content In which,videos are thought to be the most successful marketing strategy for communicatingbusiness insights to customers.

e-Besides, there are many other types of content marketing that people couldchoose to incorporate in their marketing strategy nowadays, such as online contentmarketing, social media content marketing, infographic content marketing, blogcontent marketing, video content marketing and paid ad content marketing (Baker,2022).

2.1.6 Dimensions of content marketing

Elisa and Gordini (2014) indicated three main dimensions of content marketing,including contents, customer engagement and goals First, the creation of contentshould post several factors that make customers like them Especially when buildingcorporate content, consideration might be given to interesting, educative andconsistent content, along with the photos of the business Second, the method ofgenerating values in the contents involves the customers Thanks to the breakthroughsin the development of the Internet and technology, it is simpler for both consumersand corporations to engage with each other Lastly, organizations are expected toattain objectives like brand awareness, customers’ engagement and customerrelationship maintenance via utilizing content marketing.

2.1.7 Content marketing metrics

According to Elisa and Gordini (2014) in their research on Content marketingmetrics, there were four key groups of content marketing measurements, which wereconsumption, sharing, lead generation and sales metrics These categories weredescribed as being separate on one side, but at the same time, presented relationshipswith each other Besides, they worked as effective tools to assess how content

marketing dimensions contribute to the process of creating value.

First, consumption measurement allows marketers to evaluate the amount ofbrand recognition as well as web traffic that the content was produced Amongconsumption metrics, page views, downloads, visits, time on web and social chatter

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are increasingly often utilized This is because these indicators include a wealth ofhelpful data and are simple to measure using tools like Google Analytics.

Second, by applying sharing metrics measures, marketing managers couldmeasure the level of content sharing by consumers with their network of people witha direct and remarkable impact on the engagement For instance, it could be measuredthrough likes, shares and tweets Besides, email forwards and inbound links arefurther examples of this measurement It is said to be useful for measuring thediffusion and the sharing of content amongst a sizable customer base and their socialnetworks.

Third, Elisa and Gordini pointed out that lead generation metrics measuredhow often content consumption resulted in a lead Thus, in corporations, especially inB2B, it is frequently stated as a goal for content creation This type of measurecontained form completions, email, newsletter, blog subcriptions, blog comments,cookies, RSS feeds and conversion proportions based on the types of items or servicementioned Moreover, this is the first of four categories that determine the economicand financial impact of content marketing.

Finally, sales data support determining how content marketing affects businesssuccess, which could be called KPIs, including online and offline sales, clientretention, cost savings and content marketing ROI These assist marketers inevaluating the influence of content marketing on client engagement and revenues.Despite their significance, marketers typically have limited knowledge of them andthey are not viewed as a key instrument for adding value.

2.1.8 The paradigms and key components of content marketing

Because the role of content marketing is increasingly important, buildingstructural access is getting essential Pulizzi and Barrett (2009) recommended aformula called B.E.S.T, which meant behavioral — essential — strategic — targeted.Behavioral element suggests that every message sent to clients has a certain goal Thenext component means that it is necessary to deliver information that your bestprospects really need at business or in their personal lives Moreover, the wholecompany plan must include content marketing as a key integral part Ultimately, it isvital to target content precisely so that it is truly relevant to buyers From the theory,

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it is also reasonable to infer that content marketing is a technique intended to increaseviewer engagement with a brand As a result, studying the individual traits of thetarget customers is crucial to create relevant material and build an efficient plan.

From another approach, Bar-Joseph (2014) recognized four interconnected

components of content marketing, which were message, format, distribution andpromotion channel It can be seen that the first two components are more related tothe content aspect, while the other parts are more linked to marketing one Themessage is unquestionably the most crucial element, is what a company would like toconvey to its target audience and what has a direct effect on the result Meanwhile,the content’s format could be more flexible, as it can be either audio, text or images,which is a significant factor in choosing the distribution method and the mode ofadvertising Depending on the characteristics of the target clients, distribution waysmay range from browser to social media platforms Additionally, the whole effort toefficiently spread the material is known as promotion.

Meanwhile, Holliman and Rowley (2014), when studying in a B2B context,

found three aspects of content marketing: not-paid-for, paid-for and social for content is created by a company to develop customer conversion, relationshipbuilding, knowledge and sale of its items With the same objectives, paid-for materialis built also for the selling of digital information Lastly, brand community membersproduce social material with the intention of expressing their opinions and learning

Not-paid-from the company and others.

Du Plessis (2015) identified six components of content marketing aftercompleting a qualitative approach evaluation of 55 research The six elements are asfollows: medium element which refers the description of the material’s platform;strategic component — the method to build the content; formation, which describeshow the material was developed; intrinsic element explains how the content occursnaturally; communication component, the instruments applied to deliver theinformation; and corollary element that defines the expected result of the content.

It is still viable to characterize content marketing as a mix of pull methods evenif the platforms and knowledge toward customers have changed A further guaranteeof content marketing is the fact that it is currently mostly a web-based strategy, or to

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put it another way, it appears in a variety of digital outlets (Magdalena & Uniwersytet,2016).

2.2 Factors affecting content marketing activities

Content marketing initiatives may be considered effective if they result inhigher levels of cognitive, emotional and behavioral consumer involvement They arealso thought to have to boost consumer’s brand trust, encourage positive brandattitudes and raise brand value, which could inspire more positive reactions (Koob,2021).

2.2.1 Cultural background of customers

Culture is considered as the collective programming of the mind thatdistinguished the members of a group apart from another (Hofstede, 2011).

According to Wurtz (2006), when it came to web design, there were differencesbetween high-context cultures and low-context cultures These distinctions are brokendown into five primary classifications, including animation, value-promotion,inclusion or exclusion of customers, degree of transparency as well as linear vs.parallel web navigation The research indicated that the degree of animation use washigher in high-context cultures Therefore, the content format should be highlightedas certain societies may prefer some specific types of information.

Not only the content format but also the content channels should be variedaccording to cultural background Goodrich et al (2013) discussed the impact ofindividualism and collectivism on the buying decisions of social networking users Itstated that social networking sites were less prevalent in individualistic nations likeAmerica or Australia.

In addition, as mentioned on the Return on Now Search Engine Market ShareReport (2015), different nations have various search engine market shares Forexample, Google accounted for 96% market share in Turkey, while South Koreanpeople preferred Naver, at 77% Consequently, attempts to optimize for searchengines within the framework of content marketing should be paid more attention,especially when companies hope to do business globally.

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Oguz (2016) pointed out that because the effectiveness of any contentmarketing plan depends on understanding how to develop widely read material andmeaning, various forms of content should be considered to develop to connect withcustomers from diverse cultural backgrounds Making a value is unquestionably tiedto people’s mental program.

Due to the formation of customers’ response based on the change anddevelopment of conditions, it is acceptable to say that culture interacts with itsenvironment Circumstances might be thought of as outside forces that have an impacton clients’ actions, and culture may be indirectly influenced by shifting conditions.All posted by a brand like messages, content or stories aims to alter a certain customercondition or viewpoint toward a given goods, service or the whole business As aresult, people from varied cultural backgrounds respond to information andcompany’s notions in multiple manners It is believed that both outer and contentmanagement based on multiple groups of perspectives are essential Therefore, itmatters if the communication is logical or emotive.

2.2.2 Context marketing

Context marketing defines efforts with the goal of providing receivers withrelevant material at the appropriate time and in a desirable way If content marketingwas a strategy, context marketing was a philosophy that made public content evenmore effective (Chalmers, 2013) Additionally, context marketing is also listening tothe market It is feasible to comprehend both the methods and the reasons consumerssearch for and discover one company on the Internet with the help of moderntechnologies After that, via applying new information technologies, businesses coulddevelop valuable information at the precise moment and location expected by clients.

According to Magdalena and Uniwersytet (2016), contextual marketing madethe assumption that customers might be at various stages of the consumer life cyclewhen customers come to a website in search of information for a certain item orservice Therefore, it should be emphasized that material provided to consumers whoare new to the brand would be different from what brought to ones who have a deepconnection with the brand Unquestionably, material quality is vital, but so arequantity and distribution strategy Producing quality information which is informative,

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convincing and amusing is crucial, but it might not be enough In order for businessesto gain advantages from content marketing, they should not only offer useful contentin various formats, including texts, photos, presentations, videos, audio andiconography, but they also should take the context in which content is conveyed into

Besides, Verma and Vemuri (2022) described the significance of flexibility.Since customers currently cared a lot about whether they could see the product of anyorganization information online from anywhere on just their smartphone For example,a piece of content which is only compatible with browsers on laptop or computerswould be considered as inconvenient.

The effect of communication could be improved by the cooperative agreementbetween context marketing and content marketing Consequently, thanks to theenhancement in content effectiveness, businesses will be able to achieve goals morequickly.

2.2.3 Characteristics of content

Rose and Pulizzi (2011) believed that in order to stand out from othercompetitors, an organization’s content should be able to attact the clients’ attentionwhile involving them and imparting knowledge Additionally, they need tocommunicate all the values that define that company and also be capable of changingthroughout time Continuous content monitoring is crucial, because digital media isdynamic, users also occasionally change their preferences As a result, it is necessaryfor marketers to always pay attention to the material by reviewing it regularly (Vermaand Vemuri, 2022).

According to exploratory work by Berger and Milkman (2012), positivematerial has a better probability of becoming viral, because individuals whodistributed optimistic tales tended to help others feel better than someone who postedsad or upsetting content Besides, no matter whether the high-arousal feelings wereoptimistic or pessimistic, online material that elicited them was more likely to becomeviral.

Nguyen Quoc Binh (2013) grouped contents into three different categories.They were random content — anything from surprising to quickly forgotten like

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entertainment news, branded content that was related to the business or the sectorsand, lastly, the content that clients hope to consume Those three groups intersect inan area, called the killing content According to the researchers, the material shouldbe engaging, instructive, pertinent and useful in assisting clients with their issues Thecustomer conversion would not be successful in case one of the three qualities waslacking The objective of marketers when creating content is virality, because whenthe information is more viral, the number of individuals consuming it will increase,enhancing the effectiveness of marketing effort Bowles (2013) also stated five keyfeatures of viral content, which are surprising, interesting, intense, positive andactionable.

In addition, Ruffolo (2017) demonstrated that current talks included timely andwell-liked themes; therefore, focusing on these subjects helped brands to be updatedand support their development in terms of information sources Moreover, it issignificant for content to be evergreen, which means that it is valuable both currentand in the foreseeable future Many companies make the error of assuming thatspelling and grammar are not significant Although grammar is just a basic aspect,poor language would take the focus away and draw the audience’s attention to the

As stated by Content Marketing Institute (2017), search engines were aware ofand could exclude low-quality information At the same time, the proper use ofrelevant keywords was necessary in addition to producing high-quality content.

According to Ruffolo (2017), content that lacked supporting data was considered oflower quality In order to become effective, content must bring value to customers,which could be achieved through a variety of methods, even just being witty oramusing It would not work to apply just any old copy In research recently, Vermaand Vemuri (2022) claimed that good content would bring more viewers, especiallyif the contents are filled with images and reasonable search keywords, it would attractthe target market.

As suggested by Gupta (2019), the material should be complementary andcooperative Initially, content is collaborative, since the content team includesprofessionals in marketing, post-production, SEO, social media and the target

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audience as well Moreover, content is supplementary, as a larger view and biggerstructure are made up of several parts of content.

2.2.4 Content marketing production and management

According to Ausra and Ruta (2018), to create content successfully, companiesshould pay attention to decisions on the content type, distribution channels, contentformats and elements The following seven qualities should be present in an idealmaterial: relevance, informativeness, dependability, value, uniqueness, emotions andintelligence However, it is quite challenging to include all these criteria, eachorganization should consider and adjust carefully.

Koob (2021) believed that greater content marketing effectiveness should becorrelated with a powerful content creation environment, defined by efforts tomaximize consumer value Furthermore, it could be seen that when businesses have amore extensive content marketing organization, the quality of content would beimproved remarkably It was defined that specialization and independence appearedto be positive aspects of an organizational structure Autonomy related to howworkers have control over how tasks are carried out, while specialization explainedthe degree to which organizational operations are split into distinctive divisions Acompany which contained a high level of both these two elements seemed to havemore employees who aimed their efforts toward assigned tasks.

2.3 Research framework

On the basis of the theories briefed above, the researcher would like to proposea research framework for the study of factors affecting the effectiveness of contentmarketing activities provided by Vietnam Yellow Pages Services Joint StockCompany as the diagram below:

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