Một vài giải pháp digital marketing cho công ty CP appota

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI SCHOOL OF BUSINESS TRAN VINH QUANG SOME DIGITAL MARKETING SOLUTIONS FOR APPOTA JOINT STOCK COMPANY Major: Business Administration Code: 60 34 05 MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION THESIS Supervisors: Dr Tran Doan Kim Hanoi - 2012 TABLES OF CONTENTS AKNOWLEGEMENT i ABSTRACT ii TÓM TẮT iv TABLES OF CONTENTS vii LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES x ABBREVIATIONS xi INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER - LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Overview of marketing 1.1.1 Marketing in general 1.1.2 Marketing management 1.1.3 Shift in marketing management 1.2 Digital Marketing 1.2.1 Definition 1.2.2 The advantages and disadvantages of digital marketing 1.2.3 The factors that influence in Digital marketing 10 1.3 Majors marketing tools in digital marketing 12 1.3.1 Email marketing 12 1.3.2 Online advertising 15 1.3.3 Affiliate marketing 18 1.3.4 Viral marketing 20 1.3.5 Social media marketing 22 1.3.6 Search engine marketing 26 1.3.7 Mobile marketing 29 CHAPTER - ANALYSIS OF DIGITAL MARKETING SITUATION OF APPOTA JSC 34 2.1 APPOTA‟s introduction 34 2.1.1 General information 34 vii 2.1.2 Products and services 37 2.1.3 Customers 38 2.2 Digital marketing macro-environment analysis 40 2.2.1 Legal – political environment 41 2.2.2 Economics environment 42 2.2.3 Social – cultural environment 42 2.2.4 Technological environment 43 2.3 APPOTA‟s Digital Marketing situation analysis 49 2.3.1 Company factors influencing marketing activities 49 2.3.2 Market factors and trends 50 2.3.3 Future competitors and Appota analysis 501 2.3.4 Current major marketing tools 514 2.4 Evalution of Appota‟s digital marketing 60 2.4.1 Pros 60 2.4.2 Cons 62 CHAPTER – SOME DIGITAL MARKETING SOLUTIONS FOR APPOTA JSC 63 3.1 Recommended in major digital marketing tools 63 3.1.1 Online advertising 63 3.1.2 Social media marketing 63 3.1.3 Viral marketing 65 3.1.4 Mobile marketing 66 3.1.5 Market research 67 3.1.6 Management process 67 3.2 Action plan 68 3.2.1 Action plan for each step 68 3.2.2 Budget and other resources 69 3.2.3 Schedule 70 3.2.4 Control and Evaluation 70 3.3 Other suggestions for company 70 viii 3.3.1 Differentiation-Focus to market segment 70 3.3.2 Focus in product‟ development and innovation 71 3.3.3 More suggestions to improve 72 CONCLUSION 77 REFERENCE 79 APPENDIX SAMPLES OF WEEKLY CONTENTS PROVIDED TO APPOTA USERS 80 ix LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES FIGURE 1-1: CONTEX OF DIGITAL MARKETING 10 FIGURE 1-2: THE SONG‟S TREND IN GOOGLE TREND 21 FIGURE 1-3: THE MODEL OF SOCIAL MEDIA 23 FIGURE 1-4: THE MODEL OF WEB 2.0 24 FIGURE 1-5: RELATED WORD IN SEARCHING 27 FIGURE 2-1: APPOTA‟S MAJOR MILESTONE: 35 FIGURE 2-2: APPOTA‟S BUSINESS MODEL 36 FIGURE 2-3: VIETNAM SMARTPHONE OPERATING SYSTEM SHARE .38 FIGURE 2-4: APPOTA‟S USERS BY MOBILE PHONE OPERATING SYSTEM 39 FIGURE 2-5: APPOTA‟S TOP & BIGGEST APPLICATION DEVELOPERS AND CONTENT PROVIDERS 40 FIGURE 2-6: IT INDUSTRY - REVENUES AND GROWTH RATE 42 FIGURE 2-7: INTERNET USERS - NUMBERS AND GROWTH RATE 45 TABLE 1-1: PROS AND CONS OF ONLINE ADVERTISING 17 TABLE 1-2: COMPARING BETWEEN TRADITIONAL MEDIA AND SOCIAL MEDIA 22 TABLE 1-3: SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING – SEO & PPC‟ PROS AND CONS 28 TABLE 1-4: MOBILE PHONE FEATURES AND IMPLICATION FOR MARKETERS 30 TABLE 2-1: NUMBER OF TELECOM, INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDERS 47 x ABBREVIATIONS 2G 2nd Generation Mobile System (usually GSM) 3G 3rd Generation Mobile System (usually UMTS/WCDMA) SME Small and Medium Enterprise MI Mobile Internet SP Service Provider CS Content supplier DEV Developer CP Content providers TELCO Telecommunication Company NO Network Operator ISP Internet Service Provider ADV Advertising HR Human Resource IP Internet Protocol ADSL Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line MBA Master of Business Administration LAN Local Area Network R&D Research and Development ROI Return on Investment SWOT Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats SMS Short Messaging Service IOS Apple mobile operating system Android Google mobile operating system FI Founder Institute Mobile website A website that programed to compatible with mobile device ARPU Average Revenue Per User xi INTRODUCTION The thesis title Some Digital Marketing Solutions for APPOTA Joint Stock Company Purpose The purpose of this thesis is to suggest some marketing solutions with action plans to be used in a year to continue growth of Appota with existing products In order to that, the thesis focuses on reviewing and summarizing the theory of marketing and digital marketing with major tools; applying the reviewed literature to analyze Appota situation now; and propose some solutions to enhance the digital marketing in Appota The thesis necessity Appota is a SME (Small and Medium Enterprise) in the information and communication technology founded in Dec, 2011 Within a year of start-up, it has achieved a significant growth in terms of both revenues and headcount.The company currently has employed more than 60 headcount who obtain many years of experience in mobile content Appota has become a premier partner to many big companies in the same industry and a leading-edge smartphone content provider in Vietnam With the market share of more than 60% of smartphone users including iOS and Android mobile users, Appota is one of the most disruptive start-up in Vietnam ICT industry The company intends to increase its market share to be the dominance and keep the impressive growth to extend business to South East Asia with the target of coverage over 20 million smartphone users Being one of the co-founders of the company and take responsible for all sales & marketing activities, I have been working with both Sales& Marketing team to gain market share, attract customer, monetized products and services, build customer database, keep strong relationship with partners We have tried a lot of new marketing strategies or plans to find the best approach for the company Based on the research in marketing activities and with an insight of company situation, my finding in this thesis is to address the digital marketing with specific solutions as a strong tool for the company to keep the growth Scope of research APPOTA follows a new model in Vietnam with no competitors currently, moreover it has only one year of operation Therefore, instead of implementing industry analysis (including competitors) and SWOT analysis (that provides understanding about Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) the thesis focuses on suggesting some practical solutions for the company This thesis offers an idea for the company on how they could apply the marketing solution, especially eMarketing to keep the growth of market share and growth of customer base in the target segment Research questions Which theories can be applied in Digital Marketing at Appota? What current digital marketing practice at Appota? How to improve Digital Marketing and other suggestion to Appota? Methodology and Limitations of Study The thesis based on a qualitative research and a case study method for analytical purpose to suggest or explain why or how something is happening Appota‟s specific data collection was carried out by interviews In the interviews, Appota‟s representatives like CEO (Chief Executive Officer), CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) and Product Director provided very valuable ideas and information on the subject.Besides, author‟s own observations and experiences were also used in data collection and analysis Secondary data has been computed by research of documents, annual/quarterly reports of Appota Significance By reviewing the theory of digital marketing, this research benefits Appota in proposing marketing tools to increase the market share and improve the revenues which contributes to the company‟s development Expectation Digital marketing is being well applied in many companies around the world so the same methodology can be applied in the scenario of other companies in the same industry with some adjustments Follow-up Further study will be carried on upon the result of this thesis in applying some digital marketing solutions for the company Other way of study will be analyzing the impact of the competition on the company and steps toavoidor come over unexpected impacts 10 Structure The first chapter is an introduction with concentration on marketing in general and marketing tools, especially digital marketing The second chapter describes actual state of the company regarding its products and services, customers and current marketing practice The third chapter concentrates on marketingsolutionsfor the company with a specific action plan Seeding online campaign Re-design website Download marketing push campaigns Event mix campaign 3.2.2 Budget and other resources The budget for the plan cannot be defined in this study Overall the plan has been composed to be as profitable and low-cost as possible Budgeting has been left away for several reasons, mainly because the study is meant to be only a promotional idea Therefore all the financial decisions and exact plans are left to the company The wideness of the campaign defines the final budget Designing material, editorial and online advertising, completing functional web marketing and carrying out a sales promotion campaign in Vietnam will raise the demand for financial resources very high However, if only some parts of the plan are used, the expenses will be lower It is good to bear in mind that implementing customer care in a new language requires new work force Additionally the promotion plan execution requires human resources from marketing and marketing communication departments of the company There is also a need for external interpreter to assure the grammar of the advertisements These must be noticed when deciding the promotion budget 69 3.2.3 Schedule Like budget, schedule could not be determined in this study either As described previously, the schedule depends totally on the case If all the suggested actions are carried out, the overall campaign will be relatively large and therefore it naturally requires quite a lot of time The demand for time goes hand-in-glove with the extension of the promotion campaign The exact schedule is determined after the final and definitive marketing communication plan has been completed The schedule company can set from 9months to years depend on business status 3.2.4 Control and Evaluation Each campaign controlling and evaluation must be planned carefully as it offers very usable information for the following campaigns In the case, the digital marketing objectives were to increase the number of Vietnam customers with costeffectively, to increase target market‟s awareness of the product, to increase demand for APPOTA‟s smartphone users and to develop brand among target market The final evaluation decisions can be done after the exact plan is completed To help this, it is advocated to track objectives during the campaign so the current situation is constantly known 3.3 Other suggestions for company 3.3.1 Differentiation-Focus to market segment Appota still is a small start-up so the way to go for the company in the next years is Focus Strategy to the market niche and serves the customers with highest quality of service to win the biggest market share Smartphone will be penetrating market in 2013-2014 because of its outstanding features and more and more affordable price Being the first mover from 2011-2012 Appota will have advantages in the near future Besides, Focus Strategy helps company employees have concentration in researching and developing new and better products or services 70 The company may face the threats from new entrants who realize the prosperity from this segment With low barrier entry, only Focus is easy to imitate Just doing well is not enough; therefore Differentiation in this segment can bring the company one more step ahead to its potential competitors It can utilize advantages from exclusive services such as Appota Developer Zone to minimize threats from competitors To that, it requires a boost in advertising and communication for the services to reach more customers 3.3.2 Focus in product’ development and innovation  Faster scaling to win the biggest market share of smartphone user in Vietnam and continuously provides high quality contents to come along with 3G/GPRS  Develop platform to compatible all the OS: iOS, Android, Java, Blackberry, Symbian, and Window Phone  Sign exclusive contracts for some well proven contents  Build in-house development team to quickly response for market need Help developers and content providers save time in technical integration by using Appota payment system  Improve and innovate the platform with more social features integrated inside that helps company push ARPU Integrate all the online and mobile payment method in the platform that help smartphone user easy to purchase content  Search for new products or services based on successful models in the world and new partners worldwide that can bring best products as Kakao, Line, Opera or UCweb  Release in-house advertising network for developer and CPs use to advertise them via Appota sale channel 71 3.3.3 More suggestions to improve 3.3.3.1 Sale management Information and Communication Technology changes rapidly The digital content industry change also, developer and content provider making application or collection Everyday new products or solutions are designed and developed by many suppliers Market needs also change quickly Appota Sale team response for cooperate with content provider and developer in supplying content to mobile application platform Dealing with huge customers base and meet the target of providing more and more content for big customer base Appota Sale team should apply to improve many part, include: Sales training Therefore, Appota technical employees with a help of a marketing consultant need to constantly develop sales training materials to support the sales personnel Internal sales training materials should cover the followings: detailed easy to understand description of the products/solutions/services offered by Appota, pricing information, benefits to customers, value propositions, similar competitors‟ offerings Company should also hire professional for teaching and training each month for sale team: sale skills, presentation skills, pre-sale… Sales support tools Appota needs to create sales tools such as product collaterals and case studies to support sales Appota website should also be improved so it can be used as a source to provide customers with product information: o Customer collaterals should be created for each product, services, or solutions offered by Appota These collaterals should provide customers with a brief description of each type of cooperation and its benefits to customers (ex business challenges that each product or solution can solve) These collaterals should be created in the form of prints (to be handed to customers), PDF (to be 72 sent to customers electronically), and should be used as a good source of content under the product/solution sections of the website o Case studies can be written using the solutions that Appotaimplemented for its clients These case studies should cover the following sections: the customer challenge, the solution, and the result These case studies should also be created as PDF documents to be sent to prospects when appropriate and added to website to give customers more information and insights o Online CRM need to be updated regularly adding new prospects information In a small company like Appota everyone should be responsible for updating OnlineCRM with newest clients as well as prospects information they have OnlineCRM can be used as a retention tool as well as an acquisition tool The retention and acquisition tactics will be discussed under the other promotion tactics sections Sales management and reporting Assuming all the necessary sales support tools and trainings will be provided to the sales person, we think the sales person should be responsible for generating leads, following up on leads, and turning those leads to potential clients He should also spend a percentage of his time building and maintaining relationship with his existing accounts All of Appota marketing activities are designed to support personal selling Therefore, some leads will be generated by marketing and will be provided to sales team Monthly sales meetings will be scheduled in which the Account Manager will report to CEO or COO of the company These reports should cover the followings: number of new acquired leads, number of new acquired actual customers, total new revenue, and total new profit Each month the sales person should meet the quota of acquiring 10 to 20 new clients specifically in the small to mid sized business (usually are small game studio or small content providers) All the other promotion or marketing tactics from company should help the Sale team win the trust of the customer by bring profit in the cooperation with Appota for them 73 3.3.3.2 Enhance partnership model  This model has been implemented in developed countries with companies like Apple, Google, Nokia, Microsoft, and Blackberry… The concept is to serve customers professionally based on specialization It means while handset maker focus on making wonderful products, content providers concentrate on creating, updating all the contents to serve customers  APPOTA currently succeeds with Appota Delivery Content platform and Mobile content store In the future along with development of 3G network, smartphones devices which enables higher quality and more diverse contents, such original and exclusive contents can pave the way to success for the company  Besides, the model saves cost for marketing while boosting company‟s recognition to users It is the most optimal to implement shared revenues model for APPOTA, there are types: Type 1: Ratio of 50-50 between Content Provider and APPOTA Content Provider Provide content Develop content Pricing and integrate Payment Customer care Type 2: Ratio of 70-30 between Content provider and APPOTA Content provider Provide content Develop content Do marketing Customer care 74 3.3.3.3 Restructure the organization and develop human resource Companies should review the current organizational model for business groups are facing the problem of calculating revenue and distribution costs as well as customer disputes and staffing difficulties Because of many projects and product from supplier, the sale & marketing need aout of support and resource in other department like Customer care, production, technical Beside, Appota also have production team in making their content (application) so the balance of human resource is very important The business model is not yet adapts to the scale as APPOTA and makes it difficult for the finance department Therefore somewhat affect business operations Board of director should rethink the organizational model, should apply the model functions, and business units and separate technical, headed by the experienced staff to control the operation of each parts will be more effective Company need to develop a team of research, development and production of content in-house separately from those with experience, creativity and have their own expertise to move faster and more project in the same time to reach the deadline and target of company There is many of projects from small to big project need in charge who specializes in marketing and follow with plan and execution to reach the target of each business unit In general Appota need to hire a very professional with multitasking skill to manage all the business line with support and coordinate from Sale team Appota need a very long plan to training new employee, because right now there are no universities or training center tech or train student in doing business with digital content, so once a new comer in, head of each business line have to spend time of training It will be better if HR team can make a standard training program to have save time and more effeteness The organization of training or case study experience sharing or implementing digital content services needs to be done monthly to help employees access to the 75 world's new technology, for example, courses in project management, marketing services, intensive training on technical solutions Training courses can be integrated in the process of coordinating with partners to deploy new services with the aim of reducing costs and practical for ongoing projects 3.3.3.4 Technology solutions to meet market requirements Investment solutions for company‟s technology in current project is to analyze the demand for investment, improve quality and upgrade technology Manager of Technical Department should be based on the evolution of the product/service specific plans for infrastructure investment needs, update the software solutions; hardware is being applied around the world Especially when the 3G network applied, understanding the technology involved is essential for smartphone users Currently, the technical team of the company is not actively explored new technologies or measures to upgrade existing technology When the world of content management software (CMS) widely used open source, the company own build This medium cost, high efficiency does not so require research and development department with the technical department should study and selection of appropriate technology Besides, the technology department is responsible for supporting marketing department to join to contribute to the process of construction and development services for the success of service partly depends on technological factors In addition, companies need technology training courses for technical staff for live digital content services and technology, the lag is synonymous with failure so the task to update the new technology not only of technical staff which is the common task of all employees 76 CONCLUSION The establishment and growth of digital content business enterprises with a wide range of different business formsprovide a rich service to attract customers and make this market become a fierce competition To be able to stand firm in this market, AppotaCompany needs long-term and specific solutions in company marketing to gain a sustainable development As a start-up, Appotacannot copy large companies‟ strategies while they are moving on to the online world Start-ups must be aware of the fact they have all kinds of “lack of resources” and should focus on a small number of targets with “clear goals” just as mentioned before With the above objectives, the thesisendeavored to research and solves a number of issues.First, the thesis systematizes marketing‟s concept, critical factors to formulate a marketing strategy and dwelt down into eMarkeiting tools Second, the thesis gave an analysis of Vietnam's digital content market to assess the market opportunitiesforAppota; it also analyzed Appota‟s current marketing practices.Third, the thesis proposedsolutions for long-term marketing domination and a number of specific measures including action plan to graduallyenhance Appota‟s market position LESSON LEARNT It was a great experience being able to apply theoretical knowledge in a real-life case During this process, I have learned useful information both for my professional and personal future As Jim Collins states in his best-selling book “Good to Great”, “Getting the right people on the bus” is the key to the success The employees of a company must be self-motivated and should have the inner drive to be successful Otherwise, it will be a waste of time and money I have learned that the plans can change anytime and one needs to be prepared for everything To be prepared, a manager needs to take “calculated risks” that is analyzing and trying to mitigate as much as possible During my thesis, we have 77 had to change our plan according to the circumstances those take place both in the industry and the team itself So it is not about the plan, it is all about the planning! Effective communication of problems and solutions is a crucial factor of good management There have been times during the project where face-to-face meetings were the only possible way of communication The customers have all the answers to your questions if you know how to listen to them We were able to find the distinctive features of Appota products just by asking to the customers FUTURE WORK Since the time is limited for a thesis project, the results and the analysis of the proposed tactics are not always seen in the short-term So a future research may focus on seeing the long-term effects of the digital marketing activities especially for a small start-up It may additionally focus on creating a “road map” or even a step-by-step manual for small start-ups to follow through their digital marketing efforts Another work could possibly be carried out in different sectors and on more case studies instead of one The researcher may observe the differences and similarities between different companies in the process of preparing a “digital marketing plan” and implementing digital marketing activities Thank you for your attention! 78 REFERENCE BOOKS Kotelnikov, Vadim, “Sustainable competitive advantages, How to survive against your competition over a long period of time”, Ten3 Business e-Coach, Business Coach Kotler, Philip, “Marketing Insight from A to Z – 80 concepts every manager needs to know”, John Wiley & Son, 2003, P.171 Stoke, Rob, “eMarketing – the essential guide to online marketing”, Quirk eMarketing (Pty) Ltd., 2008, nd edition, pg.71, pg.258-259 National Steering Committee on CTI and Ministry of Information and Communication, White Book 2011 - Information Data on Information and Communication Technology Vietnam 2011, Information and Communications Publishing House, 2011, pg.33, pg.35, pg.47, pg.51 Vietnam Smartphone Operating System Share (GFK report, Q2 2012) WEBSITES http://socialtimes.com/gangnam-style-guinness-world-record_b105247 http://www.thatericalper.com/2012/11/12/photo-20-years-later-all-these- things-now-fit-in-your-pocket/ http://fi.co/posts/646 Google Analytics counting APPOTA 79 APPENDIX SAMPLES OF WEEKLY CONTENTS PROVIDED TO APPOTA USERS Bản tin ứng dụng Việt Với nội dung tập trung vào ứng dụng hay lập trình nhà phát triển Việt Nam, tin App Việt giới thiệu tới bạn ứng dụng hot Appstore.vn tuần Nếu bạn thường gặp rắc rối việc tìm đường hay chí muốn tránh bị tắc đường ứng dụng Camera giao thơng ứng dụng cực hay cho bạn Đây phần mềm chạy điện thoại di động cho phép bạn theo dõi trực tuyến tuyến đường nhận thông tin giao thông ùn tắc Tp Hà Nội Tp Hồ Chí Minh Với ứng dụng này, bạn hồn tồn tham gia giao thơng cách dễ dàng, an tồn nhanh chóng Tải ứng dụng [ ] Mobile: http://appstore.vn/i/13001(trên PC: http://appstore.vn/ios/home/app/12957) Là fan âm nhạc, thể loại nhạc US&UK chắn bạn bỏ qua ứng dụng Những hát tiếng Anh nhà phát triển Lucky Game Studio Ứng dụng cho phép bạn nghe ca khúc tiếng Anh cực hay kèm với lời hát, thông tin ca sĩ, nhạc sĩ Đây ứng dụng có giao diện đẹp, sở hữu nhiều tính thân thiện Ứng dụng hỗ trợ cho iOS [ ] Mobile: http://appstore.vn/i/12984 (trên PC: http://appstore.vn/ios/home/app/12984) Ứng dụng Sổ tay bà bầu Softech nói người bạn đồng hành thiếu cho mẹ mang thai ông chồng có vợ mang thai Với Sổ tay bà bầu người dùng có tay kiến thức để chăm sóc thai nhi sức khỏe người mẹ cách tốt Download từ [ ] Mobile: http://appstore.vn/i/12925(trên PC: http://appstore.vn/ios/home/app/12925) 80 Bạn băn khoăn hơm ngồi rạp chiếp phim ? bạn muốn chuẩn bị hẹn thật chu đáo với người ? Vậy sử dụng ứng dụng Lịch Chiếu Phim đến từ nhà phát triển IAMK Với ứng dụng trên, bạn nắm thơng tin chi tiết phim sửa rạp toàn quốc Tải [ ] Mobile: http://appstore.vn/a/69962(trên PC: http://appstore.vn/android/home/app/6962) 81 ... and disadvantages of digital marketing 1.2.3 The factors that influence in Digital marketing 10 1.3 Majors marketing tools in digital marketing 12 1.3.1 Email marketing ... major marketing tools 514 2.4 Evalution of Appota? ??s digital marketing 60 2.4.1 Pros 60 2.4.2 Cons 62 CHAPTER – SOME DIGITAL MARKETING SOLUTIONS FOR APPOTA. .. can be applied in Digital Marketing at Appota? What current digital marketing practice at Appota? How to improve Digital Marketing and other suggestion to Appota? Methodology and Limitations of