Vietnam's businesses lack branding strategies
HANOI - Vietnamese enterprises lack a comprehensive awareness of how to build and manage their brands, said Tran Anh Tuan, a marketing expert in HCM City.
Although economic integration has forced enterprises to find new ways to promote their brand names and boost their competitiveness, their awareness was still insufficient, Tuan said.
The nation lacks brands strong enough to compete on international markets, he said, and some leading domestic brand names have allowed themselves to lag.
A survey conducted by the Trade Promotion Department of the Ministry of Industry and Trade showed that 80 per cent of enterprises lack a brands manager.
A brand name encapsulates everything that customers feel about enterprises and their products, said Do Thang Hai, secretary of the National Brand Name Programme.
In Vietnam, building a brand name stops at direct marketing, Hai said.
But many enterprises view marketing as a cost, not an investment, so they advertise without a strategy or goal in mind, he said, making the marketing ineffective and a waste of time and money.
Many enterprises also have failed to perfect their products and services before advertising, Tuan noted.
Some companies use the same brand name to market three different products. When one of these products flops with consumers, the brand is negatively affected for the others.
Using the same brand name for all company's products and services would not be useful in the long term, said Tuan.
The National Brand Name Programme aims to assist Vietnamese companies develop their brands on domestic and international markets.
Under the programme, systems are set up to distribute goods with national brand names. The programme also organises exhibitions and helps domestic enterprises find distributors.
Vietnam News Agency- February 21, 2008.
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