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solutions for the development of bank marketing towards individual customers in vietnam prosperity joint stock commercial bank vpbank
Graduation Thesis STATE BANK OF VIETNAM BANKING ACADEMY OF VIETNAM FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE -‐-‐-‐-‐-‐&-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐ Banking Academy SOLUTIONS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF BANK MARKETING TOWARDS INDIVIDUAL CUSTOMERS IN VIETNAM PROSPERITY JOINT STOCK COMMERCIAL BANK – VPBANK ) Supervisor: Student: Class: Student ID: NGUYEN THI HIEN HANH, M.A NGUYEN THI THU HANG ATCA – K12 12A7511056 Hanoi, May 2013 Nguyen Thi Thu Hang ATCA – K12 Graduation Thesis Banking Academy DEDICATION I dedicate this graduation thesis to my family, my friends and to Banking Academy of Vietnam Nguyen Thi Thu Hang ATCA – K12 Graduation Thesis Banking Academy ACKNOWLEGEMENTS First of all, I would like to express the profound gratitude to my supervisor NGUYEN THI HIEN HANH, M.A for giving me great support, encouragement and constructive feedback to accomplish the study I deeply appreciated all banking staff at Giang Vo sub-branch, Vietnam Prosperity Joint Stock Commercial Bank – VPBank for assisting and instructing me with work and data collection I would like to give my special thanks to Ms Bui Thi Huong Giang, Manager of Customer Service Finally, I wish to extend my heartiest thanks to all Banking Academy’s lecturers, who have equipped me with sufficient knowledge and my family, who has supported me wholeheartedly Nguyen Thi Thu Hang ATCA – K12 Graduation Thesis Banking Academy EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This paper studies the solutions to improve the marketing activities in VPBank, particularly towards individual customers It goes adead to understand theoretical framework related to marketing activities in banking sector before critically analyzing the current situation of Vietnam economy and situation of marketing activities in VPBank, primarily using four – year data from the VPBank Annual Report from 2007 to 2011 The theory mentions five fundamental aspects of bank marketing, including concept, roles, features of bank services, marketing strategy and tools used by bank marketers It suggests that marketing approach to banking services involves anticipating, identifying, recipocating (through designing and delivering customer – oriented services) and satisfying the customers’ needs and want effectively, efficiently and profitably Particularly, the bank marketing proved to be a neccessary activity, which strongly affect business performance of a bank A study of its effects and problems was conducted with an emphasis on the situation of VPBank operations Indeed, the bank has made continuous efforts in diversifing its products and services, adjusting price policy, distribution channels, and particularly concentrating on human fators The impacts became apparent in recent years with the improvement in business reports and the increase in customer satisfaction Also, the limitation of public confidence together with the modest performance compared to other banks were reported as the aftermath of increasingly competitive environment, innovation in technology, customer focus and awarenessm, suggesting that marketing activities in VPBank is still in need of further improvements In an attempt to make VPBank more developed, some recommendations are proposed to the banks, such as setting a dynamic competition strategy, effective branding and image building; developing products policies, distribution channels and workforce performance, as well as adjusting price strategy and improving promotion policy Nguyen Thi Thu Hang ATCA – K12 Graduation Thesis Banking Academy LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Total assets and charter capial of some banks by 2012 (unit: billion dong) 21 Table 2: Interest rates and the savings deposits (interest paid at maturity) 19/05/2013 27 Table 3: Number of VPBank branches and Trading Offices & Savings by 2012 29 Table 4: Deposit mobilization structure in 2010 – 2011 in VPBank 34 Table 5: Interest applied for Phat Loc savings in Techcombank 39 Table 6: Number of ATMs and Branches &Trading Offices by 2011 40 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Structure of a bank product Figure 2: Vietnam GDP growth rate from 2010 – I/2013 14 Figure : VPBank’s organizational structure 18 Figure 4: Average measurement of Teller Service Quality in VPBank in 2011 32 Figure 5: Operating time before and after the project Service Level Agreements 32 Figure 6: Deposit mobilization from customers in VPBank from 2007 – 2011 34 Figure 7: Outstanding loans to customers in VPBank from 2007 – 2011 36 Figure 8: Some financial indicators in VPBank from 2007 – 2011 36 Nguyen Thi Thu Hang ATCA – K12 Graduation Thesis Banking Academy LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ACB Asia Commercial Bank Agribank Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development Eximbank Vietnam Export Import Commercial Joint Stock Bank ATM Automated teller machine BIDV Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam GDP Gross Domestic Product HCMC Ho Chi Minh city HDFC The Housing Development Finance Corporation Bank iff Sri Lanka HSBC Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation ICICI Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India OCBC Oversea – Chinese Banking Corp POS Point of Sales ROA Return on Equity ROE Return on Assets SBV State Bank off Vietnam SJC Saigin Jewelry Company SLAs Service Level Agreements SMEs Small and Medium Enterprises Techcombank Vietnam Technological and Commercial Joint- stock Bank USD The United States dollar VIB Vietnam International Bank Vietcombank Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam Vietinbank Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade VNBC Vietnam Bank Card VND Vietnam Dong VPBank Vietnam Prosperity Joint Stock Commercial Bank VPBS VPBank Securities Company Nguyen Thi Thu Hang ATCA – K12 Graduation Thesis Banking Academy TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION ACKNOWLEGEMENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Rationale of the research 1 1.2.The objectives of the study 2 1.5 Methodology of the study 2 1.6 Scope of the study 2 1.7 Structure of the thesis 3 CHAPTER THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK OF BANK MARKETING 4 2.1 Concept of Bank Marketing 4 2.2 The necessity of Bank Marketing towards individual customers 5 2.2.1 Marketing is effective tool to attract individual customers 5 2.2.2 Marketing connects activity of banks and individual customers 6 2.2.3 Marketing towards individual customers contribute to the bank’s competitive position 6 2.3 Marketing Mix in Banking - useful tool applied in Bank Marketing 7 2.1.1 PRODUCT 7 2.3.2 PRICE 9 2.3.3 PROMOTION 10 2.3.4 PLACE 11 2.3.5 PEOPLE 11 2.3.6 PROCESS 12 2.3.7 PHYSICAL EVIDENCE 12 CHAPTER THE CURRENT SITUATION VIETNAM ECONOMY AND MARKETING ACTIVITIES IN VPBANK 14 3.1 The background of Vietnam current economy 14 Nguyen Thi Thu Hang ATCA – K12 Graduation Thesis Banking Academy 3.1.1 The stock market set a new bottom 14 3.1.2 The slump in real estate market 15 3.1.3 Disorder in gold market 15 3.1.4 Banking sector sinks into troubles 16 3.2 Introduction of VPBank 16 3.3 The SWOT of VPBank 17 3.3.1 STRENGTHS 17 3.3.2 OPPORTUNITIES 20 3.3.3 WEAKNESSES 21 3.3.4 THREATS 22 3.4 The marketing strategies of VPBank 23 3.4.1 PRODUCT POLICY 23 3.4.2 PRICE POLICY 26 3.4.3 PLACE POLICY 28 3.4.4 PROMOTION POLICY 29 3.4.5 PEOPLE POLICY 31 3.4.6 PROCCESS POLICY 32 3.4.7 PHYSICAL EVIDENCE 33 3.5 The achievements of Marketing strategies in VPBank 33 3.5.1 Deposit mobilization activities 33 3.5.2 Credit activities 35 3.5.3 Customer satisfaction 37 3.5.4 Awards 37 3.6 The problems of Marketing activities in VBPank 37 3.6.1 PRODUCT 38 3.6.2 PRICE 38 3.6.3 PLACE 39 3.6.4 PROMOTION 40 3.6.5 PEOPLE 41 CHAPTER SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVE BANK MARKETING 42 Nguyen Thi Thu Hang ATCA – K12 Graduation Thesis Banking Academy IN VPBANK 42 4.1 Setting a dynamic and effective competition strategy 42 4.2 Developing product policies towards diversification and modernization 43 4.3 Adjusting price strategy in line with market moves 44 4.4 Developing distribution channels 45 4.5 Improving promote policy 46 4.6 Developing and improving workforce performance 48 CONCLUSION 49 REFERENCES 50 Nguyen Thi Thu Hang ATCA – K12 Graduation Thesis Banking Academy CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the research The 21st century challenged banks to prosper financially and survive in the face of an unforgiving economic environment The banks, which are unable to keep pace with changed times and respond quickly to fast changes would be left behind in the race or vanished In this context, marketing is playing a key role in addressing those challenges Moreover, in a competitive market mechanism today, individual customers with their own characteristics are playing an increasing important role in the development of a bank The proper attention to these customers will bring considerable income and steady growth for banks, particularly for a bank with the goal of "becoming one of the top five commercial banks, and top three leading retail bank in Vietnam" as VPBank When the role of financial services offered by banks has grown continuously, there were mounting pressure on bankers for a more effective marketing management of their financial services However, because of the current socio-political and economic situation in Vietnam, the banks seldom thought of the necessity of applying marketing task in their day-to-day operations in the past While Vietnamese banks were accustomed to traditional business, the counter-parts in western countries are becoming financial supermarkets providing a wide variety of services Because of the inefficiency of understanding about marketing activities under banking approach and tools used to achieve its objectives, it is difficult to design or evaluate policies and programs intended to address prevailing problems in Vietnam commercial banks in general and VPBank in particular This calls for adoption of marketing approach towards promotion of banking services Hence, the issue promoted me to conduct a study on “Solutions for the development of Bank Marketing towards individual customers in Vietnam Prosperity Joint Stock Commercial Bank - VPBank " as my graduation thesis This paper is expected to provide the understanding about the theoretical framework of bank marketing activities towards individual customers; as well as the real situation, then draw results and limitations as a base to bring about the practical recommendations Nguyen Thi Thu Hang ATCA – K12 Graduation Thesis Banking Academy Figure 7: Outstanding loans to customers in VPBank from 2007 – 2011 (Source: VPBank’s annual report 2011) VPBank’s Return on Equity (ROE) was 16.36%, a decrease by 6.29% from 2010 Its Return on Assets (ROA) declined slightly to 1.09% as compared to 1.15% in 2010 due to sharp increase in total assets Figure 8: Some financial indicators in VPBank from 2007 – 2011 (Source: VPBank’s annual report 2011) Nguyen Thi Thu Hang 36 ATCA – K12 Graduation Thesis Banking Academy 3.5.3 Customer satisfaction VPBank has been awarded the title "Bank with the most satisfactory service quality" by Vietnam Economic Times in Ho Chi Minh City on November 4, 2012 Voting program for the service of Trust & Use has been launched annually by Vietnam Economic Times based on direct surveys and opinion polls of readers of various publications, namely: Consumer Advisory Magazine, The Vietnam Economic Times, etc This year's voting program, held for the fourth time, is based on the aquisition of feedbacks from readers on three criteria: quality of products/ services; after-sales services, choice and future plans of consumers regarding purchases and use of services, consumer products Being voted the best bank for satisfactory service quality has affirmed the advantages of VPBank's product and service quality, its position in customers' hearts, at the same time, a valuable source of customers' encouragement VPBank, therefore, could make constant efforts in improving service quality, diversifying product ranges, expanding the service network, and further promoting the advantage of being a modern commercial bank in Vietnam 3.5.4 Awards In 2011, the Bank earned many valuable prizes including: Excellent Brand Award in 2011; Global Payments Excellence Award given by Citibank and Bank of New York; Top 100 Reliable Services and Products; Top 500 Vietnam Largest Enterprises (VNR500); Top 500 Fastest Growth Enterprises (FAST500); Enterprise of Community, Products and Services for Community, Entrepreneur of Community 3.6 The problems of Marketing activities in VPBank Taking use of many advantages both objective and subjective in the market, many commercial banks and joint – stock banks have made great progress over VPBank The banks are really focused on customers, proactively designing modern products and services in accordance with customers’ demand and the development trend of the Nguyen Thi Thu Hang 37 ATCA – K12 Graduation Thesis Banking Academy world economy Until now, VPBank has made certain achievements, however, the existing restrictions still need to be overcome: 3.6.1 PRODUCT No product brings VPBank’s typical "impression" Only recently are new banking products launched such as VP Super Account, Vietnam Airlines - VPBank Platinum MasterCard, Accumulative Savings, Household Business Loans, etc The products of VPBank are not as various as other joint-stock commercial banks such as: Techcombank, Sacombank, ACB, Eximbank, VIB, etc The products and services are quite traditional and not linked with modern technology On the other hand, bank products are not named to distinguish with the same products of other banks, thus causing less attention and customer care For example, Techcombank offers a wide range of savings products with impressive name such as: Boi Thu Savings, Phat Loc Savings, Tai Hien Savings Account, Tai Tam Savings Account, etc With the same segment of customers, VPBank has no specific business strategy to create product differentiation (price, service time) from other banks 3.6.2 PRICE The interest rates are not different between residents or organizations in order to stimulate deposit activities of each object Nguyen Thi Thu Hang 38 ATCA – K12 Graduation Thesis Banking Academy Table 5: Interest applied for Phat Loc savings in Techcombank (Source: Techcombank’s website, 2013) As stated in two above tables, with the same product to individual customers, while Techcombank offers different interest rates based on the amount of deposit and geographic regions, VPBank doesn’t This can limit the customers’ willing to deposit as they have to choose between VPBank and the other bank 3.6.3 PLACE VPBank was establish for a quite long time, but compared to the state-owned commercial banks, the bank is limited in network operations as well as experience in the retail market, including individual customers This can be clearly seen by the fact that VPBank is lack of service delivery channels of retail banking, few branches and transaction offices to better serve individuals customers, as well as the lack of experience about products and management models to retail banking Nguyen Thi Thu Hang 39 ATCA – K12 Graduation Thesis Region Banking Academy Branches & Trading Offices ATMs Agribank 3359 1702 VietinBank 1272 1217 BIDV 644 1295 Vietcombank 381 1700 ACB 325 366 Techcombank 307 1205 VPBank 205 291 Table 6: Number of ATMs and Branches &Trading Offices by 2011 (Source: From banks’ annual reports and Western Bank statistics) VP lacks a consistent policy for individual clients across the entire system, so the customer management and development of retail products are also dispersal In VPBank, especially sub – branches, the credit department has not been divided into objects for individual customers and corporate clients separately This will interfere the branch performance in marketing activities because an employee cannot simultaneously take charge of two customers with the highest efficiency 3.6.4 PROMOTION Since its establishment, VPBank has carried out a lot of advertisement, sponsorship, promotions, etc but brings few results The programs simply introduced the bank to the public VPBank has not taken full use of mass media and online marketing tools Some banks successfully popularize their images on TV such as ACB, Maritime Bank, VIB, HSBC… The impressive clips with beautiful melody in accompanied with their core values impress and make the banks’ image become familiar with customers Nguyen Thi Thu Hang 40 ATCA – K12 Graduation Thesis Banking Academy Although VPBank is aware of the importance of online marketing, they have not take advantages of other tools beside website yet, say, S.E.O (Search Engine Optimization), Support Online, Email Marketing, Social Media, Online PR, Promotion or Online Ad 3.6.5 PEOPLE Staff does not meet the professional requirement in retail banking, the customer relationship management is not really closely and logical, so bad debts are still a serious problem Furthermore, the bank staff has no capabilities of cross – selling or providing necessary advices to customers Bank staff is young and enthusiastic, but lacks experience VPBank does not have potential and talented staff to prepare for the bank’s expansion All in all, in a year of difficulties and challenges from local and global economies, VPBank reaffirmed and demonstrated its strength in quantity and quality With top class consultants on strategy, again, the bank confirmed its position among the leading banks in Vietnam with positive business results However, the bank still faces many challenges stemming from both inside and outside VPBank should promote their strengths to make use of opportunities as well as overcome their weaknesses and existing problems After learning about the situation marketing activities towards individual customers at VP Bank, the study would recommend a number of measures to promote activities Nguyen Thi Thu Hang 41 ATCA – K12 Graduation Thesis Banking Academy CHAPTER SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVE BANK MARKETING IN VPBANK 4.1 Setting a dynamic and effective competition strategy Competition strategy needs to create the uniqueness of products and services The uniqueness will bring the advantages of the distinction, which is a key factor to attract customers to the bank, but it must be practical or within the customer's perception The difference here is not necessarily to be created throughout the whole process of providing products or services, but only involved in one related aspect For example, VPBank can make its distinction through advertising, especially VPBank’s brand promotion In fact, they have a newly strong brand The new brand of VPBank with the motto "Take actions for your dreams" is built up from the four following personalities: professionalism, commitment, uniqueness and simplicity: PROFESSIONALISM: using our knowledge and experience, together with a professional, accurate and timely working style, we offer customers banking products and services that are advanced, reliable and suitable to their specific needs COMMITMENT: we give out advice, guidance, and respond to customers' enquiries to help them clearly understand VPBank's products and services UNIQUENESS: we always seek innovative ideas in order to create the uniqueness, thus providing high quality products and services with lots of benefits to our customers SIMPLICITY: we focus on building our banking service systems with simple and convenient procedures, relying on advanced technology to serve our customers in a timely and effective fashion The new logo is a stylized image of a lotus in blossom, the symbol of Vietnam, implying VPBank's desire of contributing to the sustainable, prosperous and perpetual development of Vietnam The design of this logo indicates the image of hands holding a raising hope, implying the nonstop improvement, which is a solid and reliable basis for development and prosperity Nguyen Thi Thu Hang 42 ATCA – K12 Graduation Thesis Banking Academy The bright red color of the petals shows the enthusiasm, dedication to work, creativity, prosperity, and luck as well as responsibilities for the community from every VPBank's activity The clear and simple font brings along a modern look and feeling; besides, it implies the distinctness in VPBank's activities The smooth curves show the flexibility, commitment and simple procedures The green color shows a fresh vitality with a meaning of bringing sustainable success to customers, as well as success and development of the bank itself Especially, letter "k" at the end of the logo shaped by upward red petal expresses VPBank's determination to offer customers unique products/services with the best quality, the most modern, professional and reliable style; with a desire to make customers' dreams come true through our efforts Together with the image of the lotus, the petal in letter "k" brings along a feeling of the consistence in sustainable development and orientation of the bank, creating the image of VPBank as a trustworthy partner and mutual development with customers However, competition strategy needs to clarify the importance of distinction in banking products from its competitors If making a difference is not enough, it is important that distinctions bring the actual value to customers and are given the their appreciation Such a competitive strategy will bring efficiency to VPBank’s performance Simultaneously, the bank needs to build flexible competition strategy in each period to ensure that they always go ahead competitors Therefore, banks should always strictly follow the market moves, analysis changes in demands of products and services by customers, especially individual ones who easily are affected by psychological factors In the banking sector, products and services are vulnerable to be copied by competitors Therefore, VPBank’s competition strategy should take this into account to bring about measures against the copyright threats from the competitors Solving this problem also means that banks are gradually asserted its position in the market 4.2 Developing product policies towards diversification and modernization In the context of Vietnam economy witnesses the slump in other investment areas such as gold market, real estate and securities market, banking seems to be a safe place, which is favored by individual clients Moreover, the income per capita of Vietnamese Nguyen Thi Thu Hang 43 ATCA – K12 Graduation Thesis Banking Academy is gradually rising VPBank should quickly launch new products to take advantage of the opportunities This may be another form of savings accounts, loán or cards However, the current market has a lot of products of well – known and experienced banks such as Connect 24 by Vietcombank, F@st Access and F@st Savings by Techcombank, etc with the dominant characteristics and attractive forms of promotions So this requires the further uniqueness, safety and distinction from VPBank’s products, which is better than available products by other banks At the same time, the bank should enhance the development of new products based on modern technology such as personal accounts combined with value-added services such as payroll cards, statements, bill payment, investment products, asset management, centralized capital management, co – brand cards, etc.; accumulate savings, insurance savings, mortgage lending products, etc This work requires the efforts of VPBank, especially marketing department of the bank In the future, when the VPBank’s capital increases, ahead of over 1,000 billion VND, the bank has more conditions for diversification and specialization of products The other joint – stock commercial banks like Techcombank, ACB, Habubank, etc have applied modern technology in providing customer services When the bank offers information technology, they can apply the basic addition products supporting for the core products, which help reduce the travel time of the customers such as getting account balance, transferring money, making bill payment, etc through Internet Banking at any place with Internet connection 4.3 Adjusting price strategy in line with market moves Prices of products and services are the main source of bank’s income The price should ensure both to be competitive with other competitors and covers all costs of the bank In such a competitive market, the current cost of the products and services between banks has no clear difference, competition on price (interest and fees) occurs fiercely So, in addition to adjustments in accordance with market prices in order to attract more customers, VPBank should add a number of additional services supporting for the core products Nguyen Thi Thu Hang 44 ATCA – K12 Graduation Thesis Banking Academy 4.4 Developing distribution channels For individual clients, VPBank must always pay attention to a system of diverse distribution channels, enabling customers to make transactions anytime, anywhere Diversifying distribution channels is to harmoniously combine between the effective traditional channels and modern one using modern information technology This also means diversifying customer choices The highly developed technology more likely has allowed banks to communicate with their customers in more effective ways, resulting in a decrease in cost per transaction and transactions are conducted anywhere at any time The reduction of transaction and operating costs, enhancing transactions and service efficiency for individual customers is one of the main reasons for accelerating the implementation of diversified distribution channels And of course, the diversification of distribution channels will expand the VPBank's appeal to wider public areas Bank may conduct diversified distribution channels by: - Strengthen sales activities of the sales team - Develop specialized group serving customers in branches and transaction offices - Expand the network of branches and transaction offices, especially in the city center, residential areas, etc Branch will become an important factor in penetration strategies of products and services For banks, the physical appearance in the every street brings customers the confidence and belief that their money is stored in a safe place VPBank also must create a friendly and polite environment as well as always maximize needs of customers It is recommended to expand customer care centers and Internet banking, as well as develop retail banking system: improve automated trading, Internet Banking, Phone Banking, etc Using modern information technology in banks in Vietnam today is more and more popular But the investment in information technology requires huge capital sources, so VPBank should have an appropriate strategy and right investment choice between modern or traditional distribution channels With card products, banks can design plan to place ATMs and POS at amusement parks, supermarkets, recreational facilities and even the beauty centers, restaurants to Nguyen Thi Thu Hang 45 ATCA – K12 Graduation Thesis Banking Academy attract more customers By this way, VPBank will confirm its position and popularize its image 4.5 Improving promote policy VPBank can focus on increasing marketing strategies to potential customers, frequently updating information about new promotion programs to customers, sending greeting cards if possible By the time, they will become sympathetic to VPBank and it is a good time that they will transact with the bank and appeal more customers Suitable promotion policies for depositors with large volume and customer who makes repayment for the loans on time will bring more benefits to the bank in the coming time VPBank also should concentrate on further take use of online marketing tools, such as S.E.O (Search Engine Optimization), Support Online, Email Marketing, Social Media, Online PR, Promotion or Online Ad - S.E.O (Search Engine Optimization) SEO (stand for Search Engine Optimization) is a set of methods to bring the website to TOP 10 positions (first page) of the results pages of search engines Currently, most of the sites selected Google.com to deploy SEO as nearly 90% of global internet users use Google and Google offers many tools for website owners to implement and measure SEO effectiveness However, because SEO is also a new field to banks in Vietnam, there are currently no specialized departments to perform SEO, so banks often use Google Adwords service to replace SEO To use the Google Adwords service, banks have to spend an expense to be displayed at the top of the search results, if not, it will disappear So VPBank should be pioneer to deploy SEO, which is lower-cost than Google Adwords but generate effectiveness in the long run On the other hand, when searching on google, customers are also easy to distinguish advertisement from the search results and normally customers will trust in the search results better than commercials Nguyen Thi Thu Hang 46 ATCA – K12 Graduation Thesis Banking Academy - ONLINE SUPPORT: Online Support includes online chat and support via emails Because many customers want to keep secret of his transactions from colleagues, relatives, even his wife or husband Thus, customers often surf websites to find out information or personally go to trading offices Online chat allows customers to make questions and freely learn about the bank's products and services With this tool, counselors can directly marketing about their products and promotions quickly But more importantly, this is the two-way marketing tool in which there are exchanging information, giving and taking feedbacks between clients and the counselors In fact, the team to answer online customers’ questions is often combined with consultants at the customer support center (contact center) - EMAIL MARKETING: Email marketing is favored by many banks today as this helps them reach the right target customers Banks can actively adjust the time to send and receive email as well as commercialize (integrated website link), vary in its style and content Otherwise, email marketing saves at least 75% compared with other forms of advertising, allowing customer leave their feedbacks and correctly measure effectiveness Email marketing should be sent once a week to make certain habits of receiving emails, often called the weekly newsletter (Newsletter) The emails which are indiscriminately sent will make customers uncomfortable, and these emails (spam emails) may cause adverse effects The content of the emails is the most important issue needed careful research by the bank Currently, most banks only focus on email marketing to promote a new products and services, but combine much more information about different products in one email The bank can logically arranged information on promotions, the highlight utilities of products or add the bank’s news to promote its brand etc Nguyen Thi Thu Hang 47 ATCA – K12 Graduation Thesis Banking Academy - SOCIAL MEDIA The social network (social media) is now no longer so strange to Internet users and the applying of social networks in marketing is becoming increasingly popular Banks can create accounts on social media and make friends with many targeted customers, or you can create Fan page and try to attract more customers to participate Once the bank launches promotions program or wants to convey a certain message, they simply insert the contents on the wall (wall), that information will immediately appear in the targeted customer's home page - PROMOTION The online event is also a very effective way for banks to promote the bank image By joining as a partner or sponsor for the online event (online auctions, online fashion fairs etc.) or organize their own online events, banks are able to attract the attention of Internet users 4.6 Developing and improving workforce performance Staff are the key factor in the implementation of marketing strategy To meet the development needs of banking, human resources is one of the significant issues needed top concerns VPBank should develop their workforce both in quality and quantity, that is, qualifications, experience and enthusiasm Marketing is the new aspect of the commercial banks in Vietnam for the past few years, so those who are well – experienced in marketing, especially banking sector are not sufficient Thus, VPBank need training potential officers to implement marketing activities The joint-stock commercial banks as Techcombank, ACB, Sacombank all have marketing departments, VPBank need to quickly set up the marketing department in branches in order to meet customer needs at highest level VPBank should raise training programs in order to help staff further understand new products Besides, banks can use the reward policy towards employees who have high productivity as well as creative ideas and incentives, which is combination of benefits, responsibilities and contributions, with the purpose of further enhancing their sense of working attitudes Nguyen Thi Thu Hang 48 ATCA – K12 Graduation Thesis Banking Academy CONCLUSION Vietnam 's economy continues to face many challenges, significantly affecting to the banking and financial markets in general and VPBank in particular In 2012 VPBank carried out the most powerful and smart moves in the construction of important foundation, creating momentum for the following period with ambitious growth In the context of the current economy, marketing is an effective tool for banks to attract and maintain its customers base Among business and management strategies, VPBank has specially focused on marketing programs, which helps to ensure its powerful development and sustainability in the future in effort to reach the goal of becoming one of the Top Commercial Bank and Top retail bank in Vietnam by 2017 After detailed research, I would like to offer some solutions to contribute to the development of the bank based on enhancing their strengths and improving their weaknesses The solutions mainly follow the marketing mix tools concentrating on strategies in Products, Price, Place, Promotion and People In conclusion, subject matter set out to solve is mentioned above Due to the time constraints and the student’s limited reasoning level, it is inevitable that shortcomings still exist which needed to be completed by teachers, the bank’s managers and those interested in this topic Nguyen Thi Thu Hang 49 ATCA – K12 Graduation Thesis Banking Academy REFERENCES Alka Shukla (2008) A comparative study on Role of Marketing in Banking sector Rugta College of Engineering and technology (p.66-67) Vietnam Prosperity Joint Stock Bank (2007-2011) Annual Report Hanoi Banking Academy (2004) Marketing in Banking sector (p.45) Peter Geldart (2005) Money for the bank: A banker’s guide to Marketing Philip Kotler, Kevin L Keller (2012) Marketing Management Pearson USA Khilji Shahnaz (2011) Service marketing in banks Juhu College of Arts, Commerce Scienc (p.20-22) Dr R.K.Uppal (2010) Marketing of Bank products – Emerging chalenges and new strategies DAV College, Malout DAV College, Malout Ngo Minh Tien (2011) SWOT analysis of VPBank Hanoi Truong Giang (2012) The emerging economic issues in 2012 Retrieved May, 2013, from http://www.songmoi.vn : http://songmoi.vn/kinh-te-kinh-doanh/nhung-van-dekinh-te-noi-com-2012 Vietnam Prosperity Joint Stock Bank (2013) Vietnam Prosperity Joint Stock Bank Retrieved May 2013, from http://www.vpb.com.vn: http://www.vpb.com.vn/document/lai-suat-va-bieu-phi/bieu-phi?language=en Techcombank (2013) Techcombank Retrieved May 2013, from https://www.techcombank.com.vn:https://www.techcombank.com.vn/Desktop.aspx/L STK/TK-phat-loc/Tiet_kiem_phat_loc/ Nguyen Thi Thu Hang 50 ATCA – K12 ... dollar VIB Vietnam International Bank Vietcombank Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam Vietinbank Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade VNBC Vietnam Bank Card... conduct a study on ? ?Solutions for the development of Bank Marketing towards individual customers in Vietnam Prosperity Joint Stock Commercial Bank - VPBank " as my graduation thesis This paper... Marketing today includes offline marketing and online marketing (Internet marketing) , in which online marketing is becoming increasingly important as the number of Internet users is rapidly increasing