VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI SCHOOL OF BUSINESS DAU THU HUONG AN EVALUATION OF MARKETING TOOLS FOR OVERSEAS STUDY CONSULTING SERVICES IN HANOI Major: Business Administration Code: 60 34 05 MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION THESIS SUMMARY Supervisors: Dr Nguyen Thi Phi Nga Ha Nguyen, MBA Hanoi – 2012 TABLE OF CONTENT ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ABSTRACT TÓM TẮT TABLE OF CONTENT LIST OF FIGURES LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 1: A THEORETICAL BACKGROUND OF SERVICE MARKETING, MARKETING IN EDUCATION, AND MARKETING IN OVERSEAS EDUCATION SERVICE A OVERVIEW OF OVERSEAS STUDY OF VIETAM B THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1.1 An overview of service marketing 1.1.1 Concept of service marketing 1.1.2 Fundamentals of service marketing 1.2 An overview of marketing in education 1.2.1 Basic concepts and views on marketing in nonprofit organizations 1.2.2 The adoption of marketing by non-profit organizations 1.2.3 Characteristics of non-profit marketing 1.2.4 Marketing procedures for non-profit organizations 1.2.5 The importance of marketing in education 1.3 An overview of marketing in overseas education services 1.3.1 International Education services 1.3.2 Marketing in international education 1.3.3 Education agents 1.3.4 The role of agents 1.3.5 Typical marketing tools 1.3.6 Proposed model CHAPTER 2: EVALUATION OF MARKETING ACTIVITIES OF OVERSEAS STUDY CONSULTANTS IN HANOI 2.1 Analysis of marketing activities of OSC in Hanoi 2.1.2 Evaluation of the frequency use of each marketing tool employed by OSC 2.2 Evaluation of marketing tools used by overseas education consultants from students' perspective 2.2.1 Evaluation of the most popular marketing tools 2.2.2 Evaluation of most expected/ chosen marketing tools 2.2.3 Comparison between the level of actual use and selection / expectation of students of oversea study marketing tools 2.3 Comparison of perceptions of the effectiveness of marketing promotion tools hold by students and overseas study consultants 2.4 Evaluation of marketing activities by each marketing tool 2.4.1 Evaluation of each marketing tool 2.4.2 Evaluation of OSC by tools CHAPTER 3: SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVING MARKETING ACTIVITIES OF OVERSEAS STUDY CONSULTANTS 3.1.1 Solution for Group 3.1.2 Solutions for Group 3.1.3 Solutions for Group 3.2 Specific solutions for each marketing tool 3.2.2 Solution for Tool - Advertising 3.2.3 Solutions for Tool – Education fairs 3.2.4 Solution for Tool - Direct consultancy and recruitment 3.2.5.Solution for Tool – Websites 3.2.6 Solution for Tool - Banner advertising 3.2.7.Solution for Tool – Directory submission 3.2.8 Solution for Tool – Email marketing 3.2.9 Solution for Tool - Seminars 3.2.10 Solution for Tool 10 - Pr 3.2.11 Solution for Tool 11 – Tele marketing 3.3 Expansion and renovation of other types of marketing tools 3.3.2 Introduction to friends, relatives, acquaintances (words of mouth advertising) 3.3.3 Old customer care 3.3.4 Overseas study links 3.3.6 English center CONCLUSIONS REFERENCES APPENDIX AN EVALUATION OF MARKETING TOOLS FOR OVERSEAS STUDY CONSULTING SERVICES IN HANOI Dau Thu Huong MBA Candidate, 2009 – 2011 School of Business – Vietnam National University, Hanoi Supervisors: Dr Nguyen Thi Phi Nga Ha Nguyen, MBA INTRODUCTION Rationale Overseas education has become increasingly popular in recent years as it is viewed as offering the student likelihood of better future employment It is the undeniable benefits of the abroad study and the much improved living standards of Vietnamese people that make overseas study on the rise In the context of international economic integrations, overseas study has gone beyond the traditional limit in the educational sector and become a lucrative business for overseas education consultants (OSC) The overseas study consulting market in Vietnam is highly competitive Hundreds of education consulting centers and non-profit organizations are operating in big cities Regrettably, the increasing number of students studying overseas has not received a much needed concern from authorities In Hanoi alone, not least to say in Vietnam, there has not been official statistics of the number of students studying overseas, education markets for Vietnamese students as well as the number and effectiveness of OSC From the educational aspect, the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has not taken full responsibility in managing the study of Vietnamese overseas students, the quality of OSC and the prestige of the educational institutions which are the destinations of Vietnamese students From the business aspect, the Ministry of Planning and Investment is only in charge of calculating the number of OSC Information of OSC can only be found in newspapers, forums or data bases of international education institutions For all the reasons mentioned above, it is necessary to have a study on the performance of OSC Indeed, there has not been any study on this field in general and on marketing activities of overseas education consultants in particular Therefore it can be said that “An evaluation of marketing tools for overseas study consulting services in Hanoi” is of theoretical and practical significance Objectives of the study This study will be conducted to get insight into the marketing activities of OSC in Hanoi and examine the needs of students for overseas study service On the one hand, the study evaluates the promotional activities of OSC in Hanoi to find out the answer to such questions as” Which marketing tools does each OSC use and focus? “How is each tool conducted and evaluated in relation to others?” etc On the other hand, the thesis also studies the consumer behavior through surveys of targeted students who have the need to study abroad in order to evaluate the effectiveness of promotional activities of OSC from the students „perspective From the two aspects of the research, the thesis will give the answer to the question whether these marketing and promotional activities can meet the requirements of the consumers or not and the ultimate aim of the study is to point out solutions to improving the marketing activities of OSC Hopefully, after a model to evaluate the effectiveness of OSC is made, the study can propose solutions to improving marketing and promotional activities in overseas education consultancy, contributing to the improvement of quality and prestige of OSC in Vietnam‟s educational market Scopes of the study Because of time constraint and limited ability of the author, a survey of typical OSC in Hanoi is conducted With regard to students answering the questionnaire, they are 100 senior students from Departments of External Economics, Business Administration and Finance and Banking of FTU where the author is working and 200 senior students from FPT and Thang Long University It should be taken into account that FTU is a well established university which is dubbed as Vietnam Harvard while Thang Long is the first private university which has won recognition for the quality of teaching and studying and FPT is an emerging private university which is backed up by the famous FPT group These universities, in the author's observation, have a high rate of students wishing to study abroad It should also be noted that the object of the study are university students rather than high school students Furthermore, the concept of customers here refers to students who want to study overseas It is hoped that in the near future, with a larger budget of time, a larger-scaled study which covers a wide variety of objects will be conducted to find more comprehensive solutions to improving the effectiveness of OSC Methodology of the study The method of analysis, synthesis, comparison, interpretation, induction and socio investigation are employed in the study Based on the theoretical background that has been mentioned in the study, 11 marketing tools will be included in the survey questionnaires for students and marketing staff and leaders of OSC Questions will be from general to specific to find out the popularity of marketing tools, the effectiveness of each tool in the eyes of both OSC and students Survey and interview results are given in the form of figures to compare the popularity and effectiveness of different marketing tools Structure of the study Apart from the Introduction and Conclusion, the thesis is divided into chapters as follows: Chapter 1: A Theoretical background of service marketing, marketing in education, and marketing in overseas education service Chapter 2: An evaluation of marketing and promotion activities of overseas education consultants in Hanoi Chapter 3: Solutions to improving the effectiveness of marketing and promotion activities of overseas education consultants in Hanoi CHAPTER 1: A THEORETICAL BACKGROUND OF SERVICE MARKETING, MARKETING IN EDUCATION, AND MARKETING IN OVERSEAS EDUCATION SERVICE AN OVERVIEW OF OVERSEAS STUDY OF VIETNAM There are an increasing number of types of scholarship available to study overseas In the coming years, the market of oversea study of Vietnam will have a new and significant trend and change The markets receiving students studying abroad will be extended to other regional countries such as Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Thailand, etc due to their lower costs, and shorter distance from home The overseas-study consulting market in Vietnam is highly competitive Hundreds of education consulting centers and non-profit organizations are operating in the big cities B THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1.1 An overview of service marketing 1.1.1 Concept of service marketing 1.1.1.1 Concept of service Put in the simplest terms, services are deeds, processes and performances Generally, services are not tangible things that can be touched, seen and felt but rather intangible deeds and performances To be specific, services can be whatever value a business delivers to customers 1.1.1.2 Concept of marketing Because marketing activities bring about exchanges, marketing is an essential function in an economic system In a free-enterprise economy, resources are allocated by interaction of supply and demand in the marketplace Marketing activities and institutions' provide the framework and mechanisms for this interaction and exchange taking place Importance of Marketing If marketing is the engine that drives the organization, then marketing research is the process that keeps the engine tuned 1.1.1.3 Concept of service marketing Generally, service marketing is known as a form of marketing which focuses on selling services and a form of marketing based on relationship and value 1.1.2 Fundamentals of service marketing 1.1.2.1 Characteristics of service: The services have unique characteristics which make them different from that of goods The most common characteristics of services are: Intangibility Inseparability Perish ability Variability 1.1.2.3 Mar-Mix in Marketing Service 1.1.2.3.1 Product policy A product in general is a broad concept of things or set of activities that bring values to customers Customers don‟t actually purchase goods or services but they purchase the benefits and values that goods and services offer them 1.1.1.3.2 Pricing policy Price plays an important role in services marketing mix and has a large impact on profit and also decides the value of the primary service that is offered to customers 1.1.1.3.3 Place Policy Distribution channels in service industry are a broader concept in comparison with the traditionally known ones Distribution channels are comprised from such factors as service products, negotiation, information, ownership and promotion Decisions in service distribution In order for enterprise to have an effective distribution channel, enterprise needs to base on the features of the service that it is offering together with the true demand of the market Accordingly, enterprise should consider making the right decision to get the best result 1.1.1.3.4 Promotion Policy Communication makes things clear and help company position itself in the market so that the customers can have more awareness of the value of service Communication in service includes such things as advertisement, personal communication, and promotion 1.1.1.3.5 People Policy Human factor plays a significant part in service marketing Therefore, the enrollment, training, motivating and managing human resource have great impact 1.1.1.3.6 Process Policy There are several steps in designing service supply process, namely generating the idea of service, building supply scenarios, modeling service supply in the physical environment including the relationship between service providers and the end-users, and perfecting the model 1.1.3.7 Physical Evidence In a word, physical evidence are the combination of both tangible factor such as facilities, uniforms, location, etc and intangible factor such as experience, skills, etc which help to build up brand and company‟s image 1.2.5 The importance of marketing in education The role of educational marketing is to:  investigate the market, its definition and understanding and identifying potential consumers of goods and services;  providing appropriate products and services to customer‟s needs at the time, place and right price;  providing customers with optimal, quality and reputation educational services;  attracting consumers by targeting their needs and aspirations intuition The educational marketing has several functions, namely:  research of the market by trying to find the main consumers of education;  marketing‟s policies linking the main requirements of the education market;  adapting education‟s services to the needs, expectations and demands of consumers for products and educational services;  promoting optimal efficient management, using materials and information resources in order to achieve the main objectives set 1.2 An overview of marketing in overseas education services 1.2.1 International Education services There is little research on international education services, which is the immediate discipline of this research Nonetheless, a range of perspectives abound 1.2.2 Marketing in international education The supply of transnational (or cross-border) education plays an increasingly important role for the economic growth of a country 1.2.3 Education agents An education agent is defined as an individual, company or other organization providing services on a commercial basis to help students and their parents gain places on study programmers overseas 1.2.4 The role of agents Agents have only a limited role in raising general interest in study abroad but they play a very important role as intermediaries helping to convert interest from students, particularly younger students (and their parents), into actual placements in institutions abroad 1.2.5 The importance of marketing in education The role of educational marketing is to:  investigate the market, its definition and understanding and identifying potential consumers of goods and services;  providing appropriate products and services to customer‟s needs at the time, place and right price;  providing customers with optimal, quality and reputation educational services;  attracting consumers by targeting their needs and aspirations intuition The educational marketing has several functions, namely:  research of the market by trying to find the main consumers of education;  marketing‟s policies linking the main requirements of the education market;  adapting education‟s services to the needs, expectations and demands of consumers for products and educational services;  promoting optimal efficient management, using materials and information resources in order to achieve the main objectives set 1.3 Marketing Communication: Channels and Promotion Tools Personal and nonpersonal communication channels can be used for marketing communications Within both of them there are many subchannels The marketing communications mix is now thought of as consisting six major modes or types of communication alternatives Advertising Sales promotion Events and experiences Public relations and publicity Direct marketing Personal selling 1.4 Typical marketing tools (1) Direct mail (2) Advertising (3) Education fairs (4) Direct recruitment and consultants (5) Partnership (6) Online marketing, (7) Conferences (8) Press Relations (PR) and Advertising (9) Telemarketing 1.5 Proposed model CHAPTER 2: EVALUATION OF MARKETING ACTIVITIES OF OVERSEAS STUDY CONSULTANTS IN HANOI A survey is conducted to study the use of the 11 typical marketing promotion tools by the overseas education consultants as follows: Tool 1: Direct mail Tool 2: Advertising Tool 3: Education Fair Tool 4: Direct recruitment and consultancy Tool 5: Website Tool 6: Banners advertising (banners) Tools Listings Tool 8: Email marketing Tool 9: Seminar/ Workshop Tool 10: Public Relations (PR) Tool 11:Tele marketing (phone call) 2.1 Analysis of marketing activities of OSC in Hanoi 2.1.1 Evaluation of the use of each marketing tool employed by OSC In marketing activities, the tools of advertising, education fairs, websites and seminars/workshops are the most popular choices for overseas education consultants, followed by Tool 4- Direct recruitment and consultancy while Tool 8- Email marketing- accounts for 88.89% The remaining tools, Tool - Direct mails and Tool 11 - Tele marketing are employed by 77.78% of companies The least used tools are Tool 6- Banner ads on websites and Tool 10 - Public relations, accounting for 66.67% Most companies say that they are hanging banner advertisements on streets rather than on websites Particularly, Tool 7- Directory submission- is not used by any company interviewed 2.1.2 Evaluation of the frequency use of each marketing tool employed by OSC Tool - Websites - is the most popular tool The next popular tool is Tool 4- Direct recruitment and consultancy with rate which is usually carried out at the company‟s headquarter or at education fairs However, there are also some cases in which companies go directly to schools to deliver talk, consultation, trial lessons and direct recruitments Other equally popular tools are Seminars/ Workshops and Advertising with points Most ads are on papers and television rather than on radio stations and magazines Up to 88.89% of companies surveyed said they appeared on television just to participate in television programs on education, overseas study or to sponsor TV programs rather than record information or advertise on television Therefore, this activity can be classified as public relations The remaining tools, including Tool - Direct mails, Tool - Education fairs, Tool - banner ads, Tool - E-mail marketing, Tool 10 - Public relations, and the Tool 11 - Telemarketing scatter in the scale from to points, which means that these tools are not used frequently The least frequently used tool is Banner advertising Tool 7- Directory submission is not taken into consideration as it is not used by any company 2.1.3 Evaluation of marketing tools from the perspective of OSC Tool - Advertising and Tool - Seminars/ Workshops are considered as the two most popular as well as most effective tools whereas Tool Education fairs is used by all companies but not at a frequent basis Tool Websites is also employed and at frequent basis by all companies but is not evaluated as an effective tool One of the tools that is considered as the most effective tool is Tool - Direct recruitment and consultancy- ; however, it is not employed by all companies, and is used at a quite frequent rather than most frequent basis, Tool 10 - Public relations is considered as the second effective tool but is not popular with many companies and also not used at a regular basis Tool - E-mail marketing is used by quite many companies but neither at a frequent basis nor considered as highly effective Compared to other tools, Tool - Direct mails is also quite popular, but surprisingly companies not use very often and effectively Tool 11- Telemarketing is ranked the third in terms of the number of companies using as well as marketing effectiveness It is clear from the table that besides the marketing tools companies use frequently and highly effectively, there are still some marketing tools many companies use frequently but not so effectively (in the perspective of the overseas education consultants) or vice versa, effectively used but not at a regular basis 2.2 Evaluation of marketing tools used by overseas education consultants from students' perspective 2.2.1 Evaluation of the most popular marketing tools The highest percentage of students (82.26%) says that they see Ads to get overseas study information It is interesting to notice that they not see ads on television, radio stations but mainly on electronic newspapers The next popular tool is Websites, from which 79.03% of students find information to study overseas However these sites are mostly owned by foreign schools, educational institutions or other international information search sites The third popular tool is Seminars/ Workshops from which 72.58% of students have attended Workshops they attended mainly take place in large hotels and only a few are held at the offices of companies or educational organizations Therefore it can be said that Tool Advertising, Tool 5- Websites and Tool 9- Seminars/ Workshop are the most popular marketing tools used by students It should be noticed that 50% to 60% of the students surveyed say they use tool 1, 3, 4, 8, 10 Regarding to Tool 1- Direct mail, students say that they receive enrollment notice, workshop invitation in both forms: mailed and in person deliveries However most say that the letter is presented with no 10 special or eye-catching features When students are asked to give the answer to the question if they find the staff in the education fairs thoroughly trained, enthusiastic, well organized, and professional or not, most of them say "normal." Direct recruitment and consultancy services are conducted by companies in many locations such as companies‟ headquarters, schools or universities, locations where community activities and extracurricular often take place Generally all the three locations above could attract students coming to get study abroad information P R activities of companies are also known to students in the form of information on courses, reports, articles on companies' activities or television programs with the participants of overseas education companies Very few students use Tool - Banner ads as only 40.32% of students see ad banners which are usually posted on online newspapers The two least known marketing tools to most students are Tool Directory submission and Tool 11 - Telemarketing 16.33% of students say that they know what the directory submission means, which is only one fifth the number of students who use the most popular marketing tool - ad (82.22%) and only 20.97% of students have been informed the overseas education information including new courses, scholarships and tuition incentives, etc by phone call 2.2.2 Evaluation of most expected/ chosen marketing tools When asked to choose the three most effective channels of information for students, a large number of students (54.84%) choose Tool 4- Direct recruitment and consultancy The second largest but quite lower compared to the first is Tool 9- Workshop, which attracts 43.55% of students to choose as the most effective tool The next chosen as the most effective tools are tool - Education fairs and tool - Websites (40.32%) The rest tools chosen by less than 30% students as the most effective tool include Tool 10 - Public relations (30.65%), Tool 1- Direct mail (27.42%), Tool - Email marketing (20.97%), Tool 11 Telemarketing (16.13%), Tool - Advertising (14.52%), and Tool 7Listings (1.61%) Tool is least chosen as the most effective tool, accounting for only 1/50 compared to the most presumably effective toolDirect consultancy and recruitment (54.84%) From the graph, it can be clearly seen that there is a huge difference in the evaluation of the effectiveness of marketing promotion tools for overseas study from the students 'perspective Some channels are more appreciated, while the remaining channels of information are not and there are big 11 differences even in this group which is split into smaller groups with certain gaps 2.2.3 Comparison between the level of actual use and selection / expectation of students of oversea study marketing tools The level of expectation is lower than that of actual use in all marketing promotion tools 2.3 Comparison of perceptions of the effectiveness of marketing promotion tools hold by students and overseas study consultants There is a wide gap between the students and overseas study consultants in the perception of the effectiveness of marketing tools to promote the overseas education service The gap varies depending on the tools, which suggests a difference in perception between companies and students 2.4 Evaluation of marketing activities by each marketing tool 2.4.1 Evaluation of each marketing tool In group 1, direct recruitment and consultancy service, websites, workshops are rated as the most popular tools for both students and overseas education consultants; therefore these tool should be given a top priority and be the main ones that companies pay attention to in order to meet the requirement of customers Direct mails, education fairs, PR can be classified into Group - Group of high demand, but low performance It is clear that these three marketing tools are employed by the overseas education consultants, but not often enough to satisfy the requirements of students Therefore, it is necessary to further boost up these extremely potential tools Group does not consist of any tools; therefore we not need to pay attention to The five remaining tools belong to Group - low need and low performance and is also out of the question 2.4.2 Evaluation of OSC by tools 2.4.2.1 Evaluation of OSC by Direct mail EMG and HAVETCO are the two companies having the most effective Direct mails as their activities can meet customers' need Other companies fall into group 2- high demand but low performance as they cannot meet the high demands of customers 2.4.2.2 Evaluation of OSC by tools 2, 6, 7, 8, 11 Group 4- low requirement and low performance includes the following tools: Advertising, Banner advertising, Directory submission, E-mail marketing, Telemarketing These tools are appropriately paid attention to by all companies As mentioned earlier, there is no need for companies to invest in these tools; however it does not mean that these tools should be 12 neglected Specific solutions for each tool will be presented in the later chapter of this research 2.4.2.3 Evaluation of OSC by Tool Regarding to Tool 3- Education fairs, Cat Tuong and Duc Anh a quite good job as high performance' can meet ' high demand' Other companies belong to group I.e the performance cannot meet the high demand of customers 2.4.2.4 Evaluation of overseas education consultants by Tool For tool - Direct recruitment and consultancy, Apollo is classified into Group - the high demand, low performance group because this overseas education consultant does not invest much on consultants and direct recruitment This company is not interested in doing marketing in schools or participating in extracurricular or community activities The remaining consultants are in group as their marketing tools are very effective and to meet the requirements of consumers 2.4.2.5 Evaluation of overseas education consultants by Tool Similarly, for Tool - Website, EMG is classified as group as it has not met the requirements from students Other companies are good at using this tool and classified as group 2.4.2.6 Evaluation of overseas education consultants by Tool In terms of Tool - workshops, all companies are classified as Group high demand, high performance The frequent use of this marketing tool helps companies approach customers and satisfy their requirements 2.4.2.7 Evaluation of overseas education consultants by Tool 10 Pr activities of the companies: Apollo, EMG, Havetco, Baltic are considered as effective and can meet the requirements of consumers, therefore it can be classified into group whereas the remaining companies are classified in group as the using of PR tool is still low, failing to meet the high demands of customers 13 CHAPTER 3: SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVING MARKETING ACTIVITIES OF OVERSEAS STUDY CONSULTANTS 3.1 General solution for Groups of marketing tools for overseas education consultancy service 3.1.1 Solution for Group Group consists of three tools: Tools - Direct recruitment and consultancy, Tool - websites, Tools - Seminars/ Workshops This group is of high demand and high performance as shown in chapter 2, and the marketing tools in this group are very effective as they are popular to consumers; therefore, these tools needs to be invested more money, time, effort and human resources 3.1.2 Solutions for Group Group consists of three tools: Tool 1- Direct mail, Tool - Education fairs, Tool 10 - Pr The tools in group are not used effectively because of their failure to meet consumer expectations Unlike the tools in group which also need to be invested more, but only at the current level to meet the customer needs, the tools in group need to be invested more than the current level as they fail to meet the customer's needs Therefore, although this group needs to be invested more in terms of costs, time, manpower, leadership, the solution for this group will be different from group 3.1.3 Solutions for Group Group consists of the remaining tools: Tool - Advertising, Tools banner ads, Tool - Directory submission, Tool - Email marketing and Tool 11 - Telemarketing There is no need to invest further in this Group as it has low need and low implementation Instead the company can think of other effective ways to use these marketing tools within available resources For tool 6, companies should not have widespread and unwise advertisement but focus well on university entrance exam along with eyecatching banners In addition to this, companies should pay attention to potential customers and send them emails or contact by phone and avoid causing inconvenience to customers who are not interested in the service As directory submission is less known to consumers, it should be selectively posted in a very few effective websites * Group does not have any tool, meaning that there is no ineffective marketing tool; therefore all 11 marketing tools should be properly invested 3.2 Specific solutions for each marketing tool 3.2.1 A solution to Tool 1- Direct mail 14 When sending direct mails, it is necessary for overseas education consultants to have a database of names, home addresses of recipients which can be collected from customers participating in seminars, education fairs, direct counseling and recruitment, or from schools; or purchased from individuals, companies providing database Because customers may receive a great deal of such letters, to attract customers' attention the content of the messages should be concise, attractive rather than too general If possible, companies should specify the recipient's name Depending on the object and person receiving mails, mails can be Standard Post, Registered Post, Express Post, or Courier Post Mailing time is also important Mails should be sent in a way that those recipients receive the information before critical events such as seminars, scholarship contest 3.2.2 Solution for Tool - Advertising It is important that advertising in general and overseas education advertising in particle should be attractively designed The number of advertisement should be kept to the minimum necessary to convey essential information, even in commercial areas Advertising should be imaginative and easy to remember, avoid too many thoughts, too many words, too many things going on at once causing confusion and a lack of aesthetics Advertising content must be clear, condensed so that after a short time (3-5 seconds) the reader can understand right away what the ad says Advertising should not be taken throughout the year but in a reasonable time period The most effective way is to focus advertising budget on a certain time on televisions and select a few widely read newspapers or magazines The most important thing is to allocate costs reasonably between the channels 3.2.3 Solutions for Tool – Education fairs In the exhibition, design an eye-catching booth to attract viewers, show the wealth of information, to meet the diverse information needs of large customers The exhibition is one of the activities of direct contact between staff and customers For this reason, training staff participating in the education fair is very important The fairs not only convey educational messages, sometimes at the exhibition there are some fun activities such as lotteries, quizzes with prizes and other educational fun activities to attract people 3.2.4 Solution for Tool - Direct consultancy and recruitment When providing consultancy and direct recruitment, it would be more persuasive if the consulting company is accompanied by the representatives of foreign universities, especially when meeting with many clients at the same time The presence of representatives will save the time of the representatives and 15 facilitate the talk about the actual study and living overseas with former overseas study students Besides, one of the important activities in the consulting and direct recruitment is the cooperation between the consulting company with schools to organize exchanges between students of these schools with study abroad students or former study abroad students 3.2.5 Solution for Tool – Websites Websites of OSC should be simple, not too gaudy, colorful, and clearly structured to help students easily find information about overseas studying Sites specializing in information rather than images should also be arranged to be user friendly In terms of content, information on the website should be rich in courses, overseas study countries, and have guidance and shared experience of abroad study, study costs, student success secrets, etc i.e all the information that potential customers are interested in 3.2.6 Solution for Tool - Banner advertising For successful Web banner advertising, ensure you have a strong and clearcut statement that features a call for action Consider audience involvement for greater banner ad success The involvement could be direct such as tictac-toe and similarly simple games or by inviting the surfers for games, quizzes, and giveaways in your site Give something free to entice Web users Buy banner ads from credible and reliable websites since this will tell potential customers that you are also credible and reliable Use small banners byte-wise for speedy download and then wider ones after the download Use sex and intrigue to catch people‟s attention Consider hiring a pro since pros have the necessary tools, experience, and training for an effective banner advertising campaign Response rates usually drop from 200,000 to 350,000 impressions due to what is called banner burnout and you should therefore change your ads to different versions regularly Test your ads before releasing them Develop a Web banner advertising strategy and stick to it Advertising banners mentioned in the theoretical basis of this study are banners on web pages Overseas education consulting companies need to select sites that have many students, for students to view advertising banners such as www.24h.com, www.ngoisao.net, www.vnexpress.net, www.dantri.com.vn, etc 3.2.7 Solution for Tool – Directory submission Unlike other marketing tools, listing sites by the index is uncommon to both overseas education consultants and students; however it should be admitted that it is an effective tool For this reason, companies should think thoroughly when they choose the websites to register this service so that 16 they can attract those who are interested in overseas study Widely known websites like www.edu.vietnamworks.com, www.yahoo.com, or www.google.com should be taken into consideration of the companies 3.2.8 Solution for Tool – Email marketing Message headers and sender's name should be clear In addition, keep the email concise, conversational, and focused It is harder to read letters on a computer screen than on a sheet of paper, so keep emails short and to the point While there is no ideal email length, keep sentences short, about 8-12 words and leave a space between paragraphs 3.2.9 Solution for Tool - Seminars Overseas study workshop demonstrates the company's professionalism If companies have good conditions in terms of premises and equipment and location, the workshop can be conducted at company headquarters If not, the workshop should be conducted at major hotels, as this often creates a secure, or trust for customers and also creates the best conditions to the workshop Apart from the introduction of school representatives, exchange, chatting, Q&A, workshops would attract more potential customers if there are quizzes with prizes, scholarships for students participating in contests and the interviewer with excellent results, gifts to any customer at the workshop 3.2.10 Solution for Tool 10 - Pr There are many types of Pr that companies can employ such as reporting on an English course or foreign language courses in newspapers; writing a report on educational issues; creating a study guide column, a crossword, a competition on English language and culture; sideline information of the opening of a branch or an English language center, etc When revealing the information, it is necessary for overseas education consultants to include overseas study information In Vietnam, television is a very powerful tool, especially Vietnam Television station or Hanoi Television Station Although they are very expensive, educational programs on these televisions can win trust and confidence from parents and students' than other information sources; therefore overseas study consultants can sponsor or cooperate with television stations to make such television programs as " overseas study window' (Hanoi TV), Preparation for overseas study (vctv6) or programs for young people like am 20' (VTC1) 3.2.11 Solution for Tool 11 – Tele marketing When making the call to invite customers to attend the event, the company should make it at a reasonable time, avoiding lunch, rest time, too late, too 17 early or too long calls which can make the customers exhausted Different from other normal phone calls, callers in these cases must also be trained and practiced to please listeners In terms of content, the caller should give a brief, clear notice; s/he should always listen to and elicit feedback from recipients who play a passive role in the phone call After giving the main content of the talk, the caller must be willing to provide the client information further if requested It is very important for the consultants to be in the attitude of courtesy, enthusiasm, showing good knowledge of their field and opening every opportunity to meet the customers in person later in the workshops or in direct consultation 3.3 Expansion and renovation of other types of marketing tools 3.3.1 Street banner advertising OSC should place banners on a street that has high pedestrian traffic or high vehicle movements every day If they have a new audience every day, at multiple locations and multiple sites - equals maximum marketing exposure for their business It is also necessary for consultants to pay attention to the time to place the ad, normally before the upcoming events, or enrollment period to save cost and enhance effectiveness 3.3.2 Introduction to friends, relatives, acquaintances (words of mouth advertising) It is important for overseas study consultants to build up good reputation and trust for old customers In so doing it is necessary to maintain and develop relationships with former customers after the service has been completed In other words, overseas study consultants should keep in touch, support students while they are studying abroad Additionally, they can also send cards, gifts to overseas study students to celebrate special occasions to show their concern for customers and a perfect service that they have 3.3.3 Old customer care The old customer care through marketing tools such as direct mail, email, phone calls, pr, etc and the mass media is very significant in the long term in that it not only helps old customers feel cared and respected but it also builds up safety and trust for potential customers; thus enhancing the prestige of the overseas study consultant In addition to this, companies can invite former study abroad students who got benefits from the company's consulting services to participate in exhibitions, seminars, exchanges, television programs in the role of guest speakers so that potential customers can directly chat, ask questions with this alumni 3.3.4 Overseas study links 18 Overseas study links mean overseas study consultants which are strong in different market cooperate with other consultants to develop all markets For example, if company A and company B has a strong market in the U.K and in Japan respectively, A will introduce its customers to Company B if they ask for Japan market to receive commission from company B As it is very difficult for a company to attain resources to develop in all markets, overseas study link is a good solution to help companies support each other 3.3.5 Building an independent network of consultants A network of independent consultant include teachers in charge of youth organization, or people in charge of training in consulting companies These people understand the educational market; as a result they are also very effective consulting staff for oversea education market When establishing a relationship with this team, the company can build a network of independent consultants who can introduce potential customers to go to the company to get consulted or they can provide direct consultancy to potential customers This activity will benefit both parties as the consultant shall be entitled to commissions or other benefits such as scholarships or other incentives 3.3.6 English center In fact, some companies open their own language center, mainly English center where English courses are provided to both students looking for information of overseas study and coming overseas study students It is clear that foreign language study and consultation are two indispensable for overseas study student Companies will get benefit when these two activities are supported by the same source Some students going to companies to get overseas study consultancy service and then engage in foreign language classes to improve their foreign language before studying abroad and also have the opportunity to participate in trial classes, get acquainted and contact with representatives of foreign schools In contrast, students in foreign language learning conditions also have opportunities to know more sources of information about overseas studying and become one of the potential customers of the company 19 CONCLUSIONS The evaluation of marketing tools for overseas study recruitment and consultancy services in Hanoi‟ has solved all the problems posed in the research These include: - Study the marketing activities of overseas study consultants in Hanoi based on marketing tools and how each tool is evaluated by consultants in the comparison with others - Study the behavior of consumers: how students approach the marketing promotion tool and how they evaluate the effectiveness of marketing activities to promote overseas study - Evaluation of whether or not marketing activities of overseas study consultants in Hanoi can meet the need of students The research was done through surveys from both overseas study consultants and university students For this reason the results of this survey is the raw and primary resource, updated and has brought about the unexpected findings for the author, for example the company's Pr activities which are in most cases articles on newspapers, television programs, reports - are of no cost because they rely on companies' reputation Another interesting finding is that few companies advertise on website; in contrast, many of them hang banners on the streets Another thing worthy of comment is that a consider number of customers go to the consulting company due to word of mouth advertising Research has shown that companies need to use effectively all 11 marketing tools mentioned in the study in which the attention should be paid to the most effective tools, i.e tool - direct recruitment and consultancy, tool - websites, tool - workshops, and there are no marketing tools that are over invested, exceeding consumers' expectations Whatever the marketing tool is, the investment must be on the principle of effectiveness, in terms of cost, time, human resources and leadership attention The solution to improving the effectiveness of marketing activities must be understood in terms of theory, strategy and implementation In terms of theory, it is necessary to understand the characteristics and differences of education marketing and marketing in other sectors in order to carry out effectively marketing activities In education there are many objects that can be interpreted as customers such as parents, sponsors and students Education also requires customers to participate in the process of service delivery In addition to that, this is a product consumed once in one's life, therefore should be long-term invested 20 In terms of strategy, marketing people should know how to appreciate effectiveness of their work after the performance This is important because it reflects whether the marketing is good or not This study has brought about a new measure for consultants to evaluate the effectiveness of their marketing tools based on the needs of consumers / students In terms of implementation, this study has found out that the effective marketing tools that the overseas education consultants are using are direct recruitment and consultancy, websites and seminars whereas the not yet effective tools are direct mails, education fairs and PR as these tools are invested and used less than consumers' expectation The actual survey process has demonstrated that there is a gap between the theory and reality The interviews with consulting companies have revealed some new marketing tools that have not been mentioned in the theory and unknown to the author This means that although the marketing to promote oversea studying in Vietnam was born after the marketing of education in many countries, it has developed quickly and flexibly and it is expected that there would be more effective marketing tools in the future In the context that Vietnam's education is integrating into the world, with such findings, it is the hope of the author that there would be a deeper, more comprehensive research on marketing activities in general and on marketing activities of overseas study consultants in Vietnam in particular This will certainly contribute to the development of education service in the future 21 ... of service marketing, marketing in education, and marketing in overseas education service Chapter 2: An evaluation of marketing and promotion activities of overseas education consultants in Hanoi. .. Characteristics of non-profit marketing 1.2.4 Marketing procedures for non-profit organizations 1.2.5 The importance of marketing in education 1.3 An overview of marketing in overseas education services. .. MARKETING, MARKETING IN EDUCATION, AND MARKETING IN OVERSEAS EDUCATION SERVICE AN OVERVIEW OF OVERSEAS STUDY OF VIETNAM There are an increasing number of types of scholarship available to study overseas