What to keep in mind when doing B2B PR in Vietnam?

With focuses on business clients, B2B PR decisions are made based on rational decisions rather than emotional ones. Understanding who the customers are is the key to the B2B model. Therefore, in-depth market research is a prerequisite step that businesses need to conduct when targeting the Vietnamese corporate audience. This process would identify the target customers, competitors, and potential partners in the local market. With these studies, businesses will be able to determine the right PR strategy for their business activities.

Content is king: Corporate customers have different characteristics from ordinary consumers in society. For the sake of their companies and employees, corporate decision-makers are very logical and highly functional. Choose content that is insightful, serious and intelligent, but equally witty if you want to get closer to your potential customers.

Build a good and long-term relationship with the Vietnamese press: Journalists are the information bridge between the public and businesses. Making friends with journalists will give businesses a lot of market knowledge and insight into the appropriate PR content for their media campaigns. Also, a good relationship with journalists will also contribute to limiting the media crises that businesses may face.

Engage in CSR activities for better brand recognition: CSR activities not only make good impressions on local consumers but also on other businesses. From those activities, B2B businesses can find potential partners. On the other hand, mainstream media in Vietnam is very interested in the contribution of businesses to social activities, and the name of the brand can be mentioned in the newspapers to increase awareness.

Collaborate with influencers (KOLs / influencers) and field experts in Vietnam: Associating the brand with credible public figures can help raise brand equity and brand awareness. However, B2B businesses should be cautious when choosing influencers to work with. Brands should choose those with credible background and relatable expertise to the product or services, and avoid those who previously got caught up in scandals.

“KOLs are just like any other consumers, they have their own favorite brands and products, they could naturally endorse these favorites to their audience. Therefore, always maintain good relationships with ones that are most suitable to your brand, both on and off-contract, so that they’ll always speak kind words of you to everyone,” shared Dr. Clāra Ly-Le, Managing Director of EloQ Communications.

Finally, choose a reputable PR agency. Working with PR agencies will help businesses save budgets and limit internal pressure on the company’s personnel, especially the marketing department. In addition, PR agencies can provide extensive and thorough market research materials in combination with other PR services because they have experience working in different fields and have a more objective view of the domestic market. As a result, they will offer the most effective and suitable PR campaigns to reach targeted customers.

 


Author Lien Luc is a PR & Communications Executive at EloQ Communications, handling content development and social content management for many of EloQ’s projects. Read more articles relating to marketing and communications at EloQ’s Blog: https://blog.eloqasia.com/category/en/