How digital marketing is used in Vietnam by the government

1. Digital marketing is used as a tool to promote positive changes in Vietnam

The term “digital marketing” is relatively new in Vietnam; however, it has rapidly and
strongly spread among Vietnamese population because the increasing use of the Internet. Enterprises
in Vietnam have recently made full use of digital marketing to advertise their products and their brand
names. Also, the Vietnamese government uses digital marketing as a method to change the people
thinking to achive its goals.
The Vietnamese government does not participate directly in the activities of digital marketing
of enterprises and companies in Vietnam; however, it helps, supports and encourages individuals and
organizations in propagating positive messages to gradually change the thinking of Vietnamese
population toward raising issues. Specifically, one of the main roles of non-government organizations
is to improve the living conditions and natural condition in developing contries, including Vietnam.
According to figures provided by Vietnam Online – a website offers comprehensive travel services
such as private tours, holiday packages, cruise, hotel and ticket reservation, there were a lot of
limitations to activities of foreign NGOs in Vietnam. At that time, NGOs in Vietnam worked with very
low aid budget and their impacts were not widely spread among citizens. One of possible reasons
causing the lack of NGOs’ positive participation in Vietnam could be the unclear and complicated
legal structure and regulations in the country. Nevertheless, after 1986, thanks to our Reform policies
on international integration, improving the effectiveness of cooperation with national and international
NGOs, contributing to strengthening mutual understanding, friendly relationships and cooperation
between people of different countries, foreign NGOs which has good relationship with us increased
and aid value also gradually increased. Therefor, the activities and the coverage of NGOs in Vietnam
has rised dramatically. By 2006, there were about 650 non-government organizations operating in
Vietnam, and around 500 of them took part in regular activities and plans with Vietnam (Ministry of
foreign affair, 2017). These figures show that the Vietnamese government has put many efforts in
promoting contributions of NGOs in Vietnam. Also, NGOs' aid programs have been implemented in
61 provinces and cities in Vietnam, with a particular concentration on poor, remote and mountainous
areas and are increasingly focused on areas which are consistent with priorities and socio-economic
development orientation of our country, especially poverty reduction and sustainable development.
The support of foreign NGOs is not only material aid but also transfer of experience, technology,
intellectual development, medical care, universal education ...
To achive these goals, NGOs in Vietnam has recently made use of marketing, particularly
digital marketing, to expand the coverage of programs to improve people's lives and gradually build
positive thoughts on raising issues. For example, pollution is now a worldwide phenomenon, including
Vietnam, which leads to a large amount of negative consequences. Foreign NGOs are trying hard to
improve environmental issues in Vietnam. Surfing the Internet or Facebook, we can see many websites
or Facebook pages that are run by NGOs. These channels support NGOs a lot in changing people's
opinions on environmental issues. Along with alerting the pollution situation in Vietnam to help
people realize the seriousness of pollution, NGOs also organize and promote volunteer plans and
activities to improve this issue via social networks. In addition, activities of non-government
organizations and individuals on helping people in mountainous and remote areas are also widely
spread to all people through social networks and through the Internet to call call for help and active
participation of people. Although the Vietnamese government is not directly involved in the organizing
and guiding these activities or organizations, it enforces important policies to support and promote
these activities to develop and expand.
Thanks to the efforts of the Vietnamese government to promote the activities of non-
government organizations, the living conditions of Vietnamese people have been improved, especially
in remote and mountainous areas. According to a report published by the World Bank, Poverty in
Vietnam continues to decline, especially among ethnic minorities with a strong decline of 13%, the
largest decline in the last decade. More specifically, the report also notes that 70% of Vietnamese
people are now economically secure, of which 13% belong to the world middle class. These classes are
growing rapidly, increasing by more than 20% in the period of 2010 - 2017. Since 2014, an average of
1.5 million Vietnamese people have joined the global middle class each year, shows that households
are continuing to climb the higher economic ladder after escaping poverty (World Bank, 2018).
Additionally, environmental issues and environmental protection are also getting more attention of
Vietnamese people. People not only have more awareness of the current environmental situation but
also begin to realize the importance of protecting the environment. Recently, the use of
environmentally friendly products is becoming increasingly popular and is becoming a positive trend.
These are just a few examples of the activities of individuals and organizations in promoting
changes toward social issues in Vietnam. These individuals and organizations mainly use digital
marketing to promote and propagate their activities, particularly popular social networks in Vietnam.
Moreover, the activities of these organization and individuals are also supported and encouraged by
the government through laws and policies.
2. Digital marketing is used to promote the image of Vietnam
In addition to promoting positive changes toward social issues in Vietnam, the government
also promotes the popularizing the image of Vietnam not only for young people in Vietnam but
also for the citizens of other countries through digital marketing. However, Vietnam still faces
some limitations of promoting the image of the country today: The image of Vietnam has not been
promoted in proportion to the stature and position of the country currently
Firstly, recently, the image of Vietnam appeared in the international media with low
frequency. According to a media center of Harvard University (USA), in the two years of 2012 and
2013, the amount of broadcasting on popular television channels in the world for Vietnam is only
about 0.03%, much lower than that of some countries in Asia such as China, Japan, Korea,
Singapore, Hong Cong, Malaysia ... Foreign Information Department (Ministry of Information and
Communications) found that the number of positive news and articles about Vietnam in foreign
newspapers was still small. Secondly, the coverage of positive information in the Vietnamese press
is still limited, not reaching the majority of citizens in the world, also less cited or brought back on
major foreign media. Thirdly, positive information about Vietnam has not been widely
disseminated in foreign languages on social networks such as Facebook and Youtube.
In order to enhance the image of Vietnam in the international scale, ministries, branches and
localities need to integrate the Development strategy of external information for the period of
2011-2020 and the Government's Action Program on foreign information for the period of 2013-
2020 in order to achieve the overall goal of promoting the image of a peace-loving country of
Vietnam, which is innovating, stabilizing and developing dynamically, in order to enhance
Vietnam's prestige, position and influence in the region and in the worldwide scale, promoting the
strength of unity of the whole nation, taking advantage of the support and encouragement of the
international community, creating favorable conditions for the construction and defense of the
country.
In order for the image of Vietnam to be promoted in proportion to the size and position of the
country, it is necessary to innovate in both the content and form of promoting the national image
through the media; increase the quantity and quality of national promotion activities; improve the
activeness, creativity, flexibility and take advantage of the media in promoting national image; and
at the same time strengthen coordination between levels, sectors and localities.The Political
Information Development Strategy for the period of 2011-2020 determined that the information
and communication forces in foreign information activities should be maximized and promoted the
image of the country. The content of promoting the national image through the media includes:
Information on guidelines of the Party, policies and laws of the country; achievements of the
national renewal; image of the country, people, history and culture of Vietnam; potentials and
strengths of Vietnam; affirming Vietnam's sovereignty over the two archipelagos of Hoang Sa and
Truong Sa; deny the falsifing and misrepresenting information and misjudge about Vietnam.
In order to enhance the image of Vietnam in the international community, ministries,
branches and localities need to diversify forms of advertisement, in which the following methods
and activities need to be respected: Good performance of speech and provide information to the
press; organizing communication activities for important political and social events and major
external events; to build a database system, in Vietnamese and foreign languages, in service of
searching about Vietnam; promote publishing to serve foreign information and disseminate
Vietnamese publications abroad; promote propaganda to protect Vietnamese sovereignty over sea
and islands; organizing and participating in promotional activities at international conferences,
seminars, fairs and exhibitions; strengthen cooperation with reputable regional and world news and
press agencies; create favorable conditions for foreign reporters to visit and make films, write
articles and bring news about Vietnam; support expatriates in promoting the country's image;
promoting Vietnam on foreign media.