POSITIVE IMPACT OF BLOGGING ON THE

SMALL BUSINESSES

Prepared for

Tuan Hoa Auto-parts Co.

Hanoi, Vietnam

Prepared by

Bao Pham

Marketing research consultant

San Francisco State University

April 1, 2015

TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARYiii

INTRODUCTION: POSITVE IMPACT OF BLOGGING1

Background1

Purpose1

Significance1

Scope2

Organization2

FINDINGS:

Communication channel 3

Increase revenue 4

Marketing tool 6

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS:

Summary of Problems and Procedures 7

Summary of Findings 7

Conclusion 7

Recommendation 8

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Vietnam is not a new market for investors and companies anymore, nowadays this country is growing with a speed of light. Tuan Hoa auto-parts Co. can earn huge advantages by creating a blog to advertise and marketing products. Blog is a smart and free channel to connect with customers and increase sale for the company. No matter small or big, businesses which have a blog tent to get more benefit and grow faster than who does not. After realizing that Tuan Hoa Co. wants to be more popular in social network, Mr.Tuan requested a research about what can the company earn by creating a blog.

After finishing research, it is found out that Tuan Hoa Co. can increase a huge amount of sales and solve the communication problem with the customer who cannot have access to ask question and find information directly. Based on data collected by interview managers and customers, our team had conclude all the benefits in three main areas:

Revenues: Companies that have blogs had 55% more visitors who are potential customers. That could lead to more revenues.

Platform: Blog is a channel that connects business to customers. 60% of consumers feel more positive about a company after reading custom content on its site. More than 25 percent of customers bought auto-parts product through blog and more than 30 percent found the answer for their question on blog.

Indirect Benefits: In 2001, there were 100,000 bloggers then in 2002, there were 700,000. There are more and more blogger every day and blogger lead to more blogger. Blogger can do advertise, therefore Tuan Hoa Company can earn indirect benefit through this.

INTRODUCTION: BENEFIT OF BLOGGING

BACKGROUND:

This report is assigned by the request of Tuan Hoa Auto-parts Co. They are considering create a blog and want to know more about it, what benefits blog can bring to the company and how much does it cost to maintains and create a new blog.

In order to use and earn benefit from blog, first lets learn what blogging is. A blog is a Web page that serves as a personal journal or represent as a company communication channel. Typically blog is updated daily, which reflects the blogger image and purpose.

PURPOSE

The goal of this report is to show the benefit of blog and satisfy the need to be more known socially by using blog of Tuan Hoa auto-parts Co.

SIGNIFICANT:

This report will show Tuan Hoa auto-parts Co. the important and benefit that blog offers to business. This report is significant because after understanding the benefit of blog, the company will be able apply and gain more customers.

SCOPE:

Tuan Hoa auto-parts Co. is already a famous company in Vietnam but blog is still a new area and this problem cannot be ignored. This report will show how blog can actually increase the revenue of the company, attract more customers and create a perfect channel to communicate with customers.

ORGANIZATION

This research purpose is to shows positive effects of blog impact on business. The main question that this research focus on to answer are:

_How can blog became a channel that connect between Tuan Hoa Co. and customer?

_How can blog increase company sales?

_How bloggers can advertise for the company?

II. FINDINGS

A. 90% of consumers find custom content useful, 78% believe that companies behind content are interested in building good relationships

According to the Hubspot, many consumers have access to blog, 81% of U.S. online consumers trust information and advice from blogs. These number shows how important to have a blog and update it regularly. Businesses that do not use blog will loss a huge amount of potential consumers. According to Rankmagic.com, 85 percent of consumers find businesses online and to prove for this conclusion, figure 1 shown how often consumers use blog to find businesses in the last 12 months. People can use blog in different way and to help Tuan Hoa auto-parts Co. have a better understanding about how useful is Blogging, Bao Pham, a Marketing research consultant of San Francisco State University had made an interview and ask 3 people about what they use blog for. The figure 1 below shows the result for the interview.

Figure 1: Blogging survey

Users

Questions

Kenny Sang

David Pham

Hoi Pham

Career

Business Marketer

Undergraduate Student

Auto-parts store Manager

Do you use Blog?

Yes

Yes

Yes

What do you use Blog for?

Marketing

Search Information

Connect to customers

How often?

5 hours/ week

3 hours/week

4hours/week

Do you think that LinkedIn is useful?

Yes

Yes

Yes

Figure 1: Blogging survey

Source: Bao Pham

Credit: Bao Pham

Credit

B. Company earned 20 percent or more sales in one year after creating a blog

Blog is a tool of marketing for many small and large businesses. Through blog, business can connect with customers, advertise their products and even create an online shopping page. According to Hudspot, there is a large number of customers (61%) have made a purchase off of a blog. For example, Hulu Company realized the benefit of blog and decided to marketing through blog. Hulu Sales increased more than double in a year. Figure 2 shows HULU revenue from 2009 to 2012.

Figure 2

Hulu Revenues from 2008 to 2012

Source: HULU

Designed by: Jason Killar

The fact that blog brings many benefits to business is undeniable. All the numbers and statistics show that blog not just increases revenue of a company, it also creates a good channel for customers and businesses to keep in touch and understand more about each other. The infographic below shows solids number to prove that blog is necessary for any business.

Figure 3: Why Blogging is good for your business

Source data: Johneengle.com

Designed by: Ignite Spot: Outsourced Accounting

C. 37% of marketers believe blogs are the most important medium of marketing

Without any questions, blog is an incredible channel for business to marketing. With a huge amount of people using blog nowadays, every user is a potential customer for the company. Moreover, they are also companys marketers. Blogger earned benefit from companys blog will leave good comment and sometimes, a positive commend is equal or even more effective than a huge marketing campaign. According to SOCIAL MEDIA EXAMINER, after interviewing many top marketers with the question: what social media platform they wanted most to master, the top answer is Blogging. Figure 4 shown social media platform most marketers want to learn about.

Figure 4

Social media platform most marketers want to learn about.

Figure 4 : Social Media platform most marketers want to learn about

Platforms

Percentage (%)

Blogging

62

Google+

61

Facebook

59

LinkedIn

56

Source Data: social media examiner

Design By: Bao Pham

III. SUMMARY, CONCLUSION, AND RECOMMENDATIONS.

A. Summary of Problems and Procedures.

Blog is basically one of the best choices for business to boost revenue and keep in touch with customers. Tuan Hoa auto-parts Co. could benefit lots of advantages just by creating a blog and the cost for that is almost zero. Tuan Hoa auto-parts Co. can solve the problem of marketing with blog because blog is a channel that connect customers and the company. Blog is also a place where customers can share their reviews and questions and many research show that good reviews lead to more sales.

B. Summary of Findings

Nearly 50 percent of marketers believe that blog is the most important medium of marketing. The number of people who have access to blog nowadays is huge and all businesses should take advantage of this. 61% of customers have made a purchase based on blog post, this fact shows that blog can actually boost business sales and create an online market for customers. According to a research made by HuLu, 78% of chief marketing officers think custom content is the future of marketing. Blog is the future of marketing and any business fail to see the important of blog will face a huge disadvantage.

C. Conclusions

Based on all the research and findings that marketing research consultant group of San Francisco State University have made, blog is the solution that Tuan Hoa auto-parts Co. is seeking for. Blog can increase sales, revenues and it also a wonderful channel to connect with billions of customers. Compare to all the benefits that one business can achieve when create and maintain a blog, the cost for a blog is tiny.

D. Recommendations

After all the research and carefully review all the statistics about blog, all the benefits that blog can brings to business is undeniable. The group of marketing research consultant of San Francisco State University highly recommends Tuan Hoa Auto-parts Co. take a serious look and considering using blog. Blog is the solution and an easy way to boost revenue, create a communication channel and a perfect tool of marketing for Tuan Hoa auto-parts Co.

WORK CITED

_"Blogging Powerful Method To Market Your Business and Increase Your Cash Flow [Infographic]."JohnEEnglecom. Web. 7 Apr. 2015. .

_"7 Actionable Social Media Insights To Make You Competitive." Web. 7 Apr. 2015. .

_ "Hulu Passes $1B in Revenue, Has 5M Hulu Plus Subscribers."TheWrap. 18 Dec. 2013. Web. 7 Apr. 2015. .