HCM City (VNA) – As internet users can access a vast pool ofinformation online, one of the challenges facing digital marketing companies ishow to create relevant advertising that targets the right customers, expertssaid at a Vietnam Online Marketing Forum held in HCM City on August 15.

Nguyen Phuong Thao, senior manager of Nielsen Vietnam, said that greateraccess to smart devices and massive information online could easily intimidateusers as it would be difficult to filter and verify information.

"Advertisers and marketers are faced with the challenge of providinginformation that is relevant to customer experiences," she said.

“There are already many tools available out there to help businesses boostdigital marketing. What they need to do is to make an intervention byconnecting with users and providing them with relevant user experiences,” shesaid.

For example, when users book an air ticket online, hotel booking advertisementsshould be sent to them immediately.

In order to make that intervention, businesses should be able to collect andprocess a large amount of real-time data using machine learning and artificialintelligence.

Nguyen Ba Ngoc, founder and CEO of NBN Media, a marketing consultancy firm,said to enhance the effectiveness of digital marketing, companies should adoptthe most appropriate model as there is no “one-size-fits-all” model for anybusiness.

"For example, small companies with limited human resources can use acentralised marketing system as it saves costs and is consistent. As companiesgrow, they can apply a decentralised brand management system, which is moresuitable for managing a variety of brands," he added.

Le Hai Binh, founder and chairman of Mat Bao Corp, said that more companieshave been using key opinion leaders (KOL) and influencers to boost marketing onsocial media platforms as every “like”, “view”, and “share” on their personalpages can be seen by the public.

However, companies must know how to verify “real clicks, shares and views” tomeasure the effectiveness of marketing via this channel, he said.

There are three companies on the market that provide a service to helpcompanies measure the real likes, views and shares of each post on social pagesby KOL and influencers, as well as the number of people who have actually beenreached by the post.

Binh recommended that companies use this service in the beginning if theyprefer KOL and influencer marketing.

Thao said that, when using influencers, the most important thing is the messageto customers.

“All of the information posted by influencers should be personalised and shouldnot ‘sound like advertising’,” she said. 

She said people follow influencers because they post content that matches theirinterests or hobbies. Therefore, it is important for companies to find aninfluencer who is more relevant to the value of their brand so they caninteract and connect with the right customers.-VNS/VNA