Vietnamese companies can elevate their brands by focusing on core values: RMIT experts

Branding through value addition is a strategic approach where brands enhance their perceived value by associating themselves with positive core values that resonate with their target audience. This can be achieved through various means, such as product/service quality, corporate social responsibility, and customer experience, to name a few, write RMIT experts.

Larger Vietnamese companies are becoming more strategic in integrating and elevating their core values in branding activities, while there is room for improvement among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

According to an OECD report from 2021, SMEs represent 96% of the total stock of companies, employ 47% of the labor force, and account for 36% of national value added in Vietnam, RMIT senior lecturer in international business Dr Abel D. Alonso, a keynote speaker at the Vietnam National Branding Forum held on Monday in Ho Chi Minh City, highlighted.

“The importance of SMEs in the Vietnamese economy cannot be undermined. There is huge potential to be unlocked when it comes to building strong national brands from this group of businesses,” Dr Alonso said.

Vietnam is filled with independent producers of food, fashion, handicraft, and niche products. Its rich natural and cultural heritage also gives rise to many SMEs in tourism and hospitality. According to Dr Alonso, these are just some of the industries that could benefit from value-adding branding efforts.

By providing specific case study examples, he said that branding can be done through continuous storytelling and social media exposure, emphasising the usefulness of the products and their sentimental value. Maintaining a strong brand presence at events and through networking activities is also an effective approach.

“Branding by ‘elevating’ the product to a higher level is another way. For example, a coffee producer might enhance their brand through sustainable coffee growing, farm-stay services, and coffee-related tourism activities, or sharing stories about the growers. If there is a rule of thumb here, it is that it’s important to both convey memorable experiences, images, and storytelling, and follow through by offering quality consistency,” Dr Alonso said.

RMIT senior program manager for international business Dr Dang Thao Quyen also stressed the importance of quality to a brand’s value. She believes that businesses should have proper investments and a long-term commitment for what they want to sell on the market. To do that, they need to really listen to customers, understand the market, and constantly look for ways to innovate.

“I would encourage Vietnamese businesses to find ways to tell their stories with a Vietnamese identity to international friends. They should not just follow trends but try to create new trends and lead the market, for instance, through green products, sustainable development, transparent governance, and contributing to solving inequality,” Dr Quyen said.

On sustainable development, RMIT lecturer Dr Vu Thi Kim Oanh said Vietnamese businesses are now pushed to enhance their brands sustainably, for example, through environmental, social, and governance (ESG) angles. Preliminary results from a project measuring the ESG maturity level of Vietnamese enterprises conducted by the RMIT international business research team indicate that many local companies have experienced various benefits of ESG compliance, including profile beautification, attracting investment, or persuading international clients.

Vietnam has a 100-million strong population and its share in the global GDP adjusted for purchasing power parity is forecast to reach a new peak of 0.97% by 2028, according to data from the International Monetary Fund.

“Along with customers' green consumption trends, branding by sustainably leveraging core values will help Vietnamese enterprises unleash the potential of not only the domestic but also global markets,” Dr Oanh concluded.