Create brand awareness for China Times in the Netherlands

Brand awareness and the image of any institution or business organization are crucial to its success. Consumers recognize brand names that have become common place within their daily lives as the impact of a name, logo or symbol has immediate recognition as it resonates with the value of the brand when organizations promote their businesses. This research relied on a sample of 150 respondents to answer the questions brought up in the research objectives. One can say that, to a certain extent, the creation of a quality brand that captures the attention and embeds in one’s memory, adds considerably to a positive potential of company, particularly in the service business. This is extremely valuable when one considers the advertising space offered by China Times, the more recognizable the product is, and the higher the company can charge for advertising.
China Times in Netherlands is a growing company committed to the transmission of information to the Chinese community in Europe and has the ability to grow to be a valuable brand in the service field. Its brand reputation can be further enhanced at an international level. This paper established that the creation of brand awareness demands a multi-faceted approach that incorporates several attributes such as innovation, improvement of customer experience, and other developments that reflect the shifts in consumer tastes and preferences. In conclusion, China Times is growing at a substantial rate in the Netherlands, and thought the company has accomplished a lot, there exists some areas of oversight that need to be address for optimal brand recognition.

This study provides an understanding of what the China Times has established and what the recommendations are towards their brand recognition.
Table of Content
TOC o “1-3” h z u Executive Summary PAGEREF _Toc465788463 h 2Overview of Abbreviations PAGEREF _Toc465788464 h 5Overview of Figures and Tables PAGEREF _Toc465788465 h 5CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION, MANAGEMENT ISSUES AND THESIS OBJECTIVE PAGEREF _Toc465788466 h 61.1 Introduction PAGEREF _Toc465788467 h 61.2 Management Issue PAGEREF _Toc465788468 h 61.3 Thesis Objective PAGEREF _Toc465788469 h 71.4 Research Objective PAGEREF _Toc465788470 h 81.5 Research Questions PAGEREF _Toc465788471 h 81.6 Research Framework PAGEREF _Toc465788472 h 81.7 Ishikawa Diagram PAGEREF _Toc465788473 h 81.8 Summary PAGEREF _Toc465788474 h 11CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL FOUNDATION PAGEREF _Toc465788475 h 122.1. Introduction PAGEREF _Toc465788476 h 122.2.Theories Related to the Research Question PAGEREF _Toc465788477 h 122.3 Relevance Tree PAGEREF _Toc465788478 h 252.4 Summary PAGEREF _Toc465788479 h 29CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY PAGEREF _Toc465788480 h 303.1 Introduction PAGEREF _Toc465788481 h 303.2 Research Questions PAGEREF _Toc465788482 h 303.3 Research Design and Data Collection PAGEREF _Toc465788483 h 303.3 Assuring Credibility of the Research PAGEREF _Toc465788484 h 323.4 Planning and Execution of the Research PAGEREF _Toc465788485 h 33CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH FINDINGS PAGEREF _Toc465788486 h 344.1 Evaluation of Research Deviation PAGEREF _Toc465788487 h 344.2 Current Developments of the Newspaper in the Industry PAGEREF _Toc465788488 h 344.3 Current Characteristics of China Times Readership PAGEREF _Toc465788489 h 364.4 Opportunities for China Times to Improve Business Practices with its Corporate Clients (the Advertisers) PAGEREF _Toc465788490 h 374.5 Designing Promotion Schemes for China Times PAGEREF _Toc465788491 h 394.6 Summary PAGEREF _Toc465788492 h 42CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS PAGEREF _Toc465788493 h 435.1 Conclusions PAGEREF _Toc465788494 h 435.1.1 Conclusion on Current Developments in the Industry PAGEREF _Toc465788495 h 435.2 Recommendations PAGEREF _Toc465788496 h 435.2.1 Connecting with the customers PAGEREF _Toc465788497 h 445.2.2 Innovation, Investment, and Improvement PAGEREF _Toc465788498 h 445.2.3 Recognition and Rewards PAGEREF _Toc465788499 h 445.2.4 Partnership PAGEREF _Toc465788500 h 44CHAPTER 6: STRATEGIC IMPLEMENTATIONS PAGEREF _Toc465788501 h 456.1 Implementation Plan PAGEREF _Toc465788502 h 456.2 Timeline PAGEREF _Toc465788503 h 45Connecting with the customers PAGEREF _Toc465788504 h 46Innovation, Investment, and Improvement PAGEREF _Toc465788505 h 466.3 Financial Overview PAGEREF _Toc465788506 h 476.4 Risks PAGEREF _Toc465788507 h 476.5 Summary PAGEREF _Toc465788508 h 47CHAPTER 7: REFLECTION PAGEREF _Toc465788509 h 487.1 Reflection on the Competencies PAGEREF _Toc465788510 h 487.2 Lesson Learned throughout the Process PAGEREF _Toc465788511 h 487.3 Improvement Points PAGEREF _Toc465788512 h 487.4 Eligibility for BBA degree PAGEREF _Toc465788513 h 487.5 Chapter Summary PAGEREF _Toc465788514 h 49REFERENCES PAGEREF _Toc465788515 h 50APPENDIX PAGEREF _Toc465788516 h 53APPENDIX 1: INTRODUCTORY LETTER PAGEREF _Toc465788517 h 53APPENDIX 2: DATA OF READERSHIP IN WECHAT APP SYSTEM PAGEREF _Toc465788518 h 54APPENDIX 3: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR CUSTOMERS PAGEREF _Toc465788519 h 55APPENDIX 4: FOR CORPORATE CUSTOMERS PAGEREF _Toc465788520 h 57APPENDIX 5: INTERVIEWEES’ CONTACT INFORMATION PAGEREF _Toc465788521 h 59APPENDIX 6: INTERVIEWS TRANSCRIPTIONS PAGEREF _Toc465788522 h 61
Overview of Abbreviations
BBA Bachelor of Business Administration
HR Human Resource
PCs Personal Computers
UK United Kingdom
Overview of Figures and Tables
Figure 1.1 Ishikawa Diagram
Figure 1.2 Hierarchy of Effects Model
Figure 1.3 Brand Linkages
Figure 1.4 Showing increase current developments of newspapers in the industry
Figure 1.6 showing Responses of the clients on Perceived knowledge of Employees Knowledge on the Product
Figure 1.7 showing the responses in respect to the user-friendliness of the website
Table 1.1 Distribution of Readership by Age and Gender
Table 1.4 Showing Corporate Client’s Response after Interview
Table 1.5 Customers Response towards Employees’ Attitudes when serving them
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION, MANAGEMENT ISSUES AND THESIS OBJECTIVE1.1 Introduction
Online and printed newspapers appear on regular schedule relaying news and articles on different subjects and advertisement usually time sensitive. The circulation of newspapers can be traced back to the 17th century England (Lambert, n.d). Historical accounts state the first newspaper was printed in 1641, in England and likely a one-time paper rather than a regularly scheduled publication. The first successfully printed newspaper publication was recorded in 1702, also in England (Lambert, n.d). Today, newspapers are moving to the next frontier in communication, adapted to be read in electronic devices such as laptops, tablets, electronic readers, and smartphones.
The death of print newspaper is on the horizon; however, in the meantime, it continues to be a genuine source of revenue for media companies, as well as a source of news for readers and advertisers in locations where they are circulated. By the 19th century, newspaper circulation had exploded, and it was one of the most important industries the world over. In the world of newspapers, both in print and digitized forms, there are two main categories of newspapers, which include tabloids and quality press. Each has its own means of presenting information to the public. However, in as much as they might be reporting on the same issue or events, they might carry out their business through completely different styles.
Tabloids are easier to focus on celebrities and everything that concerns their lives as well as rumors and love affairs. On the other hand, the quality press shows the most vital news in business, sports and political happenings. The newspapers that report on articles within the quality press class respect the Ethics Code, and are responsible for the information they present. A tabloid knows that unsubstantiated commentaries sell, while a quality press knows that such gives negative publicity, which may harm their business, and lead to grave consequences as a result. This means everything that is reported on a quality newspaper can be published with an understanding that the information will not lead to legal consequences such as slander and libel allegations. Reporters in this category of newspaper are known to be committed to professionalism. China Times can be properly defined as a quality press; as it relies upon for impartial news and reporting.
1.2 Management Issue
Management issue of China Times:
China Times is not well-known in the Netherlands. It has a narrow market when facing to Dutch customers.
The task of expanding the market and create brand awareness is difficult as only two employees speak fluently Dutch in the marketing apartment.
China Times is an independent media firm, and it runs with the sole purpose of better serving the Chinese people who are living in the Netherlands and Europe. The company believes the Chinese populations living outside of the country deserve to know what is happening in their homeland and other interests related to their culture. They have been committed to building a bridge between China and Europe to help the Chinese people in Europe and Europeans to learn the cultures of one another. The existence of Chinese people in Europe points to a preexisting market, and a cultural existence that must be harnessed by the company and explored, both in the short run and in the long run. At the turn of the decade, the China Times established its daily news channel through its website www.chinatimes.nl, and this was to deliver more information and news about, Europe, the Netherlands, China, and indeed the entire globe. The website is considered as supplementary to the print media that has been the base for the Chinese consumer in Europe since the establishment of the company in 2003. By offering a variety of content and a high capacity of readership provide a manner to assists the consumers and other information companies to improve relations between China and Europe. It is without doubt that China Times is a very professional and comprehensive news source compared to other Chinese media in Europe, China Times is reliable and the most prestigious publication for the Chinese consumers outside the confines in Netherlands that seek to know information on the communities in the Dutch nation. The media company has worked hard to become the single largest source of information for the Chinese community in the Netherland.
The China Times newspaper prides itself in a modern, professional and elegantly displayed graphic lay out. The company has strived to continue to improve on the page layout to make it more interesting and readable to larger segment of readers in Europe. The titles on the paper are eye-catching, with a present-day layout that is predicted to please its readers. The company relies on the basic marketing ethos, customer first, hence its graphic design is intended to target and meet the needs of the customers and considering their advertising customers’ specific business features that can maximum their expecting results.
Distribution of the newspapers covers wide area in Europe, including the host nation Netherlands, as well as in Germany, Belgium, Scandinavian countries, the United Kingdom, Luxembourg amongst others. In addition, the newspaper is the leading material of choice to be read in flights from the Netherlands to China on the KLM airline and the China Southern Airline. Furthermore, the company is still expanding its distribution networks to cover more countries and airlines that move between Chinese cities and European cities. In Netherlands alone, there are a total of one hundred and twenty pick up points that are spread all over the country where readers can get the papers at no cost.
Most Chinese media companies in the Netherlands depend on advertising income. They draw most of their readership from owners of restaurant and their staff, and most of them have lived in the country for several years. A competitor of The China Times is the Asian News; which unlike the China Times is a tri-weekly newspaper. Asian News, just like the China Times receives its news from Shanghai and the giant news company Xinhua. Other Chinese media in Europe include the Chinese Radio and TV, which normally broadcasts in the local Dutch language, as well as the Chinese dialects of Cantonese and Mandarin. Asian News has a large market share compared to the China Times.
1.3 Thesis ObjectiveThe objective of this thesis is developing a promotion plan for China Times for the creation of brand awareness.
Newspapers today are still as important as in the past centuries for providing an avenue for media companies to obtain revenue through sales and advertisements. Through the years, it has grown to be a professional as well as widely acknowledged influential Chinese media outlet serving the people in Netherlands and Europe. A standard printed China Times newspaper contains fifty-six full color pages, a circulation of over 50,000 copies in the Netherlands and the rest of the continent. The media outlet is not only approved, but also supported by the embassy of China in the Netherlands.
Given the competition between two Chinese newspapers in the Netherlands, this can force the editors to differentiate themselves from the competition. As such, the presence of a widely known brand assists a company to communicate to their loyal customers and keep them interested while increasing the value to products advertised in their pages (Rosenbaum-Elliott, Percy & Pervan, 2015). Brand awareness is important in creating a stable brand, which is a vital component of brand equity, assisting customers to acknowledge the value of a brand. This paper concentrated on the development of a promotion plan to create brand awareness for the China Times in the Netherlands and Europe.
1.4 Research Objective
The general objective of this study is to explore how a promotion plan affects brand awareness as specifically created for the China Times in the Netherlands. This study was further guided by the following general objectives:
To evaluate the current development in the newspaper industry and specifically the Dutch market to identify where the China Times shall be starting from in this effort.
To investigate what is the characteristics of the current readers and the target group of the non-reader in order to develop a promotion plan for China Times to create brand awareness.
1.5 Research Questions
This research is guided by the following research questions
What are the current developments of newspaper in the industry as it relates to branding and setting one apart from the competition?
What are the characteristics of the current readers of China Times?
What are the opportunities for advertisers using the China Times to improve the business practices?
What is the best promotion plan specifically designed for China Times?
1.6 Research Framework
In this study, the researcher explores a suitable promotion plan to create brand awareness for China Times in the Netherlands.
1.7 Ishikawa Diagram
Below is a diagram that is used in solving the need for promotion for China Times. Problem solving is an important part of this paper, providing solutions on an interactive platform. A concise definition of the problem must be stressed to get the right solution, this is comprised of an analysis of the causes behind the problem, and impacts such as those identified have on the business. The Ishikawa diagram is an example of a cause and effect tool that normally finds relevance when exploring certain problems before providing a matching solution to the problems. The first use of the diagrams can be traced to Kaoru Ishikawa in 1990. Another name for this diagram is the Fishbone Diagram.
It is worth noting that the cause and effect diagram shall be executed during a brainstorming period to ascertain the roots of a particular problem and identify the problems in the particular process through categorization of the problems into the main six elements. Those elements include people, equipment, processes, materials, metrics, and the environment. The diagram below shows a multi-throng system of developing solutions to the problem of creating brand awareness for China Times. The shape of the diagram after analysis of the problem takes the shape of a fishbone, which has been gradually built from the right to the left, during the session of problem-solving. The diagram starts with two main sections, promotion scheme on the left side, which serves as the cause, and evaluation of product and services that serve as the effect. The probable causes of the problem are listed through linking branches from the main lines that link the cause and effect section. The paper explores the items listed in the diagram below. Essentially, the diagram below takes on the image related to the creative thinking methods identified for use in this study. For instance, the mind and star bursting methods as they focus on solving problems rather than just serving as instruments for exploring ideas. In this paper, this diagram was used to explore the process of creating brand awareness for China Times. The steps taken in creating the diagram have been mentioned below.
Effect
The first step was the identification of the problems (effect), which states creating brand awareness for China Times as this is the main task of the company. And this problem can be due to several causes, and to create brand awareness for China Times must be concisely addressed during the analysis to ascertain the related causes. In the paper, it is important to start the process by stating the problem on the left, promotion.
Causes
The second step involves dragging the line from the left effect to the cause side to connect between the cause and effect, and in general, the causes are drawn as inputs of the main line.
The first cause to lead to solve the problem is analyzing the current development of newspaper industry in the global marketing also in the Dutch market, to have a big picture of the industry.
The second cause is investing current readers that China Times has to understand customer characteristics of them.
Evaluate product and service is the third cause to lead to reach the effect. Analyze advantages and disadvantages of the product and service that China Times has is essential for improvement and to create brand awareness.
The last main cause should be creating promotion scheme for China Times, which directly lead to solving the problem.
The third step involves investigation of the causes, and after drawing the principal general classes, then the cases are added, and the discussion begins by the investigation of every possible cause of the problem and organizing the causes into at least five categories. In the diagram below it includes the following: different communication with a different target audience, traditional promotional strategies, deficient strategies, company concepts, and opportunities for product and services.
The fourth step is analysis, and this can only happen once the diagram is completed, much as the case above, each possible cause is investigated and the organized in the order of priority and its impact on the problem. An understanding of the various causes may comprise the use of research methods such as during interviews and in focus groups as well as survey questionnaires amongst others. When it comes to the problems, the researcher might fail to locate the solutions, and part of the failure can result in the inability to locate the accurate causes of the problem. There are other tools that can be used towards the attainment of the goal, such as the Cause and Effect Diagram that investigates the links between the effects of the problem to the system and its probable causes. This tool can be classified and ordered in the diagram to create a more effective understanding of the manner in which the causes lead to the eventual problem, to organize causes based on their relevance and as a means of addressing the problems in the eventual solution scheme.
-30480024765000Figure 1.2. Ishikawa Diagram
1.8 Summary
A promotion scheme might allow for great influence in the China Times’ current market position in Netherlands. However, a scheme that works for the newspaper industry might work differently for another industry or market. Marketing theories have been advanced and they must focus on the theories of brand awareness and promotion plans with respect to each industry. There is always a chance that conflicting results come from the customer interactions with the employees. One may find that with certain employees giving a positive review of their interactions, while others giving a negative review. Employees are the foremost ambassadors of the company, and their interactions with the company can work a long way in helping the company achieve is brand awareness. China Times, a bi-weekly newspaper serving the Chinese community must align its strategies to beat the competition, and emerge with a more brand conscious presence.

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Introduction
Brand awareness is the recognition of a company’s product or service by potential customers (Koniewski, 2012). Product recognition is the sole aim of marketing when launching a new product (MacDonald & Sharp, 2003. Brand awareness is an integral part of sales promotion. High level of brand awareness generates more sales for the company. A number of theories have been developed in order to explain the relationship between brand awareness and sales promotion which are the agency, hierarchy of effects, and the control theory. This chapter will take a look at studies conducted on brand awareness based on the three+ theories and the hierarchy of effects model. A conceptual framework will be created through comparison and contrast of the two and conclusions drawn.
Theories Related to the Research Question2.2.1. Hierarchy of Effects Model
The hierarchy of effects model developed by Steiner and Lavidge identifies six steps that consumers go through before purchasing a product or service (Mansfield, 2014). According to Macdonald and Sharp (2003), one cannot speak of brand awareness without reference to the hierarchy of effects model. The six steps of the model in their order of occurrence are:
Awareness
Knowledge
Liking
Preference
Conviction
Purchase
The steps are then broken down into three categories namely cognitive, affective, and conative in accordance to people’s reactions (Mansfield, 2014). Awareness and knowledge yield the first response of cognitive, liking and preference fall under affective, and finally conative entails conviction and purchase
2.2.2.1. Cognitive (Awareness and knowledge)
The cognitive stage is about processing the information. The response at this level is very important as it determines whether the potential customer will create an interest in the commodity and implies that those who receive the messages are aware of a brand or knows about the product. Macdonald and Sharp (2003) pointed out that a customer does not need to remember the name of a product for there to be brand awareness. Mansfield (2014) agrees with this by stating that brand recognition can be achieved by emphasizing on product benefits and attributes other than its name.
2.2.2.2 Affective (Liking and preference)
After reception of the message, the recipient then develops emotional attachment towards the product. Mansfield (2014) notes that focus at this point should be on emotions rather than the physical product. Consumers’ begin to develop an attitude towards a product. It is that perception that will drive them into purchasing the good.
2.2.2.3 Conative (Conviction and purchase)
According to Mansfield (2014), it is the response to mental processes and emotions that drives one to undertake a purchase.
The framework’s claim of the behavior sequence following a think, feel, then act flow has been contended by various scholars Vaugn being one of them questioning the systematic sequence of the response. According to Vaughn’s Foot-Cone-Belding Grid of 1980, there are clients who are thinkers and those that are feelers hence, response to products is based on which category of the two they fall in (Mansfield, 2014). Consumers are prone to responding more emotionally to marketing gimmicks than to information, but this is true for products such as clothes. Some customers may like a product first (affective) then proceed to collect information (cognitive) changing the order of the hierarchy effects model. In other cases, conative may come before cognitive and affective and vice versa. Ideally, the three-hierarchical brand awareness concepts do not move in a sequence, they might form an overlapping sequence contrary to Lavidge and Steiner’s model. The order is however not important as long as the goal of brand recognition is achieved (mansfield, 2014). The model should be used as a guideline tool to firms purposing to create brand awareness of their products or services.
Below is a hierarchy of effects model showing the various steps a consumer passes before a purchase.

Figure 2.1 Hierarchy of Effects Model
In short, brand recognition occurs when customers can identify a name, symbol, sign, or statement, and relates the same to a specific product. Products that vigorously engage awareness practices such as media advertisements, endorsements, promotions and sponsorships will be successful in heightening brand recognition.
2.2.2. Agency Theory
The agency theory is based on the notion that principals and agents in an organization will always be in constant conflict without existence of contractual agreements due to difference in interests (Tate et al., 2010). Information is normally considered to be suitable for the agent and such will be given to the principal (Ambler, Kokkinaki & Puntoni, 2004). In this case, the agents are those in charge of company management while the principals are the shareholders. The agency hence exists between principals and the agents. The agency theory offers resolution to the problems arising between the goals of company management (profit making) and that of shareholders (value creation).
According to Baker Hart (2008), the advantages created from information received do not compensate or go beyond the costs of relaying and sending such messages. Baker and Hart’s (2008) claim simply implies that brand awareness may not yield returns immediately hence considered unprofitable at first glance. In support of the argument, the comparative advantages of behavior-based agreements evaluated against outcome based agreements to warrant loyalty from the consumers is not cost effective (O’Leary-Kelly & Flores, 2002). Difficulties arise when establishing promotional performance to obtain results in effective behavior-based forms to control comparative results (Ambler, Kokkinaki & Puntoni, 2004). It is important to note that brand awareness does not mean instant revenue as brand awareness is only achieved when the product being offered is acquired. Additionally, Konieweski (2012) observes that there is a need for a loyal customer to consider the brand as their next purchase in case of need for the same product. Konieweski (2012) however adds that the need may not be an immediate one. As mentioned earlier in this study was the example of Apple products. A loyal Apple customer will not purchase an Apple product every day, week, month, or other short-term time frames. However, when the product is no longer the newest product in the market, or the product is damaged and requires a replacement, the loyal customer will consider Apple brand as his/her next purchase due to brand loyalty created. In regards to the China Times, the intent is to build a brand that is easily recognizable and available in convenient locations as a sales promotion strategy which will in this case raise advertisement fees based on circulation numbers. While this may be a beneficial move to the company in the long run, shareholders may not share the same view as it may lead to fall in value of their shares. Tate et al. (2010) hence emphasizes on the need to exist a common ground for the agent and principal such as through signing agreements. The bi-weekly publication leaves a vacuum between the consumption periods, but the intent is to provide quality to cater for the days not supplied. This implies that more focus must be put on promotional expenditure controls.
2.2.3. Institutional theory
Kotabe and Helsen (2009) established that institutional theory proponents propose that organizational activities need to be the outcome of industry factors, cultural values, and the organizational histories. The steps taken by the staff in committing to promotional disclosures are the outcomes of the cultural dynamics, cultural principles and the organization’s history. The success criterion can be divided into either a non-accounting or an accounting metric. In the past, the accounting indicators formed the standards for measuring promotional performance. The restrictions that were encountered when these were used prompted the change to non-accounting forms of measurements. The rise in the applicability of the non-traditional accounting indicators of the organizational promotional performance is on the rise and they include the use of brand equity, customer loyalty, quality, market segment, and customer satisfaction levels. The traditional measures include the use of such facilities like profit, cash flow level, and sales levels (Kotler, 2001).
Fig 2.2. Institutional theory
Source: Donaldson and Preslon, 1995
The various institutions including suppliers, customers, communities, governments, investors, political groups, trade associations, and employees affect the activities of a firm. When coming up with a promotion strategy, organizations should consider the impact it will have on each of these institutions.
2.2.4. Market orientation theory
The market orientation theory suggests that the organizational culture is reflected on the measurement system that is developed to determine the performance of an organization (Dobni & Luffman, 2000). The evaluation of organization’s performance is based on the hierarchical structure is affected by the degree of motivation in the market. According to Harris (2001), organizations that are pro-customers collect and distribute customer information within their system. The main characteristic of this is the market oriented organizational background as shown by the presence of a broad concept for market orientation (Harris, 2001). This alters the dynamics of the data released to the company’s organizational structure.
Fig 2.3. Market orientation theory

The organizational culture determines the success of a promotional technique applied by a company. China Times needs to establish a response and relational promotional strategy in order to achieve brand awareness.
2.2.5. Control theory
Control theory is based on the methodical evaluation of performance to aid in planning of promotional action outcomes of the organization (Beamish & Ashford, 2007). The assumption held in the control theory is that organizations have plans broken down into phases which can be used to measure and monitor performance. Dobni & uffman (2000) share a different opinion stating that selected measurement is just a rational mechanism through which the firm discovers that better performance calls for an interference with the variables. Employees’ ability to effectively communicate and listen to customers has substantial impact on product awareness and sales promotion. Improvement of listening and communication skills helps to attain customer satisfaction which translates into product loyalty.
Attentiveness, perceptions and sensitivity affect the organizational promotional performance to a great extent (De ruyte & Wetzels, 2000). Gronroos (2000) observed that performance is affected by interactions and involvement of all concerned parties either behaviorally or cognitively in the process of communication). An attentive individual exhibits a conscientious attitude to the customer indicated by verbal and nonverbal cues.
Verbal cues can portray the extent to which an employee is involved with a customer. There are words that when used, show amount of interest an employee has in handling a customer. The company’s customers and employees establish an understanding through conversing hence proper application of verbal communication effects such as pitch, volume, and intonation are important for successful interaction. Adoption of a soft pitch voice and controlled sound volume signifies good communication skills (Grönroos, 2000). Gronroos (2000) notes the need for employees’ commitment to the firm’s goal in order to perform in accordance to expectations. Foreseeability refers to the worker being able to establish the needs of the customers beforehand. Other studies revealed that sensitivity enhances possibility of potential agreement between two parties and this reflects on the employee’s capability to respond to customers appropriately (De ruyter & Wetzels, 2000).
2.2.6. Customer satisfaction
Customer satisfaction can be defined as contentment by customers on a company’s products and services. To attain a high level of customer satisfaction, firms must have to take into consideration the needs and wants of consumers and endeavor to provide them with quality products or services. Businesses earn competitive edge by attaining customer satisfaction in their respective industries. China Press can achieve brand awareness and at the same time gain advantage over competitors by implementing a promotional strategy that is in line with customer satisfaction.
Fig 2.4. Customer satisfaction
Paul Hague and Nick Hague 2015
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From illustration 2.4 above, product loyalty is highly dependent by the level of customer satisfaction. Poor satisfaction amounts to 0% loyalty while excellent customer satisfaction yields 100% loyalty.
Customer satisfaction and brand awareness are considered determinants of marketing success in any business organization. Kotler and Armstrong (2014) points out that client and staff contact is key in enhancing chances of consumer loyalty (Kotler and Armstrong, 2014). According to Kotler and Armstrong (2014), motivation of staff increases their willingness to serve customers better. Consumer loyalty can be used to enhance business relationships. Such tactics are used by the staffs when dealing with customers, particularly those that are considering to loyalty to the company (Day and Crask, 2000). The important qualities range from communication competencies, etiquette, and manners (Pettijohn, Pettijohn and Taylor, 2002). To enjoy the benefits from positive and effective customer relations, it is important for a firm to equip its staff with such skills applicable towards building up the customer satisfaction process (Day & Crask, 2000). The marketing theory states that an organization’s marketing success is largely reliant on the company’s sales team and relations with its customers. A customer oriented sales tactic is considered a factor that can build a strong relationship; known as a customer-oriented sales strategy. Customer satisfaction is a precursor to product loyalty, which consequently leads to numerous positive results for an organization. Research has contributed towards promotional performance presenting different criteria towards the establishment of promotional strategies. Unfortunately, there is little data on consistent explanations, metrics and definitions, and a common subject of study in marketing that is rarely justified. In organizational promotional performance and in this paper specifically, there is a belief that the actual sales recorded as well as market share is considered before and after basic employee-customer management skills improvement. Performances must be measured using key performance indicators such as market share and turnover levels and an accurate representation of improved performance made. An inflated market share represents the impact of improvement in basic skills for the company’s employees. Other organizational promotional improvement measures include the use of profit contribution, quality of products produced, customer satisfaction levels, brand loyalty, brand awareness, brand equity, purchase intention, as well as accounting and non-accounting measures. To increase the customer base of a company, it is vital for market oriented organizations to pay attention to customer satisfaction, particularly the individual’s wants and needs and at the same time attain the customers’ unique and selective objectives (Duplessis, Strydom & Jooste, 2012).
The competitiveness of the present business environment warrants the use of responsive and customer-focused strategies. A responsive employee must gain certain skills when handling customers to assist the organization in achieving its business objectives. Literature demonstrates basic skills to be of prime value to employees who are in contact with customers; patience, attentiveness, communication skills, knowledge of the service or product, efficiency, persuasive skills, tenacity, and calmness. Deery, Iverson & Walsh (2006) study of 100 customers and 90 customer contact employees in Britain, determined that there were differences in the perspectives from the two groups. According to Deery, Iverson & Walsh (2006), the customer oriented employees under study had a rating that raised the significance of a number of specific skills as well as competencies, and their peculiar performances compared to the ratings of their customers. Similarly, the customer sales assistants often seem to overstate the importance of the aspects of service delivery. It is important to look at different points of view that is, that of the customers and that of the employees in the adoption and use of the basic skills when they are carrying out their duties.
2.2.7. Role and script theory
Contrary perceptions on handling customers occur because the two groups have varying role expectations and the service scripts might be poorly defined. An appropriate script between an employee and the customer can lead to the exchange of expectations over the events that it will occur in an expected pattern of events, and this is known as the role and script theory, which suggests that customers and employees are limited in disclosing the facts related to customer service with each other (Broderick, 1998). Relationship between a customer and an employee should be developed through dialogue. When relating to customers, employees are expected to employ skills that corresponds to the creation of value to the customers (Sharma, 2001). Communication skills are especially vital for those in the sales and marketing because customers are known to be responsive when the matter requires them to part with their money (Jean et al, 2001). Moreover, they build value, which can be evaluated as organizational promotional performance (Salomonson, Åberg & Allwood, 2012). While coming up with a sales promotion technique for China Times, communicative skills and dimensions of perceptive, response, and attentiveness should be considered. Conversations involving customers and employees concerning price and discounts must be carried out with utmost care. Employees approached by customers for help or information need to depict genuine concern to be of assistance and be sufficiently informed of company’s products and services to earn trust (Charles et al, 2008). An employee who silently gazes at the customer shows lack of interest or knowledge. Using a word such as ‘okay’ is affirmative and implies attentiveness.
Fig 2.5.Script theory
Laurenhan 2013.
In the case for China Times, the promotional technique chosen will explore the suitability of marketing indicators regarding the enhancement of basic skills among employees in contact with customers, by first focusing on the theoretical perspectives that have been developed from this concept. Designing of promotion method when looked at in broader manner consists attributes that the entire company commits in the attainment of customer satisfaction, creation of brand awareness, larger market share, and more sales (Ambler, Kokkinaki & Puntoni, 2004). In general, there are four proponents that have been developed in respect to promotional performance, and these include the following; agency, orientation, institutional and control perspectives (Harris, 2001).
Benefits of brand awareness
According to Keller (1993), there are three benefits of creating a top level brand awareness and these include learning, consideration, and choice benefits. These are explained as follows:
Learning benefits: influence the manner in which consumers understand brand connection, which consists the brand’s image.
Consideration: Raising brand awareness guarantees that when consumers make a brand purchase, it will be part of the consideration set.
Choice benefit: Brand awareness influences openly the choice of brands in the consideration set and influences a purchase. This implies that a consumer names a specific brand when asked from a specific category.
It is essential to be aware that brand recalling amounts to a product being viewed as a market leader in terms of units sold thus have quite significant brand recognition. Brand recognition is the capacity to keep in mind a brand where a list of different brands given to an individual. Individuals know a brand symbol when the individual sees one, but one does not need to recall a brand through sight only.
2.2.8. Brand loyalty
Brand loyalty has been described by Konieweski (2012) as high brand recognition. According to Konieweski (2012), confirmation of prior positive information about a product increases product loyalty. Various aspects such as hype, repeat purchases, price sensitivities, commitments, and brand trusts all amount to customer satisfaction. Consumers become loyal to a specific brand provided as long as it stays in the market. The consumer is highly unlikely to purchase from a different supplier, within the same good or service class. Brand loyalty exists when a consumer exhibits confidence in a given brand and supposes it to consist the right product feature, quality, and sold at the right cost. Emergence of cheaper similar products from other brands does not change the perception of the customer. Brand loyalty can be created through measures such as free issuance of a newspaper, issuance of a quality product, continuous improvement of the product, and the development of a wide distribution network amongst others.
To create brand loyalty, a businesses must know their specific market, and then move further to target them as well as marketing their product, and finally to ensure easy access of the company’s products, provision of customer satisfaction, and alluding constant innovation in a product, and offering schemes on a product to ensure repeated purchase.
The following is a diagram that shows how the various aspects of branding interact to form brand awareness
397510225425Brand Positioning
00Brand Positioning
3025140225425Brand Relationship
00Brand Relationship
Figure 2.6. Brand Linkages
3605530844550014960609461500
4951095167005Brand Meanings
00Brand Meanings
1828800167005Awareness of logos, names and symbols
00Awareness of logos, names and symbols

41029256320300
345567029553900133003620899700
-15557548895Brand Emotions
00Brand Emotions

2821305207010Brand Feelings
00Brand Feelings

Brand awareness is the focal point of the brand linkages model. A customer achieves brand awareness through instant identification of logos, symbols, and names and attributes the same to particular product. Brand awareness is closely associated with brand equity, and it is linked with a consumer’s memory. A concentric approach provides the best means of measuring brand equity on the consumer’s memory and which is concentrated on brand association. This is due to the fact that there can only be brand value that exists for retailers and producers when the consumer places value on the brand. Hence, brand awareness is a subset of brand equity, but bordered by brand associations, brand loyalty, and perceived quality. A new brand relies on brand image, which contains multifunctional tangible features that permit the consumer to identify with a product. The idea behind brand image involves every entity that is linked with brands, and they include logos, symbols, wording and colors. This relates to the manner in which consumers conceives a brand. To create a strong brand, organizations need to engage marketing activities that are associated with strong, constructive and have selective connections with the brand at the back of the mind of the consumer. This allows consumers to acknowledge the value of a brand.
2.2.9. Promotion
Promotion is a word that is common business-related disciplines, and part of the four marketing mix, and the others are price, place and product. Promotion involves enhancement of customer awareness of a brand or a product, and can lead to sales generation as well as creation of brand loyalty. Promotion is defined by the five elements in the promotional schemes or designs, and these encompasses the promotion of sales, publicity, expressive marketing, and personal sales. There are various ways that this can be used in promoting a product through different channels. In a physical environment, the company can use a variety of means in promoting its image, brand, or product. Promotions can be done in the physical environments at special events for instance, The China Times can hold special events for the Chinese community in Europe such as concerts, festival and others. The benefit of this is that it offers an interactive environment suitable for immediate sales and exposure. The sales of products can include incentive such as discounts, accompanying free items amongst others. This strategy can be effective in increasing the sales of the particular product and the customer shall in the future act as a brand ambassador. Close personal connections by the consumer comparisons to media interactions establishes links that contribute to promotion. This in turn results in the creation of a brand community through the promotion of products that leads to brand loyalty. The role of traditional media cannot be ignored as quite a number of people in Europe and China rely on television, radios or even the outdoor interactive devices such as billboards and banners for information. China Times can use these platforms to reach consumers and build their brands.
2.2.10. Media and brand awareness
The rise in the use of digital media provides China Times with another avenue for getting their messages to their customers and build on their market dominance. The internet and the networking sites such as Sina Weibo or Facebook provide platforms for interactions, access of news, and sales. Without doubt, digital media today ranks as the most effective means of passing information targeted to reach billions of consumers across the world on a day-to-day basis. With advancement in communication technology, a significant number of people access social media networks hence making it a conducive platform for marketing. Mass communication methods have led to contemporary promotional strategies focusing on brand awareness as well as promotions and distributions strategies. The dynamism in the digital environment provides newer methods of promotion that relies on modern advanced tools. Promotional techniques can be conducted externally to local and international markets breaking boundaries of distance to reach a large number of potential customers. The objective of product promotion is to reach a large number of people in the shortest time and as cost effective as possible.
Social media within the context of a modern promotional tool provides opportunities that can reach wider audiences in a far more interactive manner. The interactions provide for conversations between a customer and the organization as opposed to merely providing education to the customer. As a form of interactive media culture, such network platforms function as forms of mass communications that through new technologies permit enormous amounts of product as well as distribution of information to reach the widest audience as much as possible. Nevertheless, there are shortcomings to the usage of virtual mechanisms to promote a product or a brand, and it includes system (server) crash or fail and information overload. There is a risk of losing stored information in the system.
2.2.11… Brand strategies
Brands can explore several strategies to ensure that their customers are engaged on their platform. Some of the strategies include brand entertainment and personal advertisement.
2.2.11.1. Brand entertainment: A company can develop a social game for the users. The advantages of these platforms include engaging the users in the content of the brand. Users are more likely to take in and continuously enjoy the advertisements when they are engaging and attractive other than one that is bothersome such as the pop-up advertisements.
2.2.11.2. Personal advertisements: is another strategy that can function properly for firms as they increase the chances that the brand shall be anthropomorphized by the company’s customers. The personalization multiplies through click intentions and when the information has been gathered about the customers. Organizations need to balance between promotions of their content to the customers on their social media platform and remaining less invasive on the lives of their customers so as not to be considered a bother. There are vivid internet advertisements such as the use of animation that can draw the attention of an advertisement to the user. Nevertheless, the user may think of it as a distraction when they are attempting to take in a different part of the site, such as when reading some information. In addition, when enterprises goes an extra mile to gather data about their customers and then personalize such advertisements to the customers, it builds the relationships with the advertisement. When the data is collected in a hidden manner, may feel their confidence has been betrayed. It is critical that a brand utilizes personalization when running their advertisements, without the need of make potential customers feel vulnerable or have their trust shaken.
2.3 Relevance Tree
The objective of the paper is to explore how a promotional plan created for China Times will affect brand awareness. The hierarchy of effects theory suggests that awareness is followed by knowledge as the initial stage of the purchase process. In the theory, purchase is directly affected by brand awareness which is associated to recognition of a brand. In addition, it signals the strengths of a brand’s presence in the minds of consumers. Brand awareness is manifested in two forms; brand recall and brand recognition. In brand recall, customers are able to name a brand when called upon due to familiarity from past exposure to the product. For instance, a consumer of Chinese newspaper in Europe, when asked to name a brand spontaneously mentions China Times.
A promotional scheme specifies the level of attention to pay to each of the elements mentioned above and the resources that should be allocated thereto. Essentially, there are fundamental goals of promotion which include the following; availing information to company’s consumers, increasing demand for products, and establishing differentiation of a product in the market. The objectives of a promotion can lead to a broad range of benefits which includes the increase in sales, acceptance of a new product, development of brand equity, as well as positioning, development of a corporate image, and competitive relationships. The concept of sales or product promotion is often applied internally by the marketing organization. Techniques to be employed include the use of a completely integrated, long run and broad scale promotion across Netherlands to reach the Chinese Community in Europe.
0311785Creating Awareness for China Times
Current Brand Strategy utilized by the China Times
Extenuation of current market position held by China Times
China Times brand visibility
Advancements in magazine branding
Primary Research Will utilize surveys, interviews and data collection through questionnaresPrimary Research
Interviews, Surveys
Secondary research, analysis of competition within the industry
Secondary research into Dutch magazine trends
Primary Research Undertaking Surveys and Interviews
Secondary research participation in Event and Award
Primary Research
Surveys on social media
China Times positioning, SWOT analysis of competitors
SWOT analysis, Confrontational matrix
SWOT analysis Asian News
Brand Improvement
SWOT analysis
Confrontational Matrix
SWOT analysis
Confrontational Matrix
SWOT analysis
Confrontational Matrix
0Creating Awareness for China Times
Current Brand Strategy utilized by the China Times
Extenuation of current market position held by China Times
China Times brand visibility
Advancements in magazine branding
Primary Research Will utilize surveys, interviews and data collection through questionnares
Primary Research
Interviews, Surveys
Secondary research, analysis of competition within the industry
Secondary research into Dutch magazine trends
Primary Research Undertaking Surveys and Interviews
Secondary research participation in Event and Award
Primary Research
Surveys on social media
China Times positioning, SWOT analysis of competitors
SWOT analysis, Confrontational matrix
SWOT analysis Asian News
Brand Improvement
SWOT analysis
Confrontational Matrix
SWOT analysis
Confrontational Matrix
SWOT analysis
Confrontational Matrix

PESTLE analysis
Politics: Politically, the company is existent in a stable and favorable environment as evident in the Netherlands. In a country that does not comprise of volatile political structure, it is essential that any company operating within the country utilize this fact to further their branding prowess. The Netherlands is predominately a multiparty nation, which ensures that all interested in governance get a chance to take on leadership. This has resulted in a liberal and forward charged nation which, in turn, is quite supportive of the media industry. As such, China Times can expect to have a favorable political environment for the foreseeable future.
Economic: Economic stance evident in the Netherlands comprises of a free market economy. In this regard, any corporation can venture into virtually any industry within which it can attain excellence. This indicates that China Times has an opportunity to enhance its brand identification. The Economic policy making process of Netherlands involves an assessment of the current global market forces, the resources available to the various industries. This information is obtained by the government courtesy of in-depth consultations with Employers organizations, trade unions, workers entities, and financial experts. As such, the economic environment in the Netherlands is vibrant which greatly promotes the media industry.
Social: From a social standpoint, China Times has already attracted a substantial client base. This is predominately owing to its excellent information relay system and adeptness. In addition to this, the Netherlands has long had a tradition of social tolerance. This has consequently resulted to the nation becoming a safe haven for people of all walks of life and cultural origins. This has consequently, greatly contributed to the massive influx of Chinese persons in the country. Since this fact has not changed and is not likely to change, the Netherlands continues to be a prime region for Chinese media such as the China Times to grow and flourish.
Technology: China Times is at the forefront of Technological prowess and utilization. In this respect, the company encompasses an online presence that effectively enables them to maintain a link not only with the Dutch people, but with the entire World. It is worth noting that most persons in the Netherlands are conversant with technological devices such as tablets and iPads. This means that media entities such as the China Times can fully utilize the technological space in order to further their company’s prowess in the industry, aspect which China Times have been sure to observe.
Legal: The legal environment evident in the Netherlands does not offer considerable hurdles which may prove difficult for any entity to overcome. Instead, any entity is able to be conceived and operated with minimal interference from the government. The legal requirements for any new economic entity are straight forward, delivered and administered by an effective governmental legal team. A conducive environment is paramount to the success of any economy, this is especially true for the media industry. The freedom of speech in the Netherlands is also a highly-upheld right, an element which substantially supports such media companies as China Times.
Environmental: Environmental analysis of the Netherlands reveals conducive surrounding that fosters and nurtures a spirit of open market and gears its citizens towards innovativeness and improvement of the economy through entrepreneurial efforts. This is a considerable positive element towards the improvement of China Times’ brand presence. The presence of large, densely populated cities provides plenty of market for the media industry.
SWOT analysis for Asian News
China times’ main competitor comprises of Asian news, within the Netherlands. As such, an evaluation of the competitor state of the industry could prove invaluable. The two companies are constantly attempting to outdo each other resulting to a highly competitive media industry. This has resulted in a high barrier against new entrants. A SWOT analysis of China Times’ primary competitor Asian News, reveals that;
Strengths: Strengths possessed by the corporation Asian news include their significant market dominance, which comprises of loyal and avid consumers. This has proved difficult for China Times to combat.
Weaknesses: A major weakness of Asian news organization in the Netherlands comprises the fact that it has to yet achieve full penetration of the region. This is resultant from limited resources to expand as fast as the market is growing, an opportunity which China Times has been sure to exploit.
Opportunities: The ever-growing number of both Chinese people and those fluent in the language within the Netherlands has resulted in a shared opportunity for Asian News as well as China Times.
Threats: The presence of a growing market has consequently increased the competitive nature between the two corporations, which leads to the biggest Threat facing the company, China Times, and its ever-growing consumer base.
SWOT Analysis for China Times
Strengths: Strengths possessed by the Company include the high growth rate registered by the entity in recent years. Though China Times may not have as large a market share as Asian news, the growth rate is endearing. The company also boasts a dedicated and increasing number of employees who are determined to bring the news to the Chinese in the Netherlands, an aspect which is greatly appreciated by its clientele.
Weaknesses: Weaknesses possessed by the firm comprise of limited brand presence in the current state. Though this is changing, the current state of the corporation means it has limited presence within the newspaper and magazine sector.
Opportunities: Opportunities at the disposal of the entity include such aspects as the presence of a healthy population within the country which also has a high purchasing power. The number of Chinese diaspora in the Netherlands grows exponentially every daily, a fact which ascertains both the China Times as well as Asian news of market. This ensures that there is need for and presence of continuous and ever growing demand.
Threats: The only threats incident on the company are presented by its rival Asian News which, as is the case with China Times, seeks to effectively control the market. Presence of stiff competition means there is a considerable threat if ever China Times corporation management makes any fatal error. Mergers of smaller media entities to create larger and more formidable ones could also mean the introduction of considerable competition in the industry, a fact which could prove to be a Threat for China Times down the line.
Confrontational Matrix for China Times
Opportunities Threats
O1 O2 T1 T2
Strengths S1 3 3 1 1
S2 2 3 2 weakness W1 2 1 1
W2 The numbers assigned represent votes of confrontational strategies with three (3) being the most voted strategy and nil (0) being the least confrontational strategy
2.4 .Summary
The creation of brand awareness is multifaceted involving several elements, but ultimately linked to customer-centered approaches to customer management. This ensures product loyalty and customer satisfaction, which consequently leads to brand recognition and brand recall. The hierarchical, control, and agency theories are used to explain the relationship between customer satisfaction and brand awareness. An employee who interacts with customers regularly yet lacks communication skills is considered a liability to the organization and can cost the firm losses in terms of sales and market share. Such employee’s actions may result to low customer satisfaction. The text has summarized the skills into three measure parameters namely: attentiveness, sensitivity, and perceptive. The three are key communication devices. Employees need to be trained on the firm’s products and customer centric approaches. Performance comes as a result of successful promotional strategies and can be measured using either accounting and non-accounting methods or both. Customer satisfaction as a method of measuring promotional performance stems from an improvement in the basic skills, and which in turn leads to loyalty and enhance brand awareness at a micro-level. In order to attain brand awareness, brand loyalty is necessary. A firm needs to use a promotional strategy that will increase customer satisfaction thereby leading to brand loyalty.

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY3.1 Introduction
This chapter provides a guideline that aids in the understanding of how the general researched problem has been handled. It then describes the methods that have been to work out the primary research of this thesis to answer the research questions.
3.2 Research Questions
This study follows the creation of brand awareness for the China Times operating in the Netherlands and wider area of Europe. Brand awareness’ strength perspective holds that name, company logos and symbols invoke certain capacities, resources, and knowledge that is inherent in every company and in every industry. With regard to the creation of brand awareness, the strengths perspective holds that brand awareness can function as the opportunity for growth and be a source of unrivaled market success. A company seeking brand growth must be conditioned to take into account their opportunities; rather than the lack of opportunities when committing to market functions and sales. Intrinsic strengths in brand awareness and brand conscious companies have trounced normal, typical and pedestrianly beliefs, given the persistent competition and pursuit of product differentiation (Baker & Hart, 1989).
Companies that have gone above their present brand constriction are perceived as the success in the market. Even though market leaders are a success to other companies within the industry and perceived with interests to other companies that do businesses with them, they peddle half-truth notions that every other company that has risen above market restrictions has attain such unusual triumphs. Affirmative action, strengths and resiliency views have perpetuated social equality in the direction of its key goals. No social equality view has had a transformational role in transforming social and personal views on brand inequities.
3.3 Research Design and Data Collection
In business research, rebranding describes three dissimilar events: change of name, change of brand visuals such as palette, logo, and positioning of the brand. The application of the term branding to connote events are misleading and confusing. Alteration of the name as well as the design and repositioning constitute the branding process and it has seemingly become difficult establishing a theoretical definition. Most research reports indicate that organizational branding differs from product branding.
This section explores the methodology used to come up with the findings of this study by giving the framework that the researcher used. This research shall apply the qualitative techniques to determine how to create brand awareness for China Times in an effective and adequate manner. It is vital to take note that as a result of time limitations and easy access of the respondents, the researcher shall apply a survey questionnaire method for obtaining results. The qualitative methods can be used in order to analyze the critical issues that are a part of the research problem. Hence, a method of triangulation involving the qualitative techniques will be used to provide back to back information on the method. This shall assist in harmonizing the technique to greater results of the two methods, and hence offering the researcher with a clean viewpoint of the study issue.
According to Mark Saunders (2012), the most important method of research is considered to questionnaires, as it is the most direct and intuitive method to a researcher when seeking the views and opinions of China Times.
The determination of sample size will be based on the formula of N=Z2*(P *(1-P))/E2; the reliability Z is considered as 95% because the chosen respondents are the readers of China Times. The minimum sample size will be 150 as only one person to do the research in this time range CITATION Mar12 l 2052 (Mark Saunders, 2012).
Interviews shall be conducted on the corporate clients of the newspaper to determine their perceptions and their output after placing advertisements in the newspaper.
There are several sampling methods to choose from when conducting research. In the case study provided, the goal of the researcher was to establish a relationship between job characteristics and job satisfaction. For example, if surveying employees of a bank, the researcher would have had to survey every bank, although the smaller banks were over-represented in the sample size, and this was because the researchers opted for the simple random sampling method. Over-representation of a part of the population could have been due to the sampling method that was selected to be used in the research. Sampling methods are generally split into the probability methods and non-probability methods, in which the former methods have been hailed as the best methods compared to the latter because the researcher can then adopt a powerful statistical analysis tool to use when interpreting the results. Moreover, the benefit of probability sampling methods is that the sampling error can estimate, and the sampling error is the degree to which a sample might differ from the actual population, and the results are normally reported without the sampling error (Selvanathan, 2011). On the other hand, in non-probability sampling, the level to which sampling differs from the population has remained unknown.
It is upon the researcher to define clearly the target population, and in the case study, the researcher’s general population was at 1000 China Times customers. There are generally lay instructions that researcher should follow; however, the basic premise on defining population rests on logic and personal judgment (Selvanathan, 2011). The population must be defined in line with the objectives of the research. The goal of properly representing the population is to carefully choose a sample that defines the population and replicates the characteristics of the population from which the sample is drawn (Selvanathan, 2011).
The probability includes the following methods; simple random sampling, systematic sampling, cluster sampling and stratified sampling (Myers, Arnold & Robert, 2010). The simple random sampling method is best used when the whole population is present. The stratified sampling implies random sampling within target groups, and it is best used when there are known sub-groups to investigate, for instance, demographic groupings. Systematic sampling method implies sampling every nth person, and it is best used when a stream of representative observations is available, for instance, people in the street. Finally, cluster sampling implies all in limited groups and is best used when population groups are separated and access to all is challenging, for instance in different locations in a country.
In non-probability sampling methods, subjects are included in the sample in ways that are non-random (Ritchie et al., 2013). These methods include the quota methods, selective methods, convenience methods, and ethnographic methods. The quota methods require a particular analysis and valid outcomes; a researcher can establish the number of subjects needed in the sample. In particular, when investigating a number of groups and the subgroups are not large then the researcher might require equivalent numbers to ensure equivalent analysis and conclusions.
Under quota sampling, a researcher might opt for proportionate or non-proportionate quota sampling. In a proportionate quota sampling, which implies in proportion to population subgroups, the researcher knows the population distribution across different subunits, and hen normal sampling might not provide sufficient minority groups. Non-proportionate quota sampling refers to a case where the researcher takes a minimum number from every sub-group and it is best used when there is a potential for wide variations in the investigated characteristic within the minority subunits. Selective methods of sampling might be effective in psychology, and this is because this method leads the researcher to target particular groups. The other methods under this method include purposive sampling, expert sampling, snowball sampling, modal instance sampling, diversity sampling, and etcetera.
Instead of employing, the simple random sampling method that resulted in biases reported from over-representation from the small banks the researchers should have instead gone for stratified sampling method. Unlike the simple random one, this reduces the sampling error, because they opt for stratum, which shares common characteristics. The researchers could have perhaps grouped the samples into large banks and small banks and then obtained representative samples from such banks, without over representing the latter.
The respondents collected the administered questionnaires after completion on the same day and their feedbacks formed the backbone for the analysis below. The questionnaires contained open-ended and close-ended questions alike in guiding the participants through the process of filling in the questionnaires as well as seeking from them extra information. The interviews were conducted later and the information stored in an audio device, and later transcribed to text later.
3.3 Assuring Credibility of the Research
Content validity implies the degree to which a tool illustrates the elements under the research. To attain content validity, the questionnaires contained a number of questions on the customers’ knowledge of branding and brand awareness. Considering the interview, certain questions asked by the researcher to read into the non-verbal communication elements of the interviewees. This was done to prevent the interviewees from contradicting information in the priori theory. Reliability can be assured by laying bare minimum the origins of measurement error such as data collector bias. Data collector bias was reduced by the researcher, as the researcher is the only one who prepared and sent the questionnaire materials to the respondents. Moreover, the researcher exhibited certain personal attributes to the respondents for example; support and pilot testing was conducted to ascertain the flaws on the questionnaire to minimize the errors of measurement and then test for consistency. The study used not only nominal but also ordinal scale to establish the objectives and issues under the study on China Times brand awareness.
Bias in data collection refers to the tendency that inhibits unprejudiced reflection of a question and in research bias may occur at several phases of a process such data collection, planning, during analysis, and when the results are published. The researchers used a self-completion questionnaire relying on postal services. Beebe et al (2012) suggested a category of bias known as nonresponsive bias and it is clearly indicated in the case study and was similarly reported in the Australian research. According to Pannucci and Wilkins (2010), bias should not be considered a dichotomous variable, and the interpretation of bias cannot be restricted to a simple inquisition and that which seeking to know whether it was present or not. Instead, Pannucci and Wilkins (2010) suggest that the reviewers of research data collection must evaluate the degree to which the bias was controlled by a proper study design. As some level of bias is always present in every research, reviewers must consider the bias influence on the results and conclusions. In the case study, it is obvious that there was a selection bias in data collection. Selection bias might occur during identification of the investigation of the population. The perfect population is one that is clearly defined and is reliable and accessible. Selection biases occur when the systems used in engaging the participants into separate units for investigation are intrinsically different.
3.4 Planning and Execution of the Research
The paper relied on both interviews and survey questionnaires when collecting data from relevant participants. The size of the sample was established at 150 respondents of the company’s potential customers. And the interviews were established at 15 respondents of the company’s clients. Since this is a qualitative research process, the paper shall provide its report on findings in the form of charts and tables for easier digestion by the reader.

CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH FINDINGSIntroduction
This chapter highlights the theoretical concepts applied at the theoretical foundation of the study. The chapter will analyze the theoretical concepts in order to outline factors that support and justify the findings.
4.1 Evaluation of Research DeviationThis chapter shall present detailed information on the findings of the study in regards to the creation of brand awareness. Information presented in this chapter was collected from research instruments used during the data collection process from different stakeholders in the company. The objectives analyzed encompass the important interests towards the knowledge of brand awareness for China Times.
During the course of the research process, it may be possible to deviate to other ideas that were not captured in the proposal. When the research process deviates to new ideas, it may leave the research objectives in an incomplete structure with unanswered sections. However, this paper is strictly focused on the research objectives to avoid deviation into other ideas that are not incorporated in the study.
4.2 Current Developments of the Newspaper in the IndustryThe findings on the research question were facilitated by
-Industry analysis
-Secondary data – case study
Newspaper Industry in Global Market
The internet and digital growth has influenced the value of news generation, gathering, and circulation in significant ways. While most media firms have merely enhanced their web pages, and consequently offer RSS feeds, web journals, and mobile-based applications, media firms are still restricted by the enormous costs of their physical outputs. Consequently, digitized news providers boast of lower costs and hence have an upper hand over their print-based rivals. Few online firms have had a successful development of viable digitized business models for information relay services. Because of the tremendous amount of news and data accessible on the web, few individuals will pay for digitized news.
Sales from advertisements on news destinations are increasing; however, they are still low when compared to the sales from print advertisements. One reason behind this fact is the price per advertisement from online advertisements is comparatively low. This can be described by the high number of the advertising space that is available as well as the divisions of readers into a small cluster and the short time that online users spend on a specific web page. Moreover, confirmed estimations for online news consumption, which are widely acknowledged by all the stakeholders, are clearly a miss. Effective adoption of pay models is probably non-existent, for the subscription model, which hurts news companies. There are certain newspaper publishers that have tried, albeit briefly with the pay wall model, but have since abandoned it because the subscription sales could not offset the huge deficiency of advertising revenues from the lack of readership after the introduction of the model. In recent years, fresh attempts have been made by media companies to design the model around premium content, for example, the Sun, as well as the New York Times in the UK and the US respectively commonly introduced this model. Other pay-to-read models, combine subscription for the print as well as the digitized editions and provide subscriptions for news alerts on specific mobile devices. There are other providers that give subscriptions to certain content and news from specific sources, and block out the other parts to their subscribers. However, on the digital platform, the news sources that emanate from the giant search engine Google has been successful. In broad business terms they have managed to engage a large number of users utilizing low-cost user-produced news. News aggregations offer links to certain news headlines and from different sources that are ranked, and then classified according to the unique preferences of the users. News publishers think they ought to be compensated by aggregators for the links they provide to the news sources, on the other hand, news aggregators; point out that the other faction must benefit from the traffic that they try to produce to the other’s websites, and this implies that the aggregation commitments are in symbiotic benefit. Consumers profit from the abundance of ‘free information’ and the choices are customized to their own tastes. However, there are concerns, on whether the market can hold such expected quality of products. One can question the vulnerability of news genres, for instance, investigative reports, constant reporting on European governments and politics, and news from abroad in China.
Wischenbart, (2013) conducted a market competitive review of the newspaper industry. The research was based on the developing nature of the market outcome in terms of digital publishing, shifting distribution channels, developing business models and strategic partnerships. The researcher was overly concerned with the trend of growing need for the media in its new form. He noted that the market is currently driven by complex media consumption needs. This has resulted to the move to online and digital readership. As such, the trend is diminishing the value of print media as well as the aspect of advertising and distribution chains of the print new paper. The overall economy however shows positive developments further the economic instability experienced in the past few years resulted to more complications in the industry. As a result of these implications, the newspaper management has resorted to further reduction of costs in order to counter the losses that are continually experienced. The conclusion of the research indicates that incorporating the business to shift to online distribution of newspaper and magazines as well as launching of new titles will drive the market to increased profits. The factor of introducing new titles in the industry and minimized foreign ownership regulations has created a sense of stability in the industry. This shift is the only other option that is equated to the drastic takeover that has occurred due to digital printing and advanced technology. Today, the market has shifted the integration of news and information in the television consumer consumption.
According to responses from the interviews in similar preliminary researches, digitized circulated news increased by up to three hundred percent, while print media circulation fell by thirty percent.
Figure 3.4 Showing increase current developments of newspapers in the industry

Industry in the Netherland in the Chinese Community
4.3 Current Characteristics of China Times ReadershipThe findings on the question were facilitated by
-Questionnaire
-System data analysis
China Times as an independent newspaper is mainly based on exchange of culture between the two nations. The aim of the newspaper may not have been based on the fact of technological advancement when it was initiated. Furthermore, the company had done due diligence in finding the need for the company to launch the newspaper. Other than offering news the aim of the company is to socially promote the recognition of culture that is highly exalted by the two communities. These objectives were and still are incorporated in the basis of circulating the paper.
The initial strategy was based on producing a bi-weekly paper that contains relevant information that can be used by Chinese living Netherlands as well as the people in Netherlands. The strategy included branding the newspaper as the most colorful and informative paper. As such, the paper is read because it contains vital travel details, the information about China as well as features on Netherlands. The issue concerning global trend influences is a matter of a rift between the ideologies of the initiators of the magazine and the demands of the readers. The changes in the market are inevitable driven by technology and changes in consumer needs.
China Times as a business entity is affected by the competitive market forces in the newspaper industry. Many readers prefer to use digital means for reading the newspaper as such, the market forces compel the company to match up to the needs of the consumers. The digital market is continually upgrading with every new day and more advantages are realized in the market. The media industry is equally affected by the changes of digital media however some of the readers are still inclined to utilizing the hard copy. This effect needs to be critically reviewed by the company in order to strike a balance in meeting the already integrated consumers and the ones that are still left behind but in the process of advancing.
The system data analysis reveal that
Table 1.1 Distribution of Readership by Age and Gender (via data system)
Base: Total Adults Men Women Adults 18-34 Adults 35 or older Adults 55 or older
Target population % 150
100.0% 98
65.3% 52
34.7% 21 84 45
4.4 Opportunities for China Times to Improve Business Practices with its Corporate Clients (the Advertisers)The findings on thequestion were facilitated by
-Interview
-Secondary data
A myriad of business opportunities are presented to the newspaper industry by the evolving nature of demands due to advancement. The market position for China Times is affected by a number of reasons that makes it more complex. Business-to-business relations are easily accessible at the end user position than when dealing directly with the company. As a matter of fact, such a relationship demands specific strategies to separate itself from a unique customer experience model. First, customers tend to be flexible in terms of adapting to the changes in the market. For instance, China Times in the Netherlands wanted to increase its brand awareness through improving the advertisers’ experience. The process involves the provision of specific advantages to their client organizations to attain certain strategic objectives such as discounts or more coverage space. Adopting the customer journey implies that a company needs to progress and that China Times must face its multiple corporate clients in different areas that it operates in Europe. Businesses have different needs, while others might only participate in different roles in the discount process. Managers of the client organizations must be involved in participation during the initial strategic discourses that are meant to improve the business, but it is left to the company’s marketing and sales department to explore solutions to increase presence amongst the corporate and institutional clients.
Table 1.4 Showing Corporate Client’s Response after Interview (7 Dutch Firms and 8 Chinese Firms)
Dutch Company Representative Chinese Company Representative
How often do you place Advertisements on China Times Print Media? Once a month(on average) Twice a month(on average)
How many people cite China Times as the reference media Average of 6% Average of 46%
How many confirmed deals do you attribute to China Times? Out of the average 6% who reference China Times, 2% are often confirmed sales Out of the average of 46% who reference China Times, 16% are the averaged confirmed sales
Do you use other media source to advertise? Yes Yes
How many other sources of media do you use to advertise? 2 3
Can you give a description of the other media sources you use for advertisement? One a search engine media, and the other a national television One a search engine, and the other a national television
Compare these other ones to China Times Those who cite search engine are 5%
Those who cite Television 15%
Search engine 3%
Television 14%
As several business organizations expand, business relocate to new business areas to take advantage of the new markets. This move puts a demand to the firm’s overall business strategy by remaining focused and consistent to exploitation of resources. These resources are mainly aimed at accomplishing of a global market increase. However, the shift can be unproductive by utilizing the existing resources without replenishing them. As such, the limited resources are not maintained but rather wasted because there is are no returns. The international markets give firms the opportunities to enhance their income potential. The emerging business environments demand businesses to go in tandem with the fast pace of technological changes and the formulation of strategies that would make them enter into new markets. The businesses will eventually expand their control in the present markets. Business experts often point out the motives why certain businesses moved to the international business arena and have been thriving, while other’s hopes on the international arena have been extinguished. Problems that might block the entry of a firm into new markets must be analyzed prior to the entry, and comprehensively addressed. It is important that business managers who have been tasked with the role analyzing the tactics of entry into the new markets acknowledge and accurately list the company’s strengths as well as its weaknesses to aid in optimization on the foreign market opportunities.
Elements of the business organizations, for example, revenue, supply chain network, and product promotions must be comprehensively addressed, and this can include a concise and detailed direction and management resources. In order to satisfy its customers and remain relevant in the market, China Times needs to be an all rounded company. The advanced nature of the market today features the need for the company to make changes in the supply chain. In actual fact, the supply chain is shortened to integrate technology to the needs of the consumer. Further the company needs to strike a balance between remaining at its current position or upgrading to a more enhance, profitable and advanced way of doing business. Transferring systems from one framework to another can be costly. However, measuring the cost implications of losing business compared to the cost implications of advancing in business is critical for China Times in order for the company to remain fully relevant in the industry.
4.5 Designing Promotion Schemes for China TimesThe findings on the question were facilitated by
-current state
-Interview
Most companies are filled with the need to adopt to the advanced changes which means that companies will constantly change in order to match to the needs of the customers. The idea of variance and drastic changes in the market and in the consumer needs bring about a conflict between the service provider and the consumer. Part of the relationship may be disturbed due to these changes and some of the relationships maybe solidified due to the nature of services versus the needs met.
China Times as a company has achieved multiple advantages by structuring the company web site to serve as a point of convenience and customer satisfaction. Most of the clients have given positive feedback on the user friendly design of the website. Additionally, the immense benefits that the website brings to the customer are a sure way of making the customer’s attention attached to the website. The market is saturated by many websites but a website that has brought close attachment to the consumer is most preferred. Every company with a website today competes for publicity, without any form of relationship built with the consumer, the company finds it difficult to market services and find significant clients constantly visiting the site. For instance, China Times has been able to grow together with the customer and by doing this they are able to choose the website over and above a myriad of websites available on the internet.
The first basic element that the study attempts to unravel is a determination of a list and a category to explore the basic skills that every employee possessed. In particular, the employees that have direct contact with customers. Besides, the company ensures that the employees are given a target that they must attain in order to accomplish the goals of the company in their daily activities. Furthermore, the company has expanded its services in order to interact efficiently with its customers through the website. With the above underlying factors this study has a number of considerations which include: the interactive efficiency of the corporate customers through the company website. Taking this factor into consideration the study seeked to identify what skills an employee needs to improve in order to attain the level that is required when serving the corporate customers. These needs can be attended by the organization through corporate performance. Promotional schemes in this paper are identified within the confines of that the organization that thrives in achieving their objectives. It is a fact that all the business organizations consider the assessment of marketing as a primordial value. China Times is a multinational company, and has an overwhelming system of branches with China Times in Netherlands as an imperative auxiliary offering data and promotional space amongst a myriad of interests the world over. It is a global worldwide venture and leads in different exercises and operations all through the world. China leads in the world economy, particularly in manufactured exports, for example of vehicles and other electronic items like home appliances, cell phones, and PCs.
Figure 1.5. Customers Response towards Employees’ Attitudes when serving them
Responses Frequency Percentage
Seemed Tired and Bored 3 20.0%
Cheerful and Friendly 12 80.0%
Total 15 100.0
Results from the table above indicate that up to 20% of the employees for the company risks losing customers to the company. This means losing out on brand awareness, which may hinder sales, and contracting market share. However, 80 % of the employees have served as perfect brand ambassadors for the company, which reflect on the company effectively boosting the company’s sales and market share.
Figure 1.6 showing Responses of the clients on Perceived knowledge of Employees Knowledge on the Product

The pie chart above illustrates that a high percentage of the employees showed knowledge of the product they were handling and only a small percentage had wavering knowledge on the product.
Responses on the user friendliness of the company’s websites indicate a number of company’s clients that use their webpage to make applications for advertisement spaces. Effective use of company websites will result to more benefits for the company as well as for the consumer. The consumer finds a lot of satisfaction in the presence of convenience. The consumers are able to access the website at their free time and benefit socially and economically by accessing the website. The idea of using the website for access is a cost cutting measure for both the company and the consumers. This factor easily brings together the two entities to a middle ground where they meet. At this point the needs of the consumer and the needs of the company are met on an equal platform.
Most of the time customer satisfaction does not equate employee satisfaction. In many instances the consumer tends to report dissatisfaction while the employee tries to match up with the needs of different consumers. The factor can easily de-motivate the employee if they lack skills to attend and manage crisis or unexpected outcome in relationships. Thus, the company is expected to continually provide training and incentives that will also motivate the employee in knowing how to deal with the emerging needs of the customers (Helkullah & Kelleher, 2010).
The company ought to direct the use of the website more on the social level than on the commercial level, this way the company is able to measure the response of its customers and ensure that the services offered are ideal for the client. Moreover, customer feedback is paramount for the growth and development of the customer service sector. Customers tend to have rapid and ever changing needs, trying to keep up with the needs can sometimes result to a conflict with other customers (Mosley, 2007). This is because customers tend to have varied needs and their demand to the company to fulfill their needs is the duty of the company.
Figure 1.7 showing the responses in respect to the user-friendliness of the website
From the figure above, it is clear that a high majority of the respondents have described the web page as user friendly and easy to use, while the rest claim that it is difficult to use.
4.6 SummaryThere are conflicting results from the customer interactions with the employees, with certain employees giving a positive review of their interactions, while others giving a negative review. Employees are the foremost ambassadors of the company and their interactions with the company can work a long way in helping the company achieve its brand awareness goal. China Times, a bi-weekly newspaper serving the Chinese community must align its strategies to beat the competition and emerge with a more brand conscious presence.
Brand awareness is the core of business marketing. China Times has implemented the strength of its model to expand towards advanced technologies in the market as well as retain the customers. Analyses indicate that a bigger percentage of the employees and customers are able to accurately identify with the brand. Only a smaller percentage of the workers are still struggling on the issue of brand awareness.

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS5.1 Conclusions
This chapter details the summary of the research through the different pages beginning with the introduction to the findings and later followed by the recommendations. This chapter solidifies the discussions and the research conducted in the paper, giving the reader an easier way of capturing what was discussed in the paper.
From the questionnaire analysis, both television and internet play a leading role in advertising. All respondents embraced the online portals as user friendly and acknowledged their significant role as a branding platform. Therefore, one can conclude that the collision of television and internet would prove as the best promotional plan for China Times. China Times website is therefore an important creation that is likely to brand the company and give it a competitive edge. Moreover, advertisers are likely to increase their revenues from the large market share tapped on the online platform.
5.1.1 Conclusion on Current Developments in the IndustryA company might provide the market with a great product, but unless the market is made aware of the product, the company is likely to loose on sales. An important role played by company is the creation of brand awareness for a product. To ensure that a product attains the best visibility, it is important to consider a wider variety of strategies and alternatives. However, once a company begins to make targeted sales measures need to be put in place to ensure the quality of the product is maintained (Muehlfeld, Rao Sahib & Witteloostuijn, 2012).
Brand awareness refers to the likelihood that customers are conversant with the existence and presence of a good or service and at the level to which the customers can precisely link the brand with a good or service. For instance, it can be estimated as the fraction of an industry.
5.1.2 Conclusion on the characteristics of the current readers of China Times
A total of 150 individuals participated in the survey that sought to determine the characteristics of the current readers of China Times. 65% of the respondents were male and only 35 % were female. Out of all the individuals who participated only 65 people about 43% had prior knowledge of the existence of the China Times while a majority of them represented by 57% had not heard about the newspaper a result that depicts the unpopularity of the China Times in Netherlands given that it is only 43% of them who have taken time to read the newspaper. Furthermore, from the results that were obtained, it is clear that China Times does not enjoy frequent readership because its only 2 respondents read it at least once a weak and the bulk of the respondents 18 read it only once a month. The graphs can be viewed in appendix 7.
5.2 RecommendationsThe success of an organization is represented by the succcess of its brand awareness this factor is promoted by business aspects which include:
5.2.1 Connecting with the customersChina Times can stay in touch with its customers through a number of measures such as provision of promotional items for its corporrate customers and ensuring a rapid reply to compliments and complaints. The company must focus on their customers and other important groups to aid customer services.
5.2.2 Innovation, Investment, and ImprovementChina Times as an established company needs to focus on building a stable reputation with a competitive and advanced structure of technological capabilities. As such, the company needs to introduce modern technologies in reporting and advertisements to reach more individuals through the use of computers, free papers, and eye-catching hot topics. Additionally, it should introduce user-friendly means of online advertisements as well as more modern coloring on their papers.
5.2.3 Recognition and RewardsStaff performance excellence should be recognized and rewarded through promotions and a pay rise, as the employees are part of the brand ambassadors to the company. It should be specifically introduced by the company’s management on a regular basis. The benefits of awarding employees are that they will be motivated, the employer will note constant improvement and the staff members will be more dedicated in performing their duties. Besides, staff members that have performed exemplary may be awarded in a better way in order to encourage other members of staff to perform better. The logic is that pride and ownership by the employees must be evident by the manner in which they guard China Time’s reputations. Other incentives for China Times employees may include attending training projects by the organization, career development training facilitated by the organization and trainings targeted at updating the customer service knowledge and skills. Currently, the management of China Times has been involved in conducting intensive programs to motivate and enhance staff performances.
5.2.4PartnershipThe company has quite a number of employees in Europe, and these employees are from different diverse backgrounds, but work together to come up with seamless customer experiences through appropriate communications.
The company’s current alliances with KLM and China Southern Airlines to provide print newspaper to their flights to China are a great start. Benchmarking from an intense market competition, the company might search out new means to emerge with a large market share in the industry. Therefore, the company is covertly trailing the progress of the competitors in the industry. Therefore, the company has the opportunity to link with the other companies with higher potentials such as the search engine giant, Google. Such partnerships enhance brand presence (Schmit, 2010).

CHAPTER 6: STRATEGIC IMPLEMENTATIONS6.1 Implementation Plan
This chapter details viable and practical actions for implementing the suggestions listed in the recommendations. To establish the viability of the elements to be implemented and to be put into the plan, financial overviews of the elements have been considered as well as the potential risks.
The major component to the Promotion Plan is the description (or listing) of the planned promotional tactics. The plan begins with the most important element, and that is customers, through a means of establishing a connection with them.
Connecting with the customers involves the use of promotion channels as listed below. However, it should be considered that all sales promotions should involve the support of the company’s selling strategies and its brand image. The company should institute newspaper subscriptions to the customers’ homes and the use of outdoor advertisement tools such as billboards and bus boards throughout the country. The company should use marketing collateral sources such as flyers, brochures, newsletters, posters and others. Moreover, the company should increase the newspaper appeal to make it catchier as well as informatively appropriate. Other allures must include its improvement of their office as well as the design of China Times’ collateral, and most importantly, China Times must improve the image of its employees. In Amsterdam, the company shall distribute 500 flyers in the first month after the plan has been passed by the management of the company.
The company engagement in the promotional activities such sponsorship of special events such as fun runs targeting customers can happen once a month. The promotional activity might involve offering to the advertisers a giveaway, which should be conducted regularly, to encourage full participation of the advertisers.
Innovation and improvement of China Times website should be conducted in effectively with a third party. The company should sub-contract the website maintenance to experts who would make sure that the site is user-friendly to all. This begins when the company hires the best web developers for the two editions of newspapers.
In recognizing the critical role that the employees play in the promotion plan, the company shall set aside a specific amount of resources to recognize and reward the best customer relations employees. The total amount of resources that is set aside must cover the program throughout the year, and this will in turn spur improved employee involvement in the business.
In the endeavor to make more friends with other institutions across the board to spur the growth of its products, China Times must set up partnerships with valuable institutions such as restaurants, service trains, taxis, and airplanes. Since such partnerships already exists with airplanes, the next frontier of partnership shall be held with the Chinese restaurants and stores in the Netherlands and then such plan shall extend to the entire European continent at a later date.
6.2 TimelineThe plan will be rolled out at the beginning of the company’s financial year 2017 when the costing of the project has been computed and the same been effected in the annual budget. In the first two years, upon the implementation of the project, an analysis will be conducted to establish the results. If the finding is positive with a 45% improvement on sales of newspaper in Europe and Netherlands and a significant rise in the number of readers, the project will enter a new phase of another one year to allow any recommendations thereon will be affected. At the end of the period, if there is a rise in profits, the policy will become permanent to run as long the business is in operation.
Table showing time activity implementation program
Activity Short term
(within 1 year) Long term
(1-5 years) Comment
Connecting with the customersTick This activity is both short term and long term as the business cannot exists without its customers
Innovation, Investment, and ImprovementTick Funds should be set aside to improve the image of the company and that of the product in the long run, perhaps in the next three years.
Recognition and Rewards Tick Employee management should be the first item on the list, as they are the brand ambassadors of the company, working as marketing instruments at additional costs met through recognitions and rewards.
Partnerships Tick Partnerships take quite a while to cement, and they also depend on the willingness of the other party to agree to a deal.
Restaurants can be seen as a medium term plan, but partnerships with trains and taxis can be conducted in the long run.

6.3 Financial Overview
The project will have an initial estimated cost of $10,000 which will be divided into setting up the department and hiring and training of new staff. The most of the money will go into funding the scholarships and printing the free viewers’ and readers’ articles. As the once in a week is not expected to bring in any revenue, it would be important for some amount be set aside for financing the production. The funds for starting up the division will be consumed in furniture’s and equipment. Although there will be salaries, the staff in the division will have a chance to earn more on sales on any creative idea that raises the profits. The departments will be required to be in a position to cover their administrative expenses after the first two years. The costs breakdown is as follows:
$350,000-scholarships
$150,000- free article printing
$150,000- starting the division
$350,000-Salaries and commissions
If the project is successful to increase sales by 45% in the first phase of two years, then the initial investment is estimated to be recovered in those years and after, to generate a profit margin of 10%. A number of scholarships will be inclusive of cash for brochures and pamphlets informing the public of the changes.
6.4 Risks
The costs to pull off the project are too high and could have a major effect on the firm if the same proves to be unsuccessful. The probability of success or failure is not constant as it is subject to changing economic times. Basing the continuity of the project on the success of the first two years may not be the best tool for measurement as it would not mean a definite failure in the subsequent one or so years. The success of the project is highly reliant on the combined efforts of the new department and marketing team. In case one fails it may pull down the other with it.
6.5 Summary
Implementation of the plan is the culmination of efforts to solidify a promotion plan for the China Times. Implementing the plan is not as easy as it seems as there are embedded risks involved. The risks relate to the costs as well as the stages involved in the implementation process must be addressed in a systematic manner.
CHAPTER 7: REFLECTION7.1 Reflection on the Competencies
Personally, I believe that the competencies as defined under the framework have been achieved in this paper. The ability in evaluating patterns and trends in international business have been is of a high level, and the researcher has taken the time to meticulously conduct an in depth review of the theories and practices as they relate to international trade. The paper has provided credence to the abilities of the researcher to put into context trends and patterns of international trade. The paper utilized the case study of China Times Netherlands to intricately fuse the theories into reliable practices. Secondly, I believe that the ability to explain the different means of entering into the foreign markets have been discussed as have the arguments outlined in a bid to cement the free trade practices. Furthermore, the paper delved into the sources of competitive and comparative advantages between China and the Netherlands. It was important that these were to be placed into appropriate perspectives because the majority of China Times customers come from China and their base of operations are in the Netherlands. The analysis of the company’s entry into the Chinese community market in Europe has been covered to the highest level expected of the student. Since the student has full confidence of a level three maturity on the competency that involves researching and assessing the risks as well as the economic variables as well as the legal systems that are in Europe. However, this information was not vital to the paper, and hence bypassed during the process of research. The student has a high level of competence on the ability to make legal statements as well as supporting such statement with sound legal argument. However, for the purpose of this research and much like the previous competency, this was not important for the research, and hence ignored in the paper.
7.2 Lesson Learned throughout the Process
Through the project, I have come to learn that there are important questions that must be reworded, or put in a different way to have a more focused analysis of the participant’s feelings towards brand awareness. The next time that I work on such a paper, I will attempt to provide a narrower topic of analysis. Honestly, I was unsure of the random sampling method, as it proved a difficult task to execute. The system did not seem to fit the random selection process. The major benefit for me in the research was to see the perceptions towards the development of brand awareness, perhaps in a different light to mine. I was greatly taken back by the customers’ remarks regarding how they need to be handled by the employees.
7.3 Improvement Points
Through the research
Data collection process
Research reporting
7.4 Eligibility for BBA degree
The research is eligible for a bachelor of business administration degree as it meets all the tenets of the degree course.
7.5 Chapter Summary
This chapter discussed personal reflections and competencies, as well as points to improve, lessons gained, and whether the paper merits a BBA degree. It is without doubt, that the paper has awakened an inner consciousness on business particularly in marketing and promotion.

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APPENDIXAPPENDIX 1: INTRODUCTORY LETTER
Rotterdam Business School,
Major: IBMS,
Managing Director, Leon Chow
China Times,
Dear Sir/ Madam
RE: PERMISSION TO COLLECT DATA IN YOUR ORGANIZATION
I am a student at Rotterdam Business School, pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Business. I am researching the subject of Creating Brand Awareness for China Times. I am asking for your approval to collect data towards a research report. This research is purely for academic purposes. Thank you in advance for your assistance.
Yours faithfully,
Meijun Qin

APPENDIX 2: DATA OF READERSHIP IN WECHAT APP SYSTEM This data shows total readership by age and gender in Wechat app database.
Table 1.1 Distribution of Readership by Age and Gender (via data system)
Base: Total Adults Men Women Adults 18-34 Adults 35 or older Adults 55 or older
Target population % 100, 000
100.0% 77, 314
77.3% 22,686
22.7% 32,523 44,345 23,132

APPENDIX 3: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR CUSTOMERS (In total 150 respondents)
This is research meant for an academic purpose and it will attempt to create brand awareness for China Times in the Netherlands. Please provide answers to these questions as accurately as possible. Do not write your name or other identifying information anywhere on this questionnaire. Please tick [√] where appropriate or fill in the required information on the spaces provided.
1. Your gender?
[ ] Male
[ ] Female
2. Your age? _____________ (years).
3. How often do you read print newspapers?
[ ] Once a day
[ ] Once a week
[ ] When I bump into them
[ ] Once a month
[ ] Twice a month
[ ] I do not read print newspapers
4. At what age did you start reading print newspapers?
[ ] before the age of 18 Years
[ ] at the age of 18 Years
[ ] after the age of 18 Years
[ ] at the age of 35 Years
[ ] Over the age of 35 Years
5. What is your favorite brand of Chinese Newspaper in the Netherlands?
Kindly provides its name in the space below ______________________________________________________________________
6. Why do you like the particular brand? ___________________________________________
7. Have you heard of China Times here in the Netherlands?
[ ] Yes
[ ] No
8. If Yes when? ______________________________________________________________
9. If you have heard of China Times have you read it?
[ ] Yes
[ ] No
10. If you have read it, how often do you read it?
[ ] Once a week
[ ] Twice a week
[ ] Once a month
[ ] Once a half year
[ ] Once a year

APPENDIX 4: FOR CORPORATE CUSTOMERS (In total 15 interview)
This research is meant for academic purposes and it seeks to create brand awareness for China Times. You are requested to provide answers to these questions as honestly and precisely as possible. Please do not write your name or that of your school anywhere on this questionnaire. Please mark [√] where appropriate or fill in the required information on the spaces provided.
Section 1:
Demographic information of corporate clients
1. How long have you been a worked with China Times?
_________ Years.
2. How do you book your advert?
[ ] Online portal
[ ] Physical offices
[ ] Phone call/E-mail
3. Through online portal, how can you describe the online portal?
[ ] User friendly
[ ] Difficult to navigate
4. If through physical visit/phone call/E-mail, how can you describe the company’s customer representative?
[ ] Friendly
[ ] Rude
5. Do you think the company’s customer representative explains product clearly?
[ ] Yes (Understandable and clearly)
[ ] No (Not clear/ wavering knowledge)
Section 2: Experience of displaying ads on China Times newspaper
6. How often do you place Advertisements on China Times Print Media?
[ ] 4X a month (2 ads in one editions)
[ ] 2X a month (1 ad in one editions)
[ ] 1X a month
[ ] 1X in 2 month
[ ] 1X in 4 month
[ ] 1X in a year
7. How many confirmed deals do you attribute to China Times? _________%
8. Do you use other media source to advertise?
[ ] Yes
[ ] No
9. Can you give a description of the other media sources you use for advertisement?
[ ] Search engine
[ ] Television
[ ] Radio
[ ] Outdoor media (Flyers/posters)
10. Compare these other ones to China Times, how many confirmed deals? (Example: Television 20%)
1._______________________%
2._______________________%
3._______________________%
11. What improvement do you suggest to China Times?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

APPENDIX 5: INTERVIEWEES’ CONTACT INFORMATIONThe interviewees were divided by two groups. There were the group of Chinese company and the group of Dutch company. All of the interviewees displayed or are still displaying advertisements on China Times newspaper.
Chinese Company Name
& Website (8) Contact Person Telephone Contact E-mail Address
Home of China
[www.homeofchina.nl] Guozhao Wen 06-53360241 [email protected] Trip
[www.donkeytrip.com] Allen Cao 010-3400688 [email protected]
Stg. Algemene Chinese school Utrecht
[www.acsu.nl] Qi Hu  (0)6-55807051 [email protected]
GEG Europe
[www.gegeurope.com] Betty 010-2018880 [email protected]
Little Asia Restaurant
Mr. Feng
06-55826565
[email protected] Travel
[www.kaiyuan.cn] Hezhao Wang [email protected] Pepper Restaurant
[www.restaurantredpepper.nl] Wendy
06-34885233 [email protected] Logistics Song Piao06-39649982 [email protected] Company Name & Website (7) Contact Person Telephone Contact E-mail Address
88 mobile
[www.88mobile.nl] Pierre Turfboer088-8888855 [email protected] Europe
[www.incito-europe.com] John Chow 010-2018880 [email protected]
GSM-Shop
[www.gsm-shop.nl] Emile van Dam 070 -8888888  [email protected]
Remax Hofstad Makelaardij
[www.remax-hofstad.nl] Leon Zhow088 – 4483150 [email protected]
Everaert Advocaten[www.everaert.nl] Xinwen Ruan020-7523200 [email protected] club
[www.goldentime.de/nl] M.Hoevenaars475532596 [email protected][www.nctaal.nl] Igor Nuijten06 2698 6926 [email protected]

APPENDIX 6: INTERVIEWS TRANSCRIPTIONS
Dutch Companies
Interviewee 1:
Contact Information
Company: 88 mobile
Telephone: 088-8888855
Email Address: [email protected] long have you been a worked with China Times?
-8 Years
How do you book your advert?
-Phone call and also Email
Through online portal, how can you describe the online portal?
-User friendly
If through physical visit/phone call/E-mail, how can you describe the company’s customer representative?
-I think it was nice and friendly
Do you think the company’s customer representative explains product clearly?
-Yes
How often do you place Advertisements on China Times Print Media?
-In the past we place adverts on China Times once to twice a month. But now, usually we displayed ads once a month.
How many people cite China Times as the reference media?
-Few people, may be around 5%
How many confirmed deals do you attribute to China Times?
-Less than 3% of individuals who choose China Times
Do you use other media source to advertise?
-Yes, we usually prefer using several platforms to reach more customers
How many other sources of media do you use to advertise?
-One more source. However, we are planning to expand and adopt more promotional channels.
Can you give a description of the other media sources you use for advertisement?
-The national television to reach the national audience whiles the Internet target younger and tech savvy target group. For television, you know that we are now processing 88play, a television box, which connects with Chinese channels. It will reach more Chinese customers. For the 88play, we would like to place adverts on your newspaper as well… (About displaying 88play on China Times)
Compare the appropriateness and effectiveness of media sources in question 6 to China Times
-The television reaches more people compared to China Times, which is only applicable to those who read it. In the future, when more Chinese people use our SIM (Subscriber Identification Module)-card to connect with 88play, there will be a large expansion on the Chinese market
Interviewee 2:
Contact Information
Company: Incito Europe
Telephone: 010-2018880
Email Address: [email protected] long have you been a worked with China Times?
-3Years
How do you book your advert?
-Phone call and Email
Through online portal, how can you describe the online portal?
-It looks clear and easy to read news
If through physical visit/phone call/E-mail, how can you describe the company’s customer representative?
-friendly
Do you think the company’s customer representative explains product clearly?
-Yes
How often do you place Advertisements on China Times Print Media?
-After two weeks. However, we usually reduce the frequency after three months and repeat the same pattern every year.
How many people cite China Times as the reference media?
-Around 5%, but I have to admit that the figure does not represent the most recent figures
How many confirmed deals do you attribute to China Times?
-Few, representing one or two percent of those who choose China Times
Do you use other media source to advertise?
-Yes. Although the cost of these channels makes is a serious limiting factor, we prefer using several channels to maximize the chances of accessing more potential customers
How many other sources of media do you use to advertise?
-Two sources: the search engine and the national television.
Can you give a description of the other media sources you use for advertisement?
-Internet search engines that allow the Internet users to access our company’s website and social media accounts. National television enjoys national viewership. As our product is very popular in the food industry and in family, we prefer the platform of television
Compare the appropriateness and effectiveness of media sources in question 6 to China Times
-The television reaches more people countrywide compared to China Times.
-The Internet meets the preference of more people compared to China Times
Interviewee 3:
Contact Information
Company: GSM-Shop
Telephone: 070 -8888888
Email Address: [email protected] long have you been a worked with China Times?
-more than 6 Years
How do you book your advert?
-We have a good relationship with China Times, and we had an contract of placing the adverts twice a month.
Through online portal, how can you describe the online portal?
-User friendly
If through physical visit/phone call/E-mail, how can you describe the company’s customer representative?
-Normal, just good
Do you think the company’s customer representative explains product clearly?
-Yes
How often do you place Advertisements on China Times Print Media?
We usually place adverts on China Times once to twice a month
How many people cite China Times as the reference media?
-Few people, but I am not in a position to give a figure to estimate the percentage.
How many confirmed deals do you attribute to China Times?
-Honestly speaking, I am not in a position to determine how many confirmed deals related to the specific promotional channels
Do you use other media source to advertise?
-Yes. That is only way we can access more potential customer for our company. However, we are now paying more attention on the physical shop as customers prefer checking out the cell-phone or any other products before the purchase.
How many other sources of media do you use to advertise?
-One more sources, which is social media.
Can you give a description of the other media sources you use for advertisement?
-To be honest, we are now focusing on physical promotion such as poster and flyer. For social media, we are placing advertisements on website and Facebook
Compare the appropriateness and effectiveness of media sources in question 6 to China Times
-The Internet meets the preference of the majority
Interviewee 4
Contact information
Company: Remax Hofstad MakelaardijTelephone: 088 – 4483150
Email Address: [email protected] long have you been a worked with China Times?
-3 months
How do you book your advert?
-We made order via email
Through online portal, how can you describe the online portal?
-User friendly
If through physical visit/phone call/E-mail, how can you describe the company’s customer representative?
-The customer service was very good and clear. I think they are helpful
Do you think the company’s customer representative explains product clearly?
-Yes
How often do you place Advertisements on China Times Print Media?
-Twice a month. Our company is extending the marking in the Chinese communities.
How many people cite China Times as the reference media?
-Am not sure, but it is a lot, more than half percent of the clients reach the information via China Times. And I am the person who takes responsibilities to this market
How many confirmed deals do you attribute to China Times?
-It is a great number. More than 70% of the clients confirmed the deals. Most of the clients were satisfied with our services
Do you use other media source to advertise?
-Yes, but financial limitations make it difficult for us to use multiple channels
How many other sources of media do you use to advertise?
-One more source
Can you give a description of the other media sources you use for advertisement?
-Television, where the promotional message is in the form of motion picture
Compare the appropriateness and effectiveness of media sources in question 6 to China Times
-Most people view television programs. Our company takes the advantage of the commercial breaks to reach them
Interviewee 5:
Contact Information
Company: Everaert Advocaten
Telephone: 020-7523200
Email Address: [email protected] long have you been a worked with China Times?
-4 years
How do you book your advert?
-Phone call
Through online portal, how can you describe the online portal?
-User friendly
If through physical visit/phone call/E-mail, how can you describe the company’s customer representative?
-Most of the time was nice, but once the employee was without patient as she made mistakes in our ad.
Do you think the company’s customer representative explains product clearly?
-Most of the time yes.
How often do you place Advertisements on China Times Print Media?
-After two weeks. However, we usually change the frequency depending on the season.
How many people cite China Times as the reference media?
-Few, between 5 and 10%. I prefer giving a range to show an approximation rather than exact figure.
How many confirmed deals do you attribute to China Times?
-China Times leads usually leads to around 3% confirmed sales. That is according to our latest findings
Do you use other media source to advertise?
-Yes. We prefer reaching as many customers as possible by using the channels that they prefer
How many other sources of media do you use to advertise?
-Two more sources. The Internet and the mass media
Can you give a description of the other media sources you use for advertisement?
As I said, we are focusing on the mass media and the Internet
-The internet, where we use the search engine to attract traffic to our website
-The national television to reach millions of viewers
Compare the appropriateness and effectiveness of media sources in question 6 to China Times
While print and online newspapers are still popular, a national television channel and the search engine are by far more beneficial than what China Times has to offer
-The internet is becoming more popular than newspapers
-The national television has always reached a greater audience compare to China Times
Interviewee 6:
Contact Information
Company: Sauna club
Telephone: 475532596
Email Address: [email protected] long have you been a worked with China Times?
-half year
How do you book your advert?
-go to your office and phone call
Through online portal, how can you describe the online portal?
-User friendly
If through physical visit/phone call/E-mail, how can you describe the company’s customer representative?
-It was nice
Do you think the company’s customer representative explains product clearly?
-Yes
How often do you place Advertisements on China Times Print Media?
-We usually post an advert on China Times once a month
How many people cite China Times as the reference media?
-Approximately 7% as per our latest reports
How many confirmed deals do you attribute to China Times?
-China Times contributes to approximately 2% increase service. It is not a good number, but after displaying adverts on China Times, the number of people who are Chinese or Asian, has increased
Do you use other media source to advertise?
Yes, that is the only way we can reach potential customers at their own conveniences
How many other sources of media do you use to advertise?
I am aware of two more promotional channels that we have using for some time now
Can you give a description of the other media sources you use for advertisement?
-One of the channels is a national television though short film commercials,
-The second channel is the Internet through a Search Engine, where we usually direct
Compare the appropriateness and effectiveness of media sources in question 6 to China Times
-The television reaches more people compared to China Times.
-The Internet, specifically the search engine, meets the preference of more people compared to China Times. The increase usage of the Internet makes search engine ideal for reaching technologically well-informed customers
Interviewee 7:
Contact Information
Company: NCTaal
Telephone: 06 2698 6926
Email Address: [email protected]
How long have you been a worked with China Times?
-7 years
How do you book your advert?
-via Email
Through online portal, how can you describe the online portal?
-User friendly
If through physical visit/phone call/E-mail, how can you describe the company’s customer representative?
-The customer service was good and the lady helps a lot
Do you think the company’s customer representative explains product clearly?
-Yes
How often do you place Advertisements on China Times Print Media?
-Twice a month. We usually post such adverts more frequently in the last quarter of every year.
How many people cite China Times as the reference media?
A lot of students got information via China Times. Approximately 50% of the students cite China Times as the reference media. My students are all Chinese and I will continue placing ads on China Times.
How many confirmed deals do you attribute to China Times?
-Approximately 70% of all those who make inquiries using China Times.
Do you use other media source to advertise?
-Yes, -Of course, we prefer using different platforms to market our service
How many other sources of media do you use to advertise?
Currently, am aware about two advertisement channels that my company is using to market its products and expand brand awareness
Can you give a description of the other media sources you use for advertisement?
-We also use the Internet. In particular, the search engine that increases the chances of the Internet users to see what the company is offering them. Instead of using media source, word of mouth is also one of the promotion strategies. Students would ask the friends or the people who knows to look for language course.
Compare the appropriateness and effectiveness of media sources in question 6 to China Times
-For the Internet, I strongly believe that more people are more likely to come across our adverts on social media thanks to the increased internet usage around the globe
Chinese Companies
Interviewee 8:
Contact Information
Company: Home of China
Telephone: 06-53360241
Email Address: [email protected] long have you been a worked with China Times?
-10 years
How do you book your advert?
-We has a contract on booking the adverts in the edition that we required
Through online portal, how can you describe the online portal?
-User friendly
If through physical visit/phone call/E-mail, how can you describe the company’s customer representative?
-The customer service was not good in the recent days. I tried to contact your company and tell the mistakes of the ads in many times, but at the end it still wrong on the ads. I think it is because of the communication problem in language.
Do you think the company’s customer representative explains product clearly?
-Most of the time yes.
How often do you place Advertisements on China Times Print Media?
We usually post adverts after two months
How many people cite China Times as the reference media?
-Between 40 and 50% of all the people we deal with
How many confirmed deals do you attribute to China Times?
-Around 15 to 20% the individuals who access us through China Times end up doing business with us
Do you use other media source to advertise?
-Yes, we prefer using several channels to access more clients
How many other sources of media do you use to advertise?
-Two sources
Can you give a description of the other media sources you use for advertisement?
-Yeah, we usually use the Internet, by using search engine. Lastly, we usually focus on trade exhibitions to show potential customers what we have to offer
Compare the appropriateness and effectiveness of media sources in question 6 to China Times
-The Internet meets the preference of more people compared to China Times
-China Times reaches more people and is more effective than exhibitions
Interviewee 9:
Contact Information
Company: Donkey Trip
Telephone: 010-3400688
Email Address: [email protected] long have you been a worked with China Times?
-4 years
How do you book your advert?
-Phone call
Through online portal, how can you describe the online portal?
-User friendly
If through physical visit/phone call/E-mail, how can you describe the company’s customer representative?
-Yes
Do you think the company’s customer representative explains product clearly?
-Most of the time yes.
How often do you place Advertisements on China Times Print Media?
After two months. However, we usually conduct advertisement increased advertisement drives during the peak seasons, to take advantage of increased tourism activities. The front page of the newspaper is our preference
How many people cite China Times as the reference media?
-A good number of people, around 45%
How many confirmed deals do you attribute to China Times?
-Approximately 16%
Do you use other media source to advertise?
–Yes, around three different advertisement channels
How many other sources of media do you use to advertise?
-Kindly refer to my answer for question 5.
Can you give a description of the other media sources you use for advertisement?
-Social media to reach young people
-Internet search engine to bring potential travelers to our website
Compare the appropriateness and effectiveness of media sources in question 6 to China Times
-The Internet search engine is more effective than China Times since it draws people to our website where they can learn more about our services
-Social media is more affordable than paying for space on China Times
Interviewee 10:
Contact Information
Company: Stg. Algemene Chinese school Utrecht
Telephone: 070 -8888888
Email Address: [email protected] long have you been a worked with China Times?
-10 years
How do you book your advert?
-Phone call and wechatThrough online portal, how can you describe the online portal?
-User friendly
If through physical visit/phone call/E-mail, how can you describe the company’s customer representative?
-Yes
Do you think the company’s customer representative explains product clearly?
-Yes.
How often do you place Advertisements on China Times Print Media?
–Once a month but it is not a permanent arrangement. We usually conduct thorough promotional exercises towards the end of school holidays in a bid to attract more students who may wish to transfer or enroll
How many people cite China Times as the reference media?
-Few people, but I am not in a position to give a figure to estimate the percentage.
How many confirmed deals do you attribute to China Times?
-Honestly speaking, I am not in a position to determine how many confirmed deals related to the specific promotional channels
Do you use other media source to advertise?
-Yes. That is only way we can access more potential students for our school
How many other sources of media do you use to advertise?
-Two more sources, which is social media and mass media. Can you give a description of the other media sources you use for advertisement?
Compare the appropriateness and effectiveness of media sources in question 6 to China Times
-The television reaches more people countrywide compared to China Times
-The Internet meets the preference of the majority
Compare the appropriateness and effectiveness of media sources in question 6 to China Times
-The search engine and mass media reaches more potential customers than China Times. For example, the fact that the national television reaches the entire national population makes it ideal for creating and developing brand awareness. On the other hand, the search engine allows the educated young generations to access the company at their own conveniences
Interviewee 11:
Contact Information
Company: GEG Europe
Telephone: 010-2018880
Email Address: [email protected] long have you been a worked with China Times?
-3 years
How do you book your advert?
-Phone call and wechatThrough online portal, how can you describe the online portal?
-User friendly
If through physical visit/phone call/E-mail, how can you describe the company’s customer representative?
-Yes
Do you think the company’s customer representative explains product clearly?
-Yes.
How often do you place Advertisements on China Times Print Media?
-Twice a month with 3 full pages. In the peak seasons, we usually place 3 pages in the middle, 1 full page at the end and including 2/5 in the front page
How many people cite China Times as the reference media?
-Approximately 50%
How many confirmed deals do you attribute to China Times?
–Between 15 and 20% confirmed deals usually come from what we get by posting our adverts on China Times
Do you use other media source to advertise?
Yes, we have been using multiple advertisement channels because we believe in the idea that our consumers prefer different channels
How many other sources of media do you use to advertise?
-Three more sources
Can you give a description of the other media sources you use for advertisement?
-The Internet, where we use the search engine optimization to make our website appear first
-BBS (Bulletin Board System) on the internet
-Trade fairs
Compare the appropriateness and effectiveness of media sources in question 6 to China Times
-The Internet is more trendy and acceptable than China Times
-For our company, we reach more people through China Times compared to trade fairs.
Interviewee 12:
Contact Information
Company: Little Asia Restaurant
Telephone: 06-55826565
Email Address: [email protected] long have you been a worked with China Times?
-5 years
How do you book your advert?
-Phone call and wechatThrough online portal, how can you describe the online portal?
-User friendly
If through physical visit/phone call/E-mail, how can you describe the company’s customer representative?
-Yes
Do you think the company’s customer representative explains product clearly?
-Yes.
How often do you place Advertisements on China Times Print Media?
-After every two months
How many people cite China Times as the reference media?
-Around 50% of people cite China Times as the reference media
How many confirmed deals do you attribute to China Times?
-Around 15% of our customer admitted that they learnt about our restaurants through China Times
Do you use other media source to advertise?
-Yes, we have been using several platforms
How many other sources of media do you use to advertise?
We usually use three more platforms apart from China Times
Can you give a description of the other media sources you use for advertisement?
-In brief, the television is our mass media outlet of choice. Others include the Internet, where we use our official website and several social media platforms such as Facebook, You Tube, and Twitter. Social media where we post out services and encourage our followers to share widely
Compare the appropriateness and effectiveness of media sources in question 6 to China Times
-The Internet meets the preference of more people compared to China Times
-We can access more customers via social media than China Times
Interviewee 13:
Contact Information
Company: Kaiyuan Travel
Telephone: N/A
Email Address: [email protected] long have you been a worked with China Times?
-1 year
How do you book your advert?
-Email and wechatThrough online portal, how can you describe the online portal?
-User friendly
If through physical visit/phone call/E-mail, how can you describe the company’s customer representative?
-Yes
Do you think the company’s customer representative explains product clearly?
-Yes.
How often do you place Advertisements on China Times Print Media?
We always place advertisement on China Times. Although am not sure about the exact frequency, I think that we usually place ads after every two weeks
How many people cite China Times as the reference media?
Interestingly many people cite China Times. We recently conducted a study that revealed how China Times brought in 46% of customers.
How many confirmed deals do you attribute to China Times?
-Around 16% of our customer admitted that they learnt about our offers by reading our travel offers on China Times.
Do you use other media source to advertise?
-Yes, Of course, yes. We have to maximize our presence to reach as many customers as possible.
How many other sources of media do you use to advertise?
I have to admit that we usually use as many as four sources that are popular in the hotel and tourism industry.
Can you give a description of the other media sources you use for advertisement?
-The Internet is our main channel, where we use social media, official website, and travel websites.
Compare the appropriateness and effectiveness of media sources in question 6 to China Times
-We usually advertise our services on our website, social media accounts such as Facebook. We also use the television to access the general population. We also use tourism events to market our products.
Interviewee 14:
Contact Information
Company: Red Pepper Restaurant
Telephone: 06-34885233
Email Address: [email protected]
How long have you been a worked with China Times?
-1 year
How do you book your advert?
-Phone call and email
Through online portal, how can you describe the online portal?
-User friendly
If through physical visit/phone call/E-mail, how can you describe the company’s customer representative?
-Yes
Do you think the company’s customer representative explains product clearly?
-Yes.
How often do you place Advertisements on China Times Print Media?
Well, we usually place advertisements after one month. However, it usually depends since we tend to increase the frequency towards the end of the year in bid to intensify promotional activities.
How many people cite China Times as the reference media?
-Many people, between 40 and 50%
How many confirmed deals do you attribute to China Times?
-Approximately 85 to 90 %of our customers mentioned China Times as their reference media. As when people come to our restaurant, people would choose sit down and enjoy our foods.
Do you use other media source to advertise?
Yes, we have to use several sources to reach as many clients as possible.
How many other sources of media do you use to advertise?
We usually use three different platforms to pass our promotional messages about the food that we serve in our restaurant. The idea is to the advantage of these channels, which are always unique
Can you give a description of the other media sources you use for advertisement?
-We have successfully used national television to reach as many customers as possible. The second media is the internet, especially for reaching youths and other market segments. The third promotional media is exhibitions.
Compare the appropriateness and effectiveness of media sources in question 6 to China Times
-The Internet meets the preference of more people compared to China Times
-China Times reaches more people and is more effective than exhibitions.
Interviewee 15:
Contact Information
Company: Snel Logistics
Telephone: 06-39649982
Email Address: [email protected]
How long have you been a worked with China Times?
-3 years
How do you book your advert?
-Phone call and wechatThrough online portal, how can you describe the online portal?
-User friendly
If through physical visit/phone call/E-mail, how can you describe the company’s customer representative?
-Yes
Do you think the company’s customer representative explains product clearly?
-Yes.
How often do you place Advertisements on China Times Print Media?
-We usually place advertisement after one month
How many people cite China Times as the reference media?
Well, it depends. Although not always, approximately 50%
How many confirmed deals do you attribute to China Times?
It is difficult to estimate. As a company, we have not thought about linked confirmed deals with specific platforms that we use for marketing.
Do you use other media source to advertise?
-Yes, Our marketing strategy aims at using all available platforms to attract customers.
How many other sources of media do you use to advertise?
As of now, I can am sure about two sources of advertisement that my company uses to market its products.
Can you give a description of the other media sources you use for advertisement?
Yes, we selected the two platforms due to some good reasons. Our company prefers the national television in bid to reach more people. We also prefer the search engine that allows internet users to visit our website, where they can see what we offer.
Compare the appropriateness and effectiveness of media sources in question 6 to China Times
Of course, the advertisement channels we choose have unique advantages
-Promotional messages on the national television reach more people
-Internet matches with the increase use of the Internet services
APPENDIX 7: RESULTS OF SURVEY
This data shows the survey results on the current readers of China Times in terms of responses of awareness and frequency of readership.
Graph 1.2 Responses of awareness of China Times in Netherlands

Graph 1.3 Frequency of readership