Be Proactive in Researching and Testing Communication Tools

The public's demand for art enjoyment is not small and the number of viewers (estimated) generally tends to increase.

2.3.4. Increase ticket sales, performance contracts

The results of the annual performance reports of theaters in Hanoi from 2007 to present show that the theaters’ revenue has been increasing. This result is due to many objective and subjective reasons. However, the role of marketing in increasing theaters’ revenue cannot be denied.

Although not yet synchronized and systematic, the implementation of mixed marketing tools including improving and enhancing the quality of works and services, diversifying works, applying different ticket prices, diversifying ticket sales channels, using many promotional tools, diversifying performance organization models, etc. at theaters has helped increase the number of audiences, increase sales from ticket sales, performance contracts, although this increase has not been dramatic. Specifically, the revenue reports of theaters are summarized as follows [PL1, pp.153-161], [PL2, pp.162-163]:

Unit name	Revenue (VND)			Note
Unit name	Year 2010	2011	2012	Note
1	Vietnam National Music, Dance and Theatre	14,500,000,000	14,500,000,000	9,500,000,000
2	Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra	340,000,000	342,840,000	4,650,600,000	2012 Socialized and sponsored resources are 4,267,600,000
3	Vietnam Youth Theatre	5,000,000,000	5,000,000,000	5,400,000,000

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Unit name	Revenue (VND)			Note
Unit name	Year 2010	2011	2012	Note
4	Cheo Theatre Vietnam	1,347,000,000	1,640,000,000	1,750,000,000
5	Vietnam Puppetry Theatre	7,000,000,000	5,416,936,000	7,000,000,000
6	Tuong Theater Vietnam	3,300,000,000	2,480,000,000	1,947,000,000
7	Theater Thang Long Puppetry	20,000,000,000	27,000,000,000	35,000,000,000
8	Hanoi Opera House	1,592,360,000	1,814,101,000	1,877,356,000
9	Hanoi Drama Theater	919,100,000	2,138,000,000	1,926,500,000

Table 2.3. Revenue figures of theaters

2.3.5. Expanding cooperation and attracting funding

Marketing activities, especially diversifying works, products, services, improving the quality of works, services and promoting through various media, have helped theaters become increasingly known to domestic and foreign audiences, and at the same time helped theaters expand exchanges and cooperation with many individuals and organizations at home and abroad in many aspects such as artist exchange, training, exchange, performance cooperation... Many theaters have participated in many domestic and international art festivals, winning many awards. This activity not only enhances the image and position of theaters but also helps promote Vietnamese art and culture to international friends.

Along with expanding domestic and international exchanges and cooperation, developing marketing activities also help theaters expand opportunities to attract sponsorship, build brands and expand markets. In practice, not only theaters seek sponsorship, but sponsors also need to find art units with good works and services, good promotional activities, attracting a large audience and the media, and having the ability to carry out artistic activities, thereby helping sponsors achieve their goals. Thus, good marketing activities will be a tool to help cultural and artistic units achieve many different goals, in which expanding cooperative relationships and attracting sponsorship are important goals.

2.4. Causes and some lessons learned

2.4.1. Causes

2.4.1.1. Subjective causes

- Knowledge of marketing and artistic management of theaters is still limited.

It is undeniable that in recent years, the marketing activities of some theaters have improved, such as the Vietnam Youth Theater and the Vietnam Symphony Orchestra. With the same mechanism and policies, the marketing activities of theaters in Hanoi are organized and implemented at different levels. Based on the research results, the starting point of marketing activities is the awareness of leaders, those who play a decisive role in planning and investing resources to implement marketing. In fact, because the awareness of leaders is not really complete about the role of marketing in developing audiences, developing art programs, increasing income for the theater, leading to the situation that marketing activities are not given due priority, and there are many shortcomings.

Some theaters have staff who have attended short-term marketing training courses, but because they have not really mastered the knowledge and skills of marketing, have no experience, and are not really dedicated, they cannot convince the Board of Directors to fully apply what they have learned to the theater. The rest, most of the staff of the Performance Organization Department of the theaters are graduates from different majors, they may be artists who now want to change their job position, they do performance work in general and marketing work in particular based on experience, studying while working, "because currently there are no schools that specialize in performance organization". Some schools have specialized training in cultural management, including teaching cultural and artistic marketing, but this group of bachelors has not yet been able to get a job position in the Performance Organization Department of theaters in Hanoi. This is a real problem for theaters because the people who are currently employed to organize performances for theaters are not properly trained, while a well-trained student force is not recruited for this position. Moreover, the team of newly graduated art and cultural management students also need practical time to be able to take on the position of performance organization well.

In addition to the reason of limited understanding and awareness of the role of marketing in the operation of theaters, or in other words, poor professional qualifications and skills, the number of staff working in marketing is also one of the difficult problems of theaters. There are theaters with only one marketing staff. To recruit more staff, the difficulty is that there are no quotas for staffing and salary and bonus policies, so it is impossible to recruit people who meet the requirements for marketing positions.

According to Mr. Le Tien Tho, in the end, the cause of the current weak marketing situation of many theaters is still people. Together with the

Drama theaters under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, with the same mechanism, operating in Hanoi, but the Vietnam Youth Theater is more active than the Vietnam Drama Theater. Not only that, there are even "idle hands are the devil's workshop" such as lawsuits in the theater.

- Financial resources and facilities for marketing activities are not adequate.

One of the reasons for the weak marketing activities of theaters in Hanoi is the limited investment in financial resources, facilities, and equipment. Some leaders, some heads of the Performance Organization Department, heads of the Art Department, or staff of the Performance Organization Department, Art Department of theaters have "ideas" and want to implement marketing activities, but because of lack of funds, they cannot do much other than print some flyers, program books, and make a few billboards. Some theaters such as the Vietnam Cheo Theater and the Vietnam Tuong Theater also said that if they have funds but cannot do it themselves, they will hire professional consulting companies to develop and implement marketing strategies and build a brand for the theater [PL4, pp.168-170].

- Human resources for marketing activities of theaters are still limited.

The staff of the Performance Organization Department of theaters in Hanoi come from different professional fields, most of whom are artists who are no longer performing. This source of human resources is both lacking in quantity and not ensuring expertise. They themselves also realize that they lack a lot of knowledge, and some people are even assigned to work in this department but have not been equipped with knowledge and skills to organize performances. Arranging jobs for artists who have reached their retirement age is a problem for many theaters in Hanoi today.

Meanwhile, recruiting people with enough ability and experience to do the work of organizing performances, including marketing, is something theaters cannot do because of low salaries, recruitment mechanisms, staffing levels, etc. This is truly an unsolved problem.

2.4.1.2. Objective causes

Based on the survey results, a large number of programs are performed by theaters to serve the public, the income of theaters often increases year after year [PL1, pp.153-161], [PL2, pp.162-163], and the number of foreign tours is also increasing. This shows that the picture of the capital's performing arts activities has certain bright spots. The objective reason for these results is due to the attention, direction and budget investment of the state, of relevant ministries and branches such as the subsidy policy is sufficient to ensure the survival of theaters. In addition, Decree No. 43/2006/ND-CP dated April 25, 2006 of the Government stipulates the right to autonomy and self-responsibility for performing tasks, organizing apparatus, staffing and finance for public service units, which is the legal basis for theaters to "balance" their budgets from self-collected sources to spend on marketing activities.

At the same time, policies such as the policy of socializing cultural activities and the market economy mechanism have also had positive impacts, encouraging theaters to implement marketing to compete, attract audiences, survive and develop.

Besides the bright spots in the marketing activities of a few theaters, this activity still has many limitations in general. The objective reasons leading to these limitations are the management mechanism and some policy shortcomings. One of the basic reasons leading to the current situation of marketing activities of theaters not being commensurate with its role is due to the criteria

The criteria for allocating and managing the subsidy budget. With the current subsidy mechanism, "artists without roles still receive salaries", "there are theaters that stage plays according to quotas", "stage plays only to participate in festivals", with few audiences or no audiences, theaters still receive budget subsidies. This mechanism leads to the situation where some theaters are not proactive, dependent, waiting, afraid of change, do not want to try new things, stage plays according to plan, to complete the plan and do not have active marketing activities, it is okay, the budget is still regularly allocated. Even theaters that operate better, have more audiences, and more revenue have their subsidy budget cut. This is the major shortcoming of the subsidy budget allocation criteria, it has not created development motivation for theaters.

Another objective reason that can be mentioned is the current financial management regulations. Theaters are not allowed to use their career budget for marketing and advertising activities, but can only use other sources of income. While theaters with few audiences and low income are in great need of marketing activities, without audiences, where can they get the revenue to do marketing? On the contrary, theaters with a large, stable audience and high income only need to implement marketing activities at a certain level, without having to invest too much.

Thus, it can be seen that the objective reason leading to the current situation of theater marketing activities not being really positive is due to macro policies.

2.4.2. Some lessons learned

2.4.2.1. The key issue is the human factor

Through research, the results show that with the same mechanism and the same governing body, the marketing activities and effectiveness of these activities are different.

Theaters are at different levels and have different investments. During the implementation of the project "Designing a framework for teaching cultural management in a market mechanism and improving management capacity for cultural sector officials" in the period 2000-2004, the Board of Directors of many theaters under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism participated in courses providing knowledge on cultural and artistic management taught by foreign visiting experts. However, up to now, the theaters with successful marketing activities are only the Vietnam Youth Theater and the Vietnam Symphony Orchestra.

2.4.2.2. Be proactive in researching and testing communication tools

Theaters are not allowed to use their budget for marketing, except to make one or two banners, billboards, print a few thousand leaflets, program books, tickets, invitations, and use the budget for staging plays and programs. These are also popular communication tools for theaters in Hanoi. For example, Mr. Truong Nhuan, formerly the head of the Performance Organization Department, then the deputy director and now the director of the Vietnam Youth Theater, convinced the director to invest in building a website for the theater, although at that time (2005) the effectiveness in increasing the number of audiences was not yet obvious. Later, when the internet became more developed, many theaters boldly invested in and hired designers to design websites with more up-to-date structures, images, colors, and information, showing that boldly experimenting with promotional tools for the theater is very important.

Nowadays, e-marketing (electronic marketing) is an inevitable trend of developed countries. Although the promotion of marketing using electronic tools such as the internet in Vietnam is still limited, because the public does not have the habit of using the internet to search for information about entertainment programs and book tickets online. However, the explosion of social networks, including some theaters with quite effective Facebook accounts such as the Orchestra

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