LIU LIU IMC Plan_PDF

SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION
YSP524 INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATION

CAPSTONE PROFESSIONAL PROJECT

TITLE:

The development of the adult English education industry
after the Covid-19 pandemic:
A case of Better English

NAME/ Matrics No. :
LIU LIU / P-KOM0076/21

SUPERVISOR:
Assoc Suriati binti Saad

Table of Content

Acknowledgement .........................................................................................................3
Executive Summary .......................................................................................................4
1.0 Introduction..............................................................................................................6

1.1 The Case in Study ............................................................................................6
1.2 Research Problem ............................................................................................7
1.3 Problem definition......................................................................................12
1.4 Research objectives........................................................................................14
2.0 Research Method & Design ...................................................................................17
2.1 Exploratory Design ........................................................................................17
2.3 Descriptive Design.........................................................................................18
2.3 Data analysis methods....................................................................................19
3.0 Discussion ..............................................................................................................20
3.1 The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the adult English education
industry ................................................................................................................20
3.2 Challenges and Opportunities for Adult English Education During the
COVID-19 Pandemic...........................................................................................20
4.0 Strategies & Tactical Plan ......................................................................................23
4.1 Strategies & Tactical Plan Overview .............................................................23
4.2 Weibo/ TikTok Comprehensive Plan..........................................................24
4.3 Multimedia advertising ..................................................................................26
4.4 To strengthen consumers engagement ...........................................................29

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5.0 Timeline & Budget.................................................................................................36
6.0 CONCLUSION......................................................................................................39
7.0 References..............................................................................................................40
8.0 Appendix ................................................................................................................42

Weibo/ TikTok Comprehensive Plan ...................................................................42
Programmatic Digital Out-of-Home ....................................................................42
Google/Baidu Ads................................................................................................43
Official website refurbishment ............................................................................44
Wechat Ads ..........................................................................................................44
Survey Questionnaire...........................................................................................45

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Acknowledgement

First of all, I am delighted to be able to complete this IMC capstone project with my
mentor, Dr. Assoc Suriati binti Saad, and Second-Reader: Dr. Hasrina Mustafa. Thank
them for their great support this semester, helping me answer my questions, revise
proposals, and give appropriate advice.
Secondly, I would like to thank my classmates at IMC for their help. They encouraged
me behind the scenes, pointed me, and helped me quickly integrate into the learning
atmosphere. I would also like to thank my teammate Li Guorong for always
reminding me and urging me to complete the progress.
Special thanks to Better English for the information provided to me, support and
assistance to my research. I sincerely hope that Better English can become bigger and
stronger in the future development and become a well-known brand in the industry.
Thanks to all the respondents who participated in my survey, the responses to each
question mean a lot to me, too.
Finally, I would also like to thank my dear family and friends for their continuous
support to me, to persevere on the path of trainees and to successfully complete my
studies!

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Executive Summary

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected most small and medium-sized businesses in
the world. In China, many industries have gradually recovered from the epidemic in
recent years, even beyond the pre-epidemic. But the difference is that the education
industry, is suffering multiple blows from the epidemic and policies.

In this project, I choose an adult English education institution called Better English in
Shenzhen/Dongguan, Guangdong, China as a case study to study how the epidemic
has affected the industry and the company's business. Among them, what are the
challenges and opportunities, changes in consumer behavior, as well as the
improvement of educational institutions in the future operation and marketing
direction, and achieve sustainable development.

Before the research, I had a brief conversation with the principal of Better English
Longgang Campus to understand the current business situation and the problems and
challenges faced by the institution. After starting the research, we first learned about
the problem from the consumer behavior side, and distributed about 200 consumer
surveys to relevant consumers who are interested in or have participated in English
education institutions, and collected useful data for this research. Based on the
analysis of these data and secondary data, the main factors affecting English
educational institutions are summarized.

Therefore, based on the conclusions drawn from the data analysis, I developed an

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integrated marketing communications plan aimed at enhancing consumer awareness
of adult English education, increasing Better's brand awareness, and achieving
successful purchase conversions. Through different marketing methods on different
platforms, consumers can experience the fun of learning English quickly, shorten the
distance between Better English and ordinary consumers, and encourage more
consumers to choose Better English for long-term and stable English learning .

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1.0 Introduction

1.1 The Case in Study

The main research object of this report is Dongguan Better English Training Co., Ltd.
in China, hereinafter referred to as Better English. Founded in 2016, the company is
headquartered in the prosperous Changan Vanke Plaza in Dongguan City, Guangdong
Province, China, it has branch campuses in Shenzhen Guanlan, Fuyong, Longgang
and other places. The company is mainly committed to providing high-end English
training and personalized English teaching solutions for teenagers and adults over the
age of 14. Better English has a team of young and passionate teachers dedicated to
helping each student "learn English for the last time". Adhering to the language use
tenet of "learning is knowledge, speaking is ability", we make English easy to learn,
understandable, interesting and useful (Better English, 2016).

Figure: One of the research sites: Better English Longgang Campus

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Courses cover adult English, business English, spoken English and VIP one-on-one.
Committed to providing high-end English training and personalized English teaching
for adults, focusing on the cultivation of practical English skills such as speaking and
listening, through small class face-to-face teaching, VIP one-on-one tutoring and
expanding life English. Let students master authentic English in a real environment
and build confidence in speaking English.

1.2 Research Problem

English is the most popular language in the world by area, and it is the official
language or one of the official languages of nearly 60 sovereign countries. Since the
17th century, modern English has spread around the world under the widespread
influence of the United Kingdom and the United States. Through a variety of print
and electronic media in these countries, English has become one of the dominant
languages internationally, as well as the language in many regional and professional
contexts, such as science, navigation and law. It is one of the official languages of the
United Nations, the European Union and many other world and regional international
organizations. During the 20th century, the growing economic and cultural influence
of the United States and its post-World War II status as a superpower, as well as the
global presence of English-language broadcasters such as the BBC, led to the spread
of the language around the world. faster. In the 21st century, English is spoken and
written more widely than any other language, with business, science and technology,
diplomacy, arts and formal education making English the first truly global language

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(Xie & Zhang, 2008).

Therefore, English has also received considerable attention in China. In China's
primary school to high school level, almost all schools choose English as their main
or only foreign language compulsory course. Since the late 1980s, China has
implemented a college English proficiency test in full-time ordinary universities, and
even made English proficiency a standard requirement for obtaining a college
graduation certificate. From 1949 to the 1950s, due to its close relationship with the
Soviet Union, China mainly used Russian as its first foreign language. After the 1960s,
China began to choose English as its first foreign language. Chinese high school
courses basically take English as a compulsory course for foreign language teaching
courses. In full-time general universities, except for non-English foreign language
majors, English is generally a compulsory course, and other foreign languages are
optional courses; language majors that are not English majors generally require
English as a necessary course at the same time. After entering the workplace, whether
it is to evaluate professional titles, upgrade grades, or English is one of the hurdles, no
matter what kind of subject you are engaged in, your English proficiency must reach
the standard. If you learn English well, you can enter foreign companies and get
higher salaries. These are indeed the realities of the past few years.

Because of this, in China, English has been valued by parents and students since
childhood. Some children start learning English for children from the age of 3 or even
earlier, just because parents don't want their children to lose at the starting line. In the

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context of China's exam-oriented education, for students studying on campus,
academic performance is the most critical. Therefore, after school, children have to
enroll in various cram schools, and wealthy families even hire private tutors for
private tuition. Under the circumstance of pursuing scores, students are becoming
more and more " Involution"—— Students have to bear a greater learning burden. It
is not important to complete high-intensity homework, and they also need to take
remedial classes after class. Many students have weekends and winters. Summer
vacation is occupied by make-up classes.

In this context, in order to change this situation, the state has to introduce a "Double
Reduction" policy （ to ease the burden of excessive homework and off-campus
tutoring for students undergoing compulsory education）: no longer approve new off-
campus training institutions for subjects for compulsory education students; subject
training institutions shall not be listed for financing, and capitalized operations are
strictly prohibited; Off-campus training institutions shall not take national statutory
holidays, rest days, and winter and summer vacations to organize subject training and
other measures (Xinhua news agency, 2021).

This is undoubtedly a devastating blow to educational institutions such as K12,
causing the stock prices of many large educational institutions to plummet, or even to
close down. According to statistics, there are hundreds of thousands of large and small
English training institutions across the country, which are several times the number of
institutions in other disciplines. Now they are all facing a crisis, and the number of

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English training tutors is also the largest in other disciplines. Wall Street English, a
well-known English education giant in China, has more than 48 years of professional
English teaching experience. It has helped more than 3 million students around the
world to learn and improve their abilities, but it declared bankruptcy this year, and the
doors of offline training stores are closed. People went to the empty building, and
more than 6,000 students went to defend their rights and demanded refunds. The total
amount of rights protection exceeded 500 million yuan (Zeng, 2021).

However, the "Double Reduction" policy mainly faces students who have received 9
years of compulsory education. In order to reduce the burden on students and parents,
the main business scope of Wall Street English is adult English education, and the
runway is not within the scope of this policy adjustment. But why is it attacking
academic education and subject education, but it is adult English education that is
collapsed? The reason is very simple, because after so many years of development,
my country's English education market has already undergone earth-shaking changes.
Forty years ago, when China had just reformed and opening-up, we hoped so much to
connect with the world that learning English was one of the ways for us to connect
with the world. At that time, foreign companies were in full swing, and college
graduates at that time, even those from top universities, regarded entering foreign
companies as the best choice. The salary they can offer is often two or three times as
much as that of local companies. The English sales of educational institutions once
said that learning is a personal investment for you. As long as you invest this money,
you can easily master English and find a high-paying job. But now that's not the case.

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However, with the strengthening of China's national strength and the rise of local
enterprises, it seems that foreign enterprises are no longer deified, and the national
confidence makes more Chinese believe in Chinese local enterprises. More Chinese
companies have gone abroad and have more dominant positions in the world, unlike
in the past where the core technologies of many industries needed to be attached to
other countries. Today's college students are proud of entering local companies such
as Alibaba, Tencent, state-owned enterprises, and national enterprises. The wages
offered by local companies may be several times that of foreign companies. Many
students spend hundreds of thousands of dollars studying abroad, but when they come
back, they can only find jobs with a monthly salary of several thousand yuan, which is
not even as good as graduates from key universities in China. Some experts have
called for the cancellation of various English tests in China. Therefore, people think
that spending so much effort to learn English is not as rewarding as expected, and the
demand for learning English is decreasing step by step. In this context, it is normal
that the adult English market is shrinking. Therefore, in recent years, we have seen the
collapse of several adult English education giants, and the market share has been
shrinking. This is the current trend.

Although the market has been impacted by many factors, there is still room for
English training in the current market. There are still many students who participate in
English training, including white-collar workers in foreign companies, college
students who want to work in foreign companies, students who want to go to school to
take language exams, and personnel engaged in international trade and exchanges.

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The English learning needs of these people will not decrease. English training has
gained a reputation by helping people become fluent in English, which has attracted
more and more institutions to be established, and Better English is one of them. With
its professional teaching service team, young and passionate teacher team, advanced
teaching guidance system, warm family growth system, adhering to the teaching
method of mother tongue thinking, Better English subverts the tradition, focuses on
words and grammar, makes the learning and application of language no longer
mechanical, and helps students learn English more naturally. This teaching method
has been verified by the Better English teaching team for many years, and has
successfully helped countless students with zero basic knowledge to learn English
fluently, won the favor of countless students, and also won a place in the market.

However, the single business model and the old market positioning, as well as the
temporary shutdown restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic, have made English
training companies represented by Better English go downhill. The market
positioning of English training institutions should also keep pace with the times, re-
find the direction, and meet new challenges in the future.

1.3 Problem definition

China's English education market has undergone tremendous changes after decades of
development. First of all, from the perspective of market size, once upon a time, the
adult English education market had a very broad prospect. However, the survey report
of relevant institutions shows that in the whole year of 2019, the adult English

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education market may still have a scale of close to 100 billion, and by 2020, the
market share will be It has shrunk sharply by nearly 40%, and even the scale of 60
billion has disappeared (Iresearch, 2020).

The COVID-19 pandemic has made this already sluggish market worse. 2020 may be
the lowest and most difficult year into the 21st century. After the outbreak of the
epidemic, the Chinese government was forced to adopt a series of strong epidemic
prevention policies in order to effectively prevent the spread of the new coronavirus,
such as closure of cities, shutdown of factories, closure of shops, closure of
entertainment venues and other measures against economic losses. The industry has
been hit as never before. The macroeconomic situation is deteriorating with reduced
consumption, disruption of some economic activities, lower fiscal revenue, higher
unemployment and slower GDP growth.

However, thanks to the strong anti-epidemic measures of the Chinese government,
China's economy is gradually reborn from the COVID-19 crisis, and the economic
operation continues to recover steadily. Except for sporadic COVID-19 cases in some
areas, people are gradually returning to normal life order. Although the domestic
epidemic situation in China has stabilized, the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic on
China's economy is indelible. English-language education institutions that require
offline training have suffered from sporadic cases of COVID-19. In order to cooperate
with the government's epidemic prevention policy, they have been forced to close
down repeatedly. Due to the inability to recruit students to attend classes and the lack

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of sufficient funds to pay teachers, many stores can no longer be opened once they are
closed. In the past 2021, the scale of the English education market has further shrunk.
Not only is the overall environment bad, but many English education giants are not
developing normally. For example, Wall Street English, the famous Chinese English
training institution giant, is facing bankruptcy. New Oriental, the earliest English
training institution in China, has closed more than 1,200 teaching points under its
umbrella, and is also on the way to transform, changing the consumer market, re-
finding consumer groups, planning to teach foreign students Chinese, and established
a New Oriental subsidiary in California, USA . The shrinking market size also poses a
huge challenge to Bette English. This research analyzes the current market situation
of the entire English education industry and the marketing methods and market
positioning of Better English, and focuses on the research and analysis of consumers'
consumption behavior and characteristics, in order to find the reasons for the
shrinking of the English education market, develop new models, open up new markets,
and explore suitable solutions.

1.4 Research objectives

According to the data provided by iResearch, the adult English market in 2019 was
95.3 billion, including 29.3 billion for test-taking English, 59.8 billion for practical
English, and 6.2 billion for institutional business. The COVID-19 epidemic has
caused a great impact on the adult English market, and the market size is expected to
shrink by 37.6% in 2020 (Iresearch, 2020). But in fact, the target group of adult

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English is not only not shrinking, but also continues to expand. Driven by China's "
the Belt and Road" (the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk
Road) initiative, Chinese companies have become more active in overseas investment,
and a large number of companies are going global. If an enterprise wants to win the
first opportunity in the international competition, it must solve the problem of
international talents and overseas talent dispatch, and transform the talent advantages
into technological advantages and industrial advantages. Cultivating and developing
international talents has become one of the important means for an enterprise to
realize its international development strategy, no matter what stage of development
the enterprise is in. This also brings more possibilities for adult English. This study
will focus on adult English education as the main research objective. At present, the
market demand is changing, and the adult English education industry should also
change. At this time, when a single language training product can no longer support
the overall business development, customized and segmented products such as study
abroad services, study tour services, business English, professional English, and adult
English clubs are emerging one after another. For example, adult English institutions
represented by EF have also launched enterprise-level B-end business, such as official
language training for the Olympic Games and Universiade. Through the survey,
analyze consumers' demand for English training, consumer behaviours and
consumption characteristics, analyze the cognition of target consumers and potential
consumers to Better English institutions, grasp consumers' attitudes towards different
educational institutions in the market and their recognition of publicity activities and

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promotions, and provide reference for the design of project products. The following
are divided into three categories:

1. Understand the business status of Better English, and comprehensively find
out the popularity, penetration rate, reputation and loyalty of Better English
among consumers. And have a comprehensive understanding of the current
marketing strategies of major competitive brands in South China, such as
price, advertising, promotion and so on.

2. Understand the impact on the adult English education industry during the
COVID-19 pandemic. With the analysis of the opportunities and challenges of
the adult English education industry during the COVID-19 pandemic.

3. Understand the opinions and habits of consumers in South China on English
education, demographic data, understand consumers' consumption
psychology and consumption behavior, determine the expenditure situation
and consumption structure of target consumers, and understand the factors
that affect consumer consumption behavior. Factors to forecast the English
English education market capacity and potential.

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2.0 Research Method & Design

To achieve these objectives, this study will employ two research design approaches,
exploratory design and descriptive design. In the research, Dongguan Better English
Training Co., Ltd. will be used as the research object. The purpose of the research is
to explore the current operating status of the adult English education industry, as well
as future opportunities and challenges from the research objects.

2.1 Exploratory Design

⚫ Secondary research
The approach to exploratory design is secondary research. The secondary research
method is to collect existing data for other investigation purposes and conduct
research, which is to let us "stand on the shoulders of giants" to collect and organize
information.

Use the statistical data and databases of the Bureau of Statistics and other relevant
departments or relevant research institutions to understand the basic information such
as the population situation and economic development level in South China;
understand the national and relevant local policies, regulations, restrictions or
incentive measures, etc.; make a comparative analysis of product sales with the
regional economy and population; master the sales measures, main channels, market
price, sales situation of the English training market, analyze the best-selling brands
and regional differences, and estimate the market capacity of the product. This study

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can establish a clearer research basis before other data collection methods.

2.3 Descriptive Design
⚫ Survey Study

In this study, we will also use a descriptive research design to further understand the
consumer attitudes and habits of English training in South China, demographic data,
explore consumer psychology and consumer behavior, and identify the spending
profile and consumption structure of target consumers, and understand the factors
influencing consumer spending behavior, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. In
order to achieve its purpose, the research will adopt the method of online
questionnaire, which can save cost and time, and can provide a wider sample size.
The results may also suggest next steps for Better English's marketing strategy and
program offers to consumers.

The draft questionnaire design is as follows:

Research direction Table: Construct of Survey Questions Item

Question type

·Gender ·Age

Demographics Single choice ·City ·Income
(closed question)

·Idea and purpose ·Budget

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Consumers' Choice Single choice and ·Reasons for choosing an English
Factors for Adult Multiple choice educational institution
·Evaluation of educational
English (closed and open institutions
Education questions) ·Satisfaction with educational
institutions

Consumer Multiple Choice and ·Advice and opinion on English
expectations Comments educational institutions

(open ended question)

2.3 Data analysis methods

In order to better present the data collected from interviews, organizing, analyzing and
understanding all the information is necessary to study qualitative research. Therefore,
the data collected in this study, such as questionnaires and auxiliary data, were mainly
analyzed using linear regression. The essence of linear regression analysis is to study
the effect of one or more independent variables X on a dependent variable Y
(quantitative data). It is one of the preferred and best known modeling techniques for
predictive modeling (Han & Ma, 1993). Secondly, descriptive statistical analysis,
Pearson correlation analysis, cross table analysis, K-means analysis, T-text, etc. will
be used for further research and proof.

Data were analyzed using SPSS software. SPSS has powerful data analysis functions,
friendly operation interface, simple operation and convenient use.

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3.0 Discussion

This section will discuss the results and data collected from the survey, and the
conclusions drawn from the corresponding data analysis to achieve the research
objectives.

3.1 The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the adult English education
industry

Through discussions with the relevant person in charge of Beter English, it was found
that in the post-epidemic era, consumers' consumption behavior has undergone
significant changes.

When the COVID-19 epidemic has not yet swept the world, consumers are more
willing to participate in offline English learning, which means that consumers are
willing to spend more money.

3.2 Challenges and Opportunities for Adult English Education During the
COVID-19 Pandemic

In the post-epidemic era, in addition to the competition from offline peers, offline
institutions after the resumption of classes will also face the fierce impact of online
institutions.

At the same time, institutions must also have relevant measures to deal with the
epidemic prevention and control. Taking the Batter organization as an example, a new

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round of epidemics broke out in Shenzhen in February and March 2022, causing
Batter to directly suspend classes for two months, resulting in heavy losses. Coupled
with shifting consumer demands and shrinking budgets, pressure on English language
education and training institutions is mounting.

In the post-epidemic era, the primary goal of institutions is to attract students and
withdraw cash flow. Markdowns and promotions became the top choice for
institutions. After the epidemic, many local restaurants and shopping malls were
allowed to operate, and the government even issued consumer coupons to attract
consumers, but education and training institutions were still required to suspend
teaching, which caused many education and training teachers to lose confidence and
patience in the industry and institutions. Change or loss of careers, and there is a
shortage of talents in institutions.
According to incomplete statistics, in the first half of 2020 alone, 11 well-known
offline English training institutions declared bankruptcy, and even the person in
charge lost contact and ran away. Shanghai campuses stopped operating, and
employees left one after another; Helen Dolan Children's English Ningbo Campus,
which entered China in 2003, suddenly closed its doors, and the person in charge lost
contact; Disney English, which entered China in 2008, announced in June that it
would close all training centers in China... , Similarly, Batter English was also forced
to close many stores during the epidemic, and its profits fell sharply.

However, the epidemic has brought some opportunities to Batter English. As the form

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of online teaching becomes more and more common, Batter English students have
also solved the regional problem. Teachers can teach students remotely, without the
need for students to go to the institution to attend the class, and also reduce the cost of
the venue. According to the data collected, 31.5% of people prefer the purely online
teaching model, which is a way out for Belt English.
With the rise of more and more online institutions after the epidemic, Batter English
has also begun to explore the innovation of online teaching, such as using different
platforms for teaching according to the needs of students. According to the collected
data, 71.8% of the students believe that foreign teachers should be involved in English
learning, which also gives Batter, who cannot invite enough foreign teachers due to
the epidemic, a certain opportunity: they can connect to remote foreign teachers for
teaching.

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4.0 Strategies & Tactical Plan

4.1 Strategies & Tactical Plan Overview

According to the survey results, the following three points are concluded:

1. The popularity of Better English in South China is far less than that of major
training institutions, mainly because it usually does less online marketing and the
penetration rate of advertising is not high.

2. Affected by the epidemic, the operation of Better English has also been greatly
impacted. Under the difficult operating environment, Better English's teaching
model has also been challenged.

3. Consumers are more inclined to low-cost and high-efficiency English learning
methods, and they hope to see substantial progress, such as passing exams and
fluent conversations with foreigners.

4. Affected by the epidemic, consumers' views on learning methods have also
changed, and most consumers will prefer to learn English through a combination
of online and offline methods.

From this, we recommend three strategies to change the above problems:

1. Weibo/ Tik Tok Comprehensive Plan

Live daily conversations in English (Post a sentence of English related to the day's
hot spots on Weibo every day, interact with netizens, and let netizens comment in

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the message area)

2. Advertising plan (online and offline) pictures, audio and video ads

3. Develop your own website and applet

4.2 Weibo/ TikTok Comprehensive Plan

Since most consumers choose to look for learning resources online, the best way is to
raise awareness on social media in the hands of consumers. Therefore, we plan to
launch a live program of online English training. We will start a live broadcast on
Weibo/Douyin every night at 8 o'clock to teach some daily English conversations.
Every user who comes in to watch will have the opportunity to have a conversation
with our foreign teacher. This is to mobilize the enthusiasm of consumers, let
consumers know more about the teaching mode of Better English, and participate in
our live broadcast room. In the live broadcast room, the audience can ask any
questions to foreign teachers, and they can also challenge foreign teachers. Enter the
live broadcast room to talk with foreign teachers. In this way, the distance between
Better English and ordinary consumers is narrowed, and more consumers are
encouraged to choose Better English for long-term and stable learning.

For example, New Oriental, an English training institution that is also facing
difficulties, has recently become popular on the Internet because of its "bilingual live
broadcast", which teaches English while selling goods. According to Baidu Index data,
the New Oriental search index has risen rapidly since June 2022, of which the search

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index reached 96,655 on June 16, nearly three times higher than the peak search index
during the double reduction period in 2021(Liu, 2022). New Oriental can be said to be
a model of successful transformation.
The comprehensive plan of Weibo / TikTok is as follows:

Figure: The comprehensive plan of Weibo / TikTok diagram

The event will also publish an announcement of the event through Weibo, in which
the details and details of the event will be listed (see appendix). In addition, we will
publish the topic #Better Live Homework Punching# on Weibo to encourage users to
punch in. After the live broadcast every day, the foreign church leaves some

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interesting assignments, such as talking to a stranger, talking with a friend in English
to play a sitcom, or reading a classic book. Students can participate in the topic and
punch in after the live broadcast. A valid one-time punch-in can deduct 50 yuan of
course fees, and the punch-in points are valid for a long time.

4.3 Multimedia advertising

Better should try to make consumers remember their brands, because it becomes
difficult for them to survive under the influence of the epidemic. Only by increasing
the exposure and seizing the minds of consumers can we help them better complete
the transformation and become normalized in the epidemic. Therefore, in terms of
advertising, Better English should use a multi-platform, online and offline
combination for advertising.

⚫ Programmatic Digital Out-of-Home
According to the survey results, due to the impact of the epidemic and its low
popularity in southern China, Better English is facing the impact of a shrinking
market. Brand awareness is an important factor influencing consumers' purchasing
decisions (Wen, 2014). Since Better English's main goal is to seize the South China
market, it can consider placing advertisements in the main activity places of target
consumers.

Better English is mainly aimed at adult English training. This part of the population
needs to commute to and from get off work, so consider placing advertisements in

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places where commuting time will pass. The initial preset is 8-10 am and 5-pm. At the
subway station at 7 o'clock, this part of the crowd will appear in this place relatively
densely, as well as more representative office buildings and shopping malls as the
focus of outdoor advertising.
By appearing in these places with high frequency, consumers can have a sense of
visual familiarity. When they want to learn English, Belter English will first appear in
their minds, which can realize the role of Belter English advertising.

Please see the attachment for the specific advertisement placement diagram.

⚫ Audio Advertising
Contemporary young people also rely heavily on audio software. Therefore, placing
audio advertisements on NetEase Cloud Music, which is widely used by young people
in China, is also an option to consider. Compared with in-car radio advertisements
with a wider radiation range, NetEase Cloud Music gathers young people, and these
young people include the main consumers of Better English.

Considering that the audio advertisements placed on NetEase Cloud Music will
appear on the homepage of the software in the form of information flow. In addition,
audio advertisements will also be placed in the playlists related to
#English##EnglishListening##EnglishLearning#, in order to more accurately target
people. When the user opens the corresponding playlist or searches for the
corresponding keyword, the advertisement content of Better English will appear in the
corresponding part. When the user clicks, the page will play the promotional mv of

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Better English with English background music. (see attached)

⚫ Google/Baidu Ads
In addition to creative ideas, Better English can also target search engines to attract
users' attention and maximize brand exposure. Considering that there are fewer people
using Google in China, search engine advertisements are mainly placed on Baidu,
which is commonly used by Chinese.

Even though the epidemic has reduced the number of students studying abroad, many
students will still hope to pass the language test in order to apply to foreign schools
due to the increasing pressure of competition in China. Therefore, it is suggested that
Better English can be placed in Baidu advertisements. When users search for terms
such as studying abroad, research, foreign tourism, etc., Better English can be ranked
at the top of the search results.

The goal of search engine marketing is to increase user click-through rates, thereby
converting audiences into purchasers. At the same time, the brand exposure is
extended beyond the geographical location. Users do not need to learn Better English
at the subway station in a specific city, they can learn the relevant content of the brand
just by searching.

The marketing plan runs two different copies on Baidu, one to highlight the
achievements of Better English since its inception, and the other to highlight the
characteristic courses developed by Better English. Two versions randomly appear
when a user searches, this is also to test which copy performs better, by driving more

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traffic and understanding potential customers.
⚫ WeChat Advertising
As the most commonly used social media in Chinese, WeChat is an indispensable
software on everyone's mobile phone. Almost all social activities are conducted
through WeChat (Chen, 2021). Its very representative circle of friends has also
become an online place for many young people to communicate. Therefore, it is
recommended that Better English place information flow advertisements in WeChat
circle of friends. It integrates into the world of young people in the form of real
interaction, achieves youthful expression, and attracts the attention of users.

Ten o'clock every night is the most active time period for WeChat Moments users.
Better English can send advertisements to the circle of friends during this time period,
and simulate the comment interaction in the circle of friends, so that users can better
understand its core value. With the desire to click, you can enter the private traffic
pool of Better English. In this way, the purchase of the course is driven and the
business growth of the brand is realized. (Example reference attachment)

4.4 To strengthen consumers engagement

According to observations, there is something lacking in the existing platform used by
Better English. The following table shows the classification of problems in more
specific terms and strategies aimed at solving them:

Table: The classification of problems

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Platform Issues Tactics

⚫ Posting content that is ⚫ Curated into a series to
too rigid and lacks create a sense of
interaction excitement and
anticipation that the
Social Media audience wants to stay
engaged

⚫ The layout of the page is ⚫ Concise page, reflecting

messy and the pictures the brand style of Better

Website are distorted English

⚫ There is no uniform ⚫ Join brand video, brand

brand tone and font style story

⚫ Few features and weak ⚫ Provide a variety of
user experience word recitation, oral
practice, reading
Mobile Application resources of English
foreign publications,
and online learning
room

⚫ Social Media Content

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The content of Better English's social media platform currently appears to be more
brand-centric, and the content published is not much different from courses, sales, and
promotions. For users, this creates a more inaccessible, stereotyped image. Therefore,
Better English's social media content should be flexible, adding interactive elements,
narrowing the distance with the audience, and by showing the brand's appreciation of
customers, understand what is most important and most resonate with users.

Social media content should be curated into a series to create a sense of excitement
and anticipation that will keep viewers engaged. Based on this, the idea proposed is
the English Knowledge You Ask Me series, where users can ask English-related
questions in the social media background chat interface. Better English will extract a
user's question in the background every day, and shoot a relevant small video to
answer the question to help users accumulate more English knowledge. Every other
week, this week's questions are summarized to help users better consolidate
knowledge and increase users' sense of dependence and trust.

⚫ Official website refurbishment
The current website of Better English is rather messy, with no unified brand tone and
font style, and no English interface, and the pictures are even stretched and deformed.
Therefore, it is not visually attractive to users, and when users enter the search engine,
the first thing they see is the content of the website, so it is necessary to optimize the
website.

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Figure: The current Better English web interface

To excel in Baidu/Google ads, it should be combined with an informative website that
helps generate traffic from keywords. Therefore, it is recommended to divide the
website into 5 main sections: homepage, brand story, services, store location and app
download links.

The design of the website will retain the brand style of Better English, and the overall
appearance will be dominated by blue and supplemented by yellow. For the content in
the webpage, after the audience logs in to the homepage, they will see the brand video,
short brand description, special courses, user registration and client download. Brand
stories and services can choose to share the founder's entrepreneurial experience, the
team behind the brand and extensive details of each service area, etc. Compared with
the current existing website, the overall will be more concise and clear. Users can also
find the nearest store based on their location.

⚫ Mobile Applications

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The biggest problem with Better English's current mobile app is that the user
experience is weak and does not provide substantial user experience features. For a
brand, the in-app experience is important and can be beneficial for people to feel that
there is value in using a mobile app.

Therefore, Better should improve the functions in the application, not only record the
daily learning of the college, but also provide corresponding customized courses
according to the situation of the students. At the same time, the app can also provide a
variety of word recitation, oral practice, and reading resources for English foreign
publications. For colleges that are in class, they can be provided with online study
rooms to promote communication and exchanges between students and encourage
mutual learning.

In addition, a point incentive mechanism can also be added to it. Every time a student
punches in the app, they can accumulate a certain number of points, which can be
used as a deduction for the official course fee. Students can also select the
corresponding course in the app to place an online order, and can check out the order.
The order information contains the tutor's contact information, etc. A series of
operations can be completed in the app, which truly reflects the value of the APP.

⚫ Chatbot
Currently, there is no contact button on Better English's mobile app, and other social
media accounts still rely heavily on manual responses from employees. A top priority
for brands is to integrate chatbots into key platforms to ensure constant and effective

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engagement with users. Artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbots can create
instant conversational interactions between consumers and brands, and potentially
control some of the consumer's decision-making process. Therefore, AI chatbots can
help brands respond to users in a timely manner and solve their problems. However, it
is not recommended to be a fully automatic chatbot. We also need the presence of
humans to inject emotional elements into it to solve some more special problems.

It is planned to divide the functionality of the chatbot into the following parts:

1. Remaining course query: It can help users to check their remaining course time at
any time, as well as the course arrangement for the next two weeks, so that users
can make time planning.

2. Points exchange: It can automatically query the points status of the user account
and provide them with redeemable preferential information.

3. Course consultation: This part can provide the cost, time, type and other questions
related to the course according to the keywords asked by the user.

4. Offer Announcement: It is like a bulletin board that will provide users with the
latest brand consultation and offers to encourage users to take action and convert
viewers into paying customers.

5. Manual customer service: This part is mainly for manual questions. If the above
buttons cannot solve the user's problem, the user can leave a question and wait for
the reply from the manual customer service. If there is an emergency, he can also

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choose to call.

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5.0 Timeline & Budget

Figure: Timeline

The estimated media budget of the proposal is 200,000 RMB, which will be
implemented in stages throughout 2022. It is suggested that Better English should
give priority to the development of mobile applications and the updating of the
website in order to better carry out online advertising.

The following can be used to assess the effectiveness of a strategy:

Platform Table: the effectiveness of a strategy Improvement

Measurement

⚫ The number of live ⚫ According to the

Weibo/ TikTok viewers effect of live
broadcast interaction,
Comprehensive Plan ⚫ Interactive frequency

of live broadcast improve live broadcast

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⚫ The number of users activities and provide

who participated in users with more

the check-in on the interesting activities

platform after the live ⚫ According to the

broadcast effect of punching,
⚫ User-to-customer reasonably improve

conversion rate the work intensity
⚫ Reasonably increase

preferential policies

according to user

⚫ User scanning rate conversion rate
Programmatic Digital Out- ⚫ Time period to

of-Home reasonably improve ad
delivery
Weibo/ TikTok ⚫ User CTR ⚫ Reasonably improve

Google/ Baidu the delivery mode and

NetEase Cloud Music, delivery time period

Wechat

⚫ Frequency of ⚫ Improve content based

Social Media Content interaction, degree of on hot events
user engagement ⚫ Revamping branded

content based on user

Website and app revamps, ⚫ Downloads, CTR, suggestions
⚫ Accordingly, the input

chatbots number of chats cost is reduced or

37

increased, the chatbot
function is
continuously
transformed, and the
functions of the
website and
application are
continuously
developed.

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6.0 CONCLUSION

Although the market has been impacted by many factors, there is still room for
English training in the current market. There are still many students who participate in
English training, including white-collar workers in foreign companies, college
students who want to work in foreign companies, students who want to go to school to
take language exams, and personnel engaged in international trade and exchanges.
The English learning needs of these people will not decrease. However, due to the
double reduction policy and the impact of the epidemic, the English training market
still faces many challenges. In the post-epidemic era, when supply exceeds demand,
brands can only compete with other competitors by highlighting their uniqueness.
Therefore, Better English urgently needs a complete integrated marketing plan to help
it survive the post-pandemic era. Entering the third year of the epidemic, consumer
behavior and media behavior have changed. To achieve these strategies, brands should
be visible to audiences both online and offline. I recommend the strategies and tactics
in the above plan to Better English. Finally, I sincerely hope Better English can get
out of the predicament and do better and better.

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7.0 References

Better English. (2021, June 30). Company Profile. Better English. https://www.better-
qs.com/guanyuwomen.html#

Chen, F. (2021, January 5). WeChat as a “beyond Words” Medium. DUNES.
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/pgAf3Xqf7ioVGPzplX4wGQ

Hague, P., Harrison, M., Cupman, J., & Truman, O. (2016). Market Research in
Practice (3rd ed.). Kogan Page.

Iresearch. (2020, August 6). 2020 China Adult English Market Research Report.
Iresearch. https://report.iresearch.cn/report/202008/3633.shtml

Xie, W., & Zhang, K. (2008). English (1st ed.). China Electric Power Press.

Han, S., & Ma, X. (1993). Securities Investment Dictionary. Heilongjiang Publishing
Group.

Liu, L. (2022, July 7). The “Data Index” behind the Transformation of New
Oriental’s Live Broadcast. ZYNews.
https://news.zynews.cn/zz/2022/07/07/7192.html

Wen, H. (2014). Research on the Influencing Factors of Brand Awareness of Sporting
Goods. Journal of Wuhan Institute of Physical Education, 48(11).

Xinhua news agency. (2021, July 24). “Opinions on Further Reducing Students’
Homework Burdens and Off-Campus Training Burdens in Compulsory

40

Education.” The State Council of the People’s Republic of China.
http://www.gov.cn/zhengce/2021-07/24/content_5627132.htm
Zeng, L. (2021, August 15). Wall Street English in Bankruptcy: More than 6,500
Students Defend Their Rights with a Total of More than 520 Million Yuan, Half of
Which Are Loans. JIMU NEWS.
http://www.ctdsb.net/channel/1716/202108/15/1279540.html

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8.0 Appendix

Weibo/ TikTok Comprehensive Plan

Programmatic Digital Out-of-Home

42

Google/Baidu Ads

43

Official website refurbishment
Wechat Ads

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Survey Questionnaire

Questionnaire about adult English training

Introduction

I am a postgraduate student in Integrated Marketing Communication at Universiti
Sains Malaysia (USM). In this survey, I would like to study the behavior of
consumers towards adult English training and understand the factors that affect
consumer behavior, so as to explore the current business situation of the adult English

45

education industry affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, as well as future
opportunities and challenges.

Part I: Demographics

1. Please select the gender that identifies you as the closest： [Single choice]
○ Male ○ Female

2. Your age range: [Single choice] ○ 41~50 ○ 51~60 ○ over 60
○ under 18 ○ 18~25 ○ 26~30 ○ 31~40

3. Your current job type is: [Single choice]
○ Student
○ Office workers
○ Looking for a job
○ Freelancer
○ Other_________________ *

4. Your education is: [Single choice]
○ High school or less
○ College
○ Bachelor
○ Master or above

5. Please select your city: [Single choice]
_________________________________

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6. What is your monthly revenue? [Single choice]
○ Under RM 2000 | Under RMB 3000
○ RM 2000-3500 | RMB 3000-5000
○ RM 3500-7000 | RMB 5000-10000
○ More than RM 7000 | More than RMB 10000

Part II: Selection factor

7. Your current English level is: [Single choice]
○ Zero basis
○ Know simple words, 1500 vocabulary
○ Simple word and sentence communication, 3000 vocabulary
○ Good, with a vocabulary of more than 5000
○ Very good, with a vocabulary of more than 10000

8. Do you think learning English is of great help to you [Single choice]
○ Very unhelpful ○ Unhelpful ○ Ordinary ○ Helpful ○ Very helpful

9. In the process of learning English, your main pain point is [Multiple choice]
□ Listening
□ Speaking
□ Writing
□ Reading
□ Grammar
□ Lack of vocabulary
□ Insufficient study time

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□ Insufficient learning resources and methods
□ Lack of practice with classmates
□ Soon forget
□ Other _________________ *

10. Have you attended an adult English training class? [Single choice]
○ YES
○ NO

11. Have you considered taking adult English classes again or continuing? [Single
choice]

○ Consider and intention
○ Not considered

* This question is only displayed when the question 10 selects [YES]

12. Have you considered participating in adult English training courses? [Single
choice]

○ Considering and intending to enroll
○ Not considered

* This question is only displayed when the question 10 selects [NO]

13. What is the following causes you to do not want to participate in an English
training course? [Multiple choice]

□ My English is very good.
□ Learning English is of no use to me
□ The investment in learning English is high, and the gain is small
□ Want to learn but can't get interested in English

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□ There are no offline English training institutions nearby
□ The epidemic has made offline institutions unable to open or worried about the
risk of gathering
□ I can just learn by myself
□ Too expensive
□ Poor content of online courses/low learning efficiency/untrustworthy
□ I don't like the courses of institutions
□ The teachers in the institution are too poor
□ Institutional time schedule is unreasonable
□ No learning atmosphere
□ Not time / traffic inconvenience
□ No time to take care of the children
□ Other _________________ *

* This question is only displayed when the question 12 selects [Not considered], and when the question
11 selects [Not considered]
* After filling in this question, unconditionally jump to question 29

14. How long have you been attending training courses? [Single choice]
○ Within 2 months
○ 2-6 months
○ 6 months - 1 year
○ More than 1 year

* This question is only displayed when the question 10 selects [YES]

15. What is the purpose of participating in adult English training? [Multiple choice]
□ Master new skills

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