Vietnamese businesses abroad
Working with a Vietnam-based marketing team while you run a business abroad
A team in Vietnam can do good work for a shop on the other side of the world, if the owner sets up three things well. Those three are the hours you overlap, the brief and the way you approve.
- The time difference helps when you plan for it. Send feedback before you sleep and the next version can be waiting when you wake.
- A team in Vietnam cannot see your street, so the owner has to supply the photos, the prices and the local knowledge.
- A good brief fits on one page and answers what, for whom, where it will be used, by when and who approves.
- Name one person who approves, collect all comments into one message and agree how many rounds of changes are included.
- Keep every account in your own name and add the team as users with a role. Never hand over your only password.
Working with a Vietnam-based marketing team while you run a business abroad comes down to three habits: agree the hours when you can both be reached, write a clear brief before any work starts, and approve in a fixed way with one person in charge. Get those right and the distance stops being a problem. This guide covers each one, with a time zone table, a brief you can copy and a weekly rhythm that fits around a full day at the shop.
Why owners abroad choose a team in Vietnam, and what it cannot do
The reasons are usually simple. You can explain what you want in Vietnamese, in your own words, without searching for the English term. The team understands where you come from, why the recipe matters, what Tết means for your trade. And a studio that works in two languages can write for the community and for local customers.
Be honest about the limits too. A team in Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City has never stood in your car park. They do not know that the salon two doors down just cut its prices, that the office crowd disappears on Fridays, or how your sign looks from the road. They cannot pop in to take a photo.
So the deal is this: they bring the craft, you bring the ground. Everything in this article is a way of passing your local knowledge across the distance.
Time zones: make the difference work for you
Vietnam keeps the same time all year. Many countries where Vietnamese owners live change their clocks twice a year, so the gap shifts by an hour. Check the current difference when you set a meeting.
| Where you are | Vietnam is | Hours that usually suit both |
|---|---|---|
| US East Coast | 11 or 12 hours ahead | Your evening, their morning |
| US West Coast | 14 or 15 hours ahead | Your late afternoon or evening, their morning |
| Central Europe (Germany, France, Italy) | 5 or 6 hours ahead | Your morning, their afternoon |
| Eastern Australia (Sydney, Melbourne) | 3 or 4 hours behind | Your afternoon, their late morning onwards |
Three rules make this easy.
- Most of the work needs no call. Written messages and voice notes cross time zones without anyone staying up late.
- Use the night. In the US, if you send comments after closing, the team reads them at the start of their day and a new version can be there when you wake. In Europe, your morning message is answered within their afternoon.
- Keep one fixed slot. A regular half hour on the same weekday, at a time that is decent for both sides, is enough for anything that is better said than written. Pick a day when the shop is quiet.
Always write times with the city: "Tuesday 9 pm Houston, Wednesday morning Vietnam". It prevents the most common mix-up, which is the date.
What to hand over at the start
The first week goes faster if you collect these before the first call. Put them in one shared folder.
- Your business name exactly as it is registered and as it appears on the sign, plus address, phone and opening hours.
- The current menu or price list.
- Photos of the shop front from the street, the inside, the team, and your best work or dishes. Phone photos are fine.
- Your logo files if you have them, and the name of whoever made them.
- Three competitors nearby and what customers say about them.
- A few lines on your customers: who comes on weekdays, who comes at weekends, what they ask most.
- Anything that must not change: a name, a colour your regulars know, a dish.
How to write a brief the team can act on
A brief is a short written request. It saves the three days that are lost when a team in another time zone has to guess, ask and wait for your answer. One page is plenty. Write it in the language you think in.
| Question | Example: a nail salon with four technicians |
|---|---|
| What do you need? | A new price list, printed and for Instagram. |
| Who is it for? | Mostly local office workers, some Vietnamese regulars. |
| What must be on it? | All services and prices in the attached file, opening hours, booking number. |
| Where will it be used? | A printed sheet at the desk, a sign on the wall, three Instagram images. |
| Language | English, with service names customers search for. |
| Deadline and reason | Before the first of next month, when the new prices start. |
| Who approves? | Lan, the owner. Nobody else. |
Two details matter more than they look. "Where will it be used" decides sizes and formats, and getting it wrong means redoing the work. "Deadline and reason" lets the team tell you early if the date is not realistic.
Approvals: one voice, clear rounds
Most delays in remote projects are not caused by distance. They come from unclear approval.
- One person decides. Ask your spouse, your daughter and your manager what they think, by all means. Then one person gathers the comments and sends them. A team that receives three opinions from three people cannot move.
- One message per round. Look at everything, sleep on it if you can, then send all comments together. Five messages across a day, each changing the last, cost a round each.
- Say what and why. "I don't like it" gives the team nothing. "The red feels too loud for a quiet salon" or "My customers will not find the price of gel" tells them what to fix.
- Agree the number of rounds before work starts, and what happens after that.
- Silence is not a yes. Agree how long you have to reply, and reply in words: "Approved, go ahead."
Access, files and who owns what
This is the part owners skip and regret.
- Accounts stay in your name. The Facebook page, the Instagram account, the Google listing, the website domain: all created with your email and your phone number, and you remain the owner.
- Add people, do not share passwords. Most platforms let an owner give another person access with a role, and take it away later. Meta for Business covers this for Facebook and Instagram, and the Google Business Profile Help Center explains how to add and remove managers. The exact steps change over time, so follow the current instructions.
- Ask for the final files. When a project ends you should hold the logo in editable and ready-to-use formats, the fonts or their names, the colours, and the guidelines. Store a copy somewhere that is not just one phone.
The agreement and the payment
Put the scope in writing, even with people you trust: what will be delivered, in which formats, how many rounds of changes, the schedule, who owns the finished work, and what happens if either side stops. Ask which currency the quote is in and how payment is made.
How to book the cost in your accounts, and whether any tax applies when you pay a company in another country, depends on where you live. That is a question for your accountant or a qualified adviser, not for a marketing guide.
A weekly rhythm that fits around the shop
- Monday: the team sends what is ready for review, with one clear question each.
- By Wednesday: you reply in one message, after closing.
- Thursday: the fixed half-hour call, only if something needs talking through.
- Friday: the team confirms what is approved and what comes next week.
Common mistakes
- Expecting the team to know your street. If you do not tell them about the new competitor or the roadworks outside, they will never know.
- Choosing on price alone. Look at past work and at how clearly the team explains its process. Our guide on how to choose a Vietnam-based agency for international marketing lists questions worth asking.
- Skipping the local check. Before anything in English or the local language is printed, have someone who grew up there read it. See bilingual marketing for Vietnamese businesses abroad.
How we work with owners abroad
Bunchasake is a Vietnamese studio working between Vietnam and Italy, online with clients anywhere, in Vietnamese and English. A project starts with an email, then a 60-minute conversation, and moves through four steps, with your approval after each one. The details are on our page about brand and marketing for Vietnamese businesses abroad.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to take calls late at night?
No. Most of the work can be done in writing or by voice note. One short fixed call a week or less, at an hour that is reasonable on both sides, is usually enough, and from the US that tends to be your evening.
My English is weak. Can I brief the team in Vietnamese?
Yes, and that is one of the main reasons to work with a Vietnamese team. Brief in the language you think in. Just make sure the finished English or local-language text is checked by someone who grew up with that language before it is printed.
How can a team in Vietnam understand customers in my city?
Through what you give them: photos, the menu or price list, competitors, the questions customers ask, and a description of who comes in on which days. A careful team will also study your competitors and listings online. They cannot replace your own eyes on the street.
Who should own the social media accounts and the website?
You should. Create them with your own email and phone number, then add the team as users with a role. When the work ends, remove the access and keep the accounts.