Busm2412 Marketing For Managers And Assessment Answers
Answer:
Background
This report describes the marketing plan for a university of Australia. For the discussion, University of Sydney has taken. University of Sydney is focused on providing education and leadership to make the lives of student better. The university was established by the Parliament of New South Wales in 1850. There are some standards of the University i.e. to encourage the advancement, development, and the application of knowledge among the students, provide the courses of study within range of fields and meet the needs of the society in terms of education.
Mission:
The mission of the University of Sydney is to be the leader in the education industry. The aim of the university is to create the University for the benefit of the Australia and the students by focusing on their full potential (The University of Sydney, 2016).
The university has highest number of undergraduates among the applicants for undergraduates offered by the university. The University has scholar programs to support the students with the leadership potentials and the development of the students. This report is the marketing plan for the University of Sydney to stay competitive in the education sector. The report has focused on the various parts of marketing such as SWOT analysis, competitors’ analysis, PEST analysis etc (Armstrong & Kotler, 2003).
Market summary & demand assessment
Australian education industry is the hub of higher education for the students. The number of students in the Australian higher education has grown rapidly since 1960. There are around 1.4 million domestic and international students in 2014. The number of undergraduates has increased over the last 30 years and the postgraduates have doubled its shares of enrolments from 11 to 12%.
Further, Australian Universities have the mix of professional and general courses for the students. There are 20% of students who enrolls in art courses and 8.5% students who are in science courses. Since 2008, the Universities have the shares of IT, commerce, agriculture, education, science and engineering. The students consider science, IT and engineering more (Norton, 2016).
So, from the above discussions, it is observed that there are numbers of domestic and international students who are enrolled in the Australian universities. There is the demand of higher studies and professional courses among the students and Universities in Australia are trying to provide the education services to the students with beast facilities. In all the universities of Australia, there are more than one million enrolled students. Further, for the international education, Australia is the largest service export. In Australia, Universities are the contributors to the local society by providing opportunities in research, industry collaboration, and sporting grants. The regional universities in Australia play key role to support regional economies (Ibisworld, 2017).
Segmentation and target market
The target market requires the focus on the one or more than one market segments and development of innovative market program for each segment. The university will focus on the behavioral segmentation based on the different types of target customers. The behavioral segmentation will be used by two assumptions i.e. benefits sought by the consumers and underlying motivation of the consumption. So, basically University will target two types of students and will provide programs and courses according to their requirements i.e. quality buyers and value buyers (Wedel & Kamakura, 2000). In Quality Buyers, the University will target those students who want high-quality services and are not concerned for the cost. They want the best and are willing and able to pay. Further, in Value Buyers the university will target those the students who want good values by fair quality-to-price ratio. They seek for the high quality for the money spent (Peñaloza, Toulouse & Visconti, 2013). Based on demographic segment of the students, University can also target the students. The4 students under demographic segment are as follows:
Age- Under this factor, University will target the students who want to pursue their graduation and post graduation for their future career. Sp, University will target the students having age group of 18 to 15 years. Further, University will also target those people who want to learn more after their college education. University will focus on such people having age above 30 (Hayes, T. J. (2008).
Race and Ethnicity- Although, there is no difference in the students in terms of nationality and gender but university will mainly focus on the female students so that they can grow in the society. The reason is that female values their study. For the, social sciences and humanities courses will be offered.
Education- There is some students who are out of state or who are price concerned. Those students will be targeted based on their preferences. University will target those students who want to study in abroad and give importance to the academic experience. Further, the students who are looking for the semester programs will also be targeted (Kavakas, 2013).
PEST analysis
PEST analysis will be helpful in identifying the impact of the external factors on the operations of the University. The PEST analysis of the University of Sydney is as follows:
Political Factors:
Political factors play key role in the operations of the organization. In case of the University of Sydney, the change in the political system can affect the various policy and work pattern in the university. There are many variable and fixed factors in the political systems of Australia which create changes in the University of Sydney. With the change of the government in Australia, the education system can also be changed which impacts the operations of the university (Uweguro, 2014).
Economic Factors:
Types of economic policies and regulations in the Australia can impact the system of University of Sydney. Along with this, the economic cycle stages such as recession, prosperity and recovery can also affect the operations of the university. Australia is famous for the higher education across the world so, University of Sydney has the comparative advantage in terms of higher education. Further, government involvement, unemployment rates and the skill level of work force are the factors which can affect the processes of the University (Saginova & Belyansky, 2008).
Social Factors:
In the social factors, there are various factors which affect the activities of the university. There are demographic factors such as the types of students and the composition of their status and culture. Social factors include various types of students and their level of competency in education and language. Further, the expectations of the parents, students and employers also impact the operations of the university.
Technological Factors:
Technology plays key role in the operations of every business. Technology is continuously changing and affecting the way of business. Recent technological developments provide the opportunities to the University for creating awareness among the students. The technology impacts on the important functions of the University. Along with this, it also impacts on the cost structure of the University (Hanover research, 2014).
Marketing mix
Marketing mix is the important factor in the marketing plan for every organization. This marketing plan is for the university in the Australia. The marketing mix for the university will include four parts i.e. product, price, place and promotion. The marketing mix analysis of the university is as follows:
Product:
In the university, education can be considered as the product for marketing. Basically, education is not a product; it is the kind of service provided by the University to the students. So, offering such kind of services is challenging as the services are intangible perishable and variable. There are both limitations and the strengths with this service. The professor can expect the response from the students during the lectures. Along with this, they can modify the explanations and contents. In this kind of services, there are tangible and intangible elements. University provides undergraduate courses i.e. bachelor of advanced studies, Dalyell scholars programs and postgraduate courses including arts and social science, business, education and social work, engineering and IT, health and medicine, law and music etc (Perera & Kusumawati, 2010).
Price:
Price is one of the key marketing mix elements which help the organization to achieve the industry goals, educational institutions mission in short-term and long term period. In the university, the price can be considered as the tuition fees taken by the University from the students. So, price can be viewed as the economic and psychological factor in the marketing mix. The fees of the student are calculated based on the residential status of the student and the course in which he or she is enrolled (Enache, 2011).
Place:
In the marketing mix of the marketing of University, the place can be considered as the distribution the educational services. The aim of the University is to make the programs of higher education accessible and acceptable for the students. Place can be described as the location of the university where it is, for example, University of Sydney located in the Australia. Along with this, it can also refer the characteristics of the area in which the university is located. The location has the relative meaning i.e. it can be viewed in relation to the current and future students live. The university has its own building in the Sydney (Ries, 2001).
Promotion:
Promotion is the process of the communication between the university and the user of the services such as student to create the positive attitude towards the services. The promotion in the marketing mix is important if the other factors such as price, product, people, process, distribution and the environment perform well with their roles. To be the university successful the university has to find out the way to promote the educational services among the students (Lowrie, 2007).
Competitors analysis
There are many universities in Australia which provide similar educational services to the students. Macquarie University is also similar to the University of Sydney. The Macquarie University was established in 1964 in the Sydney and is now famous among the students for higher education. There are various facilities for the students provided by the Macquarie University such as library, hospital and clinic, sports and recreation museum and collection accommodation and security etc.
Objectives:
The aim of the Macquarie University is to provide indigenous knowledge and education to the students. Further, the objective of the University is to provide academic support services to the students with the help of excellent faculty. The university has supporting staff to understand the leaning needs and support of the students. Basically, the objective of the University is to build successful graduates (Macquarie University, 2017).
Marketing and promotion analysis
To analyze the competitor in the same educational industry, it is important to analyze the marketing and promotional tactics of the Macquarie University. According to the Kotler and Fox (10985) (Filip, 2012) there are most of the educational institutions which use public relations, marketing publications and advertising to promote the educational services. The public relations used by the University have adopted the open and two-way communication and mutual understanding between the students and the University. Further, University includes the modern communication media such as social network and media. The aim of the university is to communicate with its users by developing the trusting relationships with them. The company promotes itself in the various groups i.e. students, donors, parents, employees and the society. So, for the promotional activities, the university has chosen choose social media and the communication methods to connect with the students (Chernev, 2015).
SWOT analysis
SWOT analysis is the best tool to evaluate the strength, weakness, opportunities and threats of the University. By using the SWOT analysis, the University will be able to attract more students with the best use of strength and opportunities available in the market. The factors in the SWOT analysis are described below:
Strength:
The main strength of the university is the students. The university and the staff members focus on the students to serve the greatest strength. The university makes the top priority to the students and helps the students by identifying their needs. The university puts student first and includes them in the decision making process whenever it is possible. Along with this, the university has many touch-points with all the students in the campus. By the student orientation, first year convocation and involvement fair and move-in the university and the staff members interacts with the students (Martínez, 2012).
Weakness:
Having many strengths, there are some weaknesses which needs to address for the better marketing plan. In spite of having responsible staff, the staff member believes that there is the lack of focused priorities in the university. Further, it has also been observed that there is low employee morale among the staff members in the university. Along with this, the professional development of the employees is not being financially supported and the university is losing the valuable employees due to low morale. Marketing division of the university is unable to reach many students and result is that the students are not fully aware of the services the university is offering (Smyth, Gable & Pervan, 2016).
Opportunities:
The university has the opportunities of promotion among the students by using promotional techniques. There are many promotional Medias which can be adopted by the university such as email communication, banners around the campus, university’s student’s website, major events on the campus, personal interactions, and television screens in the auditorium etc. Further, the university has the opportunity to attract more students by providing innovative study packages to them and to work with the best faculty members (Favaloro, 2015).
Threats:
In the part of threats, the university can face the issue regarding the fund as to improve and introduce new strategies and study materials for the students, fund is needed. Along with this, the major threat for university is consistently marketing such as diverse set of marketing and communication efforts (Morrison, 2010).
Value and brand position analysis
For the successful marketing, it is important to maintain the brand name in the market. The University of Sydney is the brand name among the students in the education sector. It is well known that in the competitive market consumers reframe their purchases. So, it is important for the University to sell the experience; not just a name. The university understands its role for the society. The University knows that the experience of the student helps in developing their career and future. To build up the brand image, University gathers the feedback from the people. For the University of Sydney, value is the most important asset. For improving value, University builds the vision and strategy for working with the stakeholders and other people (Georgetown University, 2017). The university has ranked in the top 100 universities globally. It has 1st rank in Australia and 4th rank in the world in terms of graduate employability ranking. In terms of world’s university ranking, the university ahs 3rd position in Australia and 46th position in the world.
Proposed marketing aim and promotional objectives
Based on the current situation and the target market of the University of Sydney, it is observed that the position of the University is good in the education industry. The University of Sydney is the popular educational institute for higher studies among the students; but there are many other Universities in the country which are providing similar services to the students. So it is important to adopt effective marketing strategies to stay competitive in the market (Palmer, 2007). There is much competition in the education sector so; the University should focus on the marketing strategies to attract the students. The marketing aim and promotional objectives of the University of Sydney are as follows:
- By the end of 2018, most of students in Australia should be covered by the University. The targeted students should consider the University for higher education. This objective can be achieved by providing information of education services.
- Most of the students and parents should prefer the University till 2018. The success of this objective can be achieved by increasing effectiveness about the provided facilities by the university. This also can be done by the advertisements and different offers should be provided by the University to attract new students (Chapleo, 2010).
Marketing mix strategies
The marketing mix for the marketing plan of the University is discussed above. There are some marketing mix strategies which should be adopted by the University to attract more students.
Product-
Marketing mix in the educational institution will target the students and then in the product and service part, the university will provide all the programs and services which makes the university available. The university will offer educational programs such as classes, campus lectures, library, information services, computer laboratory etc. Recreational programs such as film series, athletic facilities and clubs, dances etc, personal growth programs and services such as advisors, counseling centers etc and future planning programs and centers such as career cancelling and placement services etc will also be provided to the students (Ho & Hung, 2008).
Price-
In the pricing strategies, the university will focus on the pricing policy by focusing the nature and the mission of the university. So, the university will charge the price according the education industry to compete with the other competitors. The pricing decision of the university will reflect the goals, mission and priorities of the organization. The education represents experience and it cannot be evaluated before the experience. The result can be get only after the employment and starting a professional career.
Place-
In terms of place strategy, the University will focus how to attract the users as well as the students towards the existing building. Delivering the programs and the services is very important with designing them for the university. Delivery system will analyze the users who will get advantage of the programs and services of the university. The educational services cannot be stored so, there is need to understand by the university that it is important to make the services convenient and predictable for the students in terms of location and schedule. To increase the convenience and quality, University will include distance education program and some of new technologies (Enach, 2011).
Promotion-
The university is the famous higher education institute so; the university should effectively communicate with the students. It is not enough only for the university to have competitive prices; but it is also important to provide information about the goals, activities, to the services users so that they become motivated to join the university. The university will send the message to the public regarding the communication program with the students. Along with this, the university will determine and analyze the information which will be provided to the student such as staff, faculty, existing students, and other internal environment information (Kotler et al, 2009).
Competitive strategies
The aim of the University is create awareness about the educational services provided by University to the students. So, there is the need to adopt new strategies to meet the needs of the users by the university. The strategy of the university will be to understand the market of educational services. There are many old and flagship universities who are still capable to attract the students. The university will compete with them by working on their failures. Further, the university will advertise itself after they released their selection list. Along with this, the university will provide the same courses provided by the competitors. The university will provide the programs and courses for different market segments to get competitive advantage. With the professional programs, the university will also continue with the graduate and postgraduate programs. The university will provide different ways of programs and courses to make available for the students which will be helpful in creating the lasting image of the university in the minds of the students (Gruber et al, 2010).
Media and budget allocation
The budget for the marketing campaign is described below:
For social media marketing
Google Plus $2,000
YouTube $2,000
Twitter $2,500
Total Social media campaign $12,500
- Email marketing $1,000
- Google Ad $850
- SEO marketing
- Other Online campaign $2,000
Total required Budget for online marketing $18,850
Broadcasting on channels
Total Budget $170,000
Events
Total Budget $130,000
Total budget for full marketing campaign $318,500
Expected outcome and conclusion
From the above discussions, it has observed that the University of Sydney is famous for higher studies among the students. The above discussed marketing plan will be helpful for the University in achieving the goals and objectives for the growth. The marketing plan will be helpful for the University to increase the awareness and understanding of education services among the customers. By implanting this marketing plan, the University will be able establish the partnership with other organization in the campus. The University will also be able to implement the communication strategies by the taglines, key messages and the graphic identity. University will be able to set the stage for further marketing for next coming years by establishing public relations.
References
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