back to basics - the traditional approach to increasing university enrolments
DESCRIPTION
University Marketing departments need to influence the whole marketing mix and not just communications/promotions if they want to achieve sustained long term enrolments.TRANSCRIPT
Back to Basics The traditional approach to
increasing enrolments
John Miles
Brand and Marketing Specialist
Business Development Professional
Marketing Departments have a problem in most
Higher Education Institutions
They have lost 3 of the P’s
And replaced them with 1 P
Policies The number 1 enemy of good business sense!
Marketing Departments have little or no impact on
Product Price
Placement
in most Higher Education Institutions
A typical University definition of the Marketing Role
The Marketing Manager provides strategic and tactical marketing advice and support to senior academic staff (bring in the students!)
What this means in practice
Make us an advertisement Run an event
Produce a brochure Design us a webpage
And when we didn’t get enough students – its marketing’s fault
Research of 10 Australian Universities showed marketing departments’ key responsibilities were for
advertising, communications, events and student liaison
Typical examples
"The Office of Marketing & Communications provides strategic leadership for all aspects of marketing communication at Uni A”.
“Marketing Services provides strategic advice and assistance to faculties and divisions on marketing communication across a range of audience
groups. It is responsible for managing the Uni B brand and, as part of an integrated approach, advises on and approves all communication
materials in line with new visual identity guidelines”
Yet we all know if we have the wrong product or price or deliver it in the wrong place the
result is inevitable!
Marketing Departments need to be marketing departments not
Promotions Departments
BUT University policies and academics want to keep marketing
departments in their box!
How does marketing break out of this box?
By driving Program Development
Being the expert on all data relating to subject areas.
Developing compelling business cases
“You can never go to far wrong by thinking like a customer who is new to the business”
Richard Branson
1. Source of current business, size of market
2. All industry trends
3. Innovations in content locally and internationally
An expert will be the oracle on all to do with the programs
You can drive development if you are the person who is
asked the question what’s happening out there!
1. Where do students come from?
Geographic
Top schools
Demographic
How delivered?
2. Size of market – what’s happening with competitors? What’s our share?
Source of Current Business
1. What’s happening in the industry
2. Job prospects
Industry Trends
1. New courses within degrees
2. New degrees related to subject
3. Delivery methods – online, blended
4. Customer experience
Innovations in content locally and internationally
1. Students for life – attend any course every 2 years
2. Specialised MBA learning spaces 3. Teachers who are 50% consultants 4. Made to feel very special
But I hear you say – we must be getting more students as we are focused on communicating!
Instead of brand advertising we are getting
Bland Advertising
Paid Advertising Jan.-June 2013 (excluding search-word advertising) Non-profit institutions - $302.0 million For-profit institutions - $268.5 million Total - $570.5 million
And a lot of money is spent promoting mundane messages
“Universities waste too much of their advertising budgets on rather pointless attempts to differentiate themselves”.
“Thousands of marketing
committee hours are spent coming up with positioning
statements like "learn, think, do", "live, learn, thrive", and
"making life happen".
Professor Byron Sharpe, Director Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science
“Few staff, let alone the students or other customers of
the university, learn these slogans before they are
changed (again)”.
“Unsurprisingly, a survey of staff of 180 US universities
showed that their most common response to their own Uni slogan was embarrassment
(McKnight & Paugh 1999)”.
Professor Byron Sharpe, Director Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science
University brand Build through PR, web, staff, awards, rankings
Credibility that we are a good institution,
as good as the myriad of others
Programs that we are brilliant at – study here
Boosting enrolments will happen by focusing efforts at program level
Students want to know that the program they want to study is great
It’s a worthwhile investment in their time and money
It will help them get to where they want to go
As long as we have the right product at
the right price, delivered how
students want it!
Example of Successful Program led Marketing – Bay of Plenty Polytechnic
The Marketing Department
Experts at research
Academics were our clients
Drove program development
All new programs had to be approved by Marketing Manager
Drove institution innovation
Started with generic advertisements highlighting key
institution advantage – our location
Integrated approach
Integrated approach
Getting prospective students on campus
Consistent communication
Mature market – worked with local newspaper
High School students
Integrated approach
And teacher professional development days on campus –
they became our advocates!
We did this for all major programs
The Results
Program advertising can be interesting, provocative!
Focusing on programs lets students know what they are going to get and be!
So how do I get buy in?
By developing compelling business cases
Full business case
Strategic plan
Opportunity cost
Marketing plan – not a promotions plan
Great example of a marketing plan an academic might read
One Page Summary
Objectives Strategic Initiatives Tactics
Primary Objective
Secondary Objective
Any more than 4 initiatives and they won’t get done
Major items that will impact your business, achieve your
objectives
Strategic Initiatives are always actions such as launching
online, opening new market
Key tactics to support strategic initiatives
Body of plan has detail and rationale
Focuses effort and spend on the things that will
make a difference
Body of Marketing Plan
Executive Summary
State of Business
Objectives/Strategic Initiatives/Tactics
Financial Implications
Milestones
If you really want to boost enrolments
You need to innovate
To innovate, you have to consider all the 4 P’s
And having the right product is at the
core of boosting enrolments
A last example
2009 – Dept A generated $155,000 in revenue from one online postgraduate program through Open Universities of Australia
Developed a marketing plan focused on face to face interaction (EXPO’s etc.)
Made strategic decision to raise prices 10% year on year
A last example
End of Year 1, decided to develop new variant as result of the personal contact
Opportunity came up to extend into undergraduate space. Had to help head of department convince staff to participate (compelling business case)
• Postgraduate income up to $950,000 • Undergraduate income $1,900,000
• Total for 2013 $2,850,000
Summary
Universities can be a bit slow
Policies are important but can be the number one killer of good business sense and market development
And many are just plain
silly!
Marketing Departments in Higher
Education have to evolve into being
a true Marketing Department not a Promotions/Communications Department
the 4 P’s, not just 1 P
Higher Education Marketers
have to be involved all aspects of the marketing mix
Be the one that is asked
What’s Happening?
Think Different And, of course
Thanks for your time
John Miles
Brand and Marketing Specialist
Business Development Professional