Student Record Officers: The Marketing Director's Best Friends

Richard TaylorDirector of Marketing & Communications

www.le.ac.uk

Marketing is….

• A management process that seeks to lead, anticipate and satisfy customer demand

• Fundamental to marketing is that different groups have different needs and desires

• And these groups can be identified through a process called market segmentation

Market Segmentation

• A market segment is a sub-set of a market made up of people sharing one or more characteristics that cause them to demand similar products and/or services

Market Segmentation

• Segmentation can be based on:– Geography, fee status, social class, age,

gender, subject preferences, level of study, prior qualifications, hair colour, ethnicity etc etc etc

• As long as it can be reached and responds similarly to market stimulii

Marketing involves…

• Developing a position for one or more market segments

• What do we mean by a position?

Services Marketing Mix

A concept that market attractiveness for a specific audience is determined by seven variables

• Product• Price• Promotional Strategy• Physical Surroundings/Packaging• Place & Distribution• Process• People

A Market Segment….

Professional managers in the UK requiring advanced management training….

• Product• Price• Promotional Strategy• Physical Surroundings/Packaging• Place & Distribution• Process• People

• But you can’t be something you’re not

• Higher education “brands” are built over decades and disseminated by word of mouth

• HEIs therefore need to understand their current markets

Education as a Service• Services:

• Intangible Dominant• Low on Search Qualities• High on Experience

Qualities• Inseparable from producer

• Goods: • Tangible Dominant• High on Search Qualities• Lower on Experience

Qualities• Separable from producer

Education as a Service

• Services differentiate through delivery and not (just) words

• The brand cannot exist outside of the reality of the service experience

• The service experience is dependant on people

• Word of mouth drives reputation

So….

• Understanding the current position of an institution or programme is critical

• Who are our customers?• Turn to the data record…

But….

• QUALENTS, • PAREDs • MSFUNDS

Come Alive with the Pepsi Generation

Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the dead

And the worst one…

• TTPCODE

You can’t occupy all the segments.

If we want to succeed and develop our reputation we must stand for something that is clear and distinctive….

The 49th Prime Minister

Flight of the Conchords "Formerly New Zealand's fourth most popular guitar-based digi-bongo acapella-rap-funk-comedy folk duo"

Some offenders….

• “Ranked in the top 3 of all modern universities”

• “Ranked the 17th best politics department by the Guardian”

• “One of XXXshires leading universities”

• If your position isn’t clear it won’t have impact in a world full of over-communication

• Strategic Communications - communicating a clear position or message

Why a clear position?

Old Elite Non-Elite

Old Elite Non-Elite

BathBristolCambridgeDurhamEdinburghExeterGlasgowImperial CollegeKing's College

LondonLeicester

LSELoughboroughNottinghamOxfordSheffieldSouthamptonSt AndrewsUCLWarwickYork

Britain’s Top 20 Universities

BathBristolCambridgeDurhamEdinburghExeterGlasgowImperial CollegeKing's College

LondonLeicester

LSELoughboroughNottinghamOxfordSheffieldSouthamptonSt AndrewsUCLWarwickYork

Those that meet State School Benchmark

BathBristolCambridgeDurhamEdinburghExeterGlasgowImperial CollegeKing's College

LondonLeicester

LSELoughboroughNottinghamOxfordSheffieldSouthamptonSt AndrewsUCLWarwickYork

And their Benchmark for Recruitment from Lower Socio-economic Groups

In Conclusion…

• The strategic challenge for HEIs is to develop a clear and distinct position

• This can’t be divorced from reality• The richness of information in the

staff, financial and especially student record is critical