Marketing Proposal for Iona College
Introduction
The Christian Brothers, sixty years ago along with a few strong cohorts,
congregated together in New Rochelle, New York, they could never have predicted
today’s Iona College. Today we stand positive about our prospect, the
beneficiaries of scores of devoted men and women, all the Brothers who have
provided the faculty, the College community and some 40,000 alumni.
At Iona College we accolade the values of justice, harmony, and service while
welcoming persons of various backgrounds into our community. An Iona education
is about educating the whole person, rationally, morally, psychologically,
physically, in every way.
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Subsequent in the path of the Christian Brothers, everyone at Iona encourages a
spirit of mutual respect, prying and sympathy. Students, faculty, administrators
and staff make everyone feel welcome and comfortable. There is a great concern
for the general well being of all.
Faculty and everyone at Iona take a special interest in each of our students'
lives. At Iona you are part of a community.
Iona is about people - Iona persists to reach out to those students who, absent
the Brothers and Iona, might never make it to college, might never get the
prospect to join the fifty percent of Iona alumni who are the first in their
families to attend college.
Iona is presently on the cusp of a defining time in the College's life. Along
with our ancestor, we have marshal Iona from an institution offering local
students a Catholic alternative, to a well-known, first-choice, regional
college. Today's energetic and ferociously competitive marketplace requires that
we zealously and strategically continue to impel the College forward.
Our level of execution and efficacy in that recreation will be influential in
falsify Iona's heritage. The Campaign for Iona College is the means for
accomplishing our even greater objective. The primary objective of this $55
million Campaign is to enhance the College's tangible composition of facilities,
programs, and scholarships while maintaining its unique idealistic character
that finds its origins in the tradition of the Christian Brothers and the
charisma of Blessed Edmund Rice.
The SWOT should cover all of the following areas, each of which may be a source
of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities or threats:
Internal environment of the institution
Faculty and staff
1. Classrooms, laboratories and facilities (the learning environment)
2. Current students
3. Operating budget
4. Various committees
5. Research programs
External environment of the institution
1. Prospective employers of graduates
2. Parents and families of students
3. Competing colleges
4. Preparatory high schools
5. Population demographics
6. Funding agencies
The Internal Survey of Weaknesses and Strengths
Traditionally, administrators seek to magnetize students to Iona College
programs by increased promotional and advertisement efforts without paying any
notice to their institution's strengths and weaknesses. If, indeed, such
internal audits are carried out, areas requiring some changes expose themselves.
Furthermore, the latent and possibilities for new services and programs may also
come forward. Making a list of internal weaknesses could reveal areas that can
be changed to improve the college, also some things that are beyond control.
Instance of intrinsic weaknesses are quite copious. A few are listed as follows:
low staff and faculty confidence; poor building infrastructure; sub-standard
laboratory and workshop facilities; insufficient instructional resources; and
even the location of the institution within the community.
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Seldom do weaknesses occur in segregation; strengths are present and need to be
enlisted as well. Examples of potential strengths could be: (a) a reasonable
tuition fee charged from students; (b) strong and fanatical faculty with a high
morale; (c) articulation with other four-year colleges and universities which
would enable students to transfer course credits; (d) a strong standing for
providing the training required to get entry-level employment; and (e)
multiplicity among the student population.
"Marketing" and Your Christian College: Can they get along?
Understanding the scope of "marketing"
Common misconceptions about marketing
Some characteristics of good marketing
Marketing terminology
Marketing in our context
Applying the 4 P's
The four P's of marketing:
Product-a good, service or idea to satisfy needs
Price-what is paid for the product
Promotion-a means of communication between seller and buyer
Place (distribution)-a means of getting the product to the customer
“Most people think only of "promotion" when they think of "marketing", though
the word actually refers to the entire process of research, product development,
price setting, promotion, and distribution; in practical terms, this means that
your marketing and enrollment areas should be able to recommend changes or
enhancements to your educational "product" (academic programs, student services,
etc.) When people hear "marketing" they think of annoying telemarketers,
products that never worked ridiculous infomercials, etc.
People think marketing is always about ripping people off.
Some people think marketers always lie (like lawyers and politicians, we have a
reputation for dishonesty).
Often people think that marketing is about selling things to people who don't
need them.
Many Christians think marketing is only for businesses, and not for non-profit
organizations.
Some characteristics of good marketing
I will be the first to admit that there are people who do "marketing" in ways
that are unethical and dishonest. Like many other good things in this world,
marketing can be abused. But as you will see below, good marketing is about
meeting needs!
Marketing turns the organization inside out; marketing is the only part of your
college that seeks to see the organization from the perspective of external
constituency groups
Find a need and fill it; marketing is based on meeting "customer" needs and
wants
Marketing is an exchange of value; both parties benefit
The marketing concept: the marketing concept holds that the key to achieving
organizational goals is to determine the needs and wants of target markets and
deliver the desired satisfaction more effectively and efficiently than
competitors
"Love the customer, not the product"
"Have it your way" -Burger King
"Putting people first" -British Airways
Theodore Levitt of Harvard drew a perceptive contrast between the selling and
marketing concepts: "Selling focuses on the needs of the seller; marketing on
the needs of the buyer. "
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Marketing Terminology
Since a lot of marketing takes place in the for-profit sector, marketers
commonly use terms such as customer, competition, sell, etc. If you use these
terms on your campus, you will likely find that people are offended. This is
because of many of the common misconceptions about marketing.
Though some people at your institution may be offended by the term "marketing",
what we mean by the word is:
Find out what people's needs and wants are (we call this market research)
Ensure that your institution can meet their most important needs and some of
their wants (we call this product development)
Communicate that you are able to meet many of people's needs and wants (we call
this "promotion" or "marketing communications") When you put it in these
terms, it doesn't sound scary at all, does it! Suddenly marketing mirrors the
biblical instructions to "love one another" and "do good to all, especially to
other believers"!
Marketing in Our Context
The aim is not to make money but to meet student's needs.
We must also meet the financial needs of the ministry (it would be nice to
ignore this reality but we can't!)
We have to consider whether there is a difference between what students need and
what they think they need.
Messages should be crafted with absolute honesty (not exaggeration)
We should desire for every student to attend the college that is their "best
fit"; in most cases we will promote our own college and let the student decide
(but in some cases we may need to coach them out). “
Product
Do you do adequate research to determine which educational programs are in
demand? What programs do prospective and current students desire?
What factors will most influence whether each prospective student will enroll at
your college? Ask!
What are current students satisfied/dissatisfied with? Which of these things are
most/least important? Ask!
Do the faculty and educational developers listen to your research findings?
What is an educational need that no one else is filling? (Find your unique niche
and stick to it)
Has your organization executed TQM? Is there awareness that every facet of the
organization that the student sees is marketing?
Cross-functional teams should design your academic programs (that means
representation from the various areas of your institution, including marketing
and enrollment
Focus on finding a need and filling it, not just designing a product that you
desire to produce or are set up well to produce
Conduct a SWOT (or TOWS) analysis: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities,
Threats.
Price
Do you have a formal process set up for determining your price? What research is
part of that process?
Do you determine your price early enough?
What is your price elasticity of demand? (set prices accordingly)
Is your goal revenue or headcount? (set prices accordingly)
How can you avoid enrollment drops due to price increases?
How can you bridge the financial gap for students (scholarships, bursaries,
loans, credit lines, gifts, etc.)? How can you help them develop a financial
plan?
There are many pricing strategies that can be adopted. What is yours? (E.g.
price skimming, pricing above/below/at the market, price penetration)
What is your breakeven point?
Promotion
Promotion includes: advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, public
relations, publicity, and point of purchase
The desired response is AIDA: Attention, Interest, Desire, Action; various
promotion components (see previous bullet) are used in each stage
How well are you balancing frequency and focus?
Do you know your target markets? Is your focus too broad?
Are your messages accurate and consistent?
Are your mediums the most efficient and effective?
Does your marketing plan include strategies for your alumni, donors, student's
parents, prospective students, staff/faculty, and the media (to name a few)?
Place
How are you making the delivery of your education more convenient? (E.g.
modules, online courses, audio courses, weekend/evening courses, correspondence
courses, etc.)
Are you aware of the enrollment growth in the distance education segment of
Christian colleges or other segments?
Works Cited
Four P’s of Marketing, November 4, 2002,
http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~bmwt352/lec01figb.html
Unification of Marketing - Model
http://www.sbaer.uca.edu/Research/1998/MMA/98mma080.htm
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