Hearts and minds
In light of a changing social and political landscape education marketing is evolving more rapidly than almost any other sector. Grounded by the principles of discovery and research, universities now operate in a consumer-led, commercially minded market unthinkable 20 years ago.
The marketing tactics deployed to attract undergraduates and the, highly lucrative, post-graduate students are undergoing something of a revolution. To help understand why this is taking place Jupiter take a snapshot of some of the fascinating sector, people and communications issues that are driving universities to look at new ways of selling themselves.
The sector landscape…
- Gordon Brown, has said recently that universities and colleges must educate half of all Britain’s workforce by 2020
- The number of people entering higher education has tripled since the 1970s
- Greater university provision and competition for the best student’s demands differentiation and innovation from education marketing
- The government has made it easier for higher education colleges to become universities prompting a round of new market entrants and established institutions defending their positions through mergers
- The American education company Kaplan is planning to become the UK’s first for-profit university; further demonstrating the shift in UK higher education towards the American system
The people…
- Universities must target ever younger and diverse audiences: reaching out to primary school children like never before
- According to the new University of Manchester the number of international students is likely to treble over the next 11 years adding new levels of cultural complexity to campaigns
- China is a growth market for international students but limits on birth rates could reduce potential students in the long term
- Financial issues places more emphasis on the provision of pastoral care in the minds of potential students and their families
The marketing…
- Greater university provision and competition for the best student’s demands differentiation and innovation from education marketing
- The number of marketing channels and brand touch points deployed by universities increase as these new communication technologies are often adopted first by young people
- Open days are becoming sophisticated entertainment based experiences for potential students, way beyond meeting the teacher and seeing the sports hall
- The internet could soon overtake prospectuses as the primary source of higher education research
- CRM within strict contact guidelines and conversion strategies have to be effective over ever longer decision making periods for potential students
- Prospectuses are beginning to introduce commercial techniques like cross-selling, magazine narrative and course segmentation based on audience personality
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