Marketing is an important part of an organization and it compliments production. Marketing activities bridge the organization’s product with the end users. Marketing also help organization produce products that meet customers’ needs through marketing research and analysis (McDonnell, 2015). Therefore, marketing plays a central role to making of decision involving the organization’s product. Marketing involves activities in planning, organizing, influencing, monitoring, and controlling of a product in the market to meet organization’s objectives. In order to undertake successful marketing activities, it important to understand the market through market analysis. Marketing information is used to formulate marketing strategies that enable an organization to attain a competitive edge in the market.
The following report will analyze the CQ university products in the higher education industry. The report will undertake PEST analysis, demand assessment, SWOT analysis, Competitor analysis, and value& brand position analysis. The report will also cover marketing mix, competitive strategies, and budget allocation.
CQ University was founded in 1967 in North Rockhampton, Queensland Australia. The institution became officially a university in 1992. The university has six schools which are specialist in different disciplines. They include school of; education and arts, business and aw, engineering and technology, medical and applied sciences, human, health and social science, and nursing and midwifery. CQ University has 25 campuses around Australia and several partnerships internationally. The University merged with CQ TAFE in 2014 that offers vocational training. CQ TAFE has more than 175 years in vocational training. The University is led is Scott Bowman as the vice chancellor and the president of the University. The University is governed by CQ University Council (“About CQUniversity – CQU”, 2017).
The CQ University was first known as Queensland institute of Technology till 1990. The University then adopted the name University College of Central Queensland till 2008. The university adopted CQ University in 2008 after expansion and opening of several campuses in other locations in Australia.
The CQ University offers both higher education and vocational training to over 30000student around the globe. The University also offers online bachelors and postgraduates degrees. The University has metropolitan campuses that serve both international and domestic students. The University has been rated at 81.1 employment rating by Graduate Career Australia. The University was also ranked at number 21 for excellence in Research for Australia.
The CQ university has envision to be much larger by 2020 by increasing and innovating delivery of distant learning and on campus programs and ensure students are provided with seamless articulate pathways. The University is striving to gain strength sand be unique through power of place. The CQ University mission is to grow it engagement and reputation, attract more students to higher education and vocational training, providing great student experience, and undertake great research and expanding reach and presence to communities and students (“Central Queensland University”, 2017.)
The CQ university has segmented it students in the following groups;
Indigenous students
Mature age student
International students
Career students
The CQ University targets individuals willing to learn without leaving their locality (region). These are student who want to study from their home town. The university also targets individuals interested with studying in large reputable regional institutions offering quality education but have close ties that limit them from studying anywhere.
The demographics in the CQ University market are categorized as Age, gender, background and income of potential students. There are young students and mature age students. The university attracts and has the highest number of mature age student compared to other universities in Australia. The university has 67% of students who are “first in family”. There university also accommodates 63% of students from remote backgrounds and 35% are from low-ses background (Wade, 2014). Lastly, the university attracts more students from indigenous backgrounds compared to other universities in Australia.
(Total international students + total domestic students)X Average cost per unit X number of units per year.
= 1313776 X 3000 X 12
= 47295928k$
= 18849 X 3000 X 12
= 678564k$
% market share= total market / CQ university* 100
47295928000/678564000*100= 1.4%
The following are the political, economic, social culture and technological factors that will affect CQ University in 2018;
Political factors
The government policies that will are likely to change in 2018 in relation to Australian higher education are; self managing, self financing and changes in curriculum. The government is changing it legislation towards funding Universities. The government has proposed 2.8bn cut in funding higher education institutions (Blundell, 2014). The government has also enacted legislation on self managing that requires University institutions to operate will little control from the government. Lastly, the government has changed the led time of university curriculum. The proposed funding cut will affect the marketing strategies to accommodate the reduced financial ability. The self managing policy will increase the independence of higher education institution to make more decision in the education market. The lead time change in curriculum will affect the marketing approach and tailoring of the course (product).
Economic factors
The following economical factors will affect the higher education market; reduced government funding, increase of university fee, increased cost of providing university education and increasing competition. The government decision on to reduce funding will affect the institutions ability to undertake their marketing activities. The institutions will reduce their spending especially funding promotional activities. The government increase of university fees by 7.5% will affect the ability of students joining higher education institutions. The increase will affect affordability. Thirdly, there has been increasing cost of providing university education. More resources are required for teaching and providing support. For instance, there is increased need for technological solutions to support learning in the university institution. This increase the cost of running several programs either online or on the campus. Lastly, the numbers of universities and their campuses have increased in the past five years. Universities have also launched distance learning and online programs to target a wide range of students (Benneworth, 2013). This is expected to increase competition in the higher education sector.
Social Cultural factors
The following social cultural factors will affecting marketing plan for CQ University in 2018; accommodation of student with special needs, liquidation of local firms and informational access (McManus, & Connell, 2014). Integration of students with special need in the University will increase the market segments for 2018. The liquidation of firms offering employment will affect the enrollment of student in particular courses. This will also likely to reduce the number of students willing to study higher education (“Future challenges for universities”, 2017). Lastly, advancement and accessibility of information technology will affect teaching and support provision by the staff. It will also widen the reach and service delivery of the institution. The wide spread of internet use will also affect the way advertisements are communicated to the target audience.
Technological factors
These factors include; changes in equipments required, risk in technology and increased online courses and e books. Changes in standards and specifications of equipments to be used in the IT system in learning are likely to increase operational cost of the university. Secondly, there is increased risk in using technology as a platform for learning. The platform has many risks such as virus attacks, hackers and other manipulations to alter results (Cox, 2016). Lastly, IT is increasing accessibility of courses around the globe. This will enable the university to serve more students in different locations.
The following analysis will analyze Deakin University in terms of aim, objectives and marketing promotions.
|
University |
Deakin University |
|
Aim |
The University aims to be a premier Australian University to driving digital frontier and enable global connected education with the jobs in the future. The university also aims to conduct research that is makes difference to the community served. |
|
Objectives |
Provide premium cloud Have global connected education Attract, retain and support capable learners Empower learners |
|
Marketing promotions |
Attract capable learners Student engagement and satisfaction External engagement Staff engagements |
|
Strength Has external community reputation Has wide spread campuses across Australia Enjoys high rating from staff, students, Alumni, and employers. Outstanding support of staff and students |
Weakness Limited resources for developments Weak operational structures Research expectation un-matching support Little and no internal group pride |
|
Threats Budget crises Increasing competition Negative public perception New reporting requirements requiring many resources. Negative perception about higher education. |
Opportunities Partnership with different organizations to offer support. Diverse to new regions Potential to grow with societal trend to be graduates |
The CQ university product value in the market is knowledge and skills through new courses, infrastructure, accessible campuses, and research that impact. The Value of CQ University has increased the reputation in the higher education institutions market (“Marketing Services – CQU”, 2017).
The brand position of CQ University is excellence learning through outstanding engagement and opportunities. Engagement is the driving force that directs activities of CQ University in achieving the interests of all stakeholders to be what one want to be while CQ TAFE band is equipping skills to Central Queensland people to enable possibility of anything. The University merger with CQ TAFE has led to the new brand positioning of proving outstanding engagement and learning opportunity to be what you want to be.
Marketing aims and promotional objectives
The following is the marketing plan aims for CQ University for 2018;
To increase the number of student enrollment to the institution by 10%.
Promotional Objectives of the CQ University marketing plan for 2018;
Sponsor at least two events
Air an advertisement on two commercial national TV for 2months
Publish two quarterly journals about the institution
Internet marketing for 6months
News paper advertisement 4 times in the year
The following are the marketing mix strategies for CQ University for 2018;
Product
The CQ universities marketing plan objective for higher education is to increase engagement to enable excellence in learning. The following are strategies to achieve the following objective;
Increase student support. This will involve establishing mechanisms that will increase support and enhance engagement. This support will lead to a good relationship between the staff and the student enabling an engagement environment.
Increase counseling programs. Counseling programs will offer moral and psychological support to student reliably and accessible to ensure every student is a position to pursue excellence. This will involve increasing the number of counselors and offices in all campuses.
Evaluate and improve quality of education: This strategy will involve evaluation of the courses offered against job required in the labour market to improve quality level of education provided.
Institute a monitoring student program: This strategy will involve establishing a mechanization to continuously monitor programs and ensure activities are as planned. This will enable the alignment of the activities with set standards and predetermined objectives.
Price
The University objective on price is to charge affordable fee. The University aims to offer the lowest fees in the higher education market while maintaining high quality. The price objective will be achieved through the following strategies;
Flexibility: This will involve allowing students to pay school fees in different method and different phases. This strategy will allow students to attend classes with a certain amount paid while allowing time to clear the difference.
School fees will depend on course level. This strategy will ensure students are changed different school fees according to the courses level they are undertaking in the University. This will allow moderation in the process of changing affordable school fees to students.
Scholarships: The institution will increase it scholarship programs to sponsor students who have difficulties raising school fees. This will increase the number of students enrolling in the institution.
Place
The CQ University aims to reach more target audience by increasing it accessibility to all regions in Australia. The place strategies are as follows;
Student awareness: This will involve cresting awareness to the target audience about the location of the campuses near their location. This will enable potential student decide on enrolling with CQ University nearby campus.
Transportation: This strategy will involve transporting students who reside relatively long distance from the campus by a bus. This will convenience student willing to study from home.
Building new campus: This will involve building of new campuses strategically to attract and accommodate more students.
Promotion
The objective of promotion in 2018 marketing activities of CQ University is to persuade and attract 10% of potential students to enroll in the university. This will be achieved through the following strategies;
Advertisements: This strategy will involve public notification about the university program and create demand for the programs offered. The advertisements will be aired or posted early enough to allow potential students make decision about choosing CQ University (Corea, & Cervellati, 2015).
Publicity: The University will be involved in two events that will create positive reputation. This strategy will be executed in partnership with other organization to either support sustainable environment or enough healthy living. This strategy will create good impression to the society and thereby influencing their decision when choosing a higher learning institution .
Increasing publications in the international journal: This will promote the academic achievement of the university in terms of writing. This will create much impression to academicians or students willing to progress with post graduate studies. This strategy is also important in exhibiting the ability of the institution to research and publish academic works.
The CQ University will adopt two main strategies to attain competitive advantage for 2018 marketing plan; cost leadership and cost focus.
Cost Focus
The CQ University cost focus strategy will allow the institution to have low prices in the market. The strategy will involve increasing efficiency and effectives in the organization. Efficiency will involve minimum usage of resources in the organization to ensuring delivery of quality education. It is the least resources that can be used to achieving the predetermined objectives of the University. Efficiency usage of resources will allow the University to record low operational cost. Effectiveness in the University will involve progress to achieve goals. It organization’s strive to and closeness to achieving set goals and objectives. The effectiveness will enhance the University to offer low prices in the education market. The cost focus strategy will enable the University attain a competitive advantage to other Universities attracting more students to enroll. This strategy will increase demand of the CQ university education services because of the lower prices in the higher education market.
Cost Leadership Strategy
The cost leadership strategy will enable the university to compete in the education industry with price. The cost leadership strategy will require the organization to price their service in the market at the least price. The CQ University will ensure it the lowest provider of higher education in Australian market. These prices will be sustained to ensure the University performance in the higher education market is above average. Therefore, the CQ University will be able to command a greater market share.
The CQ University band position is on the stars quadrant. The University brand has a substantial market growth and relative market growth. This indicates that the University is requiring a lot of resources to finance it promotional activities to achieve more growth and increase its market share (Jurevicius, 2017). The University on the other side is also having high cash returns necessitating investment that is being undertaken by the university. Therefore, the BCG matrix shows that the University management should increase their investment on the marketing activities of the university brand and services (Martin, 2017).
The following figure shows a media budget allocation for promotional activities for 2018 of CQ University marketing activities. The budget will allocation is AU$ 1762576.
|
Promotional element |
Total in AU$ |
||
|
Year |
2018 |
||
|
Objective |
Increase student enrollment by 10% |
||
|
Newspaper (1 page) |
The Australian |
(AU$14469*4 times) |
57876 |
|
TV Advertisement( 30 seconds ads) |
SBS( primetime slot) |
(4680*40) |
187200 |
|
Channel 7 |
(AU$ 37800*40) |
1512000 |
|
|
Social Media |
|
1500 |
1500 |
|
|
2000 |
2000 |
|
|
|
2000 |
2000 |
|
|
Total |
1762576 |
Conclusion
The marketing plan for CQ is expected to increase number of student by 10%. The marketing plan is also expected to increase returns to the university by 10%. This indicates that the marketing plan will be an important tool to making decisions regarding the marketing activities of CQ University. The decisions outlined in this report will enable the University attain a competitive advantage to it competitors but also improve the quality of serve delivery. The market plan has been formulated to balance between growing the University market share and improving the quality of education provided to impact the society. The analyses in report show that the University has several strengths and opportunities that can be utilized to maximize return to the university. Therefore, the CQ University is required to adopt aggressive marketing activities to persuade, attract, and retain capable students in their target market.
References
About CQUniversity – CQU. (2017). Cqu.edu.au. Retrieved 29 May 2017, from https://www.cqu.edu.au/about-us/about-cquniversity
Benneworth, P. (2013). Elizabeth Popp Berman, Creating the Market University: How Academic Science Became an Economic Engine. Minerva, 51(4), 521-527. https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11024-013-9236-8
Blundell, R. (2014). How responsive is the labor market to tax policy?. IZA World Of Labor. https://dx.doi.org/10.15185/izawol.2
Central Queensland University. (2017). Top Universities. Retrieved 29 May 2017, from https://www.topuniversities.com/universities/central-queensland-university
Corea, F., & Cervellati, E. (2015). The Power of Micro-Blogging: How to Use Twitter for Predicting the Stock Market. Eurasian Journal Of Economics And Finance, 3(4), 1-7. https://dx.doi.org/10.15604/ejef.2015.03.04.001
Cox, H. (2016). How the Market Became Divine. Dialog, 55(1), 18-24. https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/dial.12220
Future challenges for universities. (2017). Ey.com. Retrieved 29 May 2017, from https://www.ey.com/au/en/industries/government—public-sector/uof_future-challenges-for-universities
Hollensen, S. (2015). Marketing management: A relationship approach. Pearson Education.
Jurevicius, O. (2017). How to Focus on the Stars with a Clever BCG Matrix. Strategic Management Insight. Retrieved 29 May 2017, from https://www.strategicmanagementinsight.com/tools/bcg-matrix-growth-share.html
Marketing Services – CQU. (2017). Cqu.edu.au. Retrieved 29 May 2017, from https://www.cqu.edu.au/about-us/structure/directorates/marketing/marketing-services
Martin, M. (2017). What Is a BCG Matrix?. Business News Daily. Retrieved 29 May 2017, from https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/5693-bcg-matrix.html
McDonnell, M. (2015). Paul-Brian McInerney: From Social Movement to Moral Market: How the Circuit Riders Sparked an IT Revolution and Created a Technology MarketMcInerneyPaul-Brian: From Social Movement to Moral Market: How the Circuit Riders Sparked an IT Revolution and Created a Technology Market. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2014. 241 pp. $55.00, cloth. Administrative Science Quarterly, 60(3), NP47-NP49. https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0001839215579065
McManus, P., & Connell, J. (2014). Putting places on the map? Marketing rural and regional Australia. Journal Of Destination Marketing & Management, 3(2), 105-113. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jdmm.2014.01.001
Va?a, K., & ?erná, ?. (2012). The Marketing Audit as a Method of the Evaluation of the Marketing Plan. Research Papers Faculty Of Materials Science And Technology Slovak University Of Technology, 20(Special Number). https://dx.doi.org/10.2478/v10186-012-0023-4
Wade, R. (2014). ‘Market versus State’ or ‘Market with State’: How to Impart Directional Thrust. Development And Change, 45(4), 777-798. https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/dech.12099
University, L. (2017). Home. Latrobe.edu.au. Retrieved 29 May 2017, from https://www.latrobe.edu.au/
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