Developing A Marketing Plan For Australian National University

Market Summary and Demand Assessment

Australian universities are increasing their marketing investment significantly and it is increased by 23% within five years to 2013. Several higher educational institutions invested excess of AU$ 10 million every year for carrying out promotional activities. Nevertheless, some universities adopt robust marketing investment into higher revenue channels or student development returns. The present focus of these universities is on providing quality knowledge to students in order to make them job ready. With government backing slashes in the outlook for Australian universities and schemes to upsurge their contact to market forces, it is unavoidable that marketing resources and the consequences of spending on marketing will come under bigger inspection at the forthcoming time. Australian National University (ANU) encompasses seven research and teaching colleges and a number of national institutes and academies. It includes 3753 staffs, 10840 postgraduates and 10052 undergraduates. The donation of the university was A$1.13 billion in the year 2012(ANU, 2017).

Hence, the present study emphasises on developing a marketing plan forANU, which is a national research university of Australia after carrying out an internal and external environmental audit of the organisation. This includes developing competitive strategies that may fulfill the marketing goals and objectives in 2018.

The higher education or university-industry of Australia is highly competitive, as the number of higher educational institutions is increasing rapidly. The strong industry of university relates globally that ensures students obtain expertise, knowledge, which may influence their career considerably (Schulze, Schöler & Skiera, 2014).There are 33000 students incorporating 6000 overseas students in the University of South Australia. Higher education sector of Australia offers more than 400 degree programs that support a wide range of career interests of  a large number of students (USnews, 2017).

ANU ranked 7^th (Australia’s first) most global university in the year 2017 Times Higher Education. It counts 49 Rhodes scholars and six Nobel laureates within its graduates and faculty. Two prime ministers, 30 recent Australian diplomats and above 12 recent heads of the Government department are educated from the ANU. In 2013, ANU received the biggest donation of $50 million for supporting the undergraduate scholarship program from Graham Tuckwell, who is an ANU graduate and financial entrepreneur (Andrewnorton.net.au, 2017).

There are more than 300 universities in Australia. It is a stimulating destination for learners. This is because, Australia does not only offer education at globally acclaimed universities, but it also includes one of the utmost vivacious career markets in the world. The high demand for educated and skilled workers in Australia has stimulated the education sector to establish more and more universities that match the educational requirements of people. People can exploit on the job opportunities after completing their degrees from the universities or other educational institutions. Hence, the demand for higher education in Australia is at a greater pace. Apart from that, the education provided in Australian universities is of high standards. Moreover, students may get affordable accommodation in this country. They can work and study together or can work after completing their graduation.Therefore, the demand of obtaining higher education from Australian universities, including ANU is becoming higher day by day(ABC News, 2017).

Segmentation and Target Market

In terms of segmenting the students, ANU mainly focuses on undifferentiated marketing and arranges degree programs, which focus on generalisation, for example, ANU includes 7 research colleges. It offers a wide range of degree programs for the students, who are interested in research. Hence, the demographic characteristics of these students may include aged from 21 to 40 years, both male and female students, who have just completed their graduation (ANU, 2017).

In terms of target market, ANU carries out exclusive-concentrated marketing, where it solely emphasis on the students, who are interested in research works. Thus, it wants to acquire the whole market of research and thus, to become a dominant force in that particular educational segment (ANU, 2017).

This is carried out for analysing the influence of external environmental factors like political, social and others on the university sector of Australia and more precisely on ANU:

Political	· Government regulations regarding the higher education sector · Release of consultation paper by the government (Cadle & Turner, 2010)
Economic	· Strong and growing economic condition of Australian people · Increasing GDP and employment opportunities ((Dann, 2010)
Social	· The Australian people are intended to acquirehigher education
Technological	· Contemporary students are more attracted and motivate to learn using modern technological devices

Table 1: PEST analysis

(Source: Huang & Sarigöllü, 2014)

Political- Political factors have a direct impact on the higher education sector of Australia, as it consists of both the private and public institutions. Government regulations control the activities of the universities in terms of providing the best quality education to the students (Kotler, 2012). The consultation paper unconfined by the government would take feedback from the students regarding their education and it controls the universities and education sector to provide utmost quality education to the students.

Economic- Australia possesses a strong economic condition that is increasing continuously in every year. In 2015, the GDP of the nation was about AU$ 1.62 trillion. Hence, the stable economic condition influences the employment opportunities that eventually inspire  students to come and take education from Australian universities and so as ANU (ANU, 2017).

Social-The developed society of Australia provides wide opportunity to the higher education industry of the country (Theodosiou, Kehagias & Katsikea, 2012). The Australian people are intended to acquire higher education for improving their career opportunities. It motivates the ANU and other educational institution to increase their investment in educating local and international people.

Technological- Present day students are more attracted toward the technological apparatus. Hence, the universities incorporate technologicaldevices for providing education are more likely to acquire a large number of students (Berthonet al. 2012).

As stated by Morgan (2012), the higher education sector in Australia is becoming aggressive every day. Therefore, the ANU also needs to focus on maintaining is the competitive position of the leading university in Australia. Among different competitors of ANU, it is found that University of Melbourne is its biggest competitor. Hence, it is essential for ANU to identify the aim, objectives and promotional analysis of this university, so that ANU can better prepare its future marketing strategies.

PEST Analysis

University of Melbourne, which is a public research university, is the second hoariest university in Australia. The association is ranked 33^rd in the world as per the Times Higher Education. It affiliated a number of residential colleges since 1872 that offer sporting, cultural and academic programs along with accommodation for the students and faculty of the university. It aims at becoming one of the premium universities of the world. The mission of the association is to offer high quality education and consultancy to all the university levels on research activities, mental health, and psychological process related to learning. The university is committed toward professionalism, respect and community. It wants to develop a positive impact on the staffs and students during their experience in the university. The key objective of the organisation is to obtain its strategic goals by contributing to the initiating, application and analysis of strategies, programs and policies through continuous consultation with educational staffs and professionals (Services.unimelb.edu.au, 2017).

The university has unconfined a new strategic plan for increasing respect and global house by 2020. Thus, marketing enables the university to identify and fulfill the needs of its targeted customers effectively. The institution is focused on increasing knowledge and adding value to the lives of people alongside the skills and expertise for developing a better world.  It will provide opportunities for students belong to different cultures to participate successfully in the cultural, social and educational lifeof the university (Ihouse.unimelb.edu.au, 2017).

SWOT analysis helps in identifying the internal business environment of ANU that is important while developing any business strategies.

Strengths	· One of the leading universities of the world · Cultural diversity fosters cultural exchange · Skilled and experienced faculty (Gale& Tranter, 2011)
Weakness	· Excessive focus on research · Lack of financial resources
Opportunities	· Redesigning university campus · Appropriate use of information and communication technologies
Threats	· High market competition · Different types of calendar session

Table 2: SWOT analysis

(Source: Crouch & Housden, 2012)

Strengths- The key strengths of ANU include the cultural diversity that helps in cultural transmission in surrounding societies. Further, the skilled, experienced and knowledgeable staffs of the association provide technical resources and assist in developing confidence and image of the continent. As per the ranking of QS World University ranking, ANU possesses the first place in Australia and the 22^nd place in the world (QS World University Rankings, 2017).

Weakness- Although, ANU is one of the world’s leading universities, however, it lacks the source for financial resources that is crucial to implement its planned activities appropriately. Moreover, the association provides less focus on educating students and it is more concerned with conducing different types of researches.

Opportunities- In order to increase the number of students, the organisation should increase its investment in developing the campus and making it attractive. Furthermore, the university has appropriate internet accessand other contemporary technologies that help it to maintain an effective communication with external stakeholders, including potentially interested students.

Threats- Competition from the University of Melbourne and other competitors makes it difficult for ANU to increase andmaintain their market share. Moreover, the different educational calendar session is a significant barrier for ANU to conduct meetings and execute activities as planned (Terpstra, Foley & Sarathy, 2012).

Brand value and positioning enable an organisation to create a positive impact on its target markets and attract a large number of customers (Maringe& Foskett, 2012). In order to develop appropriate strategic decision, it is critical to understand the way, in which the university creates value for its students. Value chain of ANU can be described as a network of activities, including teaching, community service, research that in turn engage academic design, assessment, academic delivery, outreach activities, research and development. Each of these functions adds value to the overall learning and educational package of the students. The research and teaching colleges and other educational institutions of ANU consist of highly qualified and experienced faculty, who provide excellent quality education and thus, enhances overall ability and career development opportunities for the students (anu.edu.au, 2017).

For brand positioning, ANU may use the catalogues on particular web portals that contain the features and contents of the educational programs carried out by the university. It also states the usefulness of the programs offered to the students, which may be helpful for the students around the globe to identify the most suitable educational program for their skill and career development. ANU possesses about 100000 alumni including, business, and government, political and academic leaders over the world. Moreover, it hosts some of the most powerful native researchers and researchers on native issues. Thus, it has already positioned as a strong brand value that influence students to enroll their names in this university (Services.anu.edu.au, 2017).

At present day of rapidly changing social, economic and political environment, educational institutions like, ANU has to face several challenges regarding its longevity and legitimacy. Therefore, it has become essential for ANU to innovate in teaching, researches and learning to increase understanding of modern Australia and the whole world. This is the key marketing aim of the university to serve Australia distinctively. The new vision of ANU is aimed at earning respect and providing students an international home for studying (anu.edu.au, 2017).

Promotional objectives of ANU include:

Specific	The objective is to inspire research and debate on humanities. The management of ANU needs to be fully involved to attain the objective through planning and implementing the strategy of collaborating with learned societies, other universities and cultural institutions.
Measurable	The progress of the plan can be measured through taking a daily report from the managers regarding the contact and communication with the faculties of other universities and institutions about the matter.
Achievable	In order to collaborate with cultural institutions and learned societies, it is required to develop an appropriate proposal for them so that they become interested in collaborating with ANU. Thus, suitable proposal can help the university to attain its objective.
Realistic	The time is set after considering the requirements of developing and executing the plan. Hence, through proper execution of the plan, the objective can be attained within the allocated time.
Time-bounded	Near about 6 months

Table 3: SMART objective for ANU

(Source: Created by the learner)

1. To attract leading global scholars and innovative artists to Australia for communicating with academic staffs, undergraduates and postgraduates within ANU

Specific	The objective is to draw attention of the world’s leading scholars and this requires proper planning and developing a promotional online campaign that can be seen by the people around the world. Moreover, workshops, conferences, scholarly publicationssymposiums, teaching programs, collaboration and exchanges can be the medium of achieving the marketing objective.
Measurable	It can be measured by tracking the progress in the performance of the people involved in developing the plan and designing the online and virtual promotional campaigns.
Achievable	The goal can be attained by implementing the plan effectively through web portals, official website of the university and social networking sites. The web content must include the value provided to the students, faculty and staffs of the ANU along with its aim of providing an international home to the students around the world. The time, venue and other necessary details of the workshops, conferences and so on are to be held must be specified in clear language.
Realistic	The time set for achieving the objective is 6 months, which is adequate to implement the promotional plans like conferences, scholarly publications and others to attract leading scholars.
Time-bounded	Around 6 months

Table 4: SMART objective for ANU

(Source: Created by the learner)

The marketing mix strategies must be developed in such a way that can promote the products of an organisation to the maximum number of customers. It includes 4 Ps of marketing, including product, price, place and promotion (Christopher & Peck, 2012).

In terms of ANU, product refers to the educational facilities provided to the national and international students. It offers educational programs for undergraduate and post-graduate students in different subjects like chemistry, biological science, social science, engineering, technology, computer science, business, economics, clinical, pre-clinical, health and humanities. Moreover, it offers different academic courses on sustainability issues related to industry, carbon emission, global warming, and developing environmentally sustainable products and so on. It also offers the opportunities of carrying out researches on the respective subjects. The university also provides accommodation to the staffs and the students (anu.edu.au, 2017).

Morgan, Katsikeas & Vorhies (2012) stated that, the pricing strategy is developed based on the demand of the product, market competition and brand value of an organisation. As one of the leading universities,ANU follows premium-pricing strategy while determining course fees for local and international students. However, the fees for international students vary from the national students. In terms of accommodation, the institution try to keep it reasonable for the students in order to make it affordable for students belong to different regions with diverse economic conditions.

By means of place, the head office of ANU is located in Canberra, Australia that controls the activities of all its colleges and research centers. The main campus is located in Acton that includes all the colleges and institutes. Hence, student can avail the education services from this location (anu.edu.au, 2017).

For promoting the services, ANU carries out comprehensive advertising campaigns, including, print media, outdoor, broadcast through TV and radio, online advertising through search campaigns, social media engagement and so on. However, the university mainly focuses on web marketing and sponsorship for promotion. In terms of web marketing, it possesses promotional online features of different web pages, post stories regarding the campus, emails of students and staffs. Moreover, it sponsors many cultural and educational events for increasing awareness regarding the services and objectives of the institution (anu.edu.au, 2017).

With the increasing competition in the higher education industry, it has become imperative for ANU to focus on innovating its services that can provide an outstanding image to the university and attract a large number of students (Lusch & Vargo, 2014). It has published its strategic plan that is to apprehend the determinations of the idealistic Australians, who established the university. Although, the university is focused on Australia, however, its prospects are worldwide. Therefore, its competitive strategy is bringing out innovation in overall researching, teaching and learning. Therefore, it planned to invest innovate in all the areas of ANU by diversifying the sources of funding.  In order to be a modern national university, it must eradicate all the barriers between the society and the university. It is aimed at becoming a valuable national resource by recognizing and meeting all the contemporary needs of the students and greater societies (anu.edu.au, 2017).

The competitive strategy of the university is focused on establishing ANU as great as it is perceived by the visionary and ambitious funders and reflect the superior national errands it has as legatee of the National Institutes Grant. Therefore, the strategic plan determines the way, in which it will certify that the inventive and notable university is capable of meeting its current mission as ANU and one of the greatest universities of the world (Anu.edu.au, 2017).

In terms of information technology, the university has prepared an institution-wide strategy, which concentrates on enhancing and sustaining the excellence all over the organisation. The strategy confirms the commitment of the university towards education, research and public policy and builds a digital environment to obtain a different position within the globe (Anu.edu.au, 2017).

Forecasted profit and loss statement of the University for 2018

Particulars	Amount
Sales	760000
service costs	125000
Total revenue	635000
salaries and wages	10000
rent and rates	25000
taxation	42000
supplies	33000
internet	25000
electricity	26000
Utilities	32000
Administrate	25000
Marketing	36000
Departmental maintenance	32000
Print media	25000
Others	36000
Total expenses	347000
Total net profit	288000

Particulars	Amount
cash and cash equivalents	50000
investment in departments	45000
land and building	160000
property and equipments	268000
library articles	36000
other assets	30000
Total Assets	589000
Liabilities
Lease	65000
accounts payable	48000
deferred revenue	54000
long term loan	297000
compensations and annuity	125000
Total liability	589000

Annual Budget 2018	Amount
Cash at the beginning of year	185000
Cash received	450000
fees and others	56000
Other charges	65000
rents	20000
Extra callriculam charges	5000
Sports charges	20000
Total cash received	801000
Cash paid
Salaries	135000
rent and rates	50000
insurance	65000
taxes	36000
tour and travelling, marketing	48000
compensation	30000
Laboratory and library charges	58000
Renovation and building maintenance	75000
Administrative charges	56000
Total payments	553000
Cash available in the end of year	248000

The media allocation for the university has engaged for enhancing the marketing compactness in the marketplace. In academic career and educational marketplace, market has became one of the necessary elements for increasing educational services. The private and governmental universities have been increasing strategies to grab attention of students. In the market plan of university for 2018, the forecasting is commenced in relation to estimate future profit and expenditures that is going to be invested and looked after. As there has been changes in selection procedure of students for their university studies, the colleges has also made some baldric steps and strategies to enhancive their profitability. As per market plan, estimated financial forecasting of the university is evaluated as follows:

As per the profit and loss forecasting of University, it has been observed that development of market planning and print media strategy can increase the revenue growth of University. Wirth the development of print media and social media marketing, the University can increase the attention of students to take admission for their respective career goals. However, it is implanted to provide proper faculties to the students to keep them engaged in their studies. At private colleges, the faculties and services has become one of the major cancers that is looked after by the students before making any form of decision. From the profit and loss statement, the revenue estimated to be good and profitable for the University in the coming year of 2018. However, there will be expenditures that might pull down the net profit margins for University in the same annual year. Thus, it is necessary to increase the number of students to make a reliable balance between income and expenses made by the university.

On the other hand, it has observed that the balance sheet statement of University speaks about mostly its proper and land, which has been one of aitches advantages. The proper structure and infrastructure of the University has been one of the specific reasons to increase students’ attention and decision making for admission. However, the cost of loans and advances of the University has been higher. It has evaluated that there is required of declining the debt amount or loan amount of the University so that it can maintain the proper liquidity. The evaluation of balance sheet dictates that there is a positive figure for the university to meet units short term loans and advances though its current assets.

As it has evaluated that, the current assets of the University is higher compare to current liabilities, it can be estimated that there are higher possibilities for making investments and development of universities in other possible areas to increase services and facilities for the students. The budget forecasts and allocation also establishes the fact that in end of 2018, the cash availability is higher and positive for the university. Therefore, there can be an investment over entertainment and sports facilities as well as services for the students. On the other hand, there can be investments towards library and laboratory facilities for the students. However, there will be profitability of University, if they can make investments on building more reliable sports courts, so that increasing facilities can enhance the decision making of admissions of the students.

Conclusion

After carrying out a comprehensive analysis of the internal and external business environment of ANU, it can be expected that through proper implementation of strategic plans, the institution may fulfill its aim of becoming one of the finest universities of the world. The experienced and skilled staffs and the motivated management of the university may help to execute the strategic plans effectively in future. It can be expected that the university will be able to fulfill the modern needs and expectation of the students and the society.

The above discussion shows that, in order to acquire the greatest position in the competitive marketplace, it is crucial to have all the necessary information regarding the internal and external business environment. It helps to take the correct steps and select the right way to reach the planned goals.

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