At the moment, there is a high demand for tertiary education in Australia and the entire world. Most students, both from Australia and other parts of the globe are looking for tertiary institutions that are well known in offering the best quality education. Some students want to enroll for online programs while others are interested in offline programs. Also, there have been differences among various people regarding the courses offered by different universities. It is, therefore, critical for schools to provide the best courses of the time that provides individuals with the skills that the world needs at the present times (Hyde, 2015). This paper discusses a case study of the marketing aspect of Swinburne University.
Swinburne University was established back in the year 1908. Since then, the university has grown so much and now has many branches spread in different places on the globe. It has its central office at the Hawthorn campus, and also, some campuses in the metropolitan areas of Melbourne at Croydon and Wantirna (Hare, 2014). Besides, it has located more schools in Sarawak, Malaysia and many other places on the globe, which has made it, get more enrollments in the University. At the moment, the university has over 24000 students who have enrolled in various undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral programs in its different campuses. The school ranks 2nd in Australia and 60th in the entire world (Marr, 2016). It offers various online and offline programs courses.
Australia has many universities offering various courses in undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral programs. Swinburne University ranks the 22nd University with Melbourne University ranking as the best in Australia. Swinbourne admits students from parts of the globe; including those from the developing countries such as India, South East Asia among many others. Some factors have helped Swinbourne to get a bigger market share. Firstly, the university offers courses that are highly on demand and also those that are unique and has helped it to grow and gain more market in the education sector. The fact that Melbourne has many branches has also helped it to reach many individuals thus increasing its market share (McMeeken, 2014).
Swinburne University is not an alone player in the education sector in Australia. It also faces competition from other players. Some of its competitors in this area include The University of Sydney, University of Melbourne, Monash University and University of Queensland among many others. This, therefore, shows that Swinburne University has its operational market shared with other players; thus the university needs to make efforts to gain a bigger market ratio.
Swinburne is a potential education sector leader in Australia and the entire world. If appropriate marketing strategies are put in places, such as campaign advertisements and promotional activities, the University is likely to gain a big market share. The university has online programs which the school offers have shown a great potential of boosting the university regarding the admissions. At the moment, many people want to study from their remote locations thus preferring the online programs where they don’t need to attend the classes physically. This therefore, shows that if the university can implement more of the marketing strategies to this university, there are many chances that Swinburne will gain a bigger market share due to high demand for these programs.
Segmentation involves division of the market into various parts according to specified criteria. This could be division according to the demand and needs characteristics that they have such as gender, buying behavior, demographic factors and geographical factors among others. Section of the market into segments help the business to handle the entire market efficiently since the enterprise will be able to deliver as per the customer demands or requirements. This is important for Universities to categorize their potential students into various sections so that it can deliver as per their needs thus growth (Constantin, 2012).
Swinburne University should have its target market for offline courses at around the Australian continent and also in the South East Asia. This is a potential market that the university can utilize for its growth in the year 2018. The school has attained a good brand name in these areas and therefore, only a little marketing efforts are required to make students join this university. This is possible because people all over the world want to join tertiary institutions that offer good degrees from established and recognized universities (Fleetwood, 2014).
Also, Swinburne should target international students. Given that Swinburne has its name already established and the rest of the world, the university has a potential of getting students from developing countries and even developed nations. Swinburne should, therefore, target this international and oversee students who are likely to join the University. The institution needs to implement marketing strategies that will help it get these students from other nations.
Besides, Swinburne University should target more online students in the year 2018. In as much as this institution has been able to attract some students studying online, there is still a potential market for online programs all over the world. The university should target people at their workplaces or at home who are not in a capacity to make to enroll for offline classes and prefer online classes for some reasons. This will help the university to increase its market ration in Australia and even the entire world.
Swinburne University should do segmentation of its market to help it deliver the best for its students. Firstly, the institution should divide its market into offline or online students. Secondly, the university should share its market according to its geographical location. This is important because a population close to the school will prefer offline programs unlike those from other countries. Also, Swinburne should divide the market into local or international students, among other segmentation aspects. This will help it to serve its customers better by delivering as per their demands.
PEST analysis is a valuable tool that is used to analysis the business operating environment of a given institution. PEST stands for Political, Economic, Social-cultural and the technological factors. PEST analysis is necessary for the Swinburne University because it will help it realize the potential opportunities but at the same time get the potential warnings associated with those opportunities and give the right direction that the university can take. This is important for the successful marketing of this university (Chang, 2012).
Politically, the university is likely to be affected positively. There is political stability in Australia and other parts where its branches are located. This institution should, therefore, make the best use of this stable political state for its growth. Regarding, economic factors, they also seem to favor the university. The economic standard is favorable for the growth of this school (Bobby, 2014). Also, the world economic conditions have created a demand for education thus promoting the university.
The social, cultural state of Swinburne University is quite good. The institution is composed of both students and staff of different social, cultural lines. There is a trust relationship among the students of different social, cultural backgrounds which is a good aspect of this university. Technologically, the school seems to have adopted the best latest technology. The university has its website in place which provides many services including online classes. Besides, it also has an intranet which offers the best information service for both the staff and the students. This is important because technology has become a crucial, inevitable aspect that every business should adopt for its growth (Zhexembayeva, 2014).
Swinburne University has various Universities and colleges that have taken the positions of the opponents to the Swinburne University. Some of these schools and colleges include the University of Melbourne, University of Sydney, Monash University just to mention a few. On the list, University of Melbourne University seems to be such a close education player competitor to Swinburne University. In such much as these universities have different education journeys, their current aims, objectives and promotional activities are almost similar since they deal in the same business. Therefore, Swinburne University should come up with much-improved strategies to gain the competitive advantage over Melbourne (Thorne, 2014).
Swinburne has a bigger list of education options that are available for students to choose from. This has given it an advantage over Melbourne University. Swinburne needs to come up with creatively innovative ways that will help it attract a bigger number of customers. This can be better promotional offers which are likely to help it get more student admissions (Philip & Armstrong, 2014).
SWOT is a marketing tool which is also used to evaluate the market environment of a given business. SWOT stands for Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. This is a valuable tool because it will Swinburne University to take advantage of its strengths. At the same time, it will help it to minimize the potential threats thus successfully using the available opportunities that exist.
Firstly, Swinburne University has its strengths that can be utilized for its growth. The age of this institution gives it an excellent reputation and a better ranking; this, therefore, can help it to improve the brand name quickly. Also, the University already has many partners internationally in many foreign countries (Charles, 2012). This is strength and can help it to grow faster. Secondly, in this analyzing the weaknesses of this university, the institution has a limited seat capacity, and at the same time, it has many competitors on the ground which includes Melbourne University among others. Therefore, this inhibits weaknesses inhibit the growth of Swinburne University (Osita, 2014).
Thirdly, Swinburne University has various opportunities in its operation. The university has a stable website in place. This is a chance to the school since it can further extend its services. Also, the institution has opportunities of further partnering with other institutions in different countries. Lastly, in the analysis of the threats of Swinburne, the university receives the threat from the competitors in the education market such as Melbourne University which is an already established school in Australia (Blake & Wijetilaka, 2015).
Brand positioning involves setting standards and putting the customers to light regarding what the brand name entails. Failure to conduct value and brand positioning, the customers are likely to be misled by the false information spread by the competitors. In as much as Swinburne University has a brand name that is already established, the institution needs to continue improving its value and brand. It needs to continuously communicate its strengths to its potential customers hence attracting them. This will help it to attract more students both locally and internationally thus growth (Andrei et al., 2010).
There are various goals and objectives that Swinburne University needs to consider in the year 2018. Firstly, the university needs to aim at increasing business in the year 2018. Marketing strategies should target getting new students joining the University (Raciti, 2010). This will greatly help the university to grow. Secondly, Swinburne should aim at the new product introduction in 2018. The university has opportunities of growth, especially in its online programs. It should consider establishing more new online courses. This will guarantee the school an expansion in the market because new students will be attracted to join it (Cran, 2016).
Thirdly, Swinburne should aim at repeat customers. The university has had many students go through its systems and therefore, it can be creative enough to apply strategies that help attract these students back. Some students have taken diploma courses, degree and masters yet need to advance in education. The university should look for ways of drawing them back to study other courses or advancement in the same course. Lastly but not least, Swinburne needs to aim and have objectives to increase brand awareness. The institution needs to put strategies in place that will see its brand name strengthened. This is important for not only the current customer but also for the customers to come. If Swinburne achieves these targets, the company is likely to benefit its marketing and thus increasing its market share.
For Swinburne to meet its marketing aims and objectives for 2018, the University needs to apply the rightful marketing mix. The marketing mix strategies are usually called the 4Ps, and in some cases, they are extended to the 7Ps. They include price, promotion, product, physical evidence, people, and process. Regarding price, Swinburne needs to ensure that it offers its products at a cost that is customer friendly. It should not be too high to customers nor too low for the university to go a loss. The institution also needs to consider the product. In this case, it needs to offer the best undergraduate and postgraduate courses. The university should provide disciplines that are in demand by the current world and thus attract more students (Goi, 2014).
Swinburne should also consider promotion. This is important since it promotes brand recognition and also the sales. This can be implemented through a good public relation and advertising among many others. Also, the institution needs to consider place as one of the marketing mix strategies. It should locate the branch campuses strategically to attract many students. Also, there is need to find online courses. The search engine optimization of the website should be improved to ensure that remote students can easily find it. This will also help this university to increase its student admission in the tear 2018.
Also, the school should consider its process. The process is important for every business, and it should be totally optimized. The poor business process significantly hinders the profitability of the organization. Also, Swinburne should consider people. Successful marketing recognizes all people involved whether directly or indirectly. Lastly, marketing will be successfully implemented if there is an emphasis on physical evidence. This is important because it helps understand the progress and proves the move (Goldsworthy, 2010).
A competitive strategy refers to the action plan that is designed to help a given business gain a competitive advantage over its rivals. This used in advertising by a little discredit of the competitor’s product. Michael Porter designed a competitive strategy tool which is important for successful marketing. He proposed three most important aspects which are the cost leadership, differentiation and focus which can be further divided into the cost focus and the differentiation focus (Mankiw & Taylor, 2011).
Swinburne needs to consider cost leadership to gain a competitive advantage over other competitors. This involves reduction of the fee paid per student for a given course. Cutting down the fee will disadvantage the competitors and thus advantage to the Swinburne. Also, Swinburne University is in a good position of implementing differentiation as a competitive strategy (Wolny & Mueller, 2013). The institution should offer courses that the competitors are not offering thus attracting more students who are looking for these specific courses. Besides, Swinburne should market focus strategy. Focus can be low-cost focus where the institution focuses on reducing a course price for a given segment of the market. It may also be differentiation focus which aims at coming up with classes for a given segment of people. The right application of these aspects will help Swinburne University to gain competitive advantage (Laszlo & Zhexembayeva, 2011).
Various aspects should be considered in the media and budget allocation for Swinburne University. Firstly, the University needs to set aside money for advertising or promotions. This covers banner ads, print ads, mobile ads, TV, Radio, Direct emails and outdoor ads. Secondly, Swinburne needs to invest a lot of money in the website and general branding. This entails the brand strategy, consulting, execution strategy, microsites, blog and content generation, consulting, web design and development, rebranding and search engine optimization. These aspects of marketing are important for the success of Swinburne in 2018 (Ashley & Tuten, 2015).
Thirdly, there is the need for Swinburne University to invest in online activities. This covers social media marketing, paid search, virtual trends, directories, virtual events among others. Also, public relations should be allocated money in this plan for PR placement, press releases and awards, and promotions. Besides, events should be allocated some money. This will cater for event marketing, open houses, event sponsorship, organization membership, and tradeshows among others. It is, therefore, important to consider these five aspects in the budget for successful implementation of the marketing plan. The money allocation is as follows.
Figure 1.0
This budget allocation plan is valid and justified various factors reasons. Firstly, in the distribution, the website and branding strategy have been allocated the highest amount of the cash available. This is because it is the core aspect of marketing. The brand significantly contributes to getting a good impression of the university, but the website will help it reach people from all over the globe. An enormous amount of cash will also be allocated to the online strategies. This will substantially boost the online presence of Swinburne University. Advertising is inevitable in business and therefore, there is a need for to embrace it too. Some amount should also be allocated for public relations and events (Wolny & Mueller, 2013)
With the successful implementation of this budget allocation, the Swinburne University will improve in the number of student admissions. This will, therefore, help the university to increase its profitability and thus boost its general growth. Also, successful marketing will significantly improve the brand image. Many people will hear about the university and thus increase their willingness to join the University. Also, successful marketing will improve on the general sustainability of this university. Some students might not enter the university immediately but will join it later thus sustainability. Successful marketing will, therefore, benefit the school in many different ways.
In conclusion, every business needs to implement a clear marketing plan every year. A good marketing plan should cover all relevant aspects of the organization including but not limited to the demand analysis, segmentation and market analysis, business environment analysis, strategies and the appropriate budget allocation for the marketing. Successful implementation of a marketing plan is likely to benefit the business in many different ways. It helps a business increase the profitability and also improves the brand image among many other reasons.
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