Marketing Your Institution and Its Programs
Helena Kantanen
Today, institutions of higher education (HEIs) compete for qualified personnel, good students, and funding on the global arena. The purpose of this chapter is to present what marketing thought and practice could mean in the context of higher education (HE). The chapter discusses the essentials of strategic marketing and also the critique presented toward consumerism in higher education. Moreover, the chapter suggests ideas and tools for advancing marketing in HEIs. The students come from very diverse backgrounds these days, but the focus of this chapter is still on the grand mass of students, namely young people who have recently matriculated from high school.
Necessity for Marketing Higher Education Institutions
Gone are the days when institutions and programs of higher education could take a sufficient number of high-quality applicants for granted. Diminishing age groups, declining enrollments, diversification of educational forms, fluctuating appreciation of higher education, academic unemployment, decreased state funding, new management practices, international competition—these are some of the reasons that have challenged higher education institutions and their marketing and communication efforts during the past decades. According to some, a fundamental shift has taken place also: “A shift from a collective world in which independent and critical thought was valued, to a collective world in which universities are expected to fulfill not these values but those of the marketplace and the economy.”1 There has been a shift from social institutions to businesses that sell products, offer services, and operate like corporations.2 Today, HEIs compete for qualified personnel, good students, and funding on the regional, national, and global arenas.
Under pressures, many HEIs have recruited marketing professionals and adopted marketing tools and now operate like for-profit organizations in relation to their prospective and current students. It is worth noting that this approach to higher education and the view of students as clients has also been criticized pungently.3 According to Ronald Barnett4 the pedagogical relationship between the students and academia is threatened by the market relationship. Paul Gibbs and Patrick Murphy5 explain that the essential nature of education is missed if priority is given to consumer needs instead of the mission of the educational institution. Dennis Clayson and Debra Haley even argue that “treating students as customers creates a mindset that can be seen as both inappropriate and potentially detrimental to the student’s educational welfare.”6 If students are treated as customers, the educational promise of personal and intellectual transformation is endangered.7 Moreover, it can be argued whether students should be called customers or collaborative partners. They not only consume educational services but also must take responsibility for their learning. The outcomes of education depend on their abilities, motivations, and interactions.8
The critique of this marketing approach has often been based on the notion of marketing as the application of certain skills and technologies.9 However, if modern views of service marketing and relationship marketing are applied, they reveal a fruitful arena for the marketing efforts of HEIs. Recent studies suggest that students do not differ from consumers of other service settings. Therefore, HEIs have begun to focus on meeting or exceeding the needs of their students.10 When students’ trust in the HEI is strengthened through the behavior of faculty members and staff, and through administrative policies and practices, they are more willing to recommend their institution to others. Students value an institution of higher education whose employees demonstrate competence, benevolence, and good problem solving. Moreover, they value an institution whose administrative policies and practices consider the interest of the students before the interest of the institution. Eric Anctil11 maintains that “higher education leadership can use marketing efforts to better align organizational goals, be more responsive to key stakeholder needs, and be adaptive rather than prescriptive to negotiate the community’s changing needs and expectations.”
Within the context of HE, corporate communications—or public relations if one prefers—has a long history, while marketing is a newcomer, at least in Scandinavia where HEIs are mainly nonprofit organizations. Even in Scandinavia, the new universities of applied sciences, previously called polytechnics, have adopted a more marketing-like approach. This has been a natural evolution considering their position as a challenger and a new form of HEI.
Stephen Newman and Khosro Jahdi12 maintain that there are often gaps between the marketing rhetoric and reality. This can be quite offensive for the faculty who are in the key position when building institutional reputation. As Hemsley-Brown and Oplatka put it, “Much research is needed to examine the notions of: ethical perceptions, personal and moral philosophies, ethical values and social responsibilities of those involved in managing the marketing of universities, particularly the internal marketing issues.”13
Strategic Marketing Approach
The U.K.’s Chartered Institute for Marketing has defined marketing as “the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating, and satisfying customer requirements profitably.”14 However, both marketing researchers and professionals have identified a need for a new definition of marketing, as the focus of modern marketing is rather on relationships or on service marketing than on products. Additionally, new marketing approaches emphasize doing things with customers, not just doing things to them. Today, marketing is seen not only as a management discipline but rather as a way of thought of the whole organization15
The 7Ps of Marketing Mix
The “4Ps” of product, place, price, and promotion are still considered the essential elements of marketing mix. Marketing services, to appropriately be applied, require three more Ps: processes, physical evidence, and people. Consequently, these should be taken into account when marketing educational services. Interestingly, in the HEI context, Newman and Jahdi16 would replace people with caliber and champions, process with capabilities, and physical evidence with charisma or collateral. They maintain that the caliber and quality of people, instructors, play a major role in attracting and retaining students. Also, they suggested that in the process of delivering educational services, the capabilities of an institution can contribute to major competitive advantages. The physical evidence of the 7Ps refers to the location and facilities of an institution. By referring to it as charisma or collateral, Newman and Jahdi stress the reflections of corporate identity, like academic ceremonies and house style manuals.
Market Segmentation
Segmentation is a central concept of strategic marketing. It means defining meaningful differences between groups of customers to focus marketing more effectively. Segmentation can be done on different bases, like geographic, demographic, geodemographic, or psychographic grounds. In the context of HEIs, geographic and demographic bases are often used: We target young people of certain ages in certain geographic areas. Segments should be built so that they are distinctive, tangible, accessible, and defendable. This means, for example, that we must choose segments we can reach with those resources available.
Segmentation cannot be done if one cannot identify potential customers. Therefore, it is important to know where students come from, what their backgrounds and values are, and on what basis they choose an HEI. According to Susan Barrett the elements of success are competitiveness and relevant programs, efficient operations, cross-functional networks, and pertinent and relevant information search. High school students evaluate their future HEIs on a rational basis, which may include the teaching staff, campus facilities, and the quality of education. On the other hand, there are also many emotional factors involved in the college choice, like personal values or the atmosphere perceived when on a campus visit. Many studies of higher education segmentation examine the rational perspectives of university choice. Also, the marketing and communication strategies of HEIs rely very much on the rational approach to potential applicants. However, a more fruitful approach would be to integrate both rational and emotional factors of prospective students’ values.17
Branding in Higher Education
Branding is one of the marketing-based approaches that has been eagerly discussed during the past decade. How is a learning environment built that can be called a brand community to increase customer loyalty and positive word of mouth?18 There are several studies on image and reputation of HEIs but very few on branding.19
The basis of branding is in knowing what is special and distinctive about an organization. Organizational identity is seen to be the tool for branding and a source of competitive advantage.20 A study in the Finnish context of HE proved that the identity of an HEI appears to its stakeholders through its managers, traditions, and campus environments and thus affects the image formed.21 Therefore, HEIs could build on these elements when branding an institution and draw on their history. On the other hand, mergers may face the risk of losing the common history with their stakeholders.
Branding approach may be particularly useful when the product marketed is a flagship program like an MBA.22 In competitive markets, differentiation is a key to successful branding and can provide also a market edge when the program has less favorable ratings. Several of the critical outcomes—learning, career outcomes, program content, and personal fit—of MBA programs must be met. The business school does not need to excel in all factors, but the image of the program must be clear.
What is branding in the context of higher education? Several studies have proven that the idea of speaking with one voice does not suit HEIs characterized by complexity, a high degree of freedom, and relatively low control.23 In my own study, I realized that there were two mainstreams of branding efforts in HEIs. The first was the core assumption that management of actions, messages, and speaking with one voice was a way to success. The second stressed the grassroots work at the academic departments. These are not necessarily contradictory but rather complementary. I maintained that the faculty should be encouraged to reach out; to speak and to listen; and to build relationships to gain mutual trust, satisfaction, and understanding. That would be the best way to live up to the brand proposition of HEIs.24 Therefore, stakeholder approach could be another fruitful way of branding HEIs. Stakeholders are the groups that an organization depends on to survive.25 The significant stakeholders of an HEI are, for example, staff, students, alumni, academic community, financiers, local leaders, community partners, journalists, schools, and parents. Branding of an HEI would mean constructive collaboration with all these groups, which in turn will lead to positive word of mouth and recommendations and contribute to the good reputation of an HEI. Gibbs and Murphy state that “the use of marketing ought to enrich and enhance the institution’s brand through representing fairly its ethos and its academic, competitive and ethical ways of being, for and with its stakeholders.”26
Building a Marketing Plan
Provide your students with lifetime memories and academic growth. Make them able to “confront the anxiety of the future with confidence, creativity and criticality.”27 Urge your faculty to be passionate about teaching. Positive learning experiences form a solid ground for marketing efforts. Being a part of a brand community predicts alumni loyalty.28 Some argued that the essential role of instructors in students’ lives is as contributors to student trust and student loyalty. Consequently, do not let the public relations (PR) department or advertising agency alone take care of the marketing of your institution. Make sure that your marketers understand the nature of pedagogical processes and the value of high-class research and research-based teaching.
Consider marketing as a strategic approach—not as a variety of tools and tricks. Adoption of marketing thought and practice in HEIs too often means adopting marketing communication tools, like attractive brochures or advertising campaigns. Instead, root your marketing plans in the overall strategy of your institution. Do we aim to be the most attractive HEI in our region, in certain fields, within the next five years? What does this mean from the point of view of marketing our institution? How should we recruit top professors in these fields? How should we target, for example, science-focused high schools? What information do we have on our position now, and what must be done to reach the goal?
Do not forget that both are needed: rational and emotional appeals. Your prospective students need both specific information (i.e., the application procedure and entrance exams) and communication that captures their attention and appeals to their emotions. Life of high school students is an endless flow of stimuli—music, videos, movies, clips, and other visual and audio impulses. Targeting them means that HEIs need to learn to speak their language.
Make your current and former students your ambassadors. Do not only send your middle-aged study advisors to talk in high schools and educational fairs. They may appeal to counselors and teachers, but according to our experience, the best testimonials are given by peers—in this case, by current students. The prerequisite is, naturally, that your students are satisfied with their education. The alumni are also valuable. Make their careers and student life memories visible in your websites and materials. If there are celebrities among your alumni, do not hesitate to ask them to tell their story.
Take advantage of social media. Introduce your institution in Second Life. Tweet your news. Put up a Facebook page. Make YouTube videos. Consider advertising in social media. In short, be aware of the arenas where your prospective students are, and use them. But please remember the nature of social media—people are there because of the importance of social networks. If you are not willing to engage in conversations with your customers, stay out.
Case in Point
In spring 2011 there was a significant increase in the number of applicants to business studies at our university. This can partly be explained by the long-term PR work that our university, department, and students had done together for years. We gained confidence that our strategy to have young people talk to young people and to bring prospective students to the campus to see and feel what it is like here, to decide whether this would be their place of academic growth, was working.