Marketing of Educational Services

Marketing of Educational Services By Priyanka Balwa MBA-III-B 2009-10

Education 

Education in its broadest sense is any act or experience that has a formative effect on the mind mind,, character , or physical or physical ability of  an individual.

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Education is the process by which society deliberately transmits its accumulated knowledge,, skills and values from one knowledge generation to another through institutions institutions..

Need for Marketing Educational services 

Need to “market” their services has not really been felt by the educational sector 

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This is because there is always Demand>Supply

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But in the recent years, there is a shift in trends

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Large number of institutions for  specialized fields have been set up in the recent years for fields like Management and computer education

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This has lead to increase in competition

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This makes them come face to face with questions like    

Product differentiation, product extension, diversification and service integration

Education as a service 

Services are those separately identifiable, essentially intangible activities, which provide want satisfaction and are not necessarily  tied to the sale of product another  service

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Education as a service can be said to be providing an intangible benefit  (Increment in knowledge, aptitude, professional expertise, skill) produced with the help of a set of tangible (infrastructure), and intangible (faculty expertise

and learning ) aids

:::Points to be noted::: 

A consumer may have tangible

 physical evidence to show for the service exchange transaction 

But the actual benefit accrued is purely intangible in nature

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Education is a service which is geared primarily to the consumer market 

Characteristics::::INTANGIBILITY::: 

Education is an Intangible dominant service —Impossible to touch, see or feel

:::Standardization is difficult::: 

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Lack of Standardization opens up marketing opportunity of  differentiated need based course  packages Education as a service cannot be patented

:::Perishability::: 

Production and consumption are simultaneous activities

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No inventories can be made up Eg:- A lecture scheduled cannot be stored

:::Inseparability::: 

It is impossible to separate a service from the provider 

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There is a need for the service provider to be present when the service is to be performed and consumed

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This limits the scale of operations—The number of providers available would define the number of simultaneous performances possible

:::Other Characteristics::: 

High Fixed cost, Low Variable Cost

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Specialized and need based

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Competition

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Customer limitations

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Lack of ownership

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Heterogeneity

Marketing Strategies ::::Before Deciding on the Marketing Mix, Educational Institutes should answer  certain basic Questions:::: 

What Business are we in?

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Who are our customers and What benefits they seek?

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Criteria that students apply:

Reputation of the institute

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Number of applicants keen to enroll in the course

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Past success rate of placement

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Faculty expertise

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Width of specialization offered

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Infrastructural facilities

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Fees

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How can we build or defend our  competitive position?

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What is our entry strategy?

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How should we offer new service offers that help/strengthen the competitive position?

:::Marketing Mix::: ADULT EDUCATION

HIGHER EDUCATION

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION MARKETING MIX

VOCATIONAL EDUCATION

SECONDARY EDUCATION

:::Marketing Mix::: Marketing MIX

Product

Price

Place

Promotion

Physical Process Evidence

Product 

Range-

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Quality Level-

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Brand Name-

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Post Transactional Service-

Price 

Level

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Discounts (Scholarships)

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Allowances

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Commissions

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Payment Terms

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Consumers percived value

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Quality/price relationship

Place 

Location

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Accessibility

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Distribution Channels

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Distribution Coverage

Promotion 

Advertising

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Personal selling

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Sales promotion

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Publicity

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Public relations

People 

Personnel

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Training

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Commitment

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Incentives

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Attitudes

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Degree of involvement

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Customer contact

Physical evidence 

Environment

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Furnishings

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Layout

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Noise levels

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Facilitating goods

Process 

Polices

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Procedures

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Mechanism

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Employee discretion

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Customer involvement

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Flow of activities

:::Current Trends::: 

The RDAS Approach—

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The Relating, Discovering, Advocating, and Supporting (RDAS)

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Notion of concept selling is applied to the marketing of products and services

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The four RDAS categories are further divided into 12 sequential and interdependent tasks:

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Client Identification Fact Finding Planning; Establishing Credibility Targeted Research; Focused Planning; Problem Analysis and Agreement; Planning the Presentation; Presenting; Facilitating the Decision; Achieving Closure; and Rediscovering.

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Rationale, practical suggestions, Rationale, and examples examples related to marketing task accomplishment accomplishment are presented within the discussion under each major  heading.

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This RDAS schema provides a template against which practitioners may assess their current activities, and may serve as a basis for establishing a new genre of management and cost accounting systems that can be applied to marketing educational products and services.

:::Thank you:::