Marketing Of Educational Services

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

Education 

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Education in its broadest sense is any act or experience that has a formative effect on the mind, character, or physical ability of an individual. Education is the process by which society deliberately transmits its accumulated knowledge, skills and values from one generation to another through institutions.

Need for Marketing Educational services 

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Need to “market” their services has not really been felt by the educational sector This is because there is always Demand>Supply 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 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 

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show for the service exchange transaction But the actual benefit accrued is purely intangible in nature 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::: 

Lack of Standardization opens up marketing opportunity of differentiated need based course packages

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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::: 

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It is impossible to separate a service from the provider There is a need for the service provider to be present when the service is to be performed and consumed 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 Specialized and need based Competition Customer limitations Lack of ownership Heterogeneity

Marketing Strategies ::::Before Deciding on the Marketing Mix, Educational Institutes should answer certain basic Questions::::  What Business are we in?  Who are our customers and What benefits they seek?

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Criteria that students apply: 

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Reputation of the institute Number of applicants keen to enroll in the course Past success rate of placement Faculty expertise Width of specialization offered Infrastructural facilities Fees

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How can we build or defend our competitive position? What is our entry strategy? 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    

RangeQuality LevelBrand NamePost Transactional Service-

Price       

Level Discounts (Scholarships) Allowances Commissions Payment Terms Consumers percived value Quality/price relationship

Place    

Location Accessibility Distribution Channels Distribution Coverage

Promotion     

Advertising Personal selling Sales promotion Publicity Public relations

People       

Personnel Training Commitment Incentives Attitudes Degree of involvement Customer contact

Physical evidence     

Environment Furnishings Layout Noise levels Facilitating goods

Process      

Polices Procedures Mechanism Employee discretion Customer involvement Flow of activities

:::Current Trends:::  

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The RDAS Approach— The Relating, Discovering, Advocating, and Supporting (RDAS) Notion of concept selling is applied to the marketing of products and services 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, and examples related to marketing task 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:::