Marketing And Business Communications

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02 Nov 2017

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Student Number S431011

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

Introduction. 3

Ways AF can compete against the other institution. 3

Porter’s Five Forces. 4

The marketing environment. 5

Establishing the extent to which AF’s students/members are satisfied. 6

Attracting more students and expanding range of services. 7

Reducing costs. 8

Conclusion. 9

Bibliography. 10

1. Introduction

This report will describe ways in which AF can compete against the other institute. How AF can establish if its students and members are satisfied. Ways in which AF can attract more students, increasing revenue and ways costs can be reduced will be established. Although information on AF is limited as the market share and information on the other institute is unknown. To find if AF can compete against other intuitions we must first consider the marketing concept. This is the philosophy where AF needs to analyse the needs of their customers and make decisions to satisfy these needs better than AFs competitors. AF must also identify their competitor’s key selling points and surpass those points.

2. Ways AF can compete against the other institution.

SWOT (Strength, weakness, opportunities and threats) analysis is a useful method for understanding strengths and weaknesses of an organisation. It identifies both the opportunities that are open and the threats the organisation may face. As illustrated in figure 1.1 of swot analysis, strengths and weaknesses are internal, opportunities and treats are external.

Looking at AF and its competitors using SWOT, AF can start a strategy that will help distinguish AF from other competitors in the market so that they can compete successfully.

Strengths that should be considered in that that we must assume AF has high student retention, low student to teacher ratios, high enrolment and high graduation results.

Weakness facing AF is if their tuition rates are high, a low post-graduation employment rate, lack of student parking and accommodation or low school reputation. If AF’s costs are higher than their competitor is also a factor.

Opportunities

This is where the AF identifies opportunities for growth and improvement such as investigating if other institutions are reducing programs and incoming class sizes. Diversification can be introduced by using unused office space for training seminars, conventions or consultancy.

Threats

This is where AF identifies threats that could harm the institute such as substitutes for example online courses which would also be a technological threat. The economic downturn can be a factor and changes in government policy such as cuts in grants and fees.

Figure 1.1 Swot Analyses.

/http://wpcontent.answcdn.com/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0b/SWOT_en.svg/220px-SWOT_en.svg.png

http://www.answers.com/topic/swot-analysis

3. Porter’s Five Forces model (figure 2.1) identifies and gives analysis of five competitive forces that help determine a business weaknesses and strengths.

New Entrants. AF is a small national professional body that is a not for profit making organisation. The treat to AF is low as new entrants will find it too expensive in the initial setting up of such an organisation as there is a high capital requirement. To enter the education sector more time is needed to examine the economies of scale and overcome government regulations.

Bargaining power of suppliers. This threat is very high as the suppliers are the lecturers and if they are in a short supply, prices or wages will be increased.

Bargaining power of buyers. The threat of buyers is low as there are a lot of students wishing to further their education in the current economic climate. Students cannot enter as competitors.

Threat of substitutes is not significant as the only real substitute that can be introduced is online learning. Although a cheap alternative it lacks the professionalism of the organisation.

Rivalry. Is a high threat as the other professional body is driving down prices and reducing revenue as both organisations are competing for a market share.

Figure 2.1 Porters five forces

http://www.strategy4u.com/assessment_tools/porters_five_forces/porters_five_forces_lg.gif

http://www.strategy4u.com/assessment_tools/porters_five_forces/five_forces_popup.shtml

4. The marketing environment.

The acronym S.L.E.P.T. (Social, Legal, Economic, Political and Technological) can be used by AF to scan the external environment.

AF must consider;

Social

The ability to attract highly qualified staff and retain such staff to prevent them from moving to other institutes.

Integration with the local community.

Incorporation of students with special needs.

Legal

Legislation that may affect AF such as a change in health and safety legislation.

Change to the organisations opening hours.

Changes to funding the organisation.

Economic

The ability of members to raise funds for fees and to price accordingly.

Ability to invest savings into the organisation to facilitate growth and a decline in the economic cycle.

Budget accordingly to provide resources for staff and members.

Political

As political changes are closely tied up with legal changes AF must follow changes such as skills required for staff and adapt to any course changes.

Local government decisions that may affect AF such as providing the proper infrastructure.

Technological

AF must get the right technology and update regularly to compete against other institutions.

By moving from paper based books to e-book readers will reduce costs for students making AF more attractive.

New computer viruses may affect the organisation so it is imperative AF provides the latest antivirus and proper firewalls are in place.

By email marketing, AF should send regular information to members to advertise new products. The more AF keeps in touch with its members, the better AF can compete of other institutions.

5. To establish the extent to which AF’s students and members are satisfied.

Using Market Research can give information to AF if customers and members are satisfied. It can also be a key factor to get an advantage over competitors by comparing information received about competition. The types of market research are;

Primary Research can be done by gathering information from a satisfaction survey,

Information can be collected in the following ways:

Complaint and suggestion systems by suggestion boxes being placed in corridors.

Lost student and member analysis by contacting persons whom have stopped doing courses or have switched to other institute.

Interviews can be conducted by staff either by telephone or in person.

Surveys being conducted online or by mail.

Questionnaires can be distributed among students and members.

Focus groups, which is a group of people that are asked about their perceptions, opinions, and attitudes towards AF, gathering customer information and getting their direct feedback.

Questions that should be asked are;

How satisfied they were with the overall quality of facilities at AF?

The quality of tuition?

Any changes they would make or improve on?

Any feedback they would like to give?

Is AF offering value for money?

Is the professionalism of AF up to standard?

How does AF compare to other institutions?

Secondary Research is to analyse the information that has been collected which will give the effectiveness of current practices and the success of current courses establishing student satisfaction. This information can then be used to identify competitors, establish benchmarks, identify market penetration, and identify potential students and members. As AF has found the customer satisfaction benchmark it can now start working to improve it. Physical evidence affects the customer’s satisfaction. As services are intangible, customers must depend on other ways to judge courses. This can be solved by AF publishing the finding in the survey.

6. Attracting more students and expanding range of services.

Relationship Marketing.

Is a long term strategy to build relationships with customers for competitive advantage and focuses on customer retention.

AF should look at each member as an individual and try to establish a relationship. New courses and services can be introduced that are beneficial to the member with focus on product benefits and not product features.

The marketing mix described by Edmund Jerome McCarthy (1964) as the 4 P’s(Product, Price, Promotion and Place) can be used to attract more students and expand its range of services and increasing revenue by;

The Product is designed for maximum student benefit satisfying the student wants and needs. Using branding such as HETAC make courses more attractive. There will be a high range of services to include higher certificates, degree and masters programs. Qualifications will be internationally recognised, attracting students to further their education helping to retain students and continue to proceed on further courses.

AF may produce and sell its own range of books and technical papers for market development and seek product development looking to penetrate the market place.

Accommodation on campus will also attract students from other regions and overseas, increasing revenue.

Price has a lot of impact on student satisfaction level. AF must emphasise value for money, becoming the cost leader giving the best quality at a lower cost. Introducing flexible payment options will increase the ability of students that will be available to apply for courses. An early payment discount (early bird) can be introduced to encourage early payments. Giving corporate discounts will encourage its staff to proceed on courses.

Promotion is important as it lets potential students be aware of services on offer. AF must promote marketing communication to the target market. This can be through advertising in the press, television, radio, or notice boards. Technology is the fastest and most economical way of promoting services as it can be done through AF’s website, college forums, social media and e-mail. Post sales will be conducted by contacting students about future courses, increasing life cycle of services and student retention.

Place refers to the market where students look to purchase AF’s services. AF must achieve the best way of getting services to students that is convenient and easy to access.

A feature of flexible hours can be offered to target students to facilitate outside of working hours. AF could also offer online courses for distant learning.

There are an additional three P’s process, Physical evidence and people that provide a broader perspective.

7. Reducing costs.

Firstly to reduce costs, AF must establish what their costs are and identify which costs can be reduced. Introducing a cost reduction plan to maximise efficiency without compromise to growth is a difficult proposition. In my opinion suggestions that may reduce costs are;

AF needs to identify the need of suppliers, validate and challenge costs which will lead to either elimination of the supplier or enter into negotiations to reduce costs. Cost reduction may be achieved by simply changing supplier.

Staff reductions can be made by hiring on a contract basis, saving money on salary and employee benefits.

Reducing office expenses by going electronic instead of using paper whenever possible. This can be done through I-pad or tablets.

Outsourcing might seem to be an easy answer and care must be taken as it exposes AF to new forms of risk from an inferior supplier. Outsourcing such things as human resources, billing, or payroll will help reduce costs and give more time to focus on being more competitive. By outsourcing technology AF can get the latest programs without the worry of constantly updating and servicing that technology also gaining professional support and advice.

8. Conclusion

AF must have a mission statement that states the aim of the organisation, the organisation's primary stakeholders are identified, how the organisation offers services and to explain why they exist.

AF’s pricing structure must be priced lower that the other institution bearing in mind that costs will determine price. AFs courses must be of a higher quality and recognised by all concerned. By observing changes in social patterns, population profiles and an economic upturn can assist in knowing when to increase or decrease courses.



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