Brand Development For Educational Services

Published Date: 23 Mar 2015 Last Modified: 03 Jan 2018

Edumentor Educational Services, is an organization operating in its 6th year and is engaged into providing comprehensive, result oriented entrance test preparation for graduation level management courses (BBS/BFIA/BBA/BBE) at various institutes.

The USP of the company is its extensive promotional strategies being implemented by the MBA Interns.

Over these years, EduMentor has been able to grab a niche for itself in this highly competitive industry as it has always been focuses on product quality and delivery. A major emphasis is on the BBS/BFIA courses at Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies (CBS), University of Delhi, as this is the best institution in the south East Asian Region for the same .The other institutes are the likes of IP University, Symbiosis etc.

This year the company has expanded its horizon by introducing coaching for five new courses i.e. HM (Hotel Management), Mass Communication, Law, B.e.Led (Bachelors in Elementary Education) and CA (Charted Accountancy). Since students get only approximately 2 months to prepare for all the entrance tests, the institute begins its initial batches barely a day after the 10+2 examinations. Also, unlike the competition which consists of major players from the CAT/CA/CS market of other preparatory institutes, like Career Launcher, IMS, P.T. Education, BBA/BBS/BBE/BFIA is the core competency that EduMentor deals in, hence it basically operates seasonally, from about 2 months before the XIIth examinations, to about 12weeks after the same. But now this year with the launch of CA (Charted Accountancy) - CPT preparation course, the company plans to operate annually.

For other new courses and along with the existing ones the rest over year is spent in refining the course material, and conducting career counseling sessions at various schools (70 schools covered last year) which also provide a database of students which can be used later for over the

Phone counseling, sales calls and information regarding free sessions and form dates. The role of the MBA program interns is critical to the complete process.

The interns are taken in batches so that one batch works the first half of the critical activity which is the recruitment of a huge ground level workforce of associate level workers Primarily, this team of second batch interns is divided into two groups, the counseling team, that is responsible for career counseling at the respective centers and over the phone counseling of students and parents , which the author was a part of.

The second group handles the vital component of the Board Centre activities.

This activity aims at maximizing the promotion efforts to the core target audience, i.e., class XII students (mainly commerce stream). During this activity, 350 board examination centers were located by various methods by the team, and compiled onto a list of centers that is divided into North Delhi, South Delhi, East Delhi & West Delhi. These zones are handled by zonal managers, under who up to 12 managers handle 4-5 board exam centers each. Each Zonal manager is responsible for building a team under him, which works on the D day i.e. the Board Examination day.

1.1 Company vision:

EduMentor was started with the intention of providing specialized coaching to the students who wish to seek admission in BBS / BBA / BBE. Aim was not just to open a coaching institute but rather to create a Knowledge Hub where students are the top priority. That is the reason why our faculty consists only of those who have been to the best in the field of BBA/BBS/BBE, making us
‘The Only Specialist BBA/BBS/BBE Entrance Coaching Institute”.

At EduMentor our core competency lies more in mentoring our students with those skill-set and weapons of education with the help of which they can easily fight their own battles and win them in the long run.

Students come and go year by year but every year a lot of students are referred by old students making EduMentor.

1.2 Purpose, Scope, and Limitations of Project:

Purpose:

The purpose of the project is to get an overall idea about the marketing of EduMentor Educational Services. It aims at developing the promotional and business development strategies of the company after thoroughly analyzing the same of the competitors. As the aspects of this project are multidimensional so is its purpose. It will take into consideration the mutual benefit of the company coupled with gaining some practical knowledge about the Education market & their overall marketing strategies & processes.

Value-addition to the Company

1. Find out the various products and courses present in the industry
2. Find various promotional and business development activity being undertaken by the company and the its competitors
3. Make company know the best products, methods and practices present in the market and develop strategies accordingly.
4. Find out the positive and negative aspects pertaining to specific area of operations.
5. Suggest the company the best possible scheme coupled with awareness and timing of benefit.
6. Overall business development of company in terms of revenue and value enhancement and making the company operations more efficient and effective for long term benefit.

Academic Benefits:

1. Got an insight of educational products and gain through knowledge of various promotional strategies.
2. Real time experience of interacting with perspective customers and convert them into real customers.
3. Real time experience of doing a market research & practical experience in convincing the end-users to fill up the questionnaire
4. Handling a team and act as a leader giving that winning edge which would not have come naturally

Scope of Project:

The objective of the project includes, the organizational Development at EduMentor Educational Services. EduMentor had entered the market of educational services 6 years back, so the basic aim of this project is Business Development that is generating business for them by attracting student's year-by-year by virtue of its product and ensuring effective operational accuracy across all its centers.

This would include structuring of the entire business so as to increase the efficiency of the work done at EduMentor. The project would enable EduMentor in Business development of the educational packages by reaching to the maximum number of students. Also it aims at developing promotional strategies (by keeping in mind the requirements of target audience and moves taken by the competitors) to increase conversion of students into these programs. The project will also help in measuring the students preferences for EduMentor educational package and how best EduMentor can come up with an educational package that meets the need/expectation of students based on the survey that will be done.

Limitations of the Study:

As this project undertaken includes a lot of activities and is very vast so considering the accuracy of all the aspects as required by the study is a major limitation. However, every attempt will be made to overcome any flaw which might occur due to this. Certain other factors which can form drawbacks to the conclusions of the project are:

a) Reach

The company covers Delhi NCR region, it doesn't go beyond the boundaries of our

national capital, hence expansion is limited.

b)Finance issues

The company is not funded by outside source and due to this problem it has limited

resources to offer during various Business deals which cater to improper results at the

end of the season for the organization.

c) HR issues

The company doesn't have enough HR‟s to manage out the activity in spite of the fact that hiring of summer interns from prestigious colleges like ICFAI Hyderabad & Gurgaon provides a little edge in management, still occurrence of numerous loopholes tend to occur.

d) Work Definition

The results and conclusions of the project cannot be generalized as the area of work assigned to me is restricted to the north zone (as Center Management) and NOIDA Zone (as Zonal Manager).

1.3Methodology:

§ Ghost shopping

In order gain insights of the strategies of competitors a study was conducted to gain knowledge about the business model of various competitors like Career Launcher and IMS and develop competitive promotional strategy for EduMentor accordingly and thus be the best among a few.

§ Relation building

Interacting with class XII students and their parents in order to get an idea of what all they expect from an institute preparing for BBA/BBS/BBE entrance exam and also to brief them about various options one has after XII.

This is done by:

e) Conducting counseling in various tuition centers

f) On the day of the Board exams, we interact with the parents, do short term counseling and give them brief knowledge of our product and the services we offer.

§ Market research

The help of a questionnaire would be taken if necessary.

§ Business development strategies

As a part of business development strategy various activities like Board center activity was conducted throughout Delhi in order to reach the target audience.

• On the day of the Board exams, we interact with the parents, do short term counseling and give them brief knowledge of our product and the services we offer
• Also SPD (Sample Paper Distribution) forms an integral part of BCA in order to generate awareness among the target audience.
• The Board Center Activity is the biggest marketing tool of the organization.

CHAPTER 2

PRODUCT DETAILS

(STAGE 1)

BROAD VIEW: PRODUCT AT EDUMENTOR

EduMentor was established with the goal of providing specialized coaching to the students who seek admission in top colleges for the courses like:

• BBS (Bachelor of Business Studies)
• BBA (Bachelor of Business Administration)
• BBE (Bachelor of Business Economics)
• BELED (Bachelor of Elementary Education)
• HM (Hotel Management)
• LAW
• CA-CPT (Charted Accountancy - Common Proficiency test)
• ENG (H) (Common Admission test for English hons (CATE))

At EduMentor the core competency lies more in mentoring the students to the right path of education than merely preparing them to achieve the best results. The product mainly encompasses management courses at the under graduate level. The three major courses which are offered are BBA, BBE and BBS. Providing coaching for these three courses forms the product for EduMentor along with mentoring students for the same. All the courses are three full- time professional degree courses. A BBA/BBS degree provides adequate learning of managerial skills and knowledge of business activities to the students. However, BBE (bachelor of business economics) is a management degree which lays emphasis not only on the management skills but also helps the students to get adequate knowledge about the economy and its functioning. All the three courses have been designed so as to groom professionals for future, rather than mere academicians or “degree holder”.

The course has kept in consideration the needs of the industry, so that students are job ready after their graduation unlike in the traditional sources where they are required to undertake additional professional courses to find a job. The approach to learning is a very practical one, complete with industry case studies, role plays and a lot of industry interaction. EduMentor provides coaching for undergraduate management courses.

The primary programs being:

1. BBS (University of Delhi)
2. BBE/BFIA (University of Delhi)
3. BBA (I.P. University, Symbiosis Pune, Christ Bangalore etc.)

The Newly launched programs being:

1. BeLed (University of Delhi)
2. HM (I.P. University, Symbiosis Pune, etc.)
3. CATE (University of Delhi)
4. CA - CPT (Institute of Charted Accountants of India)
5. LAW (Various Universities throughout India)
6. MASSCOMM (Various Universities throughout India)

2.1) BBS:BACHLOR OF BUSINESS STUDIES

It is the prime pitch made by EduMentor; the company pitches itself to be the only specialist institute for its entrance coaching. BBS is a professional degree which has been designed on the same pattern as MBA programs. The subjects for the course are taken up from the curriculum of best ranking MBA colleges in India. During the two years or 4 semesters of BBS, students study the basics of all functions of management namely finance, marketing, human resource and specialize in one of these in the final year. BBS is an outstanding general management program, the curriculum for BBS is rigorous, flexible, and continually enriched with the latest developments in management theory and practice. The academic calendar is based on six semesters - each six months in duration, followed by the University examinations. The Bachelor of Business Studies program enables graduates to think conceptually and adapt to change. In particular, the program is designed to:

• Develop intellectual and interpersonal skills
• Emphasize the broad economic, financial and managerial dimensions of dynamic business environment
• Facilitate the integration of academic knowledge and practical work experience
• Foster a high degree of professional competence in a specialist area
• Produce innovative and creative graduates
• Produce graduates who are motivated to continue lifelong learning and who cope effectively with change.

Graduates of the Bachelor of Business Studies degree can look forward to a broad range of career opportunities in the dynamic and competitive environment of today's business world.

2.2) BBA: BACHELOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

BBA aims at transforming a student into a corporate personality. This course with its intensive syllabus and a wide range of value addition modules enables the student to aspire for higher studies in premium business schools and India and abroad. Being a professional course it ensures a healthy balance between theoretical foundation and practical exposure to the present day business world. A quality BBA program offers more skill enhancement and practical knowledge than usual degree courses. Like an MBA program, learning through case studies, group activities, project writing, presentations, summer internship, etc. form an integral part of a BBA program. BBA graduates have an edge over others and are sought after by the industry owing to the exposure the course offers to operational environment in the field of Business.

Most of the BBA programs require a candidate to pass in Class 12 / HSC examination. Some of the institutes may demand minimum marks of 50% in class 12 as an eligibility to pursue the program. However, students who have appeared their H.S.C examination and awaiting their results are also eligible to take these tests.

2.3) BBE: BACHELOR OF BUSINESS ECONOMICS

BFIA: BACHELOR OF FINANCIAL AND INVESTMENT ANALYSIS

Economists study the optimum use of financial resources for the success of an organization to increase productivity. They study production, distribution and consumption of goods and services on the application of economic policy in particular area such as finance, labor, agriculture, energy and health. The program- Bachelor of business economics is designed to develop broad business analytical skills as well as the technical knowledge required within the economics and finance environment. You will focus on the application of economic, finance and statistical theory to common business problems. Furthermore, class presentations, simulations and group assignments are used extensively to develop essential personal qualities including clear thinking, resourcefulness and the ability to work in a team and perform under pressure.

As a BBE graduate one is expected to gain the necessary conceptual abilities, analytical skills and knowledge to equip one for a variety of professional career opportunities in industry, commerce or government service. In BBE the student verifies and reports how something is put into practice. As well as in the 'ability' as in the 'activity' the deepening of 'knowledge' is the core factor. The students have to acquire an insight in the different functions that can be distinguished in a company, such as production, logistics, finance, marketing, informatics, control, etc. Future business economists are to be educated to deal with company problems in an integral way. Special emphasis is placed on ensuring the students' qualifications for the job market and providing them with the necessary skills for academic research and further studies.

As far as BFIA is concerned most management programs in a developing country are industry specific. Finance is one such area, which also happens to be an important subject, especially in today's global scenario. The rationale behind this course is to introduce students to the subject before they take it up at the MBA level as an elective. Furthermore, the thrust of the programs is on exposing the students to real time business problems, through three years of rigorous industry training, which runs simultaneously with theory classes. They are sent to Housing Finance Companies, Chartered Accountancy Firms and even to the Stock Exchange Board for experience.

This course is meant for students who are keen on working in the core areas of finance, mainly with investment companies, capital markets, foreign exchange dealers, banks, mutual fund operations, insurance sector or finance companies.

USP:

1. Hard core finance content - 30 Papers covered in six semesters.
2. The opportunity for hands on training with our industrial partners. The papers covered in this course range from introduction to business and finance, to focus on areas like corporate taxation, auditing, corporate restructuring, merchant banking, investment analysis, portfolio management, etc. Pre - Admission forms are not accepted.

NEW PRODUCT LAUNCH THIS YEAR

2.4) B.El.Ed: BACHELOR OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

The Bachelor of Elementary Education (B.El.Ed.) program is a four-year integrated professional degree program of Elementary Teacher Education offered after the senior secondary (class XII) stage of school. Conceptualized by the Maulana Azad Centre for Elementary and Social Education (MACESE) of the Department of Education, University of Delhi and launched in the academic year 1994-95, the program is an attempt towards fulfilling the need for professionally qualified elementary school teachers. B.El.Ed. is designed to integrate the study of subject knowledge, human development, and pedagogical knowledge and communication skills. Both professional and academic options are available to students who graduate with a B.El.Ed. Degree.

The program aims to produce graduates of high caliber in the field of teacher education. A lot of effort is spent in the training of students and giving them a supportive and stimulating environment. A good number of students have been placed in government and private schools as professionally qualified elementary school teachers. Others are pursuing post-graduate studies and research in disciplines like education, linguistics, psychology, languages, history, social

work, sociology, mathematics and political science. Many B.El.Ed graduates are pursuing research in educational studies in Central Universities. Some of them are working as teacher educators.

2.5) HM: HOTEL MANAGEMENT

The boom in the tourism industry has resulted in the immense growth of hotel industry in India. The hotel industry promises a bright future for anyone who wishes to take up a career in this segment. The students opting for hotel management career courses must have an affinity towards socializing and understanding the needs of the people.

As hotels fall under the service industry, the motive of hotel management courses in India is to prepare the students to face the challenges of this competitive world. As far as tourism industry in India is concerned, it is attracting tourists from across the world and this definitely calls for quality hospitality.

Hotel Management as a Career Option

Hotel management is one of the most interesting career options in the contemporary job market. Career training from a recognized and reputed hotel management institute is just an icing on the cake.

In India there are many hotel management institutes and colleges which provide hospitality or hotel management courses.

Hotel Management Course Admissions

These hotel management courses make one aware of the operating-sections of the hotel industry like front office, general operations, sales and marketing, food and beverage, service keeping and catering.

Candidates seeking admission to the hotel management courses in India need to pass their 12th standard examination with English as a subject. Students with a bachelor's degree from any recognized university may also join some of the management training schemes offered by

various institutions. Admission depends on the performance of the students in the written admission test, personal interview round and group discussion session. The time duration of the courses offered by several institutes may vary from six months to three years.

Hotel Management Course Scope

Hotel management job opportunities exists both in the private and public sector. One can look for various openings available in the hotels of the nation. Most of the hotels in India offer lucrative pay packages to the suitable candidates. The jobs offered are satisfying as well as highly rewarding.

2.6) CATE: COMMON ADMISSION TEST FOR ENGLISH (H)

The Common Aptitude Test for English (CATE) for admission into the highly sought after B.A

English (Honors) program offered by the Delhi University (DU).

According to the CATE-2010 information bulletin, teachers of English at DU feel that a candidate's good performance in the Class 12 English examination does not necessarily mean that they have an aptitude for studying English Literature.

Earlier, the entrance tests for admissions to the English Honors course offered by colleges at DU were all conducted individually by the colleges themselves. The university administration had decided to change the system as it was believed that too many English entrance tests would put excessive pressure on candidates.

2.7) CA - CPT (Common Proficiency Test)

It is an entry level test for Chartered Accountancy Course. It is a test of four subjects i.e. Accounting, Mercantile Laws, General Economics and Quantitative Aptitude.

This test is of 200 marks. This test is divided into two sessions of two hours each:

1. A Simplified Entry to the Chartered Accountancy Course
2. CPT will replace existing Professional Education (Course-I) which requires 10-month study period followed by an exhaustive theoretical examination.
3. CPT is an objective type test to be held every February, May, August and November. This will reduce long waiting for entry to the chartered accountancy education and training.

Common Proficiency Test will be objective type multiple choice based examination. Candidates will be allowed to opt for Hindi medium Question Paper Booklet for answering the questions. Detailed information will be found given in the Information brochure.

PROGRAMMES OFFERED

The BBS/BBA/BBE program is offered in two formats:

1. Classroom
2. Correspondence (Till last year)

Table 1

Features	Classroom	Correspondence
Program		Program
Basic Reference Material	Yes	No
Classroom Training	Yes	No
Class Assessment Tests	Yes	No
Comprehensive Tests	Yes	No
Simulated Tests	Yes	No
Competitive Test Ranking	Yes	No
GD & PI Training	Yes	No

The company provides a specialist coaching for the management courses, substantiating the claims with excellent course material, results and the best faculty pool from the industry. The advantage of being a firm of CBS alumni initiative provides it with extensive knowledge of the product and process forming the core advantage for the company.

CHAPTER 3

SEGMENTATION, TARGETING AND POSITIONING

3.1SEGMENTATION

The purpose for segmenting a market is to allow your marketing/sales program to focus on the subset of prospects that are "most likely" to purchase your offering. If done properly this will help to insure the highest return for your marketing/sales expenditures. Depending on whether you are selling your offering to individual consumers or a business, there are definite differences in what you will consider when defining market segments. At EduMentor, the kind of segmentation that is done is, segment marketing, based on

a) Nature of school, i.e. public or private schools. Segmenting schools on the basis of its ownership, so that economically less privileged students of government schools can also be targeted, is unique to only EduMentor. No other player in the market, cater to the untapped potential of government school students.

b) The segmentation can also be done on the basis of subjects studied at the +2 level. Like on the basis of stream: commerce, Science and humanities.

Though student from any stream can apply for these entrances, but the target market becomes a little specific when considering commerce students, because often these entrances and other related courses are the first choice for them. Likewise, even within commerce students, the market can be segmented on the basis of subject mathematics, studied at the +2 level. Mathematics is essential for the entrance exam of BBE; hence, the students with commerce with maths can be motivated in that direction.

3.2TARGETING

Targeting is the second stage of the SEGMENT "Target" POSITION (STP) process. After the market has been separated into its segments, the marketer will select a segment or series of segments and 'target' it/them. Resources and effort will be targeted at the segment.

Since BBS is a management related course it is a primary option for commerce students, so the biggest target students for the organization is students with commerce background. Humanities are going out of fashion, and the courses like Mass Communication and Hotel Management have tests on same pattern as of BBS. So, BBA training can help a student aspiring to clear a Mass Communication entrance test and also BBA entrance, like a backup option. After the primary data collection, the strategy used to reach to the prospective customers was done on the following segmentation.

3.3POSITIONING

The organization has managed to form a niche for itself, in presence of strong competition from established players in the market. The positioning of the brand has been done from the very beginning, on two important propositions:

The organization being the only institute for providing specialized coaching to the students who seek admission in BBS / BBA / BBE. That is the reason why the institute's faculty consists only of those who have been to the best BBA/BBS/BBE & MBA institute making us „The Only Specialist BBA/BBS/BBE Entrance Coaching Institute‟. At Edumentor, the core competency lies more in mentoring the students to the right path of education than merely preparing them to achieve the best results.

The core team comprises of alumni of Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies and the leading MBA institutes which enable the organization to guide the students, the right things at the right time. Plus, the team, being CBSites, are more aware of the changes which have taken place in the pattern of the written test, GD and PI over the years. In fact, the core team consists of members who are involved in suggesting ways of improvement in the selection process at CBS in capacity of being Alumni of Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies.

Hence the STP (Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning) for EduMentor can be summarized as follows:

3.47 P's @EduMentor

The top most players for undergraduate management coaching is I.M.S. in Delhi with maximum number of enrolments in various consecutive years, so methodology used by the I.M.S was analyzed so as to understand the need of the market and develop the strategies for EduMentor.

PRODUCT:

The main product of EduMentor is coaching in BBS/BBE/BBA. It has expanded its horizon by diversifying its portfolio covering various undergraduate entrance exam coaching. The undergraduate coaching product comprises of:-

1. BBA/BBA/BBE entrance coaching
2. CLAT : LAW entrance coaching
3. Hotel Management
4. Bank PO
5. Media
6. Fashion
7. B.El.Ed
8. CA - CPT

PLACE:

EduMentor has its centers all over Delhi with a strong distribution channel. The centers are located all over Delhi are easily accessible making it a suitable option for the target audience. The centers are all located at prime locations providing it a higher visibility over the competitors. 13EduMentor Educational Services.

PRICE:

The price of EduMentor is slightly higher as compared to the other players present in the market. It reflects that EduMentor charges a premium on its price in lieu of its brand value and the market holding. The price of EduMentor varies from one zone to another depending on the demographic factors (mainly income) depending on affordability of the product at the place as well as the competition in that region. The pricing strategy forms the main part of competitor analysis as some segments of the market are price sensitive and respond sharply to the price variations in the market. The price for coaching in Delhi is kept at

Rs.12, 500 by EduMentor

PROMOTION:

EduMentor being a zonal level player enjoys high brand awareness in Delhi and NCR region. The agenda of promotion for the company is to make the audience aware of the product offerings and remind them about them being the market leader. Due to Financial back-up, various ways used by them to do the promotion are:-

1. Mobile ads (bulk SMS)
2. IP College Activity
3. Board Centre Activity
4. Edupro(Ex-Student Referral Program)

PEOPLE:

Workforce at Edumentor comprises of very few permanent employees and because this company operates seasonally so major chunk of workforce constitutes of 45 MBA interns for three months. This team represents Edumentor in its peak season

PROCESS:

The process of EduMentor's functioning starts with:

1. Obtaining of database of the prospective students every year.
2. Organizing career guidance sessions for those prospective students.
3. Carrying out counseling sessions individually and generating enrollments.
4. Conducting classes at respective centers with the Center Managers at each center managing all the operations i.e. the logistics and inventory management, etc.
5. Conducting mocks time to time and analyzing the results of the students and conducting the individual mentoring sessions

PHYSICAL EVIDENCE:

This ‘P' of service industry covers up the aspects such as the infrastructure and ambience of the institution. For an Educational institution, the infrastructure is an important aspect as the students who come for coaching are supposed to spend a considerable amount of time at the institute and for this they are supposed to be as comfortable as possible so as to be able to concentrate fully on their education and here at EduMentor, this point is of very high priority before the commencement of the season.

CHAPTER 4

COMPETITOR ANALYSIS

SALES is the immediate Next Step after Targeting

The next major step in the project was to analyze the competitor, their strategies, keeping a track over their actions and responding to them.

Competitor analysis in marketing and strategic management is an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of current and potential competitors. This analysis provides both an offensive and defensive strategic context through which to identify opportunities and threats. Competitor profiling coalesces all of the relevant sources of competitor analysis into one framework in the support of efficient and effective strategy formulation, implementation, monitoring and adjustment. Almost everyone in business understands the principle of trying to offer something better than what their competitors are offering. The undergraduate management studies market is new in origin, majorly dominated by CAT(MBA entrance exam) preparation institutes with no major specialist institute preparing just for management entrance exam. The major players can be listed as:-

1. IMS
2. EduMentor
3. T.I.M.E
4. CARRIER LAUNCHER
5. P.T. EDUCATIONS
6. SMART CARRIERS
7. SINGH STUDY CIRCLE

4.1MARKET SHARES OF MAJOR PLAYERS IN THE MARKET:

Table 2

NAME OF THE STUDENT	NO. OF STUDENT
IMS	3200
EDUMENTOR	3050
TIME	750
CAREER LAUNCHER	1750
P.T. EDUCATION	600
SINGH STUDY CIRCLE	1525
PRATHAM	775

4.2SWOT ANALYSIS

The aim of any SWOT analysis is to identify the key internal and external factors that are important to achieving the objective. These come from within the company's unique value chain. The internal factors may be viewed as strengths or weaknesses depending upon their impact on the organization's objectives. What may represent strengths with respect to one objective may be weaknesses for another objective. The factors may include all of the 4P's; as well as personnel, finance, manufacturing capabilities, and so on. The external factors may include macroeconomic matters, technological change, legislation, and socio-cultural changes, as well as changes in the marketplace or competitive position.

Analysis in Details:

STRENGTHS:

1. The fact that this institute was formed by pass outs of the Shaheed Sukhdev College they can capitalize on this thing.
2. Edumentor business model itself is a very big strength since it does not has to keep permanent employees when not required. Also, since the market for BBA/BBS is active only for 3 months at the most, so keeping the employees rest of the whole is a waste of money for them. So having this kind of a business model is strength for the institute.
3. The fact that all MBA interns are counselors and center managers whereas rests of the institutes have non-MBA'S for this purpose. They can exploit the expertise of the MBA and create a brand value in the eyes of the customer.

WEAKNESSES:

1. The institute has no financial backing from any of the private equity firms so the amount of money they can spend is limited which acts a major weakness for them.
2. The fact that this was the first time they had expanded in all parts of Delhi, and other institutes already had their centers since long time. So this is a weakness for them since other brands have already created a position for themselves in the minds of the people.
3. The other organizations have a website thorough which they communicate everything, but since the financial budget of Edumentor is limited they don't have the website for this purpose. So the amount of satisfaction would reduce for the students.
4. The organization being a small/medium scale organization is an unstructured organization leading to chaos at times whereas other players have been in the industry for a long period of time and have the finances also. So they are pretty much structured, therefore, it is a weakness for Edumentor.
5. The fact that the institute is serving to a niche market i.e. BBA/BBS/BBE market. So students who go in for other option might not consider Edumentor as an option.

OPPURTUNITY:

1. The number of students appearing for BBA/BBS/BBE this is would be around 30,000+, so there a huge market to be tapped.
2. The faculty at Edumentor is either a pass out from Shaheed Sukhdev College or MBA'S from IIM, MDI, IIFT, and FMS. So they can capitalize on this.
3. The fact that there are only a few players in the market which are established so it is the right time to register a name in the minds of people.
4. As mentioned earlier that every institute has to show constant results and the fact that Edumentor has had excellent result year also (37 out of 81 students at Shaheed Sukhdev College were from Edumentor). So they can capitalize on this also.
5. The institute can approach a private equity firm for the purpose of financial funding since the amount of growth they have shown is excellent. So getting a PE firm would help them get rid of the financial problem they would be facing.
6. The company can go in for coaching of other courses like Bank PO increasing the base they can serve.

THREATS:

1. The players who have been in the industry from the past 25-30 years have registered themselves in the minds of the students/ parents and it would be really difficult for them to create a brand name for them.
2. The fact that other institutes have got financial backing from various private equity players and Edumentor does not have a financial backing; this can be a weakness for them.
3. The institute has taken a lot of government school students but if the institute is not able to deliver the result then it can be a big threat for them since in order to survive in this industry you have to give constant results.
4. More and more institutes which only catered to MBA students are providing this product now posing a threat for Edumentor.

There are many unorganized players in the market which give stiff competition to Edumentor at few locations so even unorganized education centers give a strong competition to Edumentor when seen at Delhi & NCR level.

Analysis in Diagrammatic Format:

CHAPTER 5

DEVELOPMENT OF PROMOTIONAL STRATEGIES

(STAGE II)

DEVELOPING PROMOTIONAL STRATEGY FOR EDUMENTOR

Understanding the company, its product and analysis of the competitors gave a comprehensive knowledge about the market and the industry. The major work that I was assigned was then to understand the company objectives, its target audience, company constraints and then to decide a comprehensive marketing strategy for the Delhi and NCR region which would help company to increase its brand awareness in limited resource environment and to ultimately reach the desired objectives.

AN INTRODUCTION

Promotion involves disseminating information about a product, product line, brand, or company. It forms one of the four key aspects of the marketing mix. Advertising and promotions is basically to bring a service to the attention of potential and current customers. They are best carried out by implementing advertising and promotions plan. The goals of the plan should depend very much on the overall goals and strategies of the organization, and the results of the marketing analysis, including the positioning statement.

5.1 TYPES OF PROMOTIONAL STRATEGIES

i.ABOVE THE LINE SALES PROMOTION

Above the line is a type of advertising through media such as TV, cinema, radio, print, banners and search engines to promote brands. Major uses include television and radio advertising, web and Internet banner ads. This type of communication is conventional in nature and is considered impersonal to customers. It differs from Below the line advertising, which believes in unconventional brand-building strategies, such as direct mail and printed media (and usually involve no motion graphics).These strategies require huge amount of investments and are majorly Capital intensive.

iiBELOW THE LINE SALES PROMOTIONS

These are short-term incentives, largely aimed at consumers. With the increasing pressure on the marketing team to achieve communication objectives more efficiently in a limited budget, there has been a need to find out more effective and cost efficient ways to communicate with the target markets. This has led to a shift from the regular media based advertising.

These strategies involve high level of ground work involving manpower and is hence more of Labor intensive.

TWO PARTS OF PROMOTIONS:

An organization based on the motive of the campaign, different constraints and requirement of the market develops a comprehensive promotional strategy to reach its objectives.

DECIDING ON PROMOTIONAL PLAN

The plan usually includes what target markets has to be reached, what features and benefits have to be conveyed to them, how will it be conveyed it to them. Also, some factors which need to be considered are - who is responsible to carry the various activities in the plan and how much money is budgeted for this effort. Successful advertising depends very much on knowing the preferred methods and styles of communications of the target markets that you want to reach with your ads. A media plan and calendar can be very useful, which specifies what advertising methods are used and when. For each service we first consider all the media which are available for promotion like TV, radio, newsletters, classifieds, displays/signs, posters, word of mouth, press releases, direct mail, special events, brochures, neighborhood newsletters, etc. and then decide which suits the organization.

The practicality of the media which is to be used in terms of access and affordability (i.e. the amount spent on advertising which is based on the revenue expected from the product or service, that is, the sales forecast) also plays a very important role in choosing the promotion media. A lot can found about the customers preferences just by conducting some basic market research methods. We also first need to know what the available promotional tools are so that we can choose the most effective tool for the firm. Following gives a brief description of the important promotional tools: Brochure, Direct mail, E-mail messages, Magazines, Newsletters, Newspapers, Online discussion groups and chat groups, Posters and bulletin boards, Radio announcements, Telemarketing, Television ads, Web pages

5.2STEPS INVOLVED IN DEVELOPING THE PROMOTIONAL STRATEGIES

To develop a promotional strategy one should understand the target audience, analyze the competitor strategies, understand the company constraints, and other factors which can then be used to develop a comprehensive strategy to meet the company objective. The steps involved in developing strategies for EduMentor can be enumerated as:

STEP 1: Understanding company objective

STEP 2: Analyzing competitor promotional strategy

STEP 3: Analyzing company constraints

STEP 4: Methods suggested

STEP 5: Designing the Sample Papers and other Distribution material

STEP 1: UNDERSTANDING COMPANY OBJECTIVE

EduMentor is a local player and is comparatively a new entrant in the market. The company has relatively less awareness in the Delhi market, with even no awareness in the market where the company had to expand in the year 2008(majorly NCR region) so the major objectives of the company for conducting promotions this year were:-

1. Hit the target audience directly, in cost effective manner
2. Create Brand Awareness for the company in new markets
3. Create competitive advantage (comparing competitors)
4. Create exact positioning for companies in the mind of target audience
5. Reminding the audience in the existing market and ultimately to generate sales

STEP 2: ANALYZING COMPETITOR PROMOTIONAL STRATEGIES

The next major step is analyzing the strategies used by competitors, considering both National level and Local players, which would help in:-

1. Develop an overall Promotional strategy keeping in view competitor moves
2. Helps in breaking the clutter(making differentiator in the promotional strategies)
3. Learning from the mistakes without committing them

The major strategies adopted by competitors are:

Most of the players are national level player enjoying high brand awareness in Delhi and NCR region. The agenda of promotion for the company is to make the audience aware of the product offerings and remind them about them being the market leader. Being a major player of the industry it enjoys high financial resource back up and the study of their promotional strategies portray that they conduct Capital intensive promotions using mass marketing tools, mainly above the line marketing strategies such as :-

1. News paper ads: used throughout the season, with varying intensity and updated offerings with respect to change in market conditions.
2. Radio ads: used mainly during the opening of the season to create an informational wave.
3. Internet ads: (Contextual ads, banners on different websites, sponsorship ads)
4. Mobile ads: (bulk SMS)

The local players in the market are restricted to promotions at particular locations which are near to their centers mainly using Labor intensive strategies such as flier distribution, local cable networks and attachments to news papers, but the drawback of this strategy is that it gives relatively a cheap image of the organization.

STEP 3: ANALYZING COMPANY CONSTRAINTS

EduMentor has just entered into the market of educational services. It is their fourth year of operation in a row. With the presence of number of competitors in the market and also with the increasing brand value of the market leader i.e. IMS in the BBA/BBS/BBE coaching segment, it was very difficult for EduMentor make its presence felt. Apart from this, there were some other constraints also which were to be kept in mind while designing the promotional strategies. They were:

Financial Constraint

EduMentor is a Self-funded organization which was started in 2006. In its first year of operation the company taught around 35 students. In the subsequent two years the numbers grew from 275 to 900 in the third year. During the time of expansion of the business , the company received many offers of mergers and acquisitions from the market leader and other established players in the industry. The company decided to retain its identity and remained a proprietary business. Due to this the company faced some financial constraints as there was no source of external funding.

Time Constraint

The second challenge which was there before devising the business development strategy was the time constraint. The target market i.e. the class XII commerce student is busy with their board examination in the month of March. This the time when the promotional activity is at a full swing because after the completion of the board examination, students opt for different institute for their entrance exam preparation. So the effective time of promotion is around one month in which we have to build the brand name and adopt different strategies to make a strong brand recall.

Human Resource

The next major constraint for the promotional campaign was the insufficient Human Resource availability as the majority of the people was inexperienced and had to be trained in the limited span of time

Competitive Pressure

The competitors having a strong over the market with major players having established brand image, the major challenge was to fight the high brand image of competitors, establish company's brand name and hence getting the enrolments done even being a relatively new player in the market.etc.

STEP 4:METHODS SUGGESTED

Considering all the above factors the promotional strategy of the company had to be developed The overall studies of the factors provide a comprehensive knowledge regarding the market segments, requirement of target audience and the constraints of the company. So a strategy had to be developed wherein the target audience could be hit directly in the most cost effective measure and conveying the message clear to the audience. So it was decided to use

Below the Line Marketing Strategy, customized to the needs of target audience target audience. The strategies used were:-

I. Edupro

Caters to the Ex-Student referral program in which Ex-EduMentorites works under a live project named EDUPRO and are required to do generate new and innovative ideas for the company in terms of Branding/Brand Awareness, Increasing visibility of the organization, Product development, Ways of counseling and also providing referrals for the business development activity in the organization.

The most important point here is the No. of enrollments converted that catered to business generation with my team of 6 students from various eminent colleges of Delhi University is 43 generating a total sum of Rs. 5,37,500/-

(Annexure)

II. Direct mail

Mails were sent directly to the customers(children giving board examinations) highly customized, giving them tips regarding boards and information about form details of entrance exams with an immediate calling helpline to generate response.

III. Magazines (booklet distribution)

Magazines distribution in form of sample papers and informational booklets formed the basic and the most important promotional activity for the company can get quite expensive. The distribution was done in two main promotional activities of the companies:

Board Centre activity

The board center activity is one of the major business development and promotional activity of EduMentor. The activity was designed in such a way that maximum number of target audience can be covered in the limited span of time. It was a seven day activity in which we were supposed to cover maximum number of schools in our assigned zones, which were the centers of class XII board examination. The work schedule of the activity includes:

1. Information Booklet distribution to students and parents
2. Counseling of parents
3. Database collection of both parents and students

The days on which the activity was performed were the days on which CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) had scheduled class XII board examination for commerce stream. The prime reason for targeting only the days of commerce stream examination was that, majority of the students going for the preparation of BBS/BBA/BBE entrance coaching is from this stream. Although there are students from other streams also, like science and humanities who also prepare for this test, and comes under our target market. But because of the financial constraints of the company this activity could not be extended for the days of examination of all other stream students. So, in order to cover this lost market, two out of the scheduled six days were targeted and were made the most important days of the whole activity. These were the days on which all the students of all the streams have common subject examination i.e. English and Maths.

The days decided for the activity were 3, 9, 11, 16, 22 and 28 of March & 10 April. The examination scheduled for these days were Business studies, English, Economics, Maths, Information Practices and Accounts respectively.

I was appointed to look after the whole board center activity of NORTH Zone. For the successful completion of the activity I have to hire and train a team of around 30 associates with the help of 2 managers. I planned to cover a maximum of 24 schools. For this I divided the activity in four phases.

Phase 1 - Finding out the board centers

The first phase of the board activity was to find out the class XII board exam centers of all the private and government schools in my zone. For this, I with my team of 2 managers divided my zone into sub-zones. Every manager was assigned a sub-zone and was asked to visit every private and government school of that area and get the relevant information about board exam center of each school. In order to check the authenticity of the information given by the manager

I called up every school and re-confirmed their board centers. This re-confirmation call was necessary because any wrong information about the board center can lead to a disaster on the day of the activity. At the end of phase 1, I had a list of 75 board centers. The list, thus generated had the following information.

1. Name of the school (board center)
2. Total no. of schools coming for the examination in a particular center. (Eg. One , two ,three etc.)
3. Strength of the students at a particular center.

Phase 2 - Hiring and Training of associates

The second phase of the activity was the hiring and training of 150 associates. These associates were required to distribute the information booklet, collect the database of student/parents and do the counseling of parents.

The hiring and training of associates was done a week before the start of the activity. While hiring a associate we need to rate them on 3 parameters:

Firstly the associate represents edu mentor at each of the schools, so they should be presentable. Secondly, they have to do a part of counseling of the parents and students, so they should have good communication skills,

Thirdly, they should be very active since they have to distribute the entire information booklets in the second half of the activity.

This phase of the activity was the toughest one. This was because it was very difficult for us to find out such a huge no. of good quality people.

Hunting - In this, me and my team of managers got down on road and searched for the associates. In order to find such associates, we shortlisted some of the areas in our zone where we can find the maximum youth. For this, we targeted institutes like NIIT, Aptech and colleges

Of Delhi University. At these locations we were able to find many youth who were interested to work for us for the scheduled six days of the activity. We invited people for the training program and offered them a certificate apart from their salary after the completion of the activity.

Associate References - Another source we used for the team building was associate reference. In this, we asked our selected associates to give us the references of their friends and relatives who can be interested in working for the six days of the activity. In order to generate a good result from this source, we offered the associates extra incentive for every referral selected. The move proved to be advantageous and team building exercise caught pace.

After the training of the associates, we rate them on a scale of 3. The associates are given grades A, B and C as per their communication skill and ability to distribute information booklet. The best person gets A grade and the worst is given a C grade.

Person with grade A and B is made to do the counseling and database collection outside the board center and C grade associates are made to distribute the booklet.

Phase 3 - Performing the Activity

As discussed before, the activity was scheduled to be performed on six days. Although the task performed on each day was the same but the scale and the intensity of the activity was different. Like, activity done on 16, 22 and 28 was on a huge level than the activity performed on the previous two days.I had four clusters under me Ashok Vihar,Shalimar Bagh,Civil Lines and Kamla Nagar

3rd March

This was the first day of activity. On this day we planned to cover around 50 big private schools.

In order to make the day's activity successful we placed our A grade associates (the associates who were rated good on all the three mentioned parameters) in these centers and made the remaining B and C grade associate to accompany them so that they can get the actual look of the activity. This strategy was followed keeping in mind the last days of the activity when we plan to scale up our operation, as it will make our B and C grade associate more familiar and experienced with the activity.

11th March

On this day we scaled up our operation and we covered around 60 schools in NORTH ZONE. This time apart from the big private schools we also covered some government schools. One of the major changes we did in this activity as compare to the last activity was in the content of information booklet.

On the first day, we distributed the booklet which contained all the relevant information about BBA/BBS/BBE courses and about EduMentor. But the problem with this booklet was that many students threw it away as they found the matter irrelevant to them. So, for the activity of 11th and 16th we came out with a new booklet which contained a Sample Paper of Economics and Maths. As students had their Economics exam on 16 and maths on 22 so this change helped a lot in increasing the volume of distribution, as more students were ready to take the sample paper with them and it also increased the retention rate of those sample paper.

16th March

This was the second day when we have all the commerce students coming for the economics exam. So we targeted on the maximum no of board centers and collected huge database by increasing the no of associates at every centre.

22nd and 28nd March

These two were important days. As maths and information practices is a common subject for other streams also, so we focused more on the distributing part as on this day sample booklets for

Information guide and BBA/BBS booklet of 70 pages each, were distributed rather than collection of data. We conducted the activity only for the second half, thus saving a lot of money.

10th April

This day was scheduled as the last day of the Board Center Activity. On this day we had home science. It was the not so important day for our activity. On this day, we distributed a B.e.Led booklet which contained all the relevant information about the courses. It had a huge response as parents and students were snatching away the booklets from our associates.

Phase 4 - Database Checking

The final phase of the Board Center Activity was the database checking. In the six days of activity we collected a database of around 50000 students. So the biggest challenge after each day of activity was to call on the collected databases and check for its authenticity. This was an important part of the activity because we cannot always rely on the work done by the associates.

So, it was made sure that after each day of activity we have to check the databases. During the checking process if we find the work of any associate not satisfactory, then we fired that person before the next activity. This process helped in creating a fear in the mind of the associate, which led to authentic work in the later stages.

During the database calling, apart from checking the databases we worked upon one more strategy of multiplying the database. We followed the Snowball Technique. In this, when we called on the databases to check the authenticity, we asked the pers