Creating a Marketing strategy for an university

THE TASK – Create a Strategic Marketing Plan for an University based in Austria.

OUR APPROACH – We conducted primary market research in Austria and some Balkan countries (three face-to-face surveys, focus groups, interviews) and collected secondary data from worldwide sources (including paid ones). More than 50 different reports, surveys, and articles were analyzed.

The project covered the following areas on undergraduate and graduate level:

Competitive environment – all major players from the public and private educational sector in Austria were thoroughly analyzed. The analysis included their programs, accreditation, marketing and communications strategies, positioning, human resources, strengths and weaknesses, etc. It also involved the creation of perceptual maps.

Pricing – a complete pricing landscape of the programs of all key players was created, including comparison of prices for EU and non-EU students.

Programs – a thorough analysis of the program offers of all key players was done. The outcome of this analysis was the recommendation of which programs should meet with increased demand in the next decade and should therefore be implemented. Demand on future employers side was also evaluated.

Market trends and size – the plan included the attractiveness rating of more than 100 key markets worldwide. This rating was based on key socioeconomic, political, and cultural factors. The final results was the grouping of countries in four groups – key strategic, high priority, medium priority, and low priority markets.

Student needs and wants – a deep research on priorities, needs and wants of students who currently study in Austria (both of Austrian and foreign origin). The analysis of this research resulted in proposed segmentation of students in distinctive groups based on behavioral, demographic, and socioeconomic criteria.

Key success factors – the project report contained a list of recommendation with key success factors to be implemented and monitored for higher education institutions in Austria.

The project resulted in a Strategic Marketing Plan containing external and internal analysis, strategic options overview and evaluation, strategy recommendation, and a detailed implementation plan.