mophe
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Hello,
Can you help me objectively review of the attached coursework? Its title is the impact of LUMS' activities on the recruitment of international students.
Thanks
Table of Contents
Page
Executive Summary 2
Introduction 3
Methodology 4
The LUMS Brand 5
Offline and Online Marketing Activities 8
Applicants' Usage of E-tools and Effectiveness 10
Other Business Schools' Proposition 11
Conclusion 13
References 15
Appendices 16
1.0 Executive Summary
This report was commissioned to examine the impact of the Internet and other related virtual tools on Lancaster University Management School's (LUMS) marketing activities and to recommend ways of strengthening the LUMS brand through both offline and online channels but with more emphasis on increasing the visibility of the LUMS website and the number of applications received from prospective students (with a corresponding increase in the proportion that is offered admission and end up becoming registered students). The report draws attention to the following facts.
o Of the 377 postgraduate students who made up the sample size, 277 were international students (73%)
o Over 50% of the international postgraduate students who responded to administered questionnaires in October 2007 (during the orientation week)), used the Internet (in one form or the other) in their decision making and application processes to LUMS
o 20% assessed the university website, 12% assessed the LUMS website in particular while 14% made use of search engines to get to LUMS website
o 10% made use of the university prospectus while 6% made use of LUMS prospectus
o 19% of the students applied to Manchester Business School (MBS) and 11% applied to Warwick Business School (WBS) making both schools LUMS' closest competitors
This report evaluates the branding, offline and online marketing activities of LUMS and determines the areas of weaknesses, strengths and synergies. It also compares LUMS' value proposition with that of MBS and WBS and concludes that
o LUMS' investment in online marketing is not misplaced due to number of respondents who made use the Internet and LUMS' website in their application process. The website presently records approximately 5000 hits per day
o The LUMS website is user-friendly comparable to that of MBS but better than WBS' website
o Despite the significantly lower numbers recorded in their usage by students, offline marketing activities are still important because some students combined these with online tools to reach a decision. Some started with the offline media and concluded online and vice-versa
o Though collaboration with the British Council and agents is still necessary for the recruitment of international students, it may be considerably scaled down
It is recommended that
o LUMS improves the search engine optimisation (SEO) features of its website
o The website should contain more statements of endorsements from the private sector organisations we collaborate with
o Tools such as instant chat, demos of online resources (e.g. LUVLE), social networking areas and additional language translation facilities be provided on the website
o LUMS considers other e-tools such as mobile devices and interactive digital television as media that could be utilised in the long-term for online marketing activities
o DVDs be sent with physical prospectuses to boost its effectiveness
o LUMS considers joining the Partnership in International Management (PIM) university network to further boost its brand image
2.0 Introduction
Recruitment of students both at undergraduate and postgraduate level is becoming increasingly competitive globally. The evolution of the Internet and its use in many aspects of our lives (e.g. banking, shopping, travelling e.t.c) to quickly search for information, save time and reduce cost, makes it an ideal medium through which universities can reach applicants that were hitherto excluded from its target market . By establishing a presence on the Internet, universities can engage directly with applicants on a personal level with no middlemen in between.
This report evaluates LUMS' brand and its current marketing activities with a view to determining the level of impact it has on students when they are considering educational pursuits in the UK. It focuses on the impact of LUMS' marketing activities in the recruitment of international postgraduate students in particular with a view to measuring the effectiveness of both the offline and online marketing activities. The emphasis is being placed on international postgraduate students because out of three hundred and seventy seven students who made up the sample size that questionnaires were administered to, two hundred and seventy seven are international students.
The report begins by taking an in-depth look at the LUMS brand and the factors responsible for its prominence. It moves on to discuss LUMS' offline and online marketing activities. As an adjunct to LUMS' online marketing activities, the report also examines how proficiently and effectively applicants use the available e-tools. Thereafter, the value proposition of MBS and WBS as communicated through their branding and online marketing activities is discussed. The concluding part of this report proffers recommendations to the LUMS marketing team to improve both its offline and online marketing activities and also enumerates the constraints encountered in the course of writing this report.
3.0 Methodology
In order to discuss the perception of the LUMS brand and its marketing activities, primary and secondary data was gathered. Qualitative primary data was obtained from the following sources
o Informal interview with Richard Evans, the LUMS website manager
o Informal interviews with a cross-section of international postgraduate students in LUMS
The quantitative secondary data used in preparing this report was the result of questionnaires administered on 377 students from the year 2007 set. It was provided by Dr. Soopramanien. The sample size of 377 represents approximately 20% of the estimated LUMS postgraduate population of 1500 admitted in 2007. The quantitative data is used to graphically communicate applicants' usage of LUMS' offline and online media as well as their proficiency in the use of the Internet. It was analysed using simple statistical tools mainly frequency distribution and mode to determine which marketing activities had the most impact and also discover which business schools were LUMS' closest rivals.
The qualitative data on the other hand was used to buttress the quantitative data with regards to applicants' perception of the LUMS brand and the proposition of competitor business schools. It must be mentioned that all the respondents who generated responses for the quantitative data and some of the qualitative data are currently enrolled in LUMS and as such a measure of bias is to be expected from their response.
4.0 The LUMS Brand
The LUMS website is a combination of a service-oriented relationship and a brand building website. Offline, the LUMS brand is internationally recognised due to its 6 star rating and its successive progress in the ranking tables over the last five years as provided by FT.com and other similar organisations. It is presently ranked 22nd in the world and 4th in the UK. (Smith and Chaffey, 2002) summarises the objectives of online marketing as
o Grow sales: through wider distribution, promotion and sales
o Add value: give customers extra benefits online
o Get closer to customers: track them, question them, learn about them, create a two way dialogue
o Save cost: such as transactions and administrative costs
o Extend the brand online: by re-enforcing values on the Internet
An evaluation of the LUMS brand online shows that the above-mentioned objectives also hold true for it and are being achieved albeit with varying degrees of success for each objective. Table 1 below shows how the objective can be explained from the LUMS perspective.
Objective LUMS translation Desired result
1 Grow sales Increase number of students Increase in number of applicants that visit the website and proceed to apply, get offered admission and accept admission
2 Get closer to customers Get closer to prospective applicant/students Leverage on the Internet as a medium for quick communication without geographical restrictions. Applicants will no longer depend solely on offline communication and sources of information about LUMS
3 Add value Make the application process easier and faster Increase in online applications over offline applications
4 Save costs 'Possible' reduction in offline marketing budget Reduced printing, posting, distribution, travelling and accommodation costs. Applicants can do everything on the website.
5 Extend brand online Re-enforce the brand globally in cyberspace where a large portion its target market (young people) have become very active over the last two to three years Make the LUMS brand strong online as it is offline
Table 1: LUMS online marketing objectives
The LUMS brand either offline or online communicates high academic standards, value for money and a global orientation of its students and staff. In particular, the website has created a significant awareness about LUMS outside Europe especially in Asia and Africa. Sub-Saharan Africans previously had to depend solely on the British Council regarding study in UK universities. Interviews with some international postgraduate students who visited the British Council offices in their home countries during their information gathering and application process revealed that it is Lancaster University that is being marketed and not LUMS. The website therefore greatly reduces this dependence at least in the information gathering process.
The interviews however also revealed that most international students were not aware of the difference between the university brand and the LUMS brand until their arrival on campus. But once they understand that LUMS exists as a separate brand within the university, they become proud ambassadors. They go on to serve as marketing tools for LUMS through word of mouth recommendations on the LUMS website and to friends and family back home. Since one of the unique selling propositions of the LUMS brand is its global orientation, the website is increasingly becoming the first point of contact for most international students who arrive on it directly or through search engines.
Lancaster University as a whole seems to be operating a free-standing approach with each school/faculty branding itself according to the needs of its target market in terms of verbal and visual identity (Hemsley-Brown and Goonawardana, 2007). LUMS and Infolab 21 are good examples of this. While the university's brand colour is red, LUMS' is green and Infolab 21 is grey. The advantage of this free-standing approach to branding is that the innovation and entrepreneurship initiatives of each school/faculty are not constrained. However, the downside to the free-standing approach is that damage to one of the brands within the university could adversely affect the brands of other schools and the university as a whole (Hemsley-Brown and Goonawardana, 2007).
The major problem with offline brands is that they offer members of their target market no/minimal interactivity and communication is uni-directional from the brand to its audience (Lindstrom, 2006). While the LUMS brand was strong before it ventured online, it was mainly passive and not so interactive. Communication with applicants and other stakeholders was usually one-way and done through print media with some opportunities for interactivity during open days and recruitment fairs. By being online, the LUMS brand encourages and supports interactivity with applicants and other stakeholders on a 24/7 basis.
5.0 Offline and Online Marketing Activities
LUMS' various marketing activities are planned to suit the need of different categories of prospective applicants. A detailed breakdown of the impact of these activities on the respondents is contained in appendix 1.
Offline Marketing
Generally, LUMS' offline marketing utilises large amounts of print materials especially prospectuses. The number of applicants who make use of these in the 2007 application process is low. 10% of the respondents used the university prospectus, 6% used the LUMS prospectus while 4% used the programmed fact sheet.
LUMS' existing offline marketing encompasses open days for prospective applicants, recruitment fairs/presentations arranged through agents in countries such as Greece, Thailand, Mexico, and Thailand amongst others (LUMS website, 2008). They also collaborate with the British Council through its offices all over the world. Each category is further discussed below.
Open days: These afford prospective students along with their parents/guardians have a first hand feel of the university in general in LUMS in particular. Prospective students can ask questions and receive answers on a wide variety of issues. A lot of print materials are also made available during these events for prospects to take home with them. The major draw back with open days is that only UK citizens are usually able to attend. Most international prospects cannot attend open days unless they happen to be in the UK at the time or reside here legally. Administrative costs are incurred for the successful organisation of each open day.
Recruitment fairs: These involve having staff from the university travel to different countries to speak with and interview prospective applicants. At times the fairs are programme specific as is the case with the presentation for Greek ITMOC applicants that was recently held in Athens (LUMS website, 2008). Whether it is a general recruitment fair or a programme specific one, expenses are incurred with the travelling and accommodation bills of staff, cost of the location to be used and cost of the print materials taken along for distribution. The benefit of this medium is that international applicants are able to speak with some of their prospective lecturers and other faculty staff.
Agents: The University collaborates with agents in some countries for student recruitment but this arrangement is not LUMS specific and only 8% of respondents made use of agents in their country during their application to LUMS.
Collaboration with the British Council: Historically, the British Council has been central to in the recruitment of international students for undergraduate and postgraduate study in the UK. Its offices all around the world regularly organise education fairs in which most UK universities participate. At these events however, the emphasis is more on the university brand rather than LUMS. LUMS may however be represented by dedicated staff in addition to the university's conventional marketing team. The costs of participating in several of these fairs yearly include those of travelling, accommodation and print materials. Apart from these fairs, prospective applicants can go to any British Council office and obtain information about the university (not specifically LUMS) and maybe a copy of the university prospectus subject to availability. Though international students are the primary beneficiaries of this medium, only 6% used it during their application to LUMS.
Online Marketing
Richard Evans, the LUMS website manager revealed that the existing online marketing activities are pay-per-click advertising on Google and placement of banners on postgraduate education portals. He elaborated further that the advertisements on Google have proved to be of good value for money, but those on the postgraduate education portals have not achieved the desired impact and LUMS is considering discontinuing them.
While the offline marketing activities are time and location specific, the LUMS is available to all prospective applicants who have access to the Internet. Data figures indicate that over 50% admitted in 2007 used the Internet (search engines, educational websites, social networking sites the Lancaster University website and LUMS website) during their information gathering and application process to LUMS. The breakdown is as shown below.
Search engines -14%
Educational websites - 3%
Social websites - 2%
University website - 20%
LUMS website - 12%
The website currently averages about 5000 hits per day. Once applicants are on the LUMS website homepage, they are able to get detailed information about courses, entry requirements, application process, fees, staff and newsworthy information about LUMS from other media (e.g. newspapers, other websites, government agencies , e.t.c). The aesthetic nature of the website strikes a good balance between text and graphic content. (Smith and Chaffey, 2002), points out that a good website should help customers serve themselves. The LUMS website achieves this as evidenced by the search facility within the website.
6.0 Applicants' usage of e-tools and their effectiveness.
Applicants are Internet savvy as evidenced by the fact that over 50% of them used the Internet before, during and after their application to LUMS. Some of the students interviewed explained that their usage of the LUMS website in particular saved them a lot of time that would otherwise have been spent in requesting for a prospectus and waiting fro it to arrive in the post before they proceeded with their application. The ability to complete the application process online (an e-tool) or download the application forms was also considered very useful. E-consultancy (2004), suggests that there are three types of behavioural traits exhibited by users of retail sites and explained them as follows.
Trackers: They know exactly which product they want to buy and use an online channel to get more information about price, availability, delivery, e.t.c. If they get the required information, they quickly make a buying decision. They are very easily converted.
Hunters: They do not have a specific product in mind and their search is more category focused. They use an online channel to find a range of suitable products, make comparisons and decide which one to buy. Hunters need to justify their purchase to themselves and possibly others before they make a buying decision. They generally need more help and support to make a decision unlike trackers.
Explorers: They have no particular product in mind and may or may not have a shopping objective.
While LUMS website is not retail or transactional in nature, these same categories are applicable to its visitors. The majority of its visitors belong to the first two categories and they are the ones that must be converted to make applications and hopefully get offered admission. Trackers are those who come to the website based on their existing knowledge of LUMS from other media (offline or online) and are interested in specific programmes. If the website satisfies their information gathering needs, they can actually proceed to fill out an application online or download a copy of the form, fill and submit through post. Hunters on the other hand, probably just know they want to do a management course and will therefore spend more time on the website comparing the contents, costs, e.t.c of the various programmes. For both categories of visitors, the LUMS website provides enough information in an easy to use manner. Hunters may choose to contact LUMS staff in the various departments they are interested in to aid their decision making process.
The key factors which encourage users to return to a website are high quality content, ease of use, quick to download pages and frequent updates to the website (Smith and Chaffey, 2002). The other e-tools on the LUMS website such as search facility, videos and Chinese language translation go a long way in enriching the experience of visitors on the website.
7.0 Other Management Schools' Proposition
The 2007 data provided reveals that Manchester Business School (MBS) and Warwick Business School (WBS) are the other schools which most LUMS applicants also considered. 19% considered MBS while 11% considered WBS. The proposition of each school is described below.
Manchester Business School (MBS)
LUMS is currently tied with MBS in the fourth place for UK management schools' rankings. MBS is attractive to students because it is located in one of the largest cities in the UK and is more socially active when compared to Lancaster. The city has an international airport are there are more opportunities for students to take up part-time employment as compared with Lancaster. This fact was corroborated by the LUMS students that were informally interviewed. They mentioned that their family members and friend thought MBS was a better choice compared to LUMS because of the availability of a wide range of jobs in the city which students could do on a part-time basis.
As with most management schools, its flagship programme is its MBA which lasts for eighteen months and costs £31, 260. This is almost twice the cost of the LUMS MBA. The MBA programme offers opportunities for international placements through collaborations with fifty other universities in different parts of the world and employers in those countries as well. "Around 40% of MBS MBA students spend a semester at another leading business school" (MBS website, 2008). This offers students the opportunity of broadening their horizon through exposure to new cultures and languages. To facilitate this experience, foreign language courses (in French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Japanese, Arabic and Mandarin) are available to students at no extra cost in the university's language centre. MBS also offers international exchange programmes on some of its specialist masters courses through the Partnership in International Management (PIM) university network which comprises fifty four universities from different parts of the world (PIM website, 2008).
LUMS' MBA programme has exchanges with 12 other business schools and its students need to pay extra if they wish to take a language course. LUMS is also currently not a member of the PIM university network.
The e-tools deployed on MBS' website are
o Search facility
o Online application
o RSS feeds
o Translation of the website from English to eight languages
o Video content
Warwick Business School (WBS)
WBS currently ranks fifth in UK. The school's marketing team place emphasis on its proximity to London and Birmingham which are two of the largest cities in the UK. Its MBA lasts for twelve months and costs £20, 400 which is slightly more expensive than LUMS'. It offers an exchange programme for its MBA students with about 20% of them going on a three month exchange in twenty nine other partner business schools (WBS website, 2008). It also belongs to the PIM university network.
Its website has the following facilities
o Search facilities
o Links to facebook, del.icio.us and reddit
Unlike MBS' website, it has no RSS feeds or video content.
8.0 Conclusion
LUMS can be given some measure of credit with regards to its e-marketing initiatives. It has in place, the basic building blocks of an e-marketing strategy (i.e. a dedicated website manager, content management systems, search engine optimisation tools and the use of Google analytics to monitor/measure the performance of the website. It must be mentioned however, that the impact of offline marketing activities though lesser than that of online marketing cannot be discounted. Offline and online marketing complement each other as applicants may start the application process in one medium and finish through the other. Where an applicant is not the sole decision maker (e.g. where parents/guardians/sponsors are involved), it may be that an applicant uses a search engine to get to the LUMS website but may still request a physical brochure to be sent to him so that he can show it to his parents, guardians or sponsors.
Recommendations
Though the LUMS website is well designed, user-friendly and comparable to that of other top UK business schools such as MBS, WBS and Bath (see Appendix 2, 3, 4 and 5), the following are suggestions that if implemented can further enhance the LUMS brand, improve the accessibility and user-friendliness of the website and ultimately influence the decision of applicants positively.
PIM university network membership: LUMS should consider joining this university network to further strengthen its brand especially since its closest competitors (MBS and WBS) are members.
DVDs: These can be sent along with physical prospectuses showing different parts of LUMS, classes in sessions, lab sessions, students' presentations (group and individual), the Hub in LUMS around lunch time, e.t.c.
Search engine optimisation: LUMS can improve on this area by increasing the number of possible search phrases that applicants are likely to type in search engines when considering postgraduate education in management in the UK. Possible search phrases should be generated for each programme to improve its search engine rankings. Appendix 6 shows the position of LUMS on Google results pages when different search phrases are typed.
Endorsements from external parties: While the LUMS website is rich in graphic and video content from students, and alumni, having more positive comments from external collaborators such as organisations that support/facilitate particular programmes would give additional credibility to the LUMS brand.
Instant chat: An instant chat facility could be provided on the website so that visitors browsing the website can have instant feedback to the enquiries rather than waiting for responses to emails which may not be received that same day.
Videos and pictures from other parts of the campus: The videos and pictures on the website currently focus just on areas within and around the management school. Videos and pictures showing its students in other parts of the campus (e.g. sports centre, taking their kids to the pre-school centre, e.t.c) should be included so that prospective students can have a better feel of the entire campus.
Social networking: A forum could be provided on the website for prospective applicants to meet and interact with each other. Friendships established or re-discovered through this medium may play a role in an applicant deciding to come to LUMS because of these friendships.
Demos of online resources: Links to the demos of online resources such as LUVLE, myPlace, e.t.c may also be placed on the website so that applicants can have an idea of the kind of resources available for both their academic and personal development.
Additional translation options: Presently the website can only be translated to Chinese. This feature could be expanded to translate into more languages.
Links to social networks: LUMS may wish to deploy links to the popular social networks (e.g. facebook) given the increasing importance of such networks and other Web 2.0 enabled cyber-environments.
Mobile devices: With mobile phone/devices ownership being more pervasive than Internet access, LUMS may explore the possibility of adapting its website contents for browsing on such devices.
Interactive digital TV: While this may seem like a far fetched idea, it can serve the dual purpose of providing access to the LUMS website and being an additional medium for offering distance learning education.
These recommendations are not in anyway exhaustive due to the following constraints encountered in the course of this research.
o Lack of conversion rate data on number of visitors to the website who made applications, received admission offers and went on to become registered students.
o Lack of conversion rate data from offline marketing
o Lack of information on the e-marketing strategies of MBS and WBS
o Lack of data about the number of intakes per programme and whether quotas are being optimised.
References
E-Consultancy (2004) "e-consultancy's Online Retail 2004 survey has some interesting findings" [http://www.jonathanbriggs.com/other/e-consultancy-uk-retail -report,384,AR.html – Accessed on 28th February, 2008]
Hemsley-Brown, J. and Goonawardana, S. (2007) "Brand harmonization in the international higher education market", Journal of Business Research, Vol. 60 pp. 942–948
Lindstrom, M. (2006) "Offline versus Online Brands - The Winners and Losers" [http://www.ameinfo.com/91928.html – Accessed 2nd March, 2008]
LUMS (2008) [http://www.lums.lancs.ac.uk/ - Accessed between 20th February and 19th March, 2008]
MBS (2008) [http://www.mbs.ac.uk/ - Accessed on 7th March, 2008]
PIM (2008) [http://www.pimnetwork.org/ - Accessed on 7th March, 2008]
Smith, P. and Chaffey, D. (2002) "eMarketing eXcellence: the heart of eBusiness", Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann,
WBS (2008) [http://www.wbs.ac.uk/ - Accessed on 7th March, 2008]
Appendix 1
Figure 1: Information source distribution in numbers
Figure 2: Information source distribution in percentages
Appendix 2
Figure 3: LUMS website homepage
Appendix 3
Figure 4: MBS website homepage
Appendix 4
Figure 5: WBS website homepage
Appendix 5
Figure 6: Bath Management School website homepage
Appendix 6
Search phrase typed in Google LUMS position MBS position WBS position
1 Top business schools in UK 20 55 3
2 Top management schools in UK 14 10 4
3 Top rated business schools in UK 23 40 3
4 Top rated management school in UK 3 65 7
5 Best business schools in UK 12 56 7
6 Best management schools in UK 3 17 13
7 Top rated business schools in the world 38 >100 28
8 Top rated management schools in the world 28 29 >100
Table 2: Search phrases results from Google
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