Five Marketing Steps in Bowie State Expansion Essay

Marketing is the activity and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large. Marketing as it applies to Bowie State University plays an integral part in the longstanding tradition and the growth of the university. In order to fully understand marketing you have to be aware that the ability to adapt and change is a major part of grasping and successfully competing in this global marketing society. Accountability in marketing is more important than ever today due to the tight economic restraints and an ever evolving society. Bowie State University realizes that they cannot spend large amounts of money on unproductive marketing campaigns, but in order to be successful an effective marketing plan must be in place. Bowie State University goal should be to create a strategic marketing plan that will have a measurable impact on obtaining and maintaining student enrollment at a minimal cost. There are critical marketing concepts such as relationship marketing, integrated marketing, internal marketing, interactive marketing and market adaptation that all play an important role, not only in society, but also in the development and success of Bowie State University and any other entity or corporation. Relationship marketing is a type of marketing that puts an emphasis on consumer satisfaction and retention. It focuses on the longstanding relationship with the consumer rather than the prominent focus on an immediate sales transaction. With the growth of the internet in the past two decades, relationship marketing has continued to evolve and move forward as technology opens more collaborative and social communication channels. Relationship marketing extends to include inbound marketing efforts, public relations, social media and application development. The overall goals of relationship marketing are to discover, attract and win new clients, take care of and retain those the company already has, attract former clients back into the fold, and decrease the costs of marketing and client service. Retention is a major factor in relationship marketing and to the demise of Bowie State University. The implementation of random surveys to current students is an excellent tool used to measure customer/student satisfaction of the university as a whole. In addition to, there must be some interactive relationship building with future students in whom they are attempting to acquire and retain. I have noticed as new student to the campus of Bowie State that the university doesn’t place enough emphasis on customer satisfaction, because I have been enrolled for two semesters and nobody in the student affairs/customer relations has inquired to my satisfaction. I have definitely been pondering the idea of accepting some of the other offers provided for the MBA program. I am huge on excellent customer as I have personally worked in that area for many years and I understand the importance of retention to the success of one’s business. Bowie State desperately needs to re-direct some resources in that area to decrease the retention rate and increase student morale, and also to a ttract new clients to the campus. Relationship marketing is a concept not only intended for current students, but also for potential staff and faculty that the university is attempting to acquire. Integrated marketing happens when the marketer devises marketing activities and assembles market-programs to create, communicate, and deliver value for consumers such that â€Å"the whole is greater than the sum of its part.† All company communications must be integrated, meaning that being able to choose communication options that reinforce and complement the one another. In order for Bowie State to achieve in this area, there must be commercials via television and the radio, printed advertisements, public relations and some kind o events to entice a more loyal customer population. Bowie State University website is very user-friendly, but the website alone is not sufficient to the success of a greater student enrollment and retention. Integrated marketing must be employed to ensure Bowie State University’s success, because they must equally maximize all areas to ensure and reinforce the face of the university. The ability to employ integrated marketing puts Bowie State University at the center of its strategy and executes extremely well across all channels and lines of business. Integrated marketing doesn’t stop at the organizational boundaries of the marketing department. Integrated marketing requires an integrated approach to marketing, sales, and service. Internal marketing is the task of hiring, training, and motivating able employees who want to serve customers well. This concept is just what it says-internal and Bowie State University in my opinion, isn’t utilizing this concept to help grow the business. This process occurs within an organization where the functional process aligns, motivates, and empowers employees at all management levels to deliver a satisfying customer experience. Over recent years internal marketing has increasingly been integrated in brand management, which strives to build stronger links between the employee brand experience and customer brand experience. The challenge for internal marketing is not only to get the right messages across, but to implant them in such a way that they both change and strengthen employee performance. Bowie State University has a major need for internal marketing, because in my brief experience here on campus I’ve noticed how the faculty and staff are unequally balanced and not customer motivated. We as students are the customers to the university and yet I feel we are treated as to be insignificant and are expected to just accept whatever is offered by key administration. It appears if there is some type of buddy system in place when it comes to hiring qualified staff, because in my observation I have noticed that many instructors aren’t prepared for class, nor are they even delivering a quality education. My experience here at Bowie State University has been a bitter-sweet one, because of the inequalities and inconsistencies I have noticed. Interactive Marketing refers to the evolving trend in marketing where marketing has moved from a transaction-based effort to a conversation. Interactive marketing is the ability to address an individual and the ability to gather and remember the response of that individual leading to the ability to address the individual once more in a way that takes into account his or her unique response. The ability to remember what the customer has said and implementing those ideas can and will benefit the brand of Bowie State University. Amazon.com is an excellent example of the use of interactive marketing, as customers record their preferences and are shown selections that match not only their preferences but recent purchases. Interactive Marketing allows customers and prospects to participate in the process of building a brand’s image in a certain market or target group’s minds and as a result it makes the customer feel empowered and heard. With brands becoming more defined by actions and not simply words, social networks, search engines and mobile device growth gives our consumers even more power, so it’s important to love your customers and most of being able to respect their opinions and views on certain things that would better enhance the brand name of Bowie State University. I would really love to sit with the marketing department and observe their thought patterns as it relates to the student body who are the customers of Bowie State University. Performance marketing is a type of marketing in which business rewards one or more affiliates for each customer gained based on their marketing efforts. I feel that this particular program should also be implemented within the marketing/admissions department here at Bowie State University; however, it should also extend to the number of satisfied customers retained as well. Many times the business is acquired, but maintenance and follow-up is critical to the success of any organization or social enterprise. Bowie State needs to have a plan in place that rewards faculty and staff for generating new referrals/students or staff to the campus. At the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, it is and has been a practice that whenever new undergraduate or graduate students come on-board they are uniquely placed with a current students whose responsibility is to aide them in any means necessary until they are solely comfortable with the campus, the administration and all of the resources th at are offered to the student. Bowie State University acquires the students, but really no follow-up to see how comfortable they are. Now, in my opinion this isn’t good customer service nor should any reward be granted based on that kind of behavior. Performance marketing needs to be measured very closely by upper administration, because many times lower ranked staff generally take the attitude as if it’s not their problem. So, if everyone is taking on that same approach then it’s obvious as to why enrollment has significantly dropped. In my conclusion, Bowie State University has many opportunities where it can advance in the marketing arena. Unfortunately, if they continue down this path then all the other major colleges and universities will obtain and retain the vast majority of business that is streaming abroad.