Marketing plan development and strategy

Marketing Campaign for Online Business Degree

Target audience and reasons for identification

An online campus lacks some of the amenities of a campus in the real world. It does not have the sense of community of a traditional university setting. However, for busy adults with pressing work and family commitments, online learning can provide a way to add to the adult's resume of skills through the process of convenient, at home learning, using materials and a format that can be scheduled around other aspects of the student's life. A person seeking a B.A. In business is likely to be an adult who, upon graduating from high school, did not have the motivation or financial resources to pursue financial education and has found his or her niche in the business world. But a lack of a university degree has become an obstacle to career advancement. The adult has confidence enough in the online format to seek higher learning through the online process, but does not have the time to go back to school, or the desire, given his or her personal or vocational position. Thus the target audience is likely to be people in their 20s and 30s, already pursuing careers who wish to add to their credentials.

Promotion

Promotional strategies would likely be through the Internet, as people interested in learning through the Internet presumably surf the Internet at work or at home, and would need computer access to participate in an online university community. Ideally, the promotional campaign would involve reputable websites to add to the credibility of the university, such as business magazines and journals, or job recruitment websites with a good reputation, as some of the students may be looking at such sites, in search of a more rewarding career.

Pricing and how courses are priced

Because the campus is virtual and not brick and mortar, it would demand less financial overhead than a regular university, but it should not be so inexpensive that good teachers could not be recruited and salaried at a competitive rate. Furthermore, too low a price could cause prospective students to view the university as potentially illegitimate.