To effectively communicate you need to understand your audience well. For example, an advert your college may make is much likely to reach a person who was in his or her young adulthood in the early 21st century. Such were born in the period between 1980s and mid 1990s. They are called Millennials. To effectively engage with them you must be aware that their generation is fundamentally different from that of 'BBCs' - Born Before Computers - and so, if you want to effectively reach them, be sure to choose the right medium!
Millennials are not into walking around with a Times of Zambia newspaper or tuning to 19:00 hrs news on ZNBC (I have heard a number of them calling it Dead NBC!). Theirs is not a vocabulary of checking out what's the 'headline', what's in the 'editorial section', or who can be my 'Pen Pal'. Millennials talk 'tagging', 'likes', 'followers', 'sharing', 'podcast' and look out for what's on the 'wall'. If you have a marketing manager who can't relate with these words then be informed that he should be nowhere close to a leading role in your marketing department. A modern marketing manager should be savvy with changes that have occurred to the media landscape. Two things are critical for success in wooing distance learners to your college: first, understanding the power of Internet advertising, and second, utilising different components of the Promotion Mix.
Many colleges and universities are increasingly becoming aware that advertising on social media is far more beneficial and cost-effective than using traditional platforms offered by TV, Radio, or newspapers. Many companies now spend more money on Internet advertising than on other media types. In 2018 worldwide spending on Internet advertising was $255.8 billion, TV advertising was US$181.6 billion , radio was $31.8 billion, newspaper advertising was $44.4 billion, and in 2019 worldwide spending on Internet advertising was $293.7 billion, TV advertising was 171.7 billion, radio was $31.5 billion, and newspaper was $39.5 billion (GroupM, 2019). Notice the huge increase in spending on Internet advertising and the decrease in the use of traditional media!
Some three years ago I helped a training institution to re-strategise on platforms it was using for advertising. This was my simple advice to the college : When you publish an advert in a newspaper or if you broadcast it through TV, have you any idea how many people access it? Well, the entire traffic to your advert is completely invisible to you because you dont know how many people bought that newspaper and out of that how many noticed your advert! You can only guess about the performance of the advert when your phone rings or when someone visits your college to make an inquiry. Serious marketers would record every phone number of each caller to make follow-ups. But writing the name and phone number of each inquirer after each and every call is a labor-intensive task! Thankfully, social media campaign tools have changed the game altogether! A marketer is now able to automatically capture campaign traffic and contact details of inquirers. A self-generated database of potential clients is what any marketer desires. I guided the organisation on how to implement the idea and within a short period of time the marketing team was enthused at the transformation of their business.
Now, your organisation must never get more obsessed with receiving money than giving out the value for which the money is being paid! Negate this principle and your college will never experience growth. Be more concerned with offering value and there will always be a hand willing to pay for it. However, to convert a 'willing' hand into a 'paying' one requires more work than placing advertisements. In the modern competitve environment it is important to be always aware that there are many other organisations offering a similar product or service and so the buyer has an array of choices to make. To win the choice of the buyer you must explain the uniquness of the value you are offering. A text, sound or video advert alone may not accomplish that! How about doing interactive conferences or presentations where you directly engage with people to explain the uniqueness of your products? That is called professional selling. Some colleges have regular programmes on radio where they talk about real-world business happenings in Zambia. They stage their show as though they were invited to be asked questions on various concerns stakeholders have. Before you realise it, your mind is led to believe that the answer to a problem being discussed lies in enrolling at their college for good quality training. That method of advertising is called Public Relations and also includes other tactics like press releases and news conferences. It is usually perceived to be more objective and is a very effective marketing tool. The lesson here is for you to never rely on one method of advertising. Utilise different components of the Promotion Mix.
That's all I will say about communicating to attract a customer. However, be warned that once you manage to convert an inquirer into a student your next and more important work is retaining that student. It is cheaper to keep an exisiting client than aquiring a new one. More on that in the next blog post!
References
Many colleges and universities are increasingly becoming aware that advertising on social media is far more beneficial and cost-effective than using traditional platforms offered by TV, Radio, or newspapers. Many companies now spend more money on Internet advertising than on other media types. In 2018 worldwide spending on Internet advertising was $255.8 billion, TV advertising was US$181.6 billion , radio was $31.8 billion, newspaper advertising was $44.4 billion, and in 2019 worldwide spending on Internet advertising was $293.7 billion, TV advertising was 171.7 billion, radio was $31.5 billion, and newspaper was $39.5 billion (GroupM, 2019). Notice the huge increase in spending on Internet advertising and the decrease in the use of traditional media!
Some three years ago I helped a training institution to re-strategise on platforms it was using for advertising. This was my simple advice to the college : When you publish an advert in a newspaper or if you broadcast it through TV, have you any idea how many people access it? Well, the entire traffic to your advert is completely invisible to you because you dont know how many people bought that newspaper and out of that how many noticed your advert! You can only guess about the performance of the advert when your phone rings or when someone visits your college to make an inquiry. Serious marketers would record every phone number of each caller to make follow-ups. But writing the name and phone number of each inquirer after each and every call is a labor-intensive task! Thankfully, social media campaign tools have changed the game altogether! A marketer is now able to automatically capture campaign traffic and contact details of inquirers. A self-generated database of potential clients is what any marketer desires. I guided the organisation on how to implement the idea and within a short period of time the marketing team was enthused at the transformation of their business.
Now, your organisation must never get more obsessed with receiving money than giving out the value for which the money is being paid! Negate this principle and your college will never experience growth. Be more concerned with offering value and there will always be a hand willing to pay for it. However, to convert a 'willing' hand into a 'paying' one requires more work than placing advertisements. In the modern competitve environment it is important to be always aware that there are many other organisations offering a similar product or service and so the buyer has an array of choices to make. To win the choice of the buyer you must explain the uniquness of the value you are offering. A text, sound or video advert alone may not accomplish that! How about doing interactive conferences or presentations where you directly engage with people to explain the uniqueness of your products? That is called professional selling. Some colleges have regular programmes on radio where they talk about real-world business happenings in Zambia. They stage their show as though they were invited to be asked questions on various concerns stakeholders have. Before you realise it, your mind is led to believe that the answer to a problem being discussed lies in enrolling at their college for good quality training. That method of advertising is called Public Relations and also includes other tactics like press releases and news conferences. It is usually perceived to be more objective and is a very effective marketing tool. The lesson here is for you to never rely on one method of advertising. Utilise different components of the Promotion Mix.
That's all I will say about communicating to attract a customer. However, be warned that once you manage to convert an inquirer into a student your next and more important work is retaining that student. It is cheaper to keep an exisiting client than aquiring a new one. More on that in the next blog post!
References
GroupM(2019).Worldwide Media Spending Forecast. Retrieved from www.groupm.com
This is very effective.
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