In the highly competitive and complex market of higher education, our client, an all-women’s university, needed a greater understanding of its image and the images of its competitors, as well as the needs and attitudes that drive a student’s decision to attend an all-women’s university.
Kannon applied its Outside-In approach to identify and evaluate external perceptions of the all-women’s college market in general, and our client in particular. Kannon identified current trends in the higher education market, profiled and segmented the female student population, and assessed key drivers in the decision-making process to guide the development of effective marketing materials, positionings, and competitive strategies.
Kannon analyzed and synthesized primary and secondary sources to establish a common language and understanding of consumer needs and behaviors. Kannon also undertook a quantitative analysis of both the female student college-bound population in total and the current entering class of the University. Student segments were identified and profiled based on such key drivers as important characteristics of colleges in general, views on women’s colleges in particular, the degree of outside influence in the decision-making process, financial issues, career goals, etc. Priority segments were established, and marketing materials and strategies were refined in light of the findings.
Based on Kannon’s recommended strategies, the client developed and tested a new communications plan that better aligned the University’s message to the needs of priority segments. Marketing materials were refined to emphasize important characteristics of a college cited by at least two of the three target segments.
Themes identified in the Kannon study became the foundation of the University’s new message. The client further enhanced this message with important competitive distinctions they could claim which the Kannon study had identified.
In doing so, the client was successful in attracting a more diversified entering class in 1999 compared to the entering classes of previous years. It continued to attract its core student populations, while growing a new priority segment 40% annually over the last four years.
“You can imagine that viewing higher education as a commodity, and of the necessity to market ourselves as such, rather than as a service, was a revolutionary, though vital step to take,” says the client’s Director of Public Relations. “Many at the University were reluctant at first – and uncomfortable – to accept the implications of this study. Kannon’s staff was savvy enough to understand this reluctance, and developed a true partnership with us to secure our understanding and buy-in. Their insistence in looking at the University through our customers’ and competitors’ eyes, as well as their meticulous and structured research and analyses, ultimately led us to accept the importance of such a viewpoint.”