A Marketing Promotion Plan to Enhance Higher Education Services

This report identifies key factors affecting service quality in higher education, including the quality of academic and support staff, university facilities, degree programs, the model of administration, and globalization. It proposes a market promotion plan for 2020 with communication objectives such as increasing awareness, changing student attitudes, reminding about service existence, influencing service use, and stimulating curiosity. The promotional mix includes advertising, public relations, and direct marketing strategies. The plan also outlines measurement criteria like enrollment rates, SEO performance, and service usage increase, along with a detailed budget and timeline. The goal is to address quality problems like slow services, scarce research materials, slow decision-making, and poor education standards through effective marketing communication.

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SERVICE INDUSTRY MARKETING
Name of student
Name of instructor
Name of institution
Course code
Date

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Executive summary
The purpose of the study is to explain quality problems and the various issues that affect
satisfaction in higher education services. The study adopts a literature review approach to
identify the factors affecting satisfaction from the perspective of different authors. The research
collects information from online journal articles written within the past five years to ensure
currency of information. The online journals undergo a filtration process to get the best
information that explains the factors affecting the quality of services in higher education. The
quality problems include,
1. Slow services
2. Scarce research materials
3. Slow decision making on matters affecting students’ welfare.
4. Poor education standards.
On the other hand, the factors that affect quality and service delivery in higher education include,
1. Quality of academic staff and support staff
2. Quality of facilities in the Universities
3. The quality of degree programs
4. The model of administration in the University.
5. The image of the university
After identifying the factors affecting quality levels, the research develops market
communication objectives in relation to the identified problems. The communication objectives
are such as,
1. To increase awareness levels
2. To change student attitudes towards institutions

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3. To remind about existence
4. To influence use of services
5. To stimulate curiosity about services
The research further develops a promotional mix to promote university services. The
promotional mix aims at ensuring that students get information about university services. The
elements of the promotional mix include,
1. Advertising
2. Public relations
3. Direct marketing
Furthermore, the research will develop measures to identify the success of the marketing
activities. The measures will give timely reports to the marketing team about the level of success
achieved. Failure to meet the set measures will indicate a failure on the market plan. The
performance indicators include,
1. Enrollment of new students
2. SEO performance
3. Increase in service usage
The research concludes with a budget for the market mix to allow financial allocation.
The allocated budget is affordable to the university and will result in a quality market plan.
Furthermore, with the allocation, the marketing team will not experience financial shortages in
the course of implementing the plan. The team has set 100 million dollars to cater for the various
expenses incurred.

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Table of Contents
Executive summary.........................................................................................................................2
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Factors affecting quality..................................................................................................................5
Quality of academic and support staff.........................................................................................5
Quality of university facilities......................................................................................................5
Quality of degree programs..........................................................................................................6
The model of administration in the university.............................................................................6
Globalization................................................................................................................................6
Reflection on the factors..............................................................................................................7
Market promotion plan for 2020......................................................................................................8
Communication objectives...........................................................................................................8
To increase awareness levels....................................................................................................8
To change student attitudes towards institutions......................................................................8
To remind about existence.......................................................................................................8
To influence use of services.....................................................................................................8
Stimulate curiosity about services............................................................................................9
Promotional mix elements...............................................................................................................9
Advertising...................................................................................................................................9
Public relations.............................................................................................................................9
Direct marketing........................................................................................................................10
Measurement criteria.....................................................................................................................10
Enrollment of new students........................................................................................................10
SEO performance.......................................................................................................................10
Increase in service usage............................................................................................................11
Budget............................................................................................................................................11
Budget for marketing team........................................................................................................11
Budget for advertisement...........................................................................................................12
Budget for direct marketing.......................................................................................................12
Budget for public relations.........................................................................................................13

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Time plan.......................................................................................................................................13
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................16
References......................................................................................................................................17

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Introduction
The research got information from online and offline sources published within a span of
the past five years. The online sources included journal articles written specifically to address
quality problems in service delivery in higher learning institutions. On the other hand, the offline
sources included interviews with students, university staff and quality management experts. The
research from online and offline sources assisted discovering some of the quality problems that
include (Gillingham, 2012)
1. Slow services
2. Scarce research materials
3. Slow decision making on matters affecting students’ welfare.
4. Poor education standards.
Furthermore, the research aims at identifying quality problems in institutes of higher
learning and exposing the factors that cause poor services. The research has adopted a literature
review approach to explain the quality factors and the effect on university service delivery.
Furthermore, the task adopts a marketing approach to develop communication objectives and a
promotion mix to inform about service quality improvement. The task then develops
performance indicators, budget and time plan for the market plan.
The research identifies the five factors affecting quality as (Kumar, 2015)
1. Quality of academic staff and support staff
2. Quality of facilities in the Universities
3. The quality of degree programs
4. The model of administration in the University.
5. Globalization

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Factors affecting quality
Quality of academic and support staff
The quality of academic staff relates to the lecturer’s level of knowledge about the
discipline taught, the method of delivery and the effectiveness of support services at the learning
institution (Van Niekerk, 2011). The way that lecturers and other support staff behave while
delivering services plays a crucial role in the delivery of services to the students. For example, a
lecturer that lacks adequate mastery of the subject taught to students fails to help the students
understand the necessary concepts. On the other hand, the support staff also play an important
role in service delivery. For example, a finance officer who fails to update the fees payment
records in time may result in students being denied access to school facilities in the grounds of
failure to pay academic fees. Therefore, students will experience poor services at the learning
institution.
Quality of university facilities
Facilities within learning institute are built to facilitate smooth acquisition of knowledge
by students (Xiong, 2012). The major facilities include classrooms, laboratories, transportation
and recreational facilities. The facilities perform different roles in ensuring student satisfaction.
Research shows that students consider facilities to have high-quality when adequately availed to
offer comfort and safety (Faulkner, 2013). For example, a library should enable students perform
both online and offline research by equipping with current research material. Furthermore, the
facilities should adopt latest technology and trends to keep students aware of the current
developments. Therefore, failure to avail adequate facilities results in students getting minimal
satisfaction from university services.

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Quality of degree programs
The content offered in learning courses increases the variety and width of learners
leading to difficulties in implementation (Essawy, 2012). The difficulties mostly arise when the
learning institutions keep increasing new courses and topics. The students experience much
workload and fail to specialize in one area of learning. Furthermore, some learning institutions
introduce difficult courses that are not within the instructors’ specialty (Faulkner, 2013).
Therefore, the students suffer from low-quality education services.
The model of administration in the university
Teaching in institutes of higher education has become difficult with so much pressure
from the society and government agencies (Andreasen, 2012). Additionally, the education
agencies have set-up poor administration policies that do not motivate the instructors. For
example, most of the lecturers spend much time fulfilling education agencies such as attending
meetings and seminars instead of teaching. Therefore, the learners lack adequate contact time
with the teachers resulting in poor transfer of knowledge (Essawy, 2012). On the other hand, the
education agencies fail to set-up proper reward and penalties systems to check teacher
performances. Consequently, most instructors approach teaching with laxity resulting in poor
teaching services.
Globalization
Over the years, the number of foreign learners has increased in universities especially
with the need to adopt diversity and reach international customers (Zablah, 2012). Additionally,
online teaching has increased access of education facilities to international students. The foreign
students have different cultures compared to the lecturers and support staff within the learning

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institution. Dealing with diverse students has posed a challenge to lecturers and support staff
leading due poor relationships with the students (Rist, 2013).
Reflection on the factors
 Quality of academic and support staff – learning institution should ensure proper allocation
of tasks to prevent overload. The staff involved in teaching should not perform
administration duties to ensure high performance without distractions.
 Quality of university facilities – learning institutions should introduce modern equipment and
methods of teaching. For example, schools should introduce computerized learning and
increase the level of interaction between the learners and instructors.
 Quality of degree programs – institutions should ensure that the course contents maintain a
narrow approach so that students can specialize in one area. Additionally, the instructors can
master the courses and teach effectively.
 The model of administration in the university – learning institutions should adopt a
management system that nurtures and creates enthusiasm among the staff. The government
agencies should refrain from setting up performance systems that concentrate on ticking
boxes without checking the long-term future of education.
 Globalization – institutions should increase the diversity of the staff to accommodate
different language and cultures. Additionally, the institutions should teach basic languages
such as English to ensure that students can communicate effectively.

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Market promotion plan for 2020
Communication objectives
To increase awareness levels
The promotion plan aims at increasing awareness within and outside the university about
the availability of services (Sax, 2018). The marketing team acknowledges the fact that most
students fail to access University services due to lack of knowledge about existence. Therefore, a
need arises to increase understanding among students about the location, uses and persons who
provide different services (Sulistiyani, 2012). Increasing awareness about University services
will increase the levels of service use among the students. Furthermore, increased service
awareness will reduce confusion among students about the availability of services.
To change student attitudes towards institutions
The promotion mix will communicate a message that creates a positive image about the
university and the service providers (Rao, 2012). The aim is to ensure that students gain trust
inability of the service delivery systems to maintain high-quality. The marketing plan will
convey messages that encourage students to access campus services.
To remind about existence
The promotional mix will convey a message that reminds the students of the existence of
services in the learning institutions (Anthony, 2015). The message will focus on reminding the
students of the location, providers and time series are offered. Therefore, the students will have a
better understanding of the university service delivery system.
To influence use of services
The communication message will aim at stimulating the use of services among students.
For example, emphasizing the importance of services to the student’s welfare to encourage use.

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The messages could include testimonials of how campus research services improve exam scores
and increase chances of employment.
Stimulate curiosity about services
The communication messages will increase the need for students to know the importance
of the services availed in the institutes of higher learning. To increase curiosity, the marketing
team will give details about services and the benefits towards education and personal
improvement.
Promotional mix elements
Advertising
Advertisement will take place through different media such as Google ads and posters (Bromiley,
2014). Google ads promise the highest viewership since most students’ access the internet. Additionally,
posters will cover a large number of students since the marketing will put the posters at strategic points
such as cafeteria, classrooms and notice boards. The advertisement media will use catchy messages to
attract the attention of the students. Therefore, the promotional campaign will reach a large intended
number of students.
Public relations
Public promotion activities taken to improve service use include engaging students in
social activities such as mass education on the importance of services (Cabeza, 2013). Other
mass activities involve organizing corporate social responsibility activities where students get
more information about services offered. The activities bring students together thus availing a
great opportunity to educate students about the services.

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Direct marketing
Direct marketing will succeed when certain groups of students are targeted with
marketing information that relates to courses taken (Corrigan, 2017). For example, students
undertaking science courses could benefit from marketing messages that increase awareness on
the availability of laboratory services. The approach will ensure that students access services that
offer special services that directly benefit the courses taken.
Measurement criteria
Enrollment of new students
The marketing team will measure the success of the marketing campaign by checking
data of new students enrolling to undertake courses offered in the university (Cook, 2011). The
marketing messages should increase awareness of the services offered and result in more
enrollments. Likewise, the marketing team should also ensure the retention of continuing
students. The ability to retain continuing students and experience new enrollments indicates
success of the marketing campaign (Cabeza, 2013). Therefore, the campaign should focus on
ensuring that the students understand the availability and importance of the services offered.
Additionally, the services offered should experience an overhaul to ensure improvements and
higher satisfaction among students.
SEO performance
The promotion campaign should ensure that the university performs better in terms of
website visits and online searches (Bromiley, 2014). The university should rank high in search
results as a result of increased awareness among students. The increased searches should arise
from increased awareness about the university services. Therefore, most students respond by
visiting the institutions websites and enrolling for courses.