Customer Acquisition Strategy Analysis for Global Study Skills (GSS)

This report examines the customer acquisition strategy of Global Study Skills (GSS), a company providing offline tutoring and career counseling to international students. It analyzes the marketing strategy based on the 7Ps, recommending a focus on product (offline tutoring with cultural and accommodation assistance), competitive pricing, and promotion through both online (social media) and offline channels (banners, workshops). The report emphasizes targeting Chinese students, leveraging Facebook for advertising, and the importance of retaining affiliates and tutors. Findings from student surveys at the University of Sydney, UTS, and UNSW are incorporated to identify student needs and pain points, as well as the competitive landscape. The report suggests a well-thought-out customer acquisition strategy is crucial for sustainable growth in the education sector.

CUSTOMER ACQUISITION STRATEGY OF GSS
Customer acquisition strategy may be considered to be one of the most success-critical aspects of
marketing studies. The instant report deals with the customer acquisition strategy of Global
Study Skills (hereinafter may be referred to as "GSS” or the company, as the case may be).
The marketing strategy may be based on 7P’s of marketing strategy. Product should be offline
tutoring with added service of counseling on cultural and accommodation assistance. Price
should be reasonable and must be lower than Coursera which is moderately priced. Promotion
should be performed in both offline and online medium. Placement of the product should be
targeted on Chinese students as the population is more in relevant market. Packaging of the
product, in the given instance, may be referred to the additional value-added service like tutors
with native language and also the facility for undertaking online services. Positioning of the
product, as mentioned earlier, should be made as per the market trends of tutoring services with
special emphasis on the branding of customized offering. People part of the strategy primarily
focuses on the affiliates and tutors who are associated with the promotion process and hence,
GSS should make conscious effort to retain them with higher wages so as to provide better
quality.
Since the firm is in the education sector, the primary target customers would be students, for a
quite obvious reason. Since in today's technologically advanced world, most of the students have
access to social media, it would be best to run the advertisement and promotional campaign
through social media like Facebook. Facebook with more than 2 billion users worldwide would
be one of the best places to promote the offering customized for the students (Cage, 2016).

Besides, the cost of advertisement and publicity in the Facebook s comparatively lower than the
other modes of promotion,
Additionally, the company may go for offline advertisements like banner, hoarding, flex and
even the distribution of handouts and leaflets. Offline business majorly focuses on the display
boards strategically placed in the targeted geographical segment of the business which attracts
the passersby and onlookers and ultimately converts them into real customers.
In addition, the company should also focus on conducting workshops, seminars for career
development either on their own or by way of the tie-up with different educational sectors like
schools, colleges and universities etc. However, the management of GSS should evaluate the
corresponding cost implications for each of the promotional medium so chosen. It is needless to
mention that conducting a seminar is more costly than online paid promotion through Facebook
and hence, the management should undertake a cautious judgment of respective revenue
potential for the business.
Since the education sector is booming and expected to grow at a rapid pace worldwide and
Australia is no exception to the same, it may be concluded that a well-thought customer
acquisition strategy would significantly contribute towards the attainment of corporate goals of
sustainable top-line growth of any firm operating in educational in the long-run (Shy &
Stenbacka, 2015).

References
Cage, R. (2016). Service Recovery-A Promising Strategy for Customer Loyalty. International
Journal Of Science And Research (IJSR), 5(2), 150-152. doi: 10.21275/v5i2.nov161094
Shy, O., & Stenbacka, R. (2015). Customer Privacy and Competition. Journal Of Economics &
Management Strategy, 25(3), 539-562. doi: 10.1111/jems.12157