INTRODUCTION TO DIGITAL MEDIA: PROMOTIONAL PLAN FOR SAIBT
Introduction
The South Australian Institute of Business Technology (SAIBT) is a partner of the University of South Australia (UniSA) that offers a direct path of admission into various degree programs of the university. SAIBT offers diploma courses that lead into the second year of various undergraduate programs at UniSA. These diploma courses are equivalent to the first year courses that the university offers her students (UniSA, 2016). It follows that any student who wishes to study in UniSA must undergo through a SAIBT diploma program before eventual admission into undergraduate courses. This paper aims at developing a promotional plan for SAIBT to ensure an increase in student enrolment into the diploma programs.
Target audience
SAIBT targets Australian students as well as students from various parts of the world. Students who have completed high schools and who wish to advance their college education find SAIBT as a suitable destination for the pursuit of scholarly excellence. In this regard, application for admission into diploma programs targets students from all parts of the world. Currently, the program has over 1000 local students and international students. SAIBBT offers diploma courses in Arts, Business, Health Science, Engineering, Information Technology and English (UniSA, 2016). English courses are strategically offered to meet needs of a diverse international market comprising of students from non-English speaking countries. The university relies on digital media to advertise its courses.
The use of digital media enables the UniSA to reach a wide gamut of audience particularly parents who wish to enrol their children in post-high school programs. Digital media comprises social media, visual media and blogosphere. Social media includes tools such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram while visual media comprises television (Dickey & Lewis, 2011). Other digital platforms include the use of blogs and websites to promote a product. For this promotion, SAIBT shall use both social media and visual media to create awareness about the existence of the courses offered in the university.
Capturing attention
SAIBT will use a well-designed message to convince the audience about the centrality of these courses in the contemporary age. This message shall be communicated to an online audience in who use social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Studies by Howard and Hussain (2011) observed that 69% of people between 17 and 44 years are active social media users. The increase in this figure has been attributed to an increasing use of smartphones that allow users to access internet at their convenience. Coincidentally, this age group is the quintessential market segment for UniSA. Thus, the use of Facebook in creating awareness about the diploma courses offered by this university is an important strategy aimed at increasing enrolment. The message should be accompanied by a colourful photo of happy students wearing graduation gowns as a sign of successful completion of their programs at the university. The advantage of using Facebook as a promotional tool is the fact that Facebook has millions of users spread across the world (O’Guinn et al., 2014). This factor makes it suitable for communicating to a diverse market.
While using visual media, attention will be placed on the needs of people above 45 years. This market segment does not fancy colourful advertisement and promotional programs. Instead, they desire brief adverts that focuses on the main message. In this regard, the visual adverts shall be centred on the main message of appealing to parents and admit their children for the diploma courses at the University. The advert shall contain important information such as the types of courses offered, their applicability in the job market and the projection on the costs of admission. Information on the fees should be available to parents or guardians to help them inn preparing students for enrolment.
Most appropriate platform
Although these platforms achieve a common goal of increasing student enrolment, the use of visual media for promotion is the most appropriate. The rationale behind this argument is premised on the statistics that visual media is most preferred by people above 45 years (Truong et al., 2010). Most of these people believe visual media than social media because of the proliferation of online scams. The second reason is tied to the fact that most students do not pay school fees. Instead, their schools fees is paid by their parents. Because of this factor, a promotion that places emphasis on parents as a target market at the expense of students is likely to realize significant positive feedback. The percentage of elderly people who visit social media sites is low across the globe. Thus, this promotional campaign may not achieve desired results if it is based on primarily on social media.
Product distinction
UniSA shall position SAIBT as the ultimate path to enrolment into lucrative programs in the university. A few universities across the globe focuses on college training as a prerequisite for entry into the university. UniSA is among the few universities that have embraced this strategy. This strategy is appealing to most parents who believe in fully-baked graduates. In this regard, the promotion would project UniSA as the university competing the few universities with similar programs (Birrell & Edwards, 2009). In addition, the university’s impressive record of excellence will market it locally to students within Australia.
Annotated bibliography for sources used supporting videos
The purposes of developing this promotional campaign, the fowling sources would be useful in the development of this paper.
Birrell, B., & Edwards, D. (2009). The Bradley Review and access to higher education in Australia. Australian Universities' Review, The, 51(1), 4.
In this article, Birrell and Edwards examine the access to higher education in Australia. The paper focuses on indicators that affect access of higher education. It stems from an earlier recommendation that proposed the expansion of tertiary education to increase access by students. This paper is useful in this research because it would determine the position of SAIBT in light of the proposed expansion.
Dickey, I. J., & Lewis, W. F. (2011). An overview of digital media and advertising. Print.
Howard, P. N., & Hussain, M. M. (2011). The role of digital media. Journal of democracy, 22(3), 35-48.
Howard and Hussain argue that digital media has a significant role to play in the modern world. The paper explains that digital media increases awareness on issues regarding human rights, business and politics. Thus, the business world relies on digital media to reach out to a wide audience. The author argue that businesses that rely on the new media are likely to survive competition while businesses that fail to embrace digital media for product promotion are doomed to fail. This article helps this research by analyzing the digital media options for SAIBT as it seeks strategic positioning.
O’Guinn, T., Allen, C., Semenik, R., & Scheinbaum, A. C. (2014). Advertising and integrated brand promotion. Nelson Education.
This website explores SAIBT as the ultimate gateway to enrolment in UniSA. The website persuades prospective students to consider pursuing their degree programs at the University of South Australia on the condition that they enrol for diploma programs at SAIBT. The article describes SABT as “an excellent pathway into 2nd year of a UniSA Bachelor degree in Australia” (UniSA, 2016). It urges students who are concerned about coping with the Australian university education system and students whose proficiency in English is not good enough to join SAIBT. This article is important in the development of this work because it highlights the relationship between SAIBT and UniSA. The two educational entities work on a collaborative framework that ensures transition of students from one level of education to another. For instance, when students complete high school education, SAIBT offers a suitable destination for their advancement of education before they enrol for degree programs at UniSA. In this regard, SAIBT acts as an intermediate stage where students attain enlightenment before proceeding with higher educational programs.
Truong, Y., McColl, R., & Kitchen, P. (2010). Practitioners’ perceptions of advertising strategies for digital media. International Journal of Advertising, 29(5), 709-725.
In this article, the authors observe that digital advertising in today’s world is becoming a challenge for businesses due to the rapidly changing media landscape. Advertisement models used in the present world may not be valid in the future. In this regard, companies or organizations wishing to promote their products should take cognizance of the changing world and position strategically to attain competitive advantage. The paper explores the options that SAIBT should seek to ensure that it remains relevant in the wake of a changing media platform.
One paragraph synopsis of assignment two
SAIBT has enjoyed a long history of collaboration with UniSA. Located at the center of Australia’s most affordable city, SAIBT offers diploma programs in Arts, Business, Engineering and Health Science to both local and international students. The college invites students interested in various courses for intakes every February, June and October as a prerequisite for enrolment into degree programs at UniSA.
References List
Birrell, B., & Edwards, D. 2009. The Bradley Review and access to higher education in
Australia. Australian Universities' Review, The, 51(1), 4.
Dickey, I. J., & Lewis, W. F. 2011. An overview of digital media and advertising. Amazon.
Howard, P. N., & Hussain, M. M. 2011. The role of digital media. Journal of
democracy, 22(3), 35-48.
O’Guinn, T., Allen, C., Semenik, R., & Scheinbaum, A. C. 2014. Advertising and
integrated brand promotion. Nelson Education.
https://www.saibt.sa.edu.au/about-saibt
Truong, Y., McColl, R., & Kitchen, P. 2010. Practitioners’ perceptions of advertising
strategies for digital media. International Journal of Advertising, 29(5), 709-725.
