Introduction
Scenario Overview
ABU is one of premier university in the state of British Colombia, Canada. ABU has launched a B.COM course for entrepreneurs few years back and the course ran successfully for few years. However, in recent years because of increased competition the overall students enrolling in the course both online and on-campus has reduced drastically. It seems that ABU is unable to differentiate its course from that of its competitors. After initial research it was observed that ABUs B.COM entrepreneurial course is still one of the best in the market. However, it seems that marketing and positioning of the course is not proper and requires a target market strategy to revamp enrollment and image of the course.
Current Vision, Mission and Strategy
The vision of ABU is to connect people, ideas and experiences to change lives and the world. ABU wants to achieve its vision by becoming the leaders and partners and creating an enduring prosperity. ABU also wants to transform career and life by creating opportunities and implementing results from teaching and research to solve problems.
The vision and mission of ABU have the following goals:
ABU wants to create high quality, effective education system that contributes to environmental sustainability, social advancement and economic prosperity in the areas where demand is high.
ABU wants to become university of choice for relevant applied and professional education providing continuous opportunities to learn and transform lives and careers.
ABU wants to become a financially sustainable and high performing organization
ABU wants to create a workplace of choice that supports professional and personal success.
ABU wants to create strong partnerships with the alumni and the communities it serves.
ABU wants to be a leader in sustainable stewardship of Canadian historic lands.
ABU is committed to enrich the community through the promotion of diversity.
Purpose of the Report
The purpose of this report is to analyze the category trends in the education sector in Canada. The report would also touch upon strategic challenges ABU is facing as a result of changing educational trend. Once the trends and challenges are identified, the report will identify the optimal positioning of B.COM at ABU. Finally, once the positioning is identified, a target marketing strategy and customer persona will be proposed in alignment with organizational goals.
Segment Analysis
Category Trends and Strategic Challenges
Presently, people are not willing to spend huge amount of money in education as they are not sure that this investment will give them good return (BDC, 2015). Many colleges and courses are unable to ensure a prosperous career for the students. Only about 30% of the Canadians have completed undergrad studies (Canadian Census, 2010). 67% of the millennials think that free online learning is critical to their future (Cutler, 2014). On the other side, 67% millennials aspire to open their own business (Cutler, 2014).
Presently, B.COM mainly focuses on entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs look for the course effectiveness and do not care about the brand and certificate. However, entrepreneurial candidates are more focused towards getting a certificate so that it helps them further their career. Presently, the average age of customers enrolling for the course is 33. Online course has a balanced sex ratio, but the on-campus course has more men (61%) than women, and the average age of course attendants is 27 years. Many schools have started offering similar courses. Therefore, differentiating ABU’s B.COM course from other colleges is a major issue.
While choosing a course, prospective students look at many tangible and intangible parameters. Tangible parameters such as on-campus and online offerings can cater to a larger segment of students. Brand reputation plays a big role in the minds of the customers when they shop for products. This is true for education sector as well. Established brands such as Sauder School of Business can attract students easily than not so well known colleges such as Rotman or Tru Open Learning Universities (Mclean’s Magazine, 2015).
Strategic Challenges
The present target market for the B.COM course is the students who want to start their own business in the future. However, the course name B.COM is a problem. Most of the students searching for entrepreneurial program use terms such as ‘entrepreneurial program’ during their search on the internet. It is not easy to understand from the search results that B.COM is actually an entrepreneurial program. B.COM suffers from the lack of visibility.
Positioning: Present Situation
The above analysis shows that almost in all the parameters both the on-campus as well as the online offering of the B.COM course distinguishes itself from that of its competitors. However, this is not what is perceived by the prospective students. Even though the analysis shows that B.COM course is actually better in terms of delivery model, programs offered, completion time, admission process and class schedule, the number of students enrolling to the course is actually decreasing. This means that the actual positioning and the perceived positioning are different.
Potential Positioning
Rotman and Queens offer courses that are taught in a more traditional setup and most of the courses offered are classic and standard courses. Athabasca and TRU Learning are offering courses that are emerging (such as B.COM) but in a more traditional manner (On-Campus). Two of the most reputed colleges Sauder and Ryerson are moving towards more interactive learning (Mclean’s Magazine, 2015). This approach is one of the reasons why these two colleges are so successful. This shows that ABU’s B.COM, which is an emerging course and offered in an interactive and holistic learning environment, should be a huge success if customers also perceive ABU’s B.COM course to be in the first quadrant. To position B.COM in the first quadrant, ABU needs to brand the course as an interactive, flexible and new age course.
Unique Selling Proposition of B.COM
The following are the uniqueness of the B.COM course that differentiates B.COM from other similar courses.
Flexibility: ABU’s B.COM is offered not only as an on-campus course, but also as a blended course where students are allowed to learn at their own pace and manner.
Accelerated Course Duration: The blended course approach provides the students with an option to finish the course at their own pace. Most of the similar courses offered by others take about 4 years, but B.COM can be finished within 12 to 24 months.
Experienced Audience: B.COM mainly targets the experienced audience who have several years of work experience and also have fundamental understanding of the business.
Segment Analysis
Three most important customer segments for B.COM course are 1) entrepreneurs, 2) future entrepreneurs, and 3) Entrepreneur spirit. Brand market segmentation matrix is provided in the appendix.
Entrepreneurs are those who have already started their business, but want to get into a course that will provide them with tools and knowledge to help them in their existing business. This group of customers is often over the age of 30 years and cost sensitive (Orton, 2015). Additionally, these customers do not have much time and would look for courses that can be finished quickly (Orton, 2015). B.COM’s blended offering will be a perfect option for this group as they will be able to finish this course quickly (12 months).
Future entrepreneurs are generally young people who want to open their own business. This group often has some vision about what they want to do but lacks experience. This group is often less than 30 years old. This group is a good candidate for the on campus B.COM course
Finally, people who think that they have an entrepreneur in their heart but are not sure about their potential to start a business fall into this category. This will attract those people from corporate leadership and middle management who want to improve their performance and look for a course that can help them in this regard. These people will not be able to commit to full time course and blended course curriculum will be suitable for them.
Evaluation
Target Market
ABU B.COM course will be positioned as a course for “Every Kind of Entrepreneur”. This will increase the overall market for the product. Potential entrepreneurs and current entrepreneurs will continue to join the course. Additionally, people who have entrepreneurial spirit will also get attracted to the course. This tagline will also promote the idea that we all are entrepreneurial in our own way and there is no defined boundary for an entrepreneur.
Segment Attractiveness
Three segments we have chosen for the course have significantly different attractiveness. Entrepreneurs are small in number, but are the most important segment for the course as one successful student from the course can become a great brand ambassador for the course. However, the segment size is small. Future entrepreneurs will be the main audience for the on campus course. However, this is the most competitive market as most other players also offer similar on campus courses. Entrepreneurial spirit is the largest customer segment. Almost anyone is a potential customer. This is the most important market segment for ABU from growth perspective. A detailed segment attractiveness table is provided in the Appendix.
Recommendation
The following are the recommendations for ABU to follow when marketing for the B.COM course.
Customer Persona
Demographics: Skews female. 30-35 years old. Dual household income $150,000/annum. Lives in a city.
Background: Works full time in the middle management. Recently promoted to assistant manager. Worked in the same company for 8 years. Married with 2 children (4 and 2). Aspires to be in the top management in next few years and would like to open her own business someday. Likes new electronic gadgets, good wine and branded clothes.
Identifier: Calm demeanor. Keeps employees happy.
Challenges: Managing two children at home and the added responsibilities in the office. Needs additional help but cannot afford to keep full time help in office or at home.
Quotes: “I love my new role but I have to deal with so many different things that I am not sure I am doing justice to any of those”
Tagline: We are All Born Entrepreneurs
Positioning: Generic (for ABU): “Transformation for Life”. B.COM: “For Every Kind of Entrepreneur”
Target Market: Generic marketing for its online course, especially, focusing on corporate middle managers and corporate employees. Additional targeted marketing towards present SME entrepreneurs.
Streams/ Flexibility: 12-24 months flexible course curriculum. Main marketing focus should be towards blended course as it has more potential customers. USP of the course is flexibility in terms of learning time and course duration.
Conclusion
ABU’s B.COM course is facing decreasing enrollment. This is primarily because of increased competition. Although ABU offers an entrepreneurial course unique in most of the parameters still it is unable to attract new students. This is because of poor perception of the B.COM course in the market. The primary focus of ABU should be to brand B.COM as a flexible, and accelerated course offered to an experienced audience. Three main customer segments are entrepreneurs, future entrepreneurs, and entrepreneur spirits. If ABU is successfully able to market the B.COM course among the above target market with the USPs of flexibility and accelerated life changing learning, then it is sure to attract more customers.
References
Mclean’s Magazine. (2015). University Rankings 2015. Retrieved on 4th February 2016 from <http://www.macleans.ca/education/unirankings/university-rankings-2015-primarily-undergraduate/>
Cutler, Z. (2014). Unexpected Ways Millennials Are Impacting Higher Education. The Huffington Post. Retrieved on 4th February 2016 from <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/zach-cutler/how-millennials-impact-education_b_5604865.html>
Orton, T. (2015). Why young entrepreneurs are bypassing BC business schools. Business Vancouver. Retrieved on 4th February 2016 from <https://www.biv.com/article/2015/2/young-entrepreneurs-bypassing-bc-business-schools/>
Canadian Census. (2010). Census Program: Education and Labor. Statistics Canada. Retrieved on 4th February 2016 from <http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2011/rt-td/index-eng.cfm?TABID=8>
BDC. (2015). Annual Report 2015. . Retrieved on 4th February 2016 from <https://www.bdc.ca/EN/Documents/annualreport/BDC_AnnualReport_2015.pdf#search=%22entrepreneurship status%22>
Appendix 1: Brand Market Segments for B.COM
Appendix 2: Segment Attractiveness
