assignment/project front sheet

Assignment/Project Front Sheet CIM Membership Number

Unit Title

Level/Award

Accredited Study Centre

By submitting this assessment I confirm that I understand and abide by the CIM’s plagiarism and collusion regulation. (Optional) I hereby give consent for my assignment/project, if accepted, to be available for CIM use in relation to dissemination of best practice and, or, other appropriate purposes. It is on the understanding that all studying member numbers would be removed prior to use for the purposes of full anonymity. Tick here to opt out

12873344

Digital Marketing Planning

Diploma in Digital Marketing

London School of Marketing

Frank Steiner 4594

12873344

Diploma in Digital Marketing

Digital Marketing Planning

Clarissa Jayasinghe

4594 Frank Steiner

STUDENT ASSIGNMENT DECLARATION SHEET (June/September 2010) Name: Student Number: CIM Membership Number: Course of study: Please indicate your study course and module for which you will be submitting your assignments (you will need to fill in a cover sheet for all modules submitted): Module: Tutor: All students wishing to submit their final assignments must complete this form electronically and send it to the London School of Marketing by e mail and attach a printed cover sheet to your assignment)

1.Upload to the portal (proper file naming has to be followed) 2. Email to [email protected] 3. submit a printed copy through hand delivery/courier/post * and ensure with the carrier that they will deliver your assignment to us on or before the deadline and those of you who hand deliver their assignments should obtain a receipt from our Academic team. I hereby confirm that I have completed the above processes on time and I understand it is my responsibility to ensure that all parts of my submission reaches LSM according to the final submission guidelines. Student signature (LSM student number on the soft copy) _________ _________________ Please sign the printed version of your LSM declaration sheet to agree to our final submission terms

our Terms and Conditions submission deadline :

Diploma in Digital Marketing Digital Marketing Planning London School of Marketing

Context: Promote a non-marketing-related qualification to a defined target market for your study centre

Assignment date: December 2010

CIM membership: 12873344

LSM student #: 4594

LSMOnline-DMP-Dec10-12873344

Task 1 - Digital Marketing Audit

Introduction

The Bloomsbury Colleges (TBC) group was set up in 2004 and consists of the following six

colleges of the University of London: Birkbeck, Institute of Education (IoE), London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), the Royal Veterinary College (RVC), the School of Oriental and African

Studies (SOAS) and The School of Pharmacy (SoP). The aim of TBC is to collaborate together in

academic administrative matters to avoid unnecessary duplication of effort and to gain the benefits of

critical mass whilst maintaining the independence to pursue specialist missions. This collaboration

enhances the capacity of the institutions to provide support, deliver services and create opportunities

of professional advancement for the support and service staff in the six institutions. The physical

proximity of the colleges is a key factor in facilitating contact and enabling shared facilities where

relevant.

The management survey which led to the founding of TBC was funded by the Higher Education

Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and identified a range of activities where the six institutions could do things better collaboratively than independently, many of which are administrative. The six

were collaborating in academic areas before the group was formed but new areas of cooperation

have been identified including the provision of jointly supervised PhD scholarships which have been

available since September 2007.

The Bloomsbury Colleges are looking to raise awareness for their range of PhD scholarships within

the Asian market and attract paying overseas students through those scholarships.

LSMOnline-DMP-Dec10-12873344 1

The external marketing environment

According to Beamish and Ashford (2008)1 organisations should carry out environmental analysis and

environmental scanning to stay competitive. Scanning and analysing the external environment will help make informed decisions and produce a marketing strategy which takes into account the

environment in which an organisation operates in, therefore ensuring its success. Through scanning,

monitoring, forecasting and assessing the macro- and micro-environment The Bloomsbury Colleges

will be able foresee future influences in the markets they operate in.


PESTEL

Political • recent lift on student fee cap could mean international students become less attractive as margins with home-students increase

• recently announced spending cuts mean additional income needs to be secured to replace government funding

Economic • Asia still delivers economic growth, creating the need for educated members of society

Social • High levels of internet usage in urban areas

• some Asian countries have higher broadband density and bandwidth than European countries and also display the biggest growth rates in internet users

• global growth of use of social networks (Facebook & Twitter)

Technological • 4G mobile network in some Asian countries

• Leaders in technological development

• social networks present unique opportunity to use digital marketing for highly targeted marketing campaigns

Environmental • possible negative environmental impact considering international students flying into the UK

Legal • barrier to entry in obtaining student visas for foreign students has been raised, making it more difficult to complete the necessary paperwork

• restricted/limited internet access in Asia, especially China

• Privacy & copyright issues

• State-censorship in some Asian countries (China)

Table 1: PESTEL analysis for The Bloomsbury Colleges

The macro-environment

Most commonly used to assess external factors is the PESTEL analysis which looks wider environment in which an organisation operates and which can affect its day-to-day business. The

table below contains a PESTEL analysis for The Bloomsbury Colleges, looking at political, economic,

social & cultural, technological, environmental and legal factors.

The analysis of the macro-environment plays a vital role in the production of the strategic marketing

plan for any organisation and once key forces are identified they are to be monitored regularly to

detect changes and act accordingly.

The micro-environment

Still part of the external audit the analysis of the micro-environment looks at factors the are directly

linked with the organisation, in our case The Bloomsbury Colleges, and at competitors, customers

and the markets we are currently operating in.

Direct competition is faced by the recently re-branded distance learning division of the University of

London, called International Programmes. Established over 150 years ago it currently attracts over

50,000 students worldwide and offers Diploma, Bachelors and Masters courses of the University of

London colleges of which The Bloomsbury Colleges are a part. Although participating colleges receive

fees for supporting distance learning students, in effect these present potential revenue if attracted to

study at the college as an international student.


The Internal Marketing Environment

During an inaugural meeting held on 27 October 2010 a group of representatives of The Bloomsbury

Colleges member institutions tried to identify and formulate key objectives concerning the digital marketing strategy for www.bloomsbury.ac.uk

It became apparent that there is a need to formulate a vision for The Bloomsbury Colleges and its

online presence with all member institutions already having strong brand identities and most of them

already present in international markets. By focusing on TBC for international student recruitment

across all member colleges, individual colleges fear a duplication of effort and a strain on resources

which in the current economic climate won’t be justifiable.

It was further pointed out that although vital and important that TBCs website www.bloomsbury.ac.uk

is in need of a facelift and should address the following shared objectives:

• market the ‘Bloomsbury scholarships’

• share work & research of London International Development Centre (LIDC)

• publish ‘shared services’ success of The Bloomsbury Colleges

• direct International students onto member colleges websites

A lack of ownership for the site paired with a lack of direction and unclear strategic objectives thus far

meant that apart from developing it and publishing it in 2005/6 the site has been more or less

dormant, with the latest onsite update being the addition of this year’s scholarship in April 2010.

There has been no structured digital marketing activity addressing any of the four areas mentioned. A

look at the most recent Google Analytics site statistics (App 4 & 5) supports this but also shows a

trend of interest from the Asian target market.

Conclusion - The SWOT analysis

Megicks, Donnelly and Harrison (2009) conclude that the “SWOT analysis is the commonest structure

for bringing together […]” the result of the external and internal audit. Findings are categorised into strength or weakness (internal) and opportunities or threats (external) and merging the result of both

audits forms the link to the strategies section of the marketing plan; informing on segmentation,

targeting and positioning and subsequent tactics. The table below combines the findings of the

marketing audit for The Bloomsbury Colleges into the SWOT grid.


STRENGTH WEAKNESS

• comprehensive and non-competitive course offering

across all member colleges

• member colleges have strong reputation as thought

leaders in their respective fields

• cross-college PhD scholarships are unique in the UK

(even worldwide)

• existing experience & skills in digital marketing within

member colleges, especially on International recruitment

• competing interests between individual member colleges

& overall TBC objectives

• lack of resource (man power) and commitment (budget) to

implement & execute marketing strategy for TBC website

• vision & objectives for TBC entity aren’t clear and how

those fit with the colleges individual objectives & strategy

• TBC brand awareness is limited to the UK market

• Existence of expertise silos within colleges which

(unknowingly) duplicate efforts or repeat mistakes

• total market size: growing demographic of educated

students in Asia (China & India especially)

• history & prestige of UK universities is still a USP

• China’s 1-child policy created a generation of driven

parents, wanting the best for their child

• growth of social networks in Asia substantially lowers cost

of entry and engagement with target audience for digital

campaigns

• size of Indian & Chinese population means Higher

Education needs can’t be met by local universities

• additional requirements for overseas student visa

applications

• growing number of ‘local’ universities & partnerships offer

alternative to studying in the UK

• falling quality standards & reputation of UK universities

abroad

• substantial funding cuts in the UK education budget

• US universities competing in the same market for

International students

• dominance of local social networks poses barrier to entry

and use in digital marketing campaigns

OPPORTUNITY THREAT

The SWOT analysis is useful in providing a condensed overview of internal & external factors

potentially affecting the TBC as well as developing strategies. The aim is to be able formulate objectives and create strategies that built on existing strengths and make use of opportunities to

develop a competitive advantage in the market place. Ideally weaknesses can be turned into

strengths or at least negated by being considered in the planning process whilst threats can be

turned into opportunities or simply lead to further monitoring of the market environment and the

production of ‘worst case scenario’ response.

Word count Task 1 (excl. tables): 1226


Table 2: SWOT analysis for The Bloomsbury Colleges

Task 2 - The Digital Marketing Plan

When starting the planning process - digital or

otherwise - it is important to follow a structure in order

to build a plan set on sound foundations and ensure it

is easily adaptable to future changes. I recommend the

SOSTAC framework, which is widely used for its simple

and logic approach to planning and endorsed by the

marketing experts and featured in most major text books.

Figure 1 illustrates two key features of the SOSTAC

planning framework. That it is a) a continuous activity

which doesn’t end with the implementation and

measurement of marketing activities and b) there is a

feedback loop that allows change for each of the

planning steps.

Situation Analysis

Starting with the here and now, the planning process starts with the situation analysis and a look the

current market environment, overall market trends, internal capabilities and resources and customer

insight. We can refer to the marketing audit and its resulting SWOT analysis from task 1. A number of key findings have been established which need to be taken into account for the production of the

digital marketing plan.

The total market size

As Robinson (2005) pointed out in her paper entitled “Higher Education in China: The Next Super

Power is Coming of Age“ for the American Council on Education the number of Chinese institutions

has surpassed 4,000 and student enrolments have reached 15 million. Despite those impressive

figures there are still 85% of the college-age demography which is loosing out and whose needs

aren’t met by the Chinese education system.

A similar picture presents itself with the Indian education market which in 2004 registered a gross

enrolment for tertiary education of 15.6%. Although set to increase to 19.4% in 2010/11 based on

the Indian governments five-year plan, still leaving around 80% of the target demographic without

access to higher education.


Figure 1: SOSTAC planning model

Growing Internet use in Asia

Internet access and use across the Asia Pacific region has now surpassed 20% of their actual

population in China & Thailand and 10% in India and Indonesia according to the World Bank (2009)2

with almost 70% of the APAC internet population accessing online content through home PC and

their mobile phone. A captive secondary & tertiary demographic actively engaged in and contributing

to an ever growing range of social networks is encouraging and supports the idea that a series of well

thought out, highly targeted and timed digital marketing campaigns will produce a significant increase

in reach and engagement for TBCs online presence.

Growth of social networks

Although Facebook is continuously gaining traction in Asia local social networks like QQ in China,

Orkut in India and Mixi in Japan dominate the market. Other well known social media services like

Twitter, Wordpress and Youtube are censored and don’t appeal to local needs and preferences.

These trends present a huge opportunity to engage with our target audience in an environment they are familiar with.

For example the Renren network (formerly known as Xiaonei), the most popular student network in

China, now counts 22 million active and over 40 million registered users3, dwarfing the total number of

UK students of 2 million (2008) and presenting a unique chance to engage with the TBC target

audience.

Uniqueness of Bloomsbury Scholarships

Although scholarships as a concept aren’t new or revolutionary the Bloomsbury Scholarships have a

very unique selling proposition with all of the PhD scholarships being cross-institutional involving at

least two of the six member colleges. This offers prospective students a unique insight into

collaborative research within some of the leading institutes in the UK.

Lack of previous digital marketing activity

As mentioned a lack of strategically planned and integrated digital marketing activities has been

evident for The Bloomsbury Colleges website. The main reason are competing objectives of individual

member colleges and the TBC, mainly an ambiguous vision statement for the TBC when it comes to

its international orientation and how that ties in with the member colleges own objectives.

Resource & budgetary restrains

This in turn affects the resources and budgets available and is reflected in the insufficient allocation of

manpower and financial resources to the website and the achievement of its objectives. It is currently

overseen by the London International Development Centre (LIDC), one of the largest and most


interdisciplinary academic groupings on development issues in the UK, and a collaboration between

the six Bloomsbury Colleges.

The education market

The UK (and Europe) and Asia are the key markets The Bloomsbury Colleges operate in and the

following trends are to be considered. According to a BBC feature (2009) The Department for

Innovation, Universities and Skills points out that the number of students fell - although by only 1%

from 2007 to 2008 - the first time since records have been collected centrally. The coalition

governments announcement to lift the cap on student fees is likely to continue this trend by reducing

the number of students who can afford tertiary education.

The Asian education market on the other hand is expected to account for 70 per cent of global

demand by 2025 according to Healey (2008) and hence is a prime market to explorer and build

strong foundations to secure long-term growth for the TBC.

Competitors

Although some Bloomsbury Colleges like Royal Veterinary College, London School of Hygiene and

Tropical Medicine and School of Oriental and African Studies are in a position of strength considering

their unique course offering others like Birkbeck College and the Institute of Education aren’t. Major

competition is coming from leading US institutions which actively engage with and collaborate in the

Asian market, recruiting over 60% of its overseas students from Asia.

Furthermore competitors include home-based institutions like the Open University, a major player in

the UK education market with more than 250,000 students with over 20% being non-UK students on

either distance learning or OU-validated programmes


Digital Marketing Objectives

Using Chaffey’s (2010) RACE framework we can develop and set KPIs to measure our digital

marketing activities against three key objectives: reach, act & convert and engage.

Based on the earlier identified core objectives of TBC and its online presence, we are to focus our efforts to a) promote the ‘Bloomsbury Scholarships’ and b) direct International students onto member

colleges websites.

Taking into account the most recent Google Analytics statistics from Sep/Oct 2010 (Figure 1 & 2,

Appendix) we can set the following KPIs which are to be achieved over the 12-month period of the

marketing plan.

Reach:• Increase monthly site visits by 25% from 3,658 to 4,573 by October 2011

• Double monthly visits from India (48) and China (21) by October 2011• Raise referral visits from 18.4% to 25% by October 2011

Act & convert:

• Reduce bounce rate from 61% to 50% by October 2011• Increase page views per visit from 2 to 4 by October 2011

• A minimum of 50 downloads per month of the ‘Bloomsbury Scholarships’ brochure by 2011• Achieve at least 500 subscribers for the ‘Bloomsbury Scholarships’ newsletter by April 2011

• Increase number of applications for scholarships by 15% from x in 2010 to x+15% in July 2011

Engage:

• Increase the percentage of ‘return visit’ from 18.8% to 25% by October 2010• Achieve industry standard open (25.86%) & click (4.72%) rates for the newsletter

Table 3 displays the digital marketing objectives using the RACE dashboard.


Table 3: RACE - Digital marketing dashboard

Reach Act & convertAct & convert Engage

increase total monthly site

visits by 25%

reduce the bounce rate

below 50%

raise # of applications for

Bloomsbury scholarships

from x to y

# or repeat visits to website

double monthly visits from

Asia

increase pages viewed per

visit to 4

sign-ups to ‘Bloomsbury

Scholarship’ newsletter

% of newsletter open/click

rates

increase referral visits to 25% raise # of downloads of LIDC

reports

social media monitoring of

‘Bloomsbury Scholarships’

raise # of downloads of

‘scholarship’ information

brochure

STP - Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning

If we consider our prime objective of ‘promoting the Bloomsbury Scholarships’ to the Asian market, it

becomes clear that a high level geodemographic segmentation is linked to the objective, mainly to

engage with the right age & education segment appropriate to take up a PhD scholarship as well as

the Asian market as a whole.

Segmentation - Demographic

Possession of a UK Honours Degree at 2:1 level or equivalent is the commonly shared basic entry requirement for the Bloomsbury Scholarships and allows for a more specific demographic

segmentation of the University student population aged 18-23 years old. In addition we can consider

the parental segment aged 40-60 years old directly associated with the student segment and

according to a recent survey by Nielsen and CEMAC (Chinese Economic Monitoring & Analysis

Center) willing to spend the majority of their disposable income on their children’s education (48%).

Segmentation - Geographic

Considering the lack of any previous digital marketing activity and the subsequent lack of sufficient

data regarding geographical segmentation it is suggested to segment on a national level and have an

in-depth performance review 6-months into the running of digital marketing activities, allowing for

sufficient data to be collected to make an informed decision. Based purely on total population size and number of internet users (June, 2010) we get the following order of geographic market segments:

China, India, Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan, Hong Kong.

Targeting

Having looked at the demographic and geographic characteristics of the market segments we need to decide on a targeting strategy. In an ideal world scenario we would design a narrowly targeted

marketing mix to engage with each of the twelve unique segments (A1-B7). This approach however is

the most cost and labour intensive, removing economies of scale and putting a strain on resources

according to Megicks et al (2009).

Bearing in mind findings of the marketing audit, mainly the lack of resources (financial & staff) and

insufficient experience in running similar digital marketing activities previously an undifferentiated

strategy is suggested applying the same marketing mix across all twelve market segments, essentially

treating them as one homogenous market. It is suggested to focus on segments A1 and A2.


Markets China India Indonesia South Korea Malaysia Taiwan Hong Kong

18-23 yo

40-60 yo

A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7

B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6 B7

Table 4: Market classification

In doing so we minimise marketing costs and achieve economies of scale, ensuring market

engagement with the highest growth markets and attracting the desired target audience. Data and market intelligence gathered over the next 12-month from these undifferentiated activities is likely to

form the basis for future strategy decision and help justify targeting further segments in the future.

Positioning

Concluding the STP process is the development of TBCs competitive advantage (actual or perceived

by its customers) over its competitors. Kotler and Keller (2006) describe it as the “act of designing the

company’s offer and image so that they occupy a meaningful and distinctive position in the target

customer mind’.

Differentiation can be achieved in two ways, by what a product/service does (functional) or what it

means (emotional). Individual member colleges have a string standing and reputation, something that

needs to be emphasised and mentioned in conjunction with the Bloomsbury Scholarships. Looking at the marketing mix or the 4 Ps of product, price, promotion and place we are able to formulate the

online value proposition for TBC.

Product - The primary product are the PhD scholarships which are currently named ‘PhD

Studentships’. I urged to re-brand to either ‘Bloomsbury Scholarships’ or ‘PhD scholarships’ in order

to increase keyword friendliness and ease future marketing activities.

Price - TBC offers PhD scholarships that cover tuition and living expenses for three years, worth in

excess of £20,000.00, something that should be made clear online and used in PPC & banner

advertising campaigns.

Place - The Scholarships are currently advertised primarily on www.bloomsbury.ac.uk, better use of

partner institutions online presence and digital marketing activities - like student & alumni publications

- should be put to use. Paired with PCC and online campaigns this will significantly increase the potential reach of the scholarship message and draw interested students to the site.

Promotion - There is a need to improve and co-ordinate promotional activities surrounding the

scholarships across all member colleges. The advice is to refer to the attached campaign schedule

and ensure a joint up approach during all stages of the engagement process - from reach, through

act & convert to engage.

Tactics & Actions

In accordance with the objectives set using the RACE framework we can formulate tactics and

actions of the digital marketing plan and complete steps four and five of the SOSTAC process. I’ll

briefly explain some core activities of the 12-month period and a more detailed campaign & activities

schedule can be found in the Appendix (App. X.x).

Reach - Using Search Engine Optimisation to improve keyword density and improve discoverability of

existing content is one of the first and ongoing tactics to increase the number of site visits. Running a


http://www.bloomsbury.ac.uk

http://www.bloomsbury.ac.uk

parallel pay-per-click (PCC) campaign can support SEO efforts, by being able to produce results

quicker than organic SEO activity would.

Partner-marketing during the launch of next year’s scholarships through the member colleges of the

Bloomsbury consortium and the Central University and Federal Colleges of the University of London

will help extend the reach of the Bloomsbury Scholarships, as will highly targeted display ads on local

social networks.

Allowing for content to be easily shared on social media platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Digg and

Delicious) via ‘share buttons’ further aids the spreading of interesting and relevant content. As part of

the plan it is also recommended that TBC engages proactively in the use of Social Media to engage in

a dialogue with their target audience.

Act & Convert - Reviewing the content and design of the homepage and website of the Bloomsbury

Colleges represents a key challenge and should further enhance improvements achieved by SEO

activities. In addition content needs to be produced that is relevant to the target audience and beyond adding value to the scholarships that are offered, i.e. ‘Top 10 tips for studying in the UK’ or ‘Studying

at the Bloomsbury Colleges - the student’s view’.

In order to access additional content in the future prospect are encouraged to sign up to the

‘scholarship newsletter’.

Engage - To support engagement and development of a community a monthly e-mail newsletter is to

be launched in Q1 2011 containing exclusive information about the scholarships, the colleges and

studying in London.

In addition to email marketing ongoing social media activities are proposed which range from

distribution of content, monitoring of keywords/campaigns and engagement with content consumers.

Resources, skills & support

In order to achieve measurable results and have success with any of the activities listed in the

campaign schedule the Bloomsbury Colleges are encouraged to assign a part-time resource to

oversee, implement and take ownership of the campaign schedule, marketing activities and social

media engagement.

The internal audit suggests that a range of staff posses the necessary set of skills to either take on the

new responsibility of implementing the digital marketing activities or be able to support any

newcomers to the role. Having said that, areas like SEO and developing the creative artwork for

display adverts will require the use of external resource either by working with an agency or using

freelance expertise.


Control

Completing the SOSTAC planning process is the element of control or maybe more appropriately

‘measuring the success’ of the digital activities and campaigns. This step is paramount as it ensures that our digital marketing objectives are met and a control mechanism is in place to adjust tactics

when tolerances are exceeded, either positively or negatively.

Recalling the RACE framework and the KPIs we set for each of the three stages of online marketing

process (reach, act & convert, engage) allows us to create a simple reporting schedule that will help

measure success and flag up potential issues.

These include producing monthly Google Analytics website statistic reports which track visitor

numbers and geographic origin, referrals, bounce rate and page views against our objectives set in

Table 3: RACE - Digital marketing dashboard. In addition monthly records of downloads of LIDC and

Bloomsbury Scholarships collateral are to be maintained to measure against monthly targets.

All major email campaign tools (Mailchimp, Campaign Monitor, DotMailer & Graphicmail) offer sophisticated list management and email KPI reporting functionality which should be used to track

subscriptions (daily, weekly, monthly) for to the ‘Bloomsbury Scholarships Newsletter’ as well as open

& click rates of email campaigns.



Figure 2: Email campaign reporting dashboard

Task 3 - Evaluation Report

To: Bloomsbury Development Group

From: Frank Steiner, Marketing Executive

Subject: Evaluation of the digital marketing report

Date: 21 November 2010

Executive summary

The marketing planning process is an essential part of - one could call it the extension of - the overall

business planning process. Fed by business objectives and the marketing audit it allows us to make

informed decisions on future activities and their implications.

This report will briefly recap the TBCs role, the strength and weakness of the actual planning process,

implications of the marketing audit and potential barriers to the implementation.

Content

Introduction

Strength & weakness of the planning process

Implications of the audit

Potential barriers

Conclusion

Introduction

The Bloomsbury Colleges (TBC) group was set up in 2004 and consists of the following six

colleges of the University of London: Birkbeck, Institute of Education (IoE), London School of Hygiene

and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), the Royal Veterinary College (RVC), the School of Oriental and African

Studies (SOAS) and The School of Pharmacy (SoP). The aim of TBC is to collaborate together in

academic administrative matters to avoid unnecessary duplication of effort and to gain the benefits of

critical mass whilst maintaining the independence to pursue specialist missions.

The Bloomsbury Colleges are looking to raise awareness for their range of PhD scholarships within

the Asian market for one and attract paying overseas students as a result of these scholarships.


The six colleges of the The Bloomsbury Colleges consortium currently attract in excess of 30,000

students across their undergraduate, postgraduate and distance learning courses, generating tuition fees of £83.15m.

Strength & weakness of planning process

Although the planning process itself doesn’t change fundamentally, we need to acknowledge the

difference between traditional and digital marketing activities. In general costs are lower, measurability

is higher and more detailed, implementation is faster and the reach is wider when using digital

marketing compared to traditional channels and concepts. All of which means that changes can be

implemented easier and faster compared to traditional channels like print or TV.

According to Megicks et all (2009) one of the key strengths of the synergistic planning process and

its implementation through the SOSTAC framework provide a rational, step-by-step approach to

determine future activities and actions based on a realistically assessed current situation and a clearly

defined desired outcome. And McDonald (2007) states that “the overall purpose of marketing

planning and its principal focus is the identification and creation of sustainable competitive advantage” which is necessary due to increased complexity, speed of change and competitiveness in the market.

Which leads onto the weakness of the planning process, its reliance and inherent need to gather

information as part of marketing audit bears within it the risk of either the wrong data being collected

or the right information being falsely interpreted, leading to the development of a flawed plan which

won’t address key challenges and ultimately fail to develop a competitive advantage.

Implications of the audit

The marketing audit should enhance the understanding of Asia as key-growth market for TBC by

illustrating key trends in China, India and South-East Asia ranging from growth in internet connectivity,

rise in disposable income, use of social networks and continuos growth in the number of HE

students.

The audit also highlighted the need for a clearer vision of and commitment for TBC by its member institutions to ensure a mutually agreed understanding is in place which ensures resources (staff, time

and financial) are allocated to foster the international ambition of TBC and realise the benefits and

objectives laid out in the marketing plan.

Furthermore a range of digital marketing tools have been introduced which can be used - individually

or in conjunction - by all six member colleges to achieve digital marketing & business objectives.


Potential barriers

In the course of the marketing audit the following potential barriers to the successful implementation

of the marketing plan have been identified.

Lack of resources - At the time of writing the marketing plan, no dedicated resource was available or

has indeed been allocated to carry out the recommendations of the plan. Although a part-time role or

job-sharing would suffice it remains to be seen if senior management will approve such resource in

time of budget cuts.

Power & politics - At the time of writing TBC is not a legal entity as much as it is a goodwill

collaborative agreement between federal colleges of the University of London. Competing interest at

college-level on one hand and as part of the federation of colleges on the other can lead to a planning

fatigue.

Conclusion

The digital marketing audit and resulting plan demonstrate clearly the need to explorer growing

markets such as Asia to ensure growth and stability of TBC. Insights gained during the market

research stage will not only proof valuable to TBC but also to its member colleges. However the fact remains that TBC is seen as a separate, at times competing, entity which in some ways leads an

orphaned existence as it lacks clear commitment by SMT and a vision and objectives which ensure

buy-in at all levels.



Appendix

Task 1

About The Bloomsbury Colleges

Academic collaboration has been a priority and has built on existing bilateral and multilateral links with the aim to broaden and deepen academic collaboration. A major catalyst for this is the newly-

established London International Development Centre (LIDC).

This Centre draws on the unique range of expertise across the six partners, which was recognised by

HEFCE in a major grant of £3.7 million to cover LIDC’s set-up costs, including the purchase of its

premises in Gordon Square.

Another major success which benefits staff and students across the six colleges is the Bloomsbury

Virtual Learning Environment. TBC has also established research studentships tenable at two or more

of the partner institutions.

Looking to the future, TBC has begun a feasibility study, funded by HEFCE, to examine the options for

a major project on administrative systems convergence and this should bear fruit in 2009. The Bloomsbury Colleges will continue to explore other opportunities through collaboration to further

research and teaching and to improve the services offered to staff and students.

The six colleges of the The Bloomsbury Colleges consortium currently attract in excess of 30,000 students across their undergraduate, postgraduate and distance learning courses, generating tuition

fees of £83.15m.


App 1: Student numbers & fee income of Bloomsbury Colleges (2008)

College Undergrad Postgrad (T) Postgrad (R) Distance Tuition Fees

Birkbeck 15,983 2,481 594 261 £19,919,000

Institute of Education 211 4,877 807 0 £15,423,000

London School of Hygiene &

Tropical Medicine542 347 2,110 £9,495,000

Royal Veterinary College 1,282 133 102 25 £5,623,000

The School of Pharmacy 703 396 88 121 £3,800,000

School of Oriental and African

Studies2,318 1,178 343 0 £28,893,000

Total 20,497 9,607 2,281 2,517 £83,153,000

Task 2


App 2: India’s education market figures - The World Bank report

App 3: India’s education market figures - The World Bank report

App 4: TBC website statistics - main dashboard

App 5: TBC website statistics - visitor profiling by country


App 6: Internet Usage World Statistics, Online


ASIA Population( 2010 Est.)

Internet Us-ers,

(Year 2000)

Internet Us-ers,

June 2010

Penetration(% Popula-

tion)

Growth(2000-2010)

Users (%)in Asia

ChinaIndiaIndonesiaKorea, SouthMalaysiaTaiwanHong Kong

1,330,141,295 22,500,000 420,000,000 32% 1,767% 51%1,173,108,018 5,000,000 81,000,000 7% 1,520% 10%242,968,342 2,000,000 30,000,000 12% 1,400% 4%48,636,068 19,040,000 39,440,000 81% 107% 5%

26,160,256 3,700,000 16,902,600 65% 357% 2%23,024,956 6,260,000 16,130,000 70% 158% 2%7,089,705 2,283,000 4,878,713 69% 114% 1%

http://www.internetworldstats.com/asia.htm#cn

http://www.internetworldstats.com/asia.htm#cn

http://www.internetworldstats.com/asia.htm#in

http://www.internetworldstats.com/asia.htm#in

http://www.internetworldstats.com/asia.htm#id

http://www.internetworldstats.com/asia.htm#id

http://www.internetworldstats.com/asia.htm#kr




http://www.internetworldstats.com/asia.htm#my

http://www.internetworldstats.com/asia.htm#my

http://www.internetworldstats.com/asia.htm#tw

http://www.internetworldstats.com/asia.htm#tw

http://www.internetworldstats.com/asia.htm#hk

http://www.internetworldstats.com/asia.htm#hk


Ap

p 7

: Cam

pai

gn

Sch

edul

e fo

r T

BC

dig

ital a

ctiv

ity

Reference list

Books & Journals

Azam, M. and Blom, A. (2008) Progress in Participation in Tertiary Education in India from 1983 to 2004, The World Bank, South Asia Region, Human Development Department, December 2008,

Research Paper: 4793

Beamish, K. and Ashford, R. (2008) Marketing Planning, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford, UK

Dibb, S., Simpkin, L., Pride, W. and Ferrell, O.C. (2006) Marketing: Concepts and Strategies, 5th

edition. Houghton Mifflin, Boston

Findlay, C. and Tierney, W. (2010) GLOBALISATION AND TERTIARY EDUCATION IN THE ASIA-

PACIFIC: The Changing Nature of a Dynamic Market, Pub. date: Feb 2010, e-book, Association of

Pacific Rim Universities (APRU)

Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation (2006) Creating a Marketing Plan (Marketer’s Toolkit:

The 10 Strategies you need to succeed), Harvard Business School, 2006, Boston (MA)

Healey NM (2008). Is higher education really ‘internationalising’? Higher Education: The International

Journal of Higher Education and Educational Planning, v55 n3 p333-355 Mar 2008, Springer, New

York, NY

Kotler, P. and Keller, K.L. (2006) Marketing Management, 12th edition. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs,

NJ.

Megicks, P., Donnelly, R. and Harrison, G. (2009), The Marketing Planning Process, Butterworth-

Heinemann, 2009, Oxford, UK

Steenburgh, T. and Avery, J. (2010) Harvard Business Review - Situation Analysis, Harvard Business

School

Newspapers & Magazines

The Economist (August 2010) ‘Will they still come?’; available online: http://www.economist.com/

node/16743639

World Bank (2009) World Development Indicators, 11 November 2009, http://data.worldbank.org/

Online - website & blogs

ACENET: Higher Education in China: The Next Super Power is Coming of Age, Susan Porter

Robinson is Vice President of ACE's Center for Lifelong Learning: http://www.acenet.edu/AM/

Template.cfm?Section=Home&CONTENTID=11822&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm

BBC: China's bid for world domination: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7098561.stm

BBC: Fall in UK University students: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7859034.stm


http://www.economist.com/node/16743639




http://data.worldbank.org/

http://data.worldbank.org/

http://www.acenet.edu/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home&CONTENTID=11822&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm




http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7098561.stm




The Bloomsbury Colleges (2008) TBC - the report, http://www.bloomsbury.ac.uk/news/tbcreport, 19/10/2010, when was it released?

Chaffey, D. (2010) Digital Marketing Strategy Planning Tool, http://www.smartinsights.com/blog/

digital-marketing-strategy/digital-marketing-planning-template/ accessed10/11/2010

China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) (2009) 24th Statistical Report on Internet

Development in China http://www.cnnic.net.cn/en/index/0O/02/index.htm

Crampton, T., Presentation: Social Media in Asia: Where are the emerging opportunities?, Ogilvy, 12

April 2010: http://www.slideshare.net/smtoday/smt-032410-slides

http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm, 30 June 2010, accessed 10/11/2010

Mailchimp (2009) Average Open, Click, Bounce And Abuse Complaint Rates By Industry, http://

www.mailchimp.com/articles/email_marketing_benchmarks_for_small_business/

Nielson Wire (2010) Chines consumer confidence grows in rural areas, http://blog.nielsen.com/

nielsenwire/consumer/chinese-consumer-confidence-grows-in-rural-areas-slows-in-cities/, 20 August

2010

Open University (2010) Facts & Figures about the OU, http://www8.open.ac.uk/about/main/the-ou-

explained/facts-and-figures, accessed 7 November 2010

Tysome, T. Director, Media FHE Ltd, (2008) Going Global 3 Conference Report, British Council,

December 2008 www.britishcouncil.org/goingglobal-gg3-conference-report.pdf

Techcrunch: Chinese Social Networks 'Virtually' Out-Earn Facebook And MySpace: A Market Analysis

http://techcrunch.com/2009/04/05/chinese-social-networks-virtually-out-earn-facebook-and-

myspace-a-market-analysis/

Zhang, M., Presentation: Social Media in China, November 2009, http://www.slideshare.net/

yaycaffeine/social-media-in-china-2510248


http://www.bloomsbury.ac.uk/news/tbcreport

http://www.bloomsbury.ac.uk/news/tbcreport

http://www.smartinsights.com/blog/digital-marketing-strategy/digital-marketing-planning-template/




http://www.cnnic.net.cn/en/index/0O/02/index.htm

http://www.cnnic.net.cn/en/index/0O/02/index.htm

http://www.slideshare.net/smtoday/smt-032410-slides

http://www.slideshare.net/smtoday/smt-032410-slides

http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm

http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm

http://www.mailchimp.com/articles/email_marketing_benchmarks_for_small_business/




http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/consumer/chinese-consumer-confidence-grows-in-rural-areas-slows-in-cities/




http://www8.open.ac.uk/about/main/the-ou-explained/facts-and-figures




http://www.britishcouncil.org/goingglobal-gg3-conference-report.pdf

http://www.britishcouncil.org/goingglobal-gg3-conference-report.pdf

http://techcrunch.com/2009/04/05/chinese-social-networks-virtually-out-earn-facebook-and-myspace-a-market-analysis/






http://www.slideshare.net/yaycaffeine/social-media-in-china-2510248




assignment/project front sheet

Documents