Promotion mix for advanced educational program a case study of national economics university

Our research consultant and research instructor Hundreds of students from the Center for Advanced Educational Program, National Economics University Intake 54, 55, and 56 High school stu

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY……….5

II INTRODUCTION……….7

II.1 Background information 7

II.2 Rationale 8

II.3 Research objectives 10

II.4 Research questions 10

II.5 Subject and scope of research 10

III THEORETICAL BACKGROUND……….12

III.1 The Promotion Mix 12

III.1.1 The Promotion Mix and its role……… 12

III.1.2 Marketing Communications in the Promotion Mix………….13

III.1.2.1 Advertising 13

III.1.2.2 Sales promotion 13

III.1.2.3 Personal selling 15

III.1.2.4 Public relation 16

III.1.2.5 Direct marketing 17

III.2 Communication channels 18

III.2.1 Personal communication channels……… 18

III.2.2 Non-personal communication channels……… 19

IV RESEARCH METHODOLOGY……….20

IV.1 Sample selection 20

IV.2 Data collection 21

IV.2.1 Secondary data……….21

IV.2.2 Primary data……….22

IV.3 Data analysis 23

V MAJOR FINDINGS………25

V.1 Analysis of Advanced Educational Program’s Promotion Mix 25

V.1.1 Advertising………25

V.1.1.1 An overview 25

V.1.1.2 The popularity of Advertising tools 26

V.1.1.3 The quality of Advertising tools 28

V.1.2 Public Relation……… 28

V.1.2.1 An overview 28

V.1.2.2 The popularity of Public Relation channels 29

V.1.2.3 The quality of Public Relation channels 31

V.1.3 Direct Marketing……… 31

V.1.3.1 An overview 31

V.1.3.2 The popularity of Direct Marketing channels 32

V.1.3.3 The quality of Direct Marketing channels 34

V.1.4 Personal Selling……….34

V.1.4.1 An overview 34

V.1.4.2 The popularity of the Personal Selling channel 35

V.1.4.3 The quality of Personal Selling channel 36

V.1.5 Personal and non-trade communication channels……….36

V.1.5.1 An overview 37

V.1.5.2 The popularity of personal and non-trade channels 38

V.1.5.3 The quality of personal and non-trade channels 38

V.1.6 Comparison between Marketing Communications in the

Promotion Mix……….39

V.2 Promotion channels as a tool for high school students to search about universities 41

V.3 Importance level of marketing channels in promoting Advanced Educational Program 43

V.4 Importance level of factors affecting the decision to apply for Advanced Educational Program 44

V.5 Effectiveness of recommendations to enhance Advanced Educational Program’s Promotion Mix 46

VI RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION……….48

VI.1 Event marketing 48

VI.2 Online marketing 50

VI.3 Relationship marketing 53

VI.4 Other tools 53

REFERENCES……….55

TABLES OF FIGURES……… 57

APPENDICES……… 58

Appendix A List of Abbreviations 58

Appendix B Detailed listing of the sample size 59

Appendix C Questionnaire sample (for students of Advanced Educational Program) 61

This research paper is made possible through the help, support andencouragement from people who all deserve our sincerest gratitude andappreciation

Our research consultant and research instructor

Hundreds of students from the Center for Advanced Educational Program, National Economics University Intake 54, 55, and 56

High school students in Hanoi

Our classmates’ parents

Also, much credit is due to our family and friends Their love,support and constant encouragement gave us a great deal of energy anddetermination during the time of writing this paper

I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This paper is commissioned to provide an analysis of the currentpromotion mix that the Center for Advanced Educational Program isimplementing, its effectiveness from the students’ and parents’ point ofview over the last three years, and some recommendations on how toimprove the shortcomings

The methodology for the study was random sampling with three

groups of respondents, including students of Advanced EducationalPrograms - Intakes 54, 55, 56, senior year students from high schools inHanoi, and parents of students from the class Advanced Financed 54A In

the process of data collection, this study used both quantitative and

qualitative approaches Several sources of secondary data, such as theinformation about Center for Advanced Educational Program on itswebsite, Facebook page and magazine, online articles related to theprogram, and records, documents and personal contacts from the officebuilding, were employed Meanwhile, the primary data were gathered

through online and offline questionnaires In data analysis, the numbers

and figures are calculated by Excel and ranked to draw the overallcomparisons between channels and marketing communications ofpromotion mix

Results of data analyzed draw attention to the fact that among the

five tools of promotion mix, Public Relation and Personal Selling are the

two most effective in terms of both popularity and quality for a larger base

of audience they can reach relative to the others Meanwhile, the least

effective marketing communication is Direct Marketing, which includes

newspapers, online magazines, website, and social network channels,notwithstanding the explosion of Internet of the last decade This finding

can be justified by the fact that there remains a lack of attention andappropriate approaches from the executives in making use of the prospectsthat this marketing communication would offer Further investigations also

revealed that Personal non-trading communication channels emerges as

one of the most promising and realistic marketing communication for thefact that many senior year high school students would normally turn tofamily, relatives, teachers and forerunners – i.e former or currentuniversity students, to decide on a university course

Based on the key findings, this study finds the prospects of building

up a better promotion mix of the Center for Advanced EducationalProgram The major areas of weakness require further investigation andremedial action by management while a need for the sustenance ofpotentially good channels should also be recognized In general, it isrecommended that the approaching methods of some marketingcommunications should be reconsidered; the online promoting strategiesshould be more extensively focused in a long run; and some other newideas would be generated in practice

II INTRODUCTION

II.1 Background information

Internationalization has become a major worldwide trend and a veryhot topic on the media which affect all fields of life, which can be seen inalmost every field: economics, culture, sports, and education As wealth insociety has increased, studying abroad is much more common andaccessible than before, even in a developing country like Vietnam To

illustrate, based on a survey by the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) in 2013, over 100,000 students were studying and conducting

research in foreign countries Consequently, English, which is thedominant second language in the world, has become a crucial tool ineducation

Although better education opportunities are in favor of everyone, notall families in Vietnam can afford the huge expenses of studying abroad.According to MOET, 90 percent of abroad students were self-sufficient,meaning that students were liable for all costs when studying abroad(averaging USD20,000-40,000/year) In other cases, parents may feeluncomfortable letting their children live far from home However, parentshave the same denominator that they all expect to provide their childrenwith optimal education opportunities

Meeting the demand of such families, Vietnam institutions havedeveloped courses and programs collaborating with foreign institutions,especially from English-speaking countries with advanced education such

as the United States of America, The United Kingdom, Canada, Australia,etc After graduating those courses, students were granted a degreerecognized by both domestic and partner universities

The benefits of collaborating courses are outstanding First andforemost, they are considered a cost-saving way of accessing advancededucation in overseas countries Students do not have to live far fromhome, which saves them travelling and accommodation expenses, togetherwith lower tuition fees Besides, the curriculum is English-based that helpimproving students’ English capacity After several years of studying,students will become used to English and have better English skills.Secondly, collaborating courses provide students living in domesticenvironment with an international mindset, together with a set of soft skillsthat are crucial for the market economy

However, as the number of international standardized universityprograms in Vietnam is on the increase in recent years, AEP is facingfiercer competition from similar programs and courses Aside from similarcourses of NEU mentioned above, there are other large institutions thatalso have an Advanced Educational Program, i.e., Hanoi University ofScience and Technology, Foreign Trade University, and Vietnam National

University, Hanoi As a result, when choosing a tertiary program, studentsbecome confused between a variety of choices.

As inferred from the fact, training quality is no longer the only thingthat matters to win the competition Marketing activities should bestrengthened as an essential factor to attract learners However, compared

to common products and services, educational programs have somedisadvantages regarding marketing activities A marketing mix consists offour Ps, which are Product, Price, Place, and Promotion While Product,Price, and Place are considered inflexible components in terms of aneducational program like AEP, Promotion seems to be the decidingelement A good promotion strategy is the key to build a positive image ofthe program, reach a larger base of audience, and create effectiverelationships with students and their parents

Recognizing the role of marketing, as shared by Ass Prof., Dr BuiHuy Nhuong – Director of Advanced Educational Centre, AEP has putmore effort to promote the program in recent years However, the success

of such effort is unguaranteed and there is still a long way to go until AEPcan achieve a desirable position in the “market”

In recognition that no official and formal study about AEP’spromotion has been conducted, this research takes the initiative in learningabout promotion activities and how they affect the program Moreimportantly, this research reflects the outlook of AEP students and highschool students, who are the target audience of AEP’s promotion strategy

in order to gain a deeper insight into how AEP can attract more applicants

in keeping with its stature Hopefully, this can provide reliable andobjective information for AEP managers to plan and implement theirpolicies

II.3 Research objectives

The research project is about the promotion mix of Advanced Educational Program - National Economics University and have three objectives:

1 To thoroughly understand recent marketing communications andmedia channels through which AEP is being promoted

2 To evaluate the effectiveness of each marketing communication,including the size of audience that it reaches, the importance andquality perceived by audience

3 To make some recommendations to enhance AEP’s promotionstrategy

II.4 Research questions

To serve the objectives, the research will answer the questions below:

1 What types of marketing communications and media channels thatAdvanced Educational Program is using before and after the

university entrance exam to attract new applicants?

2 How effective is each marketing communication?

3 How can Advanced Educational Program go further in its promotionactivities?

II.5 Subject and scope of research

 Subject of research: The research focuses on Advanced EducationalProgram’s Promotion Mix in years 2012, 2013, 2014

 Scope of research:

- Students of intakes 54, 55, 56 in Advanced Educational Program

- Final year students from several high schools in Hanoi

- A number of Advanced Educational Program students’ parents

To be noticed, although Advanced Educational Program hasrecruited eight intakes until 2014, only intakes 54, 55, 56 which are themost recent ones are involved in the research These students are believed

to have fresh experiences and up-to-date information that can support theresearch Furthermore, due to time and place difficulty, in a total of morethan 20 high schools in Hanoi and other provinces that AdvancedEducational Programed has approached, only typical high schools are thetarget of this research

III THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

III.1 The Promotion Mix

III.1.1 The Promotion Mix and its role

Promotion Mix – also called Marketing Communications Mix

-describes a blend of promotional variables chosen by marketers to help afirm reach its goals It has been identified as a subset of the marketing mix

It is believed that there is an optimal way of allocating budgets for thedifferent elements within the promotional mix to achieve best marketing

results, and the challenge for marketers is to find the right mix of them.

Activities identified as elements of the promotional mix vary, but typicallyinclude the following:

 Advertising: Any paid form of non-personal presentation and

promotion of ideas, goods, or services by an identified sponsor

 Sales promotion: Short-term incentives to encourage the purchase

or sale of a product or service

 Personal selling: Personal presentation by the firm’s sales force for

the purpose of making sales and building customer relationships

 Public relation: Building good relations with the company’s various

publics by obtaining favorable publicity, building up a goofcorporate image, and handling or heading off unfavorable rumors,stories, and events

 Direct marketing: Direct connections with carefully targeted

individual consumers to both obtain an immediate response andcultivate lasting customer relationships - the use of direct mail, the

telephone, direct-response television, e-mail, the Internet, and othertools to communicate directly with specific consumer.

III.1.2 Marketing Communications in the Promotion Mix

III.1.2.1 Advertising

Advertising can be traced back to the very beginning of recordedhistory Archaeologists working in the countries around the MediterraneanSea have dug ups signs announcing various events and offers, The Romanspainted walls to announce gladiator fights, and the Phoenicians paintedpictures promoting their wares on large rocks along parade routes Duringthe golden age in Greece, town cries announced the sale of cattle, crafteditems and even cosmetics

Modern advertising, however, is a far cry from these early efforts.Although advertising is used mostly by business firms, a wide range ofnon-for-profit organizations, professionals, and social agencies also useadvertising to promote their causes to various target publics

Marketing management must make four important decisions whendeveloping and advertising program:

 Setting advertising objectives

 Setting the advertising budget

 Developing advertising strategy

 Evaluating adverting campaign

III.1.2.2 Sales promotion

Sales promotion is any initiative undertaken by an organization topromote an increase in sales, usage or trial of a product or service (i.e

initiatives that are not covered by the other elements of the marketingcommunications or promotions mix) Sales promotions are varied.

 Free gifts e.g Bakeries give away a card with spaces for stickers

with each purchase Once the card was full the consumer was given

a free cake or drink

 Discounted prices e.g Budget airline such as Vietjet Air and Jetstar

Airways e-mail their customers with the latest low-price deals oncenew flights are released, or additional destinations are announced

 Joint promotions between brands owned by a company, or with

another company’s brands For example fast food restaurants oftenrun sales promotions where toys, relating to a specific movie release,are given away with promoted meals

 Free samples (or sampling) e.g tasting of food and drink at

sampling points in supermarkets For example, TH True Milkproducts are given away to potential consumers at supermarkets or

in high streets (by a promotion team)

 Vouchers and coupons, often seen in newspapers and magazines,

on packs

 Competitions and prize draws, in newspapers, magazines, on the

TV and radio, on The Internet, and on packs

 Cause-related and fair-trade products that raise money for

charities, and the less well-off farmers and producers, are becomingmore popular

 Finance deals - for example, 0% finance over 3 years on selected

vehicles

Here are some examples of popular sales promotions activities:(a) Buy-One-Get-One-Free (BOGOF) – which is an example of aself-liquidating promotion For example if a loaf of bread is priced atVND10,000, and cost VND3,000 in manufacture, selling two forVND10,000 still makes profit – especially if there is a correspondingincrease in sales This is known as a PREMIUM sales promotion tactic.

(b) Customer Relationship Management (CRM) incentives such

as bonus points or money off coupons There are many examples of CRM,from banks to supermarkets

(c) New media - Websites and mobile phones that support a salespromotion For example, in the United Kingdom, Nestle printed individualcodes on KIT-KAT packaging, whereby a consumer would enter the codeinto a dynamic website to see if they had won a prize Consumers couldalso text codes via their mobile phones to the same effect

(d) Merchandising - additions such as dump bins, point-of-salematerials and product demonstrations

III.1.2.3 Personal selling

Personal selling is where businesses use people (the “sales force”) to

sell the product after meeting face-to-face with the customer The sellers

promote the product through their attitude, appearance and specialistproduct knowledge They aim to inform and encourage the customer tobuy, or at least trial the product A good example of personal selling isfound in department stores on the perfume and cosmetic counters

A customer can get advice on how to apply the product and can trydifferent products Products with relatively high prices, or with complex

features, are often sold using personal selling Great examples includecars, office equipment (e.g photocopiers) and many products that are sold

by businesses to other industrial customers

III.1.2.4 Public relation

Another major promotion tools is public relations – building goodrelations with the company’s various publics by obtaining favorablepublicity, building up a good corporate image, and handling or heading offunfavorable rumors, and events Public relations departments may performany or all of the following functions:

 Press relations or press agency: Creating and placing newsworthy

information in the news media to attract attention to a person,product, or service

 Product publicity: Publicizing specific products.

 Public affairs: Building and maintaining national or local

community relations

 Lobbying: Building and maintaining relations with legislators and

government officials to influence legislation and regulation

 Investor relations: Maintaining relationships with shareholders and

others in the financial community

 Development: Public relations with donors or members of nonprofit

organizations to gain financial or volunteer support

Public relation is used to promote products, people, places, ideas,activities, organizational, and even nations Companies use public relations

to build good relations with consumers, investors, the media, and theircommunities Public relations can have a strong impact on publicawareness at a much lower cost than advertising

III.1.2.5 Direct marketing

Direct marketing is about making direct contact with existing andpotential customers to promote products or services Unlike mediaadvertising, it enables targeting particular people with a personalizedmessage Direct marketing can be cost effective and extremely powerful atgenerating sales, so it is ideal for small businesses

Direct marketing uses a variety of different methods Direct mail,mailshots and leafleting are widespread, and other forms of direct andintegrated communication are growing in popularity Telephone marketing,mobile marketing, email and texting offer more opportunities to reach thetarget market

Direct marketing allows generating a response from targetedcustomers As a result, small businesses can focus their limited marketingresources where they are most likely to get results A direct marketingcampaign with a clear call to action can help boosting sales to existingcustomers, increase customer loyalty, recapture old customers and generatenew business

Direct marketing can be evaluated and measured precisely Resultscan be analyzed to see which target group was most responsive Samplegroups can be used to test marketing before rolling out the campaign thatwill deliver the best response rate

Choosing the right communication method is vital Businesses can

be more receptive to receiving sales calls than consumers, for example.Individuals will prefer different ways of contact, so make sure you takeaccount of their preferences

III.2 Communication channels

III.2.1 Personal communication channels

Personal communication is communication between two or morepersons with a specific person communication with others The messageemanates from a specific person It can be done face to face, or by a person

to audience, over telephone, or through post or couriers or through emails

or through mobile messages

Personal communication in the case of marketing can also becategorized as communications from advocates, experts and socialcontacts The company salespersons’ communication to customers iscommunication from advocates of the product

An independent expert communicating to prospective buyers aboutthe merits of the product is classified as expert communication A neighborsaying good things about a brand is social channel of communication

Companies take various steps to stimulate personal communicationsabout their products and brands:

1 Identify influential individuals and devote extra effort on them

2 Create opinion leaders by supplying possible opinion leaders withthe product on attractive terms

3 Use influential or believable people in testimonial advertising

4 Develop word of mouth publicity by requesting satisfied clients topromote their product among their friends

5 Establish online discussion groups and communities

III.2.2 Non-personal communication channels

They include media, atmospheres, and events

Media channels consists of print media (newspaper, magazines,souvenirs, proceedings of conferences), broadcast media (radio,television), display media (billboards, signs, posters) and electronic media(audiotape, videotape, videodisk, CD-ROM)

Atmosphere is what firms create in their office environment Theoffice interiors and exteriors have a meaning to the potential buyers

Events are occurrences designed to communicate particularmessages to target audiences or audiences Company arranged newsconferences, opening ceremonies of various kinds, and sponsorships ofvarious events come under event communications channels

IV RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

IV.1 Sample selection

The methodology for this study was a random sample of 605respondents divided into three groups, which are:

1 445 out of 492 students from 25 classes of Advanced EducationalPrograms - Intakes 54, 55, 56 responded in the survey, resulting in aresponse rate of 90.5%

Considered current “customers” of the educational service provided

by Advanced Educational Program, this group is the most importantand focused Because they are directly experiencing the activities inAdvanced Educational Program, they are expected to have the mostprecise opinions

2 114 out of 120 senior year students from 10 high schools in Hanoiresponded in the survey, resulting in a response rate of 95%

Being in their senior year of high school study, these students wereconsidering choices before applying for universities This group,despite not having attended Advanced Educational Program, was the

“target customers” for future promotion activities Their opinionswould reflect current success of Advanced Educational Program’spromotion strategy

3 46 out of 50 parents of Advanced Educational Program studentsfrom class Advanced Financed 54A responded in the survey,resulting in a response rate of 92% Besides students, parents alsohave a voice in their children’s decision Therefore, a small number

of parents were preferably included in this study

In general, the response rate of the whole sample size was 91.11%.(For more details about the sampling size, see Appendix B)

IV.2 Data collection

This research used both quantitative and qualitative approaches indata collection However, quantitative data accounted for the main partduring the process and also are the main bases of results

IV.2.1 Secondary data

Secondary data are collected by someone other than the user.Common sources of secondary data for social science include censuses,organizational records and data collected through qualitativemethodologies or qualitative research

Specifically in this research, this step took only less than a month ofthe whole process Several sources of secondary data were employed to getgeneral ideas about Advanced Educational Programs, including:

- Information about Advanced Educational Centre (introduction,admissions, and course programs) on the official website at

www.aep.neu.edu.

- Activities of Advanced Educational Programs on the official

Facebook Fanpage at www.facebook.com/aep.neu.edu.vn

- Advanced Educational Program internal magazine “AEP World Magazine”

- Online articles related to Advanced Educational Programs (SeeReferences)

- Records, documents, and personal contacts acquired from AdvancedEducational Program Office Building

Although secondary data are time-saving, economical and highlyaccessible, its inappropriateness raised the need to conduct a primaryresearch to get better information.

IV.2.2 Primary data

Primary research were undertaken after some insight into the issuehas been gained by reviewing secondary data or by analyzing previouslycollected primary data It can be accomplished through various methods,including questionnaires and telephone interviews in market research, orexperiments and direct observations in the physical sciences, amongstothers

In this study, this step took about two months and the primary datawere gathered through online and offline questionnaires There are 06questions of various formats, namely multiple choices, rankings, Yes/Noquestions, and additional opinions were allowed with blank spaces.Basically the questionnaires contained similar questions for all threegroups of respondents (AEP students, senior high school students, andparents) However, there were still modifications to fit each group

The questionnaire had two versions: online and print

 Online questionnaires: were designed with Google Forms and

published since February 32 respondents of this version were allcurrent students of Advanced Educational Program They were alsofriends of the research team, who were suggested to participate inthe survey, not by a random pick-up The results of onlinequestionnaires were stored on Google Drive

 Print questionnaires: accounted for the majority of collected

questionnaires (413/445)

For AEP students, questionnaires were distributed in class units,

which meant from the research team to class monitors, and then toclass members Next, questionnaires were collected from classmonitors, either within the day or 2-4 days after In total, 05 classes

of Intake 54 and 10 classes for each of Intakes 55, 56 got involved inthe survey

For senior high school students, two ways of distributing were

applied Firstly, the research team stood at particular high schools’gates to give questionnaires during break times, then collected thequestionnaires right after that Secondly, questionnaires were given

to other students that they knew (any high school was acceptable),and collected days later

For parents, the only method was to asked students of Advanced

Finance 54A to hand the questionnaires to their parents, and brought

it to class for collection

IV.3 Data analysis

After being collected, the questionnaires underwent the first step ofchecking and editing; invalid responses were eliminated and some otherswere modified where needed, while at the same time, it is made sure that

no changes in the results are made In the next stage, all the data, bothonline and offline were inputted, analyzed, and calculated

Considering between different statistical softwares like EXCEL,STATA, and SPSS, etc., we agreed on using EXCEL The reason is itseasy-to-use functions, which are convenient for data entry and rows andcolumns manipulation prior to statistical analysis, and it is a hundred percent suitable for the scope of this study with around over 600 responses

First, for the closed-ended questions, equivalent statistics were

produced by using EXCEL through a process of coding, wherein numeric

or alpha information is assigned to question responses that do notordinarily returned in that format, in order to enable analysis Withcounting functions, the popularity of channels was calculated throughmultiple-choice questions (Questions 1, 2, 3) This was then converted intopercentages With averaging functions, the quality and importance level offactors was calculated through questions that required marking (Questions

4, 5, 6) All the numbers calculated were ranked in descending order Atlast, the results were arranged in tables and graphs for better observation

By means of this method, the study could draw some overall comparisonsbetween different channels and marketing communications, and jump tothe conclusions in the last part of this paper Besides analyzing data with aqualitative tool like EXCEL, through discussion and common logic, thestudy also figured out some points illustrated by the data

Furthermore, the open-ended questions with the option “Other”,

where the respondents brought to light new opinions and ideas, are setaside Promising and practical responses were then filtered and collectedfor references in making prospective recommendations

V MAJOR FINDINGS

V.1 Analysis of Advanced Educational Program’s Promotion Mix

To begin with, based on questions 1, 2, 3 of the questionnaire, thepopularity as well as quality of each promotion channel, according torespondents, is revealed

extra- Handing out leaflets and booklets on the program at the NEU’scampuses (both before and after the national university entranceexam)

 Handing out leaflets and booklets on the program at high schools(before the national university entrance exam)

 Attaching leaflets and booklets on the program with the NEU’s letter

of enrollment invitation (after the national university entranceexam)

V.1.1.2 The popularity of Advertising tools

Before the University Entrance Exam

Figure 1 Advertising tools through which AEP students learn about the program after

the UEE (Source: survey)For AEP students, the most popular channel of advertising is viabanners, posters, standees for promoting events, accounting for 23.5% (142students) and ranked 6th among all sixteen channels Meanwhile, leafletsand booklets distributed at high schools and the NEU’s campuses are not

as popular, accounting for 21% (127 students), ranked 9th , for the former,and 19.3% (117 students), ranked 10th, for the latter

For high school students, the proportion of students heard aboutAEP via the first three channels accounts for 35.1% (40 students), 29.8%(34 students) and 19.3% (students), ranked 6th, 7th and 10th respectivelyamong all sixteen channels

After the University Entrance Exam

the UEE (Source: survey)Contrary to the situation of advertising channels used before thenational entrance exam, that of such channels used after the nationalentrance exam are one of the most vital among all sixteen channels

Specifically, of all students aware of the AEP after the nationaluniversity entrance exam, in descending order, 27,1% (164 students) heardabout the AEP via banners, posters and standees for promoting events,ranked 2nd, 25.6% (155 students) via leaflets and booklets attached withletters of enrollment invitation, ranked 4th,, and 24.8% (150 students) vialeaflets and booklets distributed at NEU’s campuses, ranked 7th

Through the figures shown above, it is clear that advertisingchannels have not reached as wide a customer base before the nationaluniversity entrance exam as the other channels of marketingcommunications while the opposite occurs after the national universityentrance exam In such situations, among various reasons, it is most likelydue to the sites, at which banners, posters, standees, and even leaflets andbooklets being invisible to the majority or to those who are not NEUstudents

V.1.1.3 The quality of Advertising tools

Notwithstanding their popularity for reference among students afterthe national university entrance exam, such channels are not as highlyrated by most students as the other twelve channels

To be specific, the worst in the four advertising channels and also inthe whole sixteen channels are leaflets and booklets distributed at highschools (rated at 2.77 out of 5, ranked 16th) Similarly, leaflets andbooklets distributed at NEU’s campuses are only rated at 3.08 out of 5,ranked 13th

The inefficiency of these two similar and common channels isprobably down to the lack of useful information on such leaflets andbooklets The only advertising channel that makes it on the top 5 mosthighly regarded channels is leaflets and booklets attached with letters ofenrollment invitation with a score of 3.45 out of 5, ranked 5th The otherchannel – banners, posters and standees – is ranked 7th with a score of3.42 out of 5

 Open day in August (after the national university entrance exam)

 Open day on NEU’s enrollment day in September (after the nationaluniversity entrance exam)

 Information for parents at annual Parent-Teacher Meetings (beforethe national university entrance exam).

V.1.2.2 The popularity of Public Relation channels

Before the University Entrance Exam

Ranking

Public Relation

Orientation Days for senior high school students

Parent-teacher meetings

Figure 3 Public Relation channels through which AEP students learn about the

program before the UEE (Source: survey)The career orientation conferences is regarded as one of the mainsources of references for the AEP students, when 25.6% of the AEPstudents (155 students) hearing about the AEP via this channel, ranked 3rdamong the whole sixteen channels for students before the nationaluniversity entrance exam

Another PR channel available before the national university entranceexam is the information for parents at annual Parent-Teacher Meetings.Yet it accounts for only 3.3%, ranked at the bottom, this channel is in factfor parental consultation only

When it comes to high school students, this figure for the careerorientation conferences is even higher, up to 43.9% (50 students), ranked5th

After the University Entrance Exam

Ranki ng

Public Relation

Open Day in August

Open Day in September

Figure 4 Public Relation channels through which AEP students learn about the

program after the UEE (Source: survey)The other two PR channels, Open days in August and on NEU’senrollment day in September, are also the two most popular sources ofreference for students after the national university entrance exam whenthey make it on the two top spot, with a ratio of 27.1% (164 students) forthe former and 33.7% (204 students) for the latter

Those aforementioned figures point out that Public Relation is theMarketing Communication that AEP should maintain As the PR channelsare primarily on the basis interactive communications between AEP staff

as hosts, and students and parents as the audience, who would find it easier

to gain the information directly than by any other marketingcommunications Besides, experienced and well-trained AEP staff ensuresthe reliability, sufficiency and satisfaction of such information, by dint ofwhich students and parents would no longer need much effort to find out asuitable fields and courses of study for university life

V.1.2.3 The quality of Public Relation channels

Open day in September once again heads the list in terms of qualitywith a score of 3.77 out of 5 This figure has strengthened the assumptionthat this channel should be exploited for all its potential

The other PR channels, also among one of the most common sources

of reference for students, are not as highly-rated by the students, though,with the Open day in August coming 6th (3.43 out of 5), the information forparents at annual Parent-Teacher Conferences coming 8th (3.40 out of 5)and the Career orientation conferences for Grade 12 students (before thenational university entrance exam) at high schools coming 10th (3.29 out of5)

V.1.3 Direct Marketing

V.1.3.1 An overview

Direct marketing is practiced by businesses of all sizes - from thesmallest start-up to the leaders on the Fortune 500 A well-executed directadvertising campaign can prove a positive return on investment byshowing how many potential customers responded to a clear call-to-action.The AEP is not an exception when it focuses on print newspaper, magazineand online advertisements as follows:

 Articles on the AEP on print newspapers/ magazines

 Articles on the AEP on online newspapers/ magazines

 The AEP’s website

 The AEP’s Facebook page

V.1.3.2 The popularity of Direct Marketing channels

Before the University Entrance Exam

Ranking

Direct

marketing

Articles about AEP on print newspapers/

magazines

Articles about AEP on online newspapers/

magazines

Figure 5 Public Relation channels through which AEP students learn about the

program after the UEE (Source: survey)For AEP’s students, website is one of the most powerful tools theAEP has to attract them with a proportion of 28.8% (174 students), ranked2nd This can be easily justified by the fact that those who want to seek forprospective courses’ and programs’ information would frequently turn toGoogle and as a matter of fact, the websites would all the time appear right

on the first page of the searching results

Meanwhile, articles on the AEP on online newspapers/ magazinesreached 130 students (21.5%), ranked 8th while the other two channels,articles on the AEP on print newspapers/ magazines and the AEP’sFacebook page, draw the attention of the same number of students with aproportion of 18.5% (112 students), both ranked 11th These figures revealthe situation that despite direct marketing is by far the most powerful tool

to promote AEP’s image before the national university entrance exam, it