2009 Strategic Marketing Plan - University of Hawaiiprograms.honolulu.hawaii.edu/.../files/marketing-plan-2009_0.pdf · A. Product Strategy ... y BA Pro. grams a) CTE Programs •

2009 Strategic Marketing Plan

2009 Marketing Plan Page 0


Table of Contents

Background and Introduction ......................................................................................................... 1

Customer Analysis ........................................................................................................................... 2

Target Market Segments .................................................................................................................. 9

Marketing Objectives .................................................................................................................... 10

Marketing Strategies ...................................................................................................................... 11

A. Product Strategy ............................................................................................................ 11

B. Pricing Strategy ............................................................................................................. 11

C. Promotion Strategy ....................................................................................................... 12

Marketing Tactical Plan ............................................................................................................... 12

Marketing Calendar ...................................................................................................................... 12


Background and Introduction

Customer Analysis

Ultimate Customer Segments


Primary Customer Secondary Customer

CTE Programs

Liberal Arts Program

Employers

University BA Programs

a) CTE Programs

• The primary customer of our CTE product/service offering1 is “The Employer”. The employers are the ones who “purchase” our ultimate product – the graduates by employing the students within their chosen CTE field of study.

• HCC’s customers represent a very diverse group as our program offerings include the associate degree liberal arts program in addition to the 23 career/technical or vocational programs.

• Each distinct employer group (industry, trade, and sector) requires a unique set of knowledge, skills, and attitudes of HCC’s graduates that meet employers’ specific needs.

• The needs of these various employer groups are one of the most important inputs that HCC must clearly and fully understand in order to create and deliver our “secondary” product/service – our program curricula.

• Employment growth for the State of Hawaii is forecast to be approximately 2.96% from 2006 to 2017 (See Appendix 2 - Source: Economic Modeling Specialists, Inc. - 5/07; Occupation Data by SOC Level 5, Region: City and County of Honolulu).

1 See Appendix 1 – Glossary of Marketing Concepts – for the explanation of the term “product/service offering”.


• Employment projections and wage forecasts have been obtained/provided by UHCC that illustrate high wage, high demand employment opportunities in the State (see Appendix 2). Using the sort capabilities within Excel, the projections indicate that the top five high wage positions are:

Physicians and surgeons Prosthodontists Orthodontists Dentists, general Airline pilots, copilots, and flight engineers

and the top five high demand (based upon the number of new and replacement positions to be added) are:

Retail salespersons Military Occupations Waiters and waitresses Cashiers, except gaming Maids and housekeeping cleaners

• The data contained in Appendix 2 would be more beneficial if a true cross-tabulation could be made with the “degree required” data. However, in the absence of said analysis, further review by the academic team will be required in order to draw meaningful conclusions about the fit of HCC’s current program offering versus the high wage, high demand employment opportunities of the next decade.

b) Liberal Arts Program

• The primary customer of our Liberal Arts product/service offering1 is somewhat less well defined than for the CTE programs. In this area, students may choose to go further with their education by transferring to a 4-year institution to complete a baccalaureate degree. They may, however, choose to transfer into a CTE program, or seek employment.


Direct or Primary Consumer

• The direct or primary customer of HCC’s product/service offering is “The Student”. The students are the ones who “purchase” our derived product2 – the educational and training programs.

• Customer Needs = an education - that leads to a an improvement in their lives.

= an education - that leads to further educational opportunities at the bachelor’s level or beyond.

= a well-rounded education that creates a productive citizen of Hawaii. = an education - that leads to a exposure to different cultural values. = an education - that leads to a “good-paying” job.

• Customer Wants = knowledge, skills, and attitudes that the employers desire; + a satisfying and enriching experience while attending college; + no ”hassles” with the system while attending college; + convenience: they want to take a specific course at a time and

and location that is convenient to them; + fun while attending college; + “good value” – the perception that their money was well spent

investing in their educational experience, in this specific program, at this specific college.

• Within this broad secondary category of customers, there are many sub-segments, including:

- the “traditional” high school student (age 17/18).

- the “non-traditional” or “returning” student, who, under any of the following scenarios, has decided that it is time for them to return and resume their education.

one who has been employed.

one who did not complete high school but has not been working.

one who has been the primary care-giver to the family unit. 2 See Appendix 1 – Glossary of Marketing Concepts – for the explanation of the term “derived demand”.


one who has determined their current employment path is limited or not what they really desire/are happy with.

One who already has a degree and is returning in order to obtain a specific skill set. NOTE: In many instances, these students will leave again without completing the certificate or degree once they have obtained the desired skill set as they already have employment and receive recognition from their employer for this new skill set.

- military personnel who require additional knowledge/skills in a specific area.

- dependents of military personnel.

- employers/employees who require additional knowledge/skills in a specific area.

- members of the trades who require additional training/skills to move from apprentice to journey worker to the ultimate level of master.

- a growing immigrant population (with a variety of sub-segments) whose children will be the first generation able to participate in some level of post-secondary education. According to one of our Counselors, the growing sub-segments that would be desirable recruitment targets are the families from Korea and Taiwan. NOTE: These sub-segments rely extremely heavily on word-of-mouth promotion/recommendation. In our Promotional Strategy, it will be important to “go to” these sub-segment groups and use a spokesperson of their nationality to promote HCC to them. For example, have a current student or recent graduate from that culture go to the local churches of that nationality and give a presentation.

• Each of the above-listed sub-segments will have slightly different needs/wants which

will require a slightly different marketing mix in order to be successful. However, all of the sub-segments do share some common needs/wants that a common strategy will impact upon.

• There are also differences in the customer segments based upon the student’s academic inclination – specifically whether they are leaning towards a CTE program or a Liberal Arts programs.

• Some students will choose to enroll in the Liberal Arts program because they are unsure of what it is they want to do in the long term. They come to the program


seeking “to find themselves” – to find an area of interest that they could then focus their education endeavors upon.

• Listed below are some of the psychographic characteristics that describe these “secondary” customers. These potential customers are:

- faced with the economic challenges of living in Hawaii (high cost of accommodations, high cost of living). This results in most prospective students having at least one part-time job to help them cover their basic costs of living. This fact will make the lower tuition fees of community college more attractive; it will also mean the need for financial aid for these students will be greater.

- generally less well prepared for post-secondary education than their predecessors. Information provided by John Morton indicates that the percentage of 8th grade students who score at or above “proficient” on the national assessment exam is 7% versus the national average of 22%. Vice President Morton’s presentation also included the following statistics:

80% of recent HS graduates are unprepared for Math 100. 62% of recent HS graduates are unprepared for English 100. 54% of recent HS graduates are unprepared for the reading

required for college.

- many potential students, as well as their decision influencers, share the “old” perception that a community college education is a “second-class” education; it is not as desirable as an education from the university of a 4-year institution. Many do not see the “value” available to them in starting their education at a community college (the potential cost savings vs. spending the 1st two years at UH or an off-island university) nor in the career and technical education programs (which have an applied education approach) which increases the students’ opportunity to find gainful employment at the end of their education.

- The “Achieving the Dream” core team has provided some early research on the demographic profile of our UHCC students. This early data shows:

• 41% are 1st generation college students. NOTE: within this sub-segment, many are unclear as to the merits of a college education vs. that of a 4-year institution.


• 29% have household income < $20K

• 35% are parents or have other dependents

• 17% are single parents

• 79% work full or part-time

• 69% attend college part-time

• 45% who seek a degree do so in 6 years

• 41% enrolled in certificate program earn certificate, or degree, or transfer

• 42% CC students are in developmental ed courses

• Only 20% complete developmental math sequence in 3 years

• Only 30% complete developmental English sequence in 3 years

• 70% retained from fall to spring

• But 23% remained after 3 years

• Only 11% earned certificate or degree after 3 years

- faced with, as the general population is, with the challenges of the City of Honolulu’s transportation system. Statistics indicate that one of the most under-served geographic areas of the State in terms of post-secondary institutions is the west side of Oahu. On the other hand, it is precisely this geographic area that faces the most traffic delays and longest commute times to the available institutions. These customers will place greater emphasis on the “convenience” factor in their evaluation of post-secondary education than prospective customers in other geographic areas.

- more demanding, in the sense that they want “instant gratification”. They often lack patience; want to have their needs/wants met almost immediately; and are seldom prepared to invest their time/effort into what they perceive as a long-term project.

- more technologically ‘savvy’ than their predecessors. However, it is important to distinguish between their knowledge of “consumer-oriented” applications vs. business/trade/education applications of technology. For example, these students have “game-boys”, cell phones, i-pods, i-phones,


and access to computers. They are “electronically” engaged for a major portion of their day. However, it is most likely that the majority will not know to use the functions of a word processing package beyond the introductory level; will not know how to use spreadsheets and databases, and even though they know how to use e-mail, they will not know appropriate business protocols and etiquette when it comes to using e-mail.

- will rely upon a variety personal sources of information (influencers) in making their post-secondary educational decisions vs. impersonal (commercial) information sources. Primary personal sources may include, but not be limited to:

their peers.

members of their own racial/cultural background.

their parents.

high school counselors.

industry career/placement counselors.

• Enrolment history indicates that while the UHCC system grew by 2.5% in Fall of 2007, HCC experienced a decline of 2.8%. The highest enrolment growth rate was experienced by Hawaii CC with a rate of 8.4%. The highest growth rate on the island of Oahu was experienced by Leeward CC with a rate of 3.8%.


Target Market Segments

Segment A – Liberal Arts

• Primarily students coming directly out of high school. • It will be important to begin promotional efforts to these students early in their high

school years (as early as their freshman year). • These students may know that they wish a 4-year university education, but the appeal

of the lower financial cost of the first two years at a community college will be appealing to them.

• Some may be looking for a specific area of concentration in their studies, but the majority will be coming to “browse at the buffet” – to see what catches their interest and appeals to them during the early years in order to make a more definitive choice of program/focus/career.

Segment B – CTE Programs

• Primarily students coming directly out of high school. • It will be important to begin promotional efforts to these students early in their high

school years (as early as their freshman year). • These students will wish to focus on obtaining the necessary qualifications to work in

an industry or sector that they have already developed an interest in. they will want to achieve their credential and then move into the workforce.

• Some potential students will already be employed in a specific career/discipline. These students may wish to return to complete a credential that they had once stared and not completed; or they may wish to return to update/enhance their skills in order to improve their upward mobility within their career.


Marketing Objectives Primary

• To increase student enrolment. [Tied to UHCC Strategic Outcome 1.1, 2.1, 4.1] To increase student enrolment by 3% compounded annually. Tactical elements will be developed for all programs, but additional focus will be given to specific low-enrolled programs (examples: AVIT, AERO, Marine, AJ, CA) and new/investment programs (examples: MELE, Hawaiian Oceans).

• To increase student retention. [Tied to UHCC Strategic Outcome 1.4, 2.4] To increase student persistence/retention by 3% across all academic levels, but primarily focused on retention from semesters 1 and 2.

• To increase student completion rates. [Tied to UHCC Strategic Outcome 1.4, 2.4, 3.1, 4.3] To increase by 5% per year the number of students who successfully progress and graduate and enter the workforce, or who transfer to a baccalaureate institution within the State.

Secondary

• To build upon, not duplicate the promotional strategies and tactics implemented by UHCC on behalf of the college system. To integrate HCC’s strategic marketing efforts with those of UHCC.

• To create awareness of HCC within targeted stakeholder groups (the general public, parents of high school students, potential non-traditional students).

• To create a positive image of HCC (within targeted stakeholder groups (the general public, parents of high school students, potential non-traditional students)) as a leader in post-secondary education in the State, that offers unique programs that result in students getting high wage, high skill positions within industries that have a high demand for employees.

• To reinforce and enhance our image with other stakeholder groups that are already aware of HCC (our own employees, the legislators, the UHCC system executives, the


UH system executives, current students, current employers, current advisory group members).

• To reinforce and enhance our image as THE premier College within the UHCC system.

Marketing Strategies

A. Product Strategy i. Based upon the external demand for our product/service, and the specific needs

of the employers, determine the exact product/service mix to be offered. CTE programs must meet the criteria set by UHCC as providing education in occupations that are “high wage, high demand, and high skill” in nature.

• What new programs need to be added in order to meet the current and forecasted demand?

• What current programs need to be expanded in order to meet the current and forecasted demand?

• What programs should be continued as is because the demand will be sustained?

• What programs should be sunset because the demand has fallen so low that they cannot be justified or sustained?

ii. Must close the system within the curriculum loop (please refer to the Appendix 2 - Curriculum Model). Within this strategy, HCC must meet and exceed ACCJC accreditation standards. Specifically, HCC needs to:

• strengthen the career and technical skills of students through the integration of academics with career and technical education.

• ensure that our programs are meeting the needs of the employers. Will need to continue and perhaps even increase the role of our advisory committees.

B. Pricing Strategy In conjunction with the Promotions Strategy, communicate the availability of financial aid to the student population. Make the process of applying/accessing this aid much easier and faster for the students. Priority should be given to communicating with the non-traditional and native populations (tied to


Achieving the Dream initiative as well as improving the recruitment and completion performance indicators for Perkins).

C. Promotion Strategy Promotional Objectives:

The promotion strategies and tactics will be designed to accomplish several key objectives. One of the key objectives is to convincingly answer the prospective student’s two key questions:

1. Why should I choose a community college education vs. a university education? and

2. Why should I specifically choose Honolulu Community College?

The on-going marketing campaign by the UHCC system will provide significant benefits to all the CC’s in helping address the first question mentioned above. The strategic focus of the UHCC campaign is to illustrate the economic benefit of attending community college, along with the benefits of the support provided by the smaller, more intimate environment at the community colleges. The student/graduate testimonials that are the key creative tactical element of the campaign will also focus on how well the students felt the community college education/experience prepared them for their current success in their field of employment.

It will be important that HCC include in the promotional message a reinforcing message that coming to a community college for your education (be it the first two years of a 4-year program, or for a specific AS/AAS degree), the student will be able to save money. However, HCC’s primary marketing/promotional efforts should focus of answering the prospective student’s second question – “Why HCC?”.

Another major objective of the promotional strategy must be to communicate the intrinsic benefits of a post-secondary education – the increase in self-confidence and pride; life skills that will make the student more successful in whatever career path they choose.


Theme/Focus:

For Target Segment A: In discussion with one of our senior faculty, we need to focus upon the unique characteristics of HCC such as:

passionate, dedicated faculty. smaller class sizes that leads to more individualized and personalized

attention for each student. excellent, established articulation agreements for our LA program to

UH, HPU, Chaminade, and other 4-year institutions. For Target Segment B: In discussion with one of our senior faculty, the topic of the image of HCC came up. The question asked was – “What should the image of HCC be that we try to project to the public?” The answer was - “very corporate – because that is what we do. We prepare our students to become productive, full time employees in specialized areas. And we do a VERY good job of that. Our employers are very pleased with the graduates they hire. We are in the business of providing well-trained, well-prepared students for the workforce.”

Possibility for Both Segments: “Empowerment through Education”. This slogan sends the message that individuals (students) will be empowered to accomplish whatever their personal goals are through education. Gaining an education through HCC, whether it is a liberal arts education that leads to additional post secondary education, or a CTE program that leads to a specific career, is the means to achieving personal success.


Appendix 1

Glossary of Marketing Concepts

A. Product/Service Offering

• Definition:

B. Derived Demand


Documents

2009 Strategic Marketing Plan - University of Hawaiiprograms.honolulu.hawaii.edu/.../files/marketing-plan-2009_0.pdf · A. Product Strategy ... y BA Pro. grams a) CTE Programs •