Experiential and Psychological Factors and Products †Free Samples

Question: Discuss about the Experiential and Psychological Factors and Products. Answer: Introduction The assignment is about the marketing plan for Asia e University. Acting as a consultant of Asia e University Malaysia. A consultant needs to construct a marketing plan for Asia e University to have a 20 % increase in student number in 2018. A Marketing plan document of the business is being constructed to show the tactics and strategies of a business. It might not be constructed for a specific period of time which involves an in-depth detail related to marketing for example goals of the business and cost of its product. It provides a way towards achieving the desired goals and objectives (Duermyer, 2017). This assignment will outline the marketing plan for Asia e University and will focus on these key points such as Mission statement of Asia e University, the Present position of the university, Product and services provided by the university, Market of the university, Channel of distribution, Promotional strategies of the university, competitors and pricing. The Asia e University is a collective multinational university started by the Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD), a frame recognized in 2002 to endorse Asian cooperation at a central level. Recognized as a Malaysian enterprise, on the way to become the leading agent of e-Education, it is sustained by 34 ACD Member Countries as confirmed in 2005 in Islamabad at the CD Ministerial Meetings and in 2006 in Doha (Asia e University. 2017). AeU is working with the institutions of higher learning (IHLs) and training Centres to provide quality of professional programs of training and quality academic programs that are easily available and inexpensive in the ACD Member countries. For Asian, IHLs University AeU provides mutual certification and degree recognition and programs of the academy. This University also provides control on the resources and facilities like professional programs and academic information sharing for IHLs in Asia. AeU is recognized by ACD members countries as an instrument f or Asia-wide cooperation and act as a promoter between the nations and communities in contracting the digital gap. Asia human capacity needs are going to be fulfilled by AeU as it is ready to champion e-Education hard work. The mission of Asia e University is to work together with Higher Learning Institutions of Asia and use their collective image, expertise, and resources for providing good quality of Life-long learning and Higher education. To provide affordable and quality programs through e-learning Asia e University joined their forces with the institutions of global education. Many postgraduates around the world joined this university due to their programs like cross culture and cross-border. ACTS (Asian Credit Transfer System) is enabled by the Asia e University, it is a joint approval of academic programs between the educational institutions of Asia (Master Studies. 2002). Asia e University also focuses on the personalized learning, for this, they provide training and education to the professionals in pursuit of creativity, innovations, and flexibility in their need of education. The vision of the Asia e University is to become a leading university by providing quality and affordable learning in Asia. Asia e University is providing international reputational academic programs as they have become expert due to collaboration with the prestigious institutes. Their focus is providing flexible education and training pr ograms to the students and growing suitable educational technologies and strategies to support students thinking, skills, and capabilities. They are trying to establish a benchmark by providing best e-learning practices (1UNI. 2016). Information Technology and Multimedia School The aim of Information and Communication School is to prepare the best graduates with excellent skills and who are capable of fulfilling the needs of the industry in which they will work. Academic programs presented by the School are planned to arrange experts for the designation such as system analysts, web designer, animation specialist, software engineers, web broadcasting journalists and technology managers. The programs involved in information technology are graduate and undergraduate programs and varied Asia attitudes, traditions and culture give emphasis to creative multimedia (Quatar Conferences. 2006). Art, anthropology, philosophy, history, studies of religion, sociology, social work and different study programs of Asia such as Arabic studies, Chinese studies, Iranian studies are the courses offered by the Arts and Social Sciences School. A culture of research is emphasized by the School built on the excellence of both research i.e. interdisciplinary and discipline and scholarship. Asian culture main priority is their commitment to improvement and development (Asia e University. 2017). At graduate and undergraduate levels courses in engineering and technical studies are offered by the Engineering and Technical Studies School (Asia e University. 2017). Courses in physics, biology, and chemistry are offered by the Science, Health and Environmental Studies School and are functional to biotechnology, environmental studies, and medical science. Courses in basic science and interdisciplinary science will involve programs of graduate and undergraduate with field and laboratory courses (International institute of health sciences. 2017). Courses offered by the business and management school focuses on knowledge management, strategy, and marketing, innovation, e-business, performance management, human resource management, management of voluntary and public sector, corporate strategy and entrepreneurship. Business and management offer programs of graduate and undergraduate and business operation unique features are emphasized by the MBA program in Asia (Asia e University. 2017). Programs of graduate and undergraduate are offered by the Education and Cognitive Sciences School for the profession of education; it provides opportunities to the teachers to upgrade their skills and knowledge wherever they live and work. Teachers of member countries are benefited through this program. Educational leadership, science, cognitive science, mathematical teaching and language education are the areas given more emphasis (Asia e University. 2017). Animators, web and multimedia developer, instructional designers, video and audio specialists and graphic designer are the staff available in Instructional design and learning technologies Centre. The main focus of this Centre is upon the development and content design and assisting the member institutions. Strategic initiatives are promoted by this Centre to integrate e-learning in the education system. Learning Content Management System and Learning Management System are maintained by this Centre. Postgraduate programs are managed and coordinated by Graduate Centre in the University. The centre is responsible for management examination, quality, and marketing (Asia e University. 2017). To improve computing skills, interviewing skills, communication skills, presentation skills, etc. short courses are managed and organized by the Lifelong Learning and Training Centre for the individuals. The main focus of the Centre is to maintain cooperation with the member countries so that practices and experiences of e-learning can be exchanged (Asia e University. 2017). Innovation, Research and Consultancy Centre For the effectiveness of the programs, a joint research initiatives in e-learning is established among member countries by Innovation, Research and Consultancy Centre. This Centre is established for maintaining the cooperation with the member institutions and technologies and e-learning can be shared. Target marketing means dividing the market into different segments and then focusing on the segments of the customers whose demands and needs are related to the product and services offered by the business. It is a strategy of the business to attract customers, business, to increase the sales and for the success of the business. Distribution, pricing, and promotion of the product become more cost effective due to the target marketing strategy of concentrating on the particular segments of the customers whose demand matches with the business services (Eldering, 2003). The population of the Asia is about 3.6 billion people, it is almost 60% of the world population which is a huge market. It has been projected that 60-75% of the Asia people require some type of training and 60-90% of people require re-skilling. Besides this, 40-60% of people are demanding higher education (Quatar Conferences. 2006). The market for Higher education cannot be considered as the only market that needs the p reparation for a career with focusing on students with the age group of 18-22 years. There is a high demand for education and learning even in adults who want to be updated with the current information in their professional as well as personal life not only in Asia but all over the world. Recently, the adult learning and lifelong educations demand is increasing. With the help of e-learning approach, AeU will not face any problem in this market sector in serving their services. E-learning will cover the distance and time for the adult learners. Business can do segmentation of the market in three common types- Demographic segmentation, Geographic segmentation and Psychographic segmentation (Laroche, Bergeron Barbaro-Forleo, 2001). Demographic segmentation can be done on the basis of income level, age, religion, education, marital status, race, and gender. Knowledge of the demographic information is very important for all the business as demographic segmentation is the important criteria for recognizing target markets (Ba?uv?k, 2013). Geographic segmentation can be done on the basis of city, country, neighborhood, state, area code, zip code. Geographic segmentation depends on the consumers in a same geographic area with the similar demand and needs for the services and product (Dietrich, 2017). Psychological segmentation can be done on the basis of class personality, socio-economic and lifestyle. The socio-economic involve range of the customers from rich and educated people at the top to the unskilled and uneducated people at the bottom (Pickering Hayes, 2017). Asia e University is working in different segments and provide courses like Certificate and Diploma Programs which is applicable for Malaysia, Indonesia and other countries, Bachelor, master and Ph.D. Programs is applicable for Vietnam, the Middle East and other countries, Executive Programs is applicable for China, Cambodia and other countries and Life Long Learning is applicable for India, Pakistan and other countries. Marketing mix of Asia e University To promote the product or service businesses use some tactics or strategies, these tactics are known as marketing mix (Cavallone, 2017). Marketing mix involves elements known as 7 p's such as Product, Price, Place, Promotion, People, Physical environment, and Process. Some of marketing mix element of the Asia e University are explained below. Place- Place is also known as a distribution channel, it is used to meet the market wants, expectations and need of the student by the university. Nowadays many sources are available from which student can take the relevant information and with the establishment of the IT student have received an additional source of information in comparison to the previously restricted area of the university. IT instrument known as Blackboard is the example of a source of information used by students. IT source has developed, to hold the material of related university is an opportunity (Starck, 2013). Promotion- University can provide the information about its product and services based on the channels to the market. Channel can be made up of publicity, personal sales contact, advertising, and public relations. Personal sales contact between student and university is very important, as according to the previous research student need personal advice at the time of enrollment. The university should clearly explain and provide information at the time of promotion so that student can clearly understand the educational product. The website is one of the important channels of information transfer to the student. The website provides general information about the university to the student, but the university should not only rely on the internet it can be ineffective communication. Besides the website, other sources like advertising, exhibitions, and E-mail are also very beneficial for the university (Starck, 2013). People- People are the staff members of the university that interact with the students during the enrollment. Thus, the staff is the one who represents the university and can satisfy the student. People are the important factor that should be considered as they are related to promotion and process. The interaction between the student and staff are due to the personal contact of the academic, administrative and supportive staff. Image of the staff is related to the enrollment and perception of the student. Administrative staff plays important role in providing services to the student. Therefore, the reputation of the university can be affected due to the interaction between the staff and the student (Starck, 2013). Process- Universitys formal and administrative functions are involved in the service delivery. It is linked to the process of enrollment that includes registration request, examination of the course and evaluation with the results of the examination. Process include entertainment activities and social events. Bureaucracy and administration of the student are related to the educational service. The frustration of the university's staff and student can be reduced if there will be a well-functioning process. University should confirm whether the student is understanding the process of gaining a service or not as a student is part of the process. Cooperation between the staff is important because the interaction is involved in the service to create the product (Starck, 2013). Price- The income of the educational institute is influenced by the price strategy. The price of tuition, educational program is affected by the competitors price and demand. Therefore, Asia e University plans the prices of the programs accordingly so that student base can be increased in coming future and can give competition to other universities. Product- Product is the important part of the marketing mix. Even it plays a key role in the educational industry, it can be enhanced with the help of other components of the marketing mix. Asia e University designs their programs according to the demand of student (customer). Asia e University provides different crash courses and diploma programs to attract students. Physical environment- the Physical evidence is very important in the educational industry due to the intangible nature. Physical evidence works as a proof of product or knowledge delivered to the student. Asia e University provide physical evidence because it shows the quality of the services that have been delivered or going to be delivered and will also help in increasing the customer base by 20% of the university. The movement of goods and services from manufacturer to the end user of the product and services is known as distribution. Goods and services move from one place to other due to the presence of the distribution channel which involves different distribution intermediaries. Payment of the goods and services move in the opposite direction from the end user to the intermediaries and then to the manufacturer (The Economic Times. 2017). There are two types of distribution channel i.e. direct distribution and indirect distribution. In direct distribution channel, there are no intermediaries business provide goods and services directly to the customers. On the other hand, indirect distribution channel involves a number of intermediaries through which goods and services move from manufacturer to the end user (Liu, 2017). Asia e University adopt two model of distribution for the delivery of their courses Blended Approach- Blended approach involve online interactions, independent study done by the student and face to face interaction. Online Approach- Through e-learning mode courses are provided to the students and interaction between the student and instructor is done through the web. Whenever required student have to be present at the selected Centre even for final examination and assessments (Asia e University. 2017). Promotion- Promotion means to communicate with the customers and influence them to buy the product and services provided by the business (The Economic Times. 2017). Business can communicate with the customers through websites or through direct selling. For a business to promote their product is very important because it is the only way through which customer can know about the product available in the market and where it is available (Ward, S. 2017). Customers will only buy the product when they know about it. There are two categories in which promotional strategies can be classified- Push and Pull. Push strategy- For pushing the product to the customers some type of promotional activities are implemented for retailers, wholesalers, and distributors in push strategy. Activities like the bonus, wholesalers discounts, and trade fairs are the example of push strategies provided for the distributor's benefit and to attract them (Marketing. 2017). Thus, the demand for the product is created in the distribution channel. The customer is not familiar with these activities. Pull strategy- Activities of promotion are done for the customers to attract them in pull strategy. Example of pull strategy are discounts, digital campaigns, and advertisements. Thus, the demand for the product is created through these activities and customer reach to the retail stores or websites to avail the services and to buy the product (Magloff, 2017). Promotional activities done in pull strategy are visible to the customer. Promotional strategies used by Asia e University for increasing their customer base by 20% are- Development of mobile, Use of web analytics, Responsive website design, Strategic social media and Optimization of the search engine. Mobile development- Mobile technology is rising day by day, all the devices that are connected with this, universities and colleges are making huge investments in this. They are creating websites mobile version with this they are making their content of courses mobile-friendly (Hanover Research. 2014). Use of web analytics- To know where the university is reaching to their customer they rely on data-driven analytics. Analytics software uses are increasing because higher education ecosystem is getting complex and online material of the institution is expanding. Responsive website design- University and institutions are focusing on responsive web design so that student can be navigated about how to use it and website can be used and viewed on different devices. Optimization of the search engine- Institutions and universitys administration department want their institution to have a good spot on the search engine, especially Google. It is very important for institutes who provide niche programs (Hanover Research. 2014). Asia e University is dedicated and wants to become a global brand of life-long learning, the administration is desiring to improve their knowledge, capabilities, and skills to give competition globally. Asia e University has initiated strategic alliance and partnering with China, India, Vietnam, Middle East, Indonesia and South East Asian countries University, due to this Asia e University has become popular and helped them increase the number of students in the university. Further, to make Asia e University renowned brand internationally they are planning to start the collaboration with the countries like Africa, Australia, New Zealand and England. The goal of rising human capital Asia e University is adopting the innovative approach to build up the competitiveness of the nation globally and trying to improve the knowledge, skills, and capabilities of their administration department (Interface Education. 2014). Competitive edge is created by the speeds programs for the success. The programs of the Asia e University will improve the skills and make changes that are necessary for present and future industry needs. Fees of the Asia e University- Academic semesters are delivered in the Asia universities that provide quality services by Asia Exchange. These universities main focus is to provide quality and life-changing abroad semesters to as much as students they can. Due to this, they maintained their fees affordable for all the students and low as well. Host University is financing the Asia Exchange. University is providing lower price programs because they negotiate with the partner university about the tuition fees. As compared to the West tuition fees is lower in Asia as well as other expenses (Asia Exchange. 2017). Tuition fees cover Tuition, Orientation at the destination, Asian universities official transcript and official acceptance letter, Process of application, Guidance of the program and services of the program are provided before, during and after the program, After sending the application placement is guaranteed in the program. In addition to the tuition fee, for every application fees of approx. 75 EUR as a non-refundable fee will be charged. In the week of applying the application, the invoice will be delivered of this fee with the letter of initial acceptance. After receiving the invoice fee can be due for 10 days. For an international bank transfer, the bank can charge the service fee. Asia Exchange is an abroad organization of European study. Low tuition fees are charged from the European students in the European universities. For Europeans, lower prices are charged for Asia Exchange programs. Fees of Asia Exchange's program is affordable as compared to the fees of another independent program. For example- Prices of U.S. programs are more than 10000 USD. Within the deadline, all the required documents with the application must be submitted. Additional fees are charged from those students who submit their application after the end of application period according to the terms and conditions of the university (Asia Exchange. 2017). Conclusion In the conclusion, it can be said that success and sustainability of the Asia e University depend on international bodies, corporate enterprises, universities, government agencies and higher education institutes support and interest. Asia e University will have to change gradually in reaction to the contributing members and the needs of the market. The success of the Asia e University depends upon the member countries willingness to participate in expanding the market, opportunities for increasing the revenue, knowledge, and cooperation boosting. The mission of the Asia e University also says that they want to work together with Higher Learning Institutions to provide educational courses. Asia e University offers different services and courses to their customers such as Information Technology and Multimedia School, Arts and Social Sciences School, Engineering and Technical Studies School, Science, Health and Environmental Studies School, Business and Management School and Education a nd Cognitive Science School. Service Centre in support of schools are as follows the instructional design and Learning Technologies Centre, Languages Centre, Graduate Centre, Lifelong Learning and Training Centre and Innovation, research, and consultancy Centre. The above marketing plan of Asia e University will definitely increase 20% of student number in 2018. References Duermyer, R. (2017). What is a Marketing plan? Retrieved from: https://www.thebalance.com/what-is-a-marketing-plan-1794426 Asia e University. (2017). Overview. Retrieved from: https://www.aeu.edu.my/about-aeu/overview Quatar Conferences. (2006). The Establishment and implementation of Asia e University (AeU). 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