The University of Phoenix Marketing Strategy Paper

A business must be highly competitive in the business markets today. For a business to grow successfully, remain sustainable, and competitive a business needs a good understanding of a marketing plan, and the knowhow to put the concepts to work for the business achieving a successful marketing strategy. Remaining successful when an economic growth has leveled out shows a sustainable business. Competitors that follow the same marketing concepts will need to develop a good marketing plan, and implement the concepts into a marketing strategy to remain a competitive business.

A good marketing strategy contains a marketing plan describing the products offered, and taking into account anticipation of competitor moves. In this paper the subject will describe the four P components and how the University of Phoenix has implemented the P’s, and maintained a marketing strategy keeping the university competitive. Included in these concepts of The University of Phoenix marketing strategy is the discussion of the target market, and the marketing components the university has used before implementation of the P components in the marketing strategy.

The University of Phoenix Target Market Target Market The University of Phoenix is a for profit educational institution established by the Apollo group in 1976. The university’s first target market were working adults seeking higher education with the convenience of class times at the university, and offering classes at local sights so Americans could succeed in the constantly changing professional world. Then in1989 the university opened their doors to the online programs and a new target market was discovered.

Although in the past the Apollo group offered adult education for 25 years, the formation of online classes attracted the slightly older student with a minimum enrollment age of 23 and the average age of 34. The University of Phoenix firmly believes with the university brand, improving their product based on feedback, and sticking to the mission is how the university has sustained their great success this far (Heller, 2001).

The online program in 2000 issued an aggressive marketing campaign including a mix of marketing techniques like television advertising, banner advertising, direct mail, corporate referrals, alumni, and student referrals. This campaign captured all of the target markets and was very successful with attracting online enrollment. Television advertising on CNN, MSNBC, and Discover channel was the most successful in attaining higher enrollment (Heller, 2001). Not a year after the campaign the university experienced 86. % growth in enrollment from the prior year’s experience of 50% to 60% enrollment growth (Heller, 2001). The university has a new strategy for 2011 called concentrated marketing or niche marketing the strategy of going after all of one, or a few smaller segments or niches. The concentrated marketing approach will enable the university to attain knowledge of consumer needs in the niches it serves. Then fine tuning the products, prices, promotion, and place to customer needs therefore marketing more effectively.

The university can market more efficiently because some segments are quite large attracting several competitors whereas niches are smaller attracting only one or two competitors. Smaller Niches can focus his/her limited resources on serving niches overlooked by larger competitors gaining a foothold against the larger competition The university’s 2011 target market is young students they see a big niche among young students with jobs, and recent graduates. The university is offering online classes at reduced costs calling this a niche with potential (Gilbertson, 2011).

A horizon of young recent graduates and other young students with jobs are working but not in a career, and are seeking a more flexible way to attend college. The increasing percentage of high school students going on to college because of economic necessity will eventually cause the community colleges, and public universities to overflow (Gilbertson, 2011). Television advertising on CNN, MSNBC, and Discover channel was the most successful in attaining higher enrollment (Heller, 2001). The segments of target markets are based on the opportunities and resources of the university.

The goal of the university is find the target markets that match the needs or wants of the market at the time. Capturing this target market of young and recent graduates would mean a substantial jump in profits and growth for the university. The University of Phoenix Marketing Mix Products The University of Phoenix has been in the education service over 22 years; they offer an array of classes with flexible schedules. An individual can acquire an Associate, Bachelor, or Masters Degree, and Doctoral degrees to certification and single courses.

Another advantage the university offers is smaller online classes opposed to larger in class classrooms. The University of Phoenix hires faculty with real-world experience, and degree programs developed on relevant and effective learning for a quality education. The university is convenient for many students offering online and evening classes making it possible for those who work to have a chance to complete their education. Place The University of Phoenix is one of the nation’s largest private universities located in Phoenix, AZ with more than 200 university locations worldwide.

Classes are online for individuals with a schedule that would conflict with the campus class schedule, or for anyone that just wants to obtain a degree online. The university is online in most countries around the world that makes for a diversified classroom setting. The online classroom offers easy access to the online Library, grammar, spelling, and writing aides. Above all the classroom comes to you right on your computer, and you can do the online classes in the comfort of your own home while sitting in pajamas. Price The tuition for the universities online program versus college campus does initiate a higher price for a credit hour.

The cost is justified with the cost of high technology, and the infrastructure. The university uses the profits made and re-invests it in the infrastructure to improve the online interaction. An individual is also able to apply for student loans, check on grants, and check with the school for any reduction in tuition fees. Promotion The University of Phoenix is consistently doing online advertising with side window ads grabbing an individual interest with the ad stating the question “Would you like to go back to school, and earn your degree? You may be able to go for free. The University of Phoenix advertises on the television from time to time, and on the car radio with commercial ads. The university receives several referrals from university alumni, and from students who attend classes working on a degree. Word of mouth is a very powerful advertisement among friends and family then they go and tell their friends and family making word of mouth a powerful way to advertise. The University of Phoenix has grown into a large for profit educational institution although they had problems in the past they are slowly coming back from these unfortunate times.

The university in the past has chosen many marketing strategies, and competing as a For-profit educational market. Segmentation of potential target markets such as consumers, business, and international is a very important process because not all the segments of a market are effective in a business’ needs. Here is where the evaluation of the market segment size and growth, structural attractiveness, and company objectives and resources will require analyzing carefully by management. The company will decide how many, and which markets it wants to target.

The University of Phoenix for 2011 is using the concentrated marketing or niche strategy. Searching out a large share of a segment of young adults showing them how they can return to school with a flexible schedule. The University has used all components of the marketing mix, and each element of the marketing mix should support the product’s position. A good marketing plan, a good implementation of a plan is the best way to carry through with a marketing strategy. A business today must design a good business plan; implement the components of the plan to remain profitable and sustainable in today’s business world.