Establishing as expert and broker of Australian educational services in Germany E-Book

Hardy Landmann

• Herausgeber: GRIN Verlag
• Sprache: Deutsch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Beschreibung

Masterarbeit aus dem Jahr 2011 im Fachbereich BWL - Offline-Marketing und Online-Marketing, Note: 1,3, Fachhochschule Kiel (Betriebswirtschaftslehre), Veranstaltung: Marketing, Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: Masterthesis zu einem Marketing-Thema in englischer Sprache. Inhaltlich wird die Vermarktung australischer Bildungsdienstleistungen in Deutschland fokussiert. Der Forschungsteil beschäftigt sich zunächst ausführlich mit dem australischen Bildungssystem um folgend Kostenvergleiche von Englisch-Sprachkursen in Deutschland, England, Malta und Australien anzustellen. Weiterhin beschreibt der Autor gründlich seine individuelle Auseinandersetzung sowie seinen Wissensstand mit dem Titelthema. Der Marketingteil startet mit einer intensiven Marketingplanung (Gliederungspunkte u.a. Vision des Autors, Mission objectives, Intention des Autors, Diskussion des Produkts, Bestimmung Zielmarktes & Marktanalyse). Ein weiteres Kapitel setzt Marketinginstrumente in die Praxis um und baut hierbei auf dem McCarthy-Modell der 4P auf (Product, Price, Place, Promotion) Der Autor involviert durchweg viele Praxisbeispiele, die u.a. auch auf persönliche Umstände des Autors basieren (z.B. Verfolgung eines Opportunitätskostenansatzes auf Basis des eigenen Einkommens). Insgesamt 119 Seiten, davon 38 Anhang.

Leseprobe

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1 INTRODUCTION.

1.1 BACKGROUND

1.2 PURPOSE OF THE THESIS

1.3 DELIMITATION.

1.4 COURSE OF ACTION

2 THE EDUCATION SYSTEM IN AUSTRALIA.

2.1 STRUCTURE OF THE AUSTRALIAN EDUCATION SYSTEM

2.2 THE ROLE OF LANGUAGE SCHOOLS.

2.3 COMPARISON OF TUITION COSTS

2.4 ADDITIONAL AMENITIES OF AUSTRALIA.

2.5 INTERMEDIATE RESULTS.

3 RESEARCH IN AUSTRALIA.

3.2 CONTRACTS WITH LANGUAGE COLLEGES

3.3 EXCURSION: MARKETING CAMPAIGN FOR THE INTERNATIONAL HOUSE BRISBANE

3.5 PARTICIPATION IN A SEMINAR FOR EDUCATION AGENTS.

3.6 INTERMEDIATE RESULTS.

4 MARKETING PREPARATION

4.1 PLANNING THE MARKETING.

4.2 BASIC QUESTIONS OF MARKETING

4.3 DETERMINING AND MEASURING THE MARKET

4.3.1 Analysis 1: Germans visiting Australia for a longer term

4.3.1.1 Student visa holders

4.3.1.2 Workingholiday visa holders

4.3.2 Analysis 2: Germans learning English by language travelling

4.3.3 Analysis 3: Germans completing an education in Australia.

4.3.4 Analysis 4: Germans completing English courses in Australia

4.4 MARKET SEGMENTATION

4.4.2 Segmentation no. 2: Workingholiday visa holders

4.4.3 Segmentation no. 3: German language travellers

4.4.4 Analysis and mapping of market segments

4.4.5 Selecting a market segment.

4.4.6 Customer profile

4.4.7 Effects on the product mix

4.5 EXTERNAL INFLUENCES ON THE MARKETING

4.5.1 Competition analysis

4.5.2 PEST Analysis.

4.5.3 Market surveillance

4.6 INTERMEDIATE RESULTS.

5 DEVELOPMENT OF A MARKETING MIX.

5.1 PRODUCT.

5.1.1 Analysis of the products:

5.1.2 Individual problems of the products

5.1.3 Marketing and advertising intangible products.

5.1.3.1 Photographs

5.1.3.2 Brands

5.1.3.3 Advertising the brand: A Slogan.

5.2 PRICE.

5.2.1 Cost-oriented approach

5.2.2 Competition-oriented approach.

5.2.3 Bundle Pricing

5.2.4 Applied price approach

5.3 PLACE.

5.3.1 Logistic of the products

5.3.2 The distribution of the products.

5.3.3 Selective distribution policy.

5.4 PROMOTION.

5.4.1 Personal selling

5.4.2 Referral marketing.

5.4.3 Direct marketing.

5.4.3.1 Email signature

5.4.3.2 Business network: Xing

5.4.4 Public Relations.

5.4.4.1 Poster

5.4.4.2 e-book

5.5 INTERMEDIATE RESULTS.

6 RESULTS, FUTURE APPROACHES AND CONCLUSION

6.1 RESULTS: THE MISSION OBJECTIVES

6.2 RESULTS: SPECIAL MARKETING OBJECTIVE

6.3 PROSPECTIVE MARKETING APPROACHES

6.3.1 Marketing-campaign for the e-book

6.3.2 Publication of the thesis.

6.3.3 Extending the geographical range: New Zealand

6.3.4 Excursion: Profit through commissions:

6.3.5 Own Website

6.3.6 Search Engine Marketing

6.4 INTERMEDIATE RESULTS.

7 CONCLUSION.

Attachment 2:

Attachment 4:

Page 1

Page 2

Page 6

List of abbreviations

AUD Australian dollar

ELICOS English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Students

epk Electronic press kit

EUR Euro

FDSV Fachverband Deutscher Sprachreise-Veranstalter e.V.

IH Brisbane International House Brisbane

n/a not applicable

PEST Political, Economical, Social, Technological.

PIER Professional International Education Resources

PhD Doctor of Philosophy

RTO Registered Training Organisation

VET Vocational and Educational Training

YTD Year to date

Page 7

Page 8

Page 9

1 Introduction

The marketing of Australian educational services and the establishment of the author as an expert and broker of these services are the focus of this thesis. Therefore, a combination of marketing approaches will be used for the realisation. The following introduction explains the elements of this work in detail.

1.1 Background

A temporary stay abroad in 2008 brought the author to Australia. There he attended a language school and came in contact with the Australian education system. Through conversations with language teachers, he was encouraged to become familiar with the job of “Education Agent”. Back in Germany grew a desire to deal more deeply with the possibilities of Australian education. At the same time the author was told by friends and colleagues that they travel mostly to Great Britain or Malta in order to improve their English. The cost of such trips appeared very high. The author decided to execute a deeper research about this issue. Moreover, the question should be clarified if and when it pays to take language courses in Australia instead of Great Britain.

As the author assumes that a language course in Australia could compete with British courses (in terms of cost), a marketing focus was chosen. A second visit to Australia was completed in order to do the practical research. It was determined to produce a master’s thesis in English (corresponding to the topic of the work).

1.2 Purpose of the thesis

The following questions serve as motivation for this thesis:

ŠAre Australian language courses an alternative to European offers (es- pecially offers from Great Britain)?

Page 10

ŠCould marketing instruments support the author to sell Australian educational services in Germany?

The work is intended to show that language courses in Australia have at least the same value than courses in popular European destinations. In addition, it will be described what theoretical considerations are necessary for a proper marketing planning. The practical implementation of planned instruments will also be explained as well as results that were collected during the preparation time of this thesis.

1.3 Delimitation

The focus is on the marketing of Australian English courses in Germany and related products (like consultation, brochures etc.). Vacation and travel could be seen as connected topics. They are mentioned only very briefly and will not be discussed further. More educational opportunities than English courses are mentioned for reasons of completeness. They are not discussed. The marketing planning and the practical application of the instruments suggests a kind of business establishment. Business issues (such as the choice of legal form) for self-employment are not within the scope of this work. The selected marketing tools are founded on a small budget. The author runs the marketing approaches in addition to his part-time job in a financial institution.

1.4 Course of action

The following chapter describes the structure of the Australian education system. It highlights the role of language schools and shows when it is worthwhile for a German to attend a language course in Australia. It also deals with the general motivations to travel Australia.

Chapter 3 focuses on the qualifications of the author. The provision of services (such as a consultation or the booking of a language course) requires special

Page 11

knowledge about the Australian education sector. The existing qualifications are described.

The 4th Chapter deals extensively with the marketing plan. Basic aspects of marketing are highlighted. The author’s vision and mission objectives form the beginning. Then, market research will be conducted to select target customers. After that, a competition analysis follows and a market surveillance is developed to monitor external influences.

In Chapter 5, a detailed marketing mix is created. The mix is based on the known model of the 4 P (the McCarthy model; product, price, place, promotion).

Chapter 6 demonstrates achieved marketing success. Then it describes marketing approaches that are useful for future activities. The last chapter summarises this work and gives a conclusion. The appendix provides evidence for the mentioned sources. An interview with Vicky Parkinson (Director of Studies of an Australian language school) en- riches the end of this work.

Page 12

2 The education system in Australia

This chapter provides a general survey of the educational system in Australia. After this it deals with the significant role of language schools and demonstrates the increasing interest of Germans within this system. It continuous with a comparison of tuition fees of famous language travel destinations for Germans. This supports Australia’s attractiveness as an education location (a key factor of the services the author intents to develop). At the end it stresses people’s main motives to travel to Australia.

2.1 Structure of the Australian education system

The structure of the Australian education system is similar to the German system. It starts with a differentiated school system (Primary and Secondary School) and continues either with a vocational or an academic education. The highest achievable education level is the doctoral degree (Doctor of Philosophy [PhD]). The Pyramid below shows all steps of the vocational and academic education and gives a simple overview of the system in general:

Page 13

Source: Own production (*ELICOS means English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas

Students).

Figure 1 highlights important steps within the current Australian education

system. It does not show every single detail1(e.g. a Registered Training Organisation [RTO] can offer a bachelor programme and not every university offers a Diploma programme).