Why Students Need Marketing!

The Economist ran an interesting article last week entitled Angst for the Educated with the subtitle that ‘a university degree no longer offers financial security’. It is an important, timely and challenging commentary. As we know, there is a high correlation between educational qualifications and earnings – an American with a professional degree can expect to earn $3.6 million in a lifetime compared with a high school graduate who can expect to earn $1.3 million. It is this promise of greater returns that keeps many students sane during the apparently endless routine of projects and examinations!

But with everything else in the world of work and business changing rapidly, what if this relationship was to loosen significantly in the future? Well it would already appear that this is already happening. And the main reason is competition. The article reports research which estimates that the number of students going to university grew by 74% in Europe between 1990 and 2007, but the increases were by 144% in Latin America and 203% in Asia. Graduate competition for the best jobs is growing in a marketplace that is global. Add to this the fact that technology is removing the needs for some white collar workers in the same way that it has already done to blue collar jobs – for example, software packages do you tax returns at a fraction of the cost of an accountant, and the challenge becomes even more serious.

The other main point of the piece is that technology will cause the main elements of brain work to be broken down into smaller pieces – the routine bits being completed by machines or outsourced to where labour is cheaper. So Western graduates will need to recognise that the qualification will only get you so far. What core skills and abilities can you combine to give you an advantage in a competitive jobs marketplace? How are you different and better than your peers? What are you doing to develop a marketing plan for yourself? These are the kinds of questions that you will increasingly need to be able to answer.

The Power of Loyalty Cards

Boots launched its Advantage card loyalty scheme in 2001. Customers sign up for the card and collect points for each purchase that they make at Boots which can then be redeemed against future purchases. Each £1 purchase generates four points for the customer but all sorts of additional activities such as special promotions and in-store events garner additional ‘bonus’ points – an approach which subtly creates a focus on points collection and consequently more purchases. It has extended its scheme to allow customers to collect points at other retailers such as Thomas Cook, ToysRUs and Asos.com which can be redeemed at Boots. Most retailers operate similar schemes but the key to successful loyalty programs rests on the company’s ability to use the information it is collecting on its customers and their buying habits to target them more effectively.

For example, Boots ran a special Christmas promotion in 2009 with the aim of showing customers that they could get gifts for everyone under one roof and at the same time collect bonus points for themselves. It sent a direct mail package to 6 million of its customers to drive them to special in-store events and this effort was complemented by press and TV promotions. But its customer knowledge meant that it was able to send out 400,000 different versions of the mailing tailored to a customer’s previous purchasing patterns. This deep customer knowledge enabled the promotion to be highly successful at a time of year when all retailers are marketing very aggressively. Coupon redemption rates, which are generally very low, rose by 25 percent because customers were receiving more relevant offers. Incremental sales from the in-store events rose by 90 percent year-on-year and incremental profits rose by 60 percent.