Marketing & Networking

Plan

Hussain.Shoukat
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Introduction

My marketing strategy will have four main components:

1. Bring the students into iACT.

2. Impress the student when he comes in.
3. Increase the target audience and involve corporate sector.
4. Minor changes to the current tools of marketing.

The general outline of this strategy will be that firstly I will explain what I mean by that
component. Secondly I will lay out a plan for its implementation. Lastly I will try to list possible
avenues which can be explored to gather resources for the implementation phase.

Note: this is a long term marketing plan which will stay in action throughout the year.

A “plan B” is proposed in the document “Changes to the current short term marketing plan” and
will only be put into action if we fail to achieve the objectives listed below.

Objectives to be achieved within 1 week of start of admissions:

Form issuances: at least 1000

Form submissions: at least 500

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Contents

Component 1...............................................................................................................................................5
Component 2...............................................................................................................................................8
Component 3.............................................................................................................................................10
Component 4.............................................................................................................................................11
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Component 1
Bring Students into iACT

What does this mean?

 Engage students from around the local community and organize programs for them in
iACT.
 This serves the purpose of local image and brand building.
 Also when students come in and are exposed to the facilities of iACT, the impression we
make on their minds would be lasting.
 Special emphasis to be laid on activities involving career development; meaning that we
market an image which boasts job security and lifestyle improvement for graduates.

How to?

A round the year marketing strategy needs to be in place. This means that I will try to raise an
audience so that the following programs can be organized.

 Career & Resume writing seminars for Malir residents; preferably bimonthly.
o The target audience will be students in schools and colleges
o These seminars will be conducted by our in-house career counselor
o The purpose is to just bring the students into iACT and increase their awareness
about the institute.
 Sports activities and camps during summers
o The target audience is the general residents of Malir.
o The purpose of these exercises is to build an image of iACT as the local
community center.
o These camps will be conducted by the in-house sports coaches and trainers.
 Active citizen trainings for the students of Malir and surrounding areas
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o The target audience are the students of colleges in Malir and surrounding areas
o The purpose of this activity would be to impress the students of the area with our
personal development training facilities which will make iACT a respected
educational brand and people will get a taste of the iACT experience.
o These workshops will be conducted by our in-house British Council certified
Active Citizen trainers.

The question now is that how will this audience be raised?

I have observed in my last month’s stay here at iACT that the conventional marketing methods
like banners and posters don’t work for the students of the Malir area. Moreover if we want to
bring in the students for these activities, it’s not just the students who need to be the targets of
our marketing strategy but also their parents. For this purpose a strategy needs to be formulated
that is all encompassing and targets “all the residents of Malir” so to speak.

For this purpose I think that the following three strategies might work:

1. Pamphlet distribution
a. These pamphlets can be printed pretty cheap at the cost of 50 paisa per pamphlet.
This means that we can print these in large amounts and distribute them in
community gathering centers.
b. The community gathering centers that I have talked about are places where the
local community of Malir gathers. These places are
i. Markets: local markets are setup every day near iACT. The major
audience is housewives of Malir who will publicize about these trainings
and seminars.
ii. Mosques: we can target the men of the Malir community by this method.
Almost all of them visit mosques for Friday prayers and this would mean
that we can disseminate information about our trainings to large masses.
c. It would be great if we could have these designed in-house. This would save us
time and resources and avoid a back and forth between iACT and RDN.
2. Supplement distribution
a. The supplements that I talk about need to be printed in black and white on
newspaper pages. The purpose is that once they have been inserted into the
newspaper the reader should not be able to distinguish it from the rest of the
newspaper and should assume that it’s a part of the newspaper.
b. The target areas would this time be those outside Malir, like Gulshan-e-Iqbal and
Gulistan-e-Johar. The reason for this is that the pamphlets ought to cover the
Malir area and it would be great if we could target people outside Malir too.
c. Again I would reinstate that it would not only save us a lot of time and resources
but also help us get the exact desired designs if we could have this designed in-
house.
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 Last time the supplement design went all wrong and the print that
we had was nothing like the one we wanted.
3. Partnerships with institutes
a. The target area for this again would be Malir and surrounding areas.
b. Up until now we have partnered with a lot of coaching centers and training
institutes but we have offered them nothing in return. It’s time to change this
trend and involve them in a more active fashion. This would give us a couple of
advantages:
i. If the students of these institutes visit iACT we will have a chance to
inspire them with our facilities.
ii. These institutes will start cooperating with us in a better fashion and more
of them would seek partnerships with us so that they may gain benefits of
these trainings.

Where from?

 I have talked to Mr. Mehdi and he has happily agreed to provide the career & resume
writing seminars.
 I have talked to Mr. Adnan Ashraf and he agrees in principal, and I am sure that he will
help me out with carrying out the sports activities.
 I have talked to Mr. Kamran Kashif and he has promised to provide the active citizen
trainings if I bring in the students.
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Component 2
Impress the student when he comes in

What does this mean?

Now that we have completed module 1, our aim should be to impress those students (and
parents) who come to iACT for activities. Even though the building is quite impressive generally
and a lot has been done to make it so, there is still a lot of room for improvement.

What needs to be done can generally be divided into 2 main parts:

 An improvement in the general aesthetics of the building.

 Create a more welcoming aura and make the visitor feel welcomed the moment he steps
in.

These measures will help us improve enrolment rates. Currently a lot of people visit iACT but
don’t enroll in any course and I intend to turn this around.

How to?

The changes that I will suggest below involve administration more than marketing but I will be
happy to help out in any way possible and if given the go ahead I would gladly spearhead the
changes myself.

Some basic structural changes need to be put in place and also special emphasis needs to be laid
on aesthetics. What I mean by this is that it would be unnatural to expect people to know about
aesthetics automatically, it’s a sense that develops over time. If we don’t have people who know
about the art of aesthetics, we can bring in visitors who do.
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 Bring in an interior designer as a visitor

o The person would come in voluntarily and suggest some changes.
o We will try to implement his/her ideas keeping our budgetary constraints in mind.

When a person walks into iACT (student/parent) he should feel welcomed. Currently there are a
few problems with the staff which have also been highlighted before and these problems can be
fixed quite easily.

 Redefine the receptionist’s role

o Currently the receptionist is over worked and her TORs include supporting the
administration.
o This needs to be changed and her role should be to help out the visitors and callers
only
 Volunteers should be called in for events where students and parents are invited and they
should work as ushers
o This would make the people who come in feel special and important
o This would also give us more “ear time” which is the time which we can use to
inculcate the idea into the visitor’s mind that iACT is the place for them to be.
 Special care needs to be taken during the admissions that the phone lines are not busy and
that the staff is at its best behavior
o We currently have 5 phone lines
o 2 of these numbers are written on all of our admission material
o These 2 lines should be reserved for incoming calls only
o The other 3 lines should be reserved for outgoing only
o Currently since all 5 lines can be used in any way, a lot of students have
complained that they find the phone lines busy and the only logical reason that I
can understand is that the outgoing lines clog the telephone traffic.

A lot of these problems can also be solved if we bring in trainers who will help the staff refine
their interpersonal skills.

 Another thing that needs to be done for campus beautification is the development of some
good photo frames which can be furnished with the photographs of iACT and its student
body. Currently the only thing that we have up on the walls is promotional material. Its
good in its own right but photographs would give the place a cozier feel.

Where from?

 I can easily arrange for an interior designer to come in voluntarily or if not an interior
designer then at least someone who has a polished sense of aesthetics
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 The receptionist’s role needs to be deliberated by the HR department or the Admin

department.
 I will send out emails for volunteers to institutions like LUMS but these students can only
come in during the summers. For other times we have a vast alumni body and we could
try to call them in for the ushering roles.
 The phone line issue is a simple one and an order from the center head could solve the
problem in a day.
 I can convince trainers from Navatis to come in for a training or two in their personal
capacities and help us polish our staff’s interpersonal skills.
 The photo frames issue is simple and if the need is felt for its implementation then this is
an inexpensive measure and I am sure that budget can be spared for it.

Component 3
Increase the target audience and involve the corporate sector

What does this mean?

We at iACT have excellent facilities and it would be a great achievement if we could involve the
corporate sector and put these facilities to optimal use. Corporate trainings are a lucrative
business and it would benefit us greatly and help us reach self sufficiency if we could tap into
this sector. A focus group needs to be carried out to suggest the sort of trainings that we could
offer but it’s an area that we need to look into.

How to?

 Organize a focus group and brainstorm the sort of trainings that could be carried out to
attract corporate officials
 A problem that we might face would be that the institute is located in Malir and this can
carry a few negative connotations but we will need to overcome this hurdle and come up
with strategies which could attract corporate executives and employees. These strategies
could include:
o Publicizing our head office as the meeting point and have transport facilities from
there to iACT.
o Providing them with the option of in-house trainings. This would mean that our
trainers go to these companies and provide trainings at their venues.
o A venue can be hired. (Hotels etc)
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 A great advantage that we would gain out of these trainings would be that these corporate
employees and executives will become our alumni and hence we would be able to
successfully establish a relationship of trust and cooperation with them which would in
turn help us with internships and job placements for our students
 We could also approach major players in the market who run call centers and offer in
house trainings. We could offer to train their people at iACT and carry out special classes
for them.

Where from?

I know that this measure might need approval from the highest levels of management but this is a
measure which will benefit us in the long run.

We might have to hire new faculty to carry out these trainings but the end result would be an
unprecedented brand building exercise for iACT.

Component 4
Minor changes to the current tools of marketing

What does this mean?

Currently we concentrate only on the residents of Malir and have taken it for a fact that the only
people who will want the trainings that we offer are the underprivileged youth. What we need
now is a change of focus and this can be achieved by changing two major things:

 Firstly we would need to start quality marketing along with the cheap marketing that we
already do and other than banners and pamphlets we need to start advertising in English
newspapers, carryout fund raisers and invite the city’s elites and organize exhibitions of
the work of our students in prominent places like hotels and clubs.
 Secondly we need higher quality faculty.
o Institutions like LUMS and IBA don’t carry out marketing campaigns; rather
people look out for the admission dates and line up for admissions.
o The reason as I see it is that people know that after graduating from these
institutions they are sure to land good jobs.
o The only thing which can ensure this is good faculty. Being taught by good
faculty would mean that the students who graduate have sound knowledge of the
subject area and will have better chances of getting better jobs.
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The purpose of this is in no way to change the mission of iACT which is to help out the
underprivileged youth but it is to help make iACT self sufficient so that we can raise more funds
for the betterment of the underprivileged youth.

How to?

As far as higher quality marketing is concerned, I will try my level best to make iACT known
not only to the underprivileged people of Malir but also to the city elites. Listed below are some
things that I would need to do during the year to achieve this.

 Organize exhibitions of our students

o These should be organized at places like Sheraton hotels or Karachi club
o The reason is that people (elites) at this point are generally unwilling to come to
Malir due to the law and order situation
o Also once these people start recognizing iACT students as “kids who have
potential” we might find it easier to secure funds and donations for the institute.
o These events could also act as fundraisers.

 Make a proper prospectus and alter the website

o This prospectus should include the details of “how to donate”
o The website too should be donor friendly
 Try getting a media partnership with a media channel
o This would mean media coverage of our events and exhibitions.

Where from?

It would be of great help if we could just have one guy whose only job would be in-house
graphics designing. We could save a lot of time and resources this way.

 This person would develop the publicity material which then could just be approved by
RDN and the management. This would lighten the load of RDN and would speed up and
optimize the designing process.
 This guy could also handle minor website updates ensuring that the website is up to date
and projects the upcoming events.

Note: further details for this section including the short term marketing plan which will be put
into action around the time of admissions can be found in the document titled “changes to the
current short term marketing plan”