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[this is an example of the documentation produced for a new OU course]
7136 MA (Marketing) Response to Report
RESPONSE TO 'MA IN MARKETING - INTERIM REPORT'
This is a well thought out report, and Heather is to be congratulated on her work (especially when CIM were so unhelpful - I am chasing this with David Sagar!). I have just a very few observations on the reported results, and then some about the way forward:
REPORTED RESULTS
The response rates are interesting, in different ways:
a) Marketing Business - the 159 responses from 40,000 x 5 exposures is disappointing. I can't see that the lateness of three insertions (after our cut-off) would have affected this response rate. On the other hand, the design of the ad, which was essentially a brand awareness ad (making the assumption that the reader already knew what our offering was, and not explaining even what the content is), may have failed to adequately explain what we were offering. The Lincoln ads, which are seemingly more successful (and which are at the heart of their marketing), on the other hand do give a much clearer explanation of their offering.
b) Marketing Success - despite the fact that this was the wrong audience (it was the only one whose members were not qualified to take the MA!), the response rate seems to be in line with what we might reasonably have expected. The question here may be what did we do right? Was there editorial support for instance (where we never took up the promised support in Marketing Business)?
c) PgDip Mailing - this was the one group where we might have expected a reasonable response, but (with just 58 responses) the rate - at 1.3 % is incredibly (indeed mysteriously) low! Clearly, where any mail offer to a general group is expected to beat 1% response, achieving a similar rate with a highly attractive offer to a tightly targeted group (where at least 10% would be expected in general, and the 30% we were looking for was reasonable based on our own experience) poses a big question as to what went wrong. Unfortunately this is a question we cannot answer - so we must assume that the Marketing Success results may be a better indication of future outcomes!
The comments about the overseas market may well be valid. Fortunately, for the second cohort we can extend our operations to the CIM overseas business (which may also help relations with CIM!). We were worried, in particular, that the first presentation of B825 (with its res. school etc) might pose delivery problems. The same problems will not be faced with B851.
It is very clear that we cannot rely on CIM as much as we originally planned to do! In particular, the low numbers we can mail mean that such mailings now must be at best a secondary element. The matter is not helped by the apparently unhelpful attitude of the marketing management at CIM.
2001 RELAUNCH?
Ideally, given the apparent lack of support from CIM, we should 'do our own thing'. Offer an MA (Marketing) in its entirety without CIM support. Unfortunately, we do not currently have the first year of this available - which is why we have to use the PgDip for this. We might ultimately hope to be able to be able to cut and paste such an offering from the CDNext modules (as they were designed to be used), together with the new replacement for B800, at relatively low cost. But it will be several years before we were in a position to do this, even if we wanted to do.
In the meantime we have to accept the CIM PgDip - now extended (as agreed by Masters Board) to the old Diploma as well (which may treble the overall potential) as the first stage for the MA. On the other hand, this does not mean we have to have a full partnership with CIM - as was proposed previously - though we would be advised to use their media, since these are nicely targeted on the Diploma/PgDip audience!
Equally, we should not make any major investments in this programme until (in the absence of CIM support) we are more sure of success:
Advertising
Despite the response rates, we should still make Marketing Business the core of the campaign (since this goes to 10,000 PgDip graduates as well as 30,000 other CIM members, including many Diplomates). On the other hand, we must make the advertisements really work as for a new offering:
1) Launch Feature in Marketing Business - we should run a four page (colour/B&W) advertisement (or insert) fully explaining exactly what the offering is - with outline content etc. - at a cost of around £10,000.
2) Follow-On Ads in Marketing Business - we should then run a series of four half page (B&W) reminder ads (but again with details of content etc. rather than pretty typographics), at a cost of £5,000.
3) Ads in Marketing Success - investing in the future, we should also run a similar series (at a cost of £5,000?) in this journal to attract the students likely to move on beyond their PgDip.
We should now extend the coverage globally. We should not use any mailings, since they will duplicate this coverage, but we would expect the resulting response to be at least 1,000 (where the overall response of the even the last campaign was between 450 and 750, depending on what figures you look at!).
PR
We should also run the campaign proposed for last time - but which was never implemented. In particular, we should make certain we get the 4 page feature we were tacitly promised last time in Marketing Business - where other institutions without the same links to CIM have received this.
Support
The worst shortfall in the last campaign came, however, in terms of conversion of the enquiries (at only 2-3%, compared with our normal 25+%!). We all recognise why this happened. But we must now:
1) Website - make certain we have the most effective site possible, able to take registrations direct, with links to sample materials etc. (so prospective students can see what they will be getting).
2) Mailer/Pack - we must ensure that all enquirers get a proper promotional pack - designed to sell the programme, rather than (as a prospectus) to warn them off!
3) Follow-Up - and we should follow a week later with a mailing of the B851 pre-pack (already being produced), which is also designed to support marketing - but in particular very clearly states exactly what the programme is about.
4) Inbound Telemarketing - the call centre must be well briefed to handle the enquiries (only a couple of weeks ago a member of the Course Team asked them for the OUBS MA Marketing material, and instead received the OU Human Relations pack!).
5) Outbound Telemarketing - we should then follow-up all enquiries by telephone (those recruited in the last campaign came mainly from those contacted as part of the telephone research). In addition, we should follow-up the leads from the last campaign (especially the 350 students who by now should have gained their PgDip).
CIM Commitment
I agree that this is important, though it is not absolutely essential - we can go it alone if necessary. On the other hand, I cannot understand why they are not giving support - especially now that we will be extending the offering to global, the only one of their partners that can do this - and they must appreciate that otherwise we may be forced to produce our own Diploma in competition with them!
Financial Viability
As all the course development costs are now sunk costs, the marginal cost for the 2001 cohort will be the £20,000 media cost plus the mailer (along with some mail/call centre costs, say another £20,000), giving an overall total of £40,000 maximum - a cost which will be easily covered by even the minimum number of students.
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