The document discusses how conducting market research is important for the successful launch of new academic programs. It recommends testing market demand through qualitative and quantitative research with target audiences. Key factors to consider include the audience for the program, market demand, competitive landscape, and opportunity size. Measuring opportunities involves scanning the market, concept testing, prototype development, and market testing. Optimizing success requires refining the value proposition based on research findings and engaging stakeholders like students, alumni, employers, and press to build awareness and support.
4. Overview
• Why conduct market research in new program
development?
• What types of research should you consider?
• Avoiding failure
• Key considerations in developing a research plan
• How to measure market opportunity
• Optimizing for success
5. Leadership Poll
How does your school assess the demand for a new
program?
A. Faculty member influence / anecdotal
B. Internal research
C. External research
6. Why Conduct Market Research in New Program
Development?
• Test the waters to reduce your investment risk
• Better informed decisions made earlier in the
process
• Improve accuracy of decisions based on
understanding market conditions
• Define target audiences, market
size, competition, and other marketplace dynamics
• Identify competitive advantages
7. Why Conduct Market Research in New Program
Development?
"[T]here are known knowns;
there are things we know we
know. We also know there
are known unknowns; that is
to say we know there are
some things we do not know.
But there are also unknown
unknowns – the ones we
don't know we don't know. ”
— Former United States
Secretary of Defense Donald
Rumsfeld
9. What types of research should you consider?
Primary research is original information gathered for a
specific purpose.
Qualitative
Quantitative
Secondary research is information that already exists
somewhere.
Environmental scan
Census
Area economics
Competitor scan
Website
Marketing materials
10. Types of Research - Qualitative
focus groups, 1-on-1 interviews
• Typically exploratory research
• Open-ended, semi-structured questions
• Discovery, identification, preliminary insights
• In-depth probing
• Small sample sizes typically not generalizable
• Data analyzed using subjective and content analyses
11. Types of Research - Quantitative
phone, web surveys
• Descriptive and causal research
• Mostly structured questions
Heavy emphasis on pre-determined response options
• Validation of facts, relationships, predictions
• Large sample sizes with high degree of
generalizability
• Data analyzed primarily using statistical procedures
12. Avoiding Failure
Top Reasons for Failed Program Launches
• No plan / poor research
• No differentiation – another “me too” program
• Insufficient market demand
• Limited marketing or recruitment budget
• Insufficient marketing communication effort
• Bad timing
14. Key Considerations in Developing a Research Plan
Audience Demand
Competition Opportunity
15. Key Factors in Developing a Research Plan
Audience
• Who are the ideal students?
• What are their characteristics?
• Where are they located?
• What are their motivations?
16. Key Factors in Developing a Research Plan
Demand
• What do students desire as program outcomes?
• What do their employers need as program
outcomes?
• What is the price sensitivity of the market?
17. Key Factors in Developing a Research Plan
Competition
• How many other institutions offer a similar program?
• Are their programs successful? Growing?
• Will this program cannibalize your school’s current
portfolio?
18. Key Factors in Developing a Research Plan
Opportunity
• What is not being offered that is desired by your
target market? How will this program be distinct?
• Does this program align with the school brand?
• What resources are available? What needs to be
developed?
19. How to Measure Market Opportunity
Program
Launch
Market
Testing
Prototype
Development
Concept
Testing
Opportunity
Scan
20. Opportunity Scan
Competitor secondary analysis
• Identify defining attributes
• Identify peers
• Define geographic reach
80% rule
• Create ideal student profile
Age
Years work experience
Years management experience
GMAT range
Other – specific to new program recruitment
21. Concept Testing
Internal and external exploratory focus groups
• Affiliated and non-affiliated audiences
Current Students, Alumni, Employers, Prospective Students
• Distill new program prototype concepts
Attributes of importance
• Know strong points of competition
• Anticipate market resistance
• Discover unfulfilled needs
• Identify key promotional messages
22. Prototype Development
Design 2-3 prototype concepts
• Value proposition
• Admission requirements
• Delivery model
• Curriculum
• Fee structure
• Program length
• Location
• Career services
23. Market Testing
Test prototypes and gauge image/awareness
• Define target market
Purchase non-affiliated sample (cost consideration)
• Gauge competitor and school image
Determine brand positioning and strategy
• Assess market needs
• Assess new program strengths and weaknesses
Test prototypes
• Identify optimal communication channels
25. Optimizing for Success
• A survey is a marketing event in itself – build
awareness
• Identify leads from respondents – prime the pipeline
• Identify champions
• Intra-institutional cooperation – faculty buy-in
• Mission alignment
• Reduce potential duplication/overlap
• Refine clear value proposition
• Segment communication channels
27. Kent Holland
Partner
kholland@plesser.com
http://www.plesserholland.com
28. Research + Press = New Program Success
• What do you want to say? (and be able to explain it
in less than 30 seconds)
• Who do you want to say it to? (the audience:
stakeholders, alumni, donors, future students)
• What do you want them to do? (people often forget
this part)
29. What’s the Pressure, and the Buy in?
• New Dean or Associate Dean wants to launch a pet
project?
• Falling revenue, or overall student dropoff?
• What are the channels of communication besides
paid media?
• What are the expectations for press? Full profile on
the Dean? Local press to generate interest in a new
EMBA program? National press to increase overall
student applications?
30. The Chronicle of Higher Education
Business Schools Are Hiring a New Kind of Dean
By Katherine Mangan
Faced with stagnant enrollment, pressure to expand
overseas, and the demands of recruiters for more-
relevant training, business schools today are searching
for a new kind of dean: one who has broad leadership
skills rather than narrow expertise in areas like
economics or finance, according to a new report.
31. The Wall Street Journal
A New Course for Tepper
The Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon
University has built its reputation on teaching
quantitative skills. Now, it's broadening its approach.
The school will roll out a new curriculum next fall to
incorporate more training in leadership and
writing, and to teach core subject areas such as finance
and operations before recruiters arrive on campus—
which now happens in September, just weeks after the
start of the school year.
32. Bloomberg BusinessWeek
Wharton Revamp
University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, for
example, is revamping its curriculum and will
implement the changes in 2012. With increased focus
on ethical and legal responsibility, oral and written
communication, and self-analysis, the school is also
going to provide recent graduates with ongoing
executive education to encourage lifelong learning. The
intent is to make sure the future is bright for individual
students and business as a whole.
33. National Catholic Reporter
Villanova takes church management courses on road
About 130 Hawaiian Catholic priests spent a good part of their five-day annual Priests’
Convocation this May attending courses on church management by Philadelphia’s Villanova
University -- in a resort town about 30 miles from Honolulu.
“It’s much more cost-effective for us to go to them than for them to come to us,” said Villanova’s
Charles Zech, who led the program.
Instead of sending more than 80 percent of its diocesan and religious clergy across the Pacific to
Pennsylvania for a week, the diocese brought Villanova to Hawaii.
It asked Pennsylvania’s oldest Catholic university, run by the Augustinians, to bring in teachers
from the Center for the Study of Church Management to lead a series of 90-minute to three-hour
modules during the yearly diocesan clergy gathering May 2-6 in Kahuku, a beach resort town near
Honolulu.
Among sessions were three-hour courses on how pastors should deal with parish financial issues
and with human resources -- the hiring, firing, promotion and development of the people, mainly
laity, who play an increasing role in the dynamics of today’s Catholic parishes.
34. It’s the Students, Stupid: Any New Program Has
to Prove a Better Outcome for Students
• Local, national and global press want to know about
how a program improves outcomes for students
i.e., will it help them get a job?
• Will a current student talk to the press about the
program?
• Do you have a recruiter at a local/national company
talk about the relevance of the program for their new
hires?
35. Your Dean
• Have they been practitioners in industry before?
• Do they have a clear vision of what they want to
accomplish for the school?
• Will they put their own “skin in the game” for the
new program launch by actively promoting it to the
press?
36. Your School and National & Local Companies: How
to Sell the Relevance of Your New Program
• Does your school have relationships with local
businesses?
• Do they support the school financially in any way?
• Do they employ any of your students?
• Do they send executives to teach classes at the
school?
• Will they talk to the press about their relationship
with your school?
37. National and Local Press Need DATA!
• Can you provide the press data on current class size
and goals for expected class size for the new
program? If you can’t give exact numbers, you can
give percentage increases.
• Can you provide research/data on the uniqueness of
the program? Or is this frankly a “me-to” program
(nothing wrong with “me-to” with the press in a hot
or trendy subject matter).
• Can you provide research/data on how your program
compares to programs from competitor schools?
38. Realistic Press Goals:
Under-Promise and Over-Deliver
• What press outlets are you going after? National,
local, or both?
• Is there really a stand-alone feature story about how
your program is cutting edge, or is it really a part of a
biz ed trend to be included in a trend story.
• Is there an op-ed piece there for your Dean on the
value of your program in an ever-changing world?
39. Value of Press Coverage?
It helps with the following:
– Applications go up
– Alumni are impressed
– Donors are impressed (another arrow in the quiver
for your development people for outreach)
– Faculty are impressed (as much as they can be)
40. Exercise in Self Discovery for Your New
Program: Build a “Message House”
• Write down your school’s elevator pitch, mission or
vision statement – that’s the roof.
• Underneath the roof are the four pillars that support
that mission statement.
• Pick four of the most important aspects of your new
program: new pedagogy, new faculty, partnering with
national/local companies, new geographic
location, new funding -- that will be the four pillars
to hold the roof.
41. What Stakeholder Groups Are You Trying to
Reach?
• New students
• Alumni
• Potential donors
• Local/national companies for executive
education, funding and recruiting graduates
42. Separate Stakeholders
• To reach prospective students, highlighting the
success of your students is important.
• To reach alumni and potential donors, the
importance of your faculty and the vision of your
Dean are important: where does the new program fit
into that?
43. Discussion / Questions
Kent Holland
kholland@plesser.com
http://www.plesserholland.com
Brian Mahoney
brian.mahoney@perceptresearch.com
http://www.mbalifecycle.com
Notas del editor
Build it and they won't come necessarilyYou must gather facts and opinions in an orderly, objective way to find out what people want to buy (stakeholder needs), not just what you want to sell them. Changing environment creates new demands and needsFocus on markets or product categories consistent with the institution’s objectives, resources, capabilities, and strengths
Cue Kent
In many situations, the decision maker is only aware of 10% of the true picture. Real issues are submerged below the waterline of observationIf submerged portions of the situation are omitted from the research design, decisions based on the research will be less than optimal
Des Moines, Iowa-based school The D+ is meant to be shorthand for the magic that occurs when Drake plus a student get together. To many, though, it seems to position Drake as a school whose standards barely exceed total failureThe tagline for the promo campaign: "Your passion + our experience.”Officials said the school tested the concept on 921 high school students, and more than 75 percent said the logo was either a little or very attention-grabbing.Dropped logo in Sept 2010As many Drake faculty, students and alumni have pointed out, D+ is universally synonymous with sub-par academic performance.Campaign was designed to catch the attention of high school students who are bombarded with college and university materials to the point that they are often in information overload and unable to differentiate among the many institutions that have contacted them.
2009 market study – launched in 2011a new online master’s degree focused on interactive media, the Internet, digital economics and other issues reshaping journalism and mass communication in the 21st century.The master of arts in technology and communication is the only fully online master’s degree in journalism and mass communication offered in the UNC system – and the only curriculum of its kind among the school’s peer programs nationwide.interviews confirmed extraordinarily high interest in the proposed degree. Over 50% of 1200 respondents
Product, Pricing, Place, Promotion, Package, Positioning, & People