A brief SWOT analysis for Centralian College.

Strength

The school has a large catchment area as it cover over 1miloion square meters and serves over 25000 culturally diverse groups in Santa Teresa, Ntaria, Papunya, Yulara and others. The company can use culturally diverse population to drive its internal marketing campaign

The schools name is already a strong brand in the market that can be leveraged for the schools advantage.  For example, the school is now a part of the wider Charles Darwin University

 Strategic partnerships that the school has partnered with other companies also provide the school with competitive advantages in terms of student industrial attachment and internships. For example, the school has partnerships with companies such as Australian international safari, Toyota, nestle, and green corps. The schools faculty members are its core strengths as the school boasts of competent staff, administration and faculty members. The schools team is rigorously recruited including staff from Charles Darwin University

Other strength include faculty dedication, and responsiveness. The school has a wide range of courses and additional market oriented courses proposed. The school is considered as a multi-sector quality endorsed training organization that offers courses for almost all age groups

The school engages the community members through its high touch activities and library services. Finaly, the school has a positive appeal to all age groups 16-30, and 21-49 years

Weakness

The company has a relatively low share of the market place. Considering the fact that the college is not delivering value to its local community through educational opportunities the school s relatively at disadvantages as the local community may wish to be

The school does not have a market culture which might affect its overall image in the markets. The lack of market cultures is already causing both internal an external turbulence thereby limiting growth and financial opportunities.

Opportunities

The school has the capacity to increase its customer retention by 5% so as to increase the net present value of the customers. The college is in a high growth market segment and can still increase its market share, and customer loyalty. The company can still drive growth and revenue by investing in capturing the market

Threats

Students from the local community are likely to enroll n other universities as the school does not offer locally customized courses. Additionally, most of the students are likely to join the job market as the economy improves and more job opportunities appear. Finaly, the college is at risk of losing its funding stream due to poor student contact hours which is relatively lower than the required.

 2. Discuss the marketing mix of the Centralian College. Ensure you include the

extended elements of the traditional 4 Ps.

Products

The school has a wide range of products (courses) that it can market to the target markets despite not having courses tailored for the local market. The school should probably consider evaluating its courses and course modules and customize them in relation to the market. Developing market oriented courses might requires modifying the course to suit the local community, their needs and their expectations

Promotion

The school has often relied on the traditional media to advertise and promote the schools courses which may be effective. For example, the school has actively been promoting its profile and branding using conventional methods such as information days held at defined locations  around their town, sponsorships of the community functions like their Alice springs show, conducting industry expos in infraction technology, setting up a mini college self service information booths in town as well as involvement in supporting youth activities like the skate parts, youth centers and sporting activities like file hockey, and advertising using prospectors, brochures and handbooks. However, to promote their courses effectively, the school should focus more on marketing, and advertising its courses urging more relevant methods such as through the social media to increase its coverage (Truong & Simmons, 2010). For example, considering the demographics of their target market, the school is missing out in the social media scene as the target market is mainly composed of generation Xers and generation Y. The millennials are known to be more techs savvy and internet oriented. Sung the social media would therefore be more effective in promoting the school.

People

The staff is accused of lacking perceived professionalism and quality teaching. While this is a perceived quality, it is healthy to assume that the faculty is not trained to delivery local market oriented courses. The school should focus more on modifying their courses to in line with the local market needs and employ staff trained to offer more market optimized courses. The school should also consider sponsoring its competent staff to pursue courses that are relevant to the local community.

Place

The community is already focused as to what the college was. The brand name may be strong but only to the other communities and not to the local community in the neighboring areas. The school needs to focus more on the developing its image among the local community to be relevant to the local community.

Physical Evidence/Layout: 

The schools current positioning amongst the local community is not appealing to the local community. The school layout- the website and even the schools front office personnel should be optimized towards customer attraction and retention.

Process

The schools enrolment and other processes should be simplified. The customer experiences should be improved. Improving the processes also increases the overall service quality, and customer experiences with the school. This also translates into customer loyalty, market share increases and revenue.

Place

The school is located in Alice Springs and has no other satellite branches. The school can benefit more if it launches its branches in other locations, and even introduced an online/ satellite branches to reach the unreached population. With the current focuses and pervasive information and communication technology, the school is openly missing in this segment. The school can leverage its financial stability to invest in online university that will help improve its image, spur growth, and drive revenue.

 New marketing objective

1. To develop relevant courses that the community can identify to improve the perceived professionalism and quality teaching

2. To position the school as a quality oriented school with the highest students contact hours. This way, the school will be improving its image among the target market and retaining its funding steam.