Marketing Plan for Jisr Company - Case Study Example

Table of contents

Executive summary3

Company description4

Mission and Vision4

Goals5

Financial5

Non-financial5

SWOT analysis5

Strengths5

Weaknesses6

Opportunities6

Threats7

Situation analysis7

Target market7

Positioning8

Major competitors8

Issues9

Marketing mix9

Product9

Price10

Place10

Promotion11

Budget11

Schedule and monitoring12

Conclusion12

Executive summary

The paper presents a marketing plan for a company called Jisr. This is a company that helps students to find a scholarship that is most suitable for their future career. It also provides additional services like improving one's English, academic training and so on. The mission of Jisr is to allow students to enjoy higher education of the Western countries. The major advantage of it is that it provide the customer with a wide range of services and it strives to become to major assistant in the process of looking for foreign scholarship. At the present moment, such services are mostly provided by the university and there are no companies who perceive it as a proper financial opportunity. Speaking of budget, setting up the company will require some investment, but it will pay off in a reasonable amount of time.

Company description

One would make no mistake suggesting that obtaining higher education should be regarded as an irreplaceable element of building a strong career. That is why many students are interested in receiving a scholarship to study at a foreign university in order to contribute to their knowledge as well as chances to find a decent place of work. The name of the company, Jisr, comes from an Arabic word meaning "bridge". Indeed, this organization tries to serve as an academic bridge between the students of the GCC region and the Western universities. It major service includes seeking for scholarships that are suitable for a particular student and will later help one to build a good career. In addition to that, the company offers a number of additional services like improving one's English, educating about the peculiarities of the Western academic world, assistance in filling documents and so on.

Mission and Vision

It is crucial for a modern company to have a mission and a vision that will guide it while it is conducting business. Speaking of the mission of Jisr, one might formulate it in the following manner: enable the students of the GCC region to enjoy high standards of the Western education and contribute to their professional development with the help of finding relevant scholarships. The visions statement of the company is as follows: provide every student with an opportunity to find a scholarship in a Western university that would enhance one’s knowledge on a particular topic and allow one to apply this newly acquired knowledge in one’s home country.

Goals

Financial

Jisr is a for profit organization. That is why it is obvious that it will pursue financial goals first of all. In the short run, the goal would be to spread the awareness of the company among the students and attract the maximum number of clients. In the long run, the goal is to create a widely spread network and make Jisr number one choice of students who want to obtain a scholarship for studying in a foreign university.

Non-Financial

Nevertheless, there are also certain non-financial goals that should be emphasized. First of all, Jisr tries to make its own contribution to the development of the region through empowering the students and allowing them to advance their knowledge even further. Moreover, the company also reinforces the academic and cultural relations between the Arab world and the West.

SWOT analysis

Strengths

If one considers the major strength of the company in question, one will have to point out that it provides a wide range of services. In other words, a student may expect to receive answers to all one’s questions if one contacts the representatives of Jisr. Moreover, the company in question focuses on looking for scholarships that are relevant to one’s future career and will contribute to the attractiveness of one’s CV when one submits it to the possible employer. This means that Jisr is interested making sure that the clients benefit from the scholarship as much as possible. Another point that should be mentioned is that it provides additional services that will improve the quality of one’s foreign experience.

Weaknesses

Nevertheless, there are some weaknesses that might be identified as well. For example, it will be quite natural for the students to be suspicious when a company offers assistance in finding scholarships and is not connected to a major university. This means that the notion of scholarship is so closely connected to the figure of a university that a potential client will hesitate while considering whether one should pay for services that Jisr provides or not. All this leads to the understanding that since there is no support from the academic bodies, the company in question may not be perceived seriously. However, universities are not likely to cooperate with Jisr because they will perceive it as a competitor. As a result, at first, there will be a lack of confidence in the quality of services provided.

Opportunity

According to Blanton and Kegley (2016) now may be the best time for students from GCC region to look for foreign scholarships. On the one hand, transportation has advanced so much that flying to a different part of the world is no longer a problem. As a result, the famous universities of the West are no longer unreachable. In addition to that, the region in question is experiencing economic growth and it is quite possible that the students will have a sufficient amount of money in order to afford to pay the services, transportation, and living in a foreign country. Therefore, it would not be an exaggeration to suggest that as the students graduate from their universities, they may be particularly interested in looking for scholarships and their future careers will benefit from.

Threat

No matter how obvious it may seem, but Jisr does not provide any extraordinary services. Thus, it looks for scholarships the information about which is available online. It provides teaching sessions regarding English proficiency or academic writing, but the same can be studied individually. In other words, a student may be able to achieve the same outcome without paying any money to Jisr, but putting much more time into this activity. It is quite possible that some student may be willing to save money to look for scholarships themselves. Moreover, it may also happen that universities will take a proactive action and advertise their own services, stealing the potential clients from Jisr. All this leads to the understanding that there are several significant threat that should be taken into account.

Situation analysis

Target market

According to Ornstein and Levine (2016), education has always been one of the top priorities of the countries that are located in the GCC region. That is why one would make no mistake suggesting that the population of students is not only big, it will increase over the years. If one combines this information with the fact that the region in question also experiences economic growth, one will come to a conclusion that these students comprise a group of people that are willing to receive a scholarship to live and study in a foreign country so that they could return with the acquired knowledge and start a career. This will be a good strategic move and many students may be willing to pay for this to happen.

Positioning

Scholarships are not new to the part of the world. This means that the majority of students have the basic understanding of this notion. However, it is also possible obtaining a scholarship is often associated with various difficulties in the minds of the students. Jisr will position itself as a single company that one may need to contact if one wants to advance one’s knowledge through studying in a Western university. In other words, Jisr will be able to satisfy every need starting from the major one, namely finding a suitable scholarship, to less obvious, but not less important, like learning speak English well or being able to write a paper. The image that Jisr will be trying to create will attract the potential clients.

Major competitors

It must be noted that there are not direct competitors to Jisr in that sense that there are no companies who provide the exact same range of services. Nevertheless, this can hardly be seen as an indication that there are no competitors that the company in question should take into account. For example, as it has already been stated, many universities in the region, for example, King Abdullah University, have various programs that help students to look for relevant scholarship and even help with preparation of the documents ("The King Abdullah Scholarship Program" 2016). In addition to that, there are some educational facilities in the West, for the example, University of Bath, that specifically target Arab students and have developed various procedures that help them to obtain a scholarship. That is why one might conclude that the competition will come from a different sector.

Issues

There are several issues that must be considered while analyzing the company in question. To begin with, it would not be an exaggeration to state that the collision of cultures may be responsible for a certain amount of problems. It is quite obvious that both societies are well-educated about the peculiarities of the Western and the Eastern cultures; however, it is always possible that issues might arise. In addition to that, given the current situation in Europe, many may have developed a negative attitude towards migrant, not understanding that people may come to a country for various reasons, including education. What is more important is that the successful outcome of the services that are provided by Jisr can only happen if both parties work hard to achieve it. In other words, the company will not be able to help a passive or unmotivated student.

Marketing mix

Product

Now, it may be important to take a look at different elements of marketing mix. Speaking of the product, one should point out that it is mostly comprised of the services that are provided by Jisr. As it has already been mentioned they include the fundamental one, namely looking for scholarship that suit one's educational level and will help one in building a career, as well as a range of other services. The latter focus on improving one's English to be able to do well in the English-speaking academic environment, learning to write papers according to the applicable formats, filling in documentation and so on.

Price

Since there is no formal competitors that charge a certain amount of money for their services, Jisr will have to design a price so that it will make the business profitable and be affordable to the students. Another point that should be mentioned is the amount of money that is charged for the services should be flexible, depending on the complexity of the task. For example, looking for a scholarship in a popular field will require less work and will cost less than looking for a scholarship in a particular and unique field. Moreover, the involvement of the company will also determine the price: if a student is able to fill in the documents on one's own and does not require any additional training in writing or speaking, then the price will, obviously, be lower. However, if additional activities are required, they will be charged accordingly. Overall, the price will be based on the level of income in a particular country as well as the potential size of the market.

Place

It must be noted that there will be an office where the students can come to and a web-site which will serve the role of virtual representation. So, a student will be able to come to an office and meet the staff, browse the booklets and purchase services. The office will also have rooms for training in writing and speaking, a consultant regarding documents and a library. As for the web-site, it will contain all the important information regarding the office and the company, a contact form and a forum where the students will be able to express their opinions about the services.

Promotion

One would make no mistake suggesting that promotion will play an important role, especially in the beginning when the company is not fully known to the potential audience. The major focus of the promotion will be placed on social media and printed media. Speaking of the former, it may be important to set up an active account in the most popular social media, like Facebook or Twitter, and engage students in participation, simultaneously promoting the product. As for the printed media, it may be beneficial to create flyers that will be distributed around campuses so that students could learn about the new company. This is particularly important since if a student sees an advertisement of the company in an educational environment, one will be able to develop more trust to it.

Budget

Hiring personnel

$10,000

Renting an office

$14,000

Promotion in social media

$8,000

Printing materials, advertisement

$15,000

Hiring teachers

$10,000

Stationary

$7,000

One would make no mistake suggesting that initially a certain amount of money will be needed to set up the company. First of all, it is essential to hire several specialists that will be able to work with the clients and sell the services. Afterward, it is important to rent an office that will have all the necessary facilities. The promotion in the social media, as well as printing of the material, will be the most costly article of expenditures. The teachers should also be hired to help students master the academic language. Finally, one should not forget about stationary.

Schedule and monitoring

A reasonable amount of time should be devoted to each stage of the development of the company. Thus, it may be logical to spend one to two month for establishing the office and hiring the staff, including teachers. Then, three months is a sufficient amount of time to send the message to the local community of students and see first clients appear. However, it is expected that the first ten to twelve months the company may be in red due to various reasons. That is why the following approaches to monitoring should be implemented. First of all, it may be essential to keep a monthly report of the activities. This will provide the most accurate reflection of the progress. Moreover, it is important to make quarterly reports that will become milestones for development. Finally, a final report will be prepared at the end of each financial year.

Conclusion

Having examined all the points which were mentioned in the paragraphs above, one is able to come to the following conclusion: Jisr is likely to be a successful company since it addresses the audience who has the capability to invest into its own education and possesses the desire to do so. Moreover, if the company is able to create the right image, it will be particularly attractive for the potential consumers since it will allow them to achieve the result without wasting their time. Given the lack of formal competition, it is quite possible that Jisr will dominate the market and will present an even more attractive option that the universities provide.