Social Dimensions of Educational Marketing: An Analysis

1. PhD Scholar, Department of Education, International Islamic University, New Campus, Sector H-10, Islamabad, Pakistan 2. Assistant Professor, Department of Education, International Islamic University, New Campus, Sector H-10, Islamabad, Pakistan 3. Lecturer, Jubail International Academy Jubail, Kingdom Saudi Arabia DOI http://doi.org/10.47205/plhr.2018(2-I)2.1 PAPER INFO ABSTRACT Received: January 11, 2018 Accepted: June 24, 2018 Online: June 30, 2018 This research studied the social dimensions of educational marketing. The objectives of the study were to identify, analyze and compare social dimensions of educational marketing in Pakistan and Malaysia. The questionnaire was developed on five point rating scales about usage and importance of the social dimensions of educational marketing. Twenty students were randomly selected from each university and total 200 students were taken from ten private universities of Pakistan and Malaysia. Data were analyzed by using statistical technique means and standard deviation. There were found ten factors of social dimensions of educational marketing mix, i.e. (10Ps). The top five social dimensions of educational marketing were physical facilities, people, programs, promotion and place. It was concluded that appropriately physical facilities, highly qualified faculty (people), new modern programs, educational expos (promotion), and easy to approach campus for every one (place)were attractive dimensions of educational marketing. New advanced programs were recommended to be initiated in the universities. Highly qualified faculty and educational expos can be good informational platforms.


Introduction
Education has prime importance in the socio-economic development of a country. Without education, a country is bound to lag behind others in the race of development. Without human resource development and institution building, a nation cannot realize its dream of progress and prosperity (Isani & Virk, 2009). That is why many countries are emphasizing a lot on education. In the 21 st century, higher education is more important than ever before. Only highly educated manpower can handle advanced technology and without the participation of highly qualified manpower, the process of economic development is very difficult to be accelerated (GoP, 1998).
Worldwide participation in higher education now includes one-third of the age cohort and is growing at an unprecedented rate. The tendency to rapid growth, leading towards high participation systems, has spread to most middle-income and some low-income countries. Though expansion of higher education requires threshold development of the state and the middle class, it is primarily powered not by economic growth but by the ambitions of families to advance or maintain social position. However, expansion is mostly not accompanied by more equal social access to elite institutions. The quality of mass higher education is often problematic. Societies vary in the extent of upward social mobility from low-socioeconomic-status backgrounds (Marginson, 2016;Arum, Gamoran & Shavit, 2007)).
According to Al-Fattal, (2010) over the last few decades, the need for marketing has become more critical for organizational efficiency. This suggests that marketing has a presence and important role in educational context even though some people might have ignored it; and therefore, it is important to educate and broaden the understanding of stakeholders, rather than ignoring or avoiding it.
The marketing of higher education has received a tremendous emphasis and attention in the last two decades. Marketing of education is important because it embraces nearly every facet of social network. New promotion techniques are required to reach new students (Rizvi & Khan, 2010). Helpful and friendly staff may inspire students to get admission. The management makes strategic decisions impacting operations based on information regarding marketing of education about competitors' prices and positions. Marketing is the substance as the product can be traded, bought or sold. Marketing is required for the process of planning and executing a strategy to get more extension (Lovelock & Wright, 2010).
This study discusses the marketing mix suggested by Kotler & Fox (1995) and Ivy & Naude (2004). Among them, 4Ps are common and 3Ps are different. So there is 10Ps from both models. 10Ps are the most useful practices to find out the marketing of higher education. 10Ps consist of program, price, promotion, place, people, process, and physical facilities, Prospectus, Prominence and Premium (Kotler & Fox, 1995;Ivy & Naude 2004). The research focuses on exploring how different strategies can be used for marketing the higher education in Pakistan and Malaysia.
This study is significant for the authorities who are concerned with marketing of the higher education institutions. The study was extremely fruitful for all of the heads of institutions.Thus, the study is significant not only for policy makers but also for the other stakeholders who are concerned in marketing of the higher education.

Literature Review
Higher education in now considered as one of the indicators of development of country. The nations having good higher education systems are considered as advanced and developed countries. They did not grow up in isolation; they need repo building and marketing. As we are living in the era of knowledge economy it is necessary to treat higher educationinstitutions as not only centers of production of research and skilled men power, they are also selling some things although they are intangible.
The research studies conducted on higher education are mostly discussing the issues of quality, gender equality, relation with society etc. There is a little concern about how they present themselves in the market of education.
Educational marketing is a relatively new concept. There is a shift of marketing focus in last 60 years 1. 1950Consumer Marketing 2. 1960Industrial Marketing 3. 1970 Non Profit andSocial Marketing 4. 1980 Service Marketing 5. 1990 Educational Marketing

Educational Marketing
Educational marketing is defined as 'the analysis, planning, implementation and control of carefully formulated program which are designed to bring about voluntary exchanges of values with target markets to achieve institutional objectives (Al-Fattal, 2010).Although educational marketing was unknown before 1990, it not only emerged but also overcame in higher education. The term marketing does not seem a respectable pursuit for educationists, but it is successful for the following reasons or purposes.
1. This modern and commercial world has made marketing management an essential element of a university's overall strategic plan. 2. The main aim of marketing is to improve educational. The major purpose is to improve educational values and other educational management processesto ensure the quality standards in higher education. 3. Institutions need marketing of academic program so that they may compete for students and limited resources (funding) under shrinking of student population. 4. Marketing attracts and retains students, staff and the financial resources in higher education. 5. Marketing also attracts talents (students and staff) for producing high quality graduates and promoting institution's image. 6. Marketing helps to increase resources (e.g., tuition fees, donation and funding) by researching and approaching donor markets (e.g., individuals, education foundations, corporations and government).
7. Marketing accelerates an exchange of needs/profits/knowledge among students, parents, staff, educational institutions, employers, government agencies, communities and other stakeholders in education.
Developing a richer understanding of the mechanisms by which these marketing actions benefit the organization and how they interact (Handelman & Arnold, 1999).
Thus educational marketing is mainly concerned about customer satisfaction, searching new market segments, developing new services, finding new funding resources, and enhancing the institution's image. This study discusses the mix suggested by Kotler and Fox (1995) and Ivy and Naude (2004) illustrated in Table 1 It has been combined as it encompasses all of the elements mentioned by both models. This model is also more useful for educational marketing. These elements have been reviewed and how an institution could use it as a framework to rethink the components of their services.

Social Dimension of Educational Marketing
This study discusses the mix suggested by Kotler and Fox (1995) and Ivy and Naude (2004) illustrated in figure 1 It has been combined as it encompasses all of the elements mentioned by both models. This model is also more useful for educational marketing. These elements have been reviewed and how an institution could use it as a framework to rethink the components of their services.
The social dimension of educational marketing (10Ps) is the use of a combination of education program of study (program), effective pricing (price), effective advertising and communication (promotion), easy to access location (place), high quality staff (people), operating system (process), evidence found by research and attractive facilities (physical facilities), brochure (Prospectus), reputation (Prominence), quality (Premium) motivate and service the markets (Kotler & Fox, 1995;Ivy & Naude 2004).

Program
The first element in the marketing mix is program. The issue of what program to offer and how to structure and design it within an institutional marketing strategy has been addressed in the literature by Frumkin et al. (2007), Cubillo et al. (2006), and Hesketh and Knight (1999). An institution usually begins by identifying the programs and services being offered and made available to the market and customers, whether they are students, companies or grants providers. An institution also questions whether this program matches customers' needs. Universities with similar programs will find their markets and public differentiating between them on the basis of their programs and their quality (Kotler & Fox, 1995). There is a strong relation between the program offered and the institution, as it establishes the institution's identity. Gibbs and Knap (2002) explain that such identity positions the institution in mind of its customers and determines how they will respond to what is being offered. e.g. bachelor degree, master degree, doctorate degree etc.

Price
How much the degree costs? Price is an amount charged to the students for the services provided by the university. It contains more than a value that someone is paying for it. The mean of price changes according to the different situations. Higher education institutions have also pricing policy. All the higher education institutions hope to increase their application and enrollment rates. Pricing policy may be one of the reasons that students are willing to choose any institution (Masterson & Pickton, 2010).
Entrants pricing strategies have the greatest potential to disturb higher education's current environment. One of the great advantages of the new technology is that it allows for very low price courses, since the marginal cost of delivering a course (after the initial investment for development) is negligible.
One of the most visible signals of quality is price. Thus, the powerful implication for universities is that extensive price competition is unlikely to occur immediately(Collins, 2010).
Using price as a weapon for rivals is as old as mankind. But it's risky too. Consumers are often sensitive for price, discounts and additional offers. Another aspect of pricing is that expensive products are considered of good quality.

Promotion
How it tell student about the program or service. Promotion is a means of communication between the institutions and communities. It contains advertising, public relations, personal and publicity. Promotion is how someone is given awareness of the universities in the marketplace; advertising, publicity and sales are aspects of promotion (Smith & Taylor 2004).
Promotion includes all communication and selling activities to persuade future prospects to enroll the program.
Well organized, ongoing promotion plan for both the institution and individual programs should be organized to attract students, staff and financial resources. There are many methods of promotion which may be used by institutions, including: (1) Paid advertising in, for example, newspapers and magazines.
(2) Free publicity; for example, public relations department provides positive information about the institution through press release.
(3) Community and professional involvement; for example, faculty members are encouraged to speak to local community and professional groups to stimulate the 'word of mouth' which may attract a large number of prospective students and employers.
(4) Open House, Information Day, Consultation Day and Recruitment Day to facilitate better communication with prospective students, parents and employers.
(5) Personal selling, in which staff has been assumed the role of salesmen and marketing manager in communicating with students, parents and other stakeholders of higher education.
(6) Free courseware, for example, a taste of distance learning on the Internet for prospective students. Short courses for a small amount of tuition fee are also effective tools for programs.
These marketing strategies on 'place' and 'promotion' should be designed to position the institution and programs with desired image making it realistic, attractive and distinctive in positive ways to the segments and the public's

Place
Where was the university situated? This means the location of the university, or the accessibility of the service -how easy it is to access?
It not only includes the place where the university is placed, all those activities performed by the university to ensure the availability of the program to the targeted customers. Availability of the program at the right place, at the right time and in the right quantity is crucial in placement decisions.

People
How the staffs are different from those in a competitor's universities, and how the clients are different from the competitor's clients? The individuals' delivering the service is used to the costumers. People arefaculty, teachers and other staff in the higher education institution. The personality and ranking of the people send messages to the target audience (Masterson & Pickton, 2010).
People refer to all the teaching and administrative staff through which the service isdelivered, and customer relations built (Kotler & Fox, 1995). People also include theinstitution's current and former students. This is because prospective students tend to askabout, and check with current and former students on their views. In designing a marketing strategy an institution is recommended to start on developing itsstaff. Wright (1999) believes that the success of an institution is more dependent on theattitudes, commitment and skills of the whole workforce, than on any other factor. Thisstrategy ensures the conveying of shared beliefs and goals, that the institution is customeroriented. Other than that, the idea of building a positive relationship with customers has aninfluential role. Brassington (2006) explains that if a customer feels comfortable withand trusts a particular provider, then competitors would find it difficult to disrupt thisrelationship. This is related to relationship marketing, where a university empowers arelationship with its markets. An example of this would be teachers keeping track andfollowing-up each individual student, not only on an academic level but on many individuallevels. In fact, this has great evidence reflecting on current student retention (Martinez &Further Education Development Agency, 1997;Dennis, 1998). Another example isestablishing alumni unions where the relationship is maintained after the service iscomplete.

Process
How the program is launched and delivered or how the service is sold, delivered and accessed? It is the manner and style in which teaching, administrative and support processes are provided. Process is a meansidentifying different process of recruitment or appointment offaculty members, teachers and other staff in the higher education institution. Admission criteria are also different in different institutions. The teacher personality and ranking of universities send messages to the target audience. Teaching learning process and examination system vary from teacher to teacher and institution to institution(Masterson& Pickton, 2010).
On a strategic level, institutions are careful about the delivery of service, and what qualitycontrols can be built in (Brassington, 2006), so that customers can be confident thatthere is consistency in the service offered. Inconsistency could occur, for example, withstudents' attitudes of various courses in the same university. It could also happen on thesame course but with different lecturers. Thus, an institution is to establish common criteriathat can guarantee consistency and maintain satisfaction. For this reason, some institutionsadapt quality management systems, such as the Total Quality Management (TQM) or otherfranchised systems such as the ISO9000 series (Sallis, 2002).

Physical Facilities
The nature of the facilities is about both for teaching and other components of student life. Physical evidence is a meansidentifying different evidences of teachers that is promoting the institution. The work such as MS, M Phil and PhD theses are indicating devotions and hard work of the teacher. Articles and books are telling us about the literary taste and depth in research (Mukerjee, 2007). Kotler et al. (2002) suggest that often the most immediate clue for prospective students about a university's identity is the physical evidence of buildings and furniture. This may be the first impression prospective customers have of an institution upon visiting. Usually, the first thing they see is the builtenvironment and the facilities the university has. Gibbs and Knapp (2002, 55) add that the condition of the physical location contributes greatly on the image of the institution. For example, technologies used, cleanliness of rooms, carpeting, regular washroom cleaning, all this sets a context in which the individual learner comes to understand who he or she is in the context of the learning experience. Apart from the customers view on physical facilities, there is a positive function for them, as they support the teaching and learning process. An example of this would be the use of visual representation and information technologies to facilitate and improve learning results.

Prospectus
Prospectus is a means of transforming information through brochure, catalog, booklets and pamphlets between the institutions and communities (Ivy & Naude 2004). Gibbs and Knap (2002) explain that such identity positions the institution in mind of its customers and determines how they will respond to what is being offered. It has permanent effect on the communities.

Prominence
Prominence means the importance and reputation of the institution regarding some specialty. For example institutions are research oriented (Ivy & Naude 2004). This element has a lot of attraction for the students.

Premium
Premium means the quality of the institution regarding high grading. For example institutions are in a category institution and high in ranking (Ivy & Naude 2004). This is also an attraction for the communities. It often takes time and requires market research to develop a successful marketing mix. Any one should not depend on one mix always try new mixes. While designing the mix, make changes to all mixes in such a way that all conveys the same message.

Material and Methods
The study was descriptive in nature and a survey was conducted to collect data from the private universities of Pakistanand Malaysia.The population of this study was all the private universities of Pakistan and Malaysia. Sampling was done at two stages. At Stage one top ten universities were selected through purposive sampling technique from both countries. At stage two ten percent students from each university were selected using simple random sampling technique Questionnaireas an instrumentwas developed to collect the data. It was developed through the comprehensive review of the related literature for the students of the private universities to collect the data onfive-point Likert scalewith options (1-5, 1= no use, 5=always use) and (1-5, 1 = not important, 5= most important)to find the usage and importance of social dimensions ofeducational marketing.
The quantitative data was collected through questionnaire from the students of the universities. The researcher was collect data through personal visit and e-mail of sampled universities.
The quantitative approach was used to collect. The data were analyzed by using statistical technique of mean and stander deviation. On the bases of meanscores the factors were ranked.

Results and Discussion
On the basis of data analysis, the findings of the research were as under:  The first effective factor marketing was program which included different modern programs offered which was meet the market needs and also offered post graduates programs.  Secondly, the price was the main and very important factor of marketing,fee level was attract the students for admission, discounts and scholarships was also tool of marketing.  At the third place was studied promotion which included advertising, printed material, electronic media, publicity and education expo were effective tools of marketing. There promotion activities were conducted different time and durations in different universities.  Central and main place in the city for the university was easy and approachable for everyone which attracts the students.  People were followed by place of universities which included faculty members i.e. professors, associate professors, assistant professors and lecturer and their qualification e.g. PhD and MS/ MPhil catches the student's attraction for admissions.
 Process was also studied. It focused on practices of marketing were used in different universities as admission process, teaching learning process, evaluation process.  Physical facilities do contribute the marketing practices. These included Infrastructure, buildings, classrooms, libraries, laboratories, furniture, and availability drinking water.  Students were motivated through different prospectus, brochure, booklet, pamphlet, and banner.  Another factor in this regard was prominence; most of the universities were used their fame, distinction, and reputation for their marketing.  It was found last but not least was premium. Students were greatly influenced by premium, which included position and ranking were also main dimensions of marketing.  It was found that there was practiced pre-existing culture as marketing dimensions in the universities

Conclusions
The following conclusions were drawn on the basis of the findings of the research:  Modern programs, low fee and scholarship strategies were most effective for marketing.  Educational Expos, location of the university were commonly used marketing practices.  Without competent teachers, any institution did not promote. So, for high student attraction, the universities had appointed competent and qualified teachers who were professionally skillful.  Physical facilities created an atmosphere of proper learning for students. The more the students and teachers were facilitated, the higher was their enrollment.  It was concluded that prospectus, prominence and ranking were also very influential of marketing of universities.  It was concluded that the pre-existing culture was educational marketing Strategy in both Countries.

Suggested Model for Educational Marketing
The conclusions of the study pointed out certain critical success marketing strategies (CSMS), which may layout a proposed Model for Educational Marketing. The Universities may develop their critical success marketing strategies (CSMS) according to their own situation. But the study suggests some basic CSMS to be used as a model for educational marketing. These strategies are as under:

Recommendations
The following recommendations were drawn on the basis of the findings, review of related literature and observations made by researcher during this study; these may be helpful to marketing educational institutions.
New and advanced programs were initiated in the universities and highly qualified faculty attracted the students. Educational expos were good informational gathering plate form. These were fruitful marketing practices.

Recommendations
The following recommendations were drawn on the basis of the findings, review of related literature and observations made by researcher during this study; these may be helpful to marketing educational institutions.
New and advanced programs were initiated in the universities and highly qualified faculty attracted the students. Educational expos were good informational gathering plate form. These were fruitful marketing practices.

Recommendations
The following recommendations were drawn on the basis of the findings, review of related literature and observations made by researcher during this study; these may be helpful to marketing educational institutions.
New and advanced programs were initiated in the universities and highly qualified faculty attracted the students. Educational expos were good informational gathering plate form. These were fruitful marketing practices.