Does the University Need a Marketing Communication Strategy?

Mária Rostášová, Tatiana Corejova   

Abstract: Marketing has full application in the service sector is already historically confirmed. However, a number of questions and problems may arise in the conditions of educational services, in particular in the conditions of universities. Such questions are also raised by the existence of the Rector’s departments with competence in the field of marketing communication and marketing strategic planning at this organizational level. In defining the university’s strategy, this is a crucial decision regarding the university’s target market and its related marketing mix. The paper presents a method and procedure of preparatory activities that precede the creation and implementation of an integrated marketing communication strategy at the level of a whole-university specific department — the Department for Marketing at the University. From a large number of marketing activities performed at the university, the focus is devoted to marketing communication by setting communication goals for individual segments of partners from the external environment and for the employee segment in the internal environment. The communication goals are identified on the basis of an analysis of the university’s communication opportunities from the rector’s office, from the position of partners and employees. The subject of the research also focuses on the creation and evaluation of alignment of communication tactics and strategy in the implementation of communication campaigns across the university in order to achieve the preconditions for the effectiveness of the tools of integrated marketing communication external partners of the selected university and its employees.

Key words: marketing of university; marketing communication strategy; strategic planning; goals of strategy

JEL codes: M31, I23, I25