Marketing and Financial Metrics

Question: Discuss about the Marketing and Financial Metrics. Answer: Introduction: Marketing is the profound resource which is responsible for executing the strategies formulated by an organization. Despite efficient production and planning an organization could fail to accomplish strategic business objectives without marketing. The marketing strategies of an organization must be framed with references to marketing mix. The concept of marketing mix has enabled many corporations in the present market environment to concentrate their efforts on specific components of marketing (Gordon, 2012). The marketing components are described as the 4Ps and they relate to product, pricing, promotion and the place of distribution. While many organizations prefer to emphasize on specific components of the marketing mix, certain industrial requisites demand integration of all marketing mix elements in the marketing strategies. Marketing Mix The marketing mix for University of Sydney can be described aptly through an illustration of a generic description of the 4Ps of the educational institute. Product: The products of an educational institute can be categorized from distinct perspectives. The first perspective indicates that an educational institute offers educational services as the product. On the other hand, the students could also be considered as products being facilitated to the labor market. The University of Sydney offers undergraduate, postgraduate courses and research programs which can be availed by students in various streams (Huang Sarigll, 2014). The different disciplines of study offered by the university include law, economics, arts and humanities, aboriginal studies, social sciences, nursing, science and technology and pharmacy. The courses of the university and the diversity offered in the disciplines as well as specialization courses such as postgraduate research form the product component of the University of Sydney. Price: The pricing of the courses provided by the University of Sydney is derived from the tuition fees and the factors which influence the tuition fees include demand, cost and price of competitors (Leonidou, Katsikeas Morgan, 2013). Provision of government grants for the university also acts as a significant determinant of pricing. Pricing strategies of the university must be coordinated with the funding strategies in order to realize feasible benefits. Place: The placement strategy for University of Sydney must be designed with respect to the selected mode of product description. Educational service would require distribution of information to students through appropriate channels. Furthermore, if the product is considered to be the placement of graduate students in the labor market, then the place would refer to channels for placement of students (Mintz Currim, 2013). Therefore, the university has to adopt technological advancement in channels of communication which could help in efficient delivery of educational services and interact proactively with the economic sector in order to provide jobs to graduate students. Promotion: The promotional strategies of the University of Sydney according to the principles of marketing mix refer to the use of website of the institute for communicating with the potential students. The organization has to convey its demand and opportunities provided by it (Mintz Currim, 2013). Furthermore, association with the alumni could help the management to assess the success of educational services provided by them. Conclusion: The marketing mix for an educational institute such as the University of Sydney is found to be dependent on two prominent characteristics related to the product. Recommended strategy for the organization would be reflective of integration of both approaches to the description of product. References Gordon, R., 2012. Re-thinking and re-tooling the social marketing mix. Australasian Marketing Journal (AMJ),20(2), pp.122-126. Huang, R. and Sarigll, E., 2014. How brand awareness relates to market outcome, brand equity, and the marketing mix. InFashion Branding and Consumer Behaviors(pp. 113-132). Springer New York. Leonidou, C.N., Katsikeas, C.S. and Morgan, N.A., 2013. Greening the marketing mix: do firms do it and does it pay off?.Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science,41(2), pp.151-170. Mintz, O. and Currim, I.S., 2013. What drives managerial use of marketing and financial metrics and does metric use affect performance of marketing-mix activities?.Journal of Marketing,77(2), pp.17-40. Menegaki, A.N., 2012. A social marketing mix for renewable energy in Europe based on consumer stated preference surveys.Renewable Energy,39(1), pp.30-39. Pavlou, P.A. and Stewart, D.W., 2015. Interactive Advertising: A New Conceptual Framework Towards Integrating Elements of the Marketing Mix. InNew Meanings for Marketing in a New Millennium(pp. 218-222). Springer International Publishing.