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working and thinking...

October 19th, 2009 at 04:35 pm

At my job, I have been given the fredom to take initiative and help market an MBA program we are offering. The MBA program is 1 year long and students attend classes 2 Saturdays a month- completing the rest of the work online. Each class is 1 month long (12 classes in total). It is offered here in Savannah, as well as in Atlanta.

Any ideas? The department already spent it's advertising budget on direct mailers- so I am trying to think of cheap or free marketing.

I have been calling some of the larger retail businesses to set up a 5 min instore presentation to the workers during one of their regularly scheduled meetings...but not having any luck.

I was thinking of trying the police department but dont really know the infrastructure of who to ask, or how to ask.

Really, I am just trying to raise awareness of the program. The 1 year MBA is brand new, and holding classes 2 Saturdays a month was designed for working professionals.

...any ideas of how to best tell the community about it?

8 Responses to “working and thinking... ”

  1. Debtfreeme Says:
    1255966810

    I used to run a masters program here in CA.

    One thing I can suggest since you are new to this: look at how other programs are marketing their program. It can help give ideas,

    Any 4 year colleges around that you can talk to the business professors? Go to the career gairs that colleges have? Attend regional and national conferences?

  2. Debtfreeme Says:
    1255966966

    CSU Sacramento has a similar program, perhaps call and chat with them? You are out of our regional area. Take a look at their website?

    Use the students of the university marketing classes to come up with suggestions? Pair up with the marketing professor and have them use your real problem as a solution for students to work on as interns or class credit? Or as a potential "job" they can use on their resumes? My cousin was a marketing major and he has had a hard time breaking into the field in CA so something like this would have appealed to him for some experience when he was finishing his degree.

  3. Petunia Says:
    1255967873

    Public service announcements? Not sure if this is what PSAs are for but it might be worth looking in to.

    Are there certain areas of the community that would be more interested in this information? Perhaps if this question was answered, the "how" and "where" would come along a little more directly.

  4. monkeymama Says:
    1255969112

    As a business undergrad, wanted to say, often business undergrads only pursue MBAs if their employer encourages it, requires it, and/or pays for it. I really don't know that many people who got MBAs unless it was paid for by their employer.

    The point being, that you may want to market to employers more than individuals. These are also the ones who will really like the Saturday option.

    The local Grad schools market heavily to the unemployed, which may be another angle. The really market themselves as "Get Rich Quick Schemes." Not that I agree with their tactics, but it does seem to work.

  5. gamecock43 Says:
    1255969278

    Good ideas! I like the "presenting it to current PR /advertising/marketing" students idea. I will present that idea to my boss. Might not get the go-agead but it should earn me some brownie points.

    I did write into NPR to see if we can get our program featured on the show. No response yet. Not even sure I emailed the correct department!

    I like the carreer fair idea. We have been attending military events to target that population (yellow ribbon and all)...but need to figure out how to get on a career fair mailing list so I know when they are coming up.

  6. Debtfreeme Says:
    1255969800

    One more idea: can you hold a round table with current students to determine how they heard about the program?

    That often is the best feed back about what types of marketing is hitting your particular demographic which is working professionals.

    Ans ask them: where else would you want to see this program marketed?

  7. LuxLiving Says:
    1255970593

    How about booths at Career Days and Job Fairs?

    Who can you find to co-venture with you on some advertising/marketing? I'd check with my local TV & radio stations and talk to their marketing department and see how to get in on some of the local
    co-sponsoring ops.

  8. mjrube94 Says:
    1255976967

    Can you partner with a company in your area? Where I work, we have a local college partner with our employees to offer bachelors and masters programs. I don't know the details, but they streamline the admissions process. And of course, work pays thru tuition reimbursement.

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