ABSTRACT

In the numerous studies of segmentation for higher education marketing, the primary focus has been on segmenting students. In fact, universities serve a diverse audience that includes parents, employers, alumni, donors, and other members of society. The primary purpose of this study is to explore the extent to which universities must attempt to simultaneously target multiple diverse segments with the same basic market offering. Three research questions were addressed: whether different demographic groups are different segments, whether the priorities of these groups are complementary or conflicting, and whether there are significant subsegments within these groups. To answer these questions, groups of parents, college-bound high school students, employers, alumni, and donors were surveyed concerning the importance of a variety of different university attributes. Different groups were found to have significantly different priorities, creating unique segments. The good news for university marketing is that segment differences were complementary, rather than conflicting.

摘要

在高等教育营销细分的众多研究中，主要关注点是对学生进行细分。事实上，大学为不同的受众提供服务，包括家长、雇主、校友、捐助者和其他社会成员。本研究的主要目的是探讨大学必须在多大程度上尝试以相同的基本市场产品同时瞄准多个不同的细分市场。解决了三个研究问题：不同的人口群体是否是不同的群体，这些群体的优先事项是互补还是冲突，以及这些群体内是否存在重要的细分群体。为了回答这些问题，家长、即将上大学的高中生、雇主、校友、对捐助者进行了调查，了解大学各种不同属性的重要性。我们发现不同的群体有明显不同的优先事项，从而形成了独特的细分市场。对于大学营销来说，好消息是细分市场的差异是互补的，而不是冲突的。