Segmenting the Student Markets

Your grade will be based how well you answer the questions and reflect accepted content into your responses. You may include personal opinion and experience,

PROVIDED you relate them back to accepted theory. You will also be graded based on proper formatting and references. Please use APA style to reference your work. Your assignment must:

• Be approximately 2 pages in length, single-spaced
• Be 10-12 pt. body font; use headings for readability Assignment

The university or college is an organization with customers and markets, just like most others. Although students are not prone to think of their college or university as an organization that undertakes marketing and market segmentation, in fact higher education has become increasingly competitive in recent years. The breakdown of provincially mandated barriers and the onset of online educational options has made the competition for customers (students) more intense. As such, many colleges and universities now use exSSensive market segmentation analysis to refine their message and win customers.

Consider Nipissing University’s market segmentation. Analyze the following:

1. How should Nipissing segment its markets?
2. Are there some market segments that are potentially more lucrative than others?
3. What new segments should the organization explore in the next few years?
4. What segmentation strategy, e.g., psychographic, geodemographic, should it use?
5. What strategies is the organization currently using?

This analysis should culminate in an integrated assessment of the following points. The assignment is marked out of 10 points.

ANSWER THESE:

1. What segmentation strategy does it appear that Nipissing is currently using? Is it effective? Explain. (3 points)
2. What new strategies might be more effective? Why? (3 points)
3. How can Nipissing be more effective with its current segmentation strategy? Give examples of how the target market can be better defined. (3 points)
4. Please note formatting and referencing will be part of the mark (1 point)

A successfully completed assignment will clearly answer all questions above, applying course concepts and analysis to the question at hand.