An Analytical Study on the Digital Marketing Practices Adopted at Higher Education Institutions

Abstract

In the ever-evolving digital era, innovative marketing strategies and dynamic digital practices have a significant role in the brand promotion initiatives of higher education institutions. The emerging and mushrooming private higher education institutions like privale universities confront cutthroat competition with the existing, established, and stabilized brands of competitors. In this process of competition, the competencies of the institutions determine their destinies. To leverage the level of competencies, the institutions must explore and depend on innovalive digital stratiegies and practices. They create reputation and value addition to both the institutions and their stakeholders and make value co-creation possible. The unprecedented growth of information and communication technology has made the world a global village. The widespread use of English as an international-link language has made it a window language to reach out to the world. The growing demand and widespread use of data packages, and the expansive use of digital devices like smartphones, social media platforms, and channels have made a revolution in the digital brand promotion of the institutions. The unanticipated spread of covid19 has made us plausible to think of the need for a fully digitalized social and business environment. The study has applied the survey method with the support of rich secondary data sources. The primary data was collected from the students of the selected state private universities by sharing a pre-designed questionnaire with them. Along with this, the researcher has conducted informal interviews with a few eminent marketers and academic administrators of higher education institutions for obtaining valuable insights about various digital marketing practices adopied by them for brand promotion activities.

It was observed that some institutions, although old have made huge investments in the promotion of their brands, are unable to atract the required number of quality students mainly because of some latent factors like the overall quality deficiency., mediocre public relations, underutilization of resources such as the capacity of the people, lack of innovative digital presence and practices, systems, processes, lack of expertise in planning, and execution. The quality and value of the course, job opportunities in reputed organizations, quality faculty with rich academic records and experience, and salary package offered, the position of the institution in the world ranking. digital presence on the social media platforms, rich content, look and feel of the website, corporate social responsibilities that undertaken by the institutions, are the factors that determine their preferences by the students. These have necessilated the institutions to acquire, retain, and follow best digital practices for bringing a sustainable system of quality education by making India a leading digitally competent educational hub, and 'a Vishva guru', as enshrined in the NEP, 2020.