Introduction:
I decided to interview Maria Scalise. Maria is the Director
of Community Development and Marketing manager at Bryant and Stratton College
in Rochester, NY. Maria’s job responsibility is to be a liaison between the
nine New York campuses. Maria approves ads, monitors how the advertising is
doing, works with sponsorships, does event planning and any type of promotional
activity. She is learning about digital marketing, since technology is
advancing. Even though she collaborates with all nine campuses in New York
State, her job functions are to serve the Greece and Henrietta campuses. Bryant
and Stratton’s headquarters are in Buffalo, NY but there are a total of 18
additional locations in New York, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Virginia. There is also an
Online Education Division. Bryant and Stratton’s products are certificates,
Associate and Bachelor degrees. As well as offering GED training.
The Interview:
Q-What does marketing do for your company?
A-“Marketing gives
Bryant and Stratton’s the opportunity to give students the information they may
need in order to achieve their educational and career goals.”
Q-What importance do you attach to market research in your
profession?
A-“A tremendous amount.
One of the things that this college really prides itself on is the fact that we
are offering programs where there is a high demand, so it is very important for
us monitor and keep a tab on where are the jobs and looking at Department of
Labor and Statistics. Spending time on this research gives us forward thinking
so we can stay ahead of the curve. Market research also plays a role in our
strategic plan and direction.”
Q-How is the marketing manager’s role related to product
development?
A-“Bryant and Stratton
keeps a tab on what we are hearing out in the community. We then use this to
focus on what the needs are, and then we do what we can to fulfill the
education need.”
Q-What are your qualifications as a Marketing Manager?
A-“I’ve just celebrated
25 years here at Bryant and Stratton College, I was in Admissions for 19 years,
and I have been a Marketing Manager for 6 years, so I would have to say that
there is a lot of history. I have a Bachelors Degree in business but I have a
strong interest in the marketing aspect of business. I do a lot of reading and go
to educational seminars and events in marketing. Lifelong learning is something
that we practice internally as well.”
Q-What is the importance of team work in marketing
management?
A-“The importance of
team work is huge. I have to work very closely with campus directors, directors
of Career Services, and director of admissions. For me to accomplish some of
the goals for the college, I need to be able work as a team with these people.
I cannot do this alone. I depend greatly on their
feedback.
Q-How do you participate in product development?
A-“Product development
for me is not an ongoing thing. I only participate when I’m asked. For example,
there was a time when we were developing new program, and I was asked to do
market research on developing this new program.”
Q-How do you define marketing?
A-“I would define
marketing as any activities that helps create brand awareness and helps drives
customers to a particular organization.”
Q-What is your marketing mix?
A-Our marketing mix is
everything from television, radio, print ads, digital marketing, e-mail blast,
and social media. We are doing more and more digital advertising since it is
becoming more and more popular.”
Q-What metrics would you use to measure success in this role?
A-“One way is the use
of our qualifications call center in Buffalo, NY. We use this to measure inquiries on the
certain programs offered. We also measure how many people are responding to
e-mails. We also have a series of Lunch and Learns, where we give the students
the opportunity to bring a friend to a venue. We provide
lunch and people get the opportunity to learn more about Bryant and Stratton.
The amount of RSVP’s we get for these events is another indicator.
Q-How does this role contribute to larger company goals?
A-My role contributes to being very efficient
as we can. The more efficient and effective I am in measuring opportunities,
the more it will help us with reaching our financial roles as well as
enrollment goals.
Q-What are some of the challenges and roadblocks one might
come up against in this role?
A-“The fact that a lot
of people don’t understand who we are, and how Bryant and Stratton fits into
the landscape of other colleges. We are a college that is built on high ethics
and we have the same accreditation as U of R, Nazareth, and any college in New
York State. I find myself constantly trying to change peoples’ perception.”
Q-Why did you decide to be a marketing manager here at Bryant
and Stratton College?
A-“When I was in
Admissions, I doing a little marketing as part of my job. I was in the
admissions department for so long, that I was ready for a new challenge. I am
very proud of my outcomes because of my dedication and loyalty to Bryant and
Stratton College.”
Q-Can you tell me about a project in which you had to
coordinate and manage a diverse team of people?
A-“When don’t I do
that? (Chuckles) In order to accomplish company goals, I have to work with a
number of diverse people. For example, I work and get feedback from the
Director of Admissions and Representatives. For our new Lunch and Learn
projects, I had to work with career services in order to help develop a panel.
We are also starting them in Syracuse, NY, so I had to work with a whole new
team there as well. We all need to work together.”
Q-Can you give me an example of how you effectively managed a
tight budget to develop a marketing activity?
A-“It’s all about
establishing relationships. For example, for the Lunch and Learn projects, we
pay for the advertising on the radio for the venues. In return, the venue
provides us with the food free of cost.”
Q-Give me an example of effectively you used online marketing
tools?
A-“We do a tremendous
amount of search engine marketing. We monitor how many online inquiries we have
for our programs. We constantly monitor what works and what doesn’t. We are
constantly making adjustments.”
Q-Can you give me an example of a campaign that did not work
out as you planned?
A-“The lunch and learn
event that we had yesterday did not work out as we planned. We needed students
to be interested in bringing others to obtain recognition of the college. A lot
of students did not bring did not bring others to this event.”
Q-What factors do you consider the most important when
attempting to influence consumer behavior?
A-“The most important
factor is understanding what the needs are to understand their behaviors.”
Q-Can you tell me about a marketing project that you brought
in on time and on budget?
A-“We throw a Back to
School Bash every year. The Back to School Bash is when we buy $500 work of
school supplies, and we donate them to students in kindergarten to college
level. We have done this successfully on time and budget every year.”
Q-Describe a situation in which an innovative course of
action was necessary?
A-“This was necessary
for the Lunch and Learn project. We were having open house here on campus but
no one was coming. If we want to engage people we have to do something
different. This was how the Lunch and Learns came about.”
Q-What need does Bryant Stratton College fill?
A-“We fill an education
need. The education needs are Associate degrees, Bachelor degrees, certificates
and GED preparation for employment. We also fulfill an employer need. Once
students are done, employers may need our graduates for employment purposes.”
Q-Do all Bryant Stratton College markets use the same
marketing mix?
A-“I would say yes. We
use the same marketing mix.”
Q-Bryant and Stratton has many commercials on television. Has
Bryant Stratton thought about advertising the Bachelor programs?
A-“We don’t have any
now, but that is something that is in development now.”
Q-Does your organization use a bottom line measures. A bottom
line measure is an organization’s economic, social, and environmental outcome
as a measure of long term success?
A-“The way we do this is
by understanding peoples’ wants and needs. We also do this by student surveys
and offering classes around student’s schedules. We offer a lot of support from
our staff as well.”
Q-What marketing skills do you bring to Bryant Stratton
College?
A-“I have a good
understanding of student’s needs. I think I bring marketing skills needed to
make this company successful. I have been told that I keep strong relationship
management skills that is needed for partnering and development. I am a team
player an open to new ideas. I have great organizational skills.”
Q-Have you ever owned and marketed your own business?
A-“I have not, although
I love the thought of it.”
Q-How do you handle marketing ethics?
A-“I’m always mindful
of making sure that we are accurately portraying who we and what we do. The
college sets high expectations for our students. We are very mindful of
misrepresentation.”
Q-What is your target market?
A-“This is something
that I struggle with because it so many people we can serve. I don’t want to
exclude anyone. Our Target market, I think, is any student with an education
and/or employment need.”
Q-How do you develop strategic planning?
A-“A lot of that is
driven out of the systems office. This is a very sophisticated and thought out
process. Everybody that is a part of Bryant Stratton’s team has the opportunity
to give feedback on the strategic plan.”
Q-How do you develop a marketing plan?
A-“It’s a combination
of looking at our history and comparing them to our future goals we would like
to accomplish.”
Q-How do you measure customer equity?
A-“One of the things
that we look at is our graduation rate. What steps can we take to improve this?
We use our placement rate, our student satisfaction surveys as well as the
amount of referrals we are able to generate, if we are giving a good customer
value, they will recommend other students.”
Conclusion:
I learned a lot of what it takes to be a Marketing Manager.
You have to have dedication In order to make your organization successful. Not
only did I learn about job functions, but the fact that Bryant Stratton College
way to succeeds is highly depended on understanding the student’s needs.
