Free swimming pool (above): this is one of the things that attract the customers to the business, they teach children and give them a lot of fun activities for the summer. By making the child satisfied, they would want to go to the school next summer as well, and parents who want there children to learn English would bring them back next summer, this makes a returning customer. Also the school would be recommended to other people for there great value and quality, and word of mouth is one of the most powerful advertisement ways.
Schools reception office (left customer, behind desk the owner of the school and a secretary), this is were the students parents come to register there students.
Current leaflet, front the logo of the school and colors to attract the attention of children, back has information on the price, duration, what the school have to offer…etc
Banner in the school entrance, with the name and logo of the school.
I am going to recommend some promotion ideas for the summer courses, which are being re-launched this summer (2006), my recommendations are:
Discount or an extra free service for people who bring there leaflet in: (leaflets would be produced at a photocopying shop, and would need money to pay the business that will copy them, as well as a design which would be produced by the modern school of English, and the photocopying business would use paper and inc and photocopying machinery.)
- Free transport: every summer there are students that pay Modern School of English for transport, the Modern School of English hires bus drivers to pick students up from there homes and takes them to the school, and then takes them back home. I think it would be a good attractions to customers if the business offered free transport, because none of the competing businesses offer this. Bus drivers working for the Modern School of English get paid 30 Dinnars (Libyan currency) per student that travels to and from the school on the bus for 2 months, there are 4 bus drivers every year that carry 15 students per session. The Modern School of English charge customers 95 Dinnars for the 2 month course, so the school can take 30 Dinnars of that and pay it to the bus drivers, which would off course decrease the amount of profit the school makes, but if it attracts a good amount of customers to the business, it would make up the loss. The main material needed for this is money, the buses are supplied by the drivers, so all the modern school of English have to provide is the money to pay the drivers.
- Free computer course: computer courses cost the same as the bus transport by the Modern School of English, so I think giving people a choice of either free bus transport or free a free computer course would increase the number of sales even more, because some parents do not need there children to be driven home because the parents could do it them selves, so giving parents a choice would increase the number of sales even more, and would cost the business just as much as if they have given them free bus transport. The materials needed for this are, money to pay the teacher and electricity bills for the computers for the computers, which of course is also money.
- Discount: a discount of 15% would attract many customers because it would beat the price of competing businesses price, so doing this would attract many customers because they can save more money than if they taken them to a different school. This does not need any material but money, this is because they do not need to pay any body for a discount, it just means the customer pays less.
**using these fliers with the special deals will make The Modern School of English decrease there profits per student, but increasing there students may increase there overall profit, making the business make more!
Other promotion activities:
- Street banners: street banners is a very common source of advertisement, but is yet still affective, a lot of people waiting in traffic jams or at traffic lights read these advertisements, I think it would benefit the Modern School of English a great deal if they added a few of these around busy areas and were children would be with there parents (i.e. parks), this would attract a lot of people would come ask for information, and would boost the number of customers. This would be money paid for the area, and also money to pay a business to produce the banner it self.
- Posters: the Modern School of English never put up posters about the children courses in public places, I think this would increase the number of customers that came to the business for the summer courses because it would allow more people to know what the business have to offer, and would make the business much more noticeable, eye catching posters are a very powerful advertisement tool, and if they were put up before the courses started, I would predict a lot more customers would come asking for information about the courses and the number of children signed up would increase. The materials for this would be A3 paper and ink, and money to pay the photocopying company for them to produce it, The Modern School of English will also need to design the poster them selves before the business can produce it.
The leaflet promotion idea could be evaluated by calculating how much the increase in customers was by looking at the income of the business, and the business could calculate the increase in profit by looking at there cash flow, and calculate where they break even.
As for the banner and posters, they can only find out how they effected the number of customers by producing surveys asking the students parents how they found out about The Modern School of English’s children courses, or the school could calculate the number of customers that did not have a leaflet that gave them a discount.
Using the leaflets as a discount voucher is appropriate for The Modern School of English because they are services that are usually offered by the business, but giving them for free, this is ideal for the business because they are not adding any extras to the business, but just paying for the transport and computer courses them selves. The same also applies to the 15% discount, this also does not need the business to make any changes, it just satisfies customers that do not wish to have there child transported or taught a computer course.
Having the leaflet vouchers to promote these courses is ideal for the customer because they save money, and it is easier for them if they choose the free transport because if they have a job and cannot pick there children up, then they can sign them up for the bus service that the school provides, for free. The computer courses also make it worthwhile for the customer because they can get 2 different courses, English and basic ICT, taught to the children for just the price of the English course. The discount makes it suitable for parents who do not wish to have there child transported for free because the parent can pick them up easily enough, and if there child does not need a computer course because he or she already know what they need to know about computers, then the parent can just take the discount making them still save money.
The posters and banners are appropriate for The Modern School of English because they advertise the children courses as well as the name of the school, which may also make adults inquire about the afternoon courses. It is also ideal for the customer because if they are looking for a business that is teaching English, they would easily find it by looking at the poster or banner.
There are no legal or ethical constraints effecting this promotion campaign.