Essay on the IMC of Canadian University and American University of Dubai

According to Yeshin (2012), integrated marketing communication depicts the activity of coordinating promotional efforts through the utilization of the main approaches to communication. For an integrated marketing communication to be efficient, various aspects should be incorporated. These are such as public relations, advertising, and sales promotion among other forms. The major objective of coming up with a marketing plan is to give the media an opportunity to have a predominant subject towards the targeted markets.

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For Canadian university to reach the target market, various marketing communication approaches are employed. One of this is the use of newsletters. They provide value-added content and are also considered an excellent way of engaging the subscribers of the website. The emails sent to individuals who have subscribed to the website of the institution contains significant information. These are such on the courses they have and especially the new ones that people may not be aware that they exist ("Campus Communications | Canadian University Dubai," 2017). Furthermore, the institution ensures that only relevant information is sent to their subscribers and in this way, they remain concerned. The content of the emails is thus prioritized before the newsletters are sent to the subscribers. Also, they also send one newsletter per month with all the intended information and further include details such as videos, interesting factoids, and other supportive details. On the other hand, the newsletter also includes guidelines on how one can apply for courses at the institution and even a video of the view of the establishment with all facilities that they offer as well. The newsletter also contains new stories from the previous month that are relevant for the audience to be informed ("Campus Communications | Canadian University Dubai," 2017).

Canadian university also makes use of website updates. The website is considered to be a critical tool for the purpose of communication. It is also efficient and inexpensive to employ when broadcasting events, promoting initiatives and even distributing appropriate information. The website of the institution constitutes of three elements which are content, structure, and design. However, the most significant aspect here is the content. As such, Canadian university ensures that they incorporate all the main details on their website for the targeted audience to be satisfied concerning any information that they may be seeking. People can obtain information concerning the University through the website. As such, the appearance or even presentation of that website determines the number of individuals that will be attracted to the information or even generate time to go through the content ("Campus Communications | Canadian University Dubai," 2017).

The institution also maintains an online events calendar that enables people to follow through various events or practices that they may be holding. They have customized groups of audiences to whom information is usually sent to when they request or when it is necessary. Canadian university thus lays significant emphasis on their audience and content as well. Once content on the calendar has been disseminated to the people, a measure is done to establish whether it is working and to plan for more information especially on the projects that are performing in a positive and efficient manner ("Campus Communications | Canadian University Dubai," 2017).

The integrated marketing communication of Canadian university differs from that of the American University Dubai in various ways. They have a media and communication office that represents them in the state and worldwide broadcasting channels. As such, they have explored external communication channels rather than what is only available to the institution. On the other hand, Canadian university has been observed to utilize the internal forms of communication that are those that are within their institution such as their developed website. Furthermore, the use of media outlets also assists the American University of Dubai to think outside the box where they are more creative. They have incorporated the traditional and modern forms of communication to reach out to their targeted audience. In this way, they can assimilate their messages and thus achieve better results as compared to other institutions. The American University of Dubai, unlike Canadian University, incorporates various media channels which are digital, broadcast and print. This has been observed to significantly contribute to the positive development and even maintenance of their brand as well. However, this has not been seen with Canadian university that can be purported to be quite limited in as far as marketing communication is entailed ("Media and Communication Office American University in the Emirates," 2017).

Press releases are also another mode of marketing communication employed by the American University of Dubai. In this case, they issue an official statement to the newspapers by giving them information on a certain matter that they want to be passed on to the public. The American University of Dubai utilizes a long-term press release as a form of information distribution strategy and this as enabled them to obtain the trust and even attention of most of the journalists. They are this given more media coverage hence boosting their marketing efforts. Nevertheless, Canadian university does not utilize the press as part of their marketing approach and hence limits the number of people or even audience that they pass relevant information to in a certain area ("Media and Communication Office American University in the Emirates," 2017).

Additionally, investors are also able to follow up on information concerning the institution through the press and in this way, it may determine the success and even advancements to be made by the university. The American University of Dubai has also established an online newsroom on their website that gives investors a chance to browse through and identify areas where they can venture and assist in further development of the institution ("Media and Communication Office American University in the Emirates," 2017).

Suggestions for Improvement

One of the most practical aspects that should be observed by Canadian university is to consider that their audience is not only limited to obtaining information from one source but are diverse. As such, they should consider expanding and even incorporating other forms of marketing communication to ensure they reach out to a broad audience. Additionally, they should also identify their audiences and come up with ways to define each one of them as well. Coming up with the right tools to determine their audience will also be quite efficient for the institution (Yeshin, 2012).

According to Shepherd (2012), selecting the channels to employ in line with every audience that has been identified is an effective approach for any integrated marketing communication to be successful. Apart from focusing on their website only, Canadian University should also employ the social media channels. These are such as Facebook and Twitter that in the current world are used by quite a significant number of individuals. Moreover, most young people who may be seeking an institution to join for the continuation of their studies are also on these social media channels as well. Therefore, posting information on these platforms will reach out to a large number of people as compared to only putting it on their website.

The institution should also diversify the channels of communication used to reach out to their audience. As such, they should not be limited to only one form. Media advertising should also be incorporated among their communication modes. For instance, television is identified as a national medium that covers a diverse area and reaches out to broad segments of the targeted and even untargeted population as well. Its sight, and sound capability further enhances its capacity as a medium of marketing communication (Ang, 2014). The newspaper has been seen to be quite common in the marketing communication activities of the American University of Dubai. It is a large local medium utilized for displaying advertisements in their main body or even in the supplements. As such, Canadian university should consider employing this medium in their marketing activities and mainly use the most popular newspapers like The Wall Street Journal which is quite prevalent in the United States. Most consumers are observed to look upon the advertising found in the newspapers in a positive manner. Its advertising is also considered to be quite a wealth of information in general as well. The flexibility of newspapers will also favor the institution in their advertising activities as in most cases; space does not need to be reserved in advance (Chitty, 2011). Canadian university should also adopt magazines as part of the integrated marketing communication channel. Advertisements placed in magazines have a long life and will also be of benefit to the pass-along readers (Ang, 2014).

Canadian university should also adopt a consistent look regarding their visual identity. The visual identity has been perceived to be quite fundamental than the logo. It is all about the effective design, fonts, and standard colors. Moreover, it also entails the style of graphics and photography that is employed in their advertisement activities. It is necessary to ensure that everything looks as it comes from the same company (Palmer, 2012). An individual who is going through their newsletter or even brochure, for instance, should be in a position to see an instant visual connection when they visit the universitys website.

Since Canadian university has been recommended to apply various media communication channels, they should further ensure that they come up with content that is quite clear and consistent. Also, the content should be easy to adapt or adjusted to fit the various marketing channels to be employed. Besides, the three Cs for marketing messages can be utilized by the institution. The first one is the channel where it is all about how the product or service reaches to the consumer (Delaney, 2014). This does not depend on whether the sale is made in a direct form or through partners. The channel provides important feedback on the sustainability of the marketing message. Constant communication with the chosen channel will further assist Canadian university to advance the association and as such, the movement of authentic material and even perceptions that are also significant for their policies of positioning.

According to Shepherd (2012), knowledge of the clients is the second of the three Cs for marketing messages. Some of the significant elements that can be included in this case are such as displaying the benefits of joining the institution or seeking their services to assist individuals further in achieving their goals and dreams. They can take a step further and research on some of the most demanded courses in the market and include them in their programs thus being able to attract a significant number of consumers. For the best marketing channels to be chosen by Canadian university, they should analyze the competition that exists in the industry. As such competition is the third of the three 3Cs where differentiation is quite a critical element for them to achieve positioning in a successful way (Delaney, 2014). They can take the initiative of evaluating the marketing materials and even websites of their competitors. In this way, it will be quite easy to apply efficient strategies or methods of conducting marketing activities.

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