Many of the marketing plans produced within international offices are simply an annual statement of budgets and projected student numbers. This one-day workshop will go beyond this approach by focusing upon the characteristics of truly effective international plans.

The workshop will explore the marketing planning process in detail and demonstrate how the lessons of good practice might be applied within your institution and its international effort. The approach that will be taken during the day will be very pragmatic, with the delegates being required to work on the different elements of the plan. In preparing for the workshop, delegates will be expected to think in some detail about the following areas:

			the approach to international market and marketing planning that currently exists within the institution
			the strengths and weaknesses of the approach
			whether marketing planning is really taken seriously
			who within the department has the explicit responsibility for planning
			what is done with the plan after it has been written
			the nature of any planning problems that are being faced.

Who is this workshop for?
Staff in independent schools, further education and higher education with responsibility for marketing in and recruiting from particular country markets, and staff who are expected to contribute to their institution’s international marketing strategy.

Workshop objectives
The objectives of the workshop are to provide delegates with an opportunity to explore:

			the dimensions of the marketing planning process
			the issues associated with marketing planning across borders and cultures
			how to develop a more robust approach to international marketing planning
			the factors that contribute to the effective implementation of international marketing plans.

Workshop outline
The day will begin with a brief introductory session in which we will examine:

			the role of planning
			the development of effective planning cultures
			the lessons from good planning practice.

Against this background, the workshop will then focus on the structure of the plan and concentrate upon a series of issues including:

			the development of the vision for the market
			external analysis, the market audit and the evaluation of market opportunity
			customer and competitor analysis
			internal analysis and the assessment of capability
			critical issues analysis
			the development of the planning assumptions
			issues of competitive advantage and how competitive advantage might be leveraged
			the development of meaningful marketing objectives
			approaches to positioning
			the management of the marketing mix in overseas markets
			budgeting
			the development of a truly effective implementation culture
			approaches to measurement and control
			contingency planning.

Workshop director
Professor Colin Gilligan
Colin was Professor of Marketing at Sheffield Business School from 1986 to 2006. In 2006, he left the university to go back into management consultancy and is now working with a spectrum of clients in Europe, Africa and Asia. Over the past twenty years, he has carried out numerous consulting and development assignments for organisations in both the private and the public sectors. Amongst the clients with whom he has worked are Microsoft, BBC Worldwide, Intel, Kellogg's, Johnson & Johnson, Nissan Europe, Americana, Invesco Perpetual, Shell Oils and the British Council, as well as a variety of universities. He is the author of 11 books, including the best-selling Strategic Marketing Planning. In 1999, he was commissioned by the British Council to conduct a study of the international marketing of British universities and colleges. The results of this were published in 2000 (The Gilligan Report: a study of international marketing practice). The report has subsequently had a significant effect on approaches to international student recruitment and marketing.

Applications
The workshop in Manchester is now closed.

All applications are subject to the terms and conditions for our training and development events, which include the eligibility and selection criteria and cancellation policy.

For more information about this event, please contact the Education UK Training and Development Team.