Long-term recommendations
For the long-term, alternatives were assessed under the same criteria and the same three categories of product-line development, promotional strategies and customer retention. To expand their product line in the long run, the company could provide students with information on international opportunities such as foreign exchange programs and internships since, its long- term goal is to expand globally. The time and cost to implement such a service would be high and a smaller target market would be reached. Also, it would be an on-going process and would require continuous updating. Networking with other universities would be the only way to facilitate this alternative. To extend the academic component of their product-mix in the long run, they could research various scholarships in universities worldwide. Again this would be an ongoing process but at a low cost. The social component of product-mix extension could involve a service called "hooking-up". It would reach a high target market, have a low cost but it would take a fair bit of time to build up large enough databases to successfully conduct matches. Promotional strategies can be broken down into advertising, sales promotion and publicity. Banner advertising would be the most effective in the long run as it will take time to attract large investors to advertise on their site. Since, the companies are highly reputable this alternative will attain a high target market with a low cost. A sales promotion device that would be effective for students would be discounts on travel, clothes, food, etc. Since discounts are supplied by investors, the cost and time would be low and target market effectiveness would depend on the amount of the discount itself.
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