Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/55680
Targeting the Market E very business school must develop an identity that differentiates it from competitors, as well as formulate strategies to attract students to its programs. Often, these tasks require the school to run focus groups and administer surveys to discover how the program is perceived and who might be interested in attending it—and who might not—and why. Recently two very dif- ferent schools set out to refine their own images and fine-tune their student bases. The College of Business Administration at Florida Inter- national University developed a promotion that capital- ized on its reputation as a place for mavericks while target- ing a young, professional demographic. The Sloan School of Management at Massachusetts Institute of Technology isolated the reasons that its female population was so low and embarked on a comprehensive campaign to sharply increase the numbers of women in its MBA program. Both initiatives succeeded at two levels: They not only drove up student interest, they helped the schools clarify how they wanted to present themselves to the world. Two schools find fresh approaches for reaching the students they want. 50 BizEd MAY/JUNE 2010