NOM Net Overseas Migration Critique

Population, Immigration and Net Overseas Migration NOM

Interesting article on immigration and NOM net overseas migration by former Australian Department of Immigration Deputy Secretary Abul Rizvi endeavouring to insert some understanding and clarity round the ‘immigration’ debate when most misunderstand, misinterpret or misrepresent immigration and population data.

Australian Population Growth and the NOM Net Overseas Migration
(Image copyright Home Affairs/ABS, 2013)

This is manifested in media, political and public narratives that focus upon the NOM and the false notion that it is both unusually high and can be micromanaged; underpinned by lack of detail or ‘solution’ to lowering the NOM (without assessment of broader societal impacts).

‘NATIONAL AFFAIRS: Putting the numbers back into the immigration debate

ABUL RIZVI 20 FEBRUARY 2018

Drastically reducing net migration would be neither easy nor wise, says a former senior official.

How governments manage migration is a big deal. A perception of too many arrivals drove the Brexit result in Britain, helped define the Trump presidency, and fuelled the rising populist vote in Europe. Japan’s ageing population is driving its government to increase immigration — but ever so cautiously, recognising the likely backlash from its largely homogeneous population. And the same demographic forces have driven China to try to attract back part of its huge diaspora.

Yet, despite our long immigration tradition, Australia’s immigration debate is tortured and surprisingly poorly informed. Until very recently, this was not helped by the Turnbull government’s eerie silence on immigration levels and population policy. Immigration minister Peter Dutton’s tentative foray late last week should therefore be welcomed.

Given the complexities, immigration ministers have an obligation to be accurate with the data and honest about the range of issues to be considered in significantly reducing the intake. Dutton was neither.’

Issues and Critique of Net Overseas Migration Statistics and Data

The NOM is a measure of movements, not designed as an ‘immigration’ target but merely measures numbers of people (irrespective of nationality, visa status and includes Australians) who enter Australia with the intention of remaining longer than 12/16+ months (ABS, 2017).

Rizvi cites several variables or inputs that would be required to control or lower the NOM.  This would include restricting rights of Australians marrying foreigners, restricting numbers of international students, preclude second year visas for working holiday makers doing agricultural work, close the refugee program, limit New Zealanders and seek out overstayers.

Other issues or features neither understood nor highlighted:

1. Few nations use the same NOM as a measure to estimate resident population apart from Australia, UK and NZ then e.g. in the EU Schengen Zone it’s impossible due to free movement and that most nations appear to estimate from e.g. residency registration or census data (UN, 2015).
2. Rizvi also fails to mention the cumulative statistical impact of an ageing population of citizens and permanent residents (includes significant numbers of British subjects) who were already in country 2006 when line was drawn in the sand on population; many have neither departed nor returned to Australia long term and have two impacts upon the data (and census). First is longevity due to better health hence staying in the data longer (though invisible) being attributed to ‘immigration’.  However, this will change when the baby boomer demographic starts departing this earth in the medium long term in about five years onwards i.e. deaths will outnumber births for long term thus impacting the estimated resident population significantly.  This is also set against already declining fertility rates and global population ex. Sub Saharan Africa, expected to peak by mid-century as explained by development, medical and statistics expert Professor Hans Rosling (Gapminder, 2013).
3. A significant financial reason for encouraging temporary residents with no likelihood of permanent residency outcomes, whether students, backpackers etc., is as net financial contributors paying taxes without future access to state services. In other words, they support or subsidise increasing numbers of retirees needing pensions, health care etc. dependent upon healthy state budgets (with decreasing dependency ratio of workforce tax payer numbers to retirees).
4. Further, statistical analysis has found that not only is the NOM very confusing, it may over estimate Australia’s population significantly, through double counting those not in country but not outside for more than 12/16+ months:

‘Except on migration. On this single metric, it’s as if the entire world converges into a deafeningly silent consensus. Population! At last a hard number. Something tangible, physical, consistent. The cacophony of economic debate subsides as everyone gather’s around to pay homage at the altar of the purest, simplest driver of demand, production, and everything else. The one undisputed back-stop to debate…Trying to find a simple and defensible explanation of a complex issue isn’t easy. But for migration, I think there is one. I’ll describe it here in prose, and in a later post gather some of the graphs and data that support it. There has been a level shift. But it hasn’t been in ‘migration’, as everyone actually intends and understands the word. The shift that we should be talking about has been in mobility.’ (Quixotic Quant, 2017a).

‘The alternative story is that sometime in the mid-2000s the Australian Bureau of Statistics changed the definition of an official statistic called “Net Overseas Migration”. The arbitrary definition they had at the time was malfunctioning, and the next arbitrary one they changed to has been malfunctioning even worse. A blithely ignorant press didn’t even notice the change, let alone query the disfunction that inspired it, so the entire country has been putting their faith soaring population figure that has the integrity of custard. The harder alternative figure shows that our migration rate is actually flat’ (Quixotic Quant, 2017b).

5. By using ‘Migration’ in NOM to describe the definition may simply be a linguistic coincidence, however, it is highly suggestive of a direct correlation with permanent immigration and long-term population growth, which does not exist (except by some indirect correlation set amongst other factors).
6. The local and global NGOs, think tanks, institutes, commentators, ‘ecologists’, media and politicians who constantly highlight supposed negative aspects of immigration and ‘sustainable’ population growth have been influenced or manipulated by the US white nativist movement, with the latter being influential amongst Republican Party and Trump (SPLC, 2001) in turn influenced by Darwin’s cousin Galton’s ‘science of eugenics and racial hygiene’ (Das, 2015).
7. Post WWII prior to the formation of the UN Population Council the Rockefeller Foundation (Standard Oil/Exxon Mobil) co-opted the American Eugenics Society (AES) which had become discredited by the Nazis and their ‘research’ at The Kaiser Wilhelm Institutes in Germany, to then form the UN Population Council (Kurbegovic, 2005 & Novielli, 2017).
8. Also, to emerge with support of same and similar oligarchs’ (fossil fuels and auto) foundations were Zero Population Growth (ZPG) (Bentley Historical Library - University of Michigan, 2018), Zero Economic Growth (ZEG) (Daly, 1980) and the Club of Rome ‘limits to growth’, etc. constructs (Green Agenda, 2018) to popularise negative perceptions of population growth and immigration as ‘liberal and environmental’ concerns (Stern, 2005).
9. Demographically it is now coming to a head for many whether middle Europe or the ‘Anglosphere’ with the refrain, ‘brown people, Moslems etc. are going to outnumber white people or WASPs leading to demographic suicide….’.

Reference List:

ABS – Australian Bureau of Statistics (2017) 3412.0 - Migration, Australia, 2015-16 Available at: http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/exnote/3412.0 (Accessed on: 25 February 2018).

Bentley Historical Library - University of Michigan (2018) John Tanton Papers: 1960-2007. Available at: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/b/bhlead/umich-bhl-861056?byte=53770321;focusrgn=bioghist;subview=standard;view=reslist (Accessed on: 27 February 2018).

Daly, H. (1980) Why the Industrial World Needs Zero Economic Growth (Recording). Available at: https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/34007423?selectedversion=NBD22971101 (Accessed on 27 February 2018).

Das, S. (2015) Francis Galton and the History of Eugenics at UCL.  Available at: https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/museums/2015/10/22/francis-galton-and-the-history-of-eugenics-at-ucl/ (Accessed on: 26 February 2018).

Gapminder (2013) Don’t Panic – The Facts About Population. Available at: https://www.gapminder.org/videos/dont-panic-the-facts-about-population/ (Accessed on: 25 February 2018).

Green Agenda (2018) The First Global Revolution. Available at: http://www.green-agenda.com/globalrevolution.html (Accessed on: 27 February 2018).

Kurbegovic, C. (2013). Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Anthropology, Human Heredity, and Eugenics (KWI-A). Available at: http://eugenicsarchive.ca/discover/connections/5233cdc25c2ec500000 Accessed on 25 February 2018).

Novielli, C. (2017) The Population Council has a shocking 65-year history, and it’s nothing to celebrate. Available at: https://www.liveaction.org/news/population-council-founded-eugenicists-promoting-abortion-turns-65/ (Accessed on: 25 February 2018).

Quixotic Quant (2017a) The state of debate: A bird’s-eye on migration. Available at: https://www.quixoticquant.com/post/the-state-of-debate-a-bird-s-eye-on-migration/  (Accessed on: 27 January 2018).

Quixotic Quant (2017b) The Missing Million: Is Australia's migration rate actually high? Available at: https://www.quixoticquant.com/post/the-missing-million/ (Accessed on: 27 January 2018).

SPLC Southern Poverty Law Center (2010) Anti-Immigration Groups. Available at: https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2001/anti-immigration-groups (Accessed on 25 February 2018).

Stern, M. (2005) Eugenic Nation: Faults and Frontiers of Better Breeding in Modern America. California: University of California Press.

UN - United Nations - Department of Economic and Social Affairs Population Division (2015) International Migration Flows to and From Selected Countries: The 2015 Revision. Available at: http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/migration/data/empirical2/docs/migflows2015documentation.pdf (Accessed on: 25 February 2018).

Digital Customer Journey Research

Related Research on International Student
or Customer Information Seeking Journey

This study started with individual focus input from a limited number of former international students and stakeholders giving open and related feedback on information seeking factors; mirroring grounded research techniques allowing issues to emerge within time and resource constraints (Strauss & Corbin, 1990).

Approach to Researching Customer Journey via Students (Image copyright Pexels)

This study, through qualitative techniques of literature review, with stakeholder feedback from both students and marketers, was followed by quantitative measurement of data from a modest but relevant sample student population, using descriptive statistics i.e. data tables, informing a construct with analysis, then discussion and recommendations.


Good starting point for qualitative research is ‘grounded theory’, a methodology to allow issues to emerge from focus respondents; this was partially replicated, but in an abbreviated or streamlined version.

Qualitative Research - Grounded Research Theory & Inductive Approach

Qualitative data from interviews or focus respondent feedback can be used for the ‘Inductive Approach’ (to inform survey instrument) exemplified by fluid theoretical framework, identification of relationships in the data for potential hypotheses, then theory emerges from this process.  Further, there are various types of approach e.g. summarising meaning or ‘condensation’, categorisation or ‘grouping’ and structuring or ‘ordering’ leading to a narrative, this approach avoids becoming caught in a deductive process of proving theory (Saunders, 2009).


Further, analysis of the emergent qualitative data allows comprehension, integration, pattern recognition, then potential development or testing of theories.  Also significant are language terms that emerge from the data, which also appear in existing literature, that are used by participants and relevant industry (Ibid.).


Language analysis is especially important to inform good website design, SM usage, content marketing and SEO keywords and phrases, reflecting the language or communication means that students prefer, use and can find.

Why Mixed Methods & Grounded Research Theory?

The reasons for using mixed methods include ‘triangulation’ to corroborate both facilitation and complementarity through qualitative and quantitative, ‘generality’ assessing importance through quantitative, and ‘aid interpretation’ with qualitative explaining quantitative.  This approach can solve a puzzle through analysis i.e. asking students directly versus guessing or assuming the latent factors driving their behaviour when planning a purchase (Saunders, 2009).


Grounded theory emerges from induction through the study of a phenomenon, e.g. study of student information searching preferences to derive a ‘grounded’ marketing and communications strategy or approach.  However, qualitative via grounded theory follows a process of systematic data collection and analysis related to a phenomenon so that data collection, analysis and theory relate to each other; it’s not subjective opinion (Strauss & Corbin, 1990).


Using mixed methods of data collecting or multi-method approach, adds up to enhanced validity and reliability through ‘triangulation’ (Bell, 2005).  Coding can also be done in a selective manner in choosing the core category for which relationships and other categories are viewed (Ibid.). Process or linking up of elements in the research or study emerges as a sequence of events, exemplified by identifying need, information search, analysis and decision; mirrors many cyclical processes including those outside of marketing (Ibid.).


The research process in this case, using grounded theory, allowed flexibility provided evaluation criteria are satisfied, leading onto empirical grounding (Strauss & Corbin, 1990). How or where do we start?

Reference List:

Bell, J. (2005) Doing Your Research Project. (4th Ed.). Maidenhead: Open University Press.


Saunders, M., Lewis, P. & Thornhill, A. (2009) Research Methods for Business Students. (5^th Ed.) Harlow UK: Pearson Education Ltd.


Strauss, A. & Corbin, J. (1990) Basics of Qualitative Research – Grounded Theory Procedures and Techniques. Newbury Park CA: SAGE Publications.

Digital Technology in Higher Education

Digital Technology in Higher Education
and Universities

Following is an article by Rogoff in Project Syndicate on the adoption, or not, of technology in universities and higher education whether MOOCS, flipped learning model, online or e-learning etc.

Using Technology to Deliver University Higher Education Online (Image copyright Pexels)

From Project Syndicate: ‘When Will Tech Disrupt Higher Education?

Feb 5, 2018 KENNETH ROGOFF

Universities pride themselves on producing creative ideas that disrupt the rest of society, yet higher-education teaching techniques continue to evolve at a glacial pace. Given education’s centrality to raising productivity, shouldn’t efforts to reinvigorate today’s sclerotic Western economies focus on how to reinvent higher education?

CAMBRIDGE – In the early 1990s, at the dawn of the Internet era, an explosion in academic productivity seemed to be around the corner. But the corner never appeared. Instead, teaching techniques at colleges and universities, which pride themselves on spewing out creative ideas that disrupt the rest of society, have continued to evolve at a glacial pace.

Sure, PowerPoint presentations have displaced chalkboards, enrolments in “massive open online courses” often exceed 100,000 (though the number of engaged students tends to be much smaller), and “flipped classrooms” replace homework with watching taped lectures, while class time is spent discussing homework exercises. But, given education’s centrality to raising productivity, shouldn’t efforts to reinvigorate today’s sclerotic Western economies focus on how to reinvent higher education?...

…Universities and colleges are pivotal to the future of our societies. But, given impressive and ongoing advances in technology and artificial intelligence, it is hard to see how they can continue playing this role without reinventing themselves over the next two decades. Education innovation will disrupt academic employment, but the benefits to jobs everywhere else could be enormous. If there were more disruption within the ivory tower, economies just might become more resilient to disruption outside it.’


Issues for higher education may emanate from teaching and/or learning tradition or habits, physical size and complexity e.g. silos, self-perception of being leaders not followers, older generations lacking digital literacy making strategic decisions, interests of permanent versus temporary personnel, slow moving and long communication lines both top down vertical, and lateral.

Tradition versus Innovation?

One could argue that traditional university lectures, religious preaching and political propagation have centred round expert or influencer communicating physically to non-experts in familiar formats that have not been challenged since the time of Gutenberg, duplicator and photocopiers?


Further, underlying issue is may be existing personnel, hence processes and systems, preclude taking on new digital technology (optimally) as observed in other sectors due to perceived disruption or lack of encouragement, or even discouragement.

Digital or e-Marketing and Communications

Marketing and communications in international education was a case in point whereby strategy informed by faculty attendance at international events was replicated in ‘international marketing’ with focus upon events including professional development and networking opportunities, versus marketing grounded in enrolled students on campus (customer journey, relationship management, satisfaction, testimonials, peer influence and word of mouth).


Digital or e-marketing arrived by early noughties but at best was used by universities etc. for international marketing as modest ‘budget allocation’ through traditional advertising and promotional channels. Described by some technophobes as something for the domestic ‘web marketing team’ when in fact digital behaviour upends traditional channels requiring bottom up analysis and strategy development, plus KPIs and ROI.

Architecture of Higher Education and Policy

Another concern with the focus now upon effective, efficient or economic education delivery and digital technology is the specialisation and/or atomisation of those working in all levels of education versus well rounded professionals with skills of content, teaching, learning, design, delivery, assessment, evaluation, administration and technology.


Rather than expecting or commissioning sub-contractors to consult with subject matter experts (SMEs), doing ‘instructional design’ (possibly lacking knowledge pedagogy and andragogy), narrow evaluation e.g. of course design only, using doctorate qualified temporary instructors for blended learning or flipped model but lacking skills of teaching; why not multi-skilled educators delivering based upon customer or student learning needs?

Digital Marketing Focus Groups

Digital or e-Marketing Strategy Development
Research Design & Methodology

Optimal research is based on triangulation between scholarly and industry research representing a process with related factors, then analysis and coding of key stakeholder feedback according to same process.  Thirdly, it can be followed by quantitative data gathering or survey of customers’ attitudes on the factors that emerged, joining the circle or triangulation.

Focus Groups to Research Digital e-Marketing Strategy (Image copyright Pexels)

The literature review can highlight research and industry issues or views of marketing and communications for international education or related products and services, leading to an optimal marketing and communications construct to inform strategy and professional practice.  Additionally, to inform or validate any construct, qualitative data needs to be collected through focus type respondents from industry or target market, coded and analysed for inclusion of important factors in a survey instrument.


Quantitative data can be collected, described and analysed; resulting in a practical process and template for both small and large entities. It is limited neither to education nor marketing, but applicable to any workplace investigation or consulting, not unlike good investigative journalism or detective work or training needs analysis.

Research Approach Rationale

This data collection and qualitative research use the inductive approach, with grounded research methods, which informs development of a survey instrument, and represents the purchase decision process model.  The focus is ‘information search or discovery process’, produces data for analysis and then informs a generic marketing and communications model or template, for marketing and communication practitioners, through a process.

This is opposed to taking the deductive approach of testing a hypothesis already formed from previous research or practice, assuming data and a hypothesis or rationale is publicly available. 


However, the deductive approach is precluded by the lack of the following: transparent marketing strategies, access to data, direct process based KPIs key performance indicators and ROI return on investment, meaningful analytics on student marketing and communications, and access to statistically significant sample population(s).


Effective medium or long-term strategy may be precluded by a short-term sales or ROI type of analysis of an annual marketing investment budget, evaluating only selected inputs and outputs, but neither processes nor future income streams.  Accordingly, with related scholastic research lacking in this field, a contemporary framework or construct reflecting both target market and changing technology, is needed to aid analysis and future marketing.

Research Design & Methodology

The research can start with question or proposal round ‘information seeking’, review of marketing research literature and education industry reports with expert focus respondent feedback.  From the latter, a survey instrument can be developed, piloted, data collected, then analysed according to descriptive statistics through e.g. Survey Monkey, then data tabulated, presented, analysed, reported and linked back for business applications.

Inductive Approach to Qualitative Research

One can take the approach of ‘theory first’ and test deduced hypotheses to verify theory, or conversely ‘theory after’, not starting with theory but collecting data to generate a theory or model.  This is not unlike inferring the significant factors that impact how Google and Facebook Page search algorithms affect SEO, when the algorithm is commercial in confidence.


The research is based on eliciting relevant process or factors to inform and develop a latent construct of optimal marketing and communications for students as purchasers, especially related to the information seeking phase or journey.  This construct, developed through inference, should suggest good industry practice that includes latent factors or (re)sources that allow students to find relevant information to analyse for a future purchase decision.


Advantages of this approach are that it allows one to take a research direction, it does not force respondents to adopt a restrictive theory or framework that may preclude relevant feedback (Saunders et al., 2009). 


Such a construct can be used to develop a marketing and communications strategy or template, then used to develop initial, or compare existing, strategy and evaluate, according to users, clients or students; creating systematic process and utility in the sector.

Research Proposition

How do students’ or customers’ information seeking behaviours relate to marketing and communications strategy in international education or related service industries?


The research proposition posits that there is a relationship between more recent information seeking factors exemplified by digital, and the older WOM word of mouth, for a purchase decision process, with development of grounded, practical marketing and communication strategy.


This data collection and research focused mostly upon the similarities in recent digital based ‘information search or discovery process’, the factors that are related to this process and could be used to infer an optimal information seeking construct or model (Kotler & Keller, 2012).

Reference List:

Kotler, P. & Keller, K. (2012) Marketing Management. (14^th Ed.) Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education – Prentice Hall.

Saunders, M., Lewis, P. & Thornhill, A. (2009) Research Methods for Business Students. (5^th Ed.) Harlow UK: Pearson Education Ltd.

Mapping Digital Customer Journey

Developing, Implementing & Maintaining Digital or e-Marketing & Communication Strategy in International Education

Nowadays there are very good resources to inform development of in house e-marketing or digital, SEO, SM and communications strategy through online and in-house training.  This is evidenced by the Australian Tourism Data Warehouse (ATDW) eMarketing Tutorial Kit developed for local and global travel agencies with high school or vocational level education, with minimal technical skills (Australian Tourism Data Warehouse, 2015).

Developing Digital e-Marketing Strategy in International Education
(Image copyright Pexels)

Small or large education institutions can leverage this above mentioned kit, or similar, as they presumably have teaching or training skills in house, thus creating a learning environment around digital based marketing and communications.

Workplace skills development for digital marketing

In house workplace learning, formal and informal, is an important driver of workplace education and skills, including marketing and communication, reflecting a learning cycle developed by Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory, see Figure 1.

Figure 1 - Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory

• Concrete Experience
• Reflective Observation
• Abstract Conceptualisation
• Active Experimentation
• Concrete Experience – Review (start again)

(Andrew, 2001).

All personnel, customers and stakeholders can contribute and learn as above through feedback, to develop a marketing and communications system or cycle, if organisational culture and structure fit.  Importantly, as the world becomes more diverse institutions do too, they must adopt different communication strategies reflecting bottom up communication and their own institution (Paxtor Education Matters, 2017).


Such strategies are also directly relevant and essential to business, including small medium enterprises (SME) in other sectors.  However, many businesses suffer from self-imposed limitations by claiming digital is too technical or simply an ‘add-on’ activity described as digital.  The solution is to simply ask customers which digital and SM communication channels they prefer, and have them develop content or CGM customer generated marketing (Koehn, 2017).

Not just a question of why, but how to analyse a digital customer journey?

It’s clear that digital and ICT encompassing websites, blogs, multimedia, social media, etc. have changed not ‘why’ students make a purchase decision, but ‘how’?  In other words, what does a study candidate’s preferred information search process include over time e.g. behaviour, actions and tools during the discovery journey?


The potential factors that emerge from the literature and industry reporting can be grouped under key phases or dimensions of the purchasing process.  This includes ‘decision factors’ focused upon needs e.g. course, price, institution and destination.


The major phase or dimension is ‘information seeking’ factors including WOM, translated information, device, website quality, SEO, paid search engine marketing (SEM), web-based SM, mobile based SM, SM based WOM, browser types, cookies and privacy.


Additionally, how do students analyse information, or what resource factors for the ‘analysis of information’ including peers, consultants, speed of communication, two-way communication, relationship marketing and institutional rankings.


Final group of factors on ‘decision making’ from the literature included visa, immigration, post purchase satisfaction and the importance of evaluating marketing and communications through enrolled or prospective students; is the marketing message being communicated well to the target market, according to them?


The inferred outcomes or factors to develop a construct, system or cycle, based on student or stakeholder feedback and related literature, can inform the marketing and communications processes for international education, other sectors and sole traders through SME to large entities.  This literature review and the following focus respondent research feedback, helped inform the final survey instrument including key dimensions made of factor clusters; leading to process of triangulation.

Mapping the inferred process

These factor clusters came under: Recognition of Need, Information Search, Evaluation of Alternatives, Purchase Decision and Post Purchase Behaviour; able to accommodate a process or cycle (see Figure 2 below).

Figure 2

Five Stage Purchase Decision Behaviour Model or Process (simplified)

• Recognition of Need
• Information Search
• Evaluation of Alternatives
• Purchase Decision
• Post Purchase Behaviour

 (Kotler & Keller, 2012).

Reference List:

Andrew, C. (2001) Experiential Learning Theory. Available at: http://gdn.glos.ac.uk/gibbs/ch2.htm (Accessed on: 15/06/2017).


A.T.D.W. Australian Tourism Data Warehouse (2015) Exciting Future for the Tourism E Kit.  Available at: http://atdw.com.au/2015/07/01/exciting-future-tourism-e-kit/ (Accessed on: 15/06/2017).


Koehn, E. (2017) SMEs confused on social media: Only four out of 10 have a strategy to capture consumers.  Available at: http://www.smartcompany.com.au/marketing/social-media/smes-confused-social-media-four-10-strategy-capture-consumers/#.WVSszMCHkk4.email (Accessed: 29/06/2017).


Kotler, P. & Keller, K. (2012) Marketing Management. (14^th Ed.) Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education – Prentice Hall.


Paxtor Education Matters (2017) Digital Strategy for Higher Education: Complexity, Identity, Promise. Education Matters Blog. Available at: https://educationmatters.blog/2017/05/16/digital-strategy-for-higher-education-complexity-identity-promise/ (Accessed on: 27/05/2017).

Digital Behaviour in Marketing

Advances and Changes in Digital Behaviour

for

Digital or e-Marketing Communications

Digital technology and education related publishing companies have researched youth markets well to understand their target market and confirm previous industry research around digital behaviour of millennials (plus generations X and Y).

Student Decision Making

Student decision making is a process over time including decisions based on information about course, country then institution, fees, satisfaction, graduate outcomes, destination marketing, security and up to date websites.  Accordingly, student engagement through social media SM is important, and students need to be tracked and supported in discovery process through to application and ongoing feedback and analysis (Hobsons, 2014).

Social Media and Digital Behaviour in Marketing (Image copyright Pexels)

Further, according to stakeholders in the SM space, youth including diverse sub-sets is engaged and online whether social media or via mobile, requiring optimism and personality in communications.  (FacebookIQ, 2014).  Due to this changing technology environment and human computer interaction (HCI), millennials now conduct their ‘information seeking’ differently from the past (Scanlon, 2006).

Market Research of Youth, Social Media and Word of Mouth

Market research concurred with other industry-based reporting, i.e. showed increased use of SM by both consumers and businesses, with former using online for information search and post purchase review (Sensis, 2016). Related, another consumer report cited the need for leveraging of word of mouth WOM and ‘Consumer-Generated Media’ (CGM), suggesting bottom-up strategy has become more important than top down according to advertisers or commissioners (Nielsen, 2009).

Application to International Education Marketing

Additionally, much of the above has been confirmed by other industry research in international education highlighting the need for new ways of doing things. For example, identifying broader ROI KPIs, student led marketing content, mobile focus, skilled human resources and becoming more integrated with agents or distributors including assistance with cooperative digital strategy (Educations Media Group, 2017).


Another viewpoint from international education industry research came up with ‘Myths Busted’, including: admissions is no longer the most important source of information, rankings not so relevant, but SM, mobile and web search are central, Facebook is declining in importance with teens, and institutions must understand the nuances of their target market (Rogers & Stoner, 2015).


Finally, important for institutions to match students’ decision-making and discovery process to have multiple information sources, WOM, peer reviews, course, student body, employment outcomes and warn that sub-optimal university websites and social media can turn prospective candidates away (Karzunina et al., 2016).


The question nowadays should be how does an institution or any business develop, implement and maintain and informed digital or e-marketing strategy according to their clients or customers?

Reference List:

Educations Media Group (2017) International Higher Education Report: Marketing + Recruitment Trends. Available at: https://www.educations.com/file/1055/download (Accessed on: 23/04/2017).


FacebookIQ (2014) Coming of Age on Screens: An in-depth look at teens and young adults around the world. Available at: https://fbinsights.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/comingofageonscreens_whitepaper_120814.pdf (Accessed 03/01/2017).


Hobsons (2014) Beyond the Data: Influencing international student decision making.  Available at: http://www.hobsons.com/emea (Accessed: 3/1/2017).


Karzunina, D., Bridgestock L. & Philippou, G (2016) What Matters to International Students: Global Overview. Available at: http://www.qsdigitalsolutions.com/resources/what-matters-to-international-student-global-overview/ (Accessed 03/01/2017).


Nielsen (2009) Nielsen – Global Online Consumer Survey. Available at: http://www.nielsen.com/content/dam/corporate/us/en/newswire/uploads/2009/07/pr_global-study_07709.pdf (Accessed on 07/05/2017).


Rogers, G. & Stoner, M. (2015) Mythbusting Admissions: Where Prospects and Professionals Agree – and Disagree – on Enrollment, Marketing, Messages and Channels. Chegg Enrollment Services. Available at: https://www.uaf.edu/files/provost/MythbustingAdmissions.pdf (Accessed on 23/04/2017).


Scanlon, M. (2006) Information-Seeking Behaviour of Millennials.  SLA Annual Conference.  Available at:  http://sla-divisions.typepad.com/dam_blog/files/Information-Seeking_BehaviorofMillennials.pdf (Accessed on: 23/04/2107).


Sensis (2016) Sensis Social Media Report 2016. Available at:  https://www.sensis.com.au/asset/PDFdirectory/Sensis_Social_Media_Report_2016.PDF (Accessed on: 23/04/2017).

Digital e-Marketing Strategy Development

Developing Good Digital or e-Marketing Strategy in International Education

An optimal marketing and communications strategy, especially when developed in a digital environment, should reflect how information is sought, along with process of purchase decisions, but also promotional channels and availability of deeper analytics for feedback.  Like any system and MIS theory explains; systems and strategy now relying upon digital platforms, must be actively informed and tested by prospective users, then evaluated by users e.g. personnel and target market.

Development of Digital or e-Marketing Strategy (Image copyright Pexels)

Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC)

This is exemplified by the Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) in Figure 1 used in software development which has ‘widespread application in practice’ through its cyclical nature starting with needs analysis, design or development, testing, application and review or needs analysis again (McMurtrey, 2013).  Any obstacle to good ‘needs analysis’, avoidance or ignorance of analysing student information seeking behaviour, can lead to invalid and sub-optimal marketing and communications strategy, precluding desired outcomes.

Figure 1 - Systems Development Lifecycle (SDLC)

• Analysis & Review
• Design
• Coding
• Testing
• Implementation
• Maintenance, Analysis & Review (start again)

(Ibid.)

Google Analytics in Digital or e-Marketing Evaluation

A deeper understanding of how well a marketing and communications strategy is working and which information seeking factors are important, can be learnt from students, especially recently enrolled students who have been on the information seeking journey. Conversely, Google Analytics can inform marketing well about existing traffic and enrolled students for key words and phrases, but does not explain prospective customers who are not aware, and have not found the product or website?

Skilled Human Resources and Effective Marketing

in Digital Environment

When all personnel and stakeholders represent a brand or product, optimal human resources are needed with soft skills in communication, cross cultural, personal presentation, social research, data literacy, digital literacy and analysis.  Although many enterprises, institutions or businesses invest in digital resources and marketing, internet-based marketing expenditure needs more valid analysis and measurement of ROI, but there has been little (Epstein & Yuthas, 2007).  Like any optimal marketing and communication strategy or MIS, end users e.g. prospective and existing students, need to be consulted to learn where they interact and how.


However, even when equipped with related skills, they can be compromised by sub-optimal soft skills, organisational culture and internal management led strategies.  For example, any organisation or business lacking joined up, bottom-up and lateral communication by empowered personnel and customers, can be stymied in any digital based marketing and communications strategy including SEO, if strategy is developed technically and enforced ‘top down’, without consultation.

Search Engine Optimisation SEO and Marketing Content

Search engine optimisation methods, via common keywords and phrases, are needed to ensure course information can be found on first page of generic web search results, along with destination information and social media engagement, i.e. in research process from enquiry through to enrolment (ICEF Monitor, 2014).  Students often start discovery process with no brand preference and expect fast responses and peer reviews from other students (ICEF Monitor, 2016e). However, conversations with admissions or marketing officers are not so important for students, although the perception of officers is otherwise (ICEF Monitor, 2016d).


Earlier research seems to confirm the above and has shown that decisions by study candidates are based upon visible course content early in decision process, WOM, communication access at time of application and during the preceding discovery process (Moogan, 2011).  Issue is that much of this significant digital based activity may not be recognised, despite marketing and communication strategies with MIS or designated KPIs?


Not only are students well suited for testing SEO, they are essential to inform good SEO and SM strategy through feedback and using students’ language(s) for keyword phrases, plus developing and disseminating relevant marketing content to other prospective students.

Reference List:

Epstein M. & Yuthas K. (2007) Evaluating the Effectiveness of Internet Marketing Initiatives. The Society of Management Accountants of Canada (CMA Canada), the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Inc. (AICPA) and The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA). Available at: http://www.cimaglobal.com/Documents/ImportedDocuments/Tech_MAG_Evaluating_Internet_Marketing_April06.pdf (Accessed: 10/01/2017).

ICEF Monitor (2014) New survey highlights international students’ top priorities when considering where to study abroad. Available at: http://monitor.icef.com/2014/05/new-survey-highlights-international-students-top-priorities-when-considering-where-to-study-abroad/ (Accessed on 03/01/2017).

ICEF Monitor (2016d) Points of contact: The most influential channels for prospective students.  Available at: http://monitor.icef.com/2016/01/points-of-contact-the-most-influential-channels-for-prospective-students/ (Accessed on: 03/01/2017).

ICEF Monitor (2016e) Reaching millennials: Make it fast but keep it real. Available at: http://monitor.icef.com/2016/03/reaching-millennials-make-it-fast-but-keep-it-real/ (Accessed on: 03/01/2017).

McCurtrey, M. (2013) A Case Study of the Systems Development Lifecycle in the 21^st Century Health Care: Something Old Something New? Journal for the Southern Association for Information Systems. 1(1) Available at: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jsais/11880084.0001.103/--case-study-of-the-application-of-the-systems-development?rgn=main;view=fulltext (Accessed 17/05/2017).

Moogan, Y. (2011) Can a higher education institution's marketing strategy improve the student institution match? International Journal of Educational Management. 25(6) pp. 570 – 589. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/09513541111159068  (Accessed 21/12/2016).

Digital Marketing to Students

Marketing & Communication Strategy - Digital Technology & Young Adults

According to industry market intelligence and those targeting youth markets, it’s very important to be abreast of digital technology for information, communication and recommendations with social media, internet, mobiles, friends, WOM (word of mouth), etc., used for sharing of credible information and brands (ICEF Monitor, 2016f).  Marketers and institutions need more insight into student information digital or online research journey factors e.g. importance of student testimonials, easily navigable website, and direct rapid responses to enquiries (ICEF Monitor, 2016a).

Digital Technology and Social Media Marketing Communications
(Image copyright Pexels)

Prospective candidates and in many cases families, need access to information and multimedia any time or place fitting their behaviour, not what fits institutional culture, personnel or strategies (ICEF Monitor, 2016c).  Further, to access youth or millennials, mobiles and related marketing are important, as are speed, messages, images and multiple channels (ICEF Monitor, 2015a).


It is not sufficient to access only students, but also stakeholders such as parents influential in decision-making via their mother tongue, suggesting the importance of translated information that can be found (ICEF Monitor, 2012a).  Additionally, European based industry groups and practitioners have confirmed the key influencers on student decision making during information seeking process, include peers, academics and advisors (ICEF Monitor, 2016b).


The challenge for now and the future is how can digital technology resources be leveraged to improve marketing, communications and recruitment or sales?  Speaking to your target market is not only logical, it is also confirmed by industry, the need to track and analyse behaviour so targeted digital based marketing matches the target market (Saunders et al., 2009).


Expanding further, including the significance of inferring the Google search algorithm through outcomes, international education marketing and communication strategies can be improved by the same thinking.  This is through using the inductive approach to delineate key factors in the information search phase, according to students and stakeholders, and inform good SEO (search engine optimisation) based marketing and communications.

Reference List

ICEF Monitor (2016a) Global survey highlights the importance of peer review and detailed insights for prospective students. Available at: http://monitor.icef.com/2016/07/global-survey-highlights-importance-peer-review-detailed-insights-prospective-students/ (Accessed: 03/01/2017).


ICEF Monitor (2016b) New report tracks key influencers for international students. Available at: http://monitor.icef.com/2016/02/new-report-tracks-key-influencers-for-international-students/ (Accessed: 03/01/2017).


ICEF Monitor (2016c) New research provides fresh insights for reaching and engaging millennials. Available at: http://monitor.icef.com/2015/04/new-research-provides-fresh-insights-for-reaching-and-engaging-millennials/ (Accessed: 03/01/2017).


ICEF Monitor (2016f) Where the devices are: New study updates global stats on Internet usage. Available at: http://monitor.icef.com/2015/04/where-the-devices-are-new-study-updates-global-stats-on-internet-usage/ (Accessed on: 03/01/2017).


Saunders, M., Lewis, P. & Thornhill, A. (2009) Research Methods for Business Students. (5^th Ed.) Harlow UK: Pearson Education Ltd.