A good reputation is a unique resource owned by a university, which is gradually accumulated in the long-term running process. Any university committed to long-term sustainable development should strengthen its reputation management, so that its reputation can be effectively maintained and enhanced, thus putting itself in a favorable position in the competition.
(A) Educational marketing is an inevitable choice for colleges and universities to participate in market competition.
The image and reputation of colleges and universities have become an important condition for them to win the competition. With the continuous improvement of the market economic system, colleges and universities are no longer the darling of the government, and running schools is gradually moving towards the market. The diversification of higher education market demand and fierce competition make higher education marketing inevitable. Colleges and universities need to take appropriate marketing strategies and actively participate in market competition according to the characteristics of higher education market and their own conditions. The introduction and application of educational marketing concept will inevitably make colleges and universities adapt to the needs of society and consumers with more pragmatic and efficient operation. Especially after higher education entered the era of popularization, higher education quickly changed from "seller's market" to "buyer's market". Students and parents have the right to choose education freely, and the demand of ordinary people for high-quality higher education resources is increasingly strong. Ordinary colleges and universities are at an obvious disadvantage in the competition with key universities and foreign high-quality higher education. In order to maintain or improve their position in this competition, colleges and universities should not only continuously improve their own education and teaching quality, but also establish market awareness, apply business philosophy, adopt marketing strategies, improve social reputation, establish a good image and expand social influence.
(2) Educational marketing is the realistic need for colleges and universities to concise their school-running characteristics.
The development of colleges and universities needs characteristics, and the pursuit of characteristics is of great practical significance to the survival and development of colleges and universities. The characteristic is that colleges and universities optimize the allocation of all available resources on the basis of concrete analysis of their own situation, and form, maintain and develop their own advantages and strengths. The demand of society and employers for talents is very different, and students' interests and intelligence are also very different, which leaves a huge space for colleges and universities to concise their own school-running characteristics. Diversified needs give birth to diversified schools, which make it possible for different universities to form their own characteristics. Only universities with school-running characteristics can have strong social influence and market competitiveness. To run a university with characteristics, we must first make great efforts in discipline construction, teaching staff construction, teaching and scientific research management, focus on cultivating talents, attach great importance to the improvement of teaching quality, and do everything possible to do a good job in graduate employment; Secondly, we should adopt appropriate educational marketing strategies, establish educational management concepts, give full play to the advantages and strengths of running a school, create beautiful school highlights, attract more public and clients to know and understand the school, enhance its social attraction and improve its visibility and reputation.
(C) Education marketing is an effective way for colleges and universities to establish their own image
The image of colleges and universities is the external expression of their strength and comprehensive quality, and it is the premise and foundation for colleges and universities to win social trust and support. A good school image is an important magic weapon for universities to win in the competition. Establishing a good public image of colleges and universities will inevitably enhance the visibility, cohesion and trust of schools, gain maximum social recognition, and form a joint force of social support for education. Educational marketing has its particularity and inevitability in China. Education in China is essentially non-profit, and educational marketing can never be equated with advertising in commercial operation. We must adhere to the premise of non-profit, use marketing theory appropriately with a cautious and pragmatic attitude, grasp the orientation of the development of colleges and universities, find the development direction of colleges and universities, better realize the three functions of cultivating talents, scientific research and social service, and establish a good image of colleges and universities in front of society and people. At the same time, the marketing of colleges and universities is not a matter of several departments, not a matter of a certain period of time, nor a simple matter of propaganda department. All functional departments and departments of the school must establish marketing concepts, take the service object as the center, the whole process of education as the center, and the quality of personnel training as the center. Only by coordination can we achieve the goals set by the school and establish a good external image of the school.
Second, the specific application of marketing 4P strategy in the promotion of school reputation
(a) Products: Consolidate the basic role of education and teaching services in enhancing the reputation of schools.
From the perspective of marketing, products refer to all tangible goods and intangible services that can meet the needs and desires of consumers or users on the one hand through exchange. As a school, no matter what ownership, organizational form or property right relationship, it must provide high-quality educational products to the society in order to gain a firm foothold in the education market and become a leader in the education market competition. The main product provided by the school is education and teaching service, and students are the main carrier of this product. Schools should take the education of consumers' needs as the starting point, and consider how to meet their needs through all the work related to education of consumers (students, parents, social organizations) such as education and teaching, organization and management, and logistics support. Education consumers consume the products provided by schools by paying education fees, and realize the transformation from the educated object to the talents needed by society. At the same time, marketing also believes that under the premise of ensuring product quality, product differences and characteristics are the core elements for enterprises to win in the market competition. Only by developing new high-quality products can enterprises expand their market share and improve their competitiveness. With the gradual formation of the education market, the competition between schools is becoming increasingly fierce. Schools should not only rely on existing products, but also actively develop new high-quality products and constantly refine their own school-running characteristics in order to stand out or survive in the education market competition.
(2) Pricing: the core role of strengthening the quality of personnel training in enhancing the reputation of the school.
Product pricing is an important content of enterprise marketing mix strategy, and it is also an important means to open up and expand the market. Enterprises can choose pricing methods according to the marketing strategies in different periods, taking into account factors such as the cost price of purchasing production materials, the sales price of products, the market price of competitors, and the utility of products themselves. After entering the market economy, the marketing of colleges and universities should also adopt certain price strategies. According to the research of Pennsylvania Institute of Higher Education, colleges and universities are also classifying themselves and gradually forming a clear market segment. What should be the standard of school product pricing? The quality of personnel training should of course be the core basis of pricing. School pricing should not only comprehensively consider factors such as production cost, average market price, consumers' affordability, market supply and demand, but also be properly linked to the school's positioning, education quality and popularity. More importantly, the market's satisfaction with the quality of graduates should be taken as an important basis. As the product of colleges and universities, graduates need to enter the market and accept the strict test of the market. Especially after the implementation of the "two-way choice" of graduates' employment, the width of the employment market, the size of the employment ratio and the quality of employment have become an important basis for society, parents and students to measure the quality of running colleges and universities and choose their own schools. Especially in the case of shortage of high-quality educational resources, colleges and universities must put the quality of education in a more prominent and important position, and really invest funds to improve students' professional knowledge and practical ability under the constraint of market mechanism.