Situation
A thriving private college that trains students towards Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) accredited qualifications spotted a market opportunity to expand into the North. The business had started in the south eight years earlier and had developed a successful business model based on building excellent relationships with its stakeholders. The management team wanted to pilot this model at two Northern-based centres but they needed a low-risk strategy as the business was an SME with the limited capital reserves that are typical of organisations at this stage of their development.
Solution
Impress Marketing agreed to set up and manage the new centres on a variable cost basis, with the agreement that the project would be halted if the market didn’t prove to be as vibrant as expected.
Benefits
The college is now in its second year of trading in the North, with student numbers set to increase and grades above the national average for the CIM. The centre is managed by a freelance marketer, on a two-day-per-week basis. Not only does this give the college the low-cost basis it needs to develop the centres, but it also benefits from the network that the freelancer is developing as part of their other client activities. |
