Demarketing Services Strategic Management, Tactical Response or Necessary Evil?

Abstract

Most Student Services units in Australian higher education institutions have been forced to reconsider how they can continue to provide quality services which are valued by the organisational stakeholder as well as by clients when funding is being drastically reduced. It is clear that we will have to demonstrate relevance and alignment to institutional goals. It is also clear that students will be asking for different and often for more in the way of support services as other supports, both internal and external to the organisation, are reduced. Student Services units have spent much time and energy marketing themselves to management, to clients and increasingly to new client groups. Perhaps it is time to consider demarketing certain of our services as a proactive strategy to survive and perform under pressure. The concept of demarketing is a relatively new one in the field of marketing and the paper will explore what demarketing means, different ways to demarket for different outcomes and some practical examples of how demarketing principles can be applied to Student Services operations.