A

PROJECT REPORT ON
“INTEGRATED MARKETING TOOLS WITH
RESPECT TO LITHAN COMPANY”
Under the Partial fulfilment of the requirement of
BACHELOR OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES
Submitted by
BHOOMA GHANSHYAM TALELE
TYBMS (MARKETING)
Roll No. 77

Under the guidance of

PROF. URMILA SHETVE
Submitted to
UNIVERSITY OF MUMBAI

Academic Year
2017-18

VPM’s
K.G Joshi College of Arts&
N.G Bedekar College of Commerce
Chendani Bunder Road, Thane 400601.

1
 INDEX

Sr. Page
No.
Particulars No.

1 Declaration

2 Acknowledgment

3 Executive Summary

4 Objectives

5 Research Methodology

6 Scope of study

CHAPTER INTRODUCTION
1

Introduction of IMC (Integrated marketing

7 1.1
communication tools).

8 1.2 7 P’s of marketing.

9 1.3 7 C’s of marketing.

10 1.4 Definition

2
 Different tools of integrated marketing
11 1.5 communication
(IMC TOOLS)

12 1.6 Reasons why IMC is more important these days.

CHAPTER
COMPANY PROFILE
2

13 2.1 The LITHAN Pvt. Ltd

14 2.2 Mission, Vision, Strategies

15 2.3 Portfolio

16 2.4 Competitors

CHAPTER OVERVIEW OF IMC (Integrated marketing

3 communication)

Characteristics of digital integrated marketing

17 3.1
communication

18 3.2 Benefits of digital IMC

Aims and future objectives

19 3.3

20 3.4 SWOT

CHAPTER
ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
4

3
21 4.1 Data analysis and Data interpretation

22 4.2 Limitations of study

23 Recommendations or Suggestions

24 Conclusion

25 Annexure

26 Bibliography and Webliography

4
 DECLARATION
I, Bhooma Ghanshyam Talele the student of T.Y Bachelor of
management studies semester V (2017-2018).
Hereby declare that I have completed the project
On ___________________
The information submitted is true and original to
the best of my knowledge.

________________________
Bhooma.G.Talele
Roll no-77
VPM’s
K.G Joshi College of Arts&
N.G Bedekar College of Commerce
Chendani Bunder Road, Thane 400601.

5
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

To list who all have helped me is difficult because they are so

numerous and the depth is so enormous.

I would like to acknowledge the following as being idealistic

channels and fresh dimensions in the completion of the project.

I take the opportunity to thank the UNIVERSITY OF MUMBAI

for giving me the chance to do this project.

I would like to thank my Principal, Dr. Mrs. Suchitra Naik Mam

for providing the necessary facilities required for completion of
this project.

I take this opportunity to thank our Coordinator, Mr. Nitin Pagi

Sir, for his moral support and guidance.

I would also like to express my sincere gratitude towards my

project guide Mrs.Urmila Shetve.

I would like to thank my College Library, for having provided

various reference books and magazines related to my project.

Lastly, I would like to thank each and every person who directly
and indirectly helped me in the completion of my project especially
my Parents and Peers who supported me throughout my project.

6
 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
I choose this topic for the project because firstly it was very
interesting to study upon a quite challenging too. The topic
integrated marketing tools are very necessary for any firm or
organization. I choose Lithan as my company because it is the best
company which could appropriately fit as a good example in
understanding the IMC tools with illustration with respect to the
company. Lithan uses IMC in order to communicate with its targets
using degree communication strategy as they want to create links
with the customers to satisfy their needs and wants and
substantially earn profit on the other hand. Lithan is willing to be
closer to its customers to be a part of the daily life by using various
IMC tools and strategies and also focusing on a main message they
want to deliver.
Also I found this topic very apt for research and study because
Lithan uses above stated tools for communicating, building an
image, customer retention, and lastly to satisfy the needs and
wants of the customers.
The project throws a light on 7 P’s of marketing and 4 c’s of
marketing and the different tools of integrated marketing
communication. The reasons for why IMC is more important these
days.
The characteristics of IMC and its benefits to an organisation.
Lithan do not have a way broad history but has spread rapidly
across parts of Asia. It has many competitors but stands way ahead
from all those.
SWOT analysis helps us to know about Lithan’s internal as well as
external environment. Data analysis an interpretation is done by
consumer survey. There we also few limitations faced while
collecting data. Research sources are primary as well as secondary
data.

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 OBJECTIVES
• To analyse the integrated marketing communication program
used by Lithan company
• To analyse Effectiveness of various integrated marketing
tools used by the company
• To determine the consumer behaviour and perception
towards the brand.
• To know if future vision is consistent with core truths of the
brand.
• To assess whether customer management focuses on the
value of customers over their lifetime.
• To have more cost effective use of agencies and business
partners with better team results.
• To focus on building relationships and brand values.
• To study consumer demography.
• To study consumers reaction for various products of Lithan.
• To study communication marketing strategies adopted by
company.

8
 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

In order to conduct the research the appropriate

methodology became necessary. The information provided
in this project has been collected from various sources.
The data – the material for the project has been collected
keeping in view the objectives of a project and accordingly
data has been found out from the following two sources:
Primary Data:
Primary data is collected by market research & by taking
information from consumers from the society and also
Lithan Company situated in metro cit Andheri in Mumbai
district. The primary data has been collected by conducting
interview of various consumers by sampling method and
by providing questionnaires to different people.

Secondary Data:
Secondary data is Collection of information for the project
is done from different kinds of reference books and
through internet.

9
 SCOPE OF STUDY
• I have conducted this survey between the age groups from
teenage to youngsters from various institutes/ colleges and
peer group.
• For conducting this survey I have taken the geographical
area i.e. Thane district and Mumbai district.
• To find out the effectiveness of marketing communication
tools in Lithan Company.
• To study procedures adopted in evaluating IMC tools.
• To understand IMC tools.

10
 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

11
 1.1 Introduction:

What is exactly IMC (integrated marketing communication) tool?

Integrated marketing communication tools refer to integrating

various marketing tools such as advertising, online marketing,
public relation activities, direct marketing, sales campaigns to
promote brands so that similar message reaches a wider audience.
Products and services are promoted by effectively integrating
various brand communication tools. To implement integrated
marketing communication, it is essential for the organizations to
communicate effectively with the clients. You need to know how
your products or services would benefit your end users. The more
effectively you promote your brand, the more demand it would
have in the market. Identify your target audience. An approach to
achieving the objectives of marketing campaign through a well
coordinated use of different promotional methods that are intended
to reinforce each other. A recent revelation in integrated marketing
communication is the role of the customer within the business
world. Due to the fast-paced growth of technology, customers are
rapidly gaining more power through forums such as Word of
mouth; now with capabilities of reaching a much wider audience
through the social media. Recognizing this power shift,
organizations have begun to re-valuate their typical marketing
strategies and customer approaches from the traditional customer-
focused attitude to the wide-spreading customer centric method in
order to develop a more integrated strategy. It is essential for
organizations to promote their brands well among the end-users not
only to outshine competitors but also survive in the long run. Brand
promotion increases awareness of products and services and
eventually increases their Sales, yielding high profits and revenue
for the organization. In integrated marketing communication, all

12
aspects of marketing communication work together for increased
sales and maximum cost effectiveness.
Integrated marketing communication ensures two way dialogue
with customers a must in all business. Gone are the days when
marketers used to rely only on advertising and simple promotions
to make their brand popular among end-users. In the current
scenario of cut throat competition, marketers need to promote their
brands by effectively integrating relevant marketing tools for better
results and increased productivity. Integrated marketing
communication plays an essential role in delivering a unified
message to end-users through various channels and thus has better
chances of attracting customers. A single message goes to
customers across all marketing channels be it TV, Radio, Banners,
hoardings and so on. Integrated marketing communication ensures
the brand (product or service) is an instant hit among end-users. It
also develops a sense of attachment and loyalty among end-users.
In a layman’s language integrated marketing communication
provides a wide range of options which help marketers connect
easily with their target customers. Integrated marketing
communication ensures that the customer gets the right message at
the right place and right time. Integrated marketing communication
uses several innovative ways to promote brands among customers
such as newspaper inserts, hoardings and banners at the most
strategic locations, pamphlets, brochures, radio or television
advertisements, press releases, discount coupons, loyalty clubs,
membership clubs, PR-Activities, sales promotional activities,
direct marketing initiatives, social networking sites (Facebook,
Twitter, Orkut), blogs and so on.

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 1.2 Seven P’s of marketing

Price -An amount the consumer is willing to pay for the item
Place -Location

Product- A tangible or intangible good or service

Promotion- Strategic communication methods, in order to
increase sale/exposure of a product

People- Part of delivering the service

Process - Activities undertaken as part of delivering the product

Physical Evidence-Tangible presentation.

14
15
 1.3 Four C’s of marketing

Consumer -Targeted
Targeted audience intending to purchase the product

Cost -The
The amount the consumer is willing to purchase the product
for

Convenience -An
An item value to the consumer

Communication - Touch points of communication.

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1.4 Definition:

As defined by the American Association of Advertising

Agencies:

“Integrated marketing communications recognizes the value of a

comprehensive plan that evaluates the strategic roles of a variety of
communication disciplines advertising, public relations, personal
selling and sales promotion and combines them to provide clarity,
consistency and maximum communication impact”.

By Kotler and Keller:

“It is the coordination and integration of all marketing
communications tools, avenues, and sources within a company into
a seamless program that maximizes the impact on consumer and
other end users at a minimal Cost.”

By management study guide:

Integrated marketing is a management strategy and meta-discipline

focused on the organizations-wide optimization of unique value for
stakeholders. Integrated marketing is the planning an execution of
all your company’s marketing activities, online and offline, in a
way that is consistent across all of your customer contacts and
creates more value than when those activities are performed
separately.

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 1.5 Different Tools of Integrated Marketing:
Communications IMC

The different tools of IMC are as follows:

1. Advertising:
Advertising has four characteristics: it is persuasive in nature; it is
non-personal; it is paid for by an identified sponsor; and it is
disseminated through mass channels of communication.
Advertising messages may promote the adoption of goods,
services, persons, or ideas. Because the sales message is
disseminated through the mass media-as Opposed to personal
selling---it is viewed as a much cheaper way of reaching
consumers. However, its non-personal nature means it lacks the
ability to tailor the sales message to the message recipient and,
more importantly, actually get the sale. Therefore, advertising
effects are best measured in terms of increasing awareness and
changing attitudes and opinions, not creating sales. Advertising‘s
contribution to sales is difficult to isolate because many factors
influence sales. The contribution advertising makes to sales are
best viewed over the long run. The exception to this thinking is
within the interact arena. While banner ads, pop-ups and
interstitials should still be viewed as brand promoting and not
necessarily sales drivers, technology provides the ability to track
how many of a website’s visitors click the banner, investigate a
product, request more information, and ultimately make a
purchase.

Through the use of symbols and images advertising can help

differentiate products and services that are otherwise similar.
Advertising also helps create and maintain brand equity. Brand
equity is an intangible asset that results from a favourable image,
impressions of differentiation, or consumer attachment to the
company, brand, or trademark. This equity translates into greater
sales volume, and/or higher margins, thus greater competitive
advantage. Brand equity is established and maintained through
advertising that focuses on image, product attributes, service, or

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other features of the company and its products or services.

Cost is the greatest disadvantage of advertising. The average cost

for a 30second spot on network television increased fivefold
between 1980 and 2005. Plus, the average cost of producing a 30-
second ad for network television is quite expensive. It is not
uncommon for a national advertiser to spend in the millions of
dollars for one 30-second commercial to be produced. Add more
millions on top of that if celebrity talent is utilized.

Credibility and clutter are other disadvantages. Consumers have

become increasingly skeptical about advertising messages and tend
to resent advertisers’ attempt to persuade. Advertising is
everywhere, from network television, to daily newspapers, to
roadside billboards, to golf course signs, to stickers on fruit in
grocery stores. Clutter encourages consumers to ignore many
advertising messages. New media are emerging, such as DVRs
(digital video recorders) which allow consumers to record
programs and then skip commercials, and satellite radio which
provides a majority of its channels advertising free.

2. Public Relations PR

Public relations is defined as a management function which

identifies, establishes, and maintains mutually beneficial
relationships between an organization and the public upon which
its success or failure depends. Whereas advertising is a one-way
communication from sender (the marketer) to the receiver (the
consumer or the retail trade), public relations considers multiple
audiences (consumers, employees, suppliers, vendors, etc.) and
uses two-way communication to monitor feedback and adjust both
its message and the organization’s actions for maximum benefit. A
primary tool used by public relations practitioners is publicity.
Publicity capitalizes on the news value of a product, service, idea,
person or event so that the information can be disseminated
through the news media. This third party “endorsement” by the

19
news media provides a vital boost to the marketing communication
message: credibility. Articles in the media are perceived as being
more objective than advertisements, and their messages are more
likely to be absorbed and believed. For example, after the CBS
newsmagazine 60 Minutes reported in the early 19905 that
drinking moderate amounts of red wine could prevent heart attacks
by lowering cholesterol, red wine sales in the United States
increased 50 percent. Another benefit publicity offers is that it is
free, not considering the great amount of effort it can require to get
out-bound publicity noticed and picked up by media sources.

Public relations’ role in the promotional mix is becoming more

important because of what Philip Kotler describes as an “over
communicated society.” Consumers develop “communication-
avoidance routines” where they are likely to tune out commercial
messages. As advertising loses some of its cost~ effectiveness,
marketers are turning to news coverage, events, and community
programs to help disseminate their product and company messages.
Some consumers may also base their purchase decisions on the
image of the company, for example, how environmentally
responsible the company is. In this regard, public relations plays an
important role in presenting, through news reports, sponsorships,
“advertorials” (a form of advertising that instead of selling a
product or service promotes the company’s Views regarding
current issues), and other forms of communication, what the
company stands for.

3. Sales Promotion (SP)

Sales promotions are direct inducements that offer extra incentives

to enhance or accelerate the product’s movement from producer to
consumer. Sales promotions may be directed at the consumer or the
trade. Consumer promotions such as coupons, sampling, premiums,
sweepstakes, price packs (packs that offer greater quantity or lower
cost than normal), low-cost financing deals, and rebates are

20
purchase incentives in that they induce product trial and encourage
repurchase.
Consumer promotions may also include incentives to visit a retail
establishment or request additional information. Trade promotions
include slotting allowances (“buying” shelf space in retail stores),
allowances for featuring the brand in retail advertising, display and
merchandising allowances, buying allowances (volume discounts
and other volume-oriented incentives), bill back allowances (pay-
for-performance incentives), incentives to salespeople, and other
tactics to encourage retailers to carry the item and to push the
brand.

Two perspectives may be found among marketers regarding sales

promotion. First, sales promotion is supplemental to advertising in
that it binds the role of advertising with personal selling. This View
regards sales promotion as a minor player in the marketing
communication program.
A second view regards sales promotion and advertising as distinct
functions with objectives and strategies very different from each
other. Sales promotion in this sense is equal to or even more
important than advertising.

Some companies allocate as much as 75 percent of their

advertising/promotion dollars to sales promotion and just 25
percent to advertising. Finding the right balance is often a difficult
task. The main purpose of sales promotion is to spur action.
Advertising sets up the deal by developing a brand reputation and
building market value. Sales promotion helps close the deal by
providing incentives that build market volume.

Sales promotions can motivate customers to select a particular

brand, especially when brands appear to be equal, and they can
produce more immediate and measurable results than advertising.
However, too heavy a reliance on sales promotions results in “deal-
prone” consumers with little brand loyalty and too much price
sensitivity. Sales promotions can also force competitors to offer
similar inducements, with sales and profits suffering for everyone.

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4. Personal Selling (PS)

Personal selling includes all person-to-person contact with

customers with the purpose of introducing the product to the
customer, convincing him or her of the product’s value, and
closing the sale. The role of personal selling varies from
organization to organization, depending on the nature and size of
the company, the industry, and the products or services it is
marketing. Many marketing executives realize that both sales and
non-sales employees act as salespeople for their organization in
one way or another. One study that perhaps supports this
contention found that marketing executives predicted greater
emphasis being placed on sales management and personal selling
in their organization than on any other promotional mix element.
These organizations have launched training sessions that show
employees how they act as salespeople for the organization and
how they can improve their interpersonal skills with clients,
customers, and prospects. Employee reward
programs now reward employees for their efforts in this regard.

Personal selling is the most effective way to make a sale because of

the interpersonal communication between the salesperson and the
prospect. Messages can be tailored to particular situations,
immediate feedback can be processed, and message strategies can
be changed to accommodate the feedback. However, personal
selling is the most expensive way to make a sale, with the average
cost per sales call ranging from $235 to $332 and the average
number of sales calls needed to close a deal being between three
and six personal calls.

Sales and marketing management classifies salespersons into one

of three groups: creative selling, order taking, and missionary sales
reps. Creative selling jobs require the most skills and preparation.
They are the “point person” for the sales function. They prospect
for customers, analyze situations, determine how their company
can satisfy wants and needs of prospects, and, most importantly,
get an order. Order takers take over after the initial order is

22
received. They handle repeat purchases (straight re buys) and
modified re buys.

Missionary sales reps service accounts by introducing new

products, promotions, and other programs. Orders are taken by
order takers or by distributors.
These organizations have launched training sessions that show
employees how they act as salespeople for the organization and
how they can improve their interpersonal skills with clients,
customers, and prospects. Employee reward
programs now reward employees for their efforts in this regard.

5. Direct Marketing (DM)

Direct marketing, the oldest form of marketing, is the process of
communicating directly with target customers to encourage
response by telephone, mail, electronic means, or personal Visit.
Users of direct marketing include retailers, wholesalers,
manufacturers, and service providers, and they use a variety of
methods including direct mail, telemarketing, direct-response
advertising, and online computer shopping services, cable shopping
networks, and infomercials. Traditionally not viewed as an element
in the promotional mix, direct marketing represents one of the most
profound changes in marketing and promotion in the last 25 years.
Aspects of direct marketing, which includes direct response
advertising and direct mail advertising as well as the various
research and support activities necessary for their implementation,
have been adopted by virtually all companies engaged in marketing
products, services, ideas, or persons.

Direct marketing has become an important part of many marketing

communication programs for three reasons. First, the number of
two-income households has increased dramatically. About six in
every ten women in the United States work outside the home. This
has reduced the amount of time families have for shopping trips.
Secondly, more shoppers than ever before rely on credit cards for
payment of goods and services. These cashless transactions make
products easier and faster to purchase. Finally, technological

23
advances in telecommunications and computers allow consumers
to make purchases from their homes via telephone, television, or
computer with ease and safety. These three factors have
dramatically altered the purchasing habits of American consumers
and made direct marketing a growing field worldwide.
Direct marketing allows a company to target more precisely a
segment of customers and prospects with a sales message tailored
to their specific needs and characteristics. Unlike advertising and
public relations, whose connections to actual sales are tenuous or
nebulous at best, direct marketing offers accountability by
providing tangible results. The economics of direct marketing have
also improved over the years as more information is gathered about
customers and prospects. By identifying those consumers they can
serve more effectively and profitably, companies may be more
efficient in their marketing efforts. Whereas network television in
the past offered opportunities to reach huge groups of consumers at
a low cost per thousand, direct marketing can reach individual
consumers and develop a relationship with each of them.

Research indicates that brands with strong brand equity are more
successful in direct marketing efforts than little-known brands.
Direct marketing, then, works best when other marketing
communication such as traditional media advertising supports the
direct marketing effort.

Direct marketing has its drawbacks also. Just as consumers built

resistance to the persuasive nature of advertising, so have they with
direct marketing efforts. Direct marketers have responded by being
less sales oriented and more relationship oriented. Also, just as
consumers grew weary of advertising clutter, so have they with the
direct marketing efforts. Consumers are bombarded with mail,
infomercials, and telemarketing pitches daily. Some direct
marketers have responded by regarding privacy as a customer
service benefit. Direct marketers must also overcome consumer
mistrust of direct marketing efforts due to incidents of illegal
behaviour by companies and individuals using direct marketing.
The US Postal Service, the Federal Trade Commission, and other
federal and state agencies may prosecute criminal acts. The

24
industry then risks legislation regulating the behaviour of direct
marketers if it is not successful in self-regulation. The Direct
Marketing Association, the leading trade organization for direct
marketing, works with companies and government agencies to
initiate self-regulation.
In March of 2003 the National Do Not Call Registry went into
affect whereby consumers added their names to
a list that telemarketers had to eliminate from their out-bound call
database.

6. Sponsorships (Event Marketing)

Sponsorships, or event marketing, combine advertising and sales

promotions with public relations. Sponsorships increase awareness
of a company’s product, build loyalty with a specific target
audience, help differentiate a product from its competitors, provide
merchandising opportunities, demonstrate commitment to a
community or ethnic group, or impact the bottom line.

Like advertising, sponsorships are initiated to build long-term

associations. Organizations sometimes compare sponsorships with
advertising by using gross impressions or cost-per-thousand
measurements. However, the value of sponsorships can be very
difficult to measure. Companies considering sponsorships should
consider the short-term public relations value of sponsorships and
the long-term goals of the organization.

Sports sponsorships make up about two-thirds of all Sponsorships.

7. Social Media Marketing

The concept of social media marketing basically refers to the
process of promoting business or websites through social media
channels. It is a powerful marketing medium that is defining the
way people are communicating. It is one of the significantly low-
cost promotional methods that provide businesses large numbers of
links and huge amount of traffic.

25
Companies manage to get massive attention and that really works
in favour of the business. Social media marketing is a potent
method applied by progressive companies for selling their
products/services or for just publishing content for advertisement
revenue.
Social media is an extremely useful tool using which companies
can get their information, product descriptions, promotions all
ingrained in the chain of networking world. Considering the
newness of this marketing method, organizations are coming up
with innovative ways to develop their marketing plans. New
platforms are being created to approach potential clients. A large
number of business organizations are allocating budget for online
business development using social media marketing. It is a
booming sector which is going to redefine the way marketing
strategies are being formed and promoted.

8. Internet Marketing
Internet marketing also referred to as i-marketing, web marketing,
online marketing or e-Marketing, is the marketing of products or
services over the Internet. The Internet has brought media to a
global audience. The interactive nature of Internet marketing in
terms of providing instant responses and eliciting responses are the
unique qualities of the medium. Internet marketing is sometimes
considered to be broad in scope because it not only refers to
marketing on the Internet, but also includes marketing done via e-
mail and wireless media. Management of digital customer data and
electronic customer relationship management (ECRM) systems are
also often grouped together under internet marketing. Internet
marketing ties together creative and technical aspects of the
Internet, including: design, development, advertising, and sales.

26
9. Mobile Marketing
Mobile Marketing involves communicating with the consumer Via
cellular (or mobile) device, either to send a simple marketing
message, to introduce them to a new audience participation based
campaign or to allow them to visit a mobile website.

Mobile connectivity not only enables people to connect to the

Internet via a cellular telephone, PDA or other gadget, but also
consolidates the different communication channels in a simple, yet
effective medium.

Cheaper than traditional means for both the consumer and the
marketer and easy enough for almost any age group to understand
and engage with -Mobile Marketing really is a streamlined version
of traditional e-Marketing.

27
1.6 Reasons Why IMC Is More Important These Days

1. More Contact Points

It used to be that traditional mass media (radio, print, TV) was the
way to go when it comes to advertising a product, service or brand.
While they still have their uses, your customers now interact with
your brand in so many ways beyond this.

A customer may have heard about your restaurant from another

friend when they had a great dining experience there the last time.
He goes online to check out the menu, and calls up the restaurant to
make reservations. When he and his date comes in, they can’t help
but notice how cozy the place is, and get the chef’s recommended
dishes for the night.

It is the aim of any Integrated Marketing Communications

practitioner to cover ALL these contact points: including customer
service, store design, direct marketing, word-of-mouth marketing,
the internet, after-sales service, new
media etc.

2. More specialized media

It used to be that mass media was enough to cover any advertiser’s

needs. But with ever-increasing ad clutter, shorter attention spans
and greater resistance to advertising, your customers now tend to
be a lot more selective: they shut out the stuff they feel they don’t
need, and go with the stuff that they want.

So media now tends to zero in on a particular niche market: you

now have a cable channel just for kids 24/7; totally unheard of at
my time. You’ve seen magazines that cater to entrepreneurs, pet
owners, budget travellers, mothers and sports fans. Recently, we’ve
seen even more specialized media: you have podcasts now that talk
about starting up a successful small business, Viral video clips of
cats, and blogs on cheap hotels and resorts in the Asia-Pacific.

28
3. More than ever customers are king
The power has shifted from the manufacturers (those who make a
product) to the retailers (those who actually sell the product). We
all know it: it’s easier to keep an existing customer happy than it is
to win back a customer you lost. Retailers now place greater
emphasis on protecting their client and take great pains in
whipping up the best possible experience for their patrons before,
during and after the sale.

4. Marketing in now more data-based

When a client blows US$10 million on a local TV ad campaign,
does it know exactly how many people watched his ad? Out of
those who did see the ad, how many of them actually remembered
it was all about? And of those who did manage to remember what
it was about, how many answered the call to action?

More advertisers are reluctant to shell out wads of cash for media
buy and rightly so. How do you know you’re getting your media
investment back? Understandably, they want to see figures to see
exactly how that quarterly ad campaign budget is spent, and ask
themselves: is it really worth all the time, money and effort?

Particularly among small to medium-scale enterprises, you now

have all kinds of marketing tools for any given promotional
campaign. As business becomes more cutthroat, business owners
who are also now more involved in the marketing process hang on
tightly to their media budgets and let go after carefully choosing
the right mix of media both traditional and non-traditional.

29
5. More Widespread internet use.
Thanks to the worldwide web, your customers can check out what
they want anytime they feel like it. Conversely, it also means that
your business can also exist outside your regular business hours,
and therefore have the opportunity to keep selling 24/7.

Every company should have an online presence now and it doesn’t

have to be a static brochure-type website. Company blogs give a
more human face to your business, allowing you to interact with
your online audience. Innovative promotional activities can help
bring in new business. And you can expect your clientele to talk
about you particularly so if your product, service or brand has
made a tremendous impact on them both in good and bad ways.

30
 CHAPTER 2

COMPANY PROFILE

31
 COMPANY PROFILE

2.1 The Lithan Pvt Ltd

A) LITHAN PROFILE:
Lithan is Singapore based digital skills accelerator delivering
Learning and Mentorship - On-demand.
They are the lifelong career progression and learning partner
of individuals and a total talents and training solutions
provider
They have (access to) 6 fully-equipped campuses across
Asia, which allow us to customize our delivery to fit the
specific needs of learners.
They measure their success on their ability to enhance their
learners’ job performance and deliver tangible outcomes for
their employers

32
Who They Are:
Lithan’s mission is to redefine adult education through learning
innovation. We are the lifelong career progression and learning
partner of individuals and a total talents and training solutions
provider for enterprises.
What they do:
Developing Future Ready Skills

They provide relevant, flexible, affordable, and personalized

learning programmes. Virtual and blended delivery in the
classroom, at the workplace, at home, and even overseas all own
on-invasive learning without geographic boundaries.
Using innovative technology, Just-in-time learning delivery allow
individuals and enterprise learners to study at their own pace,
anytime and anywhere while still experiencing close mentorship
and support.
Our work-based learning pedagogy uses real world or simulated
virtual lab projects with OJT implementations to deliver tangible
skills with real business outcomes.

Delivering Future Ready Talents

They combine holistic, competency-based training with talent
recruitment to develop tech and innovation skills for future jobs.
Our comprehensive range of courses, from primers, to modular
“bite-size” courses, up to full qualification programmes, cater to
the needs of complete beginners to more advanced learners.
Professional conversion programmes (PCP) provide “Place &
Train” opportunities that allow learners to get hired, get trained,
and apply what they learn immediately on the job.
For Non-ICT professionals, they provide qualification courses to
fast-track their career transition to Business IT. For ICT
professionals, they deliver continuous skills upgrading and job

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specialization training in future technologies to keep their skills up
to date. For everybody else, courses, such as computational
thinking, web programming, and digital marketing, provide the
digital savviness needed to remain relevant in the digital economy.

Grooming Learning Enterprises

They are a total training and talent solutions partner of enterprises.
Companies benefit from their customized workplace learning on-
demand, talent framework and advisory services. Talent
recruitment via our “Place and Train” programmes allow
companies to acquire hard to get latent talents cost effectively.
Their “Competency Learning as a Service” (CLaaS) platform
makes workplace learning pervasive at enterprises with on demand
curriculum, learning facilitation, OJT mentoring support, learning
advisory and learning technology.
Measure of Success
Lithan’s success is based on the ability to provide relevant learning
journeys that enhances their students’ job performance and delivers
tangible outcomes for their employers.

B) BUSINESS SYNOPSIS:
Digital Skills Accelerator
Lithan’s mission is to develop future ready skills and talents for the
new digital economy. Through Competency Learning as a Service
(CLaaS), we deliver Competency-based Curriculum, Work-
integrated Applied Learning, and Personalized Blended Learning
over the cloud, on-demand. They are the lifelong career
progression and learning partner of individuals and a total talents
and training solutions provider for enterprises. They measure the
success on their ability to enhance their learners’ job performance
and deliver tangible outcomes for their employers.

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C) Elevator pitch:
They train and deliver future ready talents for the new economy.
According to them, their training is different. They deliver skills
mastery by going beyond knowledge acquisition in the classroom
to skills utilization at the workplace.
They also recruit and place latent talents for seamless job induction
into enterprises.
[FOR INDIVIDUALS] --So, how do you Future Ready your career
to stay relevant in the new digital economy?
[FOR ENTERPRISES] --So, how do you Future Ready your
workforce to stay relevant in the new digital economy?

D) Geographical spread (Agents):

Lithan Academy has a list of approved agents in Asia to help
distribute its programmes across the region. Through this, we are
able to cater to the needs of undergraduate and postgraduate studies
for overseas students who are interested to come to Singapore, the
Education Hub of Asia.

Our agents, with their experience throughout years of collaboration

with Lithan Academy, provide professional service and counselling
to students and their parents to plan for their education, finances,
visa, accommodation, etc. and to have a pleasant time throughout
their studies.

Our agents are also fully trained and are provided with the latest
updates about Lithan Academy and programs of study to assure
you will receive accurate information.

Below is a list of our registered agents and distributors across the

Asia region. International students wishing to undertake our
academic programs may contact our agents for more information

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E) FACILITIES:
We provide state of the art infrastructure facilities at an affordable
cost. Ourr facilities can be used for training, guest lectures,
examination centres, weekend lectures, mock-test
mock test centres, walk
walk-in
interview centres, meetings, conference, seminars and workshops.
Our training facilities
ties are centrally located and are easily accessible
by road and rail.
Most of them are in close proximity to education institutions,
colleges and business hubs.
Training rooms
Training labs
Examination centre
Meeting rooms
Conference rooms
Interview rooms
Secured Computer systems
Centralized AC
24 x 7 High speed lease line internet connectivity (10 mbps)

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 2.2 Mission, Vision, Strategy

Vision: Deliver Future Ready Talents

Mission: Provide On-Demand Learning and Mentoring

Value: Learn, Innovate and Grow

Marketing and channel strategies:

Task Activity

Public Relations Promote branding and thought

leadership content online and
offline (free or paid)
Online Advertisements Run branding ad campaigns
continuously on social media,
websites
Offline Advertisement Branding ads on Bus panels,
Billboards, event sponsorship etc.
SEO Activities to increase ranking of
the website in search engines
organically
SEM Text ads for keywords at a
corporate level continuously. For
ex. IT training
Website Updating the website with product
information, content for blog,
knowledge hub
Online Reputation Management Monitoring our online presence
with ORM tools (paid / free),
responding to negative comments,
posting new content to weaken the
negative comments

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 2.3 Portfolio
A product portfolio is the collection of all the products or services
offered by a company.
In this context the products are the courses offered by the higher
educational institution, LITHAN.
The different courses offered by the institute are as follows:
o SAP
o BTEC- WEB DEVELOPMENT
o IHL (ENTREPRENEURSHIP)

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 2.3.1 SAP
What is SAP?
SAP software provides many areas for a career development, and
you can decide which path is best for you.
SAP is the leading provider of enterprise software solutions in
virtually every major industry. With over 3,
3 00,000 customers in
more than 190 countries, SAP is an established leader in the ERP
(Enterprise resource planning) world.

There are different modules of SAP which are highlighted

highlighted in the
diagram above.
o SAP Finance modules deal with finance related topics. An
SAP FI consultant is responsible for the implementation of
Financial Accounting system in the organization.

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 o SAP Material Management module basically handles issues
related to procurement of raw material and vendor
management.

o SAP Sales and Distribution is one of the largest functional

modules. Issues like Sales Order processing, Pricing,
Picking, Packaging, Shipping, Billing, etc. all come under
this.

o SAP ABAP (Advanced Business Application Programming)

is a technical module by SAP. It basically helps in building
the mainframe business applications for other aspects of
business like finance, material procurements, and more.

o SAP Human Capital Management module contains various

sub-modules like Administration, Recruitment, Time
Management, Payroll, Compensation Management,
Personnel Cost Planning, Budget Management, Personnel
Development, Training & Event Management, etc.
SAP Lithan advantage:
• SAP India Education Partners since 2002
• Awarded for being the best and consistently performing SAP
Authorized Education Partner
• 14500+ candidates certified in the last decade
• Be a part of biggest Lithan Alumni network as soon as you
enrol and interact with the industry experts, connect with
professionals, and get mentor support and network for job
opportunities and assignments right in the SAP environment.
• 800+ industry network of MNCs and Indian SAP consulting
and end user companies which form the basis of our
placement services.

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 2.3.2 BTEC- WEB DEVELOPMENT
About BTEC
BTEC HND Diploma equips you for life, learning and
employment that integrates worldwide.
A Higher National Diploma (HND) is a higher education
qualification of the United Kingdom. It is internationally
recognised at 95% of UK Higher Education Institutes and from
over 200 universities worldwide - including several of The Times
top #100 ranked universities in Australia, Singapore, Malaysia and
Hong Kong.
Lithan offers HND Diploma in integrated work-study format with
specialisations in Web Development.
Web development specialisation:
Web Developers design, create, and modify websites. They analyse
user needs to implement websites content, graphics, performance,
and capacity. They integrate websites with other computer
applications.
They bring together code and multimedia content by integrating
written, graphic, audio, and video components.
BTEC in Lithan
Lithan offers applied learning degree pathway program through
BTEC HND (Level 5) qualification specializing in Web
development and Systems Management with final year in Victoria
University, Australia. The Business and Technology Education
Council (BTEC) is a provider (existing as part of Pearson

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Education Ltd) of secondary school leaving qualifications and
Further education qualifications in England, Wales and Northern
Ireland. BTEC qualifications are accepted by many universities
when assessing the suitability of applicants for admission, and
many such universities base their conditional admissions offers on
a student's predicted BTEC grades.
2.3.3 IHL (ENTREPRENEURSHIP)
The Champion Entrepreneur event is a unique initiative by Lithan
India with a vision to help young aspiring individuals and students
to realize their dreams of being successful future entrepreneurs.
The program invites participants across India to be trained by
experienced national and international mentors who will guide
them to build an idea into a business start-up.

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Details of the courses are as follows:
A. COURSE MODULE
• Basic Digital Marketing
• Sales Mastery
• Innovation And Entrepreneurship Insights
• Basic Product & Marketing Sales
• Idea Creation For Championship

B. COURSE OUTCOME
• Develop Sales Proposal & Quotation
• Develop and plan sales and marketing activities
• Deploy content delivery network
• Develop digital marketing campaign
• Select new technology models for business
• Perform competitive analysis
• Conduct financial analysis of the business unit
• Build and deliver customer service and customer care support
• Develop sales support and customer management programs

Lithan’s Start-up Accelerator Program

The global start-up movement is experiencing a true explosion,

both in the number of start-ups founded and investments. Funding
has increased 1300% between 2010 to 2015 (TechinAsia, June 1,
2016).
The Start-up Community is vibrant and brimming with
opportunities, and is highly competitive. At start-ups, resources are
limited so everyone has to wear multiple hats.
This unique blend of competition and vibrancy has bred several
challenges:

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Start-up Network
Lithan hosts numerous opportunities for you to integrate with the
start-up community. Join us as we network with start-up
entrepreneurs, mentors, advisors, angel investors, venture
capitalists, incubators and accelerators, by attending our start-up
networking events. Explore your innovative ideas and passions and
unlock your entrepreneurial potential together with driven, like-
minded community stakeholders.

2.4 Competitors
In case of an educational institute, the competitor is not only one
but each product of their company faces a huge competition in the
market.
In case of Lithan, there is a competitive market for all of their
courses in India as well as in abroad.
Competition with respect to SAP.
The top competitions of Lithan for SAP course are Times Pro and
BPCL (Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited).
More about the competitors:-
A) Times Pro
TimesPro (Times Centre for Learning Ltd.) is a subsidiary of the
Times of India group. Their aim is to provide skill based training to
young graduates so as to make them day1 hour1 job ready.
TimesPro’s training programs focus on employability for the
learners in India’s top growing sectors.
B) BPCL
Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) takes pride in being
the first PSU Oil Company in India to have implemented SAP R/3
at all locations spread across the country.

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45
 CHAPTER 3

OVERVIEW OF IMC
(Integrated marketing
communication

46
 3.1 Characteristics of Digital Integrated Marketing
Communication
Being the best you can be at marketing requires a lot of time
digging through analytics and data to find insights. But, as we all
know, marketers stay pretty busy just getting stuff out the door. So
Lithan analyzed which characteristics share successful campaigns.
Digital integrated marketing communications are essentially the
digital marketing equivalent of the traditional marketing
communications mix. Traditionally the off-line world would
employ a marketing communications mix which included public
relations, advertising, sponsorship, personal selling, direct
marketing, and sales promotion. Digital integrated marketing
communications will employ some or all of these tools which are
adapted to the online marketing challenge. There will of course be
new and innovative online tools which are also employed within
the digital integrated marketing communications mix.
The online equivalents are known as digital media channels, and
are employed in many online and off-line campaigns. Digital
integrated marketing communications tools will include display
ads, pay per click advertising, search engine optimisation, and
affiliate marketing amongst others. Let’s not forget the importance
of social media marketing as well.
• Social media marketing is all marketing which goes on
within social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and
many more. For example Facebook has quite a complex social
media advertising program, which allows Lithan to focus on over 1
billion people, based on their location, age and other attributes.
• Opt-in e-mail marketing is exactly what it says on the tin.
Visitors or clients are encouraged to opt-in or in other words sign
up for an e-mail newsletter. It is that simple! The idea is that
participants opt-in with permission, rather than simply being added
to a database without their knowledge. This is also known as
permission marketing. Lithan makes sure that every segment of the
market is covered in their marketing through digital means of
communication.

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• Display advertising is often the first type of advertising that
springs to mind when thinking about the Internet; display
advertising is simply the adverts that you see when you visit any
website. Examples could include banner adverts which run across
the top of Page, or far more rich and complex adverts such as video
adverts; many of the banner adverts and display adverts that you
see are part of large programs such as Google AdWords, or similar.
• Online public relations, or Digital Public Relations (DPR),
tend to be digital marketing communications which encourage a
positive perception or profile of your business or organisation.
There are lessons on public relations on Marketing Teacher if you
need a refresher! However the business will be aiming to generate
positive blogs, re-tweets, Facebook shares, and similar online PR.
Be aware that PR whether online or off-line does have a cost, and
public relations is not free. In order to generate favourable content
written on your behalf, there is a large investment in terms of effort
and cash. Your online public relations might be a mention on a
news channel, either in text or video, you might also receive
positive commentary on podcasts, although these are becoming less
popular. Viral campaigns whereby an interesting or entertaining
fact or video is circulated by e-mail or social networks is probably
a better example of a contemporary public relations approach.
There are examples of viral marketing on Marketing Teacher.
• Search Engine Marketing, or Search Engine Optimisation
SEO, employ marketing tools which attempt to gain the best
position possible for your business in search engines such as
Google or Bing. Once you have attracted a new visitor, the
positioning of text or Calls-To-Action (CTA) will keep a visitor on
your site for longer, and will start to move them along your
marketing tunnel.

Other online relationships:

• There are a number of other online relationships which come
under the heading of digital marketing, or digital media channels.
These will include an array of other approaches. Here are some
popular examples:

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• Price comparison sites where the cost of holidays, insurance and
other consumables are compared. Obviously some comparison
sites are more open and honest in terms of the results that they
deliver, whilst others are less so.
• Affiliate marketing sites are also quite interesting to study and do
tend to generate some niche income from many small sites.
Amazon has a very successful affiliate program whereby small site
owners can place code upon their site to advertise books which
Amazon sources and delivers. So you might have a website which
focuses upon market gardening, and you might advertise books
which explain how to grow tomatoes.
• Link building is also often considered a way of developing online
relationships; however be very cautious with this. Google
especially considers strong or informed links to your website as a
benefit when deciding upon your position within search results.
Obviously many Webmasters have caught on to this and tried
different linking strategies to falsely claw their way to the top of
the search engine results. All links need to be natural.

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 3.2 Benefits of digital IMC
(1) Strategize with the Valuable Data and Analytics
With digital marketing, you can have an idea of the exact number
of people who have viewed your website’s homepage in real time.
With Google analytics, you can track stats and information about
your marketing website. It will let you know about –
• The number of people visiting your business page
• Their geographic location
• The sex, age and interests of the visitors
• How much time they are spending on your site
• The source of traffic from various gadgets
• Website bounce rates
• How the traffic has changed over time
By displaying a breakdown of all of this traffic information, this
intelligence helps you to prioritize the marketing channels.
The real-time data analysis provides you with a better
understanding of the effectiveness of your marketing tactics. With
access to this information, you can also optimize your marketing
budget by investing in the well-performing marketing campaigns.
(2) Content Performance and Lead Generation
Imagine you’ve created a product brochure and delivered it to
people as offline content.
Does it seem to be convenient enough?
The problem is that you have no idea how many people have gone
through that or, in the worst scenarios, how many people threw it
into the trash!
Once you create an impactful visual content, start promoting it on
social media. Through such networks, buyers would be able to
learn about products and services through influencers and peers.

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The more engagement they get, the more Google considers their
content to be worthy. And in turn, it will boost the SEO rankings
with ease.
Through digital marketing, they measure exactly how many people
viewed marketing content. Thereafter, they collect the contact
details of those who download it by using forms. Additionally,
you’re also generating qualified leads when people download it.
With a solid lead nurturing strategy, you can build better awareness
and affinity for your brand.
(3) Improved Conversion Rates
Converting a customer online is not a big deal. All you need to do
is just make your marketing strategy an engaging one.
Targeted traffic offers bigger chances for conversion. Unlike other
types of advertising, digital marketing lets you have a two-way
conversation with customers and leads.
Through digital marketing, you can reach out to your customers at
any time. Instead of bothering them with multiple phone calls,
reaching customers online seems to be a better idea. Just send an
email and let them make a purchase and learn more about your
organization. From such interactions, important leads can be
generated, which would eventually bring an increase in conversion
rates.
(4) More Cost Effective than Traditional Marketing
Digital marketing lets you save your money to a substantial extent.
This has the potential to replace costly advertising channels such as
television, radio and yellow pages.
With email marketing automation, you can boost your leads. Thus,
it will allow you to pre-load content and schedule it for sending out
the content at key times.

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(5) Higher Revenues
It’s a well-known fact that higher conversion rates can be
generated by effective digital marketing techniques. Hence, it will
deliver loads of profitable benefits for your business in terms of
better and higher revenues.
While advertising their brand:
• They have a good layout that enables easy navigation
• Use the digital platform to understand customer purchase
patterns
• Offer the right idea that meets the needs of your customers
• Use multiple digital marketing channels to gather useful data
(6) Higher ROI from Your Campaigns
Digital marketing companies optimize conversion rates to achieve
maximum Return on Investment (ROI) for businesses. With
smarter branding and better revenues, digital marketing can fetch a
better ROI than traditional marketing.
With effective tracking and monitoring methods, results can be
analyzed. It helps the organizations to take necessary measures as
soon as possible.
With digital marketing, you can generate a steady flow of targeted
traffic that gets converted into sales and leads. And, the more your
business generates this kind of traffic, the faster you can enjoy your
ROI.
(7) Compete with Large Corporations
Does digital marketing sound as foreign as binary code to you?
Don’t worry if you are dealing even with a small industry.
The importance of digital marketing also lies in the fact that it lets
you compete head to head with big brands and large corporations.
From a small vendor to a large powerhouse, digital marketing
offers an affordable and effective marketing tactics. Small brands

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can drive traffic both locally and across the country by reaching out
to their target consumers.
(8) Get Prepared for the “Internet of Things”
The “Internet of Things” is a global ecosystem of interconnected
devices – smart phones, tablets and several other gadgets. These
can help people interact with each other through the world of web.
Digital marketing will prepare your business towards this
eventuality. It will permeate through every aspect of people’s lives.
Your business survival strategy needs to be equipped with this
interconnected grid. It will provide you an access window to reach
out to targeted audience belonging to this online grid.
(9) Earn People’s Trust and Build Brand Reputation
Digital Marketing leverages on social media signals, social proof
and testimonials availed from bonafide consumers. The more
reliable these social signals are, the higher the trust rate it can
generate from targeted audiences.
People would trust information about a particular brand if the data
comes from people they know.
And once you meet their expectations, your brand reputation will
go viral. Eventually, it will open new doors of opportunities for
reaching bigger markets.
(10) Ensure Online Business Survival
Many people may come and go, but a targeted few will actually
make a purchase. If you can target the right kind of people who are
going to be your potential customers, the best results will surely
come.
By implementing smart tactics, like blogging and social media, you
can communicate with the target audience. It will help you gain
valuable feedback and insights. With these, you can strategize and
ensure the survival of your business.

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(11) Know All About Your Competitors
As they say – “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”
Social media competitive analysis is an integral part of your digital
marketing campaign.
When you are engaging in digital marketing, you can ask the
experts to look into your competitor’s online strategies. It will help
you to capitalize on any possible opportunities in no time. You can
see what they are doing to gain an upper hand and reach more
consumers.
Thus, you can figure out marketing opportunities and gain a strong
competitive advantage.
(12) Real Time Results
Unlike traditional methods, you can see in real time what’s
working and what’s not for your online business.
Through online marketing, you can know about:
• the number of visitors to your site
• the increase in the number of its subscribers
• peak trading times
• conversion rates
• Increase/drop in website traffic
• bounce rate
• and much more!
And this can be done just with the touch of a button.
Such results can give you a thorough idea through which you can
choose necessary steps to improve your results.

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(13) Improve Your Outreach
Since digital marketing takes place online, it is accessible to the
global audience.
Whereas traditional marketing limits you to a particular geographic
area, its modern counterpart can help you interact with the
customers quite easily.
On the other hand, it seems like having your storefront open all day
long. And with digital marketing specialists, you can respond to
posts promptly on your platforms.
It doesn’t take long for gaining publicity to enhance the prospects
and enjoy the benefits of digital marketing for your business at its
best.
If you’re not yet utilizing the power of digital marketing for your
business, you are missing a lot of golden opportunities.

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 3.3 Aims and future objectives

The Aim of every educational institute is to shape up every

individual's life & career. Education teaches us to be civilized in
the society. Every individual have different interest & need. They
have different goals to be achieved in life. So Lithan’s aims are
also different to get educated:
Acquisition of knowledge, skills and attitudes
• Change in attitudes
• Clarity in speech and writing
• To be productive
• Gaining moral values & so on.
Education develops the power to think & to take correct instant
actions when required. They give you ability to acquire
information & knowledge. Educational institute gives you practical
knowledge also to face any circumstances tactfully in your career.
It's like gaining a positive experience & building an army for
future. All these learning experiences are given by these
educational institutions.
Following are the Aims of Lithan:
• Educational Institutes like Lithan brings transformation to
every individual's life. Education brings change to your
career. It inserts cultural values in you & become a new
"You".
• Lithan aims at focusing & bringing passion to the young
generation of today to "Get Educate, Spread Education".
• In Lithan, education creates social organization in society by
harmonizing the attitudes, ideas, habits, and customs, of the
people.
• Informing every individual to opt for right job.
• Lithan is also preparing the technical workforce also.

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6. Lithan will broaden up the minds of the society in terms of
technical education and choosing right job for them.

OBJECTIVES
The institution defines its purposes and establishes educational
objectives aligned with those purposes. The institution has a clear
and explicit sense of its essential values and character, its
distinctive elements, its place in both the higher education
community and society, and its contribution to the public good. It
functions with integrity, transparency, and autonomy.

1. Educational objectives are widely recognized throughout the

institution, are consistent with stated purposes, and are
demonstrably achieved. The institution regularly generates,
evaluates, and makes public data about student achievement,
including measures of retention and graduation, and evidence of
student learning outcomes.
2. Consistent with its purposes and character, the institution
demonstrates an appropriate response to the increasing diversity in
society through its policies, its educational and co-curricular
programs, and its administrative and organizational practices.
3. The institution truthfully represents its academic goals,
programs, services, and costs to students and to the larger public.
The institution demonstrates that its academic programs can be
completed in a timely fashion. The institution treats students fairly
and equitably through established policies and procedures and
financial matters, including refunds and financial aid.
4. The institution exhibits integrity and transparency in its
operations, as demonstrated by the adoption and implementation of
appropriate policies and procedures, sound business practices,
timely and fair responses to complaints and grievances, and regular

57
evaluation of its performance in these areas. The institution’s
finances are regularly audited by qualified independent auditors.

FUTURE OBJECTIVES
Fortunately, there are three key initiatives that administrators can
focus on to better position their institutions to effectively address
these new realities:
1. Increase Access to New Students
2. Overcome Faculty Technology Concerns
3. Refine and Support the Student Journey
The future of higher education relies on the ability of institutions to
become more adaptable, flexible, and agile in the way they
approach the development, offerings, and support of their degree
programs and learning design. Read on to gain insight into why
these three areas are key to institutions’ success and resiliency, as
well as ways they can be implemented.
1. Increase Access to New Students
Student demographics have changed drastically in recent years as
access to higher education has increased and many working
professionals are going back to school for continuing education or
to obtain higher-level degrees. To effectively respond to these
changing demographics and to draw new students into their fold,
Lithan should consider offering strategic and scalable learning
options that align with the needs of students and the job market.
However, executing a market-focused plan to increase access to
new students can be time and resource intensive. To address this,
Lithan considers implementing a forward-thinking program

58
planning approach called Strategic Portfolio Development (SPD),
which enables institutions to:
• Maximize the use of resources
• Quickly and efficiently increase the number of desirable
programs offered
• Grow a more robust and long-lasting digital presence
• Maximize the courses offered
• Bridge outcomes with workforce expectations
• Increase enrolments as students often prefer programs that allow
them to focus on a specific, market-relevant specialization.

“Strategic Portfolio Development is is a model that allows

institutions to meet the evolving needs of their students and
employment markets,” says **Rudolf sir**
“It involves analyzing trends in the market and understanding
where the educational gaps and opportunities exist — not just to
identify students, but also to help students prepare for jobs. By
doing this, administrators can build flexible online curriculums that
meet the needs of today’s learners.”
2. Overcome Faculty Technology Concerns
Although technology is making a significant impact on the way
students engage in learning, many professors resist the online
learning environment.
3. Refine and Support the Student Journey
Providing the support and resources students require throughout
the student journey is particularly critical as Lithan continues to
expand in the online space and demonstrate the value of higher
education. This is why administrators have chosen to focus more
on developing strategic partnerships that can assist with marketing
and recruiting strategies.

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SWOT

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