The effectiveness of marketing strategies in higher education is increasingly investigated as institutions compete for student enrolment and engagement. Like many other higher education offerings, the Bachelor of Media Studies (BMS) program relies on a blend of rhetorical persuasion and marketing strategies to attract students and maintain its institutional reputation. Our study aims to evaluate the efficacy of the BMS program’s marketing and student perceptions of communication success. 

Higher education marketing is important in shaping student expectations and experiences. According to Gibbs & Knapp (2002), universities are not just selling degrees but an entire experience that influences long-term student commitment. Koku (2023) further emphasizes that universities must differentiate themselves through strategic branding, targeted messaging, and value-driven communication. Galvin (2022) argues that the perceived value of a degree is not just about economic returns but also personal growth, career flexibility, and social capital. Students often enter degree programs with certain expectations about employability, skill development, and institutional reputation, influenced heavily by university branding and marketing materials. Therefore, grasping how students view institutional marketing efforts offers insights into how effectively institutions communicate educational values through persuasive messaging. 

This research is important because it connects marketing strategies with student perceptions, especially within the BMS program. Research indicates that mismatched messaging can result in student dissatisfaction and disengagement (Gibbs & Knapp, 2002). Furthermore, with the rise of digital marketing in higher education, institutions should evaluate how well their online messaging aligns with prospective students’ values and expectations. By leveraging the findings of existing literature, we aim to assess whether BMS marketing strategies effectively convey institutional strengths and attract the right students. 

Several established marketing theories help frame this study:

1. 1. Marketing as Value Creation in Higher Education (Koku, 2023; Gibbs & Knapp, 2002):
      • Universities act as service providers, and their marketing must convey value to prospective students​
      • Effective marketing is not just about attracting students but also about ensuring retention and satisfaction
   2. The 4Ps of Marketing in Higher Education (Kotler, 1999):
      • The BMS program as a product: What differentiates it?
      • Pricing: How does cost affect student decision-making?
      • Place: The role of institutional prestige and accessibility​. 
      • Promotion: Universities can employ multiple promotional strategies, from social media campaigns to personalized recruitment​.
   3. Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) and Branding (Gibbs & Knapp, 2002):
      • IMC ensures a consistent message across all platforms​.
      • Aligns with student expectations and institutional branding.
   4. AIDA Model: Attention, Interest, Desire, Action (Kotler, 1999):
      • University marketing should:
        • Grab attention through compelling content (social media, storytelling)​.
        • Sustain interest with clear, engaging messaging.
        • Create desire by aligning the program with student career goals.
        • Drive action through calls-to-action in marketing campaigns​.
   5. Signaling Theory & Institutional Identity (Koku, 2023):
      • University branding is a signal of quality to prospective students​.
      • Institutional reputation affects student choices and perceptions​.
   6. Relationship Marketing & Student Engagement (Gibbs & Knapp, 2002):
      • The social environment impacts student decision-making and retention​.
      • Relationship marketing emphasizes long-term engagement with students, leading to higher satisfaction and retention rates​.

The field of media studies continues to evolve significantly with emerging technologies and proliferation of consumer media products, reflecting the complexities of modern communication, digital platforms, and content dissemination. According to Partovi (2011), media studies programs in higher education encompass three core areas:

1. 1. Critique of artistic styles and aesthetic forms, which examines media through a creative lens.
   2. Study of the production process, including digital media technologies and market dynamics.
   3. Sociological analysis, exploring the ideological and cultural effects of media consumption​

Given this broad scope, media studies programs can benefit from integrating social media marketing both as an area of study and as a recruitment tool. In today’s digital landscape, prospective students engage with universities primarily through online platforms. Astleitner & Schlick (2024) state as of 2023, it was found that 70 percent of higher education students use social media daily for personal and academic purposes. According to Reinhardt (2019), social media has become a way for students to share, co-create, engage in discourse, and provide feedback to an institution. In conjunction with this statistic, Koseoglu (2019) states that higher education institutions are progressing towards an “Open and Networked Scholarship” and, thus, are expanding beyond the limitations of a strictly professional academic digital identity. This approach becomes achievable through platforms that utilize multimodal forms of communication, such as stories, posts, videos, and blogs, and is reflected in recent statistics on the use of social media by institutions (Statista Research Department, 2019a, 2019b). 

Engaging informally allows the institution to connect with the students and other individuals in the academic discourse community, as well as those in the surrounding communities, as it permits interaction beyond the mediated audience. This adaptation to informal multimodal forms of communication emphasizes and encourages creativity through visual, oral, written, and auditory affordances, aiming to capture the viewer’s attention. Blakeman (2022) suggests the form and content of a message are crucial when communicating effectively and are achieved most effectively through the integration of the principles of art and design.