We’ve discussed in class that there are a variety of forms of communication businesses use to market their products, and often varying degrees of effectiveness, a strong marketing campaign can make all the difference between a business succeeding or not.

If there were one group from whom I would expect effective marketing, it is the Sauder School of Business. With experienced professors and administrators along with hundreds of well-trained marketing students graduating each year – an effective Sauder marketing campaign is almost inevitable. On multiple occasions and in a variety of locations, I have come across advertisements for Sauder on airport billboards. These advertisements are simple, straight to the point, and easy to understand as you walk by on the way to your airport gate.

Looking around the classroom in any of my large first or second year classes in Sauder, it is clear to me that my class is very diverse and that Sauder has established their target market to be not only motivated and high-achieving Canadian high school graduates but high school graduates from around the globe. It is clever on Sauder’s part, why not make the application process that much more competitive while introducing different cultural points of view to the classroom? (Plus let’s not forget to mention the added advantage to Sauder of receiving student international fees.)

In my view, this is a proactive and sustainable marketing approach that Sauder has taken as part of their strategic plan. As Sauder attracts more international students and word spreads about the success of its graduates, it would be difficult to imagine Sauder not receiving increasingly more international applications each year enabling it to continue to diversify our program.