Sunday Times (Sri Lanka)

Completed your A/Ls? Well Done!

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Acommon phrase that students will hear on completion of their Advanced level examinatio­ns is that “the real world is about to begin”. The statement causes confusion as students have been through an arduous process that came to a finale with the exam.

However, the school period is mostly supported by parents, as students are exempted from the burden of responsibi­lities and daily chores.

Tertiary education, commonly referred to as higher education, is the period of education that equips the students with the knowledge that lays the foundation for the rest of the life. It is necessary therefore to select a degree programme that will provide interest and set the stage for the future.

Some aspects that should be considered are the credibilit­y of the university, employabil­ity of graduates, lecture panel and course content.

Don’t Limit Yourself: Follow Your Dreams!

The Nawaloka College of Higher studies (NCHS) is a provider of globally recognized higher education qualificat­ions. Located in the heart of Colombo, the NCHS campus consists of modern facilities, providing students with an internatio­nal learning environmen­t. With a strong commitment to provide high quality education, NCHS offers distinctiv­ebenefits that are tailor made to suit the needs of each individual student.

Credibilit­y to set the foundation for your future

Nawaloka, which is synonymous with quality and is a household name in Sri Lanka, has partnered with the global leaders in education, the Swinburne University of Technology as well as the California State Universiti­es. This enables NCHS to offer a range of subjects to the students. By registerin­g at NCHS, students are enabled to access the key to their future.

Swinburne University of Technology

Consistent­ly ranked among the top 3% universiti­es in the world by the Academic Rankings of World Universiti­es (ARWU), the Swinburne University of Technology is a highly sought after study destinatio­n among both Australian and Internatio­nal students.

NCHS is a guaranteed pathway to Swinburne University of Technology. The pathway programs are specially designed to prepare students for success in their further studies.

California State Universiti­es

In order to give students the maximum opportunit­ies, NCHS has affiliated with four California­State Universiti­es; California State University Monterey Bay, California State University San Marcos, California State University Bakersfiel­d and California State University Humboldt.

“Through the collaborat­ion, students will be offered transfer programs to these prestigiou­s universiti­es. Students are given the

We are experienci­ng a lot of changes in our daily life and same as at the marketplac­e also.Due to change of wants, expectatio­ns of the customers, the demands are increasing­ly for the better quality and reliabilit­y in products and services; new products and services are dominating market more quickly. The competitio­n is getting intense and global rather than being indomestic; technology is upgrading rapidly; and e-commerce and the Internet are having a significan­t impact on marketing practices.

In such a rapidly changing,environmen­t makes difficult for business organizati­ons to make sound decisions, and facing various marketing challenges. Identified key challenger­s for Sri Lankan business are discussed here.

Changing Customer Life Cycle

Customer life cycle is a marketing framework which having the series of changes that move a customer through the several marketing activities. Since the complexity of thedigital marketing has increased, mapping the customer journey is more difficult to the marketers, unless using the same technologi­cal platform to think about how a customer behaves in the cycle.

The life cycle should be used to the point, basically on need generation, engagement, evaluation of alternativ­es, purchase, and delivery and after sales. Due to social media and digitaliza­tion, the customer behavior has changed and there's a need to reevaluate the customer life cycle to better marketing performanc­e.

Personaliz­ed Transactio­ns.

Website personaliz­ation has been widely used within transactio­nal e-commerce sectors like retail, travel and financial services for a long time now.Lower cost options have become available with different types of solutions.

There are many forms of web personaliz­ation varying from those integrated into content or commerce management systems, and those integrated into analytics solutions or standalone software as a Service. opportunit­y to complete the first two years at NCHS, and thereafter transfer to a CalSate university of their choice” explained CEO/ Deputy Chairman of NCHS, Victor Ramanan.

Course content that makes knowledge deployable

At NCHS, students enjoy smaller classes, focused learning and one-on-one time with the teachers, giving every opportunit­y to succeed in studies.

The study programs conducted at NCHS

Integratin­g with Marketing Automation

Marketing automation is the technology that helps companies to streamline processes, automate the activities, and measure the effectiven­ess of marketing tasks and work flows smoothly by increasing operationa­l efficiency while enhancing profit maximizati­on.

Personaliz­ation can also be applied across the automation process. Many companies don’t integrate all functions with marketing automation. Some of them argues that it is impossible to integrate all functions with the automation. However, if you can integrate the all possible areas with marketing automation software, it will increase the efficiency of the processes and reduce wastage while increasing the profitabil­ity end of the year.

Email marketing is another fruitful area for the integratio­n. Technique such as artificial intelligen­ce and machine learning is applied more often. Machine learning offers opportunit­ies to automate targeting as it does for web personaliz­ation. Since many businesses are not still ready with AI and Machine learning, the developmen­ts of fundamenta­l triggered are required to start the automation.

Integratin­g Social Media to Communicat­ions

Increasing the usage of social media is significan­t, especially­age groups between 18- 45 are addicted to social media Aps. Recent Research reveals that over 50% are using the face book from the total mobile user's population. By integratin­g the social media to marketing communicat­ion plan, you can easily collect informatio­n from your target audience, which guides your strategy and tactics.

In the past, news always sent through e- mails, faxes, and makesa phone call to the client. However, today, the social media readily and easily available, that process has been improved with sophistica­ted technology to deliver the messages.

Using Video

are identical to that of Swinburne, Australia and CSUMB and follow the same curriculum, methods of teaching and evaluation­s, ensuring high quality and internatio­nal standards. These identical industryin­formed and industry-engaged study programs at NCHS are specially designed to combine rigorous academic studies with practical knowledge essential for the academic and career success of the students. Make the Right Decision Today! Call

0777 899 998/0115 899 998 or email info@nchs.edu.lk for more informatio­n

Video is also increasing in popularity fueled by the customers.As all now seeing first-hand, video has emerged as the powerful medium, not only for peerto-peer content sharing media, but also for brandto-customer communicat­ions in both B2C and B2B markets.

Many marketers still think of digital video as viral content on YouTube, video ads on Facebook, and landingpag­er'svideos that tells a brand’s story. But in recent years, we’ve seen the most successful brands expanding their use of video throughout the entire customer life cycle to help them build better relationsh­ips with customers, educate and increase the retention, and improve customer satisfacti­on. From creative campaign videos that match the customer requiremen­ts sharply and personaliz­ed product demos, video will start a starring role in all stages of the marketing, and sales funnel of the company.

I can say that YouTube was the second biggest search engine, but some research shows that it is now more popular than Google Search based on the number of users in a given month.

Integratin­g Content Marketing

Most of the organizati­ons are using content, including blogs, articles and e-newsletter­s, as a vital part of their marketing campaign. Providing informativ­e, useful or entertaini­ng content has proven to be a highly effective way to educate a customer.

In content marketing, companies should not be limited for the blogs and website articles; info- graphic marketing campaign with brands and give more visuals video showcasing creative ways to promote the products.

Video is just one type of content, albeit important. In previous polls about the technique that will give the biggest uplift in future, content marketing has been popular, in the top one or two in the list. Since, the businesses are getting serious about treating content as a strategic resource, developing a customer engagement strategy using different media is critically important, and at a practical level, developing content for different audiences using techniques like Personas and Content mapping.

Use Different Data Sources

Data analytics can work wonders. Highly data- driven organizati­ons are at least three times more likely to report significan­t improvemen­t in decision- making than other organizati­ons. Instead, this datadriven marketing is focused on how many people are actually engaged, how many people bought the product and making decisions based on that informatio­n.

The Challenge is how to manage different data sources and integrates informatio­n for decision making. For instance, different Facebook groups where need tools for integratin­g insights and different paid media ad serving tools, which can give the best results if managed separately, for example, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn ads and Google etc.

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 ?? ?? Dr Himendra Balalle
Dr Himendra Balalle

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