Developing Marketing Practices for Unimove

Abstract

This bachelor’s thesis focuses on the marketing aspects of Unimove’s services from the point of view of students from Oulu University of Applied Sciences, Oamk. The thesis looks at the main marketing methods from Kotler & Keller’s marketing mix and how they are applied to Unimove’s marketing activities. The thesis was commissioned by Unimove and its purpose is to provide ideas and recommendations on how they can develop the marketing of their services, and how they can improve their marketing communications. The research of the thesis consisted of an interview with Unimove and a survey, which was conducted with students of Oamk. The inter-view provided the thesis background information on Unimove’s marketing activities and how their current situation is, while the survey provided information on how students view the services of Unimove, different marketing methods, and suggestions for improving Unimove’s marketing prac-tices.

The supporting theory for the thesis was the marketing mix and the main focus from the group of methods was in the promotion submix, which is directly related to marketing communications. The sources used for the thesis included academic books, articles, and institutional websites, among other respectable sources. On the basis of the theoretical sources collected, the author was able to conduct research questions that are directly related to Unimove’s pain points, as well as the areas of the supporting theory, which provided valuable insights on areas for improvement for Unimove.

The research showcased Unimove using the correct marketing outlets which are preferred by the students, but they are not used effectively enough to reach the students properly. Additionally, the research showcased the lack of tracking for Unimove’s marketing practices, as they had not been following their social media posts, nor the effectiveness of their different marketing practic-es. This causes their marketing practices lack of focus and direction, which greatly limits their potential for helping with providing wellbeing to all university students of Oulu.

In conclusion, this research provided views both from inside Unimove, and outside of their activi-ties from the perspective of the students. Based on the results, there are ways to improve Uni-move’s marketing practices, even with a lack of resources. For instance, these include having proper methods for tracking and planning annual marketing plans, and co-operating with other supporting associations for university students, such as Osako.