Marketing approaches in the management of organizations of additional professional education

Ivanova Oksana Evgen'evna Senior Lecturer; Department of Taxes and Taxation; Academy of the Federal Tax Service of Russia for Administration of Leadership and Business Processes - Volga 603006, Russia, Nizhny Novgorod region, Nizhny Novgorod, Gruzinskaya str., 48 oksa-bor@list.ru Vachugov Igor' Viktorovich PhD in Economics Associate Professor; Department of Taxes and Taxation; Academy of the Federal Tax Service of Russia for Administration of Leadership and Business Processes - Volga 603006, Russia, Nizhny Novgorod region, Nizhny Novgorod, Gruzinskaya str., 48 vachugov61@mail.ru Yashin Sergei Nikolaevich Doctor of Economics Head of the Department; Department of Management and Public Administration; National Research Nizhny Novgorod State University named after N.I. Lobachevsky 23 Gagarin Ave., Nizhny Novgorod, Nizhny Novgorod Region, 603022, Russia jashinsn@yandex.ru

Garkovets Viktoriya Vital'evna Postgraduate student; Institute of Economics; N.I. Lobachevsky National Research Nizhny Novgorod State University 23 Gagarin Ave., Nizhny Novgorod, Nizhny Novgorod Region, 603022, Russia viktoriagarkovets@mail.ru

The relevance of the topic and the definition of the problem

In the context of growing socio-political tensions, the need to restructure the economy, due to both unprecedented sanctions from unfriendly countries, an increase in the burden on the budget, and an increase in inflation, the labor market is changing. Since basic education is not able to respond quickly to changes in the external environment, the role of additional vocational education is increasing. In this regard, the topic of marketing approaches in the management of organizations of additional professional education should be considered relevant.

The role of marketing in continuing professional education

The accumulation of human capital is one of the conditions for the socio-economic well-being of any state. At the same time, in the context of the transition of the economy to an innovative type, the leading role in the formation of human capital is played by the educational environment, which should be accessible to each individual and provide him with a professional, intellectual and cultural level. In this regard, an important task is to find the most effective models for managing the activities of such organizations, contributing to meeting the increased needs of both the state and the population.

The Russian educational system includes several types of education – general, vocational, additional and vocational training, which makes it possible to ensure the realization of everyone's right to lifelong learning. In the context of deepening digitalization processes and stricter requirements for specialists, the ability to update competencies on an ongoing basis allows a person to compete in the labor market.

Modern scientists fully support this idea, for example, A. N. Perezhovskaya states: "continuous education is an integral process consisting of successive stages of specially organized educational activities that create favorable living conditions for a person" ^[1]. E. E. Egorov, S. N. Yashin identify factors that make it necessary creation of a continuous learning system: an innovative type of economy, an increase in life expectancy, an increase in the retirement age, stricter requirements for specialists from employers ^{[2; 3]}.

According to the authors, the key role in the system of continuing education belongs to the link of additional professional education, since it is able to meet the increasing demand for obtaining skills and abilities that are most in demand in modern conditions.

The issue of finding the most effective form of management of an organization that allows achieving its sustainable development has been relevant at all times. In our country, approaches to the management of educational organizations have begun to change since the 1990s, when there was a transition to a market economy. From that moment on, the issue of classifying education as a public good became controversial. According to R. A. Alandarov, A. D. Yashkin, V. A. Kolesnikov, education cannot be recognized in its pure form as a public good, since many educational institutions can be enrolled only after successfully passing entrance tests or on a paid basis ^{[4; 5]}. At the same time, primary and secondary education remain free for all, and subsequent forms of education are stimulated by the state through the provision of social deductions for the taxation of personal income.

Thus, an educational service is inherently a mixed public good, while an educational organization will be considered as a service provider that seeks to increase the flow of customers and generate additional income, focusing on the demand from potential consumers and improving the quality of its services. This approach allows the use of marketing tools in the activities of educational organizations, which gives them the opportunity to adapt to changes in the market conditions of educational services and achieve sustainable development indicators.

The use of a marketing approach has a positive effect on the quality of educational services, which contributes to the development of both a specific educational institution and the entire education system as a whole – this opinion is shared by many modern authors, including K. H. Ilyasova, R. S. Ilyasova, M. M. Abubakarova ^[6].

Thus, the marketing approach to the management of an educational institution involves the organization of activities taking into account the formed and projected demand for certain types of educational services, which allows to improve their quality and increase the satisfaction of target consumers.

When implementing marketing approaches in an educational organization, it is necessary to take into account some specific features of educational services: they are long-lasting and designed for a certain age group of students, their preparation and motivation for learning ^{[7; 8; 9]}. However, according to the authors, these characteristics correspond to general education, in which the customer is the state, and the consumers are children, whose main motivation for learning is regulated by their parents. At the same time, educational services in DPO are usually intended for adults of a wide age range who are highly motivated to study and make a choice in favor of the most popular educational programs and prestigious educational institutions. This factor must be taken into account in the planning of marketing activities.

According to I. I. Pluzhnikova and S. A. Izyuminkova, the subject of marketing in an educational institution is to build the process of interaction between the institution itself, consumers of educational services, intermediaries and products "in conditions of free choice of priorities and actions" ^[12]. Effective interaction contributes to the satisfaction of all participants in the educational process: consumers, customers, educational institutions, and society as a whole.

Thus, according to the authors, the marketing of educational services should be understood as a set of actions related to the creation and promotion of a new educational product that meets the expectations of consumers, improving the image of its creator and satisfying the demand of society for the reproduction of personal and intellectual potential. The purpose of marketing in an educational organization is to find and attract new consumers of educational services, increase the recognition of the institution and create an image.

The principles of both commercial and social marketing are applicable in this field of activity. By definition, F. Kotler and N. Lee, "social marketing is the use of marketing principles and methods to exert such influence on the target audience that would convince them to voluntarily accept, reject, modify or stop certain behavior in the interests of individuals, groups or society as a whole" ^{[10, p. 240; 11]}. That is, the goal of social marketing is to improve the quality of life, and the tasks are defined in the popularization of any type of behavior, advertising and persuasion to a specific choice.

At the same time, we believe that commercial marketing is currently the most in demand in the management of the activities of educational organizations of educational institutions, since the vast majority of such organizations have switched from a subsidized form of financing to self-sufficiency.

Among the main characteristics of commercial marketing, one should highlight:

- the purpose of the activity is to maximize profits;

- creation of an educational product with optimal characteristics of the price–quality ratio;

- positioning of an educational product in order to gain and subsequently expand its presence in the market;

- taking into account the efforts of the main competitors in the formation of a portfolio of educational programs;

- monitoring of external environmental factors affecting the profit from the sale of DPO services;

- search and development of new promising areas in the field of education, taking into account the life cycle of an educational product unit.

The highlighted characteristics allow us to formulate the following definition.

Commercial marketing in DPO is a set of measures aimed at creating a competitive educational product in order to maximize profits and expand the market share in the face of rapidly changing socio-economic factors.

Analysis of the dynamics of the development of the DPO market in Russia

The peculiarity of the segment of additional professional education is that it is focused on the commercial result of its activities to a greater extent than general education organizations and universities, therefore, in this link, the issues of studying supply and demand in the market and the use of marketing tools are the most relevant. As noted by E. L. Sorokina, Ya. A. Yelinskaya, at the moment, the supply of additional vocational education services exceeds demand, and the processes of globalization have made educational services the subject of international trade, which has tightened competition in the DPO segment, therefore, marketing in this field of activity is an obligatory element of management ^{[13; 14]}.

To confirm this hypothesis, the authors analyzed the state of the competitive environment in the market of educational services in the Russian segment of educational institutions. The study was conducted on the basis of performance indicators of educational institutions posted on the official website of the Ministry of Education and Science. The results of the analysis for 2019-2023 are presented in Tables 1, 2, 3.

Table 1

Dynamics of the main indicators of the educational services market in Russia

in 2019 - 2023.

(Compiled by the authors on the basis of information from reports on form No. 1-PC)

Table 2

The rate of change in the number of educational institutions and the number of students in the DPO segment in the analyzed period

(Compiled by the authors based on information from reports on Form No. 1-PC)

The analysis showed that the indicators varied unevenly. In terms of the number of educational organizations, there is a negative trend in 2020 (a decrease in the number of educational organizations by 3.2%). The main reason for this negative phenomenon can be called the introduction of global restrictive measures in connection with the spread of coronavirus infection and the ban on full-time education for a long time. However, the situation changed the following year, and in the future, the number of educational institutions of secondary vocational education increased by an average of 6% per year.

The changes in the number of trainees who have been trained under the DPO programs in the analyzed period are of a different nature. This indicator was not affected by the introduction of restrictive measures in connection with the spread of coronavirus infection. This indicates that during 2020, a number of organizations of additional professional education were able to quickly restructure their activities and transfer training to online mode. At the same time, adult citizens were isolated from society for a long period of time, which led to an increased interest in self-study on their part.

In general, over the entire analyzed period, the coverage of Russians with additional vocational education has become wider: the number of students who completed training in 2023, compared with the same indicator in 2019, increased by 2,041,009 people, an increase of 39.5%. In terms of the number of organizations providing educational services, there is also an increase of 1,015 units, or 15.9%. Demand really generates supply.

Table 3

Indicators of financing the activities of educational organizations in the context of its sources, billion rubles

(Compiled by the authors on the basis of information from reports on form No. 1-PC)

It follows from the presented data that for the period 2019-2023 the amount of funds received increased by 35.3 billion rubles. or by 50.1%, while the same growth rate is observed for all types of funding sources (except foreign ones), which indicates an increase in demand for educational services in the field of additional vocational education. A positive aspect is the fact that citizens' spending on their education is also increasing (in 2023, the growth rate of the indicator was 27%), which indicates the popularization of additional vocational education and increased interest in personal development among adults.

A graphical interpretation of the dynamics of financing indicators for organizations of additional vocational education in 2019-2023 (with the exception of funds received from foreign sources) is shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 1. Dynamics of indicators of financing of educational organizations in the field of vocational education in 2019-2023.

The analysis of the main indicators allows us to conclude that the Russian market of educational services in the DPO segment is characterized as intensively developing. However, a significant increase in the number of organizations offering training in additional professional education programs indicates high competition, which makes it a vital necessity to use marketing tools in the management of the institution's activities.

Marketing tools used in educational organizations

The essence of marketing in additional professional education is to create a demanded product, competent pricing, promotion of educational services and the use of internal factors for the desired application of business activity. In this regard, for organizations engaged in the provision of services, including educational ones, it is advisable to put into practice the concept of marketing 7P, the author of which is J. McCarthy.

This model includes the following key elements for which marketing efforts should be made:

- Product – the formation of a list of educational programs that can be implemented, their diversification.

- Price – pricing policy, development of a system of discounts and bonuses, payment policy.

- Place - provides for the solution of issues related to the formation of a branch network.

- Promotion – dissemination of information about educational services provided by the institution, demonstration of their value for a particular person, and the demand for specialists who have completed training. It provides for advertising campaigns, PR campaigns, meetings with customers (employment services, employers, potential listeners), free seminars, round tables.

- People – the implementation of a personnel policy aimed at attracting the best teaching staff to an educational institution, encouraging them to professional growth and professional development.

- Physical Evidence (physical environment) – creation of comfortable learning conditions (equipped classrooms, comfortable tables and chairs, organization of places for meals, etc.), website development and social networking.

- Process - educational and methodological support of training, creation of a convenient schedule, the possibility of feedback from the teacher and building an individual trajectory of education.

According to the authors, the listed marketing efforts formulated by J. McCarthy, it should be added that a mandatory final questionnaire on quality issues and the achieved result at the end of training should be conducted. Such feedback is necessary to improve the quality of marketing analysis in order to identify the characteristics of consumer demand, as well as to increase the competitiveness of the educational product being sold. The results of the survey make it possible to identify weaknesses in the institution's activities and promptly respond to new requests from trainees. In addition, the institution needs to consider the possibility of creating a mobile application and a personal account of the listener, which will improve the interaction of participants in the educational process, which will ultimately increase customer satisfaction.

O. G. Achkasova notes that the processes of digitalization and globalization taking place in public relations enable educational institutions of the DPO segment to carry out marketing using the Internet: launch advertising of their services, form an image using social networks, conduct surveys on the preferences of potential listeners, analyze the state of their closest competitors, organize online training [15 16] . T. V. Krivosheeva talks about the emergence of a new term – Internet marketing, which means the practice of "using all the tools of modern marketing on the Internet, promoting goods and services through online services" ^[17]. In our opinion, the increasing role of social networks, which allow promoting educational services more effectively by increasing audience coverage and optimizing costs, should also be taken into account in the development of DPO marketing.

According to V. A. Meister, S. V. Katasonov and other researchers, in order to achieve sustainable growth indicators, the heads of an educational organization should be focused on marketing and select appropriate specialists ^{[18; 19; 20]}.

It is advisable to form a division in the organizational structure that will develop and implement marketing approaches in the organization's activities. Such a division should develop a marketing plan that will define the main stages and tools. In our opinion, the marketing plan should include the following stages: analysis of the environment, setting goals, development of marketing activities and tactics for their implementation, budget definition, control of execution (Table 4).

Table 4

Stages and tools of marketing in the implementation of DPO programs

(Compiled by the authors based on the analysis of scientific sources)

Let's briefly describe the stages of the marketing plan. The analysis of the environment provides for the study of both external and internal factors affecting the organization's activities: assessment of the economic, regulatory, socio-cultural situation, market segmentation and definition of the target segment, studying the requests from consumers and customers, determining the level of compliance of existing training programs and methods with customer requirements, identifying their strengths and weaknesses, search for new directions and development prospects, analysis of the main competitors.

At the stage of setting goals, strategic guidelines for the organization's activities are developed. When setting goals and deadlines for their achievement, all factors affecting the organization's activities are taken into account: the possibility of obtaining a state order, the interests of participants in the educational process, and the reputation of the educational institution. The most common goals are to increase the flow of students, increase the number of students, create your own brand, and increase customer satisfaction.

Further, following the plan, it is necessary to develop marketing tactics, which in this case is considered as a system of actions aimed at achieving the set goals. Such a system of actions consists of several subsystems: the formation of a portfolio of services, the definition of pricing policy, the promotion of services, improving the quality of services, the formation of a positive image of the institution. For each of the subsystems, a set of marketing tools is determined that will be most effective for a particular organization, responsible persons are appointed, and deadlines for events are set.

Since the implementation of the marketing plan provides for the attraction of additional financing, the budgeting stage is mandatory in the implementation of marketing activities. At this stage, the costs of implementing planned activities are planned, funds are being sought, and risks affecting financial flows are being determined.

The control stage involves the establishment of control dates in which the progress of planned activities and the interim results obtained are analyzed. If deviations from the intended goals are detected or if there is no effect from the actions taken, the plan can be adjusted.

It should be noted that the sets of marketing tools used by institutions of different types will differ depending on the target segment, the preferred form of education, material support and other factors of the external and internal environment.

The role of the state in the development of DPO marketing

In our opinion, the issue of the role of the state in the promotion of educational services, as well as in the development of the educational process as a whole, is very relevant.

E. A. Tsyrempilova believes that it would be a mistake to subordinate the educational environment only to the laws of market relations, since such relations are characterized by contradictions between the interests of some groups and communities and the interests of other groups and communities that arise in the process of production and distribution of goods and services. In her opinion, the state should play an important role in regulating the educational services market, since this field of activity is associated with the formation of human capital and is the key to the social well-being of society.

According to the authors, this hypothesis needs a scientific assessment. Who should be given the right to regulate marketing in the DPO: the "invisible hand of the market" or the state?

In our opinion, the state should play a special role in the organization of marketing management, since the interests of individual groups of society and the priority interests of the state, taking into account the strategic directions of national development as a whole, do not always coincide. The "invisible hand of the market" should not remain the only regulator of the development of socio-economic processes. In this regard, it is necessary to highlight the role of the state in planning the development of DPO, including the organization of marketing management. And in conditions of political tension and an increase in the speed of social development, such a role should increase.

For example, in the context of a special operation, there was a need for new professions that ensure the safety of citizens and businesses in general. This became especially important after the defeat of aerial unmanned aerial vehicles of oil refineries in various regions of the country, including those far enough from the borders of warfare. Such professions do not bring income to the business, but they can significantly reduce the risks of negative scenarios. The forecast of the growing demand for specialists in artificial intelligence and machine learning allows us to identify priority areas of state stimulation of the DPO market in the coming years, which will help reduce social tension, stimulate economic development and improve the quality of life in general.

It is quite obvious that it is the state that should monitor priority professions, taking into account plans for strategic directions of national development and the socio-political situation. In this regard, in the marketing of educational services, it is necessary to highlight the state component, the role of which is not only in political censorship, but also in the formation of state marketing of educational services that meets the concept of state development. The instruments of state regulation in this case may be tax preferences, compensation of interest on loans, measures to stimulate advertising, the formation of demand for the most sought-after professions, etc.

Conclusion

Thus, in the course of the study, the authors found that the hypothesis about the key role of the link of additional professional education in the system of lifelong learning has a scientific basis. Educational services have the characteristics of both private and public goods, therefore, it is impossible to take into account only market laws in the management of educational organizations. The ethical aspect of the influence of education on society cannot be ignored, since the high level of development of this sphere of relations leads to an increase in human capital.

Nevertheless, activities in the field of additional professional education are more focused on commercial results, since educational services are provided to adults who already have a certain set of knowledge, skills and abilities and freely choose where to study and what to study. For this reason, an educational institution in the field of vocational education should apply marketing approaches in management: analyze the competitive environment, identify consumer preferences, work to improve the quality of its services and establish feedback with students. At the same time, the choice of priorities between the social and commercial components of marketing is the central issue of developing a strategy for the development of an educational organization in the field of vocational education. The role of the state in the organization of DPO marketing should correspond to the socio-economic needs of society. Such approaches will not only contribute to the expansion of the field of social welfare and reduce social tension, but also ensure sustainable socio-economic development of the state.