There has been an awful lot of buzz about disruptive marketing among businesses lately, however, in higher education, the disruptive marketing perspective has not yet gained as much attention as it should. The idea of disruptive marketing implies breaking through all of the clutter that we face every day by using graphics, color, or packaging different from what has been previously prepared. This method can be applied in many different areas to create disruption in the higher education marketplace, such as with technology, marketing, and other techniques. Keeping its competing schools busy allows a higher education institution to take on a leadership position.

Disruptive marketing in higher education isn’t just about the external market – it is about the way in which students are managed and assisted. It requires that schools keep themselves up to date in terms of changing demographics, styles, technologies, and expectations. By changing the way things are done within the higher education institution, it allows the school to remain on top of disruptions and changes in the marketplace. By being able to both create and capitalize on disruptions in the educational marketplace, this technique allows for substantial gains and successes otherwise unavailable.

Consider the following from “The Innovator’s Solution” A Game Plan for Disruptive Marketing:

Target only those customers and markets that look unattractive to every established competitor. If an idea is sustaining (an improved version of an already available and popular product) relative to even a single competitor, the idea will not succeed as a disruption.

Try to compete against nonconsumption: customers who are currently unable to use currently available products at all, either because they can’t afford them or are too inexperienced to use them. These markets have the most potential because these customers will compare your product to having nothing at all, and so will be thrilled to buy it even if it’s inferior to current available products.

If there are no nonconsumers available, explore feasibility of a low-end disruption instead: customers who can’t use all the functionality they currently have to pay for and who won’t pay premium prices for upgraded products. If this isn’t possible either, and you’re not an industry incumbent, don’t invest in the idea.

Schools need to exploit the disruptive marketing opportunity that is presented to them in the current education marketplace – especially within the current US economic lull which has created a hesitation to take on tuition among prospective students. Here, disruptive marketing functions both on a pragmatic level and in terms of teaching techniques. It opens the doors to many opportunities previously unconsidered by higher education institutions.

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