Identity vs Direct
Identity Competitors are those schools which most evidently share a similar identity with SMU Perkins. They are embedded institutions with similar buildings, histories, faculty, affiliations, and missions. It is easy to look at these schools and reasonably assume that our target audience should overlap with that of Candler or Duke. Yet, when looking at class sizes alone, it is evident that we are much more aligned with our Direct Competitors.
Our "Target Audience," therefore, may overlap with our Identity Competitors but will not be the focus of our marketing and recruiting campaigns.
Target Audience
Instead of expending energies on competing with Duke, we will focus efforts on our direct competition: St. Paul, Iliff, Garrett, and Claremont. To that end, the hybrid format that Perkins has developed will have the most immediate impact in that it offers more flexibility when comparing hybrid programs than our direct competition. At 18 trips for a degree, a student may well choose St. Paul over the Houston-Galveston Extension Program. By simply evening the number of trips for in-person (not to mention including the difference immersions make), we are able to stake our established brand name with SMU, our historic precedent in the church, our impressive alumni network, and our financial assistance offerings over and against whatever our direct competitors are offering.
By going after both our regional and our FTE-equivalent competition, we stand a much greater chance of increasing enrollment. Regionally, as outlined by seminary distribution the map below, it is clear that there is a window of opportunity for Perkins to expand most directly to the North (from Arkansas up and through Iowa) and to the West (Denver, New Mexico, and Seattle).
Seminary Distribution Map:
