ROLE OF REFERRAL MARKETING IN HIGHER EDUCATION WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO PRIVATE SECTOR

Referral marketing is being increasingly used in marketing of services, like education, finance & other hospitality services. As more and more private universities have come into existence. So all are trying to woo students to pursue variety of technical and non-technical courses offered by them, & referral marketing may be an Innovative tool in their marketing efforts. Referral marketing is using People as the new media for reaching prospective customers. In the context of Higher education in general the competition in private sector between institutions, is intensifying. In Education, students are seen as the customers. Some authors view the corporate as the customers of institutions and students as products. Education being a service and is people based, referral marketing is suitable & Offering incentives to encourage referral behavior is being practiced. This study basically focuses on revealing how colleges and institutions are using promotional tools to position their distinctiveness and what is the importance of Referral marketing in it. This study aims at to gauge the effectiveness of WOM. Ultimately how does incentive influence the referral behavior?.