Marketing, Branding and Market Penetration Consultant

Introduction 

The University of Palestine has received a grant from the Quality Improvement Fund (QIF) - Education to Work Transition Project/Additional Financing - Ministry of Education and Higher Education and funded by the World Bank for the project entitled: Bridging the Skills Gap of the Software Engineering Students at the University of Palestine to Enhance International ICT Exports. Accordingly, the University of Palestine seeks the selection and employment of a Marketing, Branding and Market Penetration Consultant.

Assignment Objective

University of Palestine is considering the selection of a professional and qualified consultant to be part of the consultation team, who will be responsible for deliver a comprehensive marketing, communications, branding and outreach strategy and plan for the UOP’s Excellence Center, taking into consideration the Needs Assessment recommendations.

Tasks and Responsibilities:

The assignment is expected to deliver a comprehensive marketing, communications, branding and outreach strategy and plan for the Excellence Center. The consultant is expected to execute the following:

• Conduct a rapid market research: entails the identification of potential customers and their needs, as well as the development of a thorough understanding of the industries in which the potential customers operate, the regulatory environment, and competing services. The process should involve gathering, recording, and analysis of data relating to the marketing of the Excellence Center’ services. It should also employ a variety of different types of activities, such as analysis of industry data, demographic data, competitor activities, and customer surveys. 
• Develop a marketing strategy: includes the identification of customer segments which the center can serve better than its competitors and a plan for tailoring its services’ offerings, prices, distribution, promotional efforts towards theses market segments.
• Identify a positioning strategy of the centre in the local market with respect to existing players. This includes identifying existing strengths and weaknesses, in addition to potential opportunities and threats. Provide recommendations and advice to improve the centre’s positioning in the market including strategic interventions and tactical actions. 
• Develop a brand identity (including and not limited to: brand mission, vision, values, slogan/tagline, personality, value proposition, brand positioning etc.) and communication strategy considering the University Excellence Center’s mandate, stakeholders and audience. 
• Design communication mechanisms: to disseminate the centre activities to the relevant stakeholders including the private sector actors (potential employers). 
• Construct well-defined marketing activities to increase the centre visibility. 
• Mentoring and Coaching: work with UOP team to conduct the marketing strategy including but not limited to producing promo video, assist in writing the content of promotional materials ... etc.

جميع الحقوق محفوظة لموقع جوبس.

Qualifications & Skills:

UOP is looking for a competent, results-oriented, and effective communication and marketing consultant to support the work of the University Excellence Center. The consultant is expected to have the following competences: 

1. At least M.Sc. degree with specialization in marketing, communications, media relations, public relations or similar discipline. 
2. Minimum 5 years’ experience working with institutions/organizations in fields relevant to the assignment.
3. Proven experience in marketing strategies with highly developed communication skills, including ability to draft/edit texts and to articulate ideas in a clear, concise style to a variety of audiences. 
4. Proven record of maintaining good relationships and experience of collaborative activities with clients at various levels. 
5. An established track record in communications, outreach, branding and knowledge management, including web management, video and graphic development and editing, proofreading and copy editing.
6. Advanced skills in quantitative and qualitative data collection, analysis, and presentation.
7. Demonstrated ability to deliver high quality consulting assignments and well written, informative reports.
8. Previous working experience with international organizations will be a key advantage. 
9. Excellent verbal and written communications skills, and demonstrated experience working with a variety of stakeholders, including senior government officials, donors, journalists, editors, policy-makers and regulators, consultants and academics. 

Deliverables 

The reports must match quality standards. The text of the report should be illustrated, as appropriate, with maps, graphs and tabels. The consultant has to deliver the following (which include but not limited to):

• An action plan for conducting the assignment including (methodology, objectives, outcomes, materials, source of references, timeframe, etc.) within one week after signing the contract for the Project Director’s approval.
• A brief fortnightly written progress update;
• A well-written professional and consolidated market strategy report (produced in English as a formal language in addition to a professionally translated version in Arabic) that satisfies the previous work requirements. The report should not exceed 30 pages with 11pts, single spacing, excluding cover page, table of contents and annexes;
• Provide all materials related to the proposed strategy implementation such as (brochures, promotional video, banners, etc.);
• Validation workshop for the market strategy attended by a high-level decision makers and other stakeholders; to verify the validity of outputs, their conformity with standards and their suitability to the needs of the center and the university; and
• An effective orientation session for UOP staff regarding the application of the strategy.

Notes:

• All reports and discussion have to be carried out in high professional level of English language. UOP expects to receive an edited final report in English & Arabic Language. 
• The reports are to be delivered to UOP in open source (i.e. Microsoft word and excel) and PDF format.
• The collected data and deliverables (Reports, case studies, materials, hand-outs…etc.) and the reports are solely the property of UOP.

Supervision: The Consultant shall report to the focal point of UOP on all aspects related to this consultancy, who will be responsible for overseeing the entire process of the consultancy; this consultation service depends on the approved action plan submitted by the consultant.

Place of work: University of Palestine

Contract Type: Lump Sum Contract

Contract Period: 11th of July 2020 – 9th of September 2020

Expected level of effort: 60 man-days

Interested qualified individual applicants are invited to send:

• CV of the consultant, along with relevant competencies and comprehensive experience;
• Sample of previous work, similar in scope and approach; and
• Technical proposal including the methodology with a tentative timeline.

via email to [email protected] no later than 8th July 2020, COB. The selection process follows World Bank recruiting policies and procedures. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.