Marketing Public Tertiary Institutions in Ghana via Informative Advertising: A Study of Ho Polytechnic

This study is an investigation into the significance of informative advertising in the marketing of public tertiary institutions in Ghana, using Ho Polytechnic, a public polytechnic, as a case study. The purpose of the paper is to find out how much of informative advertising the polytechnic uses in its awareness creation and other marketing campaigns to its targets. Informative advertising seeks to develop initial demand for goods, services, organizations, persons, places, ideas or causes. It helps give information about the suitability and quality of products or services. The information given via this medium tends to help generate good reputation for organizations. The target population for this study included employees and students of the Polytechnic. A sample of 200 respondents consisting of 50 employees and 150 students were selected using aaccidental sampling technique. Data gathered was analyzed using simple frequency tables. Findings from the study revealed that though informative advertising helps in improving the image of institutions and public education, awareness creation, and persuasion to audiences, public tertiary institutions in Ghana do not employ this tool in their marketing and mass communication activities. The study further revealed that efforts made in the marketing of public tertiary institutions are not encouraging.