Experiential Marketing in Educational Services: Evaluating the “Student for a Day” Program through Schmitt’s Framework

Moh. Sugandi; Selvi Nurlita; Imaduddin; Annisa Triani Yanuar

doi:10.61987/jemr.v5i5.3285

Authors

Moh. Sugandi Sekolah Tinggi Agama Islam Al Badar Cipulus Purwakarta, Indonesia
Selvi Nurlita Sekolah Tinggi Agama Islam Al Badar Cipulus Purwakarta, Indonesia
Imaduddin Universitas Islam Internasional Darullughah Wadda’wah Pasuruan, Indonesia
Annisa Triani Yanuar Sekolah Tinggi Agama Islam Al Badar Cipulus Purwakarta, Indonesia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.61987/jemr.v5i5.3285

Keywords:

Experiential Marketing, Educational Services Marketing, Student Recruitment, Marketing Strategy

Abstract

Educational services are intangible, making it difficult for prospective students and parents to assess their quality before experiencing them. This challenge highlights the importance of experiential marketing as an approach to communicating educational service value and creating meaningful experiences for prospective students. This study aims to analyze the implementation of experiential marketing through the “A Day as an MA Student” program based on Schmitt’s (1999) five experiential modules: sense, feel, think, act, and relate. The study employed a descriptive qualitative approach. Data were collected through interviews, observations, and documentation, then analyzed using the Miles and Huberman interactive model. The findings indicate that the act dimension was the most clearly documented, while think was partially documented. The sense and relate dimensions were identified implicitly, whereas the feel dimension lacked supporting evidence. Furthermore, most prospective students obtained information about the madrasah through family members, neighbors, and alumni rather than social media. This study implies that experiential marketing should be developed as part of a sustainable educational marketing management strategy, with systematic planning, implementation, measurement, and evaluation across all five experiential dimensions. Such an approach can help educational institutions communicate their service value more effectively and strengthen prospective students’ engagement.

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