The document provides a marketing research report for the Wesley Foundation at Southern Arkansas University. It includes an executive summary, background on the Wesley Foundation, research objectives, methodology, SWOT analysis, environmental analysis, and survey results. The survey was conducted to understand how to attract more students and increase involvement in the Wesley Foundation. The survey found that most students, especially seniors, were not interested in joining a campus ministry and were not aware of what the Wesley Foundation offers. The report provides suggestions for targeting sophomores, juniors, athletes, and Greek organizations to increase awareness and membership in the Wesley Foundation.

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Marketing Research for the Wesley Foundation at SAU
Southern Arkansas University
Brady Stivers
Brandie Mask
Cameron Carr
DeAndre Jenkins
Raza Baig

2. 2
Marketing Research: Wesley Foundation
By: Brady Stivers, Brandie Mask, Cameron Carr, DeAndre Jenkins & Raza Baig
MKTG 4023

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Table of Contents
Table of Contents………………………………………………………………………….3
Executive Summary……………………………………………………………………….4
Wesley Foundation Summary……………………………………………………………..5
Research Objectives……………………………………………………………………….6
Methodology………………………………………………………………………………7
SWOT Analysis…………………………………………………………………………....8
Environmental Analysis…………………………………………………………………...12
Survey Results……………………………………………………………………………..15
Conclusion and Suggestions…………………………………………………………….....18
Appendices………………………………………………………………………………...20

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Executive Summary
The Wesley Foundation is a campus ministry that offers an opportunity to help students fulfill
their religious desires. Lately, the Wesley Foundation has seen a decline in attendance, and a lack
of consistency and loyalty among the students. Brother Mark Lasitar is in charge of the ministry
in Magnolia, and he is unsure of the reasons for these problems. Mark Lasitar questions if he is
marketing the Wesley Foundation effectively. Our job is to do research on how Mark Lasitar can
attract new students, and how to keep students involved consistently with the Wesley
Foundation.
In our research we have noticed that the students are somewhat sensitive when being approached
about church. In our survey, that we gave out to different demographics on campus, there were
many responses that said they want to know more about the Wesley and that when approached
about attending, they want to be approached calmly and inviting without having to worry about
someone judging them if the decide not to attend. Many students feel like that some of the
church ministries are not very inviting and don’t do a very good job of making them feel
comfortable.
After doing extensive research our team has concluded that the Wesley Foundation needs to be
more aggressive in marketing it’s ministry but doing so with a more direct approach. Face to face
contact is very good with our generation, but do not force anything on someone. Let the students
know about how beneficial the Wesley Foundation can be in their lives. Students don’t mind
being informed about something, but since church is a sensitive subject with students, they do
not want to feel as if they are being judged.

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Wesley Foundation Summary
The Wesley Foundation is a Christian organization that reaches out to students on
campus to come learn about Jesus Christ and form some type of religion in their life. Mark
Lasitar is in charge of the Wesley Foundation here on the SAU campus. He has reached out to
our team to do research on how to get the college students more involved with the Wesley
Foundation here in Magnolia, Arkansas.
The Wesley Foundation provides weekly bible studies, worship services, and certain
holiday parties; such as Halloween and Valentine’s Day parties. Mr. Lasitar has taken multiple
opportunities to reach out to students on the SAU campus, but is still not receiving expected
results.
The reasons for noninvolvement by the students can range from students not being very
religious anymore, to students just not being interested in becoming a part of an organization that
is based on religion. We as a team plan on conducting information on what the Wesley
Foundation can do to attract students, and to find reasons why students do not want to get
involved, and how to persuade them to get involved.
We will develop a survey of questions for religious students and non-religious students.
Also, to get a personal understanding on how to approach the problems going on with the
Wesley Foundation here in Magnolia.

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ResearchObjectives
The Wesley Foundation at Southern Arkansas University is a campus ministry, whose
main interest is to help fulfill religious desires of the students on campus, and in the city of
Magnolia. There are many students at the university who have never been to the Wesley
Foundation, and a lot of students who have not even heard of the campus ministry. Brother Mark
Lasitar (director of the Wesley Foundation) has asked our marketing research team how to get
these students more involved with his ministries and how to keep students consistent in their
attendance.
Our team will do research on the needs the students want to fulfill and what changes the
Wesley Foundation may need to make to attract more students. Research objectives are as
follows:
 Do students want to fulfill their religious desires on campus?
 What does the Wesley Foundation have to offer these students?
 Can the Wesley Foundation attract students by using other incentives along with
Religious fulfillment?
 What other incentives would attract the most students?
 Why don’t people know about the Wesley Foundation, and what can the Wesley do to be
more noticeable to students?
 Who should the Wesley Foundation target on campus to get the best results?

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Methodology
Our marketing research team has gathered demographics of the students on campus. We
researched how many students are on campus, the female to male ratio, how many athletes are on
campus, how many of the students are in fraternities or sororities, and even how many freshmen,
sophomores, juniors, and seniors are enrolled fulltime and part time at SAU.
Our goal is to figure out whom the Wesley Foundation should target and how they will
get the best results. We have come up with a survey to pass out to all of the different
demographics that we researched. The survey provides an opportunity for the students to
express how they feel about the Wesley Foundations and will provide us with the most useful
information.
In the survey we asked questions such as, how can the Wesley Foundation get you more
involved? Personal questions are asked, such as how often students attend church. We also ask if
the students even have any religious desires or affiliations, and we give the students a chance to
express, in their own words, how those desires can be fulfilled.
The survey will help us with our research objectives a great deal, but we may also add in
a chance for students to express themselves on a more personal level by conducting a focus
group. A focus group will give our team a chance to be more direct with the students, and we
will be able to observe the students behavior when asked certain questions. A focus group will
contribute greatly to our research.

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SWOT
Analysis
Internal Strengths
 Solid program in which nearly
all of the members are active
 Many students who are
involved believe that the
Foundation is beneficial to them
 Provide weekly and annual
events such as Christmas and
Valentine’s
 Unlike the image that is
portrayed by most students, the
Wesley Foundation’s sole
purpose is not to force the
religion on its members or
visitors
 Provide many religious services
 Supported by the United
Methodist Church
Weaknesses
 Lack of awareness of the Foundation
 Could have a lot larger group of
members
 Lack of presence in the University
Campus
 Not a lot of non-members come to their
events even though it was available to
the public
 Although they do not force the religion
on to new comers, a lot of students feel
as though such organizations sole
purpose is to do so
 Current members have not been as
successful as expected to spread the
word about the organization

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External Opportunities
 Many advertising opportunities
are available on the university
grounds
 Christian -based organization in
an area where religion is a big
part of life
 Show students how the
organization can influence their
lives in a positive way
 Talking to athletes, most of
whom would be interested
 Chance of introducing more
annual events than currently
available to increase notoriety
Threats
 The amount of other organizations like
themselves who might have a larger
following
 This generation of students is known to
be a lot less religious than previous
generations (Gligoff, 2010)
 Since this organization is a non-profit
organization, it relies heavily on
funding, which it needs to increase
 The lack of sufficient funding can harm
the amount of advertising and activities
that the organization wants to do.
Strengths
The Wesley Foundation’s current members are mostly all active and can be seen as an
benefit because it shows a sense of loyalty from its members. The current members believe that
the Wesley Foundation has had a positive impact on their lives. Another strength that the Wesley
Foundation has is the fact that it provides a lot of opportunities for attracting new members and
still keeps its existing members satisfied.

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The Wesley Foundation’s primary goal is not to “force” religion on the students that it attracts.
The primary goal for the Wesley Foundation is to provide young adults with a path to religion IF
they choose to follow that path. The Wesley Foundations provides religious services at multiple
times, which significantly increases its chances of increasing its market. Since the Wesley
Foundation is supported by the United Methodist Church, it can be seen as a reliable
organization. United Methodist Church is also very well known around this area which can
definitely be an advantage to the Wesley Foundation as it is an affiliate.
Weaknesses
Although the current members are active, our team believes that the current group of
members is not large enough to have a great amount of impact with the use of word of mouth.
The current members have tried to attract new members to the Wesley Foundation, but they have
not been successful. Another weakness that goes along with the previous weakness is the fact
that not a lot of students are aware of the services that the Wesley Foundation provides. In
comparison to other organization s, the Wesley Foundation does not have a strong presence on
campus. The Wesley Foundation does try to attract more members by hosting certain events, but
unfortunately there usually isn’t a significant turn out by new comers. One of the greatest
weaknesses that the Wesley Foundation has is that since it is a religious organization, a lot of
students may feel as though the Wesley Foundation will try to “force” religion on to them.
Opportunities
Christianity is a big part of life around this part of the country; this can be used to attract
more members to the Wesley Foundation. The Wesley Foundation also has the opportunity to
advertise to their main market (students) by advertising more on the campus grounds. The

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Wesley Foundation can also try to attract the athletes, which would increase their target market
size and would most likely help attract other students. Although the Wesley foundation already
hosts multiple events, it can provide even more events, which could increase the number of
attendees and it would give the Wesley Foundation’s current members a chance to try and attract
more members. With the help of the current members the Wesley Foundation will have the
opportunity to express how their foundation can help benefit young adults socially and
spiritually.
Threats
Since the Wesley foundation is a non-profit foundation, which means that it needs to
have a significant amount of funding to continuously provide for its current members and to
attract new members, it may be a crucial threat if funding were to decrease significantly. Another
threat to the growth of the Wesley Foundation would be the availability of other organizations
that are a lot like the Wesley Foundation, but have a larger number of members. The most
dangerous threat would be that the current generation of students just might not be as interested
to be a part of an organization that relates to religion, unlike the previous generation.

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Environmental Analysis
The Wesley Foundation is eager to reach out to the student body here on the SAU
campus. The Wesley Foundation has previously made continuous efforts to reach out to the
freshmen. The Wesley Foundation has been taking advantage of pursuing freshmen at certain
events such as freshmen seminar/orientation. Our data shows that there is a larger market
available that needs to be reached out to that could help increase the membership at the Wesley
Foundation. We believe that freshmen tend to follow the upper classmen and that if the Wesley
Foundation can attract more upperclassmen, it could get incoming students to be more active and
consistent with the Wesley Foundation throughout their college years.
Although seniors do have the largest ratio of the student population, we feel like the best
opportunities would come from targeting sophomores and juniors. The reason would be because
552
491
457
637
81
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
Freshman Sophomore Junior Senior Graduate
Full Time Students (Spring 2013)

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seniors would hopefully be leaving and sophomores and juniors would still have enough time to
be highly active with the Wesley Foundation. Since a lot of freshmen have yet to establish a solid
Foundation for religious or personal beliefs, we believe that sophomores and juniors would be
more accepting of the opportunities offered by the Wesley Foundation, which in turn would
attract more freshmen.
Both the Wesley Foundation and our marketing research team believe that the Greek
communities on campus can help increase the number of members in the Wesley Foundation.
Most of the sororities and fraternities if not all on the SAU campus have some sort of religious
influence. Since Greek life, at times, can help attract students to SAU, we also believe that Greek
life will be capable of attracting students to the Wesley Foundation. Greek life also influences its
members to be active and stay committed to an organization, this type of commitment is what the
Wesley Foundation is looking forward to invest in.
128 125
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
Male Female
Active Greek Members
Active Greek Members

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Enrollment - 3,404
Male enrollment: 41% Female enrollment: 59%
Live on campus vs. off: On campus: 43% Off campus: 57%
How many are athletes: 8%
Wesley Foundations target markets are the students of SAU, as seen from the table above
the latest recorded student population is 3,404. Out of the 3,404 students 41% are male and 59%
are female. As shown above 43% of the students live on campus while 57% live off campus. For
the 43% of the population that lives on campus, accessibility to the Wesley Foundation is not an
issue as the Wesley Foundation is situated across from Overstreet. This gives the Wesley
Foundation a good advantage to attract more students to the organization. Of the 3,404 students
active on campus, 8% are athletes. This is an important demographic because athletes have a
huge impact on the SAU campus. Athletes are looked up to because they have the spotlight on
campus. Everyone knows who the athletes are, and keep up with what they do on and off of their
playing grounds. If the Wesley Foundation can get more athletes involved, we believe that other
students will get more involved as well.

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Survey Results
Our team handed out the surveys in the Reynolds building, the ABS ministry and the
International Students office and to a couple of Business classes to make sure that we had a
diverse population of students. The two largest classification populations that had filled our
surveys out were the Seniors and Freshmen followed by Juniors and Sophomores, respectively.
Freshman
32%
Sophomore
14%
Junior
20%
Senior
34%
Survey Population
12
5
9
8
19
9
11
25
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Freshman Sophomore Junior Senior
#ofStudents
Student Classification
Yes
No

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The table above shows the number of students who have answered yes or no to question
number 3 on our survey as seen on appendix 1. To get clear information about how certain
classifications have answered our surveys, we have separated all of the classifications. Out of the
31 freshmen that we had surveyed, 19 of them said they were not interested in joining a campus
ministry at SAU, while 12 said that they were. Out of the 14 sophomores that we had surveyed 9
said that they were not interested in joining a campus at SAU, while 5 said that they were. For
the 20 juniors that we had surveyed, 11 said that they were not interested, while 9 said they were.
Out of the 33seniors that we had surveyed 25 said that they were not interested, while 8 said that
they were.
All though the answer “no” was the most prominent one for all of the classification, our
team believes that the Wesley Foundation can still easily attract more freshmen, sophomores and
juniors. Attracting seniors might be more of a challenge since they would be expected to
graduate soon.
4
6
5 5
27
8
15
28
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Freshman Sophomore Junior Senior
#ofStudents
Student Classification
yes
no

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The table above shows the number of students who have answered yes or no to question
number 4 on our survey as seen on appendix 1. 27 of the 31 freshmen that we surveyed said that
they had no heard about what the Wesley Foundation has to offer, while 4 said that they did. 8
out of the 14 freshmen that we surveyed said that they have not heard about what the Wesley
Foundation has to offer while 6 said that they did. For the juniors 15 said that they have not
heard about what the Wesley Foundation has to offer, while 5 said that they did. For the seniors
28 said that they did not know what the Wesley foundation has to offer, while 5 said that they
did.
Clearly a vast majority of the students we had surveyed do not know what the Wesley
Foundation has to offer. This means the Wesley Foundation has a great opportunity to put their
name out there and show what they can offer.

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Conclusion and Suggestions
The Wesley Foundation brings a lot to the table, not just religious fulfillment. The ministry hosts
many social events and students have yet to take advantage of these opportunities. A major
problem is that students do not know what all the Wesley Foundation has to offer. Students think
that the Wesley Foundation is going to do nothing but force Christianity down their throat.
According to recent findings, our generation is known to be a lot less religious than previous
generations.
We understand that the main focus for the Wesley Foundation is centralized around Christianity.
Based on our research, our team thinks that the Wesley Foundation needs to do a better job of
getting the word out about all of the events that the ministry has to offer. For instance, the
Wesley Foundation has a Halloween party each year and students love to dress up for
Halloween. With the right timing, a social event such as a Halloween party can be used to bait in
students on campus. Our team suggest that you find out what the students are interested in,
market that to the students to get their attention and ease the idea of Christianity in the subject.
Do not force anything; forcing religion on students in the beginning will scare them away. The
more comfortable the students get with you, the more in depth you can go into Christianity.
Basically, you have to win students over.
Another problem that the Wesley Foundation has noticed is consistency with attendance and
having loyal students. The Wesley Foundation has to understand that with their target market
being college students, that students are very busy. So if Students take the time to attend an
event, be sure to strive to make every event memorable. Students are not against trying new

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things but when they try new things, students must be attracted to something to have consistency
with their attendance.
Something little that would have a huge impact on students is the quality of food being served at
each event. It’s sad to say, but students are more likely to attend and event with greater quality
food, than an event with a lesser quality of food.
It does not have to be just food to keep students interested. Students want to feel involved with
anything they do. Offer ways that the students can get involved with the ministry. Giving a
chance for students to open up or a chance for them to share their testimony will help keep the
students involved and interested.
Also, Students are really attracted to people they can relate to. This means that they want to be
approached by someone who is around the same age, who believes in the same things, or even
someone suffers with the same problems. This is where our team believes we will see the most
response. This is also why we believe that attracting the athletes would be a great marketing plan
for the entire campus.
Our team believes that the Wesley Foundation has a lot to offer the SAU campus, but they need
to take advantage of their strengths and advertise and market more aggressively to the students.
The way you approach students is huge and says a lot when trying to get a specific response. If
the Wesley Foundation gets the word out about all they have to offer, and make the students feel
comfortable we would expect the Wesley to see better results in their ministry.

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Appendices
Appendix 1A.
(For research purposes, please take this survey once)
1. What isyour classification?
Freshman__ Sophomore__ Junior__ Senior__
2. What activitiesare youinvolvedwithoncampus?(Sports?Campusministries?Frat/Sor?Etc...)
1.____________________ 4.____________________
2.____________________ 5.____________________
3.____________________ 6.____________________
3. Are you interestedinjoiningacampusministryatSAU?
Yes__ No__
4. Have you heardabouteverythingthe WesleyFoundationhastooffer?(If yes,pleaseskipto
question8.)
Yes__ No__
5. Didyou knowthat the Wesleyoffersfreemeals,andorganizesactivitiessuchasHalloweenand
Valentineparties?
Yes__ No__
6. Are you interestedinbeingprovidedwithmore informationaboutthe Wesleyfoundation?
NotInterested__ Somewhatinterested__ Interested__ Veryinterested__
7. Are you interestedinattendingactivitiesatthe Wesley?
NotInterested__ SomewhatInterested__ Interested__ VeryInterested__
8. Is there a particulardayor time thatyouwouldbe willingto attendthese activities?

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9. What wouldyoulike the Wesleytodotoget youmore involved?
10. What isyour religiousaffiliationanddenomination?
11. How manytimesdoyou attendchurch a week?
0__ 1__ 2__ 3 or more__
12. In youropinion,whatcanbe done tofulfill student’sreligiousdesires,hereonSAUCampus?

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Appendix 1B
Answers for question number 12 on survey
“In your opinion, what can be done to fulfill student’s religious desires, here on SAU campus?
The main responses tended to be more along the lines of “Advertise more.” This suggests
that there is an opportunity to reach out to the students, and this opportunity is being missed.
Some interesting ideas such as daily emails were mentioned. Another reoccurring answer
involved offering free food for the students. There were also many suggestions for activities to
be held on campus in the mall area. Students also tended to want some sort of devotional or
service offered throughout different times of the week. A private session where people can come
to converse on the topic of religion itself could be suggested for those who simply want to
express their beliefs as well as other differentiating views concerning religion. The following are
some of the answers we received from question number twelve of the survey:
“Get more involved get the word out we are a small campus so word travels fast.”
“Fun activities with singing and food on the yard. (Mall area)”
“Outreach and prayer.”
“Be more inviting.”
“Maybe offer different kinds of sermons on different nights to appeal to everyone’s religious
preferences.”
“Just get the word out that they are having a church/religion get together and make it known that
everyone is invited.”

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“More on campus religious services.”
“Offer them more things to do.”
“Interfaith activities, I, as an Atheist, would love to be a part of a debate where an atheist and a
religious person trade points in a calm and intellectual way. Many people could benefit
intellectually from this.”
“I don’t really know how that can be done? I guess just keep putting your name out there and
people will eventually get curious?”
“Actually talk to people instead of just advertising on paper.”
“Offer any day of the week.”
“Offer various times.”
“Less intrusive but more invitational more open and accepting to different denominations.”
“Preach the gospel to whoever is willing to learn.”
“Promote!”
“Get more information out.”
“Get to know what the students actually want and how they feel.”
“Just be more involved on campus. Spread the Gospel through fun activities that bring everyone
together.”

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“Given the religious diversity on campus, it might be good if there were more options on
campus. I am aware of 3 campus ministries, all Christian. There is much room on campus to
improve fulfillment of student’s spiritual needs by diversifying.”
“Get out there and advertise all of the various churches and religious things there are to offer
around SAU.”
“Bible verses on sidewalks or in emails every day.”
“It’s really hard to get students involved in religious activities. It mainly relies on a student’s
preference and if they have been around a church or not. Another thing that takes affect is what
friends they find here first. It all depends on the surroundings the student chooses. Be a person’s
friend more than anything. Don’t pressure anyone to hang out or come to an event, but be their
friend and lead them to Christ that way.”
“Just be open more to people’s different religious denomination.”
“Maybe have devotionals and a sort of potluck.”
“Maybe less homework.”
“Let people know more about what is going on at your organization.”
“Don’t be pushy, and advertise around campus more about fun activities.”
“Provide information on what is available, and actually invite people to activities.”

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References
Gilgoff, Dan."Study: Young Americans Less Religious than TheirParents."
Online Posting. CNN. Cable News Network, 17 Feb. 2010. Web. 03 Dec.
2013.