Today, the competition in higher education is growing faster than ever before. Think about it. You are competing with rising tuition costs, a recession, the growth of online education, and the “mobile” student (with multiple target segments beyond the traditional student of yesterday). At the same time, many students are choosing quick certification training in steady growth areas like medical, rather than pursuing 4-year degrees.
No matter which student audiences you target, everyone has the same problem: How can we differentiate our institution from the others? A great place to start is with a brand story. According to the (book) “A brand’s story puts a face on a brand, adds a personal touch and can bring a brand to life.”
Beyond the unique story of your college or university, here are a few questions to get you thinking about how your brand is distinctive:
What does your school (brand) stand for?
What are the key/core benefit messages for your brand?
What are your brand principles (top 5 ideals to live by)?
How is your school different?
What is your unique value proposition?
What is your brand promise?
How is your institution perceived by students, parents, alumni & contributors?
By consistently communicating the brand message, you can reinforce the distinctive and unique brand assets that make your school different. And, as part of an overall integrated marketing plan, it can lead to increased awareness and drive enrollment.
Have you been tasked with a branding project at your school, college or university, but have been given a shoestring budget (no money to bring in a branding agency-wink-wink like www.educationbranding.com)? No worries.
Here are some guidelines to get you started. These steps were pulled from the wonderful book by Duane E. Knapp, The Brandmindset™. I highly recommend you read this book before starting any branding project!
Step 1: Brand Assessment
How is the brand perceived today?
Gain an understanding of where we are and where we want to go.
- Review current communications
- Look at competitive brand positions
- Discuss industry trends and impact on brand
- Review current marketing activities
- Analyze current business environment
- Answer “brand principles” questions
Step 2: Brand Promise
What does our brand stand for?
Create and communicate a long-term value proposition.
- What is our unique selling proposition (our differentiator)?
- What business are we really in?
- What is superior about the value we offer our customers?
Step 3: The Brand Blueprint
How will we communicate the brand?
Create the architectural building blocks for the brand’s communications.
- Graphic representation & visuals
- Tagline (positioning statement)
- Brand story and messaging
Step 4: Brand Culturalization
Everyone will follow the same written roadmap to ensure a consistent brand experience.
- Brand principles formerly defined (top 5 ideals to live by)
- Brand integration in everyday practices
- Communications/marketing outline
Recently, I attended a CASE conference in Atlanta for Senior Marketing and Communications Professionals (in higher education). One of the hot topics was the idea that institutions of higher learning should consider reforming their marketing operations to run more like a corporation. To some degree (pardon the pun), I believe there are some distinct areas that could benefit from following corporate tactics.
Here’s how:
- Improve the use of marketing metrics to strategically track results. In my experience on the client/corporate side, the use of metrics was an extremely valuable tool for justifying our marketing budgets and asking for additional funds.
- Think in terms of lead generation. I learned this when I first worked with “for-profit” schools. We set lead generation goals for each advertising campaign (and drilled down to each media outlet). Additionally, we factored in the average CPL (or cost-per-lead) for each acquisition method (online, newspaper, magazine, email, direct mail, etc.). We established what each lead cost, if it converted, if the prospective student enrolled, and finally, if he/she matriculated.
- Manage internal communications more effectively to keep external messages on target. Start with a communications audit and then develop a comprehensive plan with goals, a tactical implementation plan and timeline.
- Stay ahead of the curve (and ahead of the competition). With the higher education market becoming more and more competitive, our role as marketers is to stay on the forefront of “what’s next.” Just look at the social media marketing (SMM) phenomenon. It’s moving faster than most institutions can implement. And while you may grow frustrated when ideas become bogged down, remember, you have to start somewhere.
- You do have customers! Ask yourself “how can we improve ‘customer service’ throughout our institution?” Give them a positive customer experience to blog about.