SOME ADMINISTRATORS-AND EVEN MORE FACULTY-MIGHT ARGUE THAT BRANDING an educational institution takes away from its academic mission. But from where Steve McKee sits, institutions whose leaders clearly know “their specialty will prosper, and those that don’t will languish.” McKee, who is president of the Albuquerque, N.M.-based advertising firm McKee Wallwork Cleveland, says most colleges and universities have a differentiation problem when communicating with prospective students. With the backlash against tuition increases, the explosion of online education, and the increasing mobility of students, he believes competition is going to become more of a fact of life than ever before in higher education.
What about that mission issue? Done right, “institutional branding is meant to help propel an institution from its mission to its vision by creatively conveying the powerful strategy that will take it from where it is to where it wants to go,” argues Barbara O’Malley, chief communications officer at The University of Akron (Ohio). “When the strategy is clear and the creative and communication consistent and supportive of the strategy, branding is powerful and can benefit a university greatly.” Research has tied good branding to attracting students, faculty, and staff as well as to achieving success in fundraising and in getting media coverage.
The big challenge in branding a “living, breathing institution” rather than a product, says Blair Garland, director of marketing at Roanoke College (Va.), is that the lives of its students, parents, alumni, faculty, and staff are intimately tied to it. That’s why branding is serious strategic business. It shouldn’t just be “an exercise to develop a tagline or a great advertisement,” O’Malley says.
The staff of University Business has compiled 50 ideas for developing and executing a brand strategy. We hope they’ll get you thinking about the promises you make to your constituents and how those promises might be better communicated.
BRAND DEVELOPMENT
1. Ground your brand in truth. During a daylong brainstorming session, administrators at Indiana State University kept coming back to a comment a student made about why Indiana State was different. On move-in day, he had seen a sign about a need for student newspaper reporters. He stopped by the office and was immediately put on staff. He commented on how surprised and pleased he was to be given this experience from the first day of his college career. That comment became the inspiration for Indiana State’s tagline “More. From day one.” Since the brand launched four years ago, officials have heard stories from others whose college experiences have mirrored that of this student’s. According to Steve McKee of McKee Wallwork Cleveland, institutions tend to focus their identities on things like research capabilities and academic reputation, but that’s not necessarily what hits the emotional buttons of prospective students. When undergraduates are asked about their school selection, they’ll say things like “I just fit in here” or “It is close to home.”
2. Act on perception study data. A 2006 study of Bucknell University (Pa.) constituents—from prospective students and their parents, to guidance counselors, donors, leaders of peer institutions, and higher education groups—revealed its strong, yet poorly defined, reputation. Audiences indicated that messages about academic strengths often seemed hidden under messages about the institution’s comprehensiveness. The conclusion: Academics must be the priority message, with breadth of opportunity supplementing and extending that message, not overshadowing it. Now every aspect of the communications strategy, including story and photo selection and the use of new media tools, reflects that decision.
3. Team with other institutions to brand the local college experience. What’s it like to attend college in New York City? Seven private institutions and 21 City University of New York schools worked together to launch the website OneCampusNYC and tout the city as a university town. The site’s tagline—”The NYC college experience. Simplified”—and content shares what it’s like when the city is your campus. An FAQ section provides succinct information on housing, transportation, and what New York offers students that other cities don’t.
