Academic Institutions will Die ?

If the institutions do not create a brand they will surely eventually die. Branding your university or business school is the process of strategically communicating your values and selling points.

Institutions of higher education are facing an increasingly competitive environment in which they must find ways to differentiate their institution and tell their story.

over 47,000,000 schools and universities compete for prospective students’ attention. Considering this, in addition to a  steady decline in enrollment numbers, it’s clear why college presidents are paying more attention to their marketing departments. A branding program should be designed to differentiate your product from all the other cattle on the range, “even if all the other cattle on the range look pretty much alike.” In this crowded, competitive world if you’re not a brand you’re just a commodity.

Build a brand promise based on academic offerings, student experience, or an institution’s prestige. Develop brand strategies that reflect the emotional and psychological dynamics of an educational institution as a whole.

A brand is the promise, the big idea, the expectations that reside in each customer’s mind about a product, service or company. Branding is about making an emotional connection.

Schools want their brand identity to set them apart, to reflect their strengths, values, and mission as a place of learning. In order to avoid generic or misguided messaging, the marketing team (and other key stakeholders) must first clearly define their institution’s positive attributes, and crucially, how those align with their target audiences’ aspirations, challenges, and educational preferences.

Universities recognize the necessity of building appreciation for what makes them unique. Yet while some universities may be regarded as “great” brands, most aren’t. And it may be because of the ways in which higher education approaches branding.

Branding comes from within. It must be believed in and supported by all members of your community. Great brands are those whose missions people want to be a part of because they are the aspirations of the community. When a brand is community driven, it goes from promise to reality.

Growth to the higher education sector in the last decade has led to a greater dependence on university stakeholders and marketing strategists to create a distinctive brand and stand out above their competition. 

Partnerships

One way that universities may look to strengthen their brand, and appealability, would be to form external partnerships with businesses. Such ventures and schemes between institutions and employers could showcase a focus on employability and alumni outcomes, which could persuade students in their decision-making process to pick an institution who value their post-education prospects.

External Communications

Effective communications with external stakeholders can help to raise a university’s domestic and international profile while getting their key messages across. Historically, this has been achieved primarily through public relations and the management of national and international media.

Although this remains a key area for development in modern day marketing for universities, online communication channels have become increasingly crucial to global impact, whether it be through prospective students and alumni, governments or the media directly.

Online Marketing and Presence

In order for universities to optimize their distinctiveness, it’s becoming increasingly important, in line with consumer characteristics, for them to focus on improving their digital platforms and online presence.

There are external services that can help to improve online platforms. For example, Drumstiicks Consulting company offers an extensive portfolio of solutions and brand enhancement – with its starting point an audit of all online communications, which includes social media. The service also assesses an institution’s performance in terms of online hits and interactivity with key audiences, which could be used to form recommendations for online developments and improvements.

Institutions could also identify keywords for website optimization, develop strategies for key online marketing portals, assessment of current resourcing for online marketing or training provision.

Facilities

Improving facilities and infrastructure could also help to create a more distinctive brand for universities. Improvement of facilities and strategic focus around this can positively influence student decision-making. It has been suggested that where the estate of an institution has been treated as a strategic asset, it figures more highly in students’ perceived reasons for choosing a particular location to study in.

Although an improvement of facilities could create greater student interest and improve a university’s brand image, it may cause problems in terms of student expectations during the recruitment process not matching the subsequent reality.

This is rarely understood by the institutions and thats where consultants like us come in the picture