Insights From Tim Leon - President & CSO at Geile/Leon Marketing Communications

This week's insights come from Tim Leon , President & CSO at Geile/Leon Marketing Communications .

Tim talked about the importance of branding in higher education.

How often should universities refresh their branding?

What is the importance of your brand to your marketing and enrolment efforts?

Tim shares his over 34 years of expertise in this area.

The key insights shared by Tim are below;

• Brands need to stay relevant and be refreshed on a cyclical basis and when external changes occur.
• The brands messaging needs to reflect changes in the world such as the move to online during the coronavirus pandemic.
• Branding should be clear and relate to key challenges of the target market such as affordability due to a recession.
• The brands messaging needs to change as student concerns change.
• Create a brand playbook with core messages.
• The brand needs buy in and support from faculty and the whole team.
• Focus on 2 or 3 key points for your brand.
• Define your brands why and differentiation.
• The brand can help students employment prospects. Employers like to see a strong brand they recognise or has a clear area of expertise.
• Retention is a big concern and requires a greater focus on student experience.
• Personalised marketing experiences will be the future.
• Tours are becoming less effective as students want more focus on their own personal needs.
• Communication needs to happen where the students engage and reply such as email, text Whatsapp etc.
• Chief Experience Officers are a new and more important role for universities to help integrate the brand and make it part of the student experience.

Listen to the full conversation between Tim and I here on the EdUp Marcomm Podcast with?The EdUp Experience?here - www.edupmarcomm.com