Should Your School Do a Tuition Reset?
Rising tuition costs are becoming more of a barrier to new students. Would a tuition reset be right for your school? Find out more.
Branding
Most higher education marketers know how to make bold claims about the features of their institution—but it’s the transcendent values your brand is claiming that need special attention. Are you living out your brand?
Every day, your brand is making promises to your audience. Following through on these promises is crucial to maintaining trust in your organization’s brand.
Of course, there are the obvious promises like the quality of your degree programs, the intimate feel of your faculty-to-student ratio, and the “world famous” pizzeria in your dining hall.
For most colleges and universities, these promises are being kept with as much excellence as the budget will allow. From what I’ve seen, it’s the intangible promises that trip up marketers.
Take an inventory of the unique set of beliefs and values your organization prizes. If done right, you’ll need a good amount of time to assemble this list as you evaluate your institution’s history, current leadership direction/objectives, and campus atmosphere.
(Helpful Tool: Here’s a list of 500 core values to consider.)
There are many possible intangible promises your brand is making to your audience. Is it…
Once you’ve identified the values that fit your brand, the next question follows naturally.
Make sure your marketing messages across all channels are clearly communicating the corporate values your brand embraces.
When you inject the passion of belief into your marketing, the features of your college or university will suddenly have deeper meaning.
We have over 100 student social clubs because you belong here.
We have student leadership opportunities because leadership starts before you’re a leader.
We have student research projects where you work side-by-side with our faculty on leading edge research because curiosity shouldn’t start at graduation.
Take advantage of the power in your core values. Make sure your marketing is saying it for you loud and clear.
Now, all the messaging in the world won’t help if you’re not backing up your brand promises with action. So…
If we’re not careful, we marketers can make bold claims that we don’t back up with action. There are normally two reasons for this:
Before making a brand promise in your messaging, count the cost and decide if you can do what it takes to prove it.
Nowadays, audiences are savvy and have access to all the information they need to see if you’re holding true to your claims—right from their mobile devices.
Here are some ideas of how you can live out your brand:
Provide volunteer opportunities for your students and staff, and set an example by being the first one to roll up your sleeves.
Whether it’s volunteering to clean up a local park, singing carols at a nursing home, serving in local Boy or Girl Scout events, or providing a meal for the homeless—encourage your staff and faculty to get involved.
Make sure your representatives are wearing your brand when they do volunteer. Outfit them with clothing with your logo on it and give them handouts to give away with your content marketing pieces.
Schedule a photographer or videographer to capture your brand in action and broadcast it through all your marketing channels.
As an organization, consider giving to a non-competing organization whose values you support. Partner with them on initiatives that match your brand promise.
For example, if you value leadership, then sponsor a leadership forum put on by your local chamber of commerce. If you value diversity, sponsor or facilitate interracial dialogue in town hall meetings.
And don’t forget to encourage your employees and students to give their own money to causes they believe in. Also, if you’ve got the budget, set up a matching gift program.
Living out your brand is critical to maximizing your marketing ROI, because when your audience believes your brand promise, they’ll give you their loyalty.
Living out your brand requires the united effort of leadership on all levels. And that’s what makes it so darn hard to do.
If there’s something off in your messaging, you can easily fix it, because you have control over that.
But you don’t have control over what the other teams in your organization do.
So make the decision to start living out your brand, and watch how your marketing becomes more efficient and profitable.
If you have any questions, or would like some help with branding or any other aspect of your education marketing, get in touch. We’re here to help with proven results.
Set yourself free from your shrinking marketing budget with my popular ebook Marketing on a Shoestring Budget! This ebook is jammed with practical ways to produce high-quality marketing on the cheap.
Inside, I’ll show you proven marketing tactics like…
No hype. No pie in the sky. Just real solutions for getting the job done with the budget you’ve got.
Featured image by michaeljung via Adobe Stock
Subscribe to The Higher Ed Marketer podcast today!