Brand matters in higher education

In this newsletter, we take a snapshot of the importance of higher education brands. A strong brand is memorable. It evokes emotion. It can make us think about quality, price, social impact, and prestige. We choose brands in all areas of life—even when choosing higher education.

A college's brand is its reputation. It stems largely from the student experience. The timeliness of communication, ease of enrollment, availability of support services, campus culture, positive interactions with faculty, and employment opportunities for graduates are just a few ways students interact with a college's brand. And when students have formed an opinion, they engage—and tell others about it.

Community college brand perception and perpetuation

Noetic found, on average, community colleges scored themselves at 70 percent, indicating they believe they are strong in some of the brand health categories, but not all. Noetic describes a healthy community college brand as being in the 85+ percentile. Colleges self-reported that the most significant areas of concern were Brand Strategy and Brand Development.

A brand is arguably the most vital factor in determining the viability and longevity of a college's reputation and desirability. It is the totality of thoughts, feelings, experiences, and memories created at every internal and external touchpoint. It is the intentionality through which a college provides a high-quality, consistent, and compelling experience to its students. And yet, it is commonly misunderstood and under-leveraged by community colleges.

Noetic Consultants fielded their Brand Health Diagnostic™ tool with community colleges across the country, asking them to answer questions from four categories:

1. Business strategy: Articulation of and understanding for the vision and mission of a community college.
2. Brand strategy: Clear expression of the expectations and experiences people will have when engaging with the community college brand.
3. Brand development: Measuring how well a community college's brand takes shape internally and externally.
4. Brand performance: How a community college's brand performs in the marketplace and how or when it needs to adapt to changing landscapes.

Join us for this episode of Inside Out: Community Colleges Far and Wide

Where we travel around the United States to take a closer look at what's interesting and innovative in higher ed. We went far and wide to visit some amazing community colleges. We bet you've never thought about community colleges like this.

First up, we're traveling to Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College in Cloquet, Minnesota where art, culture, and nature intersect to create a powerful and memorable education experience.

The Million Dollar Community College Challenge Spotlight

Interesting Brand Insights

All grantees received technical assistance from Noetic to support their thinking around brand-building. Here are some insights from that work.

• Overall, the grantees brand health rated at 71 percent which was on par with national community college scores.
• Grantees scored lowest in brand development (67 percent) and highest in strategic plan (78 percent).
• 123 community college faculty completed the diagnostic.
• 90 percent of community colleges did not have pre-existing brand positioning statements.
• 100 percent of participants drafted their positioning statements based off technical assistance.

How are grantees using their awards?

• 60 percent plan to use grant funds towards market research.
• 50 percent plan to use grant funds towards environmental brand building efforts.
• 50 percent plan to use grant funds to engage a consultancy or creative agency for brand building efforts.

In addition to brand-building support, all grantees were provided with technical assistance to improve their understanding of digital trends in enrollment and provided with digital audits and consultation by Statwax. Here are some key takeaways from that work.

• 40 percent of grantees plan to use grant funds towards digital brand building efforts.
• 80 percent were encouraged to consider beefing up tracking capabilities for their websites.
• 60 percent were encouraged to focus homepage content on prospective students/create an emotional appeal to drive enrollment journey.
• 40 percent were encouraged to update CTA (call to action) buttons on the website to increase pipeline to applications.

Little changes = big impact

Imagine a potential student making the effort to get to your campus and not knowing which way to turn for help? Imagine a current student needed services and giving up because they can’t find supports hidden away on campus.

In your community, are you the best kept secret?

Brand recognition is about far more than the actual name of your college; however, your college name should be recognizable and evoke meaning in your community.

We heard from many schools about their college being “the best kept secret” in their community – even when their college was well-established.

We want to know…

Have you ever surveyed your community to find out what people think about your college when they hear your name? What do they associate with your college name and your college brand overall?

Write to Shauna and Mary at: challenge@luminafoundation.org

Technical assistance

Lumina offers technical assistance opportunities for community colleges interested in telling a better brand story. Visit the link below to see a full list of opportunities and for registration information.

The Million Dollar Community College Challenge Marketing Academy

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