Insights from Noetic Consultants
A college’s strategic plan guides all long-term and day-to-day institutional decisions, ensuring operations and priorities support the institution’s mission, vision, and values. Brand strategy defines and sets the expectation for the experience people will have when engaging with the community college brand. And marketing strategy outlines the tactics of how and where the college will engage audiences to increase awareness and influence them to pursue the college.
Without brand strategy, there is no connectivity between a college’s institutional priorities and the marketing tactics that raise brand awareness and drive enrollment. Conversely, a well-defined brand strategy provides community colleges with a macro trajectory to create value and build student loyalty.
For example, a community college might expand its physical footprint in a region by opening a new facility in a densely populated area. The strategic plan outlines the importance of this expansion to the enrollment strategy and stabilization of the operational budget. Now with a presence in the southeast and northeast regions of the city, the community college embarks on a reframing of its identity and undergoes a rebranding to more accurately showcase its accessibility and service to the community. The college develops an awareness campaign called Your City – Your College, to launch in conjunction with the facility’s grand opening.
This illustrative example is just one demonstration of how a college’s strategic plan, brand strategy, and marketing tactics should be connected and always working in concert.
This article is from the Community College Insights Fall 2023 newslettter. Read the full newsletter »