I believe in frameworks. They help you conceptualize ideas as well as give you a structure upon which to hang your branding work. As I consult with schools about their efforts, I’ve found that it’s helpful draw things out and define how certain components fit together. This post should give you an idea of the various pieces of your institution’s brand.

Brand

Let’s go the source on this one. The American Marketing Association defines brand as:

A name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller’s good or service as distinct from those of other sellers. The legal term for brand is trademark. A brand may identify one item, a family of items, or all items of that seller. If used for the firm as a whole, the preferred term is trade name.

Brand Equity

A measurement of the ‘value’ of your brand. Essentially, it is a measurement of how your brand affects institutional revenue compared to an institution that does not have a brand (if there were such a thing).

Brand Identity

Traditionally defined as the sum total of the visual elements of your brand, brand identity has evolved to include the experiences (taste, smell, conversations) that people have with your school.

Brand Positioning

In Positioning: The Battle for your Mind, Jack Trout and Al Ries define positioning as “an organized system for finding a window in the mind. It is based on the concept that communication can only take place at the right time and under the right circumstances” (p. 19 of 2001 paperback edition). Most marketers agree that a brand position is a perception that your audience maintains about your school.

Brand Awareness

If managing perception is your stock in trade, brand awareness is your ruler. Brand awareness is the extent to which a student, alumni or parent 1) knows about you (let’s hope alumni do) and 2) can correctly associate you with the traits that you desire to own in their mind.

Brand Loyalty

This is a student’s, parent’s, or alumni’s commitment to attending or donating to your institution. It is usually demonstrated by repeated engagement with your school – whether through purchasing branded gear or committing time or other resources in the aid of achieving your goals.

Brand Understanding

This is what you say about yourself. More importantly, it’s what other people say about you. It’s the Empathy piece of our Higher Education Experience Pyramid. This used to be constructed through marketing messages, but now social media gives you the opportunity to mold perception in real time.

Brand Image

This is total perception of your school in your community’s mind. Each segment – prospects, current students, alumni, boards of directors, etc. will all have a different concept of your school. Since image is largely built up through advertising and social engagement, it’s important to keep your direct marketing messages tailored to each segment while also keeping an eye on authenticity in socially mediated content.

Brand Personality

Quick! Describe your school with one adjective. What is it? Smart? Intellectual? Friendly? Brand personality is the human characteristic that your audience assigns to your school. It can come through in advertising, but also in your interactions on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.

Brand Experience

When most people think about a brand, they usually jump right to the verbal and visual components of identity – a logo, a tagline. Experience encompasses all those other interactions with your school. It’s where your students and parents reconcile your brand promise with the truth of their interactions with you and your counselors.

Brand Research

In 1927, advertising great Claude C. Hopkins wrote, “We must never judge humanity by ourselves. The things we want, the things we like, may appeal to a small minority.” This tidbit of wisdom still holds true today. The only way to truly know if you are speaking your students’ language, is to, well, speak with them and find out what they want, like and love about your school

Brand Promise

This is your pinky swear to students and parents. It’s the main benefit that a student will receive at your institution. It usually manifests itself in your tagline.

Brand Differentiation

What makes you different? What’s the one thing that you do for your students that no one else can do? This is how you stand out – how you show families that they can’t get the same level of experience anywhere else.

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Word of Mouth

Measures: How well your content is passing from person to person through recommendations.
Channel: Email, blogs, Twitter, Facebook
How to measure it: (Number of direct clicks + Number of clicks from recommendations)/Number of direct clicks

Brand Awareness

Measures: Students and parents ability to recall or recognize your institution.
Medium: TV, billboards, sponsorships, print ads, banner ad, direct mail
How to measure it: Phone interviews, focus groups or surveysAsk parents or students,

For an undergraduate degree, what is the first school name you think of?
For an undergraduate degree, what other colleges or universities have you heard of?

Return on Marketing Investment

Measures: The effectiveness of your marketing investment in producing revenue.
Channel: All marketing channels in your campaign
How to measure it: (Revenue-Marketing investment/Marketing investment) x 100%

Cost Per Click

Measures: The amount you pay every time someone clicks on a paid search advertisement.
Channel: Google, Yahoo, Bing, Facebook, LinkedIn
How to measure it: Simply, take the price you pay for each click on an ad. If you choose a maximum cost per click, you will only pay that amount.

Conversion Rate

Measures: The effectiveness of a website in convincing visitors to take an action.
Channel: Website, landing page
How to measure it: Divide the number of visitors who took an action on your site by the total number of visitors.