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Leveraging Your Most Important Asset: 10 Things You Need To Know About Branding

www.SimpsonScarborough.com. Leveraging Your Most Important Asset: 10 Things You Need To Know About Branding. SUNY CUAD Elizabeth Scarborough 13 June 2007. #10: Branding is more than what you do to a cow. DEFINITION OF BRAND The sum total of all associations made with your institution

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Leveraging Your Most Important Asset: 10 Things You Need To Know About Branding

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  1. www.SimpsonScarborough.com Leveraging Your Most Important Asset:10 Things You Need To Know About Branding SUNY CUAD Elizabeth Scarborough 13 June 2007

  2. #10: Branding is more than what you do to a cow • DEFINITION OF BRAND • The sum total of all associations made with your institution • Including the good, the bad, and, possibly, the ugly • DEFINITION OF BRANDING • The process of influencing those associations Your logo, visual identity, and/or marks are simply reflections of your brand.

  3. #9: Effective brand strategy development begins with research Existing • Non-descript • Traditional • Old, not diverse • Out of touch • Athletics • Fundraiser Desired • Fun • Young at heart • Active • Involved • Exciting/relevant • Cool • Research can be qualitative or quantitative • Research objectives: • Provide insight into differentiators • Establish existing brand associations • Establish “year zero” benchmarks against which future progress can be measured • Allow for testing of reactions to possible positionings • Example: Alumni Association of the U of MI “The more you engage with customers, the clearer things become and the easier it is to determine what you should be doing.” John Russell, President, Harley-Davidson

  4. #8: Differentiation is the key to your brand “Your premium brand had better be delivering something special, or it's not going to get the business.” Warren Buffett • PRIMARY: attribute on which your institution is different than MOST • SECONDARY: attribute on which your institution is different than MANY • You are not different because you offer personal attention Source: The Myth of Excellence, Crawford and Mathews

  5. #7: Your brand position needs to be well-documented • You need a formal, written positioning statement • The positioning statement is not a tagline and is not used externally; it is an internal statement which provides focus for your marketing efforts • Possible formats: • The only university with __________ • The best __________ • The #1 __________ • The __________est __________ • The __________ university • Miller Lite: • Positioning statement: Miller Lite is the best tasting, lower calorie beer • Tagline: "Less filling...tastes great " • The litmus test for positionings: • Is it true? • Is it easy to understand? • Does it differentiate? • Is it expressed the way people will express it in their own minds, their own words?

  6. #6: Branding and integrated marketing go hand in hand • You can’t do one if you aren’t doing the other • “Integrating” means bringing consistency to the messaging and approaches you are using with all your audiences • Organizational structure is the biggest barrier to integration • Why do it? • Because your institution is probably wasting a lot of money and time on duplicated efforts • Because your fragmented, isolated strategies are probably not penetrating • Because you are likely missing many opportunities to • Because you can’t afford not to “Long-term brand equity and growth depends on our ability to successfully integrate and implement all elements of a comprehensive marketing program.” Timm F Crull, Chairman & CEO of Nestle

  7. #5: Your brand may have sub-brands (1 of 3) • People will argue one unified brand does not apply to their *portion* of your institution • This is simply not true; there is a thread that holds all of your institution’s pieces together • But, sub-brands, may exist and need to be defined • The sub-brand must operate under, and jibe with, the over-arching brand “A house of brands is like a family, each needs a role and a relationship to others.” Jeffrey Sinclair, Brand Strategist

  8. #5: Your brand may have sub-brands (2 of 3) Do you want a “house of brands?” Consider this in terms of marks but also in terms of messaging and positioning.

  9. #5: Your brand may have sub-brands (3 of 3) Or, do you want a “branded house?”

  10. #4: Branding must involve your entire campus community (1 of 2) • You may be responsible for promoting your brand, the rest of your campus is responsible for: • Living up to it • Reinforcing it in every interaction • Making it tangible • Making strategic business decisions to reinforce it • You can’t expect your campus to reinforce the brand strategy if they weren’t involved in creating it “A brand is a living entity - and it is enriched or undermined cumulatively over time, the product of a thousand small gestures” Michael Eisner, CEO Disney

  11. #4: Branding must involve your entire campus community (2 of 2) Theatre Slide Billboard Table Tent Mall Kiosk Billboard • Wilkes also: • Engaged in a massive campus-wide effort to discuss and explore the concept of mentoring • Established measures of mentoring success • Identified existing mentoring activities • Mapped mentoring activities in relation to each other and other aspects of the learning experience • Identified gaps, conflicts, and opportunities for collaboration • Benchmarked best practices of mentoring organizations • Designed and implemented a system for integrating mentoring practices into the student experience • Trained faculty and staff on mentoring principles Wilkes University implemented a hugely successful, award-winning campaign that has received national attention (including the NY Times) built around the concept of mentoring.

  12. #3: Branding is a “process” not a “project” (1 of 2) Brand Strategy Brand Identity Brand Mgmt Brand Experience Four Core Disciplines of Branding Source: AllAboutBranding.com

  13. #3: Branding is a “process” not a “project” (2 of 2) Messaging Tools Offerings & Architecture Logo Planning Environ- ments Market Name Design System Products & Services PR & Events Company Brand Strategy Brand Identity Brand Mgmt Brand Experience Evolution Customers Personality Assets Personal Interaction Advertising Category & Position Tagline Training & Adoption Print Materials Promise & Experience Monitoring & As’ment Source: AllAboutBranding.com

  14. #2: Your brand must be tangible to your audiences • Leadership • Formal leadership program • Leadership workshops for faculty AND students • Environmentalism • Commitment to recycling on campus • Support environmental causes • Bring environmental speakers to campus • Service • Multitude of options for participating in service activities • Emory student just gave $20,000 award to charity • Internationalism • Study abroad like no other • Significant efforts to attract international students • Campus communication/debate about internal events

  15. #1: You have a brand, but you may not be in control of it • Your institution stands for *something* • It may not be what you want it to be • If you are not in control of your brand, it is likely defined by your customers (current, potential, and former) and/or your competitors • Engaging in branding will help you get in the driver’s seat with your brand “Success means never letting the competition define you. Instead you have to define yourself based on a point of view you care deeply about.” Tom Chappell, Tom's Of Maine

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