Branding Your School: Building a Communication Network for Your School Vision

1. Branding Your School: Building a Communication Network for Your School Vision Presented by : Vanessa Landesfeind, Ed.D. Stephen R. D. Glass

2. Vision and Core Values • We are strongly committed to enthusiastically communicating the strategic imperatives of branding; to establishing a community partnership of excellence among a socially, economically, and academically diverse group of stakeholders; and exceeding the expectations of the audience through the use of technology.

3. Background • Our school site experiences • School reputation: real or imagined • Social media research • Los Angeles Times articles

4. Mission and Vision • Research in business and education is clear about the need for a mission/vision statement. • 2002 study found that 82% of organizations but only 40% of the stakeholders of those organizations felt the mission statement reflected reality.

5. Mission Statement Stats

6. Our Vision and Values • We are strongly committed to enthusiastically (75)communicating (36) the strategic imperatives of branding; to establishing a community partnership (7) of excellence(14) among a socially, economically, and academically diverse (31) group of stakeholders; and exceeding the expectations (2) of the audience through the use of technology.

7. What is the API? 568, 775, 993, or Private School No API • School A is a single-purpose high school for grades 7-12, whose primary mission is to prepare academically proficient students for entrance to and success at their best-match university. The school emphasizes academics and appropriate co-curricular experiences that develop socially and academically successful students.

8. 568, 775, or Private No API The School B community is committed to fostering academic excellence that instills character development, life-long learning, respect, self-discipline and collaboration skills. School B commits to expanding community partnerships into mutually beneficial relationships with post secondary educational institutions, career and industry resources, civic and social organizations and student volunteer service to others. School B will continue to promote a safe and secure learning and social environment through inclusive extra-curricular and after school activities. It is School B’s vision that all students graduate having undergone a personalized and challenging academic program that empowers them to be successful and productive citizens in society.

9. 775 or Private No API • School C offers a bright, motivated and diverse student body a unique journey of discovery. Our academically rigorous, college preparatory curriculum is enriched through our commitment to service-learning and enhanced by ample opportunities for participation in athletics, the arts and community activities. We strive for personal excellence in an atmosphere of collaboration, trust, mutual respect and integrity, so that our graduates become lifelong learners and inventive leaders, passionate to bring about positive change.

10. 775 • The mission of School D is to prepare ethnically and economically diverse students for college, leadership, and life through innovative instruction, a rigorous curriculum, and the use of technology. We aim to achieve our mission by creating a student-centered environment that unifies the efforts of family, community, and school to foster life-long learning, cross-cultural competency, social responsibility, and academic excellence.

11. Which Schools Are They? • 568- Compton High School • 775 – Animo Inglewood Charter (Green Dot) • 993- Whitney High School • No API – Sage Hill School

12. Aligning Vision and Action • “ Executives spend too much time drafting, wordsmithing, and redrafting vision statements, mission statements, values statements, purpose statements, aspiration statements, and so on. They spend nowhere near enough time trying to align their organizations with the values and visions already in place” (Collins, 2000).

13. Name the Organization • Our mission is to be our customers' favorite place and way to eat. • To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. • To serve sports fans wherever sports are watched, listened to, discussed, debated, read about or played. • No formal mission statement. (Hint: It’s a university.)

14. Who are we? What do we do? How do we do it?

15. What is a Brand? • A brand enhances the value of a product or services beyond its functional purpose - thereby supporting volume and price. • A brand is a link between an organization and its stakeholders, providing a badge of community and trust. • A brand is the result of behavior - everything an organization has the potential to impact the brand. • A brand exists only in people’s minds - it is a collection of feelings and perceptions in the mind of the consumer. • A brand can provide an organization with purpose and direction - providing a source of motivation and interest for stakeholders.

16. Evolution of a School Brand • Schools develop their brands through state test data, reputation, and word mouth. • Schools offer courses to appeal to students (parents) and their collegiate aspirations. • Schools develop athletic teams and co-curricular programs to appeal to parents and students. • Schools Districts offer magnet programs to attract with students and stakeholders with specific learning interests

17. Why does a school’s brand matter? Schools are in competition with each other: • Many districts have shrinking enrollment • Private schools draw enrollment • School Choice within a district impacts enrollment at sites. • Schools have “good” reputations and “bad” reputations • California has over 900 charter schools 115 of which opened in the 10-11 school year

18. Schools with Brand Value • Strong Schools with Strong Brands can command a premium. • Strong Schools with Strong Brands can attract and retain talent. • Strong Schools with Strong Brands are a store of trust. • Strong Schools with Strong Brands can stimulate innovation.

19. Facts: • Every school has a brand. • No matter how it is established, the brand holds a promise for the families who send their children to the school.

20. What is Branding? • The entire process involved in creating a unique name and image for a product (good or service) in the consumer’s mind, through advertising campaigns with a consistent theme. • Branding aims to establish a significant and differentiated presence in the market that attracts and retains loyal customers.

21. Branding to Communicate Vision • Regardless of how the message is sent the core mission of branding remains the same: communicating to customers who you are, what you do and how you do it. • Once a mission and values are established, a clear brand vision can help to align these fundamentals with concrete strategies and tactics that bring the brand experience to life.

22. External vs. Internal Long Term Inspiration Medium Term Short Term Action

23. Aligning the Internal and External • “Timeless core values should never change; operating practices and cultural norms should never stop changing.” • Organizational values cannot be instilled in people. They must be predisposed to hold them and then can learn practices and norms.

24. Auditing a school’s brand • With schools vision and brand do not always align. • Look for internal and external misalignments • Complaints from employees • Complaints from stakeholders • Ask questions • Examine media

25. Learning from complaints • Employees • Values mismatch • Practices and procedures • Stakeholders • Negative comments about staff • Practices and procedures

26. Questions to Ask • When you think about the school what do you think first? • What do you value most about the school? • What do you consider the strength of the school? • What do you consider a weakness of the school? • What makes this school unique?

27. A Quick Survey When you are looking for a new place to eat how do you decide where to go? • Do you check a review site (i.e. YELP)? • D0 you ask friend for a recommendation? • Do you check the actual restaurant website? • Which did you do first?

28. The New Role of Media Owned Media Earned media When stakeholders become the channel. Newspaper Articles Online reviews Unsolicited/unofficial social media posts from satisfied stakeholders Owned media is anything that the school produces or controls to publicize itself. • School website • Parent Newsletters • School Accountability Report Card (SARC) • Social Media initiated by school

29. Branding your school • Audit your existing brand • Compare your brand to your mission vision • Identify stakeholder touch points • Identify and correct misalignments • Protect and monitor the brand • Take control of media when possible • Teacher (personal behaviors) • Students (on and off campus behavior) • Events/Actions (unpredictable)

30. References Akeny, J. (2010). Building a brand on a budget. Entrepreneur, May, 49-51 Barwise, P. & Meehan, S. (2010). The one thing you must get right when building a brand. Harvard Business Review, December, 80-84. Cady,S.H., Wheeler, J.V., DeWolf, J., & Brodke, M. (2011). Mission , vision, and values: what do they say? Organization Development Journal , Spring 29(1) , 63-78. Collins, J. (2000). Aligning Action and Values. Jim Collins. Retrieved from www.jimcollins.com/article_topics/articles/aligning-action.html. Edelman, D. (2010). On social media and the new rules of branding. Harvard Business Review, December, 63 – 69. Faust, W. (2007). What’s the story? Aligning mission, vision, and strategy with your brand. Design Management Review, Winter, 76-92. Kärreman,D.& Rylander, A. (2008). Managing meaning through branding -- the case of a consulting firm . Organization Studies , 29, 103-125 Weinewski, M. (2011). Why invest in brand? And where should you begin? Nonprofit World, May/June, 13 -15.