If you’re still grappling with refining your school’s identity, or hoping to re-brand and re-position yourself in the marketplace, consider these steps to cultivate a unique and impactful school brand.

1. Creating a Unique and Impactful School Brand
Presented by:
Higher Education Marketing

2. 1. What is a Brand?
2. Understanding and Inspiring Your Target Audience
3. Aligning Your Strengths With Prospective Students’ Values
4. Keeping Your Brand Elements Consistent
5. Your Community and History and Your Brand
6. Your Competitors’ Brand Identity
Overview

3. 1. What is a Brand?
Source: HEM – 5 Steps to Creating a Unique & Impactful School Brand
Creating a consistent and clear identity for your school is a vital
part of positioning yourself in the marketplace. Which begs the
question:
How is your school perceived by prospective students?
“Brand is the promise, the big idea, the expectations that reside in each
customer’s mind about a product, service, or company. Branding is about
making an emotional connection.”
Alina Wheeler, Designing Brand Identity

4. Exercise
Take a moment and visualize your school:
„ What three adjectives immediately come to mind when you
think of it?
„ If you asked a current or former student to do the same, would
they have a similar answer?
„ Would people outside of the school have a similar perception
of it?
If you think the answers would be consistent, you have a
clear and compelling school brand identity. If not, you’ve got
work to do!
Source: HEM – 5 Steps to Creating a Unique & Impactful School Brand
1. What is a Brand?

5. If you want your school’s brand to evoke positive association
from your prospective students, it’s important to nail down
what they look for in a school:
„ Research and develop clear targeted personas for your school
„ Look for insights into their preferences, aspirations, and concerns
„ Identify your strengths, and work on what needs improving
„ Poll or interview students to reveal any misconceptions about your
brand
This knowledge will help you to subvert negative perceptions
about your school and re-shape your brand identity in your
promotional campaigns.
2. Understanding and Inspiring Your Target
Audience
Source: HEM – 5 Steps to Creating a Unique & Impactful School Brand

6. In order to avoid generic or misguided messaging, clearly
define your positive attributes, and how they align with your
target audience’s aspirations and educational preferences.
3. Aligning Your Strengths with Prospective
Students’ Values
Source: HEM – 5 Steps to Creating a Unique & Impactful School Brand
Exercise:
Ø Make a list of your school’s top
5-10 attributes
Ø Clarify how each one speaks to
your audience’s goals and
needs
Ø Use these messages to guide
every aspect of your marketing,
and make sure potential leads
know exactly what your school
stands for!

7. Example
Stenberg College placed student transformation and empowerment at the
heart of its brand development, with incredibly effective results.
Source: HEM – 5 Steps to Creating a Unique & Impactful School Brand
Stenberg’s ‘I Changed
Me’ campaign and ‘Our
Grads Are Our
Difference’ slogan
deliver a powerful
message about their
values and goals!
3. Aligning Your Strengths with Prospective
Students’ Values

8. Ensuring prospective students find consistent
representations of your brand during their online searches is
important for familiarity.
4. Keeping Your Brand Elements Consistent
Source: HEM – 5 Steps to Creating a Unique & Impactful School Brand
Brand inconsistencies can include:
Ø Discrepancies in logo colour
Ø Discrepancies in language
Ø Inconsistent placement of logo
elements
Inconsistencies often happen when
different people are in charge of
different channels, so it’s important
to make sure your team is on the
same page!

9. Your institution is part of a broader community, and many
prospective students take this into account when deciding
whether to apply.
Some things applicants consider include:
„ Does your school contribute to philanthropic organizations?
„ How long and illustrious is your school’s history?
„ What is the surrounding environment in your location like?
Consider how your school’s environment, relationship with the
wider community, and history influence public perception and try
and weave these elements into your brand identity.
5. Your Community and History and Your
Brand
Source: HEM – 5 Steps to Creating a Unique & Impactful School Brand

10. Example
Lakefield College School have made their beautiful natural
surroundings a huge part of their brand identity:
5. Your Community and History and Your
Brand
Source: HEM – 5 Steps to Creating a Unique & Impactful School Brand
Lakefield’s images, colour
scheme, and even logo design
all evoke their location’s
natural beauty, and inspire an
impression of health, vitality
and adventure that really
speaks to the parents of
prospective students.

11. It can be highly instructive to examine how your main
competitors present themselves in the market
5. Your Competitors’ Brand Identity
Source: HEM – 5 Steps to Creating a Unique & Impactful School Brand
Exercise
What do your competitors focus
on?
Ø Highlighting student success?
Ø Supporting ‘niche’ student
groups (mature students,
international newcomers etc.)?
Ø Community involvement?
Ø Cutting edge technology?
Evaluating your competitors can give you fresh insights into
your own evolving school brand identity!