Branding

Greetings,

School branding is an important tool in a school marketing themselves. In today’s age of Social Media and 10 second attention spans, a school has to be efficient and creative in capturing their audiences attention. You may ask yourself, “Why is this important, don’t kids just go were they are zoned to?” In some aspects yes, students go to where they are zoned. However, adults are changing careers three to seven times in their life. These changes are usually accompanied with a change in location. Recently buying a house, I became educated on how a school can impact real estate. I remember searching for good schools then beginning my house search from there. In Texas, there are many great schools, so how do you lure potential stakeholders into your attendance zones? Branding is one answer.

I know in the sports world, a good football team drives marketing for schools. Some would say. “Not high school, that is only colleges…” However, I have witnessed parents moving their kids to another town across the state for an opportunity to play at a good school. My parents live in Katy, TX and are zoned to Katy High School, which is a powerhouse in football and I hear the stories of families moving their kids so they can attend the high school. However, many of them don’t have students that play football or even in high school yet. That is one example of branding.

It can’t be the burden of athletics alone. Building a championship team is difficult much less building a championship program. A school must invest in a strategy that allows them to stand out from others. In today’s world it can be accomplished in 140 charters or less on TWITTER. A good social media following is important. Also, schools should invest in a YouTube channel to help spread the word of the amazing thing happening on campus. In college, I was selected to be a student representative on the universities branding committee and some of things we planned were advertisements and commercials. I think that schools can use a similar format. The use of TWITTER and YouTube could help get your message out there and connect the community.

The aesthetics of the campus must be updated and invested in as well. People are visual beings. If the appearance is un-kept then there is no pride. It is like buying your first car; you would wash it everyday and park it in the back at the grocery store. A school should be the same way and give stakeholders the same feeling. At my campus, I have helped steer a beautification process. We invested in banners for our light poles and stadium windscreens. In addition, we are repainting the inside of the school to update the 1950s yellow halls. I feel that the next step should be updating the stadium entrances, updating the field house, and weight rooms. When buying a house you look for curb appeal, if a house is ugly outside rarely do you go inside for a look. The same with a school. If the stadium is the first thing you see, then it needs to be dressed up. I know there are many believers in the camp that feel that sports gets too much funding as it. However, I know the power of a good athletic team can trickle to all areas of the school and instill great pride.

In addition to a social media following and updating your facilities, I believe that the schools logo, font, and vision should be universal and applied to all areas. Too many times, I have seen a baseball team with one font or logo and the school have something different. I know that there are several variations and inspirations of logos. But, the school should not have the Texas Rangers “T” and the football team have the Texas Tech “T” it will make it harder to brand your school outside the district. Every time your school’s athletic and academic teams travel is an opportunity to market.

Branding and marketing can help recruit teachers and students that will contribute greatly to the success of the school. In addition, it will vastly improve school pride and trickle into all aspects of student success.

https://www.finalsite.com/blog/p/~board/b/post/why-a-good-brand-is-so-important-to-your-schools-marketing