品牌健康跟踪101：衡量高等教育品牌健康的指南

Communicatingand DifferentiatingYour HigherEducation Brand INTRODUCTION COMMUNICATING YOUR INSTITUTION’S VALUEIS MORE CRITICAL THAN EVER Inan increasingly competitive higher education landscape,manyinstitutionsstill struggle to identify and communicate a clearpurpose and brand. And yet a clear purpose and brand has neverbeen more critical for colleges and universities. With so many colleges and universities to choose from, prospectivestudents and their parents often struggle to differentiate betweentheirvarious options.This can stifle efforts to establish stronginstitutional attachment early on in a new student’s journey, whichis an important component for capturing their attention. As competition for a shrinking pool of potential students heats up,whatis the path forward for institutional leaders?To stand outfrom the pack, institutions must focus on defining their purposeand communicating a distinct brand promise to stakeholders: Whatvalue does your institution provide, how does this set you apart,and why should they choose your institution over the numerousother options? INTRODUCTION(continued) BRAND HEALTH 101 THE RISE OF BRANDING IN HIGHER EDUCATION This guide will enable you to: A recent survey of higher education marketing professionals revealedthat77%of respondents work for departments with a written ordocumented brand strategy, and 73% have conducted brand researchin the last three years.Simpson Scarborough, "The 2019 State of Higher Ed Marketing." DEVELOP Your BrandTracking Strategy•Define Your Goal•Identify Tools to Use1. While these findings represent an improvement over past years, thereare still opportunities for increased brand development and tracking.Aggregateinstitutional marketing spend has increased significantlyover the past several years, with commercial marketing spend hitting$730 million across U.S. institutions in 2017. Even so, without clearandcontinuous measurement,it remains unclear if and how thoseinvestmentswill pay off.Brookings, "Commercials for College? Advertising in HigherEducation," May 19, 2020. UNDERSTANDKey BrandHealth Metrics2. • Awareness•Perception• Preference• Loyalty ANALYZEYour BrandTracking Results3. THE PATH TO A BRAND TRACKING STRATEGY • Prepare the Data• Examine Brand Tracking Results Why is measuring brand health difficult? There are numerous factors toconsider, including the ever-changing media platforms that people canuse to discover, engage with, and comment on an institution’s brand(andits competitors).Successful brand health measurement meansbeing able to measure the metrics that matter, track brand health overtime, and contextualize strengths and weaknesses to adjust strategy.In this guide, we review how institutions can develop a brand trackingstrategy,understand the key metrics that determine brand health,analyze brand tracking results, and continuously monitor and adjusttheir brand tracking strategies moving forward. TRACKYour Brand Strategyand Adjust4. •Drive Marketing Decisions•Refresh and Restart Your Brand Tracking 1.DEVELOP YOUR BRAND TRACKING STRATEGY Brand tracking aims to track an institution’s brand strength over time,visualizelongitudinal trends,and highlight the impact of marketingcampaigns and activities. Brand tracking starts by defining goals thatalign with your institution’s needs and identifying the right tools toassess brand health. Over time, you’ll hone your approach based on thedata you collect to advance strategic goals such as increasing enrollmentamong target audiences, raising your academic profile, and supportinggiving campaigns. DEFINE YOUR GOALS Brand tracking starts by defining goals that align with your institution’sneeds and identifying the right tools to assess brand health. Institution-wide goals can help contextualize brand tracking findings and informgaps in your brand strategy. Some common institutional goals includedriving enrollment growth (including among new audiences), promotingresearch, and building alumni engagement. IDENTIFY TOOLS TO USE When deploying a brand tracking strategy, there are a variety of tools tohelp uncover both the "what" related to your brand (for example, "Whatsegments are most aware of our institution?") and the "why" ("Whyare certain segments more likely to recommend our institution thanothers?”). Using a mix of survey research, competitive benchmarking,and qualitative feedback, you can paint a more complete picture ofhow stakeholders perceive your brand. See theApproaches to Brand Trackingon page 14for more information on how to incorporate thesetools into your brand tracking efforts. 2.UNDERSTAND KEY BRAND HEALTH METRICS When it comes to measuring brand health, the fundamental issueis knowing which metrics matter. Brand health is multifaceted,with different brand metrics capturing and illustrating importantand unique elements of total brand health. Over the last several decades, many institutions have trackedrankings performance as a proxy for evaluating an