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Branding and marketing are syllabus standards in business schools, but school leaders sometimes don’t apply those principles when marketing their own schools, notes branding expert Elizabeth Scarborough, of Washington, DC. “There is actually a great deal that is taught in business schools that should be taught to business schools,” says Scarborough, president and partner of SimpsonScarborough, a higher education marketing, branding, and research firm. She will address the challenges new technologies pose to branding at Mind the Communication Gap, an October professional development conference in London sponsored by Graduate Management Global Connection, the U.K.-based office of GMAC.
Q: How do you define branding, and why do you think it’s so important to business schools?
A: A lot of times, when people think of branding, they think of a logo ─ of golden arches, a swoosh, or a bull’s-eye. Business schools are just beginning to embrace the idea that a “brand” is the sum total of everything that comes to mind when you think of the school. It’s all of the associations that are made with the institution, including the good, the bad, and the ugly. Every organization needs to have a brand strategy to form that desired set of associations. They should research and document those to know exactly what they’re trying to embed in the minds of their key target audiences.
There are two key principles of branding: differentiation and integration. The concept of differentiation suggests that any organization must strive to offer something that is different and better than alternative options. This is particularly important for business schools because their programs tend to be fairly undifferentiated. This forces prospective students to choose a school based on factors such as location and cost. Identifying and emphasizing those attributes that truly make your business school different from others is critical to developing a strong brand.
Q: What mistakes do you see schools making in their branding?
A: I think a lot of schools have yet to recognize their brand is an asset. And, just like any other asset, it has to be managed. The biggest mistake is ignoring brand management altogether. If the organization is not managing its brand, it tends to be influenced most significantly by the media and by the competition. What we’re trying to do is help institutions manage their identities, to put them in the driver’s seat in defining their brand so others don’t do it for them.
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