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Director of Branding Ed Macko explores the importance of head and heart in building a brand.
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I enjoyed a rare two-hour sit down recently with an entire marketing and communications team at a major university — and we never once talked about story. They, like many of you, spoke of feeling beleaguered by the demands of an unending news cycle, a tumbleweed website and the torture drip of “next in line” requests for this event press release or that event poster. I realized that as much as I believe in the power of good story telling, many in house departments have lost control of the conditions that might allow it to happen. In the spirit of giving, let’s all take a few minutes and give ourselves the gift of a good story. I found a couple of recent examples from higher education — reminders that the mission of our college and university communications efforts is not to meet every trumped-up deadline, but to help make a lasting difference. As TV writer Steven Moffat says: “We’re all stories, in the end.” … Continue reading
I’m an average guitar player. Some might say very average. But I can play in a support role to almost anyone. Why? Because I have enough basic knowledge about music theory that if someone says to me, “We’ll be playing this is in the key of C,” I know that I’ll be safe playing a basic C-F-G (I-IV-V) chord progression. Or if I really want to impress someone I could possibly add the minor 6 (Am) for a C-G-Am-F (I-V-vi-IV) progression. And I can do this same thing in any key. But of course, none of this makes me a musician. Far from it, I’m just a guy who can get by playing in my neighbor’s backyard with friends. But the cool thing is, it also makes me part of the band whose members are all way better than me. They are the musicians. They’re musicians because they have gone beyond the basic knowledge of scales and chords – and … Continue reading
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Why, despite our best intentions and efforts, can we all make bad decisions? Social scientists point to the phenomenon of “cognitive bias” — a scholarly and polite way of saying that we should not so quickly and easily believe everything we initially perceive or think. The more complex the set of choices and decisions, the more prone we become to any one of the 100 or so variations of cognitive bias. In the higher education marketing realm, few things match a full brand discovery for complexity. We read and interpret reams of enrollment and financial data. We interview dozens of college representatives — students, faculty, staff, alumni and leaders. We pour over annual reports, strategic plans, course descriptions and faculty vitae. We reference third-party sources for reviews, comments, and insights. We tour campus. We calculate. We listen. We ponder. Opportunities for cognitive bias to creep into a brand discovery rival the chances of an insect or two crashing your next … Continue reading
As of yesterday, August 24th, Amazon had listed 24,393 books on brand marketing ready for you to read (have fun). Al Reis has 22 Immutable Laws of Branding. Jack Trout emphasizes differential. And I recently saw a brand glossary from a nationally-known, prominent marketing firm that contained more than 50 brand terms and descriptors. Oh my. Benjamin Franklin once said “There is nothing so absurd as knowledge spun too fine.” I often feel we get dangerously close to that with all our brand philosophies, processes, descriptions and other beliefs. From my standpoint, there are really only two things you need to keep in mind: Step 1: State your singularity. Call it your promise, your differential, or your brand advantage. Whatever you want to call it – state it. Clearly, passionately, and unapologetically. Step 2: Prove it. Hopefully, how you decide to describe yourself has resonance. Hopefully it is genuine, honest and authentic. If it does and it is, then this … Continue reading
We recently met around the conference table at Elliance to discuss the pros/cons of pursuing an RFP opportunity — a major state research university wanting to sharpen its brand focus and tell a better capital campaign story in order to raise a nice round $1 billion dollars. Needless to say, with that kind of money on the table, stakes are high — for the customer, of course, but also for Elliance. Although the four senior people around the table could claim a combined 70-plus years of higher education marketing and higher education branding experience, none of us had ever worked on a capital campaign of this magnitude. The RFP spelled it out clearly: “significant demonstrable, direct work experience and expertise in the field of fund raising consulting and projects related to fund raising for institutions of higher education is essential.” My colleagues read this as a well-manned checkpoint and major obstacle. Their body language suggested skepticism and discouragement. I leaned … Continue reading
As the world of higher education settles in after a frenzied first few weeks of new faculty introductions, last minute dormitory re-assignments and opening football weekend, there is that lingering question: what should we do about our brand? Whether you’re stuck in avoidance or racing headlong toward action, it’s worth considering a pause. Maybe past attempts at brand cohesion have failed. Maybe the current administration has lost its will to move forward. Maybe the ink just dried on a statement of work. Whatever your situation, relax. Your brand issues did not arise overnight. They won’t magically resolve any time soon. It may well be the single most important thing you orchestrate in your career as a vice president of marketing or college president. And it can wait. Great brands, in the end, depend on good soil to take root. And when I say soil, I mean smart, authentic, surprising, delightful story telling. Show me a college bold enough to tell … Continue reading
While your faculty and students may have taken the summer off from their college assignments, you know that the work of higher education brand building never ends. Today, and every day, your college brand continues to do its daily work — on your website, social sites and across the continuum of digital and human conversation. As new and returning students unpack in residence halls and faculty reclaim their offices, it’s a good time of the year to ask: What can we do to renew our college brand for the 2014-2015 academic year? We offer five steps forward: 1. Begin investing in first impressions. That could mean redesigning an initial search mailing aimed at rising high school juniors, or rethinking training for new and returning student tour guides. First brand impressions hold great potential — but can also be overlooked. Given the number of campus visits that students (and parents) make, it’s worth preparing your student guides. Can they really translate … Continue reading
Elliance is proud to launch the first responsive website for naturopathic medicine in North America for Southwest College for Naturopathic Medicine (SCNM). By outsmarting the competition and with its history of firsts, SCNM has once again proven that it is indeed the most innovative college for naturopathic medicine. The entire process of launching the website took almost one year, the four months being spent on articulating their new brand position: “Simply Inspiring”. Our interviews with SCNM faculty, students and patients made us realize that SCNM is a storehouse of inspiring stories of patients being healed by craft-minded Nauturoapthic Doctors. We also met a wide array of alumni who were respectable leaders living lives as ND’s, as researchers for Neutrceuticals, as authors of ground breaking work in Naturopathic healing, and as members of integrative medicine practices. The new website is the first expression of the new brand position and comprises of two parts. The first part is the website for the … Continue reading
Video clips of how not to market higher education from the best college movies.