Just as branding is a vital concept in the marketing strategies of businesses of all sizes – at-home businesses to global corporations – so is the concept vital to higher education. After all, a college doesn’t want to be a school. It needs to be the school.

Consider this:

“I just couldn’t attend that other school. Even though it offered me more aid and even though it was in a more attractive location, I really had not heard of it before they started sending me stuff in the mail. I decided to go to a college I had heard of.” - From a focus group of high school seniors in the Midwest.

Marketing and recruiting professionals know that there is a big difference between creating a strategy for an educational institution with an established brand and the job of trying to draw students to a “generic” school. After all, we’re a brand-centered society. We are educated consumers who depend a great deal on what we know about a school – or any other purchase – to make our final decision. Even without visiting a college’s campus, there are many ways in which it will already have been judged. Awareness of the brand will go a long way toward credibility, trust, and overall appeal.

There are many different factors that students must consider when they are making their choices for applications and attendance. With brand awareness, the college will be in the mind of the student – which is always a good start. Furthermore, the student will have a concept about program options, geography, services, and reputation. When it comes down to such a competitive market, colleges must depend on making a good impression, not just looking good once you’re on the campus.

Research is increasingly confirming that students base their decision to attend a school largely on what they’ve heard about it. They link the reputation of the institution to their knowledge of its existence.

Fred Gehrung, of Gehrung and Associates, a media relations firm in New Hampshire, agrees: “In today’s uncertain economy and intensely competitive environment, there is one thing a college or university cannot economize on – its reputation. Prospective students and families need to be even more certain about the institution they select, about the quality of the education it offers, and about the outcome, meaning the return on the investment of effort and money. Reputation now is more important than ever. . . Like it or not, the public equates high profile with quality.”

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