Brand Answers For Now

Branding Certainties in Uncertain Times

In the coming months, schools and colleges will face extraordinary stresses and will need to respond in a range of new ways. When it comes to branding, one thing is clear: The same discipline in messaging that’s always mattered will matter now even more.

All of us who experienced the economic collapse of 2008 while working at a college or school will never forget it. We emerged into a new normal with operating budgets cut, aid budgets increased, staff sizes adjusted, and new pressure to execute on the marketing front. 

At that time, Kelsh Wilson completed more branding projects than ever before. Institutions felt the need to boost advertising, but they sensed they first needed a clearer message. In most cases, they were right.

Now, sadly, it looks all too likely that education is about to be shaken again, and harder. No one knows how long a recession we face or how deep, but it is difficult to imagine a future in which just as many full-pays apply, endowments are not hit, donors are not cautious, and ancillary revenues don’t fall. Schools and colleges will need to market harder. This may mean looking at their mission and impact through a new lens. They will have to refine their message to explain why they matter now. 

Whether that proves necessary for your school or not, one thing is certain: You will need to exercise utmost discipline in ensuring brand consistency. That applies to your message. It also applies to the visuals of your brand—your logo and all the graphic elements, from type to color, that come together to give your communications a recognizable look.

You may find yourself wondering, why this particular piece of advice now? It doesn’t have much to do with times of crisis. However, what it does relate to is impact.

In branding, consistency equals impact. In fact, you could say that consistency is the ingredient that makes a brand a brand.

So, as you look to market your school or college more effectively and to assert your value proposition more pointedly, the first smart move you need to make is to audit everything you say through every print, digital, and personal channel and make sure it matches.

Might you need some creative new concepts? Quite possibly. Might it be wise to boost your communications budget? Almost assuredly. (But is that going to happen?)

Whether these things turn out to be true or not, you can be sure you will not be generating an optimal return on your marketing investment unless you have pushed hard on consistency.

Doing so is more a matter of vigilance than strategy. If you need it, a smart firm like Kelsh Wilson can help define your brand and document it for users, but the real challenge—the real decider of success and failure—is a matter of coordination, cajoling, and enforcement. It’s how consistently you work to keep people consistent.

We know how this sounds. It sounds like you went to your doctor feeling bad and she told you to eat better, sleep more, and exercise. “Avoid stress,” she said. 

You already knew these things, but that makes them no less true. The question is, are you going to go home and plant some veggies and dust off your bike, or are you going to find another doctor with something fancier to offer?

Our advice is to plant and to pedal. It’s to go back to the basics and do them better before you try anything else. 

Please know that as you do, we applaud and support your every effort. Too many good institutions stand to be damaged in the next year. We hope they won’t. We hope good luck outweighs bad. We hope that all the hard work on the part of all our clients and all their peers pays off.