How Do I Create A Brand Marketing Plan?

If the words “brand marketing plan” scare you, I’ve got good news. Help is on the way. Brand marketing plans sound scarier than they actually are, but that doesn’t mean they don’t take some work. Yet, once you have your brand marketing plan (BMP) nailed down, everything else comes together. That’s because brand marketing is the foundation of the integrated marketing communications (IMC) process. Of course, if your school has a family of brands, you’ll need a BMP for each sub-brand. Just make sure each sub-brand flows from the college’s parent brand. Below is an outline of a BMP:

School or Department
Brand Marketing Plan

I. Brand Marketing Objective
This is where you state what you’re setting out to do. Branding is about changing minds. Marketing is about overcoming obstacles to the sell. An objective is something specific you want to accomplish. So a brand marketing objective can be thought of as how you’re going to change customers’ minds about the obstacles that are preventing them from buying your product.

Example:
The brand marketing objective for the [CAMPAIGN NAME] is to prompt a change in audience attitude/perception. The goal of this campaign is to…

II. Brand Promise
Make a one-sentence promise that matters to your audience, is unique to your school or program and above all believable. This promise should indicate what your product is and whom it’s for.

III. Brand Attributes
These are words—think talking points—from your brand promise that are leveraged in your brand-building communications.

IV. Brand Category
Your brand category helps you focus on where you are competing for students, donors, etc., and where you’re not. In case you don’t know your category, ask your customers. Try to dominate your category.

Example:
Midwestern Teachers College is in the category of third tier teachers colleges in the Midwest.

V. Brand Positioning
This is a one sentence positioning statement that shows how you are different, better or more special than your competition. This is the message you plan to put into the minds of potential students, donors, etc. when they think of your school or department.

Example:
This campaign attempts to brand [SCHOOL OR DEPARTMENT] as the… “[ADD STATEMENT]

VI. Positioning Anchors
This is the evidence you supply to back up your promise (especially useful for admissions and development officers). This information is vital to your marketing efforts.

Example:
The [SCHOOL OR DEPARTMENT’S] brand positioning statement is supported by the following positioning anchors:

1. Proof A
2. Proof B
3. Proof C, etc.

VII. Audience
This is where you display your audience research and admissions diagnostics.

VIII. Advertising
Here’s where you would list all of your advertising placements. This data would include the medium, vendor, description, size, execution date, due date, number of impressions and cost. These efforts should align with both your audience and brand message.

IX. Budget
Details how much money you are investing in this plan.

Special thanks to Bob Sevier for helping me understand this process. Any omissions are my mine, not his. (498 Words)

Brand Marketing—What is it?

If the word “brand” wasn’t confusing enough to most campus administrators, add the word “marketing” to it and watch as their eyes glaze over.

Brand marketing is the beginning of any effective marketing campaign. But college marketers sometimes trip when explaining the concept to campus decision makers. This can happen when they begin by trying to explain what a brand is (a concept they may not understand themselves).

Instead, begin with marketing. Coke’s former chief marketing officer, Sergio Zyman, offers an easy-to-understand definition of marketing. He puts it like this: marketing is overcoming obstacles to the sell. In other words, marketing is selling. And in order to sell a product, you need to determine what obstacles are preventing people from buying it. Obstacles could be price, convenience, a bad reputation or a hundred other things. Your job as a college marketer is to determine what the obstacles are and then remove them. That’s marketing in a nutshell.

A brand, on the other hand, represents the thing you’re selling. Brands help people make choices by distinguishing themselves from other options. Successful brands do this by showing customers how they are different, better or more special than their competitors.

Everyone on campus can name a brand. We use brands all the time to help us shop for things. For example, in order to buy an iPod—and not some knock-off—I have to know the difference between the brands Apple and Microsoft.

And this is where brand marketing comes in. I already know the difference between Apple and Microsoft before I go to buy an iPod. How? Because Apple has laid the groundwork in my mind on what an iPod is, who it’s for and why I should buy one. They did this through effective brand messaging in their advertising, media relations and online storefront. And that’s what brand marketing is—the presale or “pre-funnel” communication that differentiates your brand from competitors and increases awareness of your brand promise (see Brands vs. Logos for “brand promise”).

Like Apple, colleges must position their brands in their customers’ minds. And brand marketing helps you do just that. (353 words)

Are Logos And Brands The Same Thing? No.

College presidents and VPs are catching on to the importance of branding. The problem is, many of them think logos are brands. So they expect their marketing staffs to spend most of their time policing the campus to make sure everyone is using the college’s logo correctly (even if they themselves haven’t figured this part out yet). Meanwhile, their brands diminish. Why? Because a logo is a symbol, a brand is an experience.

When I encounter a symbol (or logo), no matter how beautiful it is; it means nothing to me until I ascribe some meaning to it. The meaning part is the brand. The school’s logo is simply representing it. So what does your brand mean to your key stakeholders (i.e. prospective students, alumni, donors, etc.)? Why does it matter to them, or why doesn’t it matter? The answers to these questions are critical to building your brand, the goal of which is to attract business (e.g. students and dollars). And the only way to do this effectively is to make a promise that matters to your customers. This is sometimes called a “brand promise.”

College branding guru Bob Sevier says that, in addition to making a promise that matters to your constituents, a brand promise should also be unique to your school and believable. In other words, your brand needs to promise more than “an excellent liberal arts education,” and less than “the best liberal arts education in the world.” Too many are promising the former while others are lying about the latter. And what thinking person would buy either? Instead, promise something that’s special to the people you want to buy your product—something that makes you stick out from the other 6,350 accredited colleges.

Yes, policing the logo is important. But nailing down your brand promise and then communicating and delivering that promise daily is the real focus of the college marketer—whether it’s creating a viewbook, pitching a story, or greeting a prospective student on campus. When this idea is grasped, college brands flourish. (339 words)