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)