Can you really “brand” education?

I’ll spoil it for you. The answer is yes. But.

To be honest, I don’t like the term branding – at least, not for educators. It’s just too… retail. Besides, we’re not talking toothpaste or computers. We’re talking about people’s lives, their aspirations, vocations and personal growth. You don’t simply label a particular education organization with a hot iron or wrap it up in a slogan and call it a day.

To be fair, the discipline branding is vast and encompassing. But still.

Branding came out of retail. Its ultimate goal usually finds its place in profit margins. In post-modern times, branding seeks to infuse inanimate products – and the companies behind them – with certain values that they very often don’t possess. But education doesn’t need to do this. Education is a value unto itself.

So is branding a waste of time for educators? No. But.

Many branding concepts can support education institutions. But the marketplace concept of branding doesn’t jive well with education. Education is by nature deeper than grocery products or transportation services.

In addition, the scale and cost of profit-oriented branding projects doesn’t typically respect the budgets, skills and staff structure of education institutions. In education, if it’s not lean and practical and easy to follow, then it is destined to fade or fail.

So, what is our approach?

May I suggest a better way to define branding for educators: reputation.

When you come down to it, the reputation of an education institution or school is a pretty big deal. Reputation can only be formed over a length of time and through experience. Yes, there’s that sticky issue of perception verses reality, but reputation demands a degree of authentic evaluation that makes it a term worthy of education.

Oops, we may have confused things in another direction altogether. Reputation Management is yet another discipline for companies, organizations and certainly politicians. It’s often backed by intense public relations efforts. Let’s not confuse the two. But humour me and let’s just suspend that for the moment and claim Reputation as a way for educators to think about branding.

Your reputation matters, no?

It’s shaped through the quality of your communication, your services and the repeated experiences of stakeholders. Ignore this at your peril.

So, where do you start? Ask yourself if you have a clear plan in place to change, grow or sustain your reputation. Ask yourself if your organization’s leadership – both political and administrative – has consensus on this plan. And ask whether the resources defined to achieve this plan are suitable. The answers to these questions will determine your next steps.