Title: Branding Your School:
1- Branding Your School
- Building a Communication Network
- for Your School Vision
- Presented by
- Vanessa Landesfeind, Ed.D.
- Stephen R. D. Glass
2Vision and Core Values
- We are strongly committed to enthusiastically
communicating the strategic imperatives of
branding to establishing a community partnership
of excellence among a socially, economically, and
academically diverse group of stakeholders and
exceeding the expectations of the audience
through the use of technology.
3Background
- Our school site experiences
- School reputation real or imagined
- Social media research
- Los Angeles Times articles
4Mission and Vision
- Research in business and education is clear about
the need for a mission/vision statement. - 2002 study found that 82 of organizations but
only 40 of the stakeholders of those
organizations felt the mission statement
reflected reality.
5Mission Statement Stats
Freq Concept
255 Shareholder Return/Value
230 Quality-General
211 Customer Needs/Expectations Met/Exceeded
210 Financial Performance Profitability
197 Integrity Ethics
196 Innovation Creativity
193 Community Focus /Involvement
144 Employee Training/Development/Growth
141 Continuous Improvement
137 Business Expansion/Growth
6Our Vision and Values
- We are strongly committed to enthusiastically
(75) communicating (36) the strategic imperatives
of branding to establishing a community
partnership (7) of excellence (14) among a
socially, economically, and academically diverse
(31) group of stakeholders and exceeding the
expectations (2) of the audience through the use
of technology.
7What is the API? 568, 775, 993, or Private School
No API
- School A is a single-purpose high school for
grades 7-12, whose primary mission is to prepare
academically proficient students for entrance to
and success at their best-match university. The
school emphasizes academics and appropriate
co-curricular experiences that develop socially
and academically successful students.
8568, 775, or Private No API
- The School B community is committed to fostering
academic excellence that instills character
development, life-long learning, respect,
self-discipline and collaboration skills. School
B commits to expanding community partnerships
into mutually beneficial relationships with post
secondary educational institutions, career and
industry resources, civic and social
organizations and student volunteer service to
others. School B will continue to promote a safe
and secure learning and social environment
through inclusive extra-curricular and after
school activities. It is School Bs vision that
all students graduate having undergone a
personalized and challenging academic program
that empowers them to be successful and
productive citizens in society.
9775 or Private No API
- School C offers a bright, motivated and diverse
student body a unique journey of discovery. Our
academically rigorous, college preparatory
curriculum is enriched through our commitment to
service-learning and enhanced by ample
opportunities for participation in athletics, the
arts and community activities. We strive for
personal excellence in an atmosphere of
collaboration, trust, mutual respect and
integrity, so that our graduates become lifelong
learners and inventive leaders, passionate to
bring about positive change.
10775
- The mission of School D is to prepare ethnically
and economically diverse students for college,
leadership, and life through innovative
instruction, a rigorous curriculum, and the use
of technology. We aim to achieve our mission by
creating a student-centered environment that
unifies the efforts of family, community, and
school to foster life-long learning,
cross-cultural competency, social responsibility,
and academic excellence.
11Which Schools Are They?
- 568- Compton High School
- 775 Animo Inglewood Charter (Green Dot)
- 993- Whitney High School
- No API Sage Hill School
12Aligning Vision and Action
- Executives spend too much time drafting,
wordsmithing, and redrafting vision statements,
mission statements, values statements, purpose
statements, aspiration statements, and so on.
They spend nowhere near enough time trying to
align their organizations with the values and
visions already in place (Collins, 2000).
13Name the Organization
- Our mission is to be our customers' favorite
place and way to eat. - To organize the worlds information and make it
universally accessible and useful. - To serve sports fans wherever sports are watched,
listened to, discussed, debated, read about or
played. - No formal mission statement. (Hint Its a
university.)
14Who are we? What do we do? How do we do it?
15What is a Brand?
- A brand enhances the value of a product or
services beyond its functional purpose - thereby
supporting volume and price. - A brand is a link between an organization and its
stakeholders, providing a badge of community and
trust. - A brand is the result of behavior - everything an
organization has the potential to impact the
brand. - A brand exists only in peoples minds - it is a
collection of feelings and perceptions in the
mind of the consumer. - A brand can provide an organization with purpose
and direction - providing a source of motivation
and interest for stakeholders.
16Evolution of a School Brand
- Schools develop their brands through state test
data, reputation, and word mouth. - Schools offer courses to appeal to students
(parents) and their collegiate aspirations. - Schools develop athletic teams and co-curricular
programs to appeal to parents and students. - Schools Districts offer magnet programs to
attract with students and stakeholders with
specific learning interests
17Why does a schools brand matter?
- Schools are in competition with each other
- Many districts have shrinking enrollment
- Private schools draw enrollment
- School Choice within a district impacts
enrollment at sites. - Schools have good reputations and bad
reputations - California has over 900 charter schools 115 of
which opened in the 10-11 school year
18Schools with Brand Value
- Strong Schools with Strong Brands can command a
premium. - Strong Schools with Strong Brands can attract and
retain talent. - Strong Schools with Strong Brands are a store of
trust. - Strong Schools with Strong Brands can stimulate
innovation.
19Facts
- Every school has a brand.
- No matter how it is established, the brand holds
a promise for the families who send their
children to the school.
20What is Branding?
- The entire process involved in creating a unique
name and image for a product (good or service) in
the consumers mind, through advertising
campaigns with a consistent theme. - Branding aims to establish a significant and
differentiated presence in the market that
attracts and retains loyal customers.
21Branding to Communicate Vision
- Regardless of how the message is sent the core
mission of branding remains the same
communicating to customers who you are, what you
do and how you do it. - Once a mission and values are established, a
clear brand vision can help to align these
fundamentals with concrete strategies and tactics
that bring the brand experience to life.
22External vs. Internal
Long Term Inspiration
Medium Term
Short Term Action
23Aligning the Internal and External
- Timeless core values should never change
operating practices and cultural norms should
never stop changing. - Organizational values cannot be instilled in
people. They must be predisposed to hold them
and then can learn practices and norms.
24Auditing a schools brand
- With schools vision and brand do not always
align. - Look for internal and external misalignments
- Complaints from employees
- Complaints from stakeholders
- Ask questions
- Examine media
-
25Learning from complaints
- Employees
- Values mismatch
- Practices and procedures
- Stakeholders
- Negative comments about staff
- Practices and procedures
26Questions to Ask
- When you think about the school what do you think
first? - What do you value most about the school?
- What do you consider the strength of the school?
- What do you consider a weakness of the school?
- What makes this school unique?
27A Quick Survey
- When you are looking for a new place to eat how
do you decide where to go? - Do you check a review site (i.e. YELP)?
- D0 you ask friend for a recommendation?
- Do you check the actual restaurant website?
- Which did you do first?
28The New Role of Media
- Owned media is anything that the school produces
or controls to publicize itself. - School website
- Parent Newsletters
- School Accountability Report Card (SARC)
- Social Media initiated by school
- When stakeholders become the channel.
- Newspaper Articles
- Online reviews
- Unsolicited/unofficial social media posts from
satisfied stakeholders
29Branding your school
- Audit your existing brand
- Compare your brand to your mission vision
- Identify stakeholder touch points
- Identify and correct misalignments
- Protect and monitor the brand
- Take control of media when possible
- Teacher (personal behaviors)
- Students (on and off campus behavior)
- Events/Actions (unpredictable)
30 References
- Akeny, J. (2010). Building a brand on a budget.
Entrepreneur, May, 49-51 - Barwise, P. Meehan, S. (2010). The one thing
you must get right when building a brand.
Harvard Business Review, December, 80-84. - Cady,S.H., Wheeler, J.V., DeWolf, J., Brodke,
M. (2011). Mission , vision, and values what do
they say? Organization Development Journal ,
Spring 29(1) , 63-78. - Collins, J. (2000). Aligning Action and Values.
Jim Collins. Retrieved from www.jimcollins.com/art
icle_topics/articles/aligning-action.html. - Edelman, D. (2010). On social media and the new
rules of branding. Harvard Business Review,
December, 63 69. - Faust, W. (2007). Whats the story? Aligning
mission, vision, and strategy with your brand.
Design Management Review, Winter, 76-92. - Kärreman,D. Rylander, A. (2008). Managing
meaning through branding -- the case of a
consulting firm . Organization Studies , 29,
103-125 - Weinewski, M. (2011). Why invest in brand? And
where should you begin? Nonprofit World,
May/June, 13 -15.