1. General lack of understanding of basic marketing principles - Some people think when we use the term "brand," we are talking about the logo or tagline. We always have to do a lot of education about how when we refer to "brand," they should be thinking about the sum total of all the images and perceptions that contribute to the institution's identity. We find ourselves explaining this to college faculty and staff over and over again. And, this is but one example of the lack of understanding that can really hinder what we are trying to accomplish. I am not saying this to be critical. I mean, I know absolutely nothing about physics and if someone gave me an hour long presentation on it, I would still know basically nothing.......the same is true when we are trying to help people understand marketing.
2. General lack of appreciation for marketing....or worse, a disdain for it - Some faculty just can't stand it when we use the word "marketing" and it's worse with the word "brand." On some campuses, we are essentially forbidden from using the word "brand." If we accidentally refer to "brand" in a memo, we are asked to remove it. Surprisingly, this doesn't really annoy me. I mean on the one hand, I often think, "grow up and get over it!" But, on the other, I just want to make sure our projects are successful and people buy in......the latter always wins out. There have been occasions where I've had faculty members literally attack me in meetings about how they think marketing is evil.....it's associated with big corporations who are perceived to be attempting to manipulate customers for profit. So, I don't mind treading lightly on the marketing-speak because faculty buy-in is essential.
3. Intense fixation on the creative execution as opposed to the strategy - The research and strategy work that you need to put into place to drive the creative is not as exciting or sexy as the creative itself. So, often folks just want to jump to the creative. It's much more fun and interesting to talk about what your tagline is going to be or what a TV ad might look like than it is to struggle with the difficult work of getting your campus to agree on one simple positioning statement.
4. Rigid adherence to a house of brands strategy - Generally speaking, deans want to control their own marketing and their own message. In many cases, this is very simply driven by power, ego, and control. We refer to it as a "me" as opposed to a "we" kind of attitude and it manifests when people say things like, "Our college is so different from all the others....our marcomms need to look this way or that because that's what appeals to OUR audience." It's the very worst when people actually believe that the over-arching college or university identity actually HURTS the identity of a school within it. I mean it's just the ultimate in ego-driven thinking and it happens all the time. Branding success truly requires an "all for one" kind of a culture.
5. Lack of presidential support - As with anything, lack of presidential support will kill any campus project. But, when it comes to a branding project, even a neutral president who doesn't actively engage with the process can really hurt.
I'm writing about this because there are things you can do to avoid these common problems when you are working to develop your institution's identity. For example, frequent meetings with faculty to engage them and give them a voice in the process are critical. Those meetings need to reinforce marketing fundamentals, chip away at the "marketing is evil" mindset, and drive toward the identification of authentic brand attributes. As with most things on a college campus, the process is as important as the end product.
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