by Bob Topor
Senior Consultant, Topor Consulting Group

On the subject of constructing brands for higher education (or deconstructing for analysis purposes) I model the brand based upon: factors of personality, benefits, value, values, and imagery. The idea of brand is daunting. For example, Cola-Cola found that the teenage formative years determine what soft drink a person will prefer for life. They did this quite by accident by missing the advertising connection for teens one year. They could follow that downward "blip" in sales charts for decades! Coke knows how important brand is to their economic and marketing welfare.

These components determine how your academy is perceived.

Personality:
The personality of your school is the sum total of the people who are identified with it. This includes students, faculty, staff, alumni and others who are associated with it, either formally or informally. Your President is a key player in this panoply. How she or he talks about the place is critically important, as are your VPs and Directors, Deans, etc.

Benefits:
The perceived advantages for being associated with your academy, are (generally) your benefits. Without perceived benefits there is no reason for any one to seek you out.

Value:
Value is all about worth in the minds of your users. How valuable are your offerings perceived? This key idea relates to how much you can charge for services. Tuition fees should have close relationship to perceived value.

Caliber:
The level of academic strength is the idea here. As an educational institution, how well you rank in the mental scale in consumers' minds is critical to your brands identity.

Imagery:
Imagery is the sum of words and pictures in the minds of your target audiences. It is your job to add positive information to these key image factors.

Primacy:
This is an educational idea describing how well your academy has kept current with developments including technology (web site and on line assistance), current teaching and learning developments (such as distance education).

I feel this idea of branding will be key to 21st century marketing. How well your institution is perceived as a collective brand will signal its success. Those institutional leaders who pay little attention to this idea will suffer the consequences. Faculty who "poo-poo" branding as another crazy marketing idea will soon be unemployed.

New ideas of inherent quality include perceived branding surrounding new and current trends (primacy) such as distance education, technology, and educational developments. All these factors will affect eventual branding and resultant perceptions in the minds' of key target audiences. Just as Coke monitors its brand vis-à-vis competition (Pepsi), astute academies will track their brands in relation to actual and perceived competition. The landscape of higher education is an ever-changing playing field, as external influences tip the field. For many schools it will be a very bumpy ride. You can help your academy with persistent talk about its brand and brand perceptions.

 
            —Bob Topor
                Senior Consultant, Topor Consulting Group

by Bob Topor
Senior Consultant, Topor Consulting Group

A large portion of the e-mail I receive is junk. But I have to be sure before deleting. I can usually figure this from the preview screen (Eudora), but sometimes I have to open it to be certain.

What surprises me is how much legitimate college and university mail *looks* like junk. Over the last few weeks, I tried to figure why. The obvious things are misuse of the:

• From field: Often crony names, rather than a straightforward e-mail address, preceded by the full name of the sender.

• Subject field: Often cute and clever, rather than a clear statement as to content. Sometimes blank.

• Greeting: Often opens with an odd heading, sometimes in all caps, as is true of a lot of junk mail. Legitimate e-mail opens with a name, as in, "Bob," Hi Bob," or even just, "Hello."

• First Line: Lousy grammar and spelling errors right from the start; spammers write some of the worst stuff you will ever see. I am astonished to find how many collegiate folks do too.

• First Line Revisited: No sense of the purpose of the message for several lines. Get to the point. Fast!

I wanted to let you know we received your request for
information about physics. We are
setting up a meeting with one of our Nobel Prize
winning professors.

Thank you for your inquiry.

Thank you for your inquiry about physics.

I have set up an appointment for you to meet Professor Wingnut. 
She will contact you and help you with your questions.

 
            —Bob Topor
                Senior Consultant, Topor Consulting Group

For a modest fee of $1,500 Bob Topor will review your college web site and provide a professional marketing critique which will cover:

• First fold (home page) marketing analysis.
• Tips about positioning your academy in the academic marketplace.
• Comparison to your major competitors (you provide the list- not to exceed 6 competitors.)
• A written review for your consideration.

Requests are handled on a first come, first served basis. All reviews are confidential and guaranteed to be provided by Bob Topor of Topor Consulting Group International of Mountain View, California.

My daughter-in-law (and office manager) suggested that I extend a SPECIAL OFFER to my newsletter subscribers. This is your opportunity to purchase all my books ( regularly $244.85 -U.S.) for only $125. postpaid.

Here is how you can get this valuable marketing library of these titles:

No More Navel Gazing How to run Focus Groups for Higher Education Marketing Communications for Higher Education Media & Marketing Fire in the Belly Now What? ( a primer for marketing higher education) Image Analysis for Higher Education

To take advantage of this offer send a check (payable to TOPOR Consulting Group International) in the amount of $125.00 plus local tax (USD) to: