5 mistakes your school is making with its branding
Branding is an important aspect of any business, providing its customers with a strong identity that they can instantly recognize. In the same way, it’s important that schools also have their brand differentiate themselves from other schools and to become recognizable and unique in the eyes of their school community.
Here are the 5 most common mistakes that schools make with their branding:
1. You Need To Fix Your Logo ASAP
Admit it. Your logo hasn’t been updated since the mid-2000’s. It was probably found in Microsoft clipart or taken from a university’s school. Did you know that taking another school’s logo is ILLEGAL?
Your logo should represent more than just a mascot for a sports team. It’s a representation of who you are and where you come from. It grabs attention, it’s the first impression of who you are, and it’s the very foundation of your whole brand identity. A logo separates you from the other schools and says ‘this is who WE are.’
2. You’re Not Setting Yourself Apart In Your Visual Identity
According to Dr. Albert Mehrabian, “93% of communication is not the words that are said, but the voice and tone of what is said.”
When it comes to setting yourself apart in telling others about who you are and what your school represents, it goes beyond just having a cool logo. Font’s and color pallets are equally an important factor. Colors such as red, orange, and yellow show energy and excitement. Whereas colors such as blue and gold represent trust and loyalty. If you’re inconsistent in your colors, this could be providing some mixed messaging and have people question the legitimacy of what you’re trying to communicate.
A big and bold font shows power and strong messaging whereas a more meek and simpler font is minimal and clean. If you’re using a more outdated or out-there font. Your messaging could be harder to read causing a disinterest or misinterpretation in what you’re trying to communicate.
3. Hiding Your Personality
A school too often is identified as just a place where students go, take a test, and then go home. Schools including yours offer so much more that others need to know about. From Sports, to Band and Orchestra, to events that your school is providing.
Showing real faces of students doing real activities in your school is a great way to have your school be identified for what it does best.
Try this exercise: Write down on a piece of paper one word that you think people associate with your school. Then write down a word that you want your school to be associated with. Then work on a plan as to how you can communicate that one word and let that become what you want to be known for.
4. Your Communication Is Lacking
It’s no surprise that around 8/10 Americans have a Facebook. And over 68% of american adults say social media is their main source of news. This is where people keep up with each other, and find out news about what’s going on around them.
People in your community pay tax dollars, and send their children that go into your school every day. The least a school can do is show them what they’re getting for it. Too often schools neglect the power social media has in getting their community to rally behind them.
Have big event or fundraising opportunity you’re doing at your school that you want people to get behind? It begins first by showing what your school has to offer through channels such as social media.
5. Your Story Isn’t Being Told
At the end of the day, people want a face or faces that are associated with the school they are choosing to send their kids to. What their values are, what they strive to do.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video is worth a million.
A video with teachers, students, and the administrative staff is one of the best ways to tell how your school where it is, and moreover where it’s wanting to go.
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