BEYOND THE LOGO: Baking Your Brand into the School Environment!
Please sit back and relax as I ask you to think of one simple thing.
Can you recall what it was like when you walked around Disneyland? The smells, sounds, lights. How did you feel? It was like you were in the middle of a Disney film, right?
If you haven't been to any of the Disney parks, you are missing out! But don't worry, this blog is still for you!
I'm suggesting that a strong brand like Disney can do something incredible and create memories that stay with their audiences for a lifetime. They achieve this by "baking in" their brand experience in everything they do. That experience is so ingrained that it markets itself. Clever little mouse, eh?
MAKE YOUR BRAND MORE THAN A WEBSITE AND PROSPECTUS
Branding magic isn't limited to the world's biggest multi-billion-dollar companies. Your school can embrace this "baked-in brand" mentality to produce an equally lasting experience with your community.
It's important to understand that your brand isn't just your identity on a brochure, website, or social media. While necessary, these channels only account for a small part of your customer journey.
Imagine your reaction if Disneyland had a great website, but the park was just a bit meh!
THINK ABOUT FEELINGS
Like Disney's, your brand needs to permeate every touchpoint that your stakeholder has with your school to have the best chance of creating those incredible experiences. To do that right, you'll need to understand how your stakeholders might feel along their customer journey.
If we take a visiting family as an example, it would be naive of us to think they will enter the school grounds "neutral." They have already had many other experiences "baked in" just on the way to the school.
For example, if it's a family with young children, the journey might have been punctured by too many "are we there yet?" moments (I should know as I'm smack-bam in the middle of this stage of fatherhood!).
There are thousands of outside factors that you cannot control that might impact how your visitors feel before your receptionist greets them with a big friendly branded "good morning," and that's before they have even gone on a tour.
When they do get to look around the school, you'll find that humans are fascinating creatures that can be distracted or swayed by many things.
Some parents might obsessively look at their phones instead of seeing your beautiful campus. Others might be doing their best to find reasons NOT to send their child to your school. As in, a broken gate hinge or crack in a ceiling causing them to think, "well, if they can't even take care of their facilities, how will they take care of my child!"
So the best offence is a good defence.
Begin at the reception desk by making your visitors comfortable as soon as they arrive. Offer them refreshments. Start a friendly conversation that clears their minds and opens their eyes to your school experience. Consider this "greasing the tin" before the real baking can begin.
When on tour, keep it engaging. Create interactive features that involve your visitors in learning about your school and immersing them in your brand. Think Disney - there is always something to see and do.
FIND THE BEST PLACES TO BAKE IN YOUR BRAND ONSITE
So I guess the big question is, where are the places that create memorable experiences? Start by annotating a copy of your campus map with the key routes that visitors take around your grounds.
Look at what they walk past, where they stop, what they focus on, and put an X in the "hot spots" where you think a branded experience might work.
If your brand narrative is about a vast range of opportunities for all students, post a sign that reads "Opportunities await!" at the beginning of the tour.
Take it a step further and give visitors something special as they leave. Let's say your school's identity focuses on a renewable future. Give families a tree to plant at home that offsets the footprint of driving to school. Now, that's a meaningful and memorable expression of the brand!
There is so much you can do. Think about the experiences you want to create, pick the places where memories will be made, and have some fun while doing it! After all, if a mouse can do it, so can you!
TIMMY BONUS: FINDING OTHER PLACES TO BAKE IN YOUR BRAND AND CREATE EXPERIENCES.
Grab yourself a long piece of paper and start writing down every essential interaction with your school - not just the big ones.
For example, there is the process of receiving a prospectus.
There are many "micro-interactions" that you can adjust and influence on either side of that engagement. Every one of them is an opportunity to reflect your brand and create an experience.
Let's take a look:
The request of the prospectus
Online form submission - which then has an email response as well
Telephone call - which should have an email response
Handed to the recipient, face to face
The submission of the prospectus (if not face to face)
It is posted
It is delivered
The prospectus is received
The unboxing of the prospectus
The extra bits included
The prospectus follow up
Potentially a phone call
Or an email
Or another mail out?
Let's take the idea of a school focusing on a renewable brand message. You can create smaller interactions that reflect your brand beyond printing the prospectus from recyclable or biodegradable materials.
Instead of throwing away the packaging, could it have seeds embedded in it that can be planted?
Once the prospectus is delivered and read, offer to collect it, or create a pass on experience to share the knowledge and save reproduction costs.
Donate to offset the footprint of having the prospectus delivered.
Make sure the prospectus is delivered by a postman on a bike.
Do you see how just one simple area of school comms can have so many more opportunities to bake in your brand?
So run free, my powerful tribe of Mouseketeers - er, marketeers!
If you want any advice on ways you can ‘bake in’ your school brand please drop us an email!