So, What is a School Brand?

As a young graphic designer, I assumed that when a company came to me asking for a new logo, I was creating for them some amazing new branding that was going to change the world. It was exciting. I jumped right in and began designing lots of different types of logo options.

Some school administrators might say that by approaching their local printer or graphic designer to create a logo for them, they are branding their school.

So, what is a school brand?

A successful school brand is about having a clear description regarding your school’s culture and finding ways to represent this in the life of the school. This can be anything from the way the school grounds are presented, how teachers communicate with parents, school trips, printed material, to how a school’s online social media channels are managed. Therefore, if a school brand is going to be successful it requires that stakeholders understand their school’s culture so they have clarity about their individual and collective roles within that brand.

I always ask schools that I am working with, what is unique about them? How do they differ from another school just down the road? What dreams do they have for their school? Have they surveyed their community to see what positive or negative perceptions exist about them? What are some goals they hope to achieve with their new branding? It is important for developing a strong visual identity that I understand as much about a school as possible.

Over the years I have learned that a successful school brand requires maintaining a healthy and strong school culture – in the good times and bad. It includes surveying your school community and developing a marketing plan based on this. The result is a school brand that will stand out in the community and be more effective in attracting prospective families to your school.

I will talk more about what defines a successful school brand in my next blog.

Do you have a clear understanding of your school culture? Does your school have a branding strategy?

I would love to hear what your experience has been.

Augmented Reality in Schools - Changing the Way We View Education

Over the last few days my head has been buzzing with thoughts about a crazy new technology that is floating around. Actually it isn’t that new. It just hasn't yet drawn a lot of attention.

Some of you may have heard of it, or even seen it demonstrated. My daughters took five minutes to create an example using it. The technology is called Augmented Reality (AR for short). It’s happening now and it’s going to change the way we think about education.

Wikipedia describes Augmented Reality as a “live, direct or indirect, view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented (or supplemented) by computer generated sensory input such as sound, video, graphics or GPS data.”  What does this mean?  Put simply, graphics are being taken out of the computer world and placed directly into the real world via our smart phone or table - enhancing what we see, hear, feel, and smell.  A rich new layer of information is being transposed over the world we experience so we can discover much more about it.

For example, you are sitting in a restaurant and you see something on the menu that you wouldn't mind trying but you’re not sure. You scan your phone or tablet over the meal title on the menu and, in front of you on the table through the screen, you see the meal. Not only that, you can move your phone screen around the meal and see every single item on the plate. There might even be a promotion that pops up to let you know there is a two for one deal going. 

You can see AR in action in this TED talk: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frrZbq2LpwI&feature=c4-overview&playnext=1&list=TL972QPY3Vmj0

So how does this impact education, and what are the implications for marketing your school? 

From and educational perspective look no further than Paul Hamilton – a leader in bringing AR into the classroom. Paul is changing the way digital content is being delivered in schools and is a leader in the implementation of Augmented Reality in schools to improve learning outcomes. This is happening now! Check it out here: http://www.appsbypaulhamilton.com/#!science-ar-app-/c8o

Secondly, how can AR be used to engage with our school communities more effectively from a marketing and communication perspective? What are the best methods of using this tool to influence prospective parents to want to know more about your school and become a part of your community?

I’m fascinated by where AR will lead schools. What has been your experience?

So, How Would You Describe Your School?

Every day we are bombarded with businesses attempting to manipulate our emotions so we purchase their products. These businesses have defined personalities and distinctive characteristics. Apple is ‘innovative and stylish’ for example.

This weekend I thought I would pose the question “If your school were a person how would you describe them?” This is a great way of simplifying the process when thinking about your school brand. What are the kinds of personality traits that you think best describe your school. Here are a few examples:

Friendly and outgoing

Modern and colourful

Adventurous and creative

Traditional and formal

Take a good, long, honest, hard look at who you are as a school. A simple way of exploring your school’s personality is to ask staff, students, parents, and the broader community to describe your school as if they were talking about a friend or a colleague. And like interactions with people, sometimes a school's actions and personality can be misinterpreted or not understood correctly. You might be surprised at the answers you get.

Once you understand your school’s distinctive personality, then you can start to explore your school’s unique character and begin to find ways of promoting your school’s personality more accurately and effectively. Engaging your community just became a whole lot easier.

Parents do not want to hear from a school that communicates in an impersonal way. They want to feel like they are dealing with a real person.

So, how would you describe your school?

I Have a Dream!

When you have a vision about something, you have a dream of how it could be. But what drives a vision forward is passion. 

Passion is like a fire within you that, once released, fuels your actions to achieve your vision. Passion isn't manufactured and doesn't just appear – you look for it! When you find it, it’s like an evangelical experience and you want to tell the world about what you've discovered. I know because this is exactly how I feel about school branding!

So what does this have to do with school branding you might ask? Visions, missions, values, whatever you want to call them, are not just words that we throw around. They mean something. They represent real tangible dreams, motives, purposes, qualities, desires, and directions. Forget about the terms. Concentrate on what they stand for and how they apply to your school. As a principal, what are your dreams for your school? How passionate are you about making those dreams a reality?

Passion can be infectious. Your passion can rub off on others so that they share in your vision because they understand what you're excited about! Having a true understanding of where your school is heading, and how you’re going to get there, clarifies your brand and brings it alive. 

It has been said “A picture paints a thousand words”. When a school’s vision comes alive, and there is passion driving it forward, you can see it! Your website and marketing material become reflections of what is already there! They are authentic rather than manufactured representations of school life.

Your logo isn’t your brand, and your website is your brand – YOU ARE YOUR BRAND!

I would love to hear about the passion and vision you have for your school.

It's Just a Newsletter

You might think that this is a strange title for a post on school branding. But I think the following story illustrates an important point.

A few days ago my daughter's school principal placed a survey online asking the question "How frequently would you like to receive the school newsletter?" He then offered a number of options that parents could choose from. My reaction to this survey was "Newsletter frequency? There are bigger issues at stake here." The school principal immediately replied and said he would be interested in my thoughts. The next day we saw each other in the school grounds, I put on my school branding hat and began talking about ways  he could effectively engage with parents, improve the school website, use social media, iPod videos, photography, themes and styles for marketing...the list goes on.

The next day I was talking about the survey with a very dear friend of mine who said to me "It's just the newsletter. All he asked was how often would you like to receive it. That's it!"

Sometimes we become so passionate about what we do that we forget that not everything is about 'the big picture'. Sometimes it's about enjoying what we have and looking at things in a simple 'childlike' way.

School branding at a Primary/Elementary level is about keeping things simple, uncluttered, easy to understand. It is about being honest, real, authentic, human. If I was going to use jargon, it is about having a clear 'brand personality' and 'brand narrative'. But I'm not. Let's just say it's about the values and character attributes that are important and the story which explains all the wonderful things - past and present - that are special about your school.

So while it's important to look great, what matters most of all is content.

Do you have a story you can share about your school with your school community? What character traits or values are important at your school and how do you demonstrate these?

I look forward to your thoughts and comments.

Craig