Protecting & Strengthening UWI’s

On-Line Brand

Dawn-Marie De Four-GillUniversity & Campus Director Marketing & CommunicationsThe University of the West Indies

Branding 101

• More than a look, logo or letterhead

• A brand is a promise that you make & strive to keep to your most important audiences

• It is a promise that is valued to the extent that:– Students will pay for it– Donors will support it– Faculty and Staff will commit their careers to it

Brand essence – what defines a brand

• How the brand is perceived by the outside world.– The interpretation of messages sent out by the

institution.

• Message interpretation – rational and emotional.– ‘what this brand means to me’– ‘how does this brand make me feel’

• Brand creates a perceived knowledge of the stakeholder’s experience before they commit.

Idea of Promises …

• Volvo

• Coco Cola

• Fed Ex

• Apple Computer

• UWI ?

Well branded institutions attract

• More & Better students

• More students who will persist

• Better faculty & staff

• More donated dollars

• More media attention

• More research dollars

• More strategic partners

Biggest Brand Issue in Higher Ed World Wide

• There is NO pride in saying we are the best kept secret…8 out of ten universities think they are

• What makes the institution different from any other ?

• What words do we own…what stories can we tell?

• How can we tell our story distinctly, emotionally, creatively, convincingly & consistently?

Goal Statement Marketing &

Communications

To develop and implement a University wide Marketing & Communications strategy that is focussed on establishing the brand promise of The University of the West Indies regionally and internationally, as the premier tertiary educational institution in the region

Developing the Brand Promise – what we want

to be…Three firsts for the UWI:• First in research in the region • First in education in the region • First port of call for Caribbean governments

seeking advice and technical expertise

• Internationally recognized as the centre of excellence for Caribbean Studies ?

But what does that mean?

Building the Brand

• Brand building – communicating your message to your audience more effectively so that they immediately associate your organisation with their requirements.

UWI’s brand architecture

• Organisational brand – The University of the West Indies.

• Sub brands (endorsed brands)– The Mona Campus– The Cave Hill Campus– The Open Campus– The St. Augustine Campus

Managing multiple brands

• How does the organisational brand and sub-brands relate to and support each other?

• How do the sub-brands reflect or reinforce the core purpose of the organisational brand to which they belong?

UWI’s online brand

• The University’s presence on the worldwide web. – a website must serve a purpose. – Otherwise you wouldn't visit – Plain & Simple..web sites are built for visitors

UWI’s online brand

• The on-line // off-line brand relationship.. The relationship between the physical and virtual world is very important

UWI’s online brand architecture

• uwi.edu

• mona.uwi.edu

• cavehill.uwi.edu

• sta.uwi.edu

• Faculty websites

• Department websites

Why is the online brand important?

• In today’s world key stakeholders want to find you online– Prospective students/staff– Current students/staff– Alumni– Media – Donors

Why is the online brand important?

• E-branding is very important …web sites have no physical space…the domain name is therefore important

• The right experience will create a lasting memory

• Create a sustainable relationship with users so that you encourage regular visits..send reminders etc

Driver

• The Internet – The Internet continues to be the key driving

force behind marketing innovation

WOMMwidgetbligetchickletbuzztracker

mashupdelicioussocial media social bookmarkingSMO

trackbackdiggtagtypelistblogroll

viral marketingbuzz marketing vblogpodcastingcontentcasting

How do we manage the online brand?

• Building and managing and effective reputation on the internet:– Collaborative web development/maintenance

• Web policy– Web style manual (beyond visual identity rules)

• Content – Quality Assurance– Content development– Content management

• Web 2.0 technologies

Leveraging marketing and branding with the internet

• Search Engine Optimisation / Search Engine Marketing

• Social Marketing

• Undercover marketing (Creative a buZZ)

• Viral Marketing

• Evangelical marketing - WOMM

Web 2.0 = Marketing 2.0=extending the brand

• Today our primary stakeholders are actively participating, connecting and sharing ideas through a number of channels.

Social Media

Social media describes the online technologies and practices that people use to share opinions, insights, experiences, perspectives and media itself. Social media can take many different forms, including text, images, audio, and video. These sites typically use technologies such as blogs, message boards, podcasts, wikis, and vlogs to allow users to interact. Source: Wikipedia

Implications• Reached the tipping point• The static web maturing• Monologue marketing out• Live Web (a/k/a Blogosphere) is making information

transparent• Word travels fast• People are more likely to act on a peer’s

recommendation by factor X• Marketing is a reflection of social paradigms• The new social media and networks changing customer

expectation and behavior

UWI Web presence – the main players

• Senior Management• Marketing & Communications

teams • Technical teams (IT)

The ideal Web team

• …is made up of:– Webmaster – Web Developer– User Interface designer – Internet and new media manager– Web & New Media Content Editor– Web & New Media assistant

Web policy• More than a Web style manual.• Policy documents to guide internal and external parties.

– Policy for contracting external web design and development services

– Templates and resources (photography)– Policy on advertising on UWI websites– Policy on use of students for web design and development– Policy on student websites – Guild of Students– Policy on content management – Policy on development of websites for sub-brands

• Faculties• Departments• Specialised units and centres

Developing and managing content

• The driving role of Marketing & Communications

• Beyond logos and design…the power of the content every word on the website communicates the brand– We conceive a personality, set a tone, create

expectations through language – for better or worse

Campus News Management System & New Media pages

Developing and managing content

• No to PDFs….

• Every word counts – – Owning key words (as part of our ‘story’)– Search Engine Marketing

Critical Success Factors

• Gaining understanding of the key decision makers – (getting to where “just put something up in the mean time…” is a banned phrase

• Reaching a common understanding with respect to the roles & deployment of responsibilities (M&C and CITS)

• Getting agreement on what a core web team should consist of

Critical Success Factors cont’d

• Policy docs are key

• Knowing that someone who dabbles in graphics or got a good mark in it in school does not a User Interface designer make

• Collaborate, Collaborate, Collaborate

• Research based strategies

Critical Success Factors cont’d

• Adoption of best practice – if the wheel has already been invented…use that wheel to make a car

• Sound push to web and interactive media strategy

• Sufficient human and financial resources to make it work

• A real 30/60/90 day action plan

And now what ?