THE IMPACT OF BRANDING ON EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTES WITH FOCUS ON HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTES

Abstract

This study is based on the general review of the challenges faced by HEIs during the branding process and further recommends suitable strategies for branding universities. The education industry has changed with increasing demand for education. Realizing the huge potential of growth and benefit in the education sector, the number of educational institutions has increased. This has caused a fierce competition among educational institutions and made them realize that aggressive marketing strategies need to be adopted to attract the students. The higher education institutions are coming up with innovative ideas to increase their enrollment rate and are shifting to online marketing. Online marketing is a powerful tool to create brand awareness. With the increasing competition among the higher education institutes building brand awareness has become very important. A student, when being given a choice, will firstly go for institutions, which he/she is aware about rather than institutions, which they are not aware about. Beside social media, there are different online marketing tools that also have a great impact while communicating about the higher education institutions, which most of the universities do not pay much attention too. Hence, the purpose of the study is to develop knowledge about the different online marketing tools which can be useful for creating awareness for higher education institutions and thus, increasing the chances of student enrolment and identify the factors of online marketing and brand awareness and their impact on the enrollment decision. The most prominent challenges facing the HEIs to brand themselves are their inability to create the brand identity, difficulties in communicating the brand through appropriate brand building activities, cultural issues affecting HEIs, pros, and cons of making alliances and partnerships, and insufficient infrastructural facilities to showcase its brand value. The strategies suggested includes in designing creative logos and slogans, identifying the competitive advantage and communicate it to its stakeholders through appropriate channels, inculcating ‘institutional brand’ as a culture among employees, establishing strategic partnerships with other universities and providing start-of-art digital platforms and online presence. These strategies would also help HEIs develop appropriate brand management practices and position themselves to achieve a competitive advantage in the global market.