I am truly passionate when it comes to BRANDING for Charter Schools, it is my favorite topic of all. When you hear the term Branding, what comes to your mind?  What is Branding?

Many schools struggles when it comes to identifying their brand. Is Branding your charter school simply a logo? Does it only consists of a logo, colors, and a tagline?

Branding is your School Image

Branding your charter school is much more complicated than that, It is your “school’s image”.

Branding is how your charter school is perceived by parents and prospective parents. It is your school reputation. It is the emotional image or connection with how you want families to see your school.

Your School Brand is who you are as a school, it is a description of what makes your school great, and unique. It is a way for a charter school to talk about itself in a way that allow people to understand why they are unique.

It is when a family walks to your charter school to look at  and they instinctually feel that this school is RIGHT for their children.

Before I was doing Branding officially for the Charter Schools I worked for, I was doing it unofficially, I focused so much on  the schools Mission Statement and made sure that all schools that I managed their marketing aspects were branded with the same mission and vision. I placed the schools Mission Statement in every corner of the schools and made sure that they were all aligned with the schools branding colors which were purple and teal at that time ( I will post a blog in how I created and designed our Mission Statements).

Create Marketing Materials that Aligns with your Brand

I made sure that the logo of the school (which is a symbol of the entire identity of the school and its brand) was placed in every publication or piece that I have created, I stayed consistent with our branding colors in all Stationery that I have created like Letterhead, Business Card, Envelopes, etc. I created lots of Marketing materials that aligned with our brand, such as Flyers, Brochures, Postcards, etc. Also I made sure to create promotional marketing material such as Calendars, Pens, Pencils, small size note pads with the logo and school colors, cups, key chains, T. Shirts that are worn by teachers and staff,  etc. I also have created signage for interior and exterior.

 Finding what the community wants and connecting with families is a key for your brand.

Being someone that is obsessed of design and creation, I found myself tailored the communication, the look and the feel of our sites, the colors, fonts, publications to the need, wants and interest of the community and families that the school was part of. I learned to think like them and feed them with the information they want and love to hear. I wasn’t asking them to enroll their children in our schools, I was simply delivering a message in a clear consistent and authentic way, I delivered to them what they wanted to hear, in a way that resonated with them. It is a consistent communication, with a consistent community in a consistent tone .

Branding is not just for Enrollment,

A brand for a charter school is not created just to enroll students, but for Alumni relations, community relations, hiring faculty. It is for the whole school so the entire community speaks in one voice.