You’re constantly balancing urgent requests and strategy, handling increased expectations, and needing actionable data to support your team’s priorities. All of these challenges feed into your need for a brand strategy that’s built on a solid foundation. Campus Sonar’s brand equity framework is that foundation. The purpose-built model supports your understanding of the value your brand has in the mind of your audience.
Using social intelligence to measure brand equity uncovers the unfiltered view of your audience’s thoughts and perceptions in real time. The data collection and analysis from a brand equity diagnostic provide actionable strategies to inform ongoing brand strategy work and transition from research to implementation.
Establish and prioritize your brand. Learn where your brand aligns with similar institutions and how it evolves over time to provide an ongoing evaluation of your brand positioning, promise, and messaging. Framework insights inform areas to prioritize with additional support or resources to strengthen brand equity.
Inform strategic direction. Recognize how your brand supports strategic decisions and reduces the risk of conforming and losing your distinct voice. With the current industry landscape and shifting populations, leaning into your brand equity is a way to proactively meet your audience in the right moment.
Serves immediate and long-term needs. Provides an immediate assessment of your brand health with historical context. Ongoing evaluation gives you the ability to pivot and keep the strategic value of marketing and brand top of mind with campus leaders.
Use what you learn about your brand awareness and perception to shape a vision for the future. Leverage brand equity insights to understand how your campus is discussed online and identity messages that resonate with key stakeholders. Assess and prioritize opportunities, then develop a focused strategy that strengthens overall brand awareness and responds to market shifts.
“You have to measure brand equity, ideally in multiple ways (social listening, surveys, etc). Knowing this helps you persist as an institution, or evolve through M&A into what you can be in the future.” —Dr. Terisa Riley, Chancellor, University of Arkansas–Fort Smith
The University of Arkansas–Fort Smith (UAFS) uses social intelligence to improve their brand strategy across campus and build a shared understanding of their brand equity. They use the insights to educate campus partners about the importance of brand equity and provide leadership with strategically aligned insights to inform their decision making.
Reflection questions to address and analyze the strength of your brand equity.
Define how you want your audience to connect with your brand. Learn what audiences say are your campus differentiators and detractors, including where your competitors fall, then assess and take action to lean into your strengths and mitigate your weaknesses.
Use the actionable opportunities identified from your brand power and experience to improve your positioning.
“Our partnership with Campus Sonar provides us the data needed to make decisions that make a difference.” —Matt Serrao, former Associate VP Marketing, Utah Valley University
Utah Valley University (UVU) integrated social intelligence to expand their capacity to learn and engage with their audiences. They used three long-established brand messaging pillars to understand their brand equity and align their messaging. The approach helped UVU double their positive brand sentiment within a year and secure additional funding.
Reflection questions to address and analyze the strength of your brand equity.
Measure your performance. Use quantitative and qualitative measurements to manage your brand online and understand how your brand pillars and messages perform in the market over time, and when to leverage trends or course correct.
“We’ve made investments in brand alignment. Now we have the ability to see how that message is resonating, address when there’s a perception that we’ve gone astray, or if we actually go astray. The board and President know to ask for that information now.” —Gabe Welsch, Vice President of Marketing & Communications, Duquesne University
As an ongoing partner with Duquesne University, we’re working to build alignment and data informed strategies to expand their teams’ strategic capacity and build trust across campus. The VP of Marketing & Communications actively shares the insights across all levels of the organization—various departmental and institutional leaders, and they’ve reached the point where the board and the president ask for brand health insights because they’ve shared them before.
The team continues to help senior leaders understand the impact that online conversation has on their overarching campus, brand reputation, engagement and sentiment, and how it works together to shape their overall brand health and ultimately contribute to their goals.
Reflection questions to address and analyze the strength of your brand equity.
Layering brand equity into your brand strategy gives you a full understanding of all aspects of your reputation so you can drive growth through strategy. You’ll understand your brand in ways that enable you to take action to achieve your goals. Download our brand equity book or get started on a Brand Equity Diagnostic.