Positioning Public University’s Brand Through Marketing Communications: Practical Recommendations and Implications

Nguyen, Nguyen Phong; Mogaji, Emmanuel

Abstract

This chapter recognises the need for public universities to enhance their brand reputation and reposition their brands to appeal to diverse audiences. Even though the market dynamics suggest that they have many students willing to fill their limited spaces, public universities still need to improve their brand assets and, therefore, beyond their abounding student number, have a holistic view of the changing and evolving higher education landscape. We adopted an integrative literature review approach to critically review and synthesise the literature on higher education brand positioning which enables us to develop a new theoretical framework and perspective. The framework identifies four critical constructs for positioning public university’s brand through marketing communications—the university’s strategic plans, the marketing communications team, marketing communication plans, and the key performance indicators. This chapter presents a key theoretical contribution to ongoing bodies of work around higher education marketing. The study offers insights for university managers and practitioners on developing public university brands which include identifying a clear relationship between positioning and the target group at each stage of communication, communicating goals to achieve positioning, developing creative concepts that match brand values, using multiple media mix to achieve branding objectives, and monitoring and evaluating communication effectiveness. Specifically, the study suggests some checklists and questions for administrators to consider regarding their communications strategies.

Citation

Nguyen, N. P., & Mogaji, E. (2022). Positioning Public University’s Brand Through Marketing Communications: Practical Recommendations and Implications. . Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-07293-2_4

• Online Publication Date: Oct 4, 2022
• Publication Date: 2022
• Deposit Date: Jun 1, 2023
• Publisher: Springer
• Pages: 69-98
• Series Title: Palgrave Studies of Public Sector Management in Africa
• Series ISSN: 2730-6119
• ISBN: 9783031072925; 9783031072932
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-07293-2_4
• Additional Information: First Online: 4 October 2022