August: The Importance of Branding

Purpose
Branding is important, especially for college financial education programs. A brand, or an organization’s image, helps students recognize that a financial education program and the program representatives are knowledgeable and understanding. The University of Nebraska – Lincoln (UNL) Student Money Management Center (SMMC) has found success with building a program brand that includes the aforementioned elements, as well relevance, fun, and approachability.

Market research helped determine that UNL students perceived financial education as not relevant to their lives and boring, and financial educators as unapproachable. Thus, the SMMC focused on building a powerful brand that would position the program as relevant, fun, and approachable. Other motives for building a brand were increasing credibility among the University and state-wide community in order to gain more program partnerships and media exposures to order to support UNL recruitment efforts.

The UNL SMMC focused heavily on branding activities from January 2012 to December 2012. Branding activities included resource development and event development. Print resource development focused on making financial education topics relevant to the target audience, such as a resource titled “The Biggest Money Rip-offs.” Resources were also created to tie into campus-wide events that connected to students’ values, such as a resource focused on “being green.” Electronic resources also helped change the target audience’s perception of financial education by showcasing financial education resources in different formats, such as pins on Pinterest. Social media campaigns focused on building up the “approachable” quality of the brand and increasing the number of brand ambassadors.

Financial education events helped position the program as relevant and fun. To avoid “boring” events, all events included competitive games, money personality quizzes, and piggy bank decorating. Event sponsorships were also an important part of brand development and helped change students’ perceptions of financial education. For example, a partnership with the UNL Health Center’s Stress Free Zone helped students realize that they could relieve stress through money management. Additionally, educational activities were offered in high-traffic areas. These activities were focused on helping busy students quickly get financial tips. Students completed short activities, such as “Financial Horror Stories,” and were then entered into prize drawings.

Results

These tactics were proven to position the program as relevant, fun, and approachable. Due to successful branding efforts, there was a 24% increase in the number of students who took advantage of program services, including one-on-one counseling sessions and workshops, compared to the prior year. Students who completed surveys after participating in program services described the SMMC as: approachable, friendly, understanding, fun, practical, knowledgeable, and helpful. Additionally, according to a random survey of program participants, 84% indicated they used program services because they viewed SMMC services as “relevant.”

The program formed partnerships with an additional 32 University organizations. These organizations partnered on offering financial education workshops and resources for UNL students. According to a random survey of program partners, 100% of the partners decided to work with the SMMC due to their perception that SMMC representatives had expertise delivering financial education to college students in formats and language that college students prefer. Partners who completed surveys described the SMMC as:  knowledgeable, creative, fun, entertaining, and practical.

Additionally, national publicity exposures were estimated to be over 1 million and were recognized by University officials.

Conclusions/Implications

Branding is important, especially for college financial education programs. College financial educators need to take the time to determine how they want college students to perceive their program. If educators can uncover the reasons behind negative perceptions, they can craft a branding strategy that will help change their image and help them build a program that students will feel comfortable utilizing. Successful branding efforts can have significant positive effects on program usage, program partnerships, and publicity opportunities.