School rebrand, or brand refresh?

I’ve just completed a brand refresh for my own business, Houseway Consulting. In reflecting on my experience, I was reminded of the response from a Head of School while speaking about the marketing strategy. She said, “Does this mean we need to change our logo?”

 

My answer was no. But that didn’t mean there wouldn’t be changes further down the line as the marketing strategy is implemented, and growth occurs. Growth prompts change. In my experience, that’s how it happens. And it’s how it happened for Houseway Consulting.

 

 

 

Marketing and branding are often confused.

 

There’s a long-standing debate on what comes first, branding or marketing. From a marketing perspective (my Chartered Marketer designation process with MASA helped clarify this further for me), branding is a subset of marketing. That’s always been my approach because I’m a strategic marketer and not a brand strategist.

 

Branding and marketing work hand-in-hand, often in parallel. They cannot exist or thrive in isolation from each other.

 

What I’ve learnt is that the value of the brand of a school is only understood when there is a discussion about changing the brand. This tends to happen in the context of research-driven marketing strategy, which is my area of specialisation for independent schools.

 

Why is branding important in schools?

 

The independent school customer experience is longer and more complex than most other typical customer experiences.

 

Schools are about relationships – The children, families and staff. Many of these people journey through the school with siblings, cousins, grandchildren – Consequently, they travel through many ups and downs and phases of life together. They belong to a community. They become alumni of the school and retain an identity in their memories which lives on. The logo and colours of their school are present in clothing, bags, photographs, CV’s, and memorabilia. 

 

This was evident at this year’s Independent Schools Show at Evolution London in Battersea Park. Each school displayed professionally branded posters, flyers, brochures and merchandise to give to visiting families such as pens, hats, educational toys, bags, and notebooks. The stands were strikingly impressive with their use of branding. This distinctive branding plays a role in attracting the prospective parents and children. In turn, it leads to admissions and sustainability of independent schools.

 

 

 

 

The growing digital community culture and membership marketing trend has added a further layer to this identity. School communities are active online, well beyond the current families and staff of the school. They participate in groups and feel a part of the brand, even if they have not set foot on the grounds of the school for years.

 

In addition, some school brands are steeped in history and heritage. The logos have meaning linked to core values, cultures, beliefs, challenges faced and achievements earned. These soft issues are much more important to prospective families than they might have been decades ago. Aspects of trust, longevity, generational presence play a part in school choice.

 

It’s not just a logo.

 

What’s the difference between a school brand refresh and rebranding?

 

Over time, schools develop and adjust. This is driven by shifting markets, changing environments, trends, social issues. Independent schools must remain relevant or they’ll lose value in a competitive market, especially with added economic pressures, innovation, geopolitical changes, emerging careers for future generations. See my article on growth markets here from the 2023 ISMA Conference.

 

 

Whenever I interview staff and parents as a part of market research for marketing strategy, these external issues pop up. I’m inspired by the interest and energy of school communities to find a way through, to build on the unique strengths of the school and to polish those gems. Sometimes, this requires a brand change, but mostly, the changes are in addition to branding. 

 

And that’s where the choices come to the fore for your independent school. Once you have some independent research to inform the market positioning. Which to choose? A rebrand? A refresh? Or no change at all.

 

These three options have very different reasons and characteristics:

 

• A complete rebrand is rare in schools. There’s just too much invested in the brand. This does not mean new brands are not introduced under the umbrella brand of the school. It’s also expensive and very risky for a premium brand with heritage and generations of established customers – Learn from Jaguar’s latest rebrand lessons here.
• A brand refresh is a normal occurrence in schools, but not too often, as this creates confusion and a lack of trust in the brand, a feeling of instability. Five years is a rough guide on how often to consider a refresh (in line with research-based marketing strategy updates).
• No change at all to branding is rare in my strategic marketing projects with schools. But it’s more likely to be an outcome, part of the implementation process further down the line as the marketing strategy starts to kick in.

 

Why I chose a brand refresh rather than a rebrand

 

Your choice will depend on your mission, budget ,timeframe, capacity and strategy.

 

As a niche business in school marketing strategy, the cost involved in a full rebrand was inhibitive to me. My motivation was greater professionalism in line with the growth of the business.

 

My brand story is a family one. Houseway Consulting is a name that originates with my parents who encouraged my career change back into the education sector, and helped me to establish the business. My late mother’s name was Wendy Anita House and so Houseway comes from House plus W and A, her initials. And the surname, House, is the family name.

 

For my first logo, I went on to Canva back in 2018 and selected a design using existing components. It was a stock image of a house built with sturdy white columns and a roof, showing stability, trust and structure. The building shape referred to educational institutions being part of the identity. This image became a familiar look and feel for Houseway Consulting across all platforms.

 

 

Originally, I chose blue and white for the branding because these colours tend to have a professional, academic feel. Two colours only, to keep it simple and clean. A Times New Roman font, as that was formal and traditional in values and beliefs, relevant to many independent schools, my ideal clients. 

 

 

 

 

Canva was easy to create business cards, printed out at the local print store. I included no tagline in the early days, but started using ‘Marketing Strategy for Independent Schools’ soon thereafter. We’ve since added ‘Analyse. Visualise. Strategise’.

 

In 2022, I decided it was time to tackle the branding of the business, to build a more professional visual image in line with the company’s growth. I think the post-pandemic energy for change was also part of my motivation! 

 

I loved the core branding concepts. I just wasn’t happy with the fit with where the business was heading.

 

The longer I delayed, the more uncomfortable I felt about my branding. It began to interfere with my social media presence and my communications with clients. I started avoiding using certain parts of my corporate identity. I needed a refresh. Not a total rebrand, but a new take on my original, start-up visual identity.

 

Surprisingly, my colour palette was inspired by the design of a favourite navy floral print dress!

 

 

Two other things happened which added to my determination to do a refresh. 

 

• I’d completed a mini-photo shoot with Jade Sorensen Photography. This was my second shoot with Jade. The first had been in her studio, and I’d been very impressed with the results. But the look and feel of those portraits was now too formal for the direction the market was taking. The end of the pandemic had us engaging more, dropping some of the distance and caution we’d adopted for so long. The new photo shoot was set in the famous Durban Botanic Gardens, an outdoor shoot with a difference, more relaxed. I was so excited to share the new images!

 

• And secondly. I was inspired by the colours of a lovely floral print dress I’d found for the summer season. The way the navy worked with the pale pinks and greens was something I wanted to capture in my branding. It was fresh, elegant but warm. It fitted with the look and feel of the photo shoot I had on my mind.

 

I wanted to keep the basic concepts of colours and image and name. But I needed:

 

• A wider palette as only two colours was becoming restrictive
• A professionally designed image as the Canva image was too common as an icon, but not to lose the house concept
• A new font as the old font was looking tired, out of date
• More options on the branding in terms of formats to use across platforms and in different contexts
• Elements of the recent outdoor, less formal photo shoot to be incorporated

 

It was time for a refresh.

 

How I chose my branding service provider

 

 

My relationship with my website designer was well established – Melissa de Klerk from Melissa Helen Co. Our work over the years had been ongoing and rewarding, all remote, yet very much ‘on the same page’. I asked Melissa for a quote on a brand refresh. Then we started to engage on the project. 

 

Melissa takes a very strategic approach to her work. She already knew Houseway Consulting well, but she was very thorough in understanding it better, telling the story – My motivation, what I liked and disliked on colours and fonts and images, and what my current and future business activities, offerings and target market were about.

 

This helped to ensure the new look and feel really matched the company. It also stretched me a little out of my comfort zone. Never underestimate the power of meeting online and talking with an expert on what you want and what you don’t want.

 

One of the things that I found most impressive and valuable was the use of Trello for the brand refresh, which would include the website refresh. Trello is an online workspace that enables projects to be managed across locations with multiple subsections. It’s especially effective for visual projects such as a branding project. 

 

 

Melissa invited me to a new Trello board via email. The board had cards for different areas such as ‘Photos’ and ‘Colours’ and ‘Images’ and ‘Font’ indicating ‘Keryn to do’ and ‘Melissa to do’, ‘and ‘Complete’ etc. We messaged each other via Trello on the board. As the tasks were completed, they were moved around. On completion of the project and delivery of all the components, the board was deactivated.

 

I’ve now got a fresh look for Houseway Consulting, and it’s gradually been rolled out across all social media and templates developed for use in different contexts, plus insights for improved blog content. The whole process took about a year, as I was wanting to spread out the financial load and see benefits as we went along.

 

 

 

What I loved about the project was the ability to start seeing change quite early. Melissa was responsive to my requests or comments, even when random. But they added to the unique story of the branding.

 

The brand refresh has also been motivational. because I love it so much. It’s given the business a dose of extra professionalism which I believe will take us to the next level.

 

What does this mean for you?

 

Branding is not marketing, and marketing is not branding. Firstly, I would spend some time on independent market research. This builds your understanding of customer perceptions about your school marketing, what makes your school stand out from the rest in your target markets.

 

Armed with this information, assess the need and objectives. Why make any changes to the branding, and why now? Consider this in the context of the marketing strategy.

 

Then, get help from a branding expert. Ask for recommendations and get quotes. If unsure, do a small project first with the provider before embarking on a major project. Some service providers don’t like this, but it’s becoming increasingly important as a sales strategy for consultants. You may get a free consultation with initial thoughts and ideas. This could help you make the best choice.

 

If you have any other trusted marketing consultants in your network, you could chat with them to assess the approach, especially strategic marketers who understand the value of branding from a long-term perspective in schooling.

 

This is strategic work. It’ll require investment, so rather budget for it. negotiate payment arrangements than settle for the cheapest quote. Look at company listings with professional associations like ISASA too. 

 

And mostly, enjoy the ride! Let me know if I can help. I do not do branding or design but I do have a network of service providers with no commercial ties or obligations attached. Go to the contacts page on my website to book a free online call with me.