In recent years, social media has provided higher education institutions with new means of communication with their target groups. In this study, research was conducted on top public universities from four countries in Central Europe, with a focus on their Public Relations activities on Facebook. The purpose of this research is to explore the use…

Reviews of editorial practices and academic studies have shown that journalists often rely on organization websites--and online newsrooms in particular--to inform news stories. Yet, at a time when many academics are called upon as experts by the media, university newsrooms have been ignored. To fill this gap, this study assesses newsrooms of…

This study empirically examines how for-profit career colleges in Ontario, Canada market themselves to prospective students. It uses a mixed-methods approach to review the content of 489 online promotional profiles representing 375 unique for-profit colleges. It finds that for-profit colleges adopt several distinct marketing strategies, including…

Although many universities use social media to interact with stakeholders, little is known about the underlying mechanisms. Drawing on theories of self-presentation and community engagement, we develop a theoretical model to explain these crucial outcome factors. We then test the model based on secondary data from 159 universities. Our findings…

Shrinking financial support from governments and forecast declines in the college-going population have combined to exert tremendous pressure on institutions of higher learning. Branding as a strategy has become more popular as a way of differentiating an institution from its competition, but the complexity of higher education makes branding an…

Extensive scholarship exists on both symbolic leadership and corporate visual identity (CVI), yet little scholarly attention has been focused on the intersection of these two bodies of knowledge. In the field of education, that intersection is known as academic visual identity (AVI). The purpose of this article is to demonstrate that AVI…

Discusses seven steps for colleges to create effective brands: identifying essential qualities that your audiences desire; assessing how well your audience perceives you deliver on those qualities; identifying which performance and perception gaps you want to fill; responding strategically; revising and prioritizing your vivid descriptors;…

Content analyzed the visual material of college viewbooks from top- and lower-ranked U.S. colleges and universities. Drawing on advertising message strategy, the results are interpreted in four parts: the "face" of the organization, the package, the promise, and the "Big Idea." (EV)

This case study demonstrates how the Office of Marketing & Public Relations at Claremont McKenna College used five "Drucker Tool" questions to improve marketing's image on campus and awareness of the college among key constituencies. It concludes with a reevaluation of the initial marketing strategy based on the growing importance of…

Importance-performance analysis, a marketing research technique using analysis of consumer attitudes toward salient product or service attributes, is found useful for colleges and universities in developing marketing strategies, particularly when competition is considered as an important dimension. Data are drawn from a survey of 252 students at 1…

This study sought to identify institutional selection factors most influential upon small-college student-athletes. Mean scores for 229 freshman student-athletes from six institutions were analyzed using a modified Student-Athlete College Choice Profile Scale. The sample was also stratified by gender and sports-program categories. Overall, four of…

It is argued that colleges and universities need to understand the importance of customer service in student retention, particularly in a competitive marketplace. Customer service concepts that work in the private sector are seen as useful in higher education, and a model is proposed. (MSE)

An exploratory study surveyed 59 colleges and universities concerning their advertising practices, specifically media usage, importance of communication objectives for institutional messages, and the importance of audiences targeted for advertising. All major media were used by most of the institutions. Communication objectives mentioned most…

The experience of a small liberal arts college in repackaging and remarketing the entire institution to boost continuing education enrollment is described. The marketing team followed current theories, establishing the division as a self-generating unit with a small annual operating surplus. Proceeds are reinvested for periods of low enrollment.…

This study examined the role of senior public relations administrators in institutional decision making through a survey of presidents and senior public relations officers at the 14 universities in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (SSHE). Findings indicated that SSHE senior public relations administrators are often not included in…