“Big ideas, little voice.” That’s what a branding and marketing agency hired to help CFAES increase awareness and first-year enrollment recently found.
Ologie, a firm based in Columbus, with significant experience working in higher education, recently released initial findings from the first phase of our engagement together. The agency has been diving deep to learn about our college to help strengthen our brand position and lead to tactics that increase awareness and enrollment. The work is an extension of the university and college brand efforts, so those teams have been very connected to the process.
In one of several findings, the agency said, “If the college is unappreciated, it’s not due to a lack of relevance or ambition. The solutions to many of the world’s most critical problems will come from CFAES scholars, and the college’s work figures prominently in the university’s highest priorities.” This isn’t new news to those of us who work for the college, but what may be new is how to communicate with audiences that aren't aware of our relevance and ambition.
How to reach prospective students
In our next steps, the agency will help us identify words to use when we’re communicating internally and words to use when we’re communicating externally. Specifically, we’ll develop messaging for communicating our relevance to prospective students and those who influence them.
Questions about this work? Feel free to reach out to Keira McGlone, 614-292-1299, mcglone.39@osu.edu, 241 Kottman Hall, Columbus.