Branding strategies of a private international school

Abstract

Demand for international K-12 schools in India is growing, and this is causing competition between them. The purpose of this paper was to explore the branding strategies that private international school leaders in India use to enhance the school brand. Case study method was used where fifteen participants were interviewed from an international school in Southern part of India. Interviews were conducted with five school leaders, five teachers, and five parents using a semi-structured interview method with open-ended questions related to branding strategies. Brand-oriented organizations have internal approaches to developing their brand based on vision, mission, and values. As education is an intangible product, both internal branding and external branding are required to win the trust of parents. Various information technology tools including social media can help to devise personalized communication channels to tell the school’s story to the stakeholders. The inherent limitation with a case study method is that it is not generalizable. Branding as a process has been discussed for higher education institutions but not the K-12 sector, especially from the Indian perspective. The empirical evidence presented in this paper may help K-12 schools, especially in India to understand how to enhance the school brand.