Effective Branding and Choice of University: A Thematic Analysis of Bangladeshi Private University Students

Abstract

Modern marketing is greatly dependent on branding. Now every institution is using branding as its marketing tool to attract customers. Branding does not mean a logo or graphic element nowadays. Strong branding helps companies to get loyal customers. Effective branding creates trust, recognition, and popularity for companies among people. A university with a well-reputed brand has several advantages. It can easily attract students. The main objective of this paper is to determine how the branding of a private university influences student's choice of selection. For doing this, there are many relationships between branding and consumer decision making processes are mentioned. The value and importance of branding for the consumer (students) are also mentioned. Through the survey, it was found that branding value is important to complex buying consumers (Moos, Kurt Von, 2005). Private universities need marketing to rise in the market and also compete with each other. In the changing market, branding for a private university is more than a logo. Students are attracting now by the quality of education, faculties, campus environment, and tuition fees. Many factors influence a student's choice of university. In this paper, it was found that branding influences students’ choice of university. Brand image, brand name, logo all are the faces of a university that directly influence students. Also, Universities should maintain their core value such as teaching, faculty, education quality, research for effective branding.