Could the transformation of a university’s brand identity help make it the top choice for more admitted students? When I led marketing and communications at a university some years ago, my team and I set out to answer this with a bold new brand campaign. Two measures of success were top of mind: the yield rate (or conversion rate)—the percentage of admitted students who decided to enroll—and the number of students who saw us as their first choice.  

Over the course of five years, we nearly doubled the yield rate, with a marked increase in students who named us as their first choice. While it was gratifying to see these results, one major question lingered: how much of this success was attributable to the brand strategy, as opposed to changes in the admission process? We had invested significantly in building a brand that resonated with students, donors, alumni, and the broader community. Yet despite the tangible impact we felt in every interaction, and the positive shifts in perception and affinity, we had no clear measure to demonstrate precisely what we had achieved.  

Today, many institutions still lack a standard way to assess the impact of their marketing and communications (marcom) efforts on institutional success. We know that brand and reputation are essential for success across admissions, alumni relations, and fundraising, but measuring them directly is challenging. The new CASE Insights Framework for Brand and Reputation Metrics aims to meet this need, providing the foundation for tools CASE will build to help institutions measure, benchmark, and understand their influence. 

Leading this initiative alongside 10 marcom thought leaders from a wide range of backgrounds across the globe and sector is a full-circle moment for me—a chance to empower a profession I know well and to provide today’s marcom professionals with the measurement tools and standards that I know leaders are hungry for.  

The Journey to a Framework 

Over the last decade, marcom teams have shifted from supporting institutional visibility to becoming true strategic leaders whose work meaningfully advances their institutions. I’ve had the privilege of witnessing this transformative work throughout my career, both within CASE and beyond. Seeing it come to life through the accomplishments of our 2024 Circle of Excellence Award winners—who embraced bold, creative strategies to engage students, donors, and their communities—reaffirms my passion for this field. 

However, operating in environments where responsibility and authority are often widely distributed (and where departments hold significant autonomy) has historically made it difficult for marcom teams to track and measure outcomes. Tailoring strategies to specific institutional goals means that no two approaches look alike, and metrics that apply in one setting might not translate to another. This has long complicated the creation of shared benchmarks across the sector; yet as the educational landscape grows more challenging, marcom teams feel mounting pressure to demonstrate their impact. 

CASE understands this need for reliable, universal metrics. For 50 years, CASE has served as the professional home for educational advancement, which we define as the strategic, integrated method of building understanding and support among an institution’s constituencies—both internally and externally. That’s why CASE includes marcom professionals as essential members of advancement, acknowledging their expertise in communicating the purpose and impact of higher education. 

We’ve long led the way in defining metrics for educational philanthropy, beginning with the CASE Global Reporting Standards, first published in 1982 and updated in 2024, which laid the foundation for tracking performance in institutional giving. Similarly, the CASE Insights on Alumni Engagement, introduced in 2018, has provided five years of invaluable data, offering alumni relations professionals meaningful benchmarks to guide their efforts. 

With our global reach and convening power, CASE is uniquely positioned to develop a framework for marcom metrics. Over the past year, we brought together a thought-leadership group of marcom professionals from colleges, universities, independent schools, and agencies across North America, Europe, and Australia. 

“It was great to be part of such a professionally diverse group of education marketers—each with specialized experience and perspectives that all spoke directly to so many aspects of the challenge,” says Dan Griffin, Director of Institutional Communications at the Brunswick School in Greenwich, Connecticut, U.S.

This dedicated group worked to create a practical framework for measuring and evaluating marcom performance. 

“We all hope that a strong, unified statement on the value of measurement will encourage education marketers to think more strategically about return-on-investment. Especially for those with limited resources, measurement and continuous refinement are key to achieving competitive results,” he adds. The result of this collaborative effort is an initial step toward a shared standard for marcom in education—one that aligns with CASE’s mission to establish benchmarks that champion advancement worldwide.  

A Turning Point for Marcom 

The framework encompasses six key measurement categories: brand development, recruitment and retention, strategic communications, alumni engagement, philanthropy, and external engagement/public affairs. Each metric will exist within one of these categories, targeting a distinct aspect of marcom performance. While these categories serve as a starting point, they were chosen to reflect the breadth of marcom functions and apply to organizations at any stage of maturity.  

With the Framework for Brand and Reputation Metrics in Education, institutions will have a tool to align marcom efforts with strategic goals. By providing a common language for success, CASE is supporting marcom professionals to take their places as indispensable leaders in advancing their institutions. 

Helen Pennack, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at the University of Nottingham, U.K., highlights the significance of this work: “A comprehensive method to measure brand and reputation and benchmark globally in higher education has been elusive, so this new framework developed by professionals is highly welcome. It’s the most thorough approach I’ve seen, and I look forward to using it to evaluate and enhance our work.” 

In the coming months, CASE will share the framework with marcom leaders across the sector to gather insights and ensure it meets the needs of those in the field. Early feedback has been highly encouraging, with participants at several CASE meetings and webinars hailing it as a “game-changer,” and many seeing it as a long-awaited tool that lends credibility to their work. We’ll use the feedback to identify the most valuable metrics for our survey, making sure we incorporate those that truly resonate. 

By summer 2025, the CASE Insights team will select the key metrics from this feedback and establish consistent definitions that will guide survey development. A pilot survey will be underway by 2026, drawing on data from a select group of institutions.  

This framework represents more than a new set of metrics—it’s a movement toward defining, validating, and celebrating the work of marcom professionals in education. With the help of our global education community, we look forward to seeing this framework evolve into a critical resource that empowers marcom professionals to define their success. Together, we are building a path toward a more impactful future for marcom—one that reflects the essential role this community plays in championing educational advancement worldwide.  

Learn more about the framework and share your feedback.