Printing and Mailing for the Brand: An Exploratory Qualitative Study Seeking to Understand Internal Branding and Marketing Within University and Extension Communication Services Units

Abstract

Investment of employees in a brand can lead to greater public understanding and positive impressions of a brand by external stakeholders. However, this can be challenging in public organizations with multiple brand segments and a large number of employees spread across great distance with limited funds for marketing. While previous work has looked at Extension agents, faculty, and volunteers' brand perceptions, no studies have looked at communication services employees' investment in the brand. The purpose of this qualitative study was to discover how well employees in a university and Extension printing and mail entity understood the Extension brand and their investment in the brand. Research questions that guided this study were: 1) What perceptions and investment do communication services employees have in the Extension brand? And 2) what are employees' perceptions of the organization's branding and marketing efforts? Each of the 18 interviews included a series of questions focusing on employees' story related to Extension and employees' thoughts on branding and marketing efforts. Results in this study with communication services employees indicate these employees are not invested in the brand with the majority having little to no understanding of the mission of Extension. This contradicts previous research with employees in other brand segments of Extension. Implications of this work include a need for training on the Extension mission for communication services employees, a shift in culture to encourage investment in the brand, and inclusion of all Extension employees in the mission of Extension.

Public vs private universities in Nigeria

“…Nigerian universities need to revisit their mission and vision statement and check if it is realistic or they need to change it to the one that conforms to the fulfilment of the promise they gave to the public. Our study suggests that the combination of an internal brand that centres on the university employees both academic and non-academic, and the external brand that targets the mindset of the university customers, is crucial in Nigeria universities (Zagonel & Baker, 2019).…”

Getting the Most out of Social Media: Successfully Using Social Media

“…Branding: Is the information you are posting on your social media platform(s) promoting your brand or the agricultural industry as a whole in an open and honest manner that will prompt your target audience to seek out your products? Building an effective brand for your business or Extension program is possible through a solid, intentional social media strategy (Zagonel et al, 2019).…”

Assessment of Aquaculture Extension Innovation Dissemination Among Fish Farmers in Ibi Local Government Area, Taraba State Nigeria

“…Aquaculture also provides high-quality and highly digestible protein and is a good source of minerals, including Zn, Fe, and vitamins A and D. Contrary to other animal production sectors in which production is based on a few species, aquaculture is highly diversified with more than 420 organisms being exploited (FAO 2020). Extension describes all organized communication efforts by which an agency or individual tries to bring about changes in the knowledge, attitudes, skills and behaviour of a client population, in order to reach one or more objectives that have been established within the framework of an overall development policy (Zagonel et al, 2019) . In precise terms, extension is an organized, collective effort; it works with, and for, a client population; and it serves a development policy.…”