Brand Auditing and Brand Salience Management

Conclusion and recommendations

Conclusion

From the results of the analysis using descriptive statistics, it was found that the public perception of the Statistics Study Program at Universitas Terbuka (UT) is still classified as being moderate. This can be reflected in the category score of Brand Awareness and Brand Salience with an average score above 3 and below 4. This means that the public is familiar with the Statistics Study Program even though it is still not high or still in the moderate category. This condition can also be found in the Buying Intention of the Universitas Terbuka Statistics Study Program, with the moderate category.

If analyzed using descriptive statistical tests, it can be concluded that the public's perception of the Statistics Study Program in general and the Statistics Study Program at Universitas Terbuka are in the same category, namely moderate. However, if you pay attention to the score, studying at the Statistics Study Program in general has a higher score, namely 3.82, while studying at the Statistics Study Program at Universitas Terbuka has a lower score, namely 3.33. This means that the UT or Universitas Terbuka label has a weight on people's perceptions. This is a challenge for the Statistics Study Program to build the UT brand apart from building the brand for the study program.

The results of hypothesis testing show that Brand Salience has an intervening relationship between Brand Awareness and Buying Intention. Brand Salience is influenced by Brand Awareness and leads to Buying Intention, in which both are influenced and influence positively and significantly. Brand Salience has a moderate category perception, which is formed from the variables Famous (moderate), Memorable (moderate), Recall (moderate), Top of Mind (moderate), and Notice (moderate).

Regarding branding, the branding needs of the Universitas Terbuka Statistics Study Program can be formulated as follows: increase the brand knowledge by increasing the brand awareness and brand image. Changing the UT name to UNT is a way to improve this. It can also enhance its brand identity, develop supporting marketing programs, and leverage secondary associations. When brand awareness, brand image, and brand identity increase, it will increase brand salience, brand equity, and ultimately buying intention.

Recommendations

The results of the community's assessment of the UT Statistics Study Program are still not high. This condition has an impact on the buying intention of the Universitas Terbuka Statistics Study Program. Related to this, it is necessary to implement a policy on how to build the UT brand in addition to of course constructing the brand of the study program. This policy not only applies to the university level, but also requires brand reinforcement policies carried out by the government. An aspect that needs to be improved is brand salience because it is an intensification of the relationship between brand awareness and buying intention. In addition, the brand salience score of the Statistics Study Program is not high enough. Increasing the brand salience of the Statistics Study Program needs to be emphasized in terms of the famous, memorable, recall, top of mind, and notice aspects.

The Statistics Study Program and management at Universitas Terbuka need to build an internal brand ecosystem for the study program and university. The components of the ecosystem are the students, lecturers, employees, alumni, parents, founders, collaboration partners for learning, research, service, and workplaces or businesses. Providing excellent service to students is essential for lecturers and employees who have direct and indirect contact with students. The excellent service provided will give a deep impression that will create a positive perception towards the alumni and parents, which in the end can encourage other students to enroll in the university. Just as important is the knowledge and experience related to the founder and the company where the internship and place of work will also provide a positive perception of the university. The involvement of alumni in several university activities is very important in instilling perceptions and persuasion towards current students and prospective students.

University administrators need to enrich the university experiences of students and build a strong sub-brand within the university environment. University social augmenters need to play a role as well because they have strong brand equity manifestations and may have the potential to differentiate university brands in an industry dominated by experience and trust.

Curtis et al. pointed out the importance of corporate brand management in higher education, and in particular the corporate brand management process. To compete in the market for the best students, qualified faculty and staff, and donors, universities must have a strong corporate brand. Maintaining a harmonious relationship between the corporate identity and corporate image for multiple stakeholders in a multi-campus system can be a challenging task. A clear definition of the university brand combined with strong leadership is one of the important aspects to be successful. Higher education provides many similar "products". Universities with a strong historical and cultural heritage have the advantage of offering a clear foundation for their corporate branding efforts. The alignment between the company's branding, which comprises the company's identity and perceived company image and reputation, and the organizational culture contributes to awareness among all stakeholders of what the university is and what it stands for. The internal acceptance of the revised brand at all levels plays an essential role in promoting the company's brand to external stakeholders and making the institution have long-term sustainability.

This research has not succeeded in proving the role of customer experience in relation to brand awareness, brand salience, and buying intention due to unidentified issues. For future research, it is necessary to find the causes because theoretically, the customer experience variable has strong support. The conditions of the respondents and the type of data were obtained previously. It also needs to be done by adding measurable variables from customer experience such as experience when choosing a higher education institution, experience in employing UT Statistics Study Program graduates, experience in finding work, and experience in work associated with the UT Statistics Study Program.

This model does not include brand knowledge, brand identity, and brand equity. In future research, it is necessary to include these things in the model. Then it can be tested on UT and non-UT higher education institutions.

The new brand development formula is limited as a conception. It needs to be continued with research on developing prototype models and testing the prototypes in order to obtain a standard model that can be applied in the UT Statistics Study Program, other study programs at UT, and in other universities to increase student intake.