Reputation belongs to everyone in a university, not just the comms team

Early in my time at Newcastle University, someone told me that reputation was “the marketing team’s job”. I understood why. We had the budget, the campaigns and the press office. But it didn’t take long to see that the moments shaping how the University was seen were happening almost everywhere except in marketing.

A lecturer’s keynote at an international conference. A researcher’s interview on the radio. The person who answers the phone in admissions on results day. A finance colleague negotiating with a partner overseas. A student’s post about their first week. Each of those shapes reputation more directly than most campaigns, and most of the people involved have never been told they play a part.

Why the culture matters more than the campaign

Campaigns can raise awareness, but they can’t make a university trusted. Trust is built through experience, and experience is delivered by people. If your academics don’t feel connected to the institution’s story, they’ll tell their own. If professional services colleagues feel invisible, the care they show students won’t be part of how you describe yourself. Both are missed opportunities.

The universities I’ve seen do this well have stopped treating reputation as a department and started treating it as a shared responsibility, supported by the specialists.

The moments that shape how a university is seen are happening almost everywhere except in marketing.

What building that culture looks like

Make the story easy to tell. Most colleagues are happy to champion their institution if they know what to say. Give them a short, honest narrative about what the university stands for, with examples from their own area, and update it regularly. When we created a clearer strategic narrative at Newcastle, academic colleagues told us they finally had language they were comfortable using.

Treat academics as partners. Researchers are often the most credible voices a university has. An academic engagement strategy that helps them share their work, prepares them for media and recognises their contribution to the institution’s profile pays back many times over. It needs to feel like support, not surveillance.

Bring professional services into the picture. The people running accommodation, finance, estates, IT and student services are part of the brand experience every day. Include them in how reputation is discussed, share the data with them and celebrate the moments where their work made a difference.

Measure it, and say so. If reputation matters, it should appear in team objectives and leadership conversations, not just in the marketing plan. Even a simple measure, reviewed regularly, tells colleagues that this is everyone’s business.

Recognise the people who do it well. Some of the most effective changes I’ve made as a leader were about recognition. Thank the professor who gave up an evening for a recruitment event. Share the story of the receptionist whose kindness turned into a glowing review. Culture follows what leaders notice.

The role of the marketing and communications team

None of this diminishes the specialists. If anything, it raises the bar for them. The team’s job becomes enabling the whole institution: providing the narrative, the training, the tools and the insight that help thousands of colleagues represent the university well. It’s a more strategic role, and in my experience it’s a far more rewarding one.

If I could leave one thought with university leaders, it would be this: your reputation is already being built by everyone in your institution, every day. The only choice is whether you support them to do it well.

Jonathan Sabarre FCIM MBA is Principal Consultant at QS Quacquarelli Symonds, a keynote speaker and host of Marketing Greats in Higher Education. Get the weekly email or invite him to speak.