Their primary goal for the site was defined as increasing Katz’s reach, its content visibility and authority, and the promotion of its brand reputation.
Here’s how a strategic, user-centered approach to higher education content strategy turned a fragmented collection of pages into a platform that meets those exact goals.
What Is Higher Ed Branding, and Why Does It Matter for a College of Medicine Website?
Higher ed branding is the practice of defining and communicating what makes an academic institution unique, compelling, and memorable to its audiences. Unlike traditional corporate branding, higher education branding must speak to multiple stakeholders at once: prospective students, faculty, researchers, donors, business partners and the community they serve. Each group has very different needs and decision-making criteria for engagement.
For research institutions specifically, effective branding goes deeper than logos and taglines. It shapes how your priority audiences perceive the real-world impact of your institutional research, the high quality of your related educational offerings, the uniqueness and relevance of your institution in changing the practice of medicine, the people and culture that deliver on your brand promise. When done well, it transforms your website from an online informational brochure into a digital storytelling and PR engine.
Lewis Katz School of Medicine is a powerhouse of translational research, community health equity, and clinical innovation in the heart of North Philadelphia. But these critical qualities were unsung heroes buried within their existing website or non-existent.
The research section especially had a disjointed user experience that was written for insiders. It did not support increasing their reach, building their public reputation or speaking to their community. Navigation was complex and led users in circles. Research centers lacked both visibility and editorial storytelling that is required to make it relevant to many external audiences. Content was written at a level inaccessible to many users, and key audiences — the community members, prospective students and faculty, external collaborators, funders, and the media — were not well-served by the internal focus of the site structure and content.
Katz needed more than a new website; they needed a complete rethinking of how their digital presence told their story.
Our Approach: A Brand Story Framework for Higher Education
At iFactory, we start with listening and then find ways to leverage insights and a brand framework to directly connect the institutional goals to user needs on the website.
For this work, we conducted in-depth stakeholder interviews across leadership, basic science departments, and interdisciplinary research centers. We worked to understand not just what Katz wanted to say, but what their audiences needed to hear to make Katz relevant.
Through these conversations, a clear picture emerged. Katz’s website needed to serve multiple audiences, from PhD-level researchers reviewing grants to prospective students evaluating MD programs to community leaders seeking to advocate for their people and form health equity partnerships. Each group had different needs, different vernacular, and different journeys. At the same time, they all needed to feel the same thing: that Katz was a place where passionate people collaborated to solve real-world problems the positively influenced the practice of medicine (particularly in North Philly).
This is the core of effective brand narrative work in academic medical center marketing: find the thread that connects diverse audiences to a unified institutional identity and then tell stories that resonate.
Three Pillars of Our Higher Education Content Strategy
1. Audience-Centric Information Architecture
The existing site structure reflected internal organizational charts, not user mental models. For this project, we restructured the research section around how people actually search and browse. We connected basic science departments to clinical applications, highlighted translational research pathways, and made cross-disciplinary collaboration visible.
This meant creating clear parent-child relationships between departments and centers, implementing strategic cross-linking, and ensuring that a visitor exploring cancer research could easily discover related clinical trials, faculty expertise, and community impact programs.
Key takeaway for higher education website redesign projects:
Your information architecture should reflect user mental models, not your org chart. Learn more about our UX and information architecture services.
2. Content That Speaks to Diverse Audiences
One of the most consistent pieces of feedback from stakeholders was that the site felt “text-heavy, stale, and confusing.” Research descriptions read like journal abstracts. Faculty profiles were bare-bones CVs. There was no sense of the people, culture, or community behind the science.
We rewrote content to be accessible without being superficial by adding an editorial layer over hefty research information. In doing so, we maintained scientific accuracy while using clear, plain, engaging language that resonated with both academic and lay audiences. We front-loaded key messages, used scannable formats, and ensured every page had a clear purpose and audience(s).
What mattered most was that we did this collaboratively. We worked closely with Katz’s researchers and subject matter experts to ensure their depth of translational science, community engagement, and collaborative work was accurately represented.
A strong brand messaging framework is invaluable.
It gives content teams a shared language for deciding what stories to tell, how to tell them, and who they’re for, without sacrificing institutional voice or academic rigor. See how we approach content strategy.
3. SEO and Accessibility Get Built In
Katz’s organic search performance told a clear story: 83% of traffic came from branded keywords. Prospective students and faculty searching for “cancer research programs” or “medical school Philadelphia” weren’t finding Katz.
We conducted a comprehensive SEO audit and restructured content around high-intent, non-branded search terms. This included optimizing meta tags, fixing heading hierarchies, improving internal linking, and creating content that answered the questions audiences were actually asking.
At the same time, we ensured full WCAG 2.2 AA accessibility compliance. A site about health equity shouldn’t exclude users with disabilities.
Quick win insight:
For institutions considering a college website redesign, targeting long-tail keywords with manageable keyword difficulty often delivers faster ROI than chasing high-volume head terms. Read more about our SEO and analytics services.
The Results: Validating the Brand Storytelling Approach
MD-program engagement rate
MD-program engagement rate
Total users
Organic search traffic
With such a strong working relationship, Katz extended our engagement to architect and rewrite the rest of the website. That extension is a testament to the strength of the foundational work and the clarity of the brand narrative.
What Is a Brand Messaging Framework for Higher Ed?
A brand messaging framework is a structured guide that defines how an institution communicates its value, voice, and story across all channels. For colleges and universities, it typically includes:
- Positioning statement: Who you are and why you matter
- Brand pillars: The 3-4 themes that define your institutional identity
- Audience messaging: How you speak to each stakeholder group
- Voice and tone guidelines: The personality of your communications
- Proof points: Evidence that supports your claims
For Katz, there were brand pillars to guide all web content:
- Collective Changemakers: Medicine is a team sport
- The Future of Purposeful Medicine: Empathy and social determinants at the core
- Relentless Humanity: Compassion without losing frontline resolve
These pillars serve as the brand story framework for every page, every campaign, and every piece of content Katz publishes. Explore how we develop brand messaging frameworks.
Brand Storytelling Examples: What Made Katz Different
- Showing translational research in action. Not just “we study cancer,” but “our researchers work alongside clinicians to bring discoveries from bench to bedside and back again.”
- Highlighting community connection. Stories of Mini Med School, Careers Exploration Day, and students providing translation services for Spanish-speaking patients.
- Putting people first. Faculty profiles that read like introductions, not CVs. Student stories that show grit and growth.
- Demonstrating measurable impact. Clear connections between research funding, clinical outcomes, and community health improvements.
Lessons for Your Next Higher Education Website Redesign
Whether you’re planning a university website redesign or refining your higher ed branding strategy, Katz’s transformation offers several transferable lessons.
1. Start with strategy, not templates
A higher education website redesign should begin with stakeholder insights, audience research, and a clear brand story framework, not content writing or a design mockup. See our discovery process.
2. Your website is your story
For research institutions, websites often become repositories of information rather than platforms for storytelling. But prospective students, faculty, and funders have endless options now. How you tell your story matters as much as what your story is.
3. SEO and accessibility are brand imperatives
A brand narrative that can’t be found or accessed isn’t doing its job. Build SEO and accessibility into your content strategy from day one. Learn about our accessibility services.
4. Governance protects your investment
The best college website redesign in the world will degrade without clear ownership, workflows, and maintenance schedules. Plan for the long term.
5. Speak to multiple audiences without losing your voice
The hallmark of strong higher education branding is the ability to resonate with diverse stakeholders (from grant reviewers to community leaders) while maintaining a consistent institutional identity.
Ready to Rewrite Your Institution's Story?
Katz’s transformation wasn’t just about better navigation or prettier pages. It was about creating a digital experience that reflected the passion, collaboration, innovation and community impact that define the institution.
When a prospective faculty member can easily discover cross-disciplinary research opportunities, or a community leader can quickly find health equity partnerships, or a grant reviewer can see the breadth and depth of translational science, everyone wins. Most of all, Katz wins.
Want to discuss how a strategic approach to higher education content strategy and UX could transform your institution’s digital presence? Let’s talk
Frequently Asked Questions About Higher Education Website Redesign
A successful higher education website redesign starts with clear strategic goals, deep audience understanding, and a brand messaging framework that aligns content with institutional priorities. Success is measured not just by traffic, but by engagement, conversion, and the ability of users to find what they need.
Brand storytelling for academic medical centers connects research impact, educational mission, and community relevance through human-centered narratives. It translates complex science into accessible stories that resonate with prospective students, faculty, funders, and the public.
Research websites serve multiple expert audiences while needing to communicate impact to non-experts. A strong higher education content strategy ensures clarity, findability, and engagement across all user types. Read about our content strategy approach.
