Higher Ed Conversations

AI is changing higher education, but its biggest opportunity may not be replacing human interaction. It may be creating more room for it. Justin Beck , CEO of Gravyty, joins GradComm's Cheryl Broom to discuss how colleges can use AI, data, and engagement technology to create more personalized experiences throughout the student lifecycle. Drawing on more than 20 years in education technology,...

After conducting 22 AI visibility and reputation audits for colleges, GradComm uncovered an important finding: Being visible to AI doesn't guarantee your college will be recommended to prospective students. In this episode, GradComm CEO and Higher Ed Conversations host Cheryl Broom shares the first five of 10 findings from these audits. She explores why specific program details matter more th...

New technology can promise greater efficiency and a better student experience, but successful implementation often depends on more than the tool itself. Mike Toguchi of Tectonic joins GradComm CEO Cheryl Broom to discuss how staffing challenges, disconnected workflows, departmental silos, and competing priorities can prevent colleges from turning technology investments into meaningful change. Cher...

What happens when someone on campus says, “Don’t tell marketing”? Usually, there’s a bigger story behind that little act of brand rebellion. In this special Quick Take episode of Higher Ed Conversations, GradComm CEO Cheryl Broom celebrates the release of her new book, Marketing Is Mission Work: How Colleges Can Build Trust, Remove Barriers, and Better Serve Students , by reading Chapter 1: “Don’t...

Disney has mastered the art of creating experiences people remember. From the moment you arrive, every detail is designed with the customer in mind. So, what if colleges designed the student experience like Disney? Vance Morris spent more than a decade working at Disney before taking what he learned about systems, processes, marketing, and customer experience into his own businesses and consulting...

The strongest college marketing doesn’t start with a platform. It starts with understanding the people you’re trying to reach because, let’s face it, not all students scroll the same. In this Quick Take, GradComm CEO and Higher Ed Conversations host Cheryl Broom digs into data from nearly 4,000 students and $2 million in digital media spending to uncover how age, lifestyle, and personal goals shap...

LinkedIn has become one of the most valuable tools for professional networking and thought leadership, yet many higher education leaders are still using it like a bulletin board instead of a place to build relationships. In this episode of Higher Ed Conversations, GradComm CEO Cheryl Broom talks with Greg Star , entrepreneur and founder of Driven Authentic Branding Solutions (DABS) , about how col...

College marketing takes more than announcing the launch of a new program and hoping students will show up. In this Quick Take episode, GradComm CEO Cheryl Broom shares her strategic framework for developing successful college marketing campaigns: the Three T's of College Marketing. Cheryl explains why effective campaigns first identify the right target audience, second build messaging around...

For many students, community college isn't Plan A. In this episode of Higher Ed Conversations, host Cheryl Broom sits down with GradComm interns Mariana Rosas and Alexis Cabrera to discuss their unexpected paths to community college and how those decisions ultimately opened doors they never anticipated. Mariana shares why she walked away from a four-year university after orientation, eventual...

Higher education is facing a numbers problem, but the solution isn’t just about finding more students. In this Quick Take episode, GradComm CEO Cheryl Broom explores the three major forces reshaping higher education: changing demographics, evolving student expectations, and declining public confidence. With fewer high school graduates entering the pipeline and more colleges competing for those stu...

In higher education marketing, everyone says they want to stand out, until it’s time to actually look different. In this episode of Higher Ed Conversations, GradComm CEO Cheryl Broom sits down with Aaron Edgell, Chief Marketing Officer at Alliant University for an honest conversation about branding, institutional identity, and the difficult decisions required to create meaningful differentiation i...

College marketing teams are being asked to do more than ever before, often with limited time, staff, and resources. So how do you move beyond production work and become a strategic partner across campus? In this QuickTake episode of the Higher Ed Conversations Podcast , Cheryl Broom shares the mindset shifts community college marketing teams need to make to operate more strategically, efficiently,...

What happens when a routine day on campus turns into a viral public records crisis? In this episode of Higher Ed Conversations, GradComm CEO Cheryl Broom sits down with Katherine Hansen , Executive Director of College Relations and Marketing at Renton Technical College , to unpack a situation that many higher ed professionals aren’t prepared for but should be. Hansen shares a firsthand account of...

For years, higher ed marketing has revolved around one metric: the Click. But what happens when students stop clicking? In this Quick Take episode, GradComm CEO Cheryl Broom explores how AI-powered search is fundamentally changing the way prospective students find and engage with institutions. From ChatGPT to Google’s AI overviews, students are getting answers without ever visiting a college’s web...

Today’s marketers aren’t just communicators, they’re storytellers competing for attention, emotion, and connection. In this episode of Higher Ed Conversations , GradComm CEO Cheryl Broom sits down with Kelly Hiller from Purdue University to unpack how higher ed marketing has shifted from simply delivering information to crafting meaningful, human-centered stories that actually resonate. Together,...

Website search is one of the most-used tools on a college website, but for many institutions, it’s also one of the most frustrating. Prospective students often type a question into the search bar only to get outdated meeting minutes, random PDFs, or irrelevant pages. In this Quick Take episode, GradComm CEO Cheryl Broom is joined by Joel Goodman , VP of Growth Strategy at Squiz , to unpack why thi...

Is your marketing really working, or are you just measuring the wrong thing? In this episode of Higher Ed Conversations , GradComm CEO Cheryl Broom sits down with Jeff Greenfield, CEO of Provalytics , to tackle one of the biggest challenges in higher ed marketing: proving ROI in a world obsessed with clicks. For years, marketers have relied on clicks as the gold standard. But Greenfield argues tha...

Student search behavior has changed dramatically, and if your college isn’t showing up in AI answers, your prospective students may never find you. Why? Today’s students are using generative AI as the starting point of their college search, often long before they ever visit a college website. In this quick-take episode, Cheryl Broom, CEO of GradComm, explores what happens when prospective students...

Today’s students are telling colleges exactly what they want. Are we listening? In this episode of Higher Ed Conversations , host and GradComm CEO Cheryl Broom sits down with high school students Dylan and Piper for a candid conversation about how colleges are and aren’t connecting with prospective students. From inbox overload to the outsized role of social media, these students share their unfil...

Welcome to the very first Higher Ed Conversations: Quick Take, a new, bite-sized episode format designed for busy higher ed marketers who want actionable insights without a full-length listen. In this inaugural Quick Take, GradComm CEO Cheryl Broom goes solo to share five of the most important lessons uncovered after analyzing over $4 million in digital marketing campaigns from community colleges...

Introducing: Quick Takes, a new series of bite-sized episodes from the Higher Ed Conversations podcast with GradComm CEO Cheryl Broom . No guests. No fluff. Just fast, focused takes on the trends, challenges, and strategies shaping higher ed marketing today. 👉 Enrollment got you stressed? 👉 Messaging not clicking? 👉 Need a sanity check on your campaign strategy? Send it in. Email us at hello@gr...

Fundraising events often get a bad rap in higher education. Too much work, too little return, and a whole lot of stress. But what if events could actually work as a meaningful part of your fundraising strategy? In this episode of Higher Ed Conversations , GradComm CEO Cheryl Broom sits down with Roger Devine , founder of SchoolAuction.net , to unpack how experience-driven fundraising events can ge...

What happens when your workplace values aren’t just posted on the wall, but actually shape how people lead, teach, and show up every day. In this inspiring conversation, GradComm CEO Cheryl Broom talks with Andy Vaughn , President & CEO of Alliant University , about what it takes to build a campus culture of authenticity, inclusion, and mental wellness from the inside out. Vaughn shares his pe...

In this thought-provoking episode, GradComm CEO Cheryl Broom sits down with Leslie Vargas , Senior Public Affairs Officer at Riverside Community College District , to explore how implicit bias and microaggressions quietly influence higher ed marketing and what communications teams can do about it. Vargas shares candid insights on how seemingly small choices, like which photo you use, or how you de...

What happens when your marketing office feels more like a sandwich shop, cranking out whatever people order, than a strategic partner on campus? That’s exactly the challenge Rachel McClelland faced when she stepped into her role as Executive Director of Marketing and Communications at Pellissippi State Community College . In this episode, McClelland joins GradComm CEO Cheryl Broom to discuss how s...