Appendix B

How do you decide which content belongs on an institution’s website and which content should be included in an email? Higher Ed Marketing pros have to deal with this every day. They worry about email bloat, and whether there’s “too much info” on the institution’s website. The key is to simplify the entire communication process. Deliver concise, relevant information in messages that are tailored to...

Newsflash… alumni fundraising campaigns shouldn’t feel like Multi-Level Marketing. And if they do, maybe it’s time to take a closer look at the relationship between alumni engagement and university marketing messages. The harsh truth is that former students might not want to fundraise for their alma mater simply because they don’t fully identify with it anymore. But luckily, Joel and Kristin have...

You might be thinking to yourself, “Our students just arrived. Should we already be thinking about retention?” Yes. The biggest priority needs to be the student experience above all other things. Make sure they feel supported from the moment they set foot on campus. And we’re not just talking about software solutions. Think personal engagement, simplified administrative processes, and creating an...

Sorry, but a homepage feature about someone giving a keynote is not news. It’s just cluttering up your site and making it harder for prospective students to apply. On this episode, Kristin and Joel chat about the misconceptions surrounding news stories on university websites, and share why news content often fails to engage prospective students. Subscribe to Bravery’s Newsletter / Follow Kristin /...

Our first guest! MIT’s Director of Social Media Strategy, Jenny Li Fowler, joins the show to chat with Joel about the different ways campuses should be thinking about organic social media. Everything from what platforms to be on and why, to challenging the assumption that there’s a one-size-fits-all solution. Jenny also tells us about her upcoming book, Organic Social Media: How to Build Flourishi...

What happens to university + agency partnerships when there’s a change in leadership?  How does presidential turnover affect project momentum and communication? What can be done to safeguard ongoing work? Subscribe to Bravery’s Newsletter / Follow Kristin / Follow Joel / Follow Bravery on LinkedIn

What role should storytelling play on higher education websites?  Joel and Kristin think there should be a shift in perspective. Maybe we should think about institutional websites as world-building experiences that empower students to be the main characters. This would allow them to navigate their own educational journey at their own pace, and hopefully, enhance the overall enrollment process. Sub...

Kristin and Joel enthusiastically discuss the use of icons in web design and highlight the potential pitfalls of using them in generic and inconsistent ways. While icons can be useful for wayfinding and simple actions, they should NOT be used as cheap replacements for rich illustrations or photographs, because this can lead to confusion and miscommunication. It’s also important to consider the cul...

Kristin Van Dorn discusses the presentation she recently gave at PSEWEB on transitioning from order-taking to strategy in Higher Ed digital roles. She shares her experiences dealing with disconnected leadership and offers insights on overcoming challenges, and introduces organizational frames by Bolman and Deal, which include structural, political, human resource, and symbolic. Subscribe to Braver...

Carl and Joel chat about the emergence of Threads, and what its potential impact on higher education marketing might be. Should institutions embrace it? And if so, for which audience? Subscribe to Bravery’s Newsletter

Why should university websites use negative space and be simple in their design? In Part Three of our series on UX Principles, Kristin and Joel chat about how excessive complexity and cognitive load can make for a poor user experience. When a potential student can’t figure out how to navigate a university website, they might associate that frustration with the institution itself, and abandon their...

What is the relationship between white space, quality, and user trust in web design? In Part Two of our series on UX Principles, Kristin and Joel chat about the relationship between all three. Subscribe to Bravery’s Newsletter / Follow Kristin / Follow Joel / Follow Bravery on LinkedIn

What role does white space play in web design? In Part One of our series on UX Principles, Kristin and Joel dive into the impact white space has on UX. There are three key reasons for utilizing white space: it conveys a sense of quality and focus, it improves user engagement by reducing cognitive load, and it creates a psychologically comfortable experience.  What was that adage again? Oh, that’s...

It’s cruel (cruel) cruel Summer (Melt). And a really low-hanging fruit sort of way to address it is by taking a look at the role of friction in the acceptance-to-enrollment journey for students. Joel talks about the importance of identifying friction points within the process and shares tips on how to mitigate them from a user experience and service design perspective. And Kristin, drawing from he...

How can Higher Ed marketers deal more effectively with summer melt? It starts by maintaining some continuity in content strategy during the summer months. Marketing materials that incoming students are receiving should be similar in tone to what they’ve been used to. If we treat the new student experience as “onboarding,” we can create a strong foundation for the incoming class. Subscribe to Brave...

What are the negative effects of universities trying to manage large-scale website redesign projects all at once? Extended timelines for one, which inevitably lead to increased costs. And also, when projects are broken up into smaller, more manageable chunks, greater communication and collaboration between the agency and client can occur.  Subscribe to Bravery’s Newsletter / Follow Kristin / Follo...

Kristin and Carl explore the differences between mental wellbeing and mental health, and chat about the importance of prioritizing self-care. Institutional leaders have a responsibility to promote mental wellbeing programs and to make them more accessible to employees. Subscribe to Bravery’s Newsletter / Follow Kristin / Follow Bravery on LinkedIn

Kristin and Joel chat about time horizons in Higher Ed, and the relationship between quality and time in project management.  When projects are running long, the quality can suffer, and there’s an increased risk of random events and changes to the environment. Sometimes moving faster can help eliminate these pitfalls altogether. Subscribe to Bravery’s Newsletter / Follow Joel / Follow Kristin / Fo...

A college or university website should reflect the organization behind it, and if things are going well, it should act as an employee of the institution itself. However, if there’s a mismatch between operations and the website, it can cause confusion for all stakeholders. This confusion can lead to problems with on-page content, design, and information architecture. So avoid making promises on the...

That AI. So hot right now. In a world where Higher Ed MarComm professionals are always seeking out more efficient workflows, large language models like ChatGPT have been touted as the modern marketer’s “ultimate weapon.” However, Higher Ed has a trust problem, and because of that, we need to transparent with our audiences about when and where we’re using AI. Especially in situations where they exp...

Campus leadership doesn’t always know how to hire the right people for technical roles, but they need to figure it out. Understanding where knowledge gaps exist, and filling them with the right people and tools will be essential for staying competitive over time.  The cost of hiring the wrong person is just too great.  Subscribe to Bravery’s Newsletter / Follow Joel / Follow Kristin / Check out th...

In Higher Ed, when job descriptions are too broad, and there’s not enough specificity about the required skills and responsibilities, they end up attracting employees who try to do it all. And that often leads to burnout. Instead, what if we left it to the potential employees to interpret the roles? What if we let them guide and shape the roles over time? Joel and Kristin think this will happen mo...

If you work in Higher Ed, you’ve likely either worked with a Unicorn or, you’d describe yourself as one. Either way, you probably know that they typically have a wide range of skills and can do many different things well. It’s not all sunshine and rainbows, though. Unicorns typically experience burnout, high turnover rates, frustration with slower-moving colleagues, and being underemployed.  Subsc...

What does Kristin have against SWOT analyses? Just the way that they’re typically done.  SWOT analyses require deeper research about your institution’s competition and environment, and shouldn’t just be the result of a 30-minute brainstorm. Subscribe to Bravery’s Newsletter / Follow Joel / Follow Kristin / Check out the Bravery YouTube Channel

Does your college or university have a podcast? Do you even think it needs one? Just like any new media-based venture, many questions need to be asked before even considering it. Otherwise, the person in your comms office that has a Blue Yeti and some time to spare, is gonna answer that question for you. And trust us, it won’t end well. Info about Gen Z’s Podcast Consumption Habits Subscribe to Br...