Higher Ed Storytelling University

You want to build a bigger audience on social media for your school, and you want to be seeing fruits from that. More inquiries, more applications submitted, more this, more that. And it’s just slow going and you’re running out of steam. If that describes you, sit tight because if you put the methods discussed in this episode to use, you're gonna see things move in a positive direction My guest to...

If you're in higher ed marketing or communications, you can probably think of a handful of things right now that frustrate you about the status quo of how marketing gets done at your institution. If that’s the case, sit back, relax and let my guest ryan morabito validate those feelings, and show us a better way forward.  Ryan is the Senior VP at 5 Degrees Branding - a branding agency working with...

Well folks we’ve got a big ‘ol enrollment dropoff coming as I’m quite sure you’ve heard about. So what can you do now to mitigate the effects of this “enrollment cliff” from where you sit in the marketing department? I’ll give you a hint, it comes down to the importance of branding, clarifying your school’s message and telling human stories that allow others to see behind the curtain of someone’s...

If you are a higher ed marketer, or part of the  marcomm team in some fashion, you know that the demand for content and staying in the algorithm and all that is always looming over your head. Maybe you sat down at your desk this morning and thought “what the heck am I going to post today”.. You’re running out of ideas, and you know you should be more consistent but you’re just don’t have the conte...

How Walsh College was able to get clear on their target audience, create content that spoke directly to that person, and maximizing the use and reach of that content - These are all things we’re talking about with Jay Kruger.. Director of Creative Marketing at Walsh College on today’s episode.  Content referenced in this episode:  - Akash Ahuja's alumni testimonial - Aaron Eller's alumni testimoni...

In higher ed marketing it's easy to fall into the trap of catering to leadership's opinions rather than the opinions of the students. This happens when there is a data void.  Without data, people resort to job security - or "what's going to make me look good to my boss". Without data marketers make expensive assumptions.  In this episode we unpack this issue, how it happens, and what to do about i...

Testimonials can be some of your strongest, most influential marketing assets, providing the social proof that prospective students need in order to seriously consider, and eventually choose your school over all the others But here's the problem: Most student or alumni testimonials are forgettable, if they even get consumed at all. Why? Because they lack the key qualifier that makes something memo...

The school that builds the best bridges wins the enrollment game. However, it's our natural tendency to build bad bridges because the messaging that comes naturally to us often isn't the best bridge material. In this episode we discuss the 3 components that go into making content that captures attention and attracts applicants - aka "good bridges" - with the help of Kindra Hall's book, Stories Tha...

Higher ed marketing is all about building an emotional bridge between prospective students and your school, and stories are the fast track to emotions. But you can't do good storytelling without vulnerability. In this episode we unpack why vulnerability matters, what it does for the listener/reader, and how to impliment that in your next blog post, video, article, etc.  Download: The Unignorable C...

Download “The Unignorable College Enrollment Video”  - A simple storytelling template for creating emotional stories that boost enrollment. Cliff notes: in one research experiment, 100 insignificant items were sold at a 2700% markup when there was a compelling story behind them. This illustrates how people don’t buy the thing, they buy the story attached to the thing. How this impacts higher ed ma...

One of the biggest problems facing higher education marketers is the coming enrollment cliff. Video storytelling is a way to get ahead of that problem, but it’s not an easy task to find compelling stories from students willing to be on camera. In this podcast episode I suggest a unique approach that allows higher education marketers to market more effectively to prospective students, and at the sa...

In this audio episode we discuss how video storytelling is your best friend in an environment where differentiating your school isn’t an easy task.