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 higher ed institutions. He is an active influencer on Linkedin and brings a lot of glaring truths and proposed solutions to the show that I think you'll get a lot of value from.

I had the pleasure of being a guest on the Sales Schema podcast recently, hosted by Dan Englander.

In this episode we discussed:

-Deconstructing a large-scale video project into a subscription model.

-Lessons learned growing an agency in the pandemic.

-The benefits of a subscription model over a retainer model.

-How to find the right talent to grow your business.

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 experience with your school so they can relate to their story on an emotional level.

My guest today is none other than University of Arkansas LIttle Rock CMO, Dr. Carrie Phillips… whose whole dissertation for her PHD was centered around marketing strategies to address the predicted enrollment cliff. I’ve followed Carrie’s work for a while now and really respect and appreciate the content she puts out and the thoughtfulness with which speaks truth and value into the higher ed conversation. I think you’ll really love what she has to say about what’s going on at UA little rock under her leadership.

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 content at the ready you wish you did and you don’t have the luxury of a content writer, well, there are some shortcuts and these are the problems we address on today’s episode with my guest Andy Owen, from Techsmith.

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.

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 memorable and worth consuming in its entirety.

The school that builds the best bridges wins the enrollment game. However, it's our natural tendency to build bad bridges. 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 That Stick. 

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.

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. In higher ed, by telling stories - actual stories where there was a before and an after - the perceived value of your school is heightened. This can be done for example through student testimonials or alumni testimonials provided you know how to tell a great story.

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.

Did you know one of the most viral videos of all time was 30 minutes long?

In higher education marketing, every school needs quality student testimonial videos that help tell their college or university’s story in a compelling way. This is usually a challenge, but it doesn’t have to be with this unique method.