Emotions drive outcomes. That’s why vulnerability is at the heart of successfully getting people to take the action you want them to take. This is true in marketing, this is true in parenting, this is true in so many areas of life, and it’s especially true in fundraising. Vulnerability breaks down walls quicker than anything and the fast track to vulnerability and emotions is human-centered storytelling. That’s why I’ve got my friend and former colleague and renowned fundraising expert with us today to talk more about that - Tammy Zonker. 

Tammy is a wonderful human being whose work I’ve followed for over a decade now. She is the founder of Fundraising Transformed, an organization that helps nonprofits drive intentional change by transforming their fundraising so they can transform the world. And guess what.. The stuff we talk about in this episode applies directly to the higher ed space.

In this episode we talk about storytelling, building relationships, building community as a fundraising strategy and Tammy shares with us the captivating story of how she helped raise a single gift of 27.1 million dollars. 

My guest today is Raffi Der Simonian. He’s the VP and Chief Strategy Officer at ERI, a digital storytelling company making web experiences, apps and marketing strategies that advance your mission, and they do a lot of work with colleges and universities. But before ERI was associated with Raffi’s name he was with a previous company that spearheaded this video for Harvard Business School.

In this video, a Harvard professor leads the class through a challenging case study conversation. This video went viral with over 11 Million views as of posting this. In this episode we take you behind the scenes of the video, how it came together, and why it resonated so well.

In this episode we’re talking to Emily Richwine, Senior Creative Director at Purdue University. Emily is one of the people responsible for Purdue’s brand success. She leads a team of super talented storytellers, which we talk about.. We talk about their recognition by Fast Company and what is in the dna of a brand like that, and we also talk about their recent viral ad campaign called “Whatever You Can Imagine”.

If you're looking for super practical, tactical tips on executing your social media marketing strategy, or developing a strategy in the first place, you'll love this episode.

My guest today is Hannah Acosta.

Hannah is the passionate and purposeful leader of the Social Media Department at Ugly Mug Marketing. Over the past 4 years, Hannah has grown her department by over 340%, and has worked alongside hundreds of small business owners and entrepreneurs as they navigate the ever-changing digital marketing landscape.

She has worked with multiple colleges and college admissions teams to help them build predictable marketing systems and content that consistently delivers results.

Getting clear on your college’s messaging, telling your brand’s story, and should your college start a podcast? Why or why not, and what should you talk about if you do? These are all things we cover in this episode with Ross Romano of September Strategies.

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 today is Justin Simon - a growing influencer in the content creation space who has built his whole business around helping organizations like yours get the most out of their time spent creating content, by helping them repurpose that in creative ways that you might not have thought of. Lots of good stuff in here, so enjoy!

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 today is Justin Simon - a growing influencer in the content creation space who has built his whole business around helping organizations like yours get the most out of their time spent creating content, by helping them repurpose that in creative ways that you might not have thought of. Lots of good stuff in here, so enjoy!

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.