This manifesto for effective higher education marketing is a distillation of our key learnings from our team serving more than 100 colleges and universities in the last 25 years.
Category: Higher Education Marketing
After two decades of brushing aside concern for how digital would disrupt higher education, college presidents recognize that the wolf may be arriving in the form of large, gold-plated public universities investing hundreds of millions to capture a winner’s share of the adult/online and military market. Penn State Global, Arizona State University, and Purdue Global […]
College marketing and communications teams increasingly look to boost video teams and budgets. All well and good, but we should not overlook the enduring value and impact of your still image library. It’s easy to grow complacent and assume that last year’s photos will meet this year’s needs. It’s tempting to hire less qualified photographers, […]
Admission numbers are trickling in. Highly selective and less selective colleges are both missing their enrollment targets. We believe that enrollment VPs and college presidents ought to be examining their shared, but ineffective habits, instead of blaming the usual suspects: unfavorable demographics, increased sensitivity to the rising cost of college, society questioning the overall value of […]
Not a week goes by that we don’t see the news of a college closing, merging or downsizing. Unfavorable demographics and remote locations are purported to be the primary reasons for their troubles. We believe that the following reasons are the key drivers that put colleges in distress:
I have read dozens of reports on Gen-Z (born between 1996 and 2010) including those from Pew, HubSpot, SHRM, and other credible sources. But watching my own three teens and dozens of their friends has given me a nuanced understanding of Gen-Z. Here are my observations: They are race-blind, faith-blind and gender-blind As […]
If the 20th century was the century of specialization, then the 21st century is becoming the century of integrative thinking. In the past century, colleges and universities offered choices of majoring in professional, STEM or liberal arts disciplines. In the first two decades of this century, there is now a discernible movement towards creation of […]
Although the future of work has become increasingly technical and vocational, the future of innovation and leadership remains solidly in the hands of people who majored or minored in liberal arts and humanities. There is a good reason for this paradox: liberal arts teach people how to learn, think, create, communicate, connect the dots, handle […]
The golden age of print magazines long ago expired (Time once reached 20 million readers a week at peak circulation). Still, writers, editors and photographers charged with producing a college or university magazine juggle the same risk/reward choices as their predecessors when it comes to creating memorable cover art. Whether your college magazine comes in […]
The primary goal of digital content marketing is to earn attention and grow brand reputation by providing valuable content – that informs, persuades, engages and delights prospects and customers. However, delivering on this goal has turned into an all-out arms race, with three distinct generations of content marketing. First Generation: Core Content In the […]