Building a Brighter Future for Higher Ed Together

For over 30 years, the AMA Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education has been a leading event in shaping the future of higher ed marketing.

Our peer-reviewed program is designed to help you refine your strategy, strengthen your institution’s reputation and ensure long-term financial health. Beyond the sessions and presentations, the Symposium offers a collaborative space where ideas turn into action and innovation drives progress. Join fellow marketers in building a brighter future for higher education—register today to be part of this transformative experience.

Maximize Your Investment

Did you know that by becoming an AMA member and registering for our event, you’ll actually save money? The total cost of a yearly AMA membership, combined with the discounted member registration rate, is less than the price of purchasing the nonmember conference rate alone.

Join Now & Save

Conference Highlights

Peer-Reviewed Content

Designed by a committee of your peers, this event focuses on innovative best practices to ensure you receive the most relevant and impactful learning experiences.

Interactive Workshops

Arrive early to engage in pre-conference workshops focused on topics that tackle today’s most pressing trends and equip you with actionable techniques to elevate your marketing strategy.

Intentional Collaboration

Tap into a dynamic community where higher education marketers can network, share common challenges, and unlock invaluable benefits through enriching connections and insights from like-minded professionals.

Solution Providers

No event has more higher ed solution providers in one place. Explore an expansive exhibit hall to connect with top companies and discover innovative solutions that will significantly enhance your institution’s impact.

Professional Certified Marketer® Attendees Can Earn CEUs

The AMA Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education is an opportunity for a Professional Certified Marketer® to obtain Continuing Education Units (CEUs) to keep your skills fresh and retain your certification. After the event, aggregate your sessions and CEU total within the certification portal. Each session attended equals 1 CEU and can all be logged under one event: Higher Ed.

The post 2025 AMA Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education appeared first on American Marketing Association.

Key Takeaways

• Enrollment Funnel Optimization: Discover strategies to fine-tune every stage of the student enrollment journey, from awareness to application.
• Personalized Student Engagement: Learn how to create tailored marketing campaigns that resonate with prospective students and their unique needs.
• Leveraging Data for Student Success: Explore how data-driven insights can improve both marketing strategies and student retention rates.
• Innovative Recruitment Techniques: Gain practical knowledge on the latest trends in digital and content marketing to attract and convert more prospective students.

April 30, 2025 | 10:00 a.m. CT

Bill Campbell

Vice President of Operations & Communications, Chatham University

April 30, 2025 | 10:00 a.m. CT

Dr. Teresa Valerio Parrot, APR

Principal, TVP Communications

The post Virtual Conference: Marketing in Higher Education appeared first on American Marketing Association.

Higher ed marketing has a pattern: A new channel emerges, universities hesitate, budgets stay stuck in traditional tactics, and by the time they catch up, they’re already behind.

We saw this happen with digital marketing in the early 2010s—skepticism around Facebook ads, SEO, and retargeting. Yet today, digital is the foundation of enrollment marketing. Now, it’s happening again with Performance TV (Connected TV/OTT).

Here’s the difference: Undergraduate audiences are already there. Gen Z is consuming more video than any generation before them, and platforms like YouTube, streaming TV, and TikTok have become their primary sources for content. Marketers outside of higher ed know this—and they’re investing heavily in Performance TV. Meanwhile, universities are still treating TV like a broad awareness tool instead of a high-intent, precision-targeted enrollment driver.

“TV is expensive!” “Commercials don’t drive leads!” “TV is for branding, not enrollment!”

Sound familiar? The reality is, Performance TV isn’t just branding—it’s a performance marketing powerhouse.

Universities that move fast on Performance TV are gaining a competitive edge—and the results speak for themselves. Schools that integrated this channel into their marketing strategy are seeing increased website traffic, more inquiries, and a surge in applications. Whether they are facing declining enrollment or simply looking for a competitive edge, these institutions are proving that streaming TV isn’t optional anymore. It’s the next big shift in enrollment marketing.

The post Change the Freakin’ Channel appeared first on American Marketing Association.

As AI expands how students discover and select educational programs, University of Iowa CMO Ali Yildirim and Everspring CMO Michael Bell share their blueprint for authentic brand presence in the evolving digital landscape. These pioneering marketing leaders will deliver a power-packed session on optimizing digital presence for AI-powered student search without sacrificing institutional voice.

Roll up your sleeves with industry leaders and walk away with actionable tools to:

• Create content strategies that preserve institutional voice while optimizing for AI
• Implement technical optimizations for enhanced visibility in AI search
• Apply proven strategies from real-world AI search success stories
• Build scalable frameworks for consistent, high-impact content
• Put our exclusive optimization guide to work immediately

Don’t miss this unique opportunity to learn directly from two of higher education’s most innovative CMOs as they share their vision for enrollment success in the AI era.

The post Authenticity in an AI-Driven World: How to Stand Out Without Selling Out appeared first on American Marketing Association.

For more than 30 years, the AMA Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education has been a premier event in evolving the higher education landscape.

Our program of peer-reviewed content is your winning hand for enhancing your marketing strategy, improving your reputation and maintaining financial strength. This year’s event includes important topics such as improving the customer experience, leveraging AI, addressing the enrollment cliff, building community and amplifying student voice. 

Beyond the sessions and presentations, the Symposium is an invaluable resource where knowledge transforms into action and innovation hits the jackpot. It’s a dynamic space, a nexus of ideas and creativity. So register now to join fellow marketers in shaping the future of higher education, fostering growth and ensuring vitality!

Why Should You Attend?

Conference Highlights

Peer-Reviewed Content

Designed by a committee of your peers, this event focuses on innovative best practices to ensure you receive the most relevant and impactful learning experiences.

Interactive Workshops

Arrive early to engage in pre-conference workshops focused on topics that tackle today’s most pressing trends and equip you with actionable techniques to elevate your marketing strategy.

Intentional Collaboration

Tap into a dynamic community where higher education marketers can network, share common challenges, and unlock invaluable benefits through enriching connections and insights from like-minded professionals.

Solution Providers

No event has more higher ed solution providers in one place. Explore an expansive exhibit hall to connect with top companies and discover innovative solutions that will significantly enhance your institution’s impact.

Maximize Your Investment

Did you know that by becoming an AMA member and registering for our event, you’ll actually save money? The total cost of a yearly AMA membership, combined with the discounted member registration rate, is less than the price of purchasing the nonmember conference rate alone.

Join Now & Save

Pre-Conference Workshops

Sunday, November 10, 12:30 – 5:00 p.m.

Further invest in your future by attending pre-conference workshops built around today’s most pressing trends to gain the confidence and skill set you need to succeed.

LEARN MORE

Senior Leader Experience

Sunday, November 10, Noon – 6:00 p.m.

The Senior Leader Experience at the AMA Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education is an intentionally programmed time where top campus marketers can share challenges, exchange ideas and make connections to build a lasting support system. Be the leader who values growth, best practices, boosts morale and inspires a high-performing marketing team!

LEARN MORE

Professional Certified Marketer® Attendees Can Earn CEUs

The AMA Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education is an opportunity for a Professional Certified Marketer® to obtain Continuing Education Units (CEUs) to keep your skills fresh and retain your certification. After the event, aggregate your sessions and CEU total within the certification portal. Each session attended equals 1 CEU and can all be logged under one event: Higher Ed.

Meet the Planning Committee

Bill Campbell

VP of Marketing and Communications/CEO at  Chatham University

Christie Campbell

Vice President for Marketing and Communications at St. Edward’s University

Marina Cooper

Senior Associate Vice President, Integrated Marketing and Brand at Johns Hopkins University

Jaime Hunt

President
Solve Higher Ed Marketing 

Stephen Jendraszak

AVP for Marketing at Emory University

Elias Martinez

 Associate Vice President of University Marketing and Communications

Santhana Naidu

Vice President for Marketing and Communications
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

Lindsay J. Nyquist

Chief of Staff
Occidental College

Teresa Valerio Parrot

Principal, TVP Communications

Jenny Petty

Vice President, Marketing Communications, Experience and Engagement, University of Montana

Kevin Tyler

Senior Vice President and Practice Lead, Collaborative Communications Group

Nicole Szymczak

Senior Director of Strategic Communications and Marketing  for Michigan State University Health Sciences

Alonda Thomas

Communications and Marketing Strategist, Alonda Thomas Public Relations

AMA Affinity Group: Marketing for Higher Education

AMA members enjoy special conference pricing and access to an exclusive online community, keeping you connected with higher education marketing peers year-round.

LEARN MORE

Affinity Groups are Exclusively for AMA Members

AMA Event Policies

The post 2024 AMA Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education appeared first on American Marketing Association.

Learn more about how CollegeRecon has impacted different types of universities in terms of brand awareness, enrollment growth, and revenue generation with military-affiliated students.   

The post Interested in growing GI Bill revenue in 2025? CollegeRecon has been helping universities in this area for 10+ years! appeared first on American Marketing Association.

Even with a diverse array of tools available, marketing to college students can be a difficult endeavor, particularly in such a crowded digital environment. To be successful, higher education organizations have to employ numerous tools to improve branding, messaging, and reach. Accordingly, higher education advertising and marketing methods come in just about every shape and size.

Learn more about higher education marketing with this analysis of effective strategies.

The following sections will engage in a specific exploration of seven inspirational ideas for higher education marketing in 2022.

1. Dedicate Time & Resources to Content Creation

Bill Gates coined the phrase “content is king” back in 1996 and it remains true to this day. 90% of organizations now leverage content marketing, and 78% of CMOs claim custom content is the future.

It is, therefore, crucial that higher education institutions prioritize the production of high-quality content to attract and convert prospective students.

Not all content is created equal, however.

Engaging, high-quality material captivates audiences and encourages them to return, fostering loyalty and trust. In contrast, poorly crafted content can drive potential students away, making it vital to focus on quality over quantity.
Institutions that invest wisely in content marketing benefit from its cost-effectiveness, as this approach is 62% cheaper than traditional marketing.

Content creation in the higher education marketing arena typically includes several, if not all, of the following:

• Website content: Higher education institutions need to develop a well-organized website and populate it with quality content. This includes dedicated microsites that focus on specific programs or events, creating a more tailored experience for visitors. A strong website serves as a critical hub for prospective students, offering valuable information and enhancing brand visibility.
• Blogs & podcasts: Text-based blogs and audio podcasts are an increasingly popular tactic for higher education marketing strategies. Producing valuable text and audio content can help attract and maintain a strong user base, which is fertile territory for various higher education advertising and marketing methods.
• Social media: Content creation can help drive effective social media marketing (SMM) strategies. Higher education social channels should provide good content frequently to maximize user engagement, improve branding efforts and boost enrollment.
• Video content: With the rise of social media, video content has become increasingly consequential to marketing endeavors. From long-form instructional content on YouTube or Facebook to short-form content for TikTok or Instagram, video can be an absolute game-changer for higher education marketing strategies.
• Traditional media: Even though digital marketing is crucial in today’s climate, broadcast, print and radio are still crucial to higher education marketing. These traditional media outlets have large user bases, providing a vast pool of potential customers for conversion.
• Mobile apps: Developing a mobile app can enhance accessibility and improve communication with current and prospective students.
• Emails: Implementing automated email campaigns based on user behavior can increase engagement and conversion rates.
• Advertising: Higher education advertising is a prominent piece of the overall business strategy for many academic institutions. Organizations that create targeted and well-executed advertising content can attract more customers and boost organizational success.

Taken as a whole, content creation is absolutely vital to higher education marketing strategies. From blogs and podcasts to social media and branding, content drives higher education marketing endeavors. Without producing top-notch content on a frequent basis, marketing to college students and other audiences can be difficult for higher education organizations.

2. Prioritize SEO Marketing to Drive Visibility

When higher education organizations prioritize search engine optimization (SEO) marketing, it can improve visibility and rankings within the major search engines. With so many people conducting their research on major search engines like Google, established SEO strategies can assist with higher education advertising and marketing efforts.

As compared with traditional higher education advertising and marketing methods, search engine marketing can yield much more insightful data. Within this domain, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is a great example. When an organization purchases PPC advertising space, they pay each time a person clicks on the ad link. And when that happens, a virtual treasure trove of data opens up, shedding light on impressions, click-through rate and other valuable insights.

To boost search engine ranking and drive visibility in 2025, higher education institutions should adopt a range of SEO marketing tactics:

• Create and share quality content: Regularly produce and share engaging content that resonates with prospective students. Focus on topics relevant to your audience, such as program highlights, student success stories, and campus life. 
• Embrace AI in higher education SEO: Artificial Intelligence is transforming marketing and SEO strategies. By utilizing AI tools for content development and analyzing search trends, institutions can optimize their online presence more effectively. However, it’s vital to verify the accuracy of AI-generated content to uphold quality standards.
• Harness the power of video SEO: With approximately 91% of companies using video marketing, educational institutions need to prioritize video content optimization. Create informative and engaging videos, such as virtual campus tours or program overviews. Use keyword-rich titles and descriptions to improve search visibility, and host videos on platforms like YouTube while embedding them on your institution’s website to enhance user engagement.
• Optimize for voice search and long-tail keywords: As more users rely on voice-activated assistants, adjusting your SEO strategy to include conversational language and long-tail keywords is essential. Create content that answers specific questions prospective students might ask, such as “What are the best online nursing programs?” This approach can improve your chances of appearing in voice search results.
• Build quality backlinks: Focus on cultivating backlinks from reputable and relevant websites, such as educational blogs, industry publications, and local news outlets. Guest blogging and collaborating with other educational institutions can enhance your domain authority and improve search rankings.
• Focus on local SEO: Local SEO is key to attracting students from surrounding areas. Institutions should enhance their Google My Business profiles, actively manage online reviews, and integrate local keywords into their content. This approach boosts visibility within the community and establishes the institution as a preferred educational option.
• Prioritize long-form content: Long-form content continues to be essential for addressing the specific needs and questions of prospective students. This can include comprehensive guides, FAQs, and in-depth articles on program offerings. Align your content with Google’s E-E-A-T principles (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) to build credibility and improve search engine rankings.
• Improve page speed: Quick-loading pages are crucial for keeping prospective students engaged and enhancing search rankings. Institutions should focus on optimizing images, utilizing browser caching, and minimizing server response times to improve page speed.
• Ensure mobile-friendliness: With nearly 55% of web traffic originating from mobile devices, having a mobile-friendly website is imperative. Design responsive pages that adapt to different screen sizes, ensuring prospective students have a seamless browsing experience whether they’re on a phone, tablet, or desktop.
• Optimize HTML elements: Ensure that web pages have proper HTML characteristics, including tags, URLs, headings, and other elements that enhance SEO.
• Enhance user experience (UX): Creating a positive user experience is vital for capturing visitor interest. Institutions should streamline navigation and design visually appealing layouts to encourage users to stay longer on their sites, which in turn can positively affect SEO rankings.

Incorporating these SEO strategies allows higher education institutions to not only improve their search rankings but also foster deeper connections with potential students.

3. Leverage the Power of Social Media

Social media now dominates the screen time of desktop and mobile users, evolving from mere entertainment to a vital source of information and engagement in digital marketing.

In higher education, social media marketing (SMM) allows institutions to reach a vast audience and provides built-in analytics for evaluating campaign effectiveness. This makes social media a powerful tool for marketing.

Social media uniquely combines owned, earned, and paid media. Institutions share their own content (owned media), while user-generated content, comments, and mentions contribute to earned media. Additionally, targeted social ads enable institutions to reach specific demographics through paid media.

To fully leverage the power of social media, higher education organizations should:

• Identify strategic goals: Establish clear objectives that align with your institution’s mission, such as increasing student engagement, enhancing the visibility of academic programs, or boosting applications for a specific semester. 
• Publish timely and relevant content: Share updates on campus events, academic achievements, and application deadlines that resonate with current and prospective students. Regularly scheduled posts featuring student spotlights, faculty insights, or research breakthroughs help keep your community informed and engaged with institutional life.
• Monitor comments, mentions, and tags: Actively engage with your audience by responding to comments and monitoring mentions across platforms like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Acknowledging user feedback and questions fosters a sense of community and shows prospective students that their opinions matter, enhancing your institution’s reputation.
• Review data and analytics: Regularly analyze campaign performance metrics to identify areas for improvement and adjust strategies accordingly.
• Utilize visual content:Incorporate visually appealing content such as campus tours, student life videos, and infographics about academic programs. High-quality images and engaging video content can showcase the campus environment, making it more relatable and attractive to prospective students and their families.
• Encourage user-generated content (UCG): Launch campaigns that invite students and alumni to share their experiences through photos, testimonials, or stories about their time at the institution. This authentic content can be powerful for prospective students, providing relatable insights into campus culture and academic life.
• Engage with influencers: Collaborate with alumni who have a strong social media presence or current students with significant followings. These influencers can help promote your programs or events to their networks, enhancing your institution’s reach and credibility within targeted demographics.
• Run targeted advertising campaigns: Implement paid social media ads targeting prospective students based on factors such as age, location, and field of interest. Ads showcasing specific programs or upcoming virtual open houses can drive interest and lead to increased applications.
• Foster community building: Create dedicated groups or pages for specific student organizations, academic departments, or prospective student cohorts. These spaces encourage collaboration and discussion, allowing current students to connect with future classmates and faculty, fostering a sense of belonging even before enrollment.
• Utilize hashtags effectively: Research and implement relevant hashtags in your posts that align with educational trends and campus initiatives. Using specific hashtags like #FutureLeaders or #CampusLife can help connect your content to ongoing conversations and improve visibility among prospective students exploring similar topics.

By implementing these strategies, your institutions can maximize its impact on social media and foster a more engaged and informed audience.

4. Augment Brand Awareness & Equity

It is difficult to overstate the importance of brand awareness and equity in the context of higher education marketing. An academic institution’s brand—from the university motto and crest to design elements, school programs and campus identity—is the overarching factor that makes it unique from competitors. In that vein, branding is critical to the success of higher education marketing strategies.

To maximize the impact of branding in higher education, consistency is absolutely pivotal. Academic institutions at this level need to ensure that their brand is consistent across all channels and campaigns. In other words, higher education organizations should strive to communicate the same brand through digital, traditional and social media, not to mention any other marketing endeavors.

In the evaluation of brand awareness and equity, higher education marketers should consider the following questions:

5. Engage in Mission-Driven Campaigns & Messaging

More than ever before, consumers are making purchase decisions based on an organization’s underlying mission and values. It is no longer enough to sell potential customers based on product, services, or price. To maintain a strong customer base in this era, higher education organizations should ensure that their branding and marketing efforts reflect a solid narrative.

Here are some strategies for engaging in mission-driven campaigns:

• Highlight nonprofit work: Create campaigns that showcase community service projects, like organizing food drives or providing tutoring for local schools.
• Promote social justice initiatives: Develop materials focusing on social justice commitments, such as hosting workshops on equity or featuring programs that support underrepresented groups.
• Reflect diversity and inclusion: Ensure marketing materials include diverse representations and narratives, such as featuring students from various backgrounds in promotional videos.
• Tailor messaging for different audiences: Craft specific communications addressing unique concerns, such as sending customized newsletters for parents and students highlighting relevant resources.
• Engage with the community: Foster partnerships with local organizations, like collaborating with community centers for joint events or service projects that align with your mission.
• Empower student voices: Involve students in campaigns by encouraging them to share personal stories or experiences related to the institution’s mission through social media takeovers.
• Leverage alumni success stories: Highlight alumni who have positively impacted their communities, showcasing their achievements in social justice or nonprofit work in marketing materials.
• Implement feedback mechanisms: Regularly gather input through surveys or focus groups to assess how well your messaging resonates with stakeholders, using the insights to refine campaigns.
• Organize awareness campaigns: Plan events that raise awareness about social issues, such as a “Diversity Month” with activities that promote dialogue and understanding among students.
• Create educational content: Develop resources like online workshops or informational articles that educate the community on the institution’s values and commitments, helping reinforce those principles.

6. Demonstrate the Career Value of a Degree

Marketing to college and graduate students hinges on effectively demonstrating the career value of specific degrees or programs. Clearly showing how a degree translates into career opportunities is essential for boosting enrollment.

Here are some strategies to demonstrate career value:

• Showcase graduate success stories: Highlight testimonials or case studies of alumni who have successfully leveraged their degrees to advance their careers. Include specific roles, industries, and achievements.
• Provide data-driven insights: Share statistics on graduation rates, employment rates, and average starting salaries for graduates from specific programs. Use infographics to make this data visually appealing and easy to digest.
• Highlight industry partnerships: Promote collaborations with companies and organizations that offer internships, co-ops, or job placements for students. This can demonstrate the real-world connections of your programs.
• Conduct career outcome surveys: Regularly survey graduates to gather data on their employment status and career progression. Share these results on your website and in marketing materials.
• Host career panels and workshops: Organize events featuring alumni and industry professionals who can discuss the career paths related to specific degrees. This provides prospective students with direct insights and networking opportunities.
• Utilize social media: Share success stories and data on social media platforms, using engaging visuals and formats like videos or live Q&A sessions with alumni to reach a broader audience.

Prospective students are more likely to enroll when they clearly understand the potential benefits of their chosen path.

7. Communicate Health, Safety & Security Policies

Last but not least, various societal factors make it imperative for higher education institutions to communicate health, safety and security policies in a clear fashion. From COVID-19 to allegations of sexual misconduct, harassment or discrimination, just every cross-section of higher education will have questions about these policies.

To understand the importance of this type of messaging, consider the challenge of marketing to college students today, particularly concerning on-campus activities. From a health and safety standpoint, in 2020 students needed to know about COVID-19 rules and regulations, including testing, quarantine or vaccination requirements. Remote learning capabilities were also necessary in this context, in the event that in-person classes are not feasible.

In terms of safety and security, college students are seeking out environments that prioritize the prevention of sexual misconduct or unlawful harassment or discrimination.

Here are some strategies for communicating policies:

1. Develop comprehensive policy guides: Create easily accessible documents outlining health, safety, and security policies, ensuring they are clear and comprehensive.
2. Utilize multiple channels: Disseminate information through various platforms—such as websites, email newsletters, social media, and campus signage—to reach students where they are.
3. Conduct informational workshops: Host sessions for students and staff to explain health and safety policies, offering a space for questions and clarifications.
4. Regular updates: Provide timely updates on policies as circumstances change, especially in response to evolving public health guidelines or safety concerns.
5. Create visual content: Use infographics or videos to present complex policies in an easily digestible format, making the information more engaging.
6. Establish a clear reporting process: Clearly outline the steps for reporting incidents of misconduct or safety concerns, ensuring students know how to seek help when needed.
7. Encourage feedback: Actively solicit student and staff feedback on the clarity and effectiveness of policy communications to identify areas for improvement.
8. Promote awareness campaigns: Launch campaigns that focus on specific health, safety, and security issues, using slogans or taglines to reinforce key messages.

Without clear information into existing policies, higher education institutions run the risk of limiting potential enrollment or running afoul of government regulations.

Enhance Your Higher Education Marketing Strategies

If you would like to enhance your higher education marketing strategies, it can be thoroughly helpful to obtain membership with the American Marketing Association (AMA). From training and certifications to networking opportunities at local chapters across North America and many other membership benefits, the AMA helps higher education institutions reach and exceed their marketing goals. To augment your higher education marketing efforts, join AMA today!

The post Top 7 University & College Marketing Tactics appeared first on American Marketing Association.

A simple thought from former AMA Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education planning committee member Chris Hudson changed my mindset about being a higher ed CMO. During one of our meetings he told me, “You have to go from being an order-taker to a strategist.” As I grew, I realized that to strategize is to lead. It hit me one day that there are five ways that higher ed CMOs are institutional leaders.

CMOs’ expertise authority carries weight.

Expertise authority is mastering the skills and knowledge of your discipline. Among campus administrators, a higher ed CMO is most likely the only one who knows the Four Ps (plus the additional three of physical evidence, processes, and people) and can apply them to their institution’s specific needs. However, that knowledge doesn’t live in a vacuum. It’s the key to understanding every segment of the campus in a way that many others outside of the president may not. 

CMOs are positioned to be institutional diplomats.

In her book “How to Market a University,” Terry Flannery suggests that CMOs work with their presidents to form marketing task forces as a way to gain buy-in and input across campus for marketing initiatives. Holy diplomacy, Batman! What a tremendous way to build influence.

Leadership is about people.

During a panel discussion with The Chronicle of Higher Education about higher ed’s talent crisis, Jaime Hunt, another AMA Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education planning committee member, noted that leadership is about people. To take it a step further, I see higher education as a people business. It may not be true of every higher ed CMO, but the vast majority understand that colleges and universities thrive when the people who work and enroll there are at the center of how business is conducted.

Marketing means business.

One of the reasons that so many of us love higher education is what it means. It meant the world to me to lead marketing at three Historically Black Colleges and Universities, institutions that pride themselves as engines of social mobility. With all the feels, however, my marketing hat stayed on. One faculty member told me that they hate it when higher ed is referred to as a “business.” I shot back, “We all find out that it’s a business when we lose enrollment.”

CMOs adapt quickly to change.

I wanted to find out what some of today’s biggest leadership challenges are, so I looked at more than 30 articles and conducted an informal social media survey. Among the articles and survey responses, the number one leadership challenge cited is managing change. There is no question that CMOs are highly adaptable, recognizing the need to respond to market changes and trends as well as the need to update approaches in stu in dent outreach in addition to other areas.

With all of this higher ed marketing goodness, let’s recognize that the more a CMO owns their expertise, the stronger a leader they are. The higher ed marketing space, however, is filled with CMOs and other marketing professionals who don’t hesitate to share knowledge with their colleagues. As I have found, sharing even the smallest morsel of insight does wonders for building one’s leadership skills.

About the Author

Eddie Francis is a member of the planning committee for AMA’s Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education. He hosts the podcast “I Wanna Work There!” which focuses on employer branding in higher education. Eddie is the principal of Edify Ventures, LLC, a brand strategy consultancy based in New Orleans. Learn more about Eddie and his work at eddiefrancis.com.

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The post Five Ways Higher Ed CMOs Are Institutional Leaders appeared first on American Marketing Association.

As marketing leaders consider how to overcome these challenges and establish a path to a brighter future, one solution to consider is implementing a marketing maturity model. 

A marketing maturity model is a structured framework used to assess and measure the effectiveness and sophistication of your department’s marketing capabilities and strategies. Typically, a marketing maturity model consists of several levels or stages, each representing a higher level of maturity in terms of marketing practices, processes, and strategies. As an organization progresses through these stages, they adopt more advanced and strategic approaches to marketing. 

A marketing maturity model’s ultimate goal is to guide the journey toward achieving better alignment with strategic objectives, more effective use of resources, increased use of data, and higher overall marketing performance.

As you consider whether a marketing maturity matrix is the right solution for your team, consider these six benefits.

Higher Education Marketers: Learn how to revolutionize your marcom strategy at the upcoming Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education! Learn more

Assessment and Benchmarking

A maturity model offers a framework to assess the current state of your marketing efforts and highlight your organization’s strengths and weaknesses. As you advance through future stages, you can benchmark your progress and celebrate successes.

Strategic Alignment

A maturity model can facilitate alignment between marcom efforts and your institution’s overall strategic goals by helping your team understand how their activities contribute to broader objectives. It also allows you to frankly assess alignment across decentralized teams.

Resource Allocation

Rarely does a higher education marketer feel that their allocated resources are sufficient to achieve desired goals. With limited resources, effective allocation is absolutely crucial. A maturity model can aid in identifying where resources should be invested for maximum impact. 

Continuous Improvement

A maturity model encourages a culture of continuous improvement by promoting a cyclical process of evaluation, planning, implementation, and measurement.

Stakeholder Communication

A maturity model provides a straightforward way to communicate the progress of marketing efforts to various stakeholders, including senior administration, faculty, and your board. Demonstrating advancement along the maturity model can boost confidence in your marketing team’s capabilities—and potentially allow you to make a case for additional resources.

Professional Development

As your team works through the different stages of a maturity model, they gain valuable experience and skills. This benefits your university’s marketing efforts and contributes to your team’s professional development—something that boosts morale and builds confidence. 

A marketing maturity model might be the ideal solution for savvy marketing leaders looking to move continuous improvement off the back burner. This highly customizable strategic tool empowers higher education marketers to systematically assess, plan, execute, and optimize their marketing efforts while fostering growth, alignment, and adaptability. The end game: more effective and impactful marketing strategies that serve your university better.

About the Author

Jaime Hunt is the VP for University Communications and Chief Marketing Officer at Old Dominion University. Find her on LinkedIn or X (Twitter).

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The post Six Reasons Why Higher Education Marketers Should Use a Marketing Maturity Model appeared first on American Marketing Association.

With that in mind, here are four baseline strategies we should consider to ensure that we’re best prepared for engaging with this audience. 

Authenticity in Branding

This generation, more than many before, is less interested in the “flash” of our picture-perfect marketing campaigns. Having grown up in an iPad and Instagram world, these students have a strong understanding of what is staged versus authentic. They, more than other generations, understand that what’s on the grid does not always represent reality. For our marketing and branding campaigns to resonate, our beautiful, scripted messages with perfect production must also incorporate behind-the-scenes content, low-fi student reflections, and candid assessments of where we’re going. Without this balance, our branding may fall flat to a generation looking for real students and honesty about what to expect. 

Higher Education Marketers: Learn how to adjust your marketing strategies to attract this generation at the upcoming Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education! Learn more

Experience Matters

This is a generation that has grown up with everything being a “moment.” Just look at all the tweens showing up to the movies in their Barbie pink or attending Taylor Swift or Jojo Siwa concerts with mom. Because cameras are a daily part of life for this generation, they understand and expect pictures and videos to be taken at events—“doing it for the ’Gram” is part of the process. That means we as marketing teams must ensure that interactions with our brand are also experiences. It is no longer enough to set up a backdrop and encourage students to take a selfie. The experience must also translate to our emails and mailed items. To everything. The sooner we start thinking about the experience of our institutions and our processes, the better we can make sure that these things convey our brand and add to the experience we want students to have. 

Social and Responsibility

According to the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the poverty divide has widened for this generation of learners, and the split between “haves” and “have nots” is bigger than ever before. Not everyone has the basics, while others have an abundance. This generation sees this in the lunch line and on the playground and wants to do something about it. It is important for our university brands to share how we are being good stewards of resources and the environment. This could be through volunteer programs, no-cost classroom resources, a robust recycling effort, or something else. These students want to know how we’re working to improve our local community, provide a level playing field for all students, and treat our planet better.  

Website Personalization

This generation has grown up in an Amazon world, where every online experience is personalized—except higher education marketing (specifically our websites). We must change that. My guess is that this generation will use ChatGPT (or its future iteration) to explore and search for colleges. That means we must have accurate content on our websites in order to curate that personalized experience. Additionally, customized search and homepage content is the norm for this audience. We must find ways to connect our CRM to our websites to  effectively communicate to students in an online website world. Corporate America has been doing this for some time, but higher education has lacked the ability or willingness. We must change that to really engage with this audience. 

Where to Begin 

The important thing to understand is that these are generalizations and ideas of where to begin. The bottom line is we need to continually be talking to current and future students to understand what matters. Coming full circle, that means we must continue our work to stay a step ahead to ensure that we are leading the change on our campus and then working to tell those stories in new, creative, authentic ways.

About the Author

Carrie Phillips is part creative, part analyst, but fully curious to solve higher education. Learn more about her work on her site or follow her on X (Twitter).

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