Why the future of recruiting students for graduate programs is all about focus — One look across LinkedIn presents a good snapshot of how quickly communications have been commodified. Innovation and distinction may be happening in the delivery of courses or in the classroom themselves, but not in terms of positioning online graduate programs. The trouble with positioning — both inside and outside of…

Why emotional advertising primes our expectations and how higher education marketers can better use its effects — “Emotion is a primary source of human motivation and exerts substantial influence on attention memory and behaviour” — Byron Sharp, ‘How Brands Grow’ The role of emotion is often discussed in relation to rationale. Yet, saying our messaging needs to be emotional isn’t helpful. Some of the most compelling brands…

Using Challenger Thinking for Higher Education Branding — Avis needed something new. They found themselves hemorrhaging millions of dollars and losing market share. For as long as anyone could remember, Avis trailed Hertz — the established market leader. Avis, named after its founder and Air Force Officer Warren Avis, got its start by providing rental car transportation. As…

Modern higher ed brands bring balance to the challenges of brand building across digital spaces with marketing’s most fundamental truths. — Originally published at Uplifting Insights by Up&Up Our industry is at an inflection point. Higher education has lost billions of dollars. College Board reported apps are up, yet the numbers are unevenly distributed across the spectrum of college types. …

Is there a cost to personalization in higher ed? — A lot has been made of marketing ‘personalization’ both inside our industry and outside. And while it might be easy to remain steadfast on either side of the aisle, the use — and nuance — of the word has lead it to become more of a principle than an absolute…

5 studies to help higher ed marketers produce better integrated marketing communications — As consumers’ attention drifts among more and more media channels, we need to continually examine our media choices, strengthen the connections along the consumer’s path to purchase and remain consistently tethered to a strong, central brand idea. All considered, to keep the brand’s positioning strategically integrated and message consistent.

4 marketing effectiveness frameworks for enrollment marketers — As our industry’s marketplace constricts and demographics shift, enrollment marketers are faced with the need to make our efforts more effective. No matter the type of institution, we face more competition, increasingly fragmented media environment and continued pressure to “fill the funnel.” As the current “search” model continues to be…