How to Leverage Student-Produced, Authentic Content

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.240 --> 00:00:04.160 We tend to think we need a production crew to make something happen, and 2 00:00:05.480 --> 00:00:10.830 I've seen the most amazing and effect of marketing done literally with an iphone by 3 00:00:10.869 --> 00:00:16.629 a student. You are listening to the Higher Ed Marketer, a podcast geared 4 00:00:16.629 --> 00:00:21.620 towards marketing professionals in higher education. This show will tackle all sorts of questions 5 00:00:21.699 --> 00:00:26.300 related to student recruitment, don'tor relations, marketing trends, new technologies and so 6 00:00:26.460 --> 00:00:30.620 much more. If you are looking for conversation centered around where the industry is 7 00:00:30.739 --> 00:00:38.369 going, this podcast is for you. Let's get into the show. Welcome 8 00:00:38.409 --> 00:00:42.009 to the High Ed Marketer podcast. My name is troy singer and I'm with 9 00:00:42.130 --> 00:00:47.570 my cohost and fantasy football referee, Bart Taylor, and today we are talking 10 00:00:47.689 --> 00:00:53.039 to Nate Jorgensen, who works at the University of Cincinnati College of Engineering, 11 00:00:53.119 --> 00:00:57.399 and he's going to take us on his journey and give us his perspective of 12 00:00:58.000 --> 00:01:02.840 marketing a college that is within a larger college. Yeah, it's a really 13 00:01:02.840 --> 00:01:04.950 fascinated conversation. I think he does a great job of kind of explaining the 14 00:01:06.030 --> 00:01:08.310 benefits of that as well as some of the challenges, and I love how 15 00:01:08.349 --> 00:01:11.269 he kind of keeps coming back to one of my favorite topics, which is 16 00:01:11.349 --> 00:01:15.230 content marketing, and I think he's got a lot of really good things to 17 00:01:15.269 --> 00:01:18.469 say. No matter what size of institution you are, I think there's a 18 00:01:18.510 --> 00:01:21.620 lot of things that you can clean from what he's learning, what they are 19 00:01:21.700 --> 00:01:25.420 doing and how they're doing it. So just a great conversation and just a 20 00:01:25.500 --> 00:01:29.420 side note, nate has been a fan of the high ed marketer from almost 21 00:01:29.459 --> 00:01:33.609 day one. I think he found it on Linkedin and started commenting and liking 22 00:01:33.769 --> 00:01:37.250 some of our posts and we got to know him through that and then reached 23 00:01:37.290 --> 00:01:40.250 out and ask him to be on the podcast as a guest, and so 24 00:01:40.530 --> 00:01:42.569 it's it's just fascinating a kind of come full circle and have him on the 25 00:01:42.609 --> 00:01:47.560 show. You'll definitely realize that he is an ongoing learner and we are so 26 00:01:47.760 --> 00:01:53.519 happy that he turned from Super Fan to wonderful guest. That's right. Here's 27 00:01:53.519 --> 00:01:59.159 our conversation with nate. Today on the High Ed Marketer Podcast, we are 28 00:01:59.159 --> 00:02:04.069 speaking with Nate Jorgensen. He's the director of Marketing and communications of the College 29 00:02:04.109 --> 00:02:07.789 of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Cincinnati and I know that he 30 00:02:08.069 --> 00:02:13.189 is a fan and he is an evangelist for his college, but right now 31 00:02:13.270 --> 00:02:17.060 he's probably feeling good about the football team as well. Hello, nate, 32 00:02:17.659 --> 00:02:22.780 let's hear it now. It's the great time for the school. Overall it 33 00:02:23.060 --> 00:02:27.180 is. I got tremendously lucky to be where I am, on the right 34 00:02:27.219 --> 00:02:29.939 at the beginning of a huge op swing, so I get a lot of 35 00:02:30.050 --> 00:02:32.650 credit for stuff I had nothing to do with. The football team as one 36 00:02:32.689 --> 00:02:36.729 of them. It's great. Well, they're in the news a lot and, 37 00:02:37.289 --> 00:02:39.610 aside from the wonderful conversations were going to have about marketing, I just 38 00:02:39.770 --> 00:02:45.199 felt to say congratulations and I hope you get to enjoy a few more wins 39 00:02:45.280 --> 00:02:47.960 on the way to a national championship. Nate, we have you on today 40 00:02:49.120 --> 00:02:53.680 because you have you're in a wonderful situation and would like to share the story 41 00:02:53.840 --> 00:02:55.919 of the College of Engineering. For those of us in the Midwest, we 42 00:02:57.039 --> 00:03:02.189 know is and has been a wonderful attractor for engineering students, a very famous 43 00:03:02.629 --> 00:03:10.389 in itself, but this midsize college is up under a larger organization of University 44 00:03:10.430 --> 00:03:15.620 of Cincinnati. So wanted to talk to you about your experiences and your journey 45 00:03:15.699 --> 00:03:19.740 in regard to that, because a lot of us might think the College of 46 00:03:19.819 --> 00:03:23.180 engineering at Cincinnati they want to do that much marketing. The school sells itself. 47 00:03:23.780 --> 00:03:27.810 You know what are you? Why do you have to market it? 48 00:03:27.930 --> 00:03:30.409 But we all know that is not true. So again, would like for 49 00:03:30.530 --> 00:03:36.530 you to kind of tell us historically how the marketing went and then maybe some 50 00:03:36.650 --> 00:03:39.689 of the changes that you're making with you and your team as you move forward 51 00:03:39.770 --> 00:03:44.560 in some of the aspirations you have for the college. Yes, absolutely, 52 00:03:44.680 --> 00:03:47.280 thanks, Troy. Well, you know, to be completely honest, what 53 00:03:47.479 --> 00:03:53.080 you said is kind of true. The college does sell itself and that's something 54 00:03:53.159 --> 00:03:57.909 that we talked about as a team. Is that what can we do to 55 00:03:58.069 --> 00:04:02.030 move the needle even higher with what's going on and you know, the the 56 00:04:02.189 --> 00:04:09.870 differentiators for the college, most most notice noticeably the co op program where students 57 00:04:09.909 --> 00:04:14.819 alternate time between the classroom and we're getting real world experience, is just so 58 00:04:15.300 --> 00:04:21.459 different compared to the average engineering education that that really does sell itself. Sometimes 59 00:04:21.500 --> 00:04:27.889 it's just a matter of getting that message in front of people who don't necessarily 60 00:04:28.050 --> 00:04:33.009 know it, and especially with more out of market audiences that aren't in Ohio 61 00:04:33.329 --> 00:04:38.680 or Kentucky or Indiana. And so yeah, that's that's something that we do 62 00:04:38.879 --> 00:04:41.759 and and one thing I can kind of say right off the bat to maybe 63 00:04:41.839 --> 00:04:46.839 illustrate that is that as we saw what was going to happen, hopefully with 64 00:04:46.000 --> 00:04:51.600 the football season, we started thinking about how can we amplify our message within 65 00:04:51.800 --> 00:04:57.670 that and very early on we put together some profiles, one on Alec Pierce, 66 00:04:58.029 --> 00:05:00.790 who's a wide receiver, and one on Ryan Royer, who is a 67 00:05:00.829 --> 00:05:05.230 linebacker. They're both mechanical engineering students, and so we had those ready to 68 00:05:05.350 --> 00:05:12.339 go when they started having big years, and Alex in particular, and Ryan, 69 00:05:12.459 --> 00:05:15.620 as a great walk on story in his own right, in a great 70 00:05:15.699 --> 00:05:19.100 student. But then those hit and then all the sudden engineering was in people's 71 00:05:19.139 --> 00:05:23.490 minds too. I was just talking about this with one of my teammates and 72 00:05:23.889 --> 00:05:29.209 not every bowl bound school can say that right now. And I'm not saying 73 00:05:29.250 --> 00:05:32.689 where geniuses are anything, but that is something that we thought of before the 74 00:05:32.730 --> 00:05:38.279 season started and thought, let's be ready with these when people come calling. 75 00:05:38.639 --> 00:05:41.800 That's really smart, because I think that, you know, I think that 76 00:05:41.959 --> 00:05:45.360 sometimes marketing is all about being at the right place at the right time, 77 00:05:45.839 --> 00:05:48.639 and I think being able to really plan ahead and think about that. I 78 00:05:48.720 --> 00:05:51.589 think was very wise. You know, you look at some of the larger 79 00:05:51.629 --> 00:05:55.750 schools that that I think sometimes do that. I think about Notre Dame and 80 00:05:55.829 --> 00:05:59.470 places like that, that they're in the national spotlight all the time with like 81 00:05:59.589 --> 00:06:01.670 an NBC contract and things like that. But I think for some of the 82 00:06:01.750 --> 00:06:06.939 smaller schools and places like colleges within bigger universities, being able to really kind 83 00:06:06.939 --> 00:06:11.819 of roll up your sleeves and lean into that, I think that's really smart. 84 00:06:11.899 --> 00:06:14.259 And tell me a little bit of how that fits into the larger, 85 00:06:14.540 --> 00:06:16.699 you know, aspect of the of the marketing at the College of Engineering, 86 00:06:16.699 --> 00:06:20.769 because I mean you've given us a small window into this year and this moment, 87 00:06:20.930 --> 00:06:25.930 but tell us more about how you're how you're kind of explaining the benefits 88 00:06:25.970 --> 00:06:29.089 of the CO OP program too. Yeah, another great question. So it 89 00:06:29.250 --> 00:06:32.600 has been an evolving process and and kind of going back to what you asked 90 00:06:32.639 --> 00:06:39.800 about with the history before, with the college selling itself, they really didn't 91 00:06:39.839 --> 00:06:43.600 pay a whole lot of attention to marketing for a very long time and or 92 00:06:43.639 --> 00:06:46.750 at least didn't put the emphasis on it that they have in recent years. 93 00:06:46.829 --> 00:06:51.269 And some of that can be just me bugging them until they figured out that 94 00:06:51.389 --> 00:06:56.949 it was something that would be helpful. But also, along with those lines, 95 00:06:58.149 --> 00:07:02.300 we started working with our enrollment management office in the college really for the 96 00:07:02.379 --> 00:07:06.459 first time that our office has in a long time, and that is as 97 00:07:06.699 --> 00:07:12.899 remarkable as it sounds. Maybe before and marketing and communication, there were press 98 00:07:12.939 --> 00:07:19.490 releases going out and there were postcards touting awards, one or other publications and 99 00:07:19.769 --> 00:07:25.649 and things like that. But starting, just starting that conversation with the enrollment 100 00:07:25.689 --> 00:07:30.240 management team, learning their world, learning what their goals are and most simply, 101 00:07:30.399 --> 00:07:35.360 it's just to grow the footprint and grow in numbers. But you it 102 00:07:35.560 --> 00:07:40.360 to do so, you have to grow your footprints. So we've really tried 103 00:07:40.480 --> 00:07:44.240 to see what would work when we get outside of that world that doesn't know 104 00:07:44.430 --> 00:07:47.269 the coop story right off the top of their head, and one area in 105 00:07:47.389 --> 00:07:53.790 particular that we've had some success in is Chicago, where there is some recognition 106 00:07:54.230 --> 00:07:58.660 for the area. Miami University, I think, has a really strong draw 107 00:07:58.939 --> 00:08:03.459 and Chicago historically, so they know the area a little bit and then their 108 00:08:03.540 --> 00:08:09.379 primed a little bit to hear about our university and the CO OP program within 109 00:08:09.540 --> 00:08:15.170 engineering when we start that conversation. So that's been really interesting to tweak our 110 00:08:15.329 --> 00:08:20.730 ads all along while they're going tweak the stories that were linking, to tweak 111 00:08:20.889 --> 00:08:24.009 what is in the emails that are going out to those who have applied or 112 00:08:24.129 --> 00:08:28.519 have expressed interest. It's just such an interesting I love it, I love 113 00:08:28.879 --> 00:08:33.879 learning about it and I love every bit of trying to figure out what a 114 00:08:33.000 --> 00:08:37.519 person will be interested in that and that time and really just being authentic, 115 00:08:37.720 --> 00:08:43.070 like we're not going to be everything to everyone. We're not Harvard and we'RE 116 00:08:43.070 --> 00:08:48.990 NOT UCLA, we're Cincinnati and we're all the things that that implies that are 117 00:08:48.110 --> 00:08:52.789 great, and so we try to find those people that were a a match 118 00:08:52.870 --> 00:08:56.059 for the students that we'd be a good match for. That makes a lot 119 00:08:56.059 --> 00:09:00.259 of sense. I think it goes back to segmentation and getting the right mission 120 00:09:00.340 --> 00:09:01.220 fit. You know, sometimes it's called mission fit, it's a lot of 121 00:09:01.220 --> 00:09:05.179 times it's just the right fit to know that, hey, if we get 122 00:09:05.220 --> 00:09:07.620 this kind of student, we know that they're going to retain, retentions going 123 00:09:07.659 --> 00:09:09.769 to be great, they're going to matriculate, they're going to be, you 124 00:09:09.850 --> 00:09:13.649 know, successful graduates who are going to then give back to the school later 125 00:09:13.730 --> 00:09:16.809 on, and so I think that's a really wise way to look at it. 126 00:09:16.970 --> 00:09:20.169 Now we've talked a lot about, you know, the College of Engineering 127 00:09:20.250 --> 00:09:24.159 and your marketing department being under the larger umbrella of the you know, probably 128 00:09:24.240 --> 00:09:28.879 the Centralized Marketing Department at University of Cincinnati. What are some of the kind 129 00:09:28.879 --> 00:09:33.519 of maybe opportunities? We talked a little bit about that already, but maybe 130 00:09:33.600 --> 00:09:37.759 some of the challenges or maybe the restraints that sometimes happen because, I mean, 131 00:09:37.000 --> 00:09:41.789 in essence, you're yours college of engineering is much larger than a lot 132 00:09:41.830 --> 00:09:43.950 of the schools that are listening to this already. How do you kind of 133 00:09:43.950 --> 00:09:48.029 navigate that and where does that kind of start to rub a little bit? 134 00:09:48.350 --> 00:09:50.230 Oh, that's so true and yes, so so. First of all, 135 00:09:50.309 --> 00:09:56.700 with the opportunities that that presents. Our Central Marketing and communications team is awesome 136 00:09:56.820 --> 00:10:00.899 and they're on the cutting edge of all of those thingss that that we talked 137 00:10:00.899 --> 00:10:07.850 about with ads and online advertising and everything else. So we're able to hear 138 00:10:07.889 --> 00:10:11.610 about that from someone who is, quite frankly, just done all the work 139 00:10:11.850 --> 00:10:13.370 and then they say, Hey, this is what the research says, this 140 00:10:13.450 --> 00:10:18.250 is what our partner who we work with to get these up, says. 141 00:10:18.570 --> 00:10:24.519 is working across the nation and then so we as a college have the opportunity 142 00:10:24.559 --> 00:10:31.080 to invest the dollars that were in control of to take advantage of that. 143 00:10:31.600 --> 00:10:35.590 And then also along with that, they will have campaigns that are going out 144 00:10:35.750 --> 00:10:43.029 and then they'll sometimes just say there's a place in here for college specific content, 145 00:10:43.029 --> 00:10:50.659 and that produces a really cool opportunity and a really cool situation to learn 146 00:10:50.860 --> 00:10:54.460 how to fit into that. And so that kind of leads me into some 147 00:10:54.620 --> 00:11:00.860 of the limitations and and my background has always been at the institution level. 148 00:11:01.379 --> 00:11:05.929 I was a sports information director at some small schools. I worked in athletic 149 00:11:05.970 --> 00:11:11.049 departments, then I worked at right State University on the University web team before 150 00:11:11.090 --> 00:11:15.049 I came to the College of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Cincinnati, 151 00:11:15.250 --> 00:11:20.639 and I literally was that person who says we know everything at the university. 152 00:11:20.919 --> 00:11:24.320 You and the college is don't know how to do it, so just 153 00:11:24.519 --> 00:11:28.720 listen to us and and do it our way. And while have I learned 154 00:11:28.759 --> 00:11:33.990 so much in the last five years, you know, and sometimes that's true, 155 00:11:33.549 --> 00:11:37.789 but that's not how you say it, and you have to be on 156 00:11:37.909 --> 00:11:41.830 the same team as the person to get them to come along with you and 157 00:11:41.070 --> 00:11:46.940 sometimes there are perspectives that you are missing that the people in the colleges have, 158 00:11:48.740 --> 00:11:50.899 and so this is just been the most value. I just love my 159 00:11:52.059 --> 00:11:56.700 job and I love this experience of learning all that and learning the difference between 160 00:11:58.299 --> 00:12:03.210 one of the main issues is that, I believe this isn't a hundred percent 161 00:12:03.210 --> 00:12:07.370 true. At the university level you're responsible to the president and all of those 162 00:12:07.889 --> 00:12:13.450 in all of those areas, growing enrollment, growing impact, growing rankings. 163 00:12:13.330 --> 00:12:18.519 In the college, typically you're responsible to the Dean and you report to the 164 00:12:18.679 --> 00:12:22.360 Dean and the Dean for the most part reports to the faculty within that college. 165 00:12:22.879 --> 00:12:28.559 So you do have some limitations and different incentives, I would say, 166 00:12:30.110 --> 00:12:33.870 to do different things, and so one of the ways that we really try 167 00:12:33.909 --> 00:12:37.190 as a team to do our best with that is to find a way to 168 00:12:37.350 --> 00:12:43.110 use something in three different ways. If if a faculty member with with very 169 00:12:43.190 --> 00:12:48.340 good intention and reasons, as I want this story written about this paper that 170 00:12:48.460 --> 00:12:52.220 was published, we can do that, but then we can also mix that 171 00:12:52.419 --> 00:12:58.059 content into our recruiting material for students in that area. We can turn it 172 00:12:58.220 --> 00:13:03.129 into a tweet that's going to go out later in the semester. We might 173 00:13:03.330 --> 00:13:07.529 then do a video feature on that faculty member to explain their research a little 174 00:13:07.570 --> 00:13:13.360 bit better. So fitting all of those puzzle pieces together is kind of what 175 00:13:13.559 --> 00:13:18.279 I think my job is and I think I just happened to find this area 176 00:13:18.399 --> 00:13:22.200 that I can do this well, and I'm not sure that's the case with 177 00:13:22.320 --> 00:13:26.200 all jobs, but but it's something that that I enjoy a lot, especially 178 00:13:26.240 --> 00:13:28.389 with engineering and Applied Science. It's great. Thank you, nate. You 179 00:13:28.509 --> 00:13:33.669 touched on being authentic a little while ago. In from previous conversations with you 180 00:13:33.830 --> 00:13:37.429 and members of your team, I know that's something that you and your team 181 00:13:37.470 --> 00:13:43.100 are very passionate about, at communicating authentically. So if you could share how 182 00:13:43.259 --> 00:13:48.779 you're trying to achieve that and how it may be different than how your team 183 00:13:48.940 --> 00:13:54.299 previously communicated? Yes, absolutely, and our previously our web manager, she 184 00:13:54.460 --> 00:13:58.649 just got promoted to Assistant Director of Marketing, Sarah Mullins. This has been 185 00:13:58.730 --> 00:14:03.809 all of her work. Is Pretty much telling us to stop doing what we're 186 00:14:03.850 --> 00:14:09.330 doing, with being the forty year old people telling seventeen year olds what they 187 00:14:09.330 --> 00:14:13.759 should care about, to having our students tell that story and, surprise, 188 00:14:13.879 --> 00:14:18.600 surprise, that's what perspective. Students would rather here, and so our most 189 00:14:18.720 --> 00:14:24.750 successful content has been our student blog post. They're not all a hundred percent 190 00:14:24.789 --> 00:14:31.070 positive and that's great and we learn a lot from that and the odd authenticity 191 00:14:31.230 --> 00:14:37.590 of that pays off way more than being super protective. I think anyone within 192 00:14:37.710 --> 00:14:41.139 higher add knows that no institution is perfect, and so once you kind of 193 00:14:41.379 --> 00:14:46.740 accept that and and let people share their own voice, that that has just 194 00:14:46.860 --> 00:14:50.740 resonated so much. You know, at forty two years old, I think 195 00:14:50.740 --> 00:14:56.889 I'm completely out of the game of knowing at all what a perspective college student 196 00:14:56.009 --> 00:15:01.809 would want, and so it's really dedicating ourselves to that authenticity has just been 197 00:15:01.850 --> 00:15:05.289 a game changer for us. For All of those reasons. I think that's 198 00:15:05.330 --> 00:15:07.879 so true. You know, you're much younger than I am, nate, 199 00:15:07.960 --> 00:15:13.480 but I think the idea that having that understanding that okay, we you know. 200 00:15:15.360 --> 00:15:18.360 You know we had another guest on recently that said if I like it, 201 00:15:18.440 --> 00:15:20.200 it probably isn't going to work, and she is, you know, 202 00:15:20.360 --> 00:15:24.590 our age, and so I think that's so true and I, you know, 203 00:15:24.710 --> 00:15:28.470 having some kids that are in college right now, in high school students, 204 00:15:28.909 --> 00:15:31.350 you know, them watching tick tock and other things. I don't get 205 00:15:31.350 --> 00:15:35.070 it sometimes and I don't understand a lot of it, but when they see 206 00:15:35.070 --> 00:15:37.299 it and they get it and they understand somebody who's gets it with them, 207 00:15:37.340 --> 00:15:41.340 there is that authenticity and the challenge is that, I'll think, a lot 208 00:15:41.340 --> 00:15:46.580 of time schools try to pull it off without being authentic, and that's the 209 00:15:46.620 --> 00:15:48.340 worst thing you can do. With Jen Z, I mean, you know, 210 00:15:48.379 --> 00:15:52.330 they grew up with a BS filter that's, you know, more sensitive 211 00:15:52.370 --> 00:15:54.850 than any the rest of us and I think that they can get through that 212 00:15:54.889 --> 00:15:58.370 pretty quick and so we need to we need to acknowledge that and be thoughtful 213 00:15:58.370 --> 00:16:03.049 about that and I think that's a really good idea. Now, now our 214 00:16:03.169 --> 00:16:06.480 I mean when you talk about the student to student connection, are there ways 215 00:16:06.519 --> 00:16:08.000 that you're doing that? Are you recruiting students to help you, or they 216 00:16:08.039 --> 00:16:11.000 work study, or are is that more like some software you're using? Tell 217 00:16:11.000 --> 00:16:15.840 us a little bit about that. Yeah, we have an amazing student ambassador 218 00:16:17.080 --> 00:16:22.549 group among other students within our college. One of the most incredible things that 219 00:16:22.750 --> 00:16:26.950 I learned early on in my work there is that almost all, but as 220 00:16:26.990 --> 00:16:34.139 specifically a couple different groups, are absolutely enthusiastic about being students in the College 221 00:16:34.179 --> 00:16:38.659 of Engineering and Applied Science. We have a group of students, the ambassadors, 222 00:16:38.980 --> 00:16:48.490 who almost completely run are on campus visits for perspective students and they really 223 00:16:48.610 --> 00:16:52.929 just do it because they want to do it, and so there is one 224 00:16:52.009 --> 00:16:56.289 example where it's just there, there, and they're there for feedback a lot 225 00:16:56.370 --> 00:17:00.759 of times on the marketing team where we might say this or this, what 226 00:17:00.840 --> 00:17:07.319 do you think and they'll say neither and it's very helpful. So yeah, 227 00:17:07.400 --> 00:17:12.039 not just that particular group, but our enrollment management team really does a good 228 00:17:12.079 --> 00:17:19.150 job of connecting with students across majors, across departments and having those students available, 229 00:17:19.349 --> 00:17:22.910 and then when they connect with some of those students, they usually send 230 00:17:22.950 --> 00:17:26.430 them our way to say this student would be a great feature, this student 231 00:17:26.549 --> 00:17:32.299 would do a great blog post about their experience, and so it kind of 232 00:17:32.460 --> 00:17:37.019 just feeds itself and kind of goes back to the college selling itself again and 233 00:17:37.700 --> 00:17:41.859 kind of all the stuff that I'm saying is I really think that at times 234 00:17:41.980 --> 00:17:45.769 you I do just have to let a college sell itself. Me Getting in 235 00:17:45.849 --> 00:17:52.529 the way sometimes and trying to do more work sometimes as de detrimental to what 236 00:17:52.650 --> 00:17:56.009 we're trying to do and being okay, with that as hard at times, 237 00:17:56.250 --> 00:18:00.960 especially with with some other people that we work with, as the best thing 238 00:18:02.000 --> 00:18:03.880 we can do right now is nothing. You always think you have to be 239 00:18:03.920 --> 00:18:08.400 filling your day with doing grinding out the work, and I don't think that's 240 00:18:08.440 --> 00:18:12.150 the best strategy. Yeah, I know that we I know you listen to 241 00:18:12.190 --> 00:18:15.670 the podcast night and I know we had that Lee will hide on a few 242 00:18:15.670 --> 00:18:18.349 weeks ago from Biola, and they've done a really good job of not only 243 00:18:18.430 --> 00:18:22.230 leveraging their students but also using them a little bit as influencers. I mean 244 00:18:22.349 --> 00:18:26.069 looking at social profiles and being able to do that, and so I love 245 00:18:26.180 --> 00:18:30.259 the idea of that student to student Peer Marketing. I think that's so powerful 246 00:18:30.500 --> 00:18:33.339 and I think that. I think that's really exciting and I think that's probably 247 00:18:33.339 --> 00:18:36.859 going to continue on. But I think another big part of it, and 248 00:18:37.019 --> 00:18:38.700 we talked a bit about this earlier, as I'd have content marketing. To 249 00:18:38.859 --> 00:18:42.650 I mean I think that all students, you know, and perspective parents, 250 00:18:42.690 --> 00:18:48.690 are coming to the university that they're considering with a ton of questions and the 251 00:18:48.809 --> 00:18:52.450 content really going to help provide those answers. Tell us a bit about what 252 00:18:52.450 --> 00:18:56.960 you guys do with them. Yeah, excellent point, and so one of 253 00:18:56.000 --> 00:19:00.839 the things that we do with that are kind of specifically those student blog posts 254 00:19:02.000 --> 00:19:07.680 on particular questions that people tend to ask. So we've started, and were 255 00:19:08.079 --> 00:19:14.509 a good chunk of the way through our what is engineering videos series, and 256 00:19:14.710 --> 00:19:19.069 it really I learned stuff as someone who's worked in the college for five years. 257 00:19:19.789 --> 00:19:26.180 You know what really is biomedical engineering? How is it different than mechanical 258 00:19:26.259 --> 00:19:30.980 or chemical engineering? And I guess one of the things that we've done in 259 00:19:32.099 --> 00:19:37.500 the past is taken advantage of opportunities that came about to get the right people 260 00:19:37.650 --> 00:19:42.849 in place and order to do that, and one example of that is we 261 00:19:42.970 --> 00:19:51.170 have a videographer on our team and that so making that content is very video 262 00:19:51.529 --> 00:19:55.400 heavy, because there's only so much that probably people want to read and that 263 00:19:55.480 --> 00:19:59.519 video can just be more effective and getting the personal connection with the subject. 264 00:19:59.559 --> 00:20:02.960 And we had a situation a couple years ago where like it was like an 265 00:20:02.960 --> 00:20:07.349 instructional designer video person who had left, and I kind of talked everyone into 266 00:20:07.470 --> 00:20:15.789 splitting that position between between academics and marketing, and that is one thing that 267 00:20:15.869 --> 00:20:21.859 I've learned in this role that could potentially be helpful for other listeners is sometimes 268 00:20:21.900 --> 00:20:25.900 we're just trying to grind out the right the thing that we want approved, 269 00:20:26.220 --> 00:20:32.099 and sometimes just waiting for the right opportunity to make it easy is the more 270 00:20:32.180 --> 00:20:37.730 effective way as well. And so yeah, beyond the content itself, setting 271 00:20:37.730 --> 00:20:41.769 ourselves up to have the right personnel in place and all of the right technology 272 00:20:41.849 --> 00:20:45.329 has done a big part of that as well. I hope that's helpful. 273 00:20:45.690 --> 00:20:48.369 That's that is great. That's great. Being a longtime listener, nate, 274 00:20:48.490 --> 00:20:52.680 you know, we usually in their episode by asking our guest if there is 275 00:20:52.880 --> 00:20:59.359 a final thought or a takeaway that they can offer that could be implemented immediately 276 00:20:59.519 --> 00:21:03.599 by a colleague or's another listener. So I asked that of you. Is 277 00:21:03.680 --> 00:21:06.549 there a final thought that you have that you would like to leave with us? 278 00:21:06.950 --> 00:21:10.910 I do so. I mentioned US having a videographer. We have a 279 00:21:10.990 --> 00:21:15.349 videographer, a writer, someone who does graphics, someone who does social media. 280 00:21:15.430 --> 00:21:17.589 They all kind of split it up a little bit. One of the 281 00:21:17.670 --> 00:21:22.859 things that I've noticed when I'm on some of the conference, the video conferences 282 00:21:22.059 --> 00:21:29.740 recently with other marketing professionals and the higher education world is I think we tend 283 00:21:29.779 --> 00:21:34.289 to think we need a production crew to make something happen and I've seen the 284 00:21:34.369 --> 00:21:41.089 most amazing and effective marketing done literally with an Iphone by a student, and 285 00:21:41.289 --> 00:21:47.359 sometimes that is absolutely it. And I've heard US go around and around on 286 00:21:47.480 --> 00:21:49.799 some of those conferences before, myself included, saying, well, how can 287 00:21:49.839 --> 00:21:52.079 we get a budget for that? How can we do that? And it's 288 00:21:52.119 --> 00:21:56.680 like literally, it's all right there, and maybe it is a little bit 289 00:21:56.759 --> 00:22:00.430 of taking those students who are willing to tell their story and not worrying so 290 00:22:00.470 --> 00:22:07.589 much about it being all perfect but more so just authentic and what the perspective 291 00:22:07.630 --> 00:22:10.829 student wants to see. That's great. Thank you. I think you brought 292 00:22:11.069 --> 00:22:15.059 at full circle and that authenticity might work a lot better than the full production 293 00:22:15.819 --> 00:22:19.819 that you once thought was needed to get the point across. So thank you 294 00:22:19.859 --> 00:22:26.579 for putting exclamation point on our episode. How can someone reach you if they 295 00:22:26.619 --> 00:22:30.769 would like to connect? Probably the best way is to go to CEASTUC DOT 296 00:22:30.809 --> 00:22:37.009 EDU and we ner the about. We have a contact page where I'm listed 297 00:22:37.369 --> 00:22:41.569 rather than rattling off my long email address. I'm also on twitter. I 298 00:22:41.690 --> 00:22:45.160 don't even I think my my handle is nate jorgans and eight, and that's 299 00:22:45.240 --> 00:22:48.680 just what was available at the time and I'm on Linkedin as well if you 300 00:22:48.799 --> 00:22:52.720 just search nate Jorkins, and so I would love to connect. Other previous 301 00:22:52.839 --> 00:22:59.269 guests on this podcast I have reached out to and have given me very valuable 302 00:22:59.349 --> 00:23:04.029 information on being successful in this world. So please, if there's anything that 303 00:23:04.109 --> 00:23:07.910 I said that that you want to know more about, I would be more 304 00:23:07.990 --> 00:23:11.269 than happy to talk nate. Thank you for being a guest but, more 305 00:23:11.309 --> 00:23:15.220 importantly, thank you for being a longtime listener. I was just talking to 306 00:23:15.339 --> 00:23:18.500 Bart a little earlier and he said even before you agreed to be a guest, 307 00:23:18.819 --> 00:23:23.339 he kept on seeing your comments on our episodes and he reached out and 308 00:23:23.420 --> 00:23:29.849 had a wonderful thirty minute conversation with you. So we appreciate your support absolutely. 309 00:23:29.890 --> 00:23:32.970 I think I probably just annoyed Bart to the point where he had to 310 00:23:33.130 --> 00:23:37.450 interview me. So No, not at all. Know, it's been a 311 00:23:37.490 --> 00:23:40.930 pleasure so eventy me to thank you, bar art. Any final thoughts from 312 00:23:40.930 --> 00:23:41.920 you? Yeah, I just wanted to point out a few things and there's 313 00:23:41.920 --> 00:23:45.960 a little bit of a theme that has went through this whole conversation about content 314 00:23:45.240 --> 00:23:48.880 and I really liked him. One of the things that that nate said is 315 00:23:48.920 --> 00:23:52.039 that when they produce content in the College of Engineering, that try to look 316 00:23:52.039 --> 00:23:53.079 at how they're going to use it three ways. A lot of times we 317 00:23:53.200 --> 00:23:56.990 talked about, you know, syndicating the content. So whether you're, you 318 00:23:56.069 --> 00:24:00.829 know, doing a blog post or or even doing a podcast like this podcast, 319 00:24:00.910 --> 00:24:03.750 we take it, we turn it into a blog post. I'm also 320 00:24:03.789 --> 00:24:06.990 uploading these podcasts to youtube and so now they're a video and so there's a 321 00:24:07.029 --> 00:24:11.099 lot of different ways to syndicate that. So I love the idea of looking 322 00:24:11.140 --> 00:24:12.779 at your content, looking at what you're doing and figuring out how can you 323 00:24:12.819 --> 00:24:15.019 do it, you know, what can you do with it three times? 324 00:24:15.059 --> 00:24:18.180 I also love the idea of using students in that peer to peer marketing. 325 00:24:18.220 --> 00:24:22.500 I think that's so valuable, especially in today's you know, culture and climate. 326 00:24:22.579 --> 00:24:26.009 With Generation Z, and I think it's going to continue on with generation 327 00:24:26.049 --> 00:24:30.849 Alpha when they come that they're going to expect to kind of see from their 328 00:24:30.009 --> 00:24:34.089 peers more than what they're going to believe from the official Party line type of 329 00:24:34.170 --> 00:24:37.450 thing. I think that's great. And then, finally, I think this 330 00:24:37.569 --> 00:24:41.039 idea of asking the questions or answering the questions that we have from prospective students 331 00:24:41.119 --> 00:24:45.920 and parents through our content is so critical and I really appreciated that last comment 332 00:24:45.960 --> 00:24:49.200 that nate made about sometimes an iphone is going to be more effective. You 333 00:24:49.279 --> 00:24:52.710 know, I've put together an ebook before and it's a presentation that I've done 334 00:24:52.710 --> 00:24:56.190 called marketing on a shoestring budget, and my whole point of that, entire 335 00:24:56.829 --> 00:25:00.589 whatever I put out there, the Ebook or whatever, is the idea that 336 00:25:00.630 --> 00:25:03.670 you need to focus on content and getting out off authentic content, whether you 337 00:25:03.710 --> 00:25:07.500 do it with an iphone. I mean you can go to Amazon and get 338 00:25:07.500 --> 00:25:11.980 a few little access series with a Lavier mic for twenty bucks and a little 339 00:25:11.099 --> 00:25:15.140 iphone stand for a tripod and you can do some pretty effective videos. And 340 00:25:15.500 --> 00:25:21.380 I've seen schools that have like fifty students do very effective videos on no budget 341 00:25:21.380 --> 00:25:25.210 at all just because they downloaded, you know, imovie and a couple things 342 00:25:25.250 --> 00:25:30.250 there. So don't be scared of developing a lot of really good content, 343 00:25:30.329 --> 00:25:33.289 especially video content, because it's well within your ability to do that. Thank 344 00:25:33.329 --> 00:25:37.359 you, Bart and again thank you, nate, for being such a wonderful 345 00:25:37.359 --> 00:25:40.680 guest today. Yes, thank you, thank you both. The hired marketer 346 00:25:40.839 --> 00:25:47.720 podcast is sponsored by Taylor Solutions, a strategy, marketing and branding agency serving 347 00:25:47.880 --> 00:25:52.150 higher ed institutions for over twenty years and, by Think, patented a Marketing 348 00:25:52.230 --> 00:25:59.549 Execution Company combining print, digital engagement and direct mail for successful search and appeal 349 00:25:59.630 --> 00:26:03.789 campaigns. On behalf of Bart Kaylor, my cohost. I'm troy singer. 350 00:26:03.500 --> 00:26:08.380 Thank you very much for listening. You've been listening to the Higher Ed Marketer. 351 00:26:10.140 --> 00:26:12.420 To ensure that you never miss an episode, subscribe to the show in 352 00:26:12.539 --> 00:26:18.339 your favorite podcast player. If you're listening with apple PODCASTS, we'd love for 353 00:26:18.460 --> 00:26:21.730 you to leave a quick rating of the show. Simply tap the number of 354 00:26:21.769 --> 00:26:25.049 stars you think the podcast deserves. Until next time,