About the Episode
About the Episode: Dive into the heart of community college marketing, where hosts Maya Demishkevich, Dan Baum, and Keith Paul illuminate the expansive role of marketing within community colleges. This episode transcends traditional notions of marketing, revealing its significance far beyond promotion, to encompass a comprehensive approach to student engagement, institutional growth, and community impact. Through engaging discussions, Dan and Keith share their wealth of experience, offering profound insights into the strategic, operational, and visionary aspects of marketing that can redefine success for community colleges.
Key Takeaways
- Marketing as a Strategic Partner: Effective marketing goes beyond promotion—it encompasses the student and stakeholder experience, aligning with institutional goals.
- Early Involvement: Engaging marketing teams from the planning stages of programs or initiatives ensures strategic alignment and maximizes impact.
- Measuring Impact: Highlighting marketing’s contributions to revenue and enrollment supports its role as an essential investment, not a cost center.
- Building Cross-Campus Collaboration: Strong relationships across departments enrich marketing efforts and facilitate storytelling and engagement.
Episode Summary
Why Is It Crucial for Marketing to Be a Strategic Partner in Community Colleges?
Marketing’s role within community colleges goes well beyond promotion. Dan Baum and Keith Paul stress the importance of viewing marketing as a comprehensive experience that reflects the entire institution. Effective marketing helps students and stakeholders perceive the college as accessible, competitive, and value-driven. By focusing on the broader context, marketers can address fundamental elements like audience needs, pricing, accessibility, and experience, ensuring that community colleges remain relevant and competitive. Moreover, engaging marketing teams from the outset enables strategic planning to align directly with institutional goals and resonate with the target audience.
How Does Early Involvement Benefit Marketing Initiatives?
Maya, Dan, and Keith all agree: marketing needs to be involved from the very beginning of any new initiative, whether it’s a program launch, event, or strategic plan. Early involvement allows marketing professionals to shape key elements, such as defining the target audience, positioning, and addressing any barriers students might face. Maya emphasizes that involving marketing early on enables her team to identify unique aspects of programs and ensures that promotions are effective and impactful. This approach not only enhances program visibility but also helps align marketing initiatives with the broader mission of the institution.
How Can Marketing Be Positioned as a Revenue Driver?
Marketing is often seen as a cost center, but it can and should be positioned as a revenue driver. Maya advocates for measuring marketing’s impact on enrollment and fundraising, noting that marketing teams play a crucial role in reaching prospective students and engaging alumni and donors. Keith mentions the importance of tracking key performance indicators (KPIs), like lead generation, to demonstrate marketing’s role in driving enrollment. By providing data on how marketing contributes to the pipeline, community college leaders can view marketing as an essential investment for revenue generation and institutional growth.
How Can Community Colleges Improve Cross-Departmental Collaboration with Marketing?
For marketing efforts to be truly effective, they must be integrated across all departments, creating a holistic approach that connects students, faculty, and administration. Keith and Dan emphasize that marketing teams often have the broadest perspective on campus, interacting with a variety of stakeholders. By forming these connections, marketing teams can access valuable stories, create more engaging content, and support initiatives across departments. Dan recommends that leaders foster a collaborative spirit, understanding that marketing’s expertise can help highlight the unique stories that make community colleges compelling to prospective students and community members.
About the Show: The Hidden Gem podcast is dedicated to empowering community college presidents, executive team members, enrollment, marketing and communication leaders with the knowledge and insights they need to harness the full potential of strategic marketing and communications within their institutions. This podcast aims to shed light on the often-overlooked aspects of marketing, emphasizing its vital role in shaping an institution's overall strategy and success.
By showcasing real-world examples, case studies, and interviews with experienced community college leaders and industry experts, the podcast will inspire its audience to view marketing and communication as integral components of their leadership toolkit, not an ancillary service. It aims to elevate the importance of these functions and empower leaders to make more informed and strategic decisions in their roles.
Connect With Our Host:
Maya Demishkevich
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mayademishkevich/
About The Enrollify Podcast Network:
The Hidden Gem: Marketing Community Colleges is a part of the Enrollify Podcast Network. If you like this podcast, chances are you’ll like other Enrollify shows too!
Some of our favorites include Visionary Voices: The College President’s Playbook and Confessions of a Higher Ed CMO.
Enrollify is made possible by Element451 — the next-generation AI student engagement platform helping institutions create meaningful and personalized interactions with students. Learn more at element451.com.
Connect with Us at the Engage Summit:
Exciting news — Maya will be at the 2024 Engage Summit in Raleigh, NC, on June 25 and 26, and we’d love to meet you there! Sessions will focus on cutting-edge AI applications that are reshaping student outreach, enhancing staff productivity, and offering deep insights into ROI.
Use the discount code Enrollify50 at checkout, and you can register for just $99! This early bird pricing lasts until March 31.
Learn more and register at engage.element451.com — we can’t wait to see you there!
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