Special Release: Crafting Media Coverage: Carrie Phillips’ Career-Making Tactic

Dive into a captivating chat with Carrie Phillips, the Chief Communications and Marketing Officer at UA Little Rock. Back in 2008, starting as the Assistant Director of New Media at Arkansas Tech University, Carrie faced a media coverage challenge. When TV stations wouldn't visit their remote campus, she ingeniously produced and scripted her own footage, sending it directly to them. The result? Widespread local media attention and a surprise feature on the Today Show. This resourceful approach didn't just amplify their campus stories but also profoundly shaped Carrie's career: strengthening her strong on- and off-campus partnerships, leading her to speak at national conferences, and underscoring her creative and imaginative thinking even 15 years later during her CMO interview.

Key Takeaways

• Create Value with Resourcefulness: Identify ways to turn challenges into opportunities by leveraging simple tools to create maximum impact, even on a limited budget.
• Find and Nurture Partnerships: Building strong partnerships internally and externally can lead to long-term gains and significantly broaden your reach.
• Be Willing to Experiment: Embrace a mindset that sees challenges as invitations to try new things. Test low-risk ideas that can lead to unexpected results and recognition.

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Episode Summary

The Start of a Creative Career

Carrie Phillips began her career in higher ed as the Assistant Director of New Media, tasked with exploring the potential of social media and online platforms—a novel concept at the time. With a background in TV production, she was inspired to bridge the gap between her university and the media outlets that rarely covered them due to geographical constraints.

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Tactic: Sending Ready-to-Air Content to Media Partners

Phillips’ lightbulb moment came when she realized she could bypass “media Siberia” by filming and editing content herself, packaging it as ready-to-air footage for TV stations. After coordinating with campus IT to create a server for file transfers, she developed a system to send high-quality, pre-edited footage directly to news outlets, saving them time and resources while ensuring her university’s story was told exactly as intended.

This tactic proved transformative, securing airtime for her institution’s stories without requiring reporters to visit campus. The response from local and eventually national media outlets was overwhelmingly positive, leading to expanded coverage and even a national feature on the Today Show.

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Expanding Influence and Career Growth

Phillips’ resourceful tactic led to an increase in her institution's visibility and helped her build enduring relationships with media partners. This successful experiment also laid the foundation for her future career, instilling a “try-and-see” mindset that she carried into every role thereafter. Her commitment to fostering partnerships and creatively addressing institutional challenges became a hallmark of her leadership style. Years later, in an interview for her current role as CMO, the impact of her early tactic was noted by interviewers—a testament to the lasting influence of resourceful, bold ideas.

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Advice for Early-Career Professionals

For those at the start of their careers, Phillips encourages embracing experimentation and learning from adjacent fields, such as donor relations and academic advising. Her advice centers on forming partnerships and staying open to creative solutions that fit the moment and resources available.

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This Episode is Sponsored by Pathify

Meet Pathify —  an innovative higher ed engagement hub that puts students at the center of their college journey. Pathify sits at the center of your school’s digital ecosystem, becoming the single, user experience interface tying together all systems, content, and communications.Their engagement hub elevates the information that matters most and pushes systems like the SIS behind the scenes where they belong, making it simpler for students to discover and engage with the opportunities your institution provides at every step of their higher ed journey, from prospect to alumni. What’s even better, Pathify has a mobile experience that provides 100% parity with the responsive web app, so your campus app is always in sync. Pathify is a platform that EVERY stakeholder on campus  — from marketing, to admissions, to student affairs, to IT, etc., — can get equally excited about. Learn more about how Pathify is uniting strategic units across campus and bettering the entire student experience by visiting Pathify.com

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Our podcast network is growing by the month and we’ve got a plethora of marketing, admissions, and higher ed technology shows that are jam packed with stories, ideas, and frameworks all designed to empower you to be a better higher ed professional. Our shows feature a selection of the industry’s best as your hosts. Learn from Jeremy Tiers, Zach Busekrus, Jaime Hunt, Allison Turcio, Jamie Gleason and many more. 

Learn more about The Enrollify Podcast Network at podcasts.enrollify.org. Our shows help higher ed marketers and admissions professionals find their next big idea — come and find yours!