My New Chapter in Higher Education Marketing and Branding
A couple of months ago, I decided to leave SimpsonScarborough and head out on my own. It wasn’t easy. I weighed a lot. For starters, how do you leave the mountaintop of higher ed agencies and all its amazing people? How do you leave Jason and Elizabeth? Those two gave me a shot and taught me more than I’ll ever be able to use. I’m forever grateful for the last (almost) seven years. That’s like 1/7th of my life.
But, sometimes you just know it’s time to FAFO if something will work. I wanted to get back into the strategy work and those one-on-one collaborations with CMOs. I’ve taken the last couple of months to just think and reconnect with a lot of you. In part, about what I want to offer. I feel good about this (I mean, as good as one can). But, maybe more existentially, where do I fit in the fight for higher ed? I don’t know the answer to this yet. I’m thankful for the folks who have taken a few minutes over the last couple of months to help sort out these thoughts, and I'm looking forward to many, many more. We’ll figure it out.
So for now, all I know to do is go to work. Here’s how I can help.
Over the last few years, much of my work has been at the intersection of brand strategy, institutional strategic plans, and large, comprehensive fundraising campaigns. I was privileged to work with outstanding internal and university teams at places like Michigan, Cornell, UConn, Grinnell, FSU, Oregon, SeattleU, Cal Poly, and so many more. These are big, complicated, and only becoming more frequent — and more important. This is one of my comfort zones. I can write brand and campaign platforms, cases for support, lead interviews with leadership and key volunteers, or help navigate the process.
I’ve also spent a ton of time thinking about how we assess marketing and communications in colleges, universities, and systems. So much so, I’m getting a certificate in Organizational Design from Cornell (we’re here to do the greatest good, right? iykyk). I’ve long held the belief that this work is not about the performance of the marketing and communications office, but around the question, “If the marketing and communications function is working optimally for an institution, how does that change its trajectory for the good?”. Marketing and communications isn’t an office. It’s far bigger than that. First, the function is spread all over campus or campuses, yet we hold a single office responsible for far more than they have control over, and that narrative needs to shift. Second, and to the point about responsibility, higher ed brands are incredibly well established, and its audiences have deep beliefs and perceptions about those brands. Reshaping those beliefs, narratives, and perceptions is a long game influenced by far more than the production of a single office. So, I did what we strategists spend too much time doing and built a new framework I want to test. At a high level (and because I’m not here to give away methodologies bc my kids need to eat) it looks at brand, resources, industry landscape, direction (leadership levels and integration), goals, and experience. A BRIDGE, if you will. The framework allows us to examine marketing and communications in context and evaluate what’s working well, what needs help, where the inefficiencies are, what the competition is doing, current structures and systems and how they need to evolve, and more. As much as I hate to see it, the calls for efficiencies in marketing and communications are not coming; they are already here. However, if we can anticipate those calls, I’m hopeful that we can develop teams and structures best to support the institutions and the people within them.
Lastly, it’s summer, and you and your team are putting together RFPs. They are a pain, and you know you don’t want to go through the process. I’ve helped to write boatloads of these and have responded to more than I can count. I’m happy to help diagnose the right scope and craft the RFP in a way that will produce more consistent responses from agencies and partners.
If you made it this far, thanks for reading. If you'd like to discuss any aspect of this or explore how we advocate for higher education, please don't hesitate to contact me here.
