Inside Higher Ed | The University Advancement Blog

2 May

Articulating your institution’s employer brand

The following is a post that I wrote earlier this semester for Inside Higher Ed’s Call to Action marketing and communications blog. Faculty and staff are the heart of an institution. Colleges and universities have hundreds and sometimes thousands of employees who...
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7 Dec

Total marketing spend: The hard questions

The following is a post that I wrote earlier this semester for Inside Higher Ed’s Call to Action marketing and communications blog. A corporate CMO expects to control her organization’s marketing expenditures. But universities operate differently. On most campuses – and especially...
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31 Aug

Are we asking higher ed advertising to do too much?

The following is an August 2017 post that I wrote for Inside Higher Ed’s Call to Action marketing and communications blog. In The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future, author Kevin Kelly envisions a day when “the buildings...
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25 May

The language of higher ed marketing

The following is a May 2017 post that I wrote for Inside Higher Ed’s Call to Action marketing and communications blog. At the AMA Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education this past December, SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher advised marketers to frame...
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4 Apr

The chief connection officer

The following is a March 2017 post that I wrote for Inside Higher Ed’s Call to Action marketing and communications blog. Colleges and universities are organized into functional silos, while our audiences view our institutions holistically. As marketing and communications professionals, we...
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25 Jan

Make a gift, build a brand (internally)

The following is an December 2016 post that I wrote for Inside Higher Ed’s Call to Action marketing and communications blog. For a university’s brand strategy to be focused, authentic, compelling, differentiating, and enduring, it must be built from the inside out....
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8 Jan

Branded house, house of brands, or something else?

The following is an December 2016 post that I wrote for Inside Higher Ed’s Call to Action marketing and communications blog. When chief marketing officer Dan Dillon came to Arizona State University in 2013, determining whether the university was going to be...
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13 Sep

In defense of the tagline (but not every tagline)

The following is an August 2016 post that I wrote for Inside Higher Ed’s Call to Action marketing and communications blog. Higher education marketing is frequently derided for its lack of differentiation, and the much-maligned tagline is often front and center in...
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28 Apr

Back to basics: The benefit of the benefit

The following is an April 2016 post that I wrote for Inside Higher Ed’s Call to Action marketing and communications blog. Heading to the nearby Starbucks is usually a quick break to get out of the office between meetings (my wife...
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28 Dec

The rise of the (unit-level) CMO

The following is a December 2015 post that I wrote for Inside Higher Ed’s Call to Action marketing and communications blog. If you accounted for the types of activities that fill each workday, what would be the breakdown of substance...
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