What Can Higher Education Learn About Modern Marketing? (With Brian Piper)

Scott: Hello and welcome to the show. Today you will hear the advice of Brian Piper, author, speaker, and director of content strategy and assessment at the University of Rochester. He's written a new book on how higher education institutions can develop epic content that connects, builds trust, and reaches goals.

And I have a feeling there will be some epic takeaways that can apply to all industries. My name is Scott Murray, and this is the Content Brief, where I bring you the key points and takeaways from conversations with today's experts in humanized and innovative content. Every time you hear this sound, that's a key takeaway from today's episode.

Let's get started.

Thanks for joining me today. Brian Piper is the Director of Content Strategy and Assessment at the University of Rochester. He is also a speaker and author, with more than 25 years of experience in content optimization, strategy and development. And he's actually a co author with me on the most amazing marketing book ever, and the author of the book, Epic Content Marketing, which covers how to empower your content to break through the clutter and build a community in Web3.

However, his latest book is Epic Content Marketing. for higher education. And while that's a very specific niche, this is still about getting more out of your content marketing. And some of the lessons in this book could apply to your work as well, even if you're not in higher education. One of the reasons there is so much overlap in content today is because some people will just look at what others are doing and copy it.

Another reason is marketers cling to what can be called old marketing science And they just repeat what they think works, year after year, without taking the time to notice what's changed. There are also those industries that might feel stuck, because they're tied to specific words that are prevalent in their industry.

In the healthcare industry, for example, there's the word care. Now, even if you want it to be original, how do you get away from that word? It's a challenge. But on the other hand It's not enough to say your facility or organization cares, because the content consumer thinks, well, who doesn't care?

Education falls into a similar trap. In his book, Brian talks about how prevalent words like student centric and world class, like world class education or world class programs. Show up in branding for institutions of learning. And if you're searching for a place to learn something new, expand your education, or get a degree, you've probably seen words like that over and over again.

To say you're desensitized to those words Is likely an understatement.

Brian: My wife and I have six kids between the two of us and they're all, you know, either have gone through college or in college or are doing the college research. So we've been through the tour several times and gone through the whole selection process and so many of the brochures you get in the mail all look the same, you know, there's a running joke in higher ed, three in a tree, right?

Three students under a tree. That's every college banner, every advertisement that you see. And, you know, students having fun in the quad. So higher ed, we create so much content and we put out so much content trying to connect with our audiences without a lot of thought about who's the audience. Why are we connecting with them?

What do we have as a differentiator? When, when you start having these conversations, you start off by saying only we, only we can do this. Only we offer this. Only we excel at this, but it's just turning that perspective around. And instead of saying, you know, book a college tour, it's. Learn what you're going to enjoy on our campus.

It's turning it back on them and letting them know how this is going to benefit them, what use this is going to be in helping them select their journey. It is student first, but it's focused on a very specific, very particular student that you're trying to target with this message, but it's not just creating the piece of content, but you have to know at the beginning of this content creation, whether it's a video or a podcast.

What value is it offering, and what specific type of student it is going to help. And then you have to craft that call to action to give them the teaser to say, Click here to get the answer that you need. Click here to solve your problem. And put it in a language that leads them into that and makes them want to do that.

Scott: Like any other organization, colleges and learning institutions might make the mistake of looking at every member of their audience The same way. That view is why so many marketers struggle to make a personal connection. The same goes with prospective students. If everyone is looked at as just a person who wants a degree or go to a school, then the messaging is going to reflect that.

That's how generic and repetitive messages are created. Meanwhile, the prospective student is looking for what makes getting a degree at one school different from another, and how does that play into all their concerns regarding student life, the quality of the degree, the time and money investment, and more.

Basically what this means is Is that you need to let them define what student centric means in their language and then apply that to your content marketing.

Brian: You have to really think about your specific students. What is it that makes a student who comes to your university succeed and complete their education?

What is it about them? What is it about what you offer? How can you make sure that you're finding those like mission fit students for? Your institution and, you know, delivering student centric content or student first content is very challenging to a lot of higher ed marketers because it's been so long since we were students, but we're super, uh, lucky that we have this huge resource walking around like feet away from where we work every day.

And we can just go talk to students and we can find out from them. Why did you choose us? What is it about us that you liked? And then you know in the ideal Uh, situation. You figure out how you get those students to deliver that message for you because it's not only the message that matters. It's the messenger.

So we have a lot of student interns who are working as social media interns for us, and those are the best people to be creating social media content for the institution because that's who students want to hear from. They want to hear from other students who have just gone through the experience that they're getting ready to undertake making the transition.

You know, one of the biggest decisions that they've ever had to make in their life and leaving home, you know, probably for the first time to be out on their own in higher ed. We have so many stories to tell and so many stories that are happening on our campus and we talk a lot about students, you know, one of our primary audiences.

But really, if you look at all the different potential influencers and advocates you have on a campus, you have your staff, you have your faculty, you have your alumni. Um, Carol Community College is even offering personal branding classes for free to their faculty, staff and students, teaching them how to become.

Influencers, how to get content posted out there because it's helping elevate the brand of the institution along with helping all of these individual people build their own personal brand as they're talking about what's happening at the university. It's really about talking with your audiences. I mean, it's the same way you build a.

Good persona is you interview, you ask questions, you probe deeper, you get focus groups. I mean, I think having and hiring student interns to help you with your marketing is one of the smartest things that any institution can do. And you know, even within a brand, within a business, connecting with your audience, connecting with your customers, sending those followup surveys and asking questions about why did you select us?

Why did you choose us? Why are you coming here? Or why aren't you? What was it about other students or other schools that made you decide to choose them? And then just really focusing your content around, you know, solving those questions, answering those problems. We need to stop talking about ourselves to ourselves and saying how good we are and how great our programs are, because they don't care.

How great your program is. They only care how your programs are going to help them and make their lives easier and make their lives better.

Scott: You know, I once worked with a content marketer who wanted to humanize social media content for a university. And this university already had these great video interviews of students who had enrolled.

and completed an online degree program. The problem was, when these videos were shared on social media, the copy that was written for every social media post sounded, or read, like generic marketing copy. Which is a problem, since that's the first thing people are going to see. If you've seen this type of content before, you can probably guess what it said, or get really close.

You know, something like, elevate your career to new levels with an online MBA. Things like that. So, if that part sucks, your video could be great, but the copy doesn't inspire the content consumer to watch that great video.

Brian: And that copy was probably written by someone on the marketing team after they had the student, you know, after the student said all this great stuff, and then they went and wrote a generic Non inspiring copy and they didn't run it past any student focus groups and say, what do you think about this?

Because they would have immediately said, I wouldn't click on that. And really thinking about what would motivate someone to click on that. Are you solving a problem? Are you answering a question? Are you providing value somehow? If you're not. Then you're just wasting time by coming up with those words because no one's going to, no one's going to use those.

Scott: Now, students can obviously be a key differentiator of who you are as a school, as a university, but what about the environment? What about the classes? I think about how I ended up going, or at least one of the reasons why I ended up going to Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas, which by the way has been reviewed numerous times for It's value of getting a university level education at what might be perceived as a more reasonable cost.

But the other thing that I liked about it was that the class sizes were smaller when I went there. And probably still are. And that was part of their pitch. They would say, you know what, if you like the idea of maybe not having to go to a university where you might be sitting in a classroom with Three, four hundred people, and you're just another number, what if you came to a school like ours, you could get the same type of education, and maybe your class size is fifteen, twenty, and there's more opportunities to have that one on one time with your instructor.

Benefits like that can also help differentiate your school, especially if, like Midwestern, you're a smaller school.

Brian: Leaning into that differentiator of community, of smallness, of size, of scale, those are the types of things that You know, and students search for things on social media. They don't just go and search in Google anymore.

So it's really about how do you get your content featured there and how do you position it so that the right students are seeing it and saying, Oh, I want to go check this place out, look at all these students that are having a good time, that are enjoying their experiences. That's what I want to be. I can see myself there.

Very important. So, like, even at the University of Rochester, we have all sorts of data around the makeup of our, you know, first year students and what the demographics look like, where they're from. Through looking at that, we figured out that, like, 25 percent of our new undergraduate students are international students.

So, we have to make sure that our international student program pages are Very easy for someone, you know, who doesn't have English as a primary language. You want to make sure that they are able to find the knowledge they need and they're able able to navigate through the site and fill out the application.

Without a great understanding of the English language, we're not using any jargon on the pages and just thinking about who the students are and what you're trying to get them to do. And so much of that comes from data. So much of that comes from conversations with the students, you know, as they're going through the selection process, once you have them there for campus tours, asking them questions while you've got them right there.

Going out and doing focus groups on the campus. Uh, we have a lot of people within admissions who really feel like they understand the students and their desires and their needs, but we always have to go back out and validate that because it changes so quickly as the next generation start coming up, they have a different mindset than the previous generation.

Scott: So a lot of this feels like outside of obviously searching that. These communications with students are taking place on campus, but we've pointed out there are students that take online courses. And there are new challenges there that relate to long term value. Like, for example, I got my first master's degree from Southern Utah University.

And it was kind of interesting to see what efforts were going to be made early on and even after I finished the degree to make me feel like I'm part of the Southern Utah community and feel like part of the alumni, a valued part of that alumni, considering the fact that I'm not there and I've never been to Cedar City, Utah.

So I thought about that even going into the coursework. I thought, you know, am I part of this community? Am I the same as somebody who was physically there for four years or whatever? And if not, how can they communicate to me that I'm just as valuable or as part of the SUU family as everyone else? And by the way, asking that question, I know that's not an easy thing to answer.

So I had to ask Brian about it. You know, what can universities do to help those outside students or online students? Feel like they're part of that tradition, part of that family, part of that alumni Once they finish their degree or maybe while they're involved in finishing the degree

Brian: Yeah And the more you can do to include them to offer them and make sure that you're featuring Like if you're doing virtual events on campus, make sure that they're Receiving the communications about those, uh, that they have the opportunities to attend some of the, you know, the alumni activities if they finish your programs.

Also, just making sure that your class experiences include, you know, open discussions and those sorts of things, so you're building that community, you're helping form those connections with the faculty and the students. And just really making them aware of all the different activities that they have access to as a Member of your broader community, even if it's a global community, if you can find ways to connect them with alumni in their area, that's another great thing that you can try to do.

Um, just looking for different ways to provide them opportunities, send them swag. Now they wear your shirt and they didn't have to go out and find it and buy it through the bookstore. You know, they're paying a lot of money for your online course. Figure out ways to make sure you give back to them and help them feel like they are a part of your institution because, you know, as the demographic cliff, the enrollment cliff keeps coming and we have fewer and fewer first year students to choose from.

We're going to have to figure out how to engage with these online audiences, these remote students, these returning students, adult learners. There's a lot of different audiences we have out there. We want to make sure that we have the right programs for them and that we make them feel like they can get what they need from us.

And that we're going to provide a longstanding value, look for lifelong learning opportunities. Let them know that once they finish and, you know, become an alumni, that there are more opportunities for them that are going to continually be a part of their life experience.

Scott: One of the most valuable things you can get when learning about new approaches to content marketing is a case study. And Brian's book offers many of them. One of the more interesting ones to me was the University of Chicago's Big Brain Podcast. Which they launched in 2019 as part of a broader strategy to combat growing skepticism about higher education.

They recognized that fewer parents believed in the necessity of a college degree. So the university saw an opportunity to showcase real world impact of academic research. The podcast was created to give leading scholars a platform to translate their complex ideas into engaging, Accessible, digestible content, while offering public insight into how research influences everything from empathy to economics.

Now Big Brains has become the cornerstone of the university's podcast network, which has since expanded to feature shows targeting niche audiences like policymakers and business leaders. They have episodes that are regularly picking up 8, 000 and 15, 000 listens, and thousands more engaging through YouTube and written transcripts.

By doing this, the University of Chicago has enhanced its intellectual influence sparking global dialogue and strengthening connections with key stakeholders like alumni, donors, and prospective

Brian: students. What they've done with their whole podcast network is fantastic. I mean they have created specific podcasts for very niche audiences and they have a lot of downloads, a lot of followers, a lot of subscribers to those different podcasts.

And whenever they get a new idea, they look at it to figure out if there's a wide enough audience for it. And sometimes they're fine with having small audiences. They're not looking for huge numbers of downloads. They're just looking for consistently bringing users back to get value out of the content they create.

Scott: Do we have fans? Oh, thank God we have fans. Where's the new episode?

Brian: Shouldn't you be recording? Uh, Miami university of Ohio has a student run podcast about. Students about, you know, first year students and about the different majors that they offer so they get to hear other students talk to students about why they selected their major, what opportunities they have, what jobs they're looking for, and they really get to understand.

Oh, so that's what that major might lead to. Those are the kinds of experiences that I'll have or the kinds of challenges I'll face if I didn't. End up deciding to, to use that as my major. So, you know, you're providing value, reaching an audience, you're building a community. So all done through just by giving away your knowledge in your content.

Scott: That's really good advice. Not only for the education industry, but any industry business or person looking to get into podcasting. And I have to say, one of the reasons why I wanted to highlight the university of Chicago case study is because. Maybe on the surface you might find it a little hard to believe that a university would pursue podcasting, you know, because there's that whole stereotype, and there's truth to it obviously, that universities are a little slow to change.

And by the way, think about how much time we spend here on this show talking about how all kinds of companies are resistant or slow to change to modern content marketing strategy. And one of the reasons for that is the concept of return on investment, ROI, or measurement, or what the numbers are, or what the proof looks like.

And that's becoming increasingly challenging because those areas of content marketing are also changing. But don't worry, Brian's book also covers ROI in the education industry.

Brian: That's one of the issues with content marketing is that it's not a short term play, it's not a campaign, it's a long term strategy.

You're forming relationships, you're building trust, that doesn't happen quickly. So, you know, if we're going in and working with an institution and trying to convince them that they need to start looking at doing some content marketing, we tell them you need to, you need to have like 12 to 18 months to dedicate to this, to see, start, start to see that return, um, you know, and even on like the SEO side of things, that's also not a quick, you know, fix.

It takes a few months for those results to start showing up, but you have to have the measurements in place at the beginning so that you can establish that baseline so that you can start tracking that improvement. But you have to be able to, and I always tell institutions this, start small, start with one thing, create one use case that you can have as an example, and then show, look, we did SEO for six months on this one particular, uh, section of our website and traffic is up a hundred percent in six months.

We should be doing this everywhere probably. And that's, you know, exactly how we started our SEO project at the university. We'd pick one site. Started optimizing that content and we showed how we doubled the traffic to that site in six months. So now in the last five years, we've increased traffic 500 percent to that site because now it's a, it's an initiative.

It's a strategy.

Scott: Yep. And that too is good advice that all content marketers need to remember. And while we've spent most of our time today focused on a specific industry, we have found ways that some of these ideas and concepts and strategies Can be applied to other businesses and other people, which is really not that surprising because as Brian started to write the book, he found himself talking to just more than those who work in higher education marketing.

Brian: You know, when I first started working on this book, I had the higher education marketer in mind for the content, but this really applies to anyone in like admissions, enrollment, advancement, anybody who's looking for. Ways to connect with the audiences, uh, even leadership in higher ed. They, they're creating content, you know, giving presentations, uh, making pitches all the time.

So understanding your audience, figuring out how to add value within your content, looking for ways to build your personal brand by coming up with some sort of, uh, consistent content that you can deliver. Uh, I think those are all audiences, but primarily, you know, if you're in. Higher education marketing, this is probably a good book for you to check out.

Scott: Okay, let's revisit some key takeaways from today's episode. When developing your content strategy, be mindful of terms like world class and student centric in your messaging. Instead, focus on telling your unique story through specific, tangible examples of what makes your institution different from others.

Think carefully about who you're trying to reach. A successful marketing strategy isn't about reaching every potential student. It's about connecting with the right students who will thrive at your institution. Your current students are your best marketing resource. They're walking around campus every day, ready to share authentic stories about Why they chose your school and what makes it special.

Hire them as interns, content creators, and ambassadors. Transform generic calls to action like, book a campus tour into benefit focused messaging like, learn what you'll enjoy on our campus. Make every piece of content solve a specific problem or answer a specific question. Data should drive your content strategy.

Look at your student demographics. Analyze why current students chose you, and then continuously validate your marketing assumptions because student preferences change quickly. For online students, create a sense of community through virtual events, connecting them with local alumni, sending branded merchandise, and making sure they know about lifelong learning opportunities.

They need to feel as valued as on campus students. When creating social media content, let your students give you feedback on your copy. Generic marketing speak can kill even the best video content, but authentic student voices will make people want to click and engage. Consider creating niche content for specific audiences.

The University of Chicago's Success with Targeted Podcasts shows you don't need massive numbers, you just need consistent value for the right audience. Start small with your content marketing initiatives. Pick one area, measure it carefully, prove its success, and then expand. And remember, content marketing isn't a quick campaign.

It's a long term relationship builder. Give yourself 12 to 18 months to see significant results. But make sure you're measuring from day one. I will have links to Brian Piper on the show notes for this episode. Those will include a link to his book, his LinkedIn page, his podcast, which is AI4U, and his website, brianwpiper.

com. If I can help you improve your content to better stand out or communicate with others, you can email me at scott at scottmurrayonline. com or just reach out to me through the form on my website, which of course is, brianpiper. com. Scott Murray online.com. I'd like to thank Brian Piper for being our guest today, and thank you for joining us on the Content Briefing.