Higher Ed Marketing Lab

Hosted by Echo Delta

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Jul 2025

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About the show

Engage with some of the brightest minds in marketing and higher education to uncover practical insights you can use to level up your institution's marketing and enrollment efforts.

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52 recent

July 1, 202525 min

Campus Visit Trends: Insights from the 2025 CIVSA Conference with Jeff Kallay

Just back from this year's Collegiate Information and Visitor Services Association (CIVSA) conference, Jeff Kallay joins the show to share what he heard and what campus visit professionals across the country are really struggling with right now. We talk about everything from declining visit volume and rising no-show rates to the challenge of rebuilding student ambassador programs and why some virtual tours just aren't cutting it.

June 13, 202514 min

Do You Actually Have a Strategy?

HEML host Jarrett Smith explores the essential elements of strategy. Learn how strategy differs from activities like planning and big-picture thinking, why strategy doesn't begin with goals, the importance of selective over-performance, and how to recognize a true strategy over something that merely sounds strategic.

May 5, 202538 min

Empathy-Driven Leadership with Jaime Hunt

Jaime Hunt, a veteran higher ed marketing leader, consultant, speaker, and author, joins the show to talk about the principles of empathy-driven leadership she outlines in her new book, Heart Over Hype. Jaime and Jarrett discuss: Common misconceptions about empathy and why it's not about simply being nice How psychological safety directly impacts a team's ability to generate innovative ideas What it does and doesn't mean to bring "your whole self" to work Tips for understanding your own leadership style And an exercise you can use to begin applying empathy-driven principles in your own work. This was a fun and thought-provoking talk that's relevant to anyone in a position of leadership who wants to unlock their team's full potential.

April 9, 202535 min

High-Impact Podcast Storytelling with Alex Grodnik

Alex Grodnik joins the pod to discuss storytelling, podcasting, and how universities can create one-of-a-kind content that captivates audiences.

March 7, 202523 min

Banishing Blah Blah Content from Your .EDU

Host Jarrett Smith dives into the pervasive issue of 'blah blah content' on college and university websites. He identifies two main types of ineffective content: generic content that lacks creative punch and institutionally centric content that fails to meet user needs. He offers practical solutions for identifying and eliminating blah blah content, emphasizing the importance of a student-centric approach, usability, and making institutional claims real for students.

February 10, 202543 min

Building Better Agency Partnerships with Ryan Brown

Ryan Brown, EVP and Co-Head of 160over90, joins the show to talk about fostering more effective relationships between institutions and the agency partners they hire. Ryan and Jarrett discuss: How an institution's culture can help or hinder agency partnerships Tips for finding great partners through RFPs What it takes to bring breakthrough creative work to life, and How to foster a strong, collaborative partnership with the agencies you work with.

January 20, 202544 min

How to Evolve Your Campus Visit in 2025

W. Kent Barnds and Jeff Kallay join the show to discuss important behavioral shifts in how prospective students approach college visits and implications for the year ahead. Along the way they explore why it's time to treat campus visits as yield events, ways to integrate digital and physical experiences, and the importance of providing more value than students can find on social media.

September 17, 202440 min

The Problem with Enrollment Management (And How to Fix It) with Laurie Koehler

Enrollment management veteran, Laurie Koehler, joins Jarrett to talk about the challenges facing enrollment management and key ways the practice needs to evolve. They discuss: -How the practice of enrollment management has evolved over the last two decades -Why enrollment strategy can't be separated from institutional strategy -Five ways we need to improve how we attract, retain, and develop the next generation of enrollment leaders -And why it's time for everyone to stop talking about discount rate. Learn more about Laurie: koehlerconsulting.net/

September 3, 202432 min

Championing Small Colleges with Scott Novak

The challenges facing small private colleges are very real—but they're not the whole story. In this episode, we talk to Scott Novak, former CEO of Underscore and Chief Development Officer at Carnegie, about how small colleges across the nation are adapting to enrollment trends and industry changes. Explore Scott's latest project: The Small College Movement

July 30, 202452 min

Politics and College Choice with Grant De Roo

We recently conducted a nationwide survey to understand how college-bound students factor politics into their decision. We packaged it all up into a report, Politics and College Choice: How Students' Political Views Influence Where They Enroll—and our results were informative and surprising. Today, Jarrett sits down with our research partner, Grant De Roo, to share three insights from the research they found most interesting. Download the full report: https://echodelta.co/politics/