Today’s marketers aren’t just communicators, they’re storytellers competing for attention, emotion, and connection. In this episode of Higher Ed Conversations, GradComm CEO Cheryl Broom sits down with Kelly Hiller from Purdue University to unpack how higher ed marketing has shifted from simply delivering information to crafting meaningful, human-centered stories that actually resonate.

Together, they dive into Purdue’s brand transformation and what it took to build something that is both distinctive and scalable across a decentralized institution. If you’ve ever felt the pressure to make your college “everything to everyone,” consider this your reality check. Because knowing who your brand is not for is just as powerful as knowing who it is for, and that clarity is what leads to stronger, more ownable storytelling.

What You’ll Learn:

• Why higher ed marketing must evolve from information delivery to emotional storytelling
• How to uncover and leverage the human truth in your institution’s stories
• Why your brand shouldn’t try to appeal to everyone (and what happens when it does)
• How Purdue built alignment across a decentralized campus
• How to create messaging frameworks that resonate with different audiences

Thanks for listening!

Connect with GradComm:
Instagram: @gradcommunications
Facebook: @GradCommunications
LinkedIn: @gradcomm
Send us a message: GradComm.com

Higher Ed Conversations is hosted by Cheryl Broom, CEO of GradComm, a marketing and branding agency specializing in community colleges and public education.

Website search is one of the most-used tools on a college website, but for many institutions, it’s also one of the most frustrating. Prospective students often type a question into the search bar only to get outdated meeting minutes, random PDFs, or irrelevant pages. In this Quick Take episode, GradComm CEO Cheryl Broom is joined by Joel Goodman, VP of Growth Strategy at Squiz, to unpack why this happens and what colleges can do about it. They discuss the limitations of common search tools, especially free solutions like Google Programmable Search, and why they often fail to deliver helpful results on college websites.

Also, Goodman shares how institutions can improve the experience by focusing on two key areas: better content strategy and smarter search technology. When colleges organize their content clearly and pair it with modern search tools, they can make it dramatically easier for students to find what they need.

What You’ll Learn:

• Why Google-based search tools often fail on college websites
• The impact that poor search experiences have on prospective students
• How AI is changing the way users search for information online
• Why content strategy plays a critical role in search performance
• Practical ways colleges can improve website search and user experience

Thanks for listening!

Connect with GradComm:
Instagram: @gradcommunications
Facebook: @GradCommunications
LinkedIn: @gradcomm
Send us a message: GradComm.com

Higher Ed Conversations is hosted by Cheryl Broom, CEO of GradComm, a marketing and branding agency specializing in community colleges and public education.

Is your marketing really working, or are you just measuring the wrong thing? In this episode of Higher Education Conversations, GradComm CEO Cheryl Broom sits down with Jeff Greenfield, CEO of Provalytics, to tackle one of the biggest challenges in higher ed marketing: proving ROI in a world obsessed with clicks.

For years, marketers have relied on clicks as the gold standard. But Greenfield argues that overemphasizing last-click attribution has led institutions to misallocate billions in ad spend, often cutting the very channels that are filling their enrollment funnel. If you’re tired of defending your budget with incomplete data and want a smarter way to connect marketing to inquiry and enrollment growth, this conversation will change how you measure success.

What You’ll Learn:

• Why clicks may be the most overrated metric in marketing
• How attention and impressions drive awareness (and eventually applications)
• The hidden “carryover effect” of advertising
• The danger of shiny object syndrome in higher ed
• How predictive modeling and incrementality testing can help you move from guesswork to proof

Thanks for listening!

Connect with GradComm:
Instagram: @gradcommunications
Facebook: @GradCommunications
LinkedIn: @gradcomm
Send us a message: GradComm.com

Higher Ed Conversations is hosted by Cheryl Broom, CEO of GradComm, a marketing and branding agency specializing in community colleges and public education.

Student search behavior has changed dramatically, and if your college isn’t showing up in AI answers, your prospective students may never find you. Why? Today’s students are using generative AI as the starting point of their college search, often long before they ever visit a college website. In this quick-take episode, Cheryl Broom, CEO of GradComm, explores what happens when prospective students ask AI tools like ChatGPT questions such as “What college has the best nursing program near me?” or “What is student life like at this college?”

This episode unpacks how AI search tools work, what sources they pull from, and why visibility today is about more than traditional SEO. Cheryl introduces the concept of being “understandable” to AI and highlights the growing importance of a college’s full digital footprint, from websites and FAQs to reviews, social media, and third-party platforms like Reddit and Wikipedia. Because in this new search landscape, visibility is no longer just about ranking. It’s about being understood.

What You’ll Learn:

• How AI search tools actually work and where they pull information from
• What colleges should be doing right now to ensure their websites increase discoverability on AI platforms
• Why it’s important for colleges to run their own AI searches
• How colleges can write content that answers real student questions

Thanks for listening!

Connect with GradComm:
Instagram: @gradcommunications
Facebook: @GradCommunications
LinkedIn: @gradcomm
Send us a message: GradComm.com

Higher Ed Conversations is hosted by Cheryl Broom, CEO of GradComm, a marketing and branding agency specializing in community colleges and public education.

Today’s students are telling colleges exactly what they want. Are we listening? In this episode of Higher Ed Conversations, host and GradComm CEO Cheryl Broom sits down with high school students Dylan and Piper for a candid conversation about how colleges are and aren’t connecting with prospective students. From inbox overload to the outsized role of social media, these students share their unfiltered perspectives on what actually grabs their attention during the college search process.

This episode spotlights why traditional recruitment tactics aren’t cutting it. Gen Z expects authenticity, visual storytelling, and a strong social media presence, and they can spot generic marketing from a mile away. If you’re responsible for enrollment marketing, student recruitment, or brand awareness, tune in. It’s a powerful reminder that the best strategy often starts with simply asking students what they think and being willing to change based on their answers.

What You’ll Learn:

• Why traditional college recruitment emails often miss the mark
• How social media shapes Gen Z’s perception of colleges
• What students actually want colleges to show them on Instagram and TikTok
• Why authenticity matters more than polished marketing language
• How colleges can rethink outreach to better connect with high school students

Thanks for listening!

Connect with GradComm:
Instagram: @gradcommunications
Facebook: @GradCommunications
LinkedIn: @gradcomm
Send us a message: GradComm.com

Higher Ed Conversations is hosted by Cheryl Broom, CEO of GradComm, a marketing and branding agency specializing in community colleges and public education.

Welcome to the very first Higher Ed Conversations: Quick Take, a new, bite-sized episode format designed for busy higher ed marketers who want actionable insights without a full-length listen.

In this inaugural Quick Take, GradComm CEO Cheryl Broom goes solo to share five of the most important lessons uncovered after analyzing over $4 million in digital marketing campaigns from community colleges across the nation. Drawing from GradComm’s latest research, Cheryl breaks down what’s actually working right now in higher ed digital marketing and where many institutions are still leaving opportunity on the table.

This episode is all about cutting through the noise. From mobile-first realities and YouTube’s growing influence to the power of authenticity, Spanish-language campaigns, and first-party data, these insights are grounded in real performance data, not trends or guesswork.

If you’re responsible for enrollment marketing, digital strategy, or proving ROI to leadership, this Quick Take delivers practical takeaways you can start applying immediately.

Cheryl also shares how to access GradComm’s newest white paper, packed with platform-specific insights, top-performing ad examples, and campaign ideas tailored for community colleges.

What You'll Learn

• Why mobile-first is no longer optional and how poor mobile experiences cost you students
• How YouTube has become the new front door for student discovery and decision-making
• How Spanish-language campaigns drive stronger engagement across platforms
• Why your first-party data is your biggest marketing superpower in a cookie-less future

Thanks for listening!

Connect with GradComm:
Instagram: @gradcommunications
Facebook: @GradCommunications
LinkedIn: @gradcomm
Send us a message: GradComm.com

Higher Ed Conversations is hosted by Cheryl Broom, CEO of GradComm, a marketing and branding agency specializing in community colleges and public education.

Introducing: Quick Takes, a new series of bite-sized episodes from the Higher Ed Conversations podcast with GradComm CEO Cheryl Broom.

No guests. No fluff. Just fast, focused takes on the trends, challenges, and strategies shaping higher ed marketing today.

👉 Enrollment got you stressed?
👉 Messaging not clicking?
👉 Need a sanity check on your campaign strategy?

Send it in. Email us at hello@gradcomm.com. You might hear it featured in a future episode!

🎧 Episodes drop mid-month. Follow Higher Ed Conversations wherever you get your podcasts.

Thanks for listening!

Connect with GradComm:
Instagram: @gradcommunications
Facebook: @GradCommunications
LinkedIn: @gradcomm
Send us a message: GradComm.com

Higher Ed Conversations is hosted by Cheryl Broom, CEO of GradComm, a marketing and branding agency specializing in community colleges and public education.

Fundraising events often get a bad rap in higher education. Too much work, too little return, and a whole lot of stress. But what if events could actually work as a meaningful part of your fundraising strategy? In this episode of Higher Ed Conversations, GradComm CEO Cheryl Broom sits down with Roger Devine, founder of SchoolAuction.net, to unpack how experience-driven fundraising events can generate real results for colleges and universities, but without ice sculptures, endless lines, or burned-out staff. Devine shares his journey from publishing and tech to launching a fundraising platform born out of PTA frustration, and explains why so many institutions make events more complicated than they need to be. Together, Cheryl and Roger explore how putting the guest experience at the center of event design can improve donor satisfaction, boost participation, and increase long-term giving.

What You’ll Learn:

• Why fundraising events don’t have to just break even, and how to make them a meaningful revenue stream.
• How focusing on the guest experience directly impacts donor satisfaction and future giving.
• The role small and mid-level donors play in building long-term fundraising success.
• How to start with a simple event and scale strategically over time.
• The pros, cons, and hidden costs of common fundraising software pricing models.

Connect with Roger at roger@schoolauction.net.

Thanks for listening!

Connect with GradComm:
Instagram: @gradcommunications
Facebook: @GradCommunications
LinkedIn: @gradcomm
Send us a message: GradComm.com

Higher Ed Conversations is hosted by Cheryl Broom, CEO of GradComm, a marketing and branding agency specializing in community colleges and public education.