Education Marketing Leader with Chris Rapozo

What if one of your most valuable higher education marketing tools was a microphone and a conversation?

In this episode of The Education Marketing Leader, host Chris Rapozo sits down with Kelly Peiffer, VP of Marketing Communications at Manor College and host of The Nest Podcast, to explore how podcasting can strengthen alumni relationships, support student recruitment, and bring authentic storytelling into higher education marketing.

Kelly shares how a simple series of Zoom interviews with alumni evolved into an award-winning podcast that helps prospective students see what's possible after graduation.

They discuss why meaningful alumni stories matter more than impressive job titles, how colleges can turn a single podcast episode into multiple marketing assets, and why success shouldn't be measured by downloads alone.

Topics include:

• Why every college should consider launching an alumni podcast
• How to get started without expensive equipment or a large production team
• Using authentic alumni stories to build trust with prospective students
• Repurposing podcast episodes into short-form videos and recruitment content
• Strengthening alumni engagement and long-term institutional relationships
• Why podcast downloads aren't the only measure of success
• Practical advice for building momentum in your first year

Whether you're a higher education marketer, enrollment leader, or alumni relations professional, this conversation offers a practical look at how podcasting can create lasting value for your institution.

Connect with Kelly Peiffer on LinkedIn.

Explore The Nest Podcast.

Today's students expect interactive, personalized digital experiences. Is higher education keeping up?

In this episode of The Education Marketing Leader, Chris Rapozo sits down with Eric Menna, Co-Founder of Loper, to explore how gamification is reshaping college recruitment and student engagement.

Eric shares how colleges and universities can use interactive quizzes, rewards, and personalized experiences to better understand prospective students, strengthen enrollment marketing, and improve conversion rates.

They also discuss how gamification helps institutions gather valuable student insights, personalize communications, and create more meaningful connections throughout the enrollment journey.

Topics include:

• Why traditional enrollment marketing struggles to engage today's students
• How gamification goes beyond games and rewards
• Using interactive content to uncover student interests and preferences
• Measuring engagement, conversions, and enrollment outcomes
• Common gamification mistakes institutions should avoid
• Practical ways to get started without a large budget

Discover how making the college search more interactive can help institutions connect with students and help students find the right fit.

How can leaders turn pressure into an advantage instead of letting it lead to burnout?

In this special episode of the Education Marketing Leader Podcast, host Chris Rapozo welcomes Dane Jensen, leadership expert and author of The Power of Pressure, for the September Education Marketing Leader Book Club.

Joined by higher education marketing professionals, Dane shares practical strategies for navigating high-stakes situations, building resilient teams, and maintaining performance under pressure.

Topics include:

• Managing stress through breathing and self-talk
• Celebrating small wins to sustain motivation
• Building resilient teams during challenging times
• Preparing for difficult conversations and decisions
• Balancing individual needs with team performance
• Prioritizing sleep, recovery, and well-being

Whether you're navigating enrollment pressures, organizational change, or everyday leadership challenges, this conversation offers practical tools to help you lead with greater confidence and resilience.

Next Book Club: November 18, featuring Audacious: How Humans Win in an AI Marketing World by Mark Schaefer.

Subscribe to the Education Marketing Leader Podcast for more conversations on leadership, marketing, and professional growth in higher education.

Higher education marketers talk constantly about belonging, community, and inclusion. But what happens when students arrive on campus and the experience doesn’t match the promise?

In this episode of The Education Marketing Leader, Chris Rapozo sits down with Dr. Andre Richburg, Vice President for Strategic Enrollment at Methodist University, to explore what it means to move beyond recruitment and create an institution where students actually feel supported, connected, and positioned to succeed.

Drawing from more than 20 years in higher education and his doctoral research on Black male students transferring from community colleges to predominantly white four-year institutions, Dr. Richburg shares what institutions often overlook in the transfer experience.

Chris and Dr. Richburg discuss the difference between marketing belonging and delivering it, why retention should be part of enrollment strategy from the beginning, and how representation among faculty, staff, and institutional leaders can influence a student’s sense of connection.

They also explore the experiences of students navigating culture shock, microaggressions, code-switching, and the challenge of finding community after transferring to a new institution.

In this episode:

• Why transfer students need a different approach to onboarding and financial support

• What Dr. Richburg learned from Black male transfer students through his doctoral research

• Why representation among faculty, staff, and leadership matters

• How colleges can communicate support and community before a student ever enrolls

• The role of code-switching and microaggressions in the student experience

• Why retention belongs in strategic enrollment management from day one

• How students can recognize the difference between authentic belonging and marketing “window dressing”

• What four-year institutions can learn from community colleges about making students feel seen and supported

For enrollment and marketing leaders, the challenge is bigger than getting students through the recruitment funnel. The experience students encounter after enrolling has to live up to what they were promised before they arrived.

Listen today.

What does it take to successfully bring a university brand into a new market?

In this episode of The Education Marketing Leader, Chris Rapozo sits down with Jeff Holeman, Chief Marketing Officer at the University of Florida’s Warrington College of Business, to explore how UF approached its expansion into Jacksonville and Miami.

While the University of Florida already has tremendous brand recognition, Jeff explains why awareness alone isn’t enough. Universities still have to build local relevance, understand the competitive landscape, earn trust, and connect their programs to what students and employers in each market actually need.

Chris and Jeff discuss:

• How to evaluate a new market before launching • Finding “white space” in competitive higher education markets • Why Jacksonville and Miami required different marketing strategies • The relationship between brand awareness and enrollment performance • Why brand marketing and enrollment marketing shouldn’t operate separately • How to measure the signals that happen before an inquiry or application • The changing student journey and whether the traditional enrollment funnel still exists • LinkedIn’s role in graduate business school marketing • Removing friction from the graduate enrollment experience • The challenges of marketing within a nationally recognized university brand • What institutions should do before expanding into a new city or region

One of Jeff’s central arguments: awareness and performance aren’t competing priorities. Brand interactions help create the conditions that eventually lead prospective students to inquire, apply, deposit, and enroll.

And for institutions considering expansion, Jeff offers a simple starting point:

“Don’t start with the campus. Start with the market.”

ABOUT THE EDUCATION MARKETING LEADER

The Education Marketing Leader features conversations with marketing and enrollment leaders about the strategies, ideas, and challenges shaping education marketing today.

Subscribe for more conversations with leaders across higher education marketing, enrollment, branding, digital strategy, and communications.

#HigherEducation #HigherEdMarketing #EnrollmentMarketing #MarketingStrategy #UniversityMarketing #EducationMarketing

What does it mean to lead with joy when the circumstances around you are anything but joyful?

In this episode of the Education Marketing Leader, Chris Rapozo sits down with Donald Egle, Ph.D., Founder & Managing Director of The Kyer Group, to explore the research behind joyful leadership and what it means for leaders navigating uncertainty, pressure, and change in higher education.

Drawing from his doctoral research, Joyful Leadership Amidst Tragedy and Triumph, Don explains why joy and happiness are fundamentally different.

Happiness often depends on circumstances. Joy can become a consistent way of living and leading, even when the work is difficult.

Chris and Don discuss what joyful leadership looks like when enrollment pressures are mounting, teams are stretched, and institutions are facing decisions without easy answers.

In this episode, you'll hear about:

- Why leadership can be viewed as a privilege and a joy

- The difference between joy and happiness

- Why choosing joy before adversity hits matters - How higher ed leaders can respond to the enrollment cliff with

- The role faith has played in Don's approach to joyful leadership

One of Don's central challenges to higher education leaders is to recognize the privilege of being in a position where you can contribute to the solution.

Hard seasons will come. Your choices will be tested. But leaders who consistently show up with purpose, courage, authenticity, and joy can give their teams and institutions a better chance to thrive.

About Donald Egle, Ph.D.

Donald Egle is the Founder & Managing Director of The Kyer Group. After more than two decades working with leaders and nationally recognized universities,

Don now helps leaders and organizations create the conditions to win by addressing gaps between vision, strategy, execution, and culture.

Connect with Don and learn more about The Kyer Group through the links in the episode description. https://thekyergroup.com/

What happens when the degree students are earning prepares them for a job market that no longer exists?

In this episode of The Education Marketing Leader, Chris Rapozo sits down with Justin Fisher, Director of Marketing Intelligence at Yeshiva University and Cardozo School of Law, to talk about one of higher education’s biggest challenges: preparing students for careers in a workforce being rapidly reshaped by AI.

They explore whether universities have gone far enough in connecting education to employability, why career outcomes and earning potential need to become a bigger part of the value conversation, and whether institutions should rethink the types of programs they offer.

Justin also shares his perspective on AI’s impact on entry-level careers, the growing value of practical and career-focused education, and why universities need stronger connections with employers to understand what skills the workforce actually needs.

But preparing students for work shouldn’t mean abandoning what higher education has always done well. Chris and Justin also discuss the continued importance of curiosity, critical thinking, and challenging ideas.

If higher education wants to remain relevant, the question is no longer simply whether students graduate. It’s whether they’re prepared for what comes next.

What does it take to earn trust before someone is ready to buy?

In this episode of the Education Marketing Leader Book Club, Chris Rapozo and the book club members sat down with bestselling author Jay Baer to discuss the enduring lessons from Youtility and why the most effective marketing starts by being genuinely helpful.

Together, they explore how higher education marketers can create content that answers prospective student questions, builds long-term trust, and stands out in an AI-driven world.

Jay also shares why he believes marketers should answer before they ask, how short-form webinars can outperform traditional webinars, and what he'd add if he wrote Youtility 2.0 today.

In this episode:

• Why helpful marketing outperforms promotional marketing
• Creating content that builds trust with prospective students
• "Answer before they ask" as a content strategy
• Why most higher ed websites create unnecessary friction
• The future of content marketing in the age of AI
• How to measure the impact of helpful content

If you're a higher education marketer, enrollment leader, or content strategist looking to improve student engagement and marketing effectiveness, this conversation is packed with practical ideas you can apply immediately.

#HigherEdMarketing #EnrollmentMarketing #ContentMarketing #JayBaer #Youtility #HigherEducation #EducationMarketing #AIMarketing

Why do so many universities sound exactly the same?

In this episode of The Education Marketing Leader, Chris Rapozo sits down with branding strategist and B2B Marketers on a Mission host Christian Klepp of Einblick Consulting to discuss why generic messaging no longer works and what higher education marketers can do instead.

They explore how institutions can build stronger market positioning, earn leadership buy-in, create meaningful student personas, and develop brands that students genuinely connect with.

You'll learn:

• Why history and tradition aren't enough to differentiate your institution
• How to build a market position students actually care about
• The biggest mistakes universities make with student personas
• Why prospective students trust social media more than university websites
• How smaller colleges can compete with larger brands
• Practical ways marketers can gain buy-in from academic leadership

Whether you're leading enrollment, marketing, communications, or institutional strategy, this conversation offers practical ideas for making your institution more relevant in today's competitive landscape.

Subscribe for weekly conversations with higher education marketing leaders sharing practical strategies to help institutions grow.

Today's students aren't searching for the "best" college. They're trying to avoid making the wrong decision.

In this episode of Education Marketing Leader, Chris Rapozo sits down with Gjergj Dollani, Principal at ClearCourse Advisory, host of The Enrollment Clinic, and author of Grounds: What a Coffee Shop Taught Me that a Career Never Could, to explore how fear, AI, rising costs, and uncertainty are reshaping the college decision process.

Topics include:

• Why today's students are driven more by fear than aspiration
• How universities should adapt their marketing strategy
• The future of higher education and lifelong learning subscriptions
• College vs. trade school in an AI-driven economy
• Why higher education should borrow more ideas from outside the industry
• What business leaders can teach enrollment marketers about ROI and customer experience

Whether you're a CMO, enrollment leader, marketing professional, or higher education executive, this conversation offers practical insights into where student expectations are headed and how institutions can respond.

Subscribe for more conversations with higher education marketing leaders shaping the future of enrollment, branding, and student engagement.