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Nostalgia Is Not a Strategy: Redefining the Higher Ed Marketing Function

Katherine Primus, VP of Marketing and Communications at Holy Family University, explains how campus marketing teams can evolve from internal order-takers to strategic, revenue-generating partners.

37 minutes
By: Higher Voltage

The “good old days” of higher education are gone, and hoping they return won’t balance the budget or fill an incoming class. As Katherine Primus, Vice President of Marketing and Communications at Holy Family University, points out on the latest episode of Higher Voltage.

Primus joins host Kevin Tyler to unpack why campus marketers must stop relying on outdated perceptions of higher ed’s inherent value and start actively defining it for modern audiences. But before marketers can change external perceptions, they often have to change internal ones. 

Primus emphasizes the need for marketing teams to transition from acting as internal order-taking agencies to becoming true strategic partners. Because everyone consumes media, campus stakeholders often assume they know how to do marketing. It is up to marketing leaders to consistently educate their campuses on their specific expertise, using revenue-generating language to tie marketing investments directly to institutional outcomes. Primus even suggests a bold budget tactic: advocating for surplus funds from other departments to be reallocated to marketing, framing it as an investment in a virtuous revenue cycle.   

The conversation also tackled a perennial target for budget cuts: the print magazine. Primus argues fiercely for its retention, but insists it needs a strategic overhaul. Rather than producing a branded repository of short news blurbs, magazines should lean into 3,000-word, long-form feature stories that show the institution’s impact out in the world. By establishing an editorial board representing diverse campus constituents, marketers can embed the magazine into the fabric of the school, making it an indispensable tool for institutional storytelling rather than an expendable line item.   

Ultimately, the sector can no longer wait for the media to act as its cheerleader. It is time for marketers to step up, take calculated storytelling risks, and clearly articulate the dynamic, scrappy reality of modern higher education.

Read Katherine Primus’s article for Volt here.

Higher Voltage

Higher Voltage

Podcast

Higher Voltage explores what’s working, what’s not, and what needs to change in higher education. Higher Voltage isn’t just for anyone who works in higher education—it’s for anyone who is interested in or cares about higher education.

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