It felt exhilarating to be back in the marketing trenches again.
Even a bit therapeutic, I’ll admit.
I started my higher ed career in marketing and communications almost 20 years ago, but I’ve now led a cross-functional advancement division at South Louisiana Community College for the last 12 years that moved me more to the outskirts of the marketing world I once knew so intimately.
Over the summer, when things were a tad less hectic on our college campus, I decided to spend a day in the marketing department. I wanted to understand my team better, and more importantly, advocate for them as the expert I once was.
I spent the day doing what my marketing team does: jumping between strategy, execution, and a steady stream of requests.
My calendar included:
- An advertising vendor meeting focused on strategy, audience, metrics, and ROI.
- Internal conversations about enrollment campaigns and moving prospective students to conversions.
- A website redesign discussion and how to make the most of the college’s investment.
- Conversations about competing priorities and which requests were worth taking on.
- Discussions about brand, storytelling, and institutional priorities.
- A conversation about a podcast idea I had been kicking around.
I wasn’t shadowing from the sidelines. I was in the meetings, listening to the questions, watching the decisions get made, and seeing the strategy behind the work.
What I saw that day wasn’t just a talented marketing team doing good work. I saw a group of professionals who were strategic, discerning, collaborative, and genuinely joyful about what they do.
And it made me think about what the rest of us in leadership can learn from them.
1. Good teams start with the outcome, not the request.
Gone are the days of taking requests from across the college (can you “pretty up” this flyer?) and calling your job done. Marketing teams are now some of the most strategic partners at the institution. Sitting in on meetings with advertising vendors and internal meetings made me realize how intentional every marketing decision is. My team begins every conversation and request with: What are you trying to accomplish?
These conversations with colleagues often end in developing a product that wasn’t what they originally requested. But… it’s the product and strategy they need for success.
I also witnessed the endless requests that they receive on any given day. My head spun, but it was also deeply familiar from my early marketing days. Some requests had merit and importance. Others were simply hair-on-fire, lack-of-planning, please-save-me requests.
What impressed me the most was their level of discernment. They reminded me that every yes has an opportunity cost. I overheard intentional conversations of, “If we take this on, what are we giving up?”
The best marketing teams don’t just ask, “How do we get this done?” They ask, “Is this truly the right thing for the college, and what will we have to give up to do it well?”
2. Let the experts be experts.
I’ve always trusted my teams. But, whoa. Getting to witness their level of knowledge and expertise in their day-to-day blew me away.
My goal was to become a better advocate for marketing. And while I walked away from that day with a much deeper understanding of how to do that, I also realized that advocacy means getting out of their way.
I’ve witnessed so many leaders over my career hire people for their expertise and then dilute that expertise by micro-managing, second-guessing, or treating others’ opinions as equally authoritative in the marketing space.
If a VP doesn’t like the design or messaging of a college ad, does that opinion carry more weight than the expertise, data, and strategy of the people whose job it is to develop that ad?
In one of the meetings I sat in on, my marketing team was discussing:
- audience
- timing
- positioning
- brand
- recruitment
- retention
- institutional priorities
- impact
That’s much bigger than “marketing.”
Don’t get me wrong. I know when to push my team to achieve beyond their own expectations. I know when to insert an idea that may not have been considered. And I’ve also learned when to sit back and simply trust them.
Sometimes that means hearing a viewpoint that opposes mine — but is backed by data, expertise, and strategy — and letting them run with it.
That’s part of leadership, too.
If we hire experts, we have to let them be experts.
Even when their answer isn’t the one we were hoping to hear.
3. Great marketing teams create wins for others.
Spending time in the trenches of marketing reminded me that it sits in the middle of everything: academics, enrollment, student services, advancement, workforce, the chancellor/president’s office, external partners, students, faculty, and more.
There’s not an area of a college that they don’t touch in some way. Few departments have the bird’s-eye view of an institution that marketing does. They see how all of the areas of the college intersect and, just as importantly, where they don’t.
But what great marketing departments do with that knowledge is what sets them apart.
They connect dots that others sometimes can’t see. They take what they’ve learned from across the institution and use it to reimagine old initiatives in fresh ways. They don’t just execute someone else’s idea; they bring the perspective of the entire institution to the table.
And perhaps most importantly, they work hard to create wins for others. I continually witnessed conversations centered around one question: How can we make someone else — or another department — successful?
That can be a behind-the-scenes gig, because marketing doesn’t always get the credit for the outcomes it helps create.
- An event had a tremendous turnout? Marketing likely had a huge hand in getting people there.
- Programs are full — with waiting lists — on some of the campuses? Marketing’s targeted enrollment campaigns helped fill the top of that funnel.
Because the best marketing teams aren’t obsessed with making sure everyone knows they made the win happen.
They’re obsessed with making the college win.
4. Joy is a strategic asset.
Whether my marketing team was discussing refinements to the latest enrollment campaign, a new website redesign (that just received a “go” with college dollars — score!), or even a college podcast idea I brought to them, I noticed something: they genuinely love what they do.
I’m not talking about sunshine-and-roses optimism, and I’m certainly not talking about toxic positivity. Joy doesn’t mean ignoring concerns, pretending everything is perfect, or avoiding difficult conversations. I heard many of those moments, too.
But what I witnessed was a team of professionals who truly enjoy one another, move from serious strategy and creative problem-solving to laughing and having fun in all the moments in between. Even in the trenches, this team has each other’s backs. They challenge one another, support one another, and refuse to let a teammate struggle alone.
This joy is so special and unique that this marketing team and the larger advancement group added its own divisional value of “Joy” on top of the college’s five official values.
Expertise and knowledge can produce great work. But when you add joy and passion? That’s when things get really good.
For leaders, the question becomes: Are we building teams where people can be excellent and enjoy being excellent?
I went back into the marketing department expecting to be reminded how much I enjoy marketing. And it filled my cup for weeks.
But I left with something more valuable than nostalgia for the work I used to do.
I left reminded that leadership isn’t always about having the answer, making the decision, or being the person in the room with the most authority.
Sometimes leadership is knowing when to ask, “What are we trying to accomplish?”
Sometimes it’s knowing when to say, “You’re the expert. I trust you.”
Sometimes it’s finding ways to make someone else successful.
And sometimes, it’s creating a workplace where people can do excellent work and genuinely enjoy doing it.
I went into the marketing department to better understand my team. I left understanding my own job a little better.
Maybe we all need a little more time in the trenches.
