Marketing a University? It Takes the Whole Campus.
I’m often asked to meet with different stakeholders across my university’s campus. As the Creative Director, one-on-one conversations are a regular part of the work.
One of the most common questions I hear is:
“How can we better work with marketing?”
My go-to answer is always the same:
“Let us know what you have going on. Tell us what your students are doing. Share what you’re excited about.”
Sometimes, this is met with frustration:
“So you’re expecting me to do the marketing for you?”
And honestly? In a way, I guess I do.
Because the truth is, just like retention and student success aren’t the responsibility of one office alone, communications and marketing can’t belong to a single department either.
They belong to all of us — every staff member, every faculty member, every student ambassador.
Every interaction on campus is an opportunity to tell our story.
What Participation Actually Means
When I say marketing should be a shared responsibility, I know there are people everywhere clutching their pearls and cursing my name.
And honestly? I get it.
Because at the heart of that reaction is a major misunderstanding.
I’m not asking community members to produce fully finished marketing campaigns.
I’m asking them to participate — to help tell the story.
Participation isn’t about launching your own social media accounts, designing your own flyers, or writing your own press releases.
Participation is about connection. It’s about sending a quick message to the marketing team:
"Hey, we have an exciting lecture coming up."
"One of our students just published research."
"We had a great turnout at last week's event."
It’s about sharing the moments that make our university special, so we can help amplify them thoughtfully and strategically.
Why the Old Model No Longer Works
And it matters more now than ever — because the way people interact with institutions has fundamentally changed.
There was a time when a handful of people could shape and control nearly every piece of messaging a university put into the world. A few press releases, a glossy viewbook, a billboard or two — that was considered enough.
But today’s audiences, especially Gen Z, are wired differently. Students are coming of age in an era of unprecedented media scrutiny. They’re skeptical of traditional marketing — and for good reason. They can spot a curated story, and the spin behind it, from a mile away. To many students, university communication is just another advertiser in an already crowded landscape.
That’s the real challenge we face. It’s not enough to produce beautiful messaging or well-designed materials.
To truly connect, we have to earn trust — through real stories, real voices, and authentic experiences.
And no matter how talented or hardworking your central marketing team is, they simply can’t be everywhere at once.
It’s impossible to capture every incredible classroom moment, every breakthrough research project, every student success story as it happens.
But that’s not a downfall — it’s an opportunity.
When the whole campus understands that they’re part of telling the university’s story, marketing becomes richer, more layered, and more memorable.
It moves from being something created behind closed doors to something lived and shared by the entire community.
The old model of centralized, top-down messaging can’t meet today’s expectations — but a campus wide approach can exceed them.
