Higher Ed Conversations
Join host and CEO of GradComm, Cheryl Broom as she sits down with higher education experts to discuss trends in marketing, communications, advancement and student success.
Higher Ed Conversations
Ep 78: Why Most Colleges Aren’t Ready to Be Different
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In higher education marketing, everyone says they want to stand out, until it’s time to actually look different. In this episode of Higher Ed Conversations, GradComm CEO Cheryl Broom sits down with Aaron Edgell, Chief Marketing Officer at Alliant International University for an honest conversation about branding, institutional identity, and the difficult decisions required to create meaningful differentiation in higher education.
This conversation dives into how Alliant approached transformation by focusing on mission clarity, operational sustainability, and authentic storytelling. Aaron also shares lessons from leading Alliant’s rebrand, including why he initially resisted a rebrand, how research revealed a disconnect between the institution’s identity and how it appeared publicly, and why storytelling became central to “surfacing the soul” of the university.
What You’ll Learn:
- Why higher ed institutions struggle to embrace differentiation
- How to uncover what truly makes a college unique
- The balance between innovation, legacy, and belonging
- How storytelling can close the gap between identity and perception
- Why making hard decisions is critical for long-term institutional sustainability
Thanks for listening!
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Higher Ed Conversations is hosted by Cheryl Broom, CEO of GradComm, a marketing and branding agency specializing in community colleges and public education.