Jared Preusz, MBA

What if the key to solving enrollment declines is recognizing what students already know? At Salt Lake Community College, adult learners can now earn credit for prior learning—skills from work, military service, or life. It's working: more students are receiving credit for their experiences, reducing time and cost to degree completion. The problem? Most institutions still make learners prove their value from scratch. It's slow, inconsistent, and full of friction. We need a better system—one where skills are documented, validated, and instantly portable. That's why we built LifeJourney by Territorium: a skills-first record that turns experience into opportunity. Institutions don't need more forms—they need a new way forward. Learn more: https://territorium.com/

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A college grad on Reddit just solved their inbox problem…by blocking every .edu email domain in Gmail. 😫 That’s how exhausted they were from the tidal wave of college marketing emails...most of which they never consented to. Sometimes, outreach feels relentless. If your audience is literally blocking .edu, it’s no longer just a marketing issue...it now becomes a branding/reputation issue as well. ✅ Respect inbox space ✅ Get permission, not just access ✅ Make your messages worth receiving Because if Gmail filters don’t block you, the students certainly will.

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Your long-form video isn’t underperforming. It’s just living in the wrong format. 🎥 Lately, I’ve been having a lot of conversations with higher-ed marketers about video on the Education Marketing Leader podcast You know, the big, beautiful long-form films that take months to plan, a big chunk of your budget, and only get a few weeks in the spotlight. I’ve seen the same story play out over and over: 🎉 A glossy launch 👀 A burst of attention 💤 Then silence The problem isn’t the content. It’s what happens after the premiere. I recently had the chance to share how short-form storytelling can give those long-form videos a second life. Extending their reach. Multiplying their impact. And putting them where students, parents, and alumni actually spend time. If you work in higher-ed marketing and you’ve ever wondered how to get more ROI out of your big video projects, check out my new Stamats Insights article. P.S., we have some great examples from the University of Iowa, Southeastern Community College - Iowa (Jeff Ebbing) and the Capstone College Of Nursing, The University of Alabama #highereducation #marketing #videomarketing #shortformvideo

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Direct mail is not dead. Most institutions just stopped using it strategically. I talked with Dylon Jones from Spectrum Marketing Companies about how direct mail actually works in higher ed today. Key takeaways for enrollment and marketing teams • Direct mail fails when strategy fails. Not the channel. • The biggest mistake is sending one piece and expecting results. • A strong baseline is 3 mail drops across 3 months. • Mail must drive to a targeted landing page, not your homepage. • The best campaigns integrate mail, digital ads, and admissions follow-up. • Start with parents early in the recruitment cycle, then shift messaging to students later. Direct mail should never live on an island. It works best as part of a multi-touch strategy. Contact Dylon if you need help via DJones@spectrummarketing.com or cell 806-500-9880. Follow Education Marketing Leader and subscribe so you do not miss the next episode. 🎧

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I understand all of the attention on the #nymag article about ChatGPT creating a crisis of cheating in education. https://lnkd.in/gppFdZYV Like everything, there is a whole lot to this topic. 1. I think a lot about the Disney corporation and their stance on shoplifting: some people will always do it, other people will never do it, so your focus should be on deterring those who are somewhere on the motive and opportunity spectrum. The cheating crisis is not new… It just wasn’t evenly distributed before. 2. Conversations about removing technology from the educational space will only further arguments of the obsolescence of modern higher education. A blue book test isn’t the solution to ChatGPT; it’s the problem that unfortunately ChatGPT can currently solve in many instances. 3. We have built our structures on summative assessment, and there are certainly places where this is vital. But transactional education leads to transactions, not transformations. 4. Part of the goal of my recent partnership with LinkedIn Learning on foundational online education success and the role of AI is to reframe technology as an enhancement for critical, thinking rather than a replacement of. Students will use the tools and engage the modalities available, and the power and potential of this technology should not be ignored because it makes gaming a legacy system more accessible. https://lnkd.in/esu2qcRh

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Just recently, one of my students raised a communication issue in a case I've taught for 25 years. Their observation completely reframed how I understood the entire scenario. After decades of analyzing the same situation, I suddenly saw dynamics I had missed entirely. That's the case method at work. Instead of passively memorizing theory, students and professors test real-world scenarios together, asking questions like, "If this constraint changed, how would the outcome look different?" The process reminds me of reading a great short story. The value isn't in finding the "right answer" but in exploring multiple interpretations and discovering unexpected connections. Now, I virtually teach all my courses using the case method. Traditional lectures assume knowledge flows in one direction, from professor to student. The case method acknowledges that complex business problems require collective intelligence, diverse perspectives, and iterative thinking. Students learn to see nuance, challenge assumptions, and recognize that most business decisions involve tradeoffs rather than optimal solutions. They discover that the best answer often emerges from synthesizing competing viewpoints rather than choosing between them. More importantly, they learn to think like leaders and question initial reactions, while remaining open to new information that might change their perspective entirely. After four decades in the classroom, I'm convinced that the case method is the best way to teach people how to think rather than what to think. In a world where information becomes obsolete quickly but thinking skills remain valuable forever, that distinction matters enormously.

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I am fortunate to spend a lot of time at the University of Denver meeting with students to talk about careers, internships, and networking. One recurring theme: students know networking is critical, but they are not always sure how to start the process or how to stay consistent with follow-up. I assumed there was a tool students could use to track conversations, follow-ups, applications, and next steps. I was unable to find one that was free, comprehensive, and easy to use, so I built one “Networking Tracker” (name still a work in progress) that runs in Google Sheets or Excel. Link to Networking Tool: https://lnkd.in/gE77-rG4 The goal is thoughtful relationship building, supported by a simple system that makes consistent input easy. The tracker includes: • A dashboard that shows networking activity • A contact tracker with follow-up reminders • An internship and job application tracker • An event and outreach log with goals • Follow-up email scripts • Interview & Meeting prep questions If you’re a student, early-career professional, or someone who mentors them, feel free to use it. I’ll continue improving it based on feedback. If there’s enough interest, I may build a simple web-based version with an Excel import feature.

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Dear higher ed, In marketing, there are two key ways to market a product: product benefit and consumer benefit. For a simple explanation of both, consider shampoo ads. Most shampoo companies go with the consumer benefit in their ads. Clean hair helps you feel attractive. That's the consumer benefit. Head and Shoulders goes with product benefit. The ingredients of the shampoo stops dandruff. Most car companies are product benefit. Some, though, just talk about how fun it is to drive. In higher education, class sizes are a product benefit. When you say 10 students to 1 professor, you're marketing a product benefit. When you talk about the number of majors, the number of clubs, and the location, you're focused on the product benefit. We don't talk enough about the consumer benefits. We could maybe do that better. Your pal, Matt.

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UPCEA Convergence brings together higher education and industry around ideas and strategies to better serve students in modern, innovative ways. 💡This year I observed that many more universities are beginning to examine what it will take to both (1) unbundle content for new, shorter courses that can stack into larger certificates and degrees and (2) integrate content from industry into university material to strengthen the practical workforce experience students receive -as part of- a course/program. 💡 Models from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (Amanda Brantner), University of Pennsylvania (Sherri Place) and Louisiana State University (Radhika Krishnadas) showcased some of the best stackable, innovative workforce-connected online programs in action. 💡 Amanda Winters reminded us to pay attention to what employers and government really need for learners in their state, to be simple (don’t sell insider terminology), and intentional. 💡 Patti Constantakis from Walmart corporate, who continue to lead by example, urged flexibility and acknowledged the fast moving pace of the current landscape. “We do things in quarters, if we cant accomplish it in 3 months we probably aren’t going to do it.” 💡 As always the conference was expertly curated and Robert Bruce, Julie Uranis, Ph.D., Amy Claire Heitzman, Ph.D., Robert Hansen, Melissa Peraino and team deserve tons of credit. Good to see so many friends and colleagues! +Risepoint

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A major mistake students often make?   Believing problems arrive in neat, labeled categories.   Out in the real world, no one says: “Here’s a consumer marketing challenge for you.”   You just get a problem, complex, messy, and urgent. And it’s up to you to pull from everything you know.   Finance. Strategy. Leadership. Accounting. All at once.   That’s why I run reflection sessions with my students. We step back from individual courses and focus on the bigger picture— How everything connects.   Because in business, there are no textbook problems. There are just real-world challenges that demand cross-disciplinary thinking.   It’s not about memorizing frameworks. It’s about integrating them. Applying the right tools, in the right context, at the right time.   That’s the skill we build. And it’s the one they’ll rely on every single day.

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What Top Universities Are Getting Right (And Others Miss) Most institutions are still chasing #rankings, #MoU, #CampusLife But the ones that are rising fast are doing a few things differently. 1. They're not just teaching -> they're positioning: The world doesn’t need another university. It needs one with a voice, a purpose, a story. 2. They're building ecosystems, not just classrooms: From industry partnerships to startup cells, alumni councils to brand collaborations...everything is interconnected. 3. They treat branding as a leadership priority: Not a task for the admissions team. Not an afterthought. But a core function driven by data, narrative, and clarity. 4. They move fast: Strategy isn’t locked in boardrooms. It’s tested, adapted, and launched. Like a startup. 5. Their alumni aren’t just donors or doers -> they’re lifelong partners: Because they felt something real on campus...and stayed connected long after. There’s one institution that’s quietly getting all of this right and doing it at scale: GALGOTIAS UNIVERSITY. From 3x growth in #Admissions to Stronger #Industry linkages, from #Alumni revival to National & International #Rankings upliftment, from #Sports to #Arts-Culture, from #Projects to #Placements, from #Research to Hub-of-#Innovations --> this is #higherEd done with intent, speed, and soul. And much of this transformation is led by someone who truly understands where education is headed. Dr. Dhruv Galgotia, CEO of Galgotias University, is not just building a brand -> he’s captaining one of the most ambitious higher ed journeys in #SouthAsia. Strategy + Speed + Soul. That’s the real transformation playbook. #HigherEducation #UniversityBranding #Leadership #Strategy #Alumni #Growth #GalgotiasUniversity #DhruvGalgotia #SouthAsiaEdtech

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